Vehicles
Movement remains primitive. Most people travel on foot, covering long distances between Groves and zones. High-powered, fossil-fuel vehicles are all but extinct, fuel is scarce, and the roads needed to support them have long since fallen apart.
Yet not all progress was lost. During the struggle against the Infinite Black, a breakthrough came with the capture and study of disabled hovering machines. From their technology, humanity learned to replicate key systems, leading to the development of power cells, brick-sized, long-life batteries that recharge through use. These cells now sustain daily life, powering homes, agricultural equipment, and essential infrastructure.
More recently, salvaged wreckage from Explorers, Sentinels, and Interrogators has revealed the principles behind their hovering capabilities. What was once alien is slowly becoming understood, and with it, the possibility of a new way to move through a broken world.
Hov trucks
Hover-utilities ride a constant cushion of air, gliding roughly thirty to fifty centimetres above the ground. Powered by durable cells, these “Hovs” are built for function over comfort. Most feature a compact two-seat cabin up front and a lightweight cargo tray or caged bed behind, designed to haul supplies across uneven terrain. Performance depends heavily on load, so efficiency matters more than speed or luxury. They come in varied formats such as:
- Personal tray utility vehicles
- Cargo Haulers
- Tankers
Velobikes
Syndicates, as ever, have taken the technology further. By refining the same principles, they’ve produced lightweight hover bikes capable of weaving through tight forest paths and broken dirt roads at speed. Known as Velobikes, or simply Velos, these machines are more accessible to ordinary households, provided they can afford them.
But with value comes risk. Theft of Hovs and Velos has become widespread, giving the newly formed Community Marshals yet another challenge in a world already stretched thin.
Syndicate Chop Shops and Bod-Fabs
Since the scavenging of deactivated Mother-Machines at the end of the Machine War, the secrets of Infinite Black body transmogrification have become a field of study in their own right. Several technologically advanced syndicates have rapidly developed a troubling level of proficiency in body modification.
As a result, more humans are beginning to explore the possibilities of enhancing their bodies. Body Modification Fabrication, commonly known as Bod-Fabs is becoming widespread. Syndicates now install a variety of experimental devices into willing members and paying customers alike. Alongside this rise, so-called Chop Shops have become increasingly common.
Because these operations are run by criminals, the consequences are severe. Bod-Fab procedures are highly unpredictable, with extreme side effects. Undergoing enhancement is a gamble: success means transformation, but failure often means death. Countless people have died or disappeared, some due to biological rejection of components, others at the hands of the Chop Shops themselves.
There is now a growing black market in human ‘stock’. When spare parts run low, curious customers may be repurposed. Stories have emerged of individuals lured to remote locations, unaware that they themselves are the payment, commodities exchanged between location brokers and Chop Shop operators in need of fresh materials.
Even more disturbing is a newly reported side effect. Some modified humans appear to live normal lives at first, unaware that they are effectively ticking time bombs. At an unknown trigger point, they descend into complete psychosis, erupting into extreme violence. Once activated, they lose all sense of self, becoming feral hybrids, part human, part machine but no longer restrained by Mother’s control systems.
These individuals roam indiscriminately, attacking with brutal ferocity. Victims are often found mutilated beyond recognition, and there are even whispers, still unconfirmed, of cannibalism.
In their pursuit of power and profit, the syndicates may have recreated the very horror they once fought to overcome. In this bleak new world, their unchecked ambition has effectively birthed a “Mother 2.0.” Perhaps the Infinite Black never truly vanished. Perhaps this was always part of its design a slow, insidious contagion driving humanity toward an endless cycle of self-destruction.
Dan Verkys 