Ganymede Wakes

Description

In the year 2058, four mega-corporations dominate the world. Government structures are falling apart, government leaders are degenerating into marionettes of the corporation executives, and capitalism is turning ever more ruthless. Large parts of the world have become uninhabitable due to environmental disasters, wars, and climate change. Major cities have become hellholes where disease and crime are on the rise. The NAGER plague has killed over forty percent of humanity, and its origins are still baffling scientists today.A small number of wealthy citizens have barricaded themselves in gated communities and corporate arcologies, keeping social ills away through money and influence. In times when both petroleum and fresh food are in short supply, technological advances are reserved for them and their wage slaves. Cyber implants and prostheses called ‘augmentations’ improve the bodies of those who can afford them while leaving others jealous.Private security firms have largely taken over responsibility for dealing with social unrest and the ever-more-rampant violence. Corruption and police violence are just as prevalent as unpredictable weather, organized crime, and drug use.In space, meanwhile, corporations have explored the solar system and established outposts on the Moon and Mars. Even the distances to the moons of Jupiter and Saturn are being overcome at great financial expense, to satisfy an overcrowded Earth’s growing hunger for resources. Corporate greed knows no bounds, even in the vastness of space. In particular, one astronomer’s discovery of a long-suspected ninth planet beyond Neptune has caused a space race between the great powers. It has left researchers puzzled while giving corporations a new target for displaying their prestige, and more opportunities for maximizing profits.At the same time, in war-torn Los Angeles, a significant section of the population is suffering from poverty and disease. After the strongest earthquake ever measured in human history, the megacity has been divided in two by a kilometer-deep chasm. From this sectioned-off hell on Earth, referred to as ‘Hell’s Mouth,’ toxic gases rise and poison the climate of the city. On the streets beyond the inner city, life is lived by the law of the jungle, and groups of mercenary soldiers called ‘mercs’ secretly work for the highest bidders, stealing from and blackmailing competing companies and snatching their best employees.In 2058, amid this chaos, two spaceships have returned from the hitherto unexplored depths of the solar system. On board are samples of a previously unknown material found on the newly discovered planet