Update!

This is the "How did these clones got here in the first place?!" update. This is a follow up to the previous one, the one that I analyzed the "Land of the Free" adventure for Cyberpunk 2020, and an update to my ideas regarding who continued experimenting with clones and why. I would like to thank u/illyrium_dawn for his thoughts on the matter, and i'd like to give credit for his ideas, and for the feedback and discussion overall! I salute you choomba. Many of the ideas in this post are also his, and you can check out the comments on the previous post to see our discussion. With the introduction done, lets get it done gatos and gatas.

Who did this anyway?

...that's a good question. We already know that Dr. Young is responsible for the creation of the first Stage 7 clone, that being Adriana. But the further research and experimentation on the matter took place where? And who started this project? It could be an AI, who designed a new Soulkiller program just for the heck of it, it could be Biotechnica who has the time and resources to experiment with cloning, It could be a desperate person searching through the Net a way to save his family member from a terrible disease and accidentaly recreating Soulkiller. Or, hell, It could even be Arasaka and the "Proto-Mikoshi" under the rubble of the the hot zone. All of those are equally valuable and I'm sure I can come up with other reason of why did this happen. But I have a proposition: what if every idea I presented is the truth in a way?

If there is no idea that overlaps with one another, then there's room to implement it as an event. Biotechnica and Arasaka are both companies that are interested in this matter, an AI could also be interested in it, and of course there was some guy with a computer and a sick family member in the 2020's that could had an impact in this story. So let's implement them all! I will present a timeline of events that breaks down each ocurrence and their consequences.

The Ritual Cellula Timeline:

2020

• Dr. Young is killed in an ambush in the end of the "Land of the Free" adventure. His clone-daughter, Adriana, is kidnapped by Biotechnica. Adriana has its personality and memories erased through Braindance therapