Sindome
Encyclopedia
Sindome is a cyberpunk
MOO
(a text-based online virtual reality system to which multiple users are connected at the same time). Roleplaying in Sindome is unique in that most of its coding is custom, employing XML, File-IO, and a graphical web interface. Sindome has been online since 1997 and enjoys a medium sized playerbase of highly dedicated role-players.
city built in the wastelands of lower California. The face of the earth has been scarred by climate change and many great cities have been submerged due to the rising oceans. Sindome is all about playing a role in the struggle of the haves versus the have-nots. Characters fight for survival, carving out a niche in the underworld for themselves. The corporations have grown larger than the countries they were once entities of, their wealth and power allowing them to build a refuge away from the chaos that has befallen the globe
. Once invested in their failed salvation, a city was born out of their necessity to turn a profit. The blood, sweat and very lives of the first citizens a testament to the inequality that has existed since its birth, the city teems with the overflowing masses of corporate drones and ramshackle destitute. With the law empowering its patrolmen to be judge
, jury
and executioner
, the haves have a distinct advantage over the population
that is forbidden from owning fire-arms themselves.
genre of science fiction
. Sindome draws its inspiration from books, movies, and traditional role-playing games like: William Gibson
's Neuromancer
, Count Zero
, Virtual Light
, Idoru
, Burning Chrome
; Neal Stephenson
's Snow Crash
; Bruce Sterling
's Mirrorshades
and Islands in the Net
; R. Talsorian Games
' Cyberpunk 2020
; the movies Bladerunner, Judge Dredd
, and The Matrix
series.
Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a postmodern and science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life." The name is a portmanteau of cybernetics and punk, and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983...
MOO
MOO
A MOO is a text-based online virtual reality system to which multiple users are connected at the same time.The term MOO is used in two distinct, but related, senses...
(a text-based online virtual reality system to which multiple users are connected at the same time). Roleplaying in Sindome is unique in that most of its coding is custom, employing XML, File-IO, and a graphical web interface. Sindome has been online since 1997 and enjoys a medium sized playerbase of highly dedicated role-players.
Storyline
Set in a dark gritty world in the year 2096, Sindome takes place in Withmore City, a geodesic domeGeodesic dome
A geodesic dome is a spherical or partial-spherical shell structure or lattice shell based on a network of great circles on the surface of a sphere. The geodesics intersect to form triangular elements that have local triangular rigidity and also distribute the stress across the structure. When...
city built in the wastelands of lower California. The face of the earth has been scarred by climate change and many great cities have been submerged due to the rising oceans. Sindome is all about playing a role in the struggle of the haves versus the have-nots. Characters fight for survival, carving out a niche in the underworld for themselves. The corporations have grown larger than the countries they were once entities of, their wealth and power allowing them to build a refuge away from the chaos that has befallen the globe
Globe
A globe is a three-dimensional scale model of Earth or other spheroid celestial body such as a planet, star, or moon...
. Once invested in their failed salvation, a city was born out of their necessity to turn a profit. The blood, sweat and very lives of the first citizens a testament to the inequality that has existed since its birth, the city teems with the overflowing masses of corporate drones and ramshackle destitute. With the law empowering its patrolmen to be judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
, jury
Jury
A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...
and executioner
Executioner
A judicial executioner is a person who carries out a death sentence ordered by the state or other legal authority, which was known in feudal terminology as high justice.-Scope and job:...
, the haves have a distinct advantage over the population
Population
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...
that is forbidden from owning fire-arms themselves.
Theme
The Sindome world is based on the cyberpunkCyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a postmodern and science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life." The name is a portmanteau of cybernetics and punk, and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983...
genre of science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
. Sindome draws its inspiration from books, movies, and traditional role-playing games like: William Gibson
William Gibson
William Gibson is an American-Canadian science fiction author.William Gibson may also refer to:-Association football:*Will Gibson , Scottish footballer...
's Neuromancer
Neuromancer
Neuromancer is a 1984 novel by William Gibson, a seminal work in the cyberpunk genre and the first winner of the science-fiction "triple crown" — the Nebula Award, the Philip K. Dick Award, and the Hugo Award. It was Gibson's debut novel and the beginning of the Sprawl trilogy...
, Count Zero
Count Zero
Count Zero is a science fiction novel written by William Gibson, originally published 1986. It is the second volume of the Sprawl trilogy, which begins with Neuromancer and concludes with Mona Lisa Overdrive, and is a canonical example of the cyberpunk sub-genre.Count Zero was serialized by Isaac...
, Virtual Light
Virtual Light
Virtual Light is the first book in William Gibson's Bridge trilogy. Virtual Light is a science-fiction novel set in a postmodern, dystopian, cyberpunk future. The term 'Virtual Light' was coined by scientist Stephen Beck to describe a form of instrumentation that produces optical sensations...
, Idoru
Idoru
Idoru is the second book in William Gibson's Bridge trilogy. Idoru is a science-fiction novel set in a postmodern, dystopian, cyberpunk future...
, Burning Chrome
Burning Chrome
Burning Chrome is a collection of short stories written by William Gibson. Most of the stories take place in Gibson's Sprawl, an anonymous, shared setting for most of his cyberpunk work...
; Neal Stephenson
Neal Stephenson
Neal Town Stephenson is an American writer known for his works of speculative fiction.Difficult to categorize, his novels have been variously referred to as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, and postcyberpunk...
's Snow Crash
Snow Crash
Snow Crash is Neal Stephenson's third novel, published in 1992. Like many of Stephenson's other novels it covers history, linguistics, anthropology, archaeology, religion, computer science, politics, cryptography, memetics, and philosophy....
; Bruce Sterling
Bruce Sterling
Michael Bruce Sterling is an American science fiction author, best known for his novels and his work on the Mirrorshades anthology, which helped define the cyberpunk genre.-Writings:...
's Mirrorshades
Mirrorshades
Mirrored sunglasses are sunglasses with a reflective optical coating on the outside of the lenses to make them appear like small mirrors. The lenses typically give the wearer's vision a brown or grey tint...
and Islands in the Net
Islands in the Net
Islands in the Net, a 1988 science fiction novel by Bruce Sterling. It won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel in 1989, and was nominated for both the Hugo and Locus Awards that same year.-Overview:...
; R. Talsorian Games
R. Talsorian Games
R. Talsorian Games, based in Renton, WA , is a publisher of role-playing game books and accessories. Their titles include the Cyberpunk 2020 series and for anime-related titles such as Dragonball Z. Their major product line today is the Fuzion system.The company's chairman is Mike Pondsmith,...
' Cyberpunk 2020
Cyberpunk 2020
Cyberpunk 2020 is a cyberpunk role-playing game written by Mike Pondsmith and published by R. Talsorian Games.- Overview :This role-playing game is based on the works of William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, and other authors of the "Mirrorshades group"...
; the movies Bladerunner, Judge Dredd
Judge Dredd
Judge Joseph Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running . Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner...
, and The Matrix
The Matrix
The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction-action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving...
series.