Creating Cyberpunk with My Own Hands

Although the resistance movement rejects the great-man view of history, they believe the tide of history is inevitable.

Just as their eventual victory was inevitable, so was the arrival of the fucked-up era they lived in. It wasn't caused by one person's sudden whim.

But when faced with the all-pervasive surveillance network and Adam, the ultimate AI that could accurately predict every one of their strategies, they still couldn't help cursing. They couldn't help blaming it all on Ed Chen, the ultimate criminal in history.

Don't misunderstand. Ed Chen didn't create all this.

But if the esteemed professor hadn't been stupid enough to make Xie Fenghong work like a 007 for him, producing research, only to steal all the credit and leave him with nothing, then Xie Fenghong, who'd always kept his head down, wouldn't have been driven to leave the research institute and found Blue Dot. Although, honestly, it's hard to associate the phrase "kept his head down" with Xie Fenghong.

And then this fucked-up era wouldn't exist.

The resistance curses Ed Chen every second of every day. Sometimes they're so exasperated they can only laugh.

Seriously, man, why'd you have to provoke him?

1. Corporate drones are here. Cyberpunk setting, told from the company's perspective.

2. The protagonist is an antagonist, and won't do good deeds and earn admiration while still acting like a villain. Many resistance fighters will appear as unambiguously positive characters.

3. At first, the protagonist isn't a naturally ruthless capitalist. He even has a bit of the idealistic scholar about him. Readers who want a protagonist who kills decisively from the start, please proceed with caution.

4. The sci-fi elements are weak early on. The early stages of the startup are grounded in realistic technology, since they have no money. The tech tree will climb in the middle and later stages.

5. Don't ask what timeline this is. Just know I have my own preferences for the setting.

6. Entirely fictional. Many real-world details will be adjusted to serve the plot.

Theme: Technology changes the world, for better or for worse.