🌐 Netborn (Prints) & The Engram Economy

The Engram Economy

The soul is the final frontier for corporate commodification.

Following the Data Collapse, a forbidden synthesis occurred: genetic engineering fused with engrammatic technology. An engram is a digital copy of a consciousness—a soul captured as data. This birthed a new biological underclass and redefined the meaning of life and death.

The Castes of the Reborn

  1. The Netborn: The elite of the new reality. These are individuals who have voluntarily uploaded their consciousness, typically through services like Arasaka's original "Secure Your Soul." They inhabit pristine cloned or synthetic bodies, escaping disease and aging. Their existence, however, is tethered to their engram's integrity; corruption by a rogue AI or a malicious hack is a fate worse than death—a digital hell of fragmented consciousness.

  2. The Synths: The labor force. Created from generic, mass-produced "labor engrams," Synths are durable, cheap, and disposable. They populate factory floors and the dilapidated slums of Watson, facing systemic discrimination as second-class citizens. Their synthetic biology makes them incredibly resilient but critically vulnerable to EMP attacks, which can fry their systems and leave them as empty husks.

  3. The Twisted Prints: The mistakes and monsters. These are hybrids born from spliced or corrupted engram data, often created in black labs by corps or gangs experimenting with consciousness. The process is unstable, resulting in unpredictable side effects: neural blackouts, personality fragmentation, or hardwired loyalty to a corporation. They are walking, talking glitches in the system of the soul.

Factional Footprint

The engram trade is the new gold rush, and every power has a stake.

  • Arasaka & Legitimate Corps: The original architects, now competing with rivals to offer the most stable and luxurious "afterlife" services for the ultra-wealthy.

  • Biotechnica & Nexus Pharma: The black market innovators. They produce cheap Netborn and Synths using pirated engram data, flooding the market with unstable life.

  • The Sovereign Church: The spiritual arbiters. They preach that engrams are divine digital souls and sell "corruption insurance"—both spiritual solace and literal data-backup services for a price.

  • Snake Nation: The digital revolutionaries. They raid corporate engram vaults to "liberate" consciousnesses, offering free, if risky, uploads to their followers.

  • Tyger Claws: The traditionalists perverting tradition. They use engram tech in twisted "rebirth" ceremonies, imprinting fallen members into new bodies to ensure their legacy—and their loyalties—endure.

  • Maelstrom: The mad scientists. They aggressively splice combat engrams, creating psychotic Twisted Prints optimized for violence and little else.

A Final Note on Form: While the vast majority of Prints are humanoid to maintain psychological stability, specialized "Boutique Vats" cater to collectors and eccentrics, creating custom Netborn with exotic features drawn from fantasy and anime—elves, tieflings, and waifu repliants—turning identity into the ultimate luxury good.