Storyworld: New Oracle
In year 2155, our world has became one where technologies take over every inch of the city, from Augmented Reality to Virutal Reality to immersive technology. However, this comes at a hefty price. The city is so polluted with toxic fumes that it is impossible to breathe properly without the help of GASGear3.0. Thus, in this city, the people do not know how one another look like, even among family members, because it is a golden rule that they must never remove their mask. The only time they can do so is in virtual reality, where they can manipulate their appearance according to their preferences.
Character description
This is how a typical inhabitant of New Oracle looks like. Due to the toxic fumes, they have to cover themselves up fully with long sleeved top and pants, gloves, a head cover, and GASGear3.0. The inhabitants are always online in the virutal world because that is their only escape from the cruel and gloomy reality. In the online world, they get to experience how the world is like in the 2000s – green, clean, and free.
Important technology
GASGear3.0 is an important technology in New Oracle, because inhabitants cannot survive without it. GASGear3.0 is based on developments of the current respirator system technology, such as Scott Safety’s Powered Air Purifying Respirators (PAPR).
Antecedent technology
The present day AR and VR technologies are what led to New Oracle. Advancement of these technologies led to a cyberpunk city at the expense of the environment.
Genre
This story falls under the dystopian genre. Since inhabitants are always online, it is easy for cyber attackers to hack the system and disrupt their reality escape. To add on, inhabitants are vulnerable to murder in the real world when they are online, as anyone can remove their GASGear3.0 easily. New Oracle is thus a city for temptation of crimes, just for the fun of it.
Story
The story begins with mysterious figures removing the GASGear3.0 of someone who is online in the virtual world. They then left him to be poisoned to death as he breathed in the toxic fumes without GASGear3.0. After 1 week of repeated incidents, a tense atmosphere engulfed the city as everyone’s safety is compromised. As a result, less and less people go online, and this saddens the protagonist, Ned, who is an avid gamer and ethical hacker. Unfortunately, while gaming with his best bud Lom, he witnessed Lom’s avatar gasping for air and eventually, becoming lifeless. Ned was devastated, and vowed to bring the murderers to justice. He started hacking Lom’s and the other victims’ accounts to find leads. While Ned found more and more leads, Wera, the antagonist and the boss of the crime syndicate, took notice of Ned’s actions and inched closer on him to silence him before they get exposed. The story ends with Ned uploading the identities of the murderers onto the city billboard online, as his GASGear3.0 mask gets removed offline.
Method
I will tell my story via a short video of about 3-5 minutes. This is a short video, but it is best to leave most of the imagination about New Oracle to the audience, rather than telling them every single detail.
The role of the device I make, GASGear3.0, will become a tool for murder. This is ironic, because inhabitants of New Oracle depend on it for survival, but at the same time, it is this very reliance that renders them vulnerable to murder. Them being perpetually online in the virtual world makes them even more susceptible to murder as while their physical body is in the real world, their consciousness and mind is in the virtual world.
My story will include a protagonist who tries to track down the murderers, a best friend of the protagonist who gets murdered, the antagonist who is the boss of the crime syndicate, members of the crime syndicate, murder victims and the inhabitants of New Oracle.