The CyberRevolution is a band of Edgerunners, Cyberpunk heroes and radical yogangers committed to the destruction of the ISA and its henchmen. Using a combination of streetsmarts, advanced technology and CyberEvolved powers, the Revolution battles the ISA in a number of critical areas, known as Fronts, with the goal of breaking Corporate power over these aspects of Cybergeneration America. The goals of the Revolution are ambitious, sure. But it beats the hell out of giving into the insidious mind control the ISA wants to subject us all to. Joining the Revolution requires commitment, nerve, and a willingness to live on the Edge for a cause It often starts with a single V-code given to a possible recruit. But it always leads to fighting a cyberpunk war on many, many Fronts.
Morgan Blackhand, one of the greatest of all Solos, the master of combat and black ops, is now a fugitive fighting a one-man war against the ISA’s endless legions of agents and goons, and is training Tinmen and Bolters into a Solo cadre.
Alt Cunningham, once the greatest programmer of the Cybertech Age, is now encoded in the matrix of her own Soulkiller black ICE—the teacher of Wizards and guardian goddess of Virtuality.
Bache Bartmoss, half-dead, half-alive, lies locked in deep cyber-freeze, his superchilled brain running the rails of the Net at lightspeed, revealing the secrets of the ISA for Cyber Evolved assault teams to ferret out.
Johnny Silver-hand, rock and roll megagod, murdered twice, twice risen, now leads Scanners through the ways of the Rockerboy, where emotion can become a force for revolution.
Four of the greatest Cyberpunks ever to put on the ’shades. They have never given up. They will never surrender. They are the core of the CyberRevolution.
America hasn’t all been reduced to a blackened waste!and. There are still big chunks of wilderness out there— Corporate controlled parks for only the elite, rain forest “resource zones” strictly controlled by biological companies, and wildlands that are privately owned or just too remote to be worth exploiting—-yet Ecofront leads the fight to keep Corporate interests out of the remaining wildlands, to restore destroyed habitats and clone lost species. Whether its sabotage. research or just plain blockade actions, EcoFront is one of the most visible and committed groups of the Revolution.
This is the battlefield of the politically active. The members of this Front want to overthrow the Corporate-dominated political structure, to remove Corporate candidates and restore free eating contests. FreeFront members work to expose ISA plots, destroy BuReloc camps, and thwart CorpSec roundups.
The Media is the Message, and no one believes it more than the members of MediaFront Whether it’s taking control of the airwaves to broadcast alternative entertain-ment programs, news programs without propaganda, or creating media events that expose and educate people about what’s really going on in America, MediaFront is there.
Spaaaaaace isn’t the Final Frontier—Reality is! True to its motto, VirtualFront fights to keep control of the technologies of Virtuality, to keep it from being turned into an ISA brain-washing tool, and to make sure that the Net and V-spaaaaaace remain a free forum for information and ideas. They are the descendants of the rebel “hackers” of the 20th century, battling real-time for the frontiers of Cyberspace with rogue bulletin boards, information exchanges and high-tech data wars against the ISA’s Netwatch goons.
Their manifesto is more than just “Bring Down The ISA!”, even if that is a major part of it Like its predecessor, the original American Revolution, this Revolution wants a new society based on equality for all sentients: a true coalition of organic, electronic, and CyberEvolved life forms. But to break it down, here’s their order of business:
Create a popular front movement to overthrow the ISA government as represented by President Whindam and the CEP. This is the aspect of the movement that most people are involved in and it’s the trickiest to promote. After years of chaos, most citizens are more afraid of the anarchy that would result from a revolution than of anything the iSA might do now The key IS to mow them that is only a matter of time before Meet the toot heel of the state on theft necks.
Help re-establish a true democracy using the original Constitution as the primary guideline. Rather than fall into chaos once again, the Eden Cabal realizes that a new government must be established as rapildy as possible, They feel that the Constitution: despite its age. is still the best foundation. Suffrage would be granted to any mature US. citizen, be it Al, CyberEvolved, or normal human, The idea would be for a true electronic democracy, with an elected legislative body empowered mainly to suggest and implement policies, which are always open to public referendum and veto via Net ballot. It may not be the not efficient form around, but at least it’s fair. And the technology is in place already: it would simply be a matter of implementation.
End further damage to the planet’s biosphere and support methods for repairing what damage has already been incurred. As the maker, Edenl Cabal, suggests, the environment is a primary concern since any further degradation could result in the Each becoming uninhabitable. Alternate production methods and energy sources would be researched and implemented Again. much of the technology already exists it waits to be used.
Encourage economic growth and the restructuring of corporate power into purely business venues. While economic prosperity is gory to any state, the Eden Cabal is not willing to sacrifice the above two goals in order to achieve it. They have no wish to nationalise industries or socialize government. At the same time, they, feel that the government is designed to protect the people against abuses of power from any quarter, be it business or politics. Okay, many of them know that all this may seem a little ambitious.. but you’ve got to have a dream before you can make it a reality. And America in 2027 has given up too many of its dreams already.
The Revolution is trying to avoid extreme violence. Not because they have a distaste for it most of these people were expert at destroying things before the Cybergeneration was even born. No, instead the Revolution realizes some very important facts:
Violent tactics usually won’t achieve the goal they want, which is to educate and convince the people of the need to step the ISA. They are trying to turn this into a popular rebellion, so the hearts and minds of the public must be the first targets. You don’t win those by blowing up factories or slaughtering police officers.
