INTRODUCTION
WE LIVE IN A DYSTOPIAN WORLD, MY FRIENDS, FILLED WITH
CRIME, CORRUPTION, AND POVERTY—RULED BY MIGHTY,
POWER-HUNGRY CORPORATIONS AND HEARTLESS, BRUTAL
GOVERNMENTS. Each year we’re facing another global crisis,
and each day we’re forced to face the consequences of the
previous ones. The corporate-backed mass media—like N54 or
WNS—are feeding society with bland, easy-to-digest pap of
processed news, brainwashing programs, and commercials—
enforcing the ever-popular trend to “buy more and think less.”
They do this because it’s easier to control and manipulate the
ignorant, uneducated sheeple than those that are educated,
well-informed, and aware of the world around them.
And yet you’re here because you don’t want to be another
mindless sheep, aren’t you?
In our reality, there is a huge need for free media. There are
dozens of indie news stations and information sites—and the
first step to independent thought is to seek them out.
We, the Night City Inquirer, are one such site. You won’t see
our advertisements on the displays downtown—but we’re here,
maintaining our ever-moving website on the Net.
We’re not some clueless rebels, straining for influence against
major corporations. We just present you news, essays, and
stories from the real world, showing things as they are without
the corporate bias and icing on the top. We’re collaborating
with courageous independent writers, correspondents, inves-
tigative journalists, and experts in various fields to provide
you with real information, giving you an opportunity to think
for yourself and to motivate you to search for further genuine
info. Because in today’s world, knowledge and the ability to
distinguish truth from fake news are the real superpowers.
Do the big companies try to shut us down? Occasionally.
But in most cases, they don’t pay much attention to us. We
don’t affect their ratings, and they have bigger fish to fry—
mostly fighting each other. Most of our info isn’t restricted
anyway—it’s just that this kind of info is omitted, hushed, or
unpopular because it isn’t in line with the corporations’
interests. Have you heard that Petrochem recently lost two
trials at the Supreme Court in Spain? That NetWatch was
nearly kicked out of Australia, and Militech-backed merce-
naries were forced to withdraw from Iceland after the joint
military intervention by the Scandinavian countries? These
are the facts, but you won’t hear it in the news . . . At least
not from the corporate-controlled media in Night City.
The fact that we’re not at war with the corporations doesn’t
mean that we’re not writing stories big enough to make their
CEOs shudder. That’s why we’re careful and protective of our
associates and collaborators. Some of them are top-notch
news reporters who write for us under fake names, hiding
their identities so as not to lose their jobs—or lives. We value
the privacy of our contacts too. You can provide us with some
authentic, interesting material without fear that your identity
will be divulged to the public.
So why this form? Why text?
Have you ever wondered why Nomads speak in such a strange,
often overly-sophisticated way? That’s because their mobile
homeschooling system forces them to actually read, not simply
watch the news. We strongly believe that the excess of modern
technologies harms our interpersonal communication,
affecting our relationships and communities. Plugging yourself
in to the feeder makes you vulnerable to intrusive commercials
and pushy propaganda. Reading longform text is a dying ability
in our modern world, so to prevent the extinction of the
written word we’ve elected to support the form at our website
(ok, we know that not everyone has time to read nowadays,
so we also have voice-over versions of our articles available
to download).
Thanks for reading this far. Feel free to visit our archives and
browse the latest materials and essays that will give you a
glimpse of the world as it is.
—THE EDITOR
CHAPTER 1 *CZ5P-HM3P-YZSG-XJP6*
DIGI CONTENT DL

THE MODERN
WORLD
[010] THE COLLAPSE

[014] THE FOURTH CORPORATE WAR

[018] POSTWAR

[020] REUNIFICATION

[022] UNIFICATION WAR / METAL WARS

[024] MODERN THREATS

PA ST A N D P R E S E N T :
T H E H A R D L E S S O N S O F O U R R E C E N T H I S T O RY
THE
COLLAPSE
“As the companies
gained unfettered
access to the world’s
natural resources,
environmental collapse
and climate change
were inevitable.”
010 T H E W O R L D O F C Y B E R P U N K 2 07 7
DISCLAIMER: Due to the widespread corruption of the Net and the major loss of
stored data during the four Corporate Wars, most of the information in this article should be
taken with a grain of salt. The Fourth Corporate War ended the world as we knew it, leading to
civil upheaval, the collapse of nations, megacorporations, and the global economy. Be aware
that data retrieved from the Old Net might be significantly corrupted and some facts cannot be
consistently corroborated from multiple sources. We present this information in the hope of
shedding some light on those events. Have a good time and hail to the Free Net, friends!
THE COLLAPSE OF THE OLD USA was one of the major world events
of the twenty-first century. Even if the modern United States—
or the New United States, as they are called today—were to
reunite with the Free States, it’d still be a totally different
country than it was fifty years ago.
We could see signs of the collapse years before it occurred.
The first three Corporate Wars, fought between the years 1990
and 2016, strengthened the position of the megacorporations,
giving them more authority than most world governments—
and the USA was no exception. Affiliations between politicians
and corporations ceased to be regarded as conflicts of interest.
Rather, they were treated as advantageous in the worlds of
big business and politics.
As the companies gained unfettered access to the world’s
natural resources, environmental collapse and climate change
were inevitable. Acid rain and dust storms caused by extreme
deforestation soon became the Americas’ biggest problems.
Those natural disasters were accompanied by political
ones. Thermonuclear war in the Middle East turned that part
of the world into a radioactive wasteland, causing a global oil
crisis. The US government tried to save itself by covertly
manipulating European and American stock markets, but this
shortsighted strategy backfired when that news was leaked to
the public. Worldwide financial meltdown shook the econo-
mies of almost every country on the globe, allowing
corporations to gain even more power. Meanwhile in the USA,
a coup launched by the Gang of Four—a coalition of govern-
ment agencies—effectively ended federal democracy. Many
states seceded, declaring themselves “free states.” That time
also marked the emergence of Nomads—a new American
social class of migrants in search of water, jobs, and safety
from political turmoil. Many cities and towns were deserted.
Most sociologists agreed that the Collapse was the worst
catastrophe of the twenty-first century.
And then came the Fourth Corporate War.
01: Sandstorms decimated rural settlements across the continent,
turning many of them into abandoned ghost towns.
| THE MODERN WORLD
01