Beta Setting
It's the year 2230, the 50th anniversary of the Great Awakening, and Artemis stands on the edge of tremendous change.
Even the youngest of the First Generation of settlers, those rugged survivors who built the city, have retired from the public stage. While some of their descendents cling to traditions imported from Earth, the rising wave of third-generation Artemisians more often seek to carve out their own paths.
And never before has Artemis offered so much opportunity to make your name.
Of course, money is still power, and the corporations of Artemis have a great deal of both. Those born into the luxury housing of District Four have the freedom to pursue any dream they want, while the citizens of the utilitarian and chem-fogged District Two will have to fight for every inch of ground.
But every corner of the city teems with life and energy, inspired by a boom of progress across many fields at once:
Homegrown media has finally taken off under the wings of the fledgling Artemis Entertainment Corporation, an outlet for would-be creatives before or behind the cameras. The intrepid broadcasters of the AEC create both entertainment and journalism.
New breakthroughs in the use of the still-mysterious mineral artemisium have revolutionized the world of cyberware. Not only can people replace missing limbs with intuitive and durable cybernetics, but implants promising to improve on humanity's natural abilities are hitting the market as well.
Similar improvements in vehicular technology have opened up routes to new biomes previously too remote to access, ripe for exploration. These newly-accessible landscapes of Artemis hold unknowable dangers, secrets… and possibly riches, depending on who finds them first.
"The age of mere survival on this planet is past," declared the new Governor-General Adanna Folayan, in her inauguration speech. "Now is the time to think about innovation. Audacity. Ambition. This world is ours, to shape and to conquer."
But this attitude may breed unexpected consequences. The inequalities in Artemisian society have bred deep resentments, nurtured in forgotten corners and hidden alleys. And the hunger to conquer these unknown lands may awaken reprisal from forces far more alien…
A time of change, in all its dangers and splendors. What mark will you make in the history of Artemis?