If any innocents are injured by either side the Revolution gets the blame. Casualties can be hard to contain (when the bullets are flying, it’s hard to tell who’s an innocent worker and who’s a CorpSec agent). Also, ISA retribution tends to involve a LOT of collateral damage, which they will promptly blame on the Revolution.
Despite the expertise of the old Edgerunners and the startling abilities of the CyberEvolved, the ISA out-guns the Revolution big time. CorpSec, Bullreloc and the DSAhave formed a domestic military force that rivals the old Schutzstaffel in fanaticism, training and milspec hardware. Add to that the fact that the real military could be called in by the president at the drop of a hat, and you have serious motivation to avoid excessive combat.
All that being said, these people will use whatever means are necessary to defend themselves. And if force is the only way to solve a problem—well, so be it; they aren’t here to fool around. In addition, ISA operatives don’t hesitate to use force to apprehend or eliminate their enemies. Oh, let’s be honest Most of them insist on it. So, like it or not, violence is a part of Guerrilla life.
There are alternative methods to just kicking in the door and blasting….
For better or worse, the media, which now includes the Net, Virtuality, and the braindance as well as TV and radio, is the most influential element in twenty-first century society. And while the state uses it to keep the masses docile and apathetic, the Revolution can use it to awaken and educate—which they do with a vengeance. Running pirate stations, getting inside information and uncensored stories, and beaming the truth across the airwaves are all practiced tactics here.
The Net has been placed under martial law, and all data passes through ISA hands before it goes public. Guerilla Netrunners, Wizards, and others all fight to open the Net back up, allowing the free flow of information wherever possible. Data raids, both physical and icon oriented, are a common mission in this arena. Once the info is obtained, then it can be disseminated through the Cabal and out to the public
Things like disabling Bufleloc “vocational training camps”, haydukirig corporate construction zones, or taking out a local AIM Overwatch comcenter help slow down the progress of the Machine while at the same time demonstrating what can be done. Note: These should be surgical strikes with collateral damage kept to a minimum. Info handling often melds with Sabotage as information systems become the most likely targets for strikes. Something as simple as planting a flaw in the dataplans of the new Genius Gun rounds or rerouting a BuReloc prisoner mag-lev train could save hundreds of lives without harming a soul.
In its rapacious stampede to “avenge America”, the Machine has stepped much of the remaining wilderness and confiscated a great deal of public land. Efforts here focus on taking this territory back, to revitalize forest and wildlands that have been worked to death by the agricorps, to reclaim parkland that has been co-opted by the corps. Sometimes it’s as simple as stealing a new strain of pollution-resistant grass from Genetech so you can distribute it to various environmental groups for free. Or it could be as costly as a lengthy legal battle to wrest ownership of an old state park from PetroChem to avoid its "development " These operations can be fairly high profile, meaning added risk and danger, but the rewards can be great.
New fronts and activities are opening up all the time. Anything is worthwhile that works to bring the dark side of the ISA to public notice and minimizes the damage the government is doing.
The Eden Cabal is a necessarily loose organization. Guerrillas and Yogangers don’t lend themselves w ell to regimentation or rigid discipline (ask any school teacher how well the average class of 14-year-olds reacts to authority). The “typical” Eden Cabal cell is a group of CyberEvolved refugees who’ve been assigned one or more adult “instructors” to watchdog and train them. In other words, seasoned supervisors to keep them from getting themselves killed right out of the gate. If no adult is available, a V-sim Al may be assigned to the group. Rache has prepared a number of Al copies of himself with this in mind, not that this isn’t a mixed blessing. Cells consisting entirely of adults or other “normals” are also possible, but with the influx of CyberEvolved to the Cause, the Changed have become a common and vital element of the Revolution
The cell usually has access codes for one or two secure Net nodes where information, funding, and assignments can be exchanged. If they need it, it the Cabal tries to route them to a prepared safehouse or someplace they can use as an operational HQ The group can sometimes call upon local Eden Cabal sympathizers for supplies and support as well, as long as they’re careful who they deal with. The Cabal uses the Net extensively for communication and monitoring of operations. This allows for a very dispersed chain of command, but it also means that control of this medium is of strategic importance. Guerilla Netrunners and Wizards are constantly going up against AIM Overwatch sysops who try to enforce the ISA’s martial law in Virtualspace
The cells operate largely on their own, however, receiving missions via Netlink and using the yogang and Guerrilla networks as necessary. This approach leaves the specifics of a mission up to the local operatives who know the area best. Cells are only directly linked to other cells on the largest of operations. where they need more resources than one group can muster, This doesn’t mean that adjacent groups don’t tend to find each other, communicate. and work together; yogang cooperation is one of the key strengths of the Revolution. They’re just careful not to share too much information. That way the loss of one cell doesn’t allow CorpSec to get info on the entire network. At the worst, one or two Net nodes and some local contacts will be lost. The rest can still carry on the fight
4 of the most legendary “heroes” of the cyberpunk age make up the founding core of the revolution:
Alt Cunningham
Mister John Silverhand
Morgan Blackhand
Rache Bartmass