Hong Kong (香港), now known as Ghost World, was a special administrative region on the eastern side of the Pearl River estuary in southern China. With over 9.12 million people of various nationalities in a 1,104-square-kilometre (426 sq mi) territory, Hong Kong was one of the most densely populated places in the world.[1] By 2025, the region was completely destroyed by a plague, but regained life in the form of Alt Cunningham's digital consciousness forming an artificial intelligence society within the remnants of the NET in the region.[2]
History
In 1997, control of Hong Kong officially reverted from Britain to China, though unfortunately China was in the middle of a civil war against the Maoist Loyalist Cabal, which by 1995 controlled the Guangzhou Special Economic Zone. In 1999, agitators from the MLC took to the streets in what became known as the Hong Kong Riots, fighting against the Triads and corporate security firms. The city was declared under martial law and almost anyone that could abandoned it.
In 2010, the remaining corporations and Triads in the city banded together against the MLC. In 2013, MLC leader Hua Yuchi was assassinated, and that served as the cue for the alliance to storm the mainland and help retake it alongside the CCP. After the war, the Triads and the corporations were granted precedence over the city, with the Triads controlling the west side of the peninsula while WNS, Arasaka, EBM, and WorldSat were given portions of the city.[1]
By this period, Artificial Intelligences had began using Hong Kong's sprawling computer network as a safe-haven of sorts, infesting both abandoned and active computer systems. The Chinese couldn’t afford to cut off power to the Net due to how important it was to their commerce, so they were stuck with it. Over time, the AIs began to develop their own culture.[3]
During the Fourth Corporate War, a bio-engineered plague was unleashed in Hong Kong which reduced it to a wasteland uninhabitable by life. The Chinese government responded by putting a 100-foot wall around the city to contain the disease. In 2025, an Engram of Alt Cunningham decided to use the still-functional servers within the city as a haven for AI's to exist without human interference.[4][2] Presumably, the pre-existing society was a base.
Military
After Hong Kong was liberated from the Maoist Loyalist Cabal in 2013, the Ghurkas that had defended the city since they were under the British privatised and founded the Neo-HK Merc Force. Every year they recruit 200 teen-agers from their native Nepal, and train them in the fighting style that made them legend for the last 300 years.
Ghurkas are small, fast, and fierce as pit-bulls. There have been many recorded cases of Ghurkas practically shredded from shrapnel and bullets still killing people in hand to hand combat, beheading them with their Kukri knives.
Currently there is one battalion (450 troops) on HK island, under the command of Col. Gurung. Another 1500 are on assignment around the world as bodyguards, in small tactical units (in Cambodia and Australia), and even a full battalion guarding the Sultan of Brunei. Ghurkas are known by their short stature, their Cybereyes that turn red in battle, and the Kukris they use.[1]
Gallery
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Reference
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 PASQUARETTE, C. Pacific Rim Sourcebook. Berkeley, CA, R. Talsorian Games, 1994.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 PONDSMITH, M. et al., Cyberpunk RED Jumpstart Kit - World Book. Kenmore, WA, R. Talsorian Games, 2019. (p.11)
- ↑ ACKERMAN, D. Rache Bartmoss Guide to the Net. Berkeley, CA, R. Talsorian Games, 1993. (pp.30–31)
- ↑ PONDSMITH, M. Cyberpunk RED Core Rulebook. Kenmore, WA, R. Talsorian Games, 2020. (p.240)