Over 50% of the children born on the street don’t know both of their biological parents. The nuclear family is a rare breed as the dangers and stresses of poverty have pushed it to the edge of extinction. In the CorpZones, juves are being either brainwashed or ignored, crammed into cookie-cutter personalities, while their parents have sold out and left them at the mercy of the corporate system. On the Outside, street kids are fighting for a means to live while trying to find someplace to call home, even for a little while.
Out of a basic need for identity and rebellion, and (most importantly) to have fun, comes a new version of an old theme: the yogang. Yogangs, while not strictly families in the standard sense of the word, have taken on that role for many sirce the decline of the more typical forms. The broad teon applies to just about any youth group actually put together and maintained by the kids themselves, and is far more like a group than a gang. They are usually exclusively for teens or pre-teens, with little or no adult leadership, and almost every teener belongs to one even if you don’t call yourself a ‘ganger. Most kids only participate part-time, but that doesn’t make you any less a member. Yogangs provide ways to relate to (and find status among) your peers beyond what the adults spell out for you. At the same time, they allow you to break out and make some rules of your own.
And America in 2027 could definitely use some new rules.
On the Outside, yogangs are sometimes the only means for survival-you need a group to back you up or you’re fair game. Your group could be a feral family, the Squats being a case in point. It could be all the kids from a single neighborhood that decide they share an image and want to present a united front. Or it could be a bunch of dispossessed teens who’ve banded together to defend themselves; StreetFighter schools are great places to look for protection and a way of facing the Street proudly. Misanthropic Nomad kids are natural GoGangers. One common factor of Yogangs on the Outside, though: They’re designed to help the members survive and gain a reputation first-fun comes a distant second.
Surprisingly, yogangs are as common in the Corpzones as in the Outside. Some Corpzone yogangers like the BeaverBrats turn to vandalism (what’s life without a little graffiti?) and corporate harassment. Most are simply kids that share a major interest, like the ArcoRunners, the Tinkertots, or the Vidiots. Others are looking for ways of displaying skill and grabbing some fun, like the GoGangers and the BoardPunks. For others, like the Goths or the Guardians, it’s deadly serious. Whatever the group is into, the point is to thumb your nose at the system and to do something important for yourself and your fellows. Many still love their parents (if they have any), but to the yogangers, most adults have become part of the ISA Machine-the corporate megastate which now dominates their lives.
The Carbon Plague has hit the Yogangs hard, since they represent the prime age range from which the Changed emerge. Even more destructive than the Plague itself is the hunt which has followed. Any tolerance the authorities may have had for yogang activities has evaporated in the paranoia of the pursuit for CyberEvolved teens. Police, CorpSec, and a lot of other people most of these kids have never even heard of before are chasing down the yogangs, looking for infection, advantage, or just plain cheap thrills.
Yogangs relate to each other via The Code
The world of Cybergeneration can be a violent dangerous place. But the Cybergeneration were born into this world, and are perfectly adapted to it. They do more than merely survive; they live their lives to the maximum, laugh at the danger, and ride the Edge farther, faster and better than any Edgerunner alive. They have hopes, goals and plans to do a lot of good along the way.
And you’d better count on it
So you’re playing a Cybergeneration character? Here’s the first thing to remember, chombatta: Juves are not miniature adults. Say it again. In Cybergeneration, you are a punk. You don’t have power, you don’t have weapons. All you have is yourself. smarts, sneakiness, and sheer determination.
As a yoganger, you know that going head on against a CorpSec team is tantamount to suicide. They’ve got Genius Guns; you’ve got slingshots. They have AVs; you’re probably not even tall enough to reach the control yoke of a spinner. But as the seven-year-old Cybergen character who, when confronted by a CorpSec squad in an abandoned No-Go Zone, said, “Hush! We’re playing hide and seek” discovered, most adults (even in 2027) can’t really believe that a seven-year old could be leading a strike team into a Corporate facility. At least not until he rolls a grenade into the middle of them.
If you’re the type that depends on Big Weapons and Equipment to get you by, get ready for a shock. As a Cybergeneration yoganger, you’re going to need to use your smarts more. You’ll use Genspeak to discuss plans right in front of your opposition. You’ll use Blend to make sure you’re overlooked by the guards at the right time, and Littl’ Angel to fake them out if you’re caught in the act. You may even discover that there are real advantages to playing an eight year-old yoganger, especially if no one realizes she can blow off heads until it’s too late.
Your weapons are numbers and subtlety. The best place to hide will be in a school or a shopping mall, where ISA agents would have to interrogate two hundred kids instead of fingering just one. Sometimes, a Hexite tendril in the right part of the lock is better than ripping apart the door and setting off an alarm. Sometimes rearranging the molecules of a critical vehicle part will get rid of your pursuers a lot more easily than a missile launcher. And there’s less mess to sweep up afterwards.
For those of you who’ve wanted to play “dark future” style game without the oppressive atmosphere and constant violence, Cybergeneration may be something of a relief. As a yoganger, you can have fun with your enemies instead of just shooting them. When you’re twelve, it’s a lot more interesting to humiliate the president of Biotechnica creatively than it is to blow him away. Do it enough, and his boss will probably do you a favor by eliminating him first. before the embarrassment spreads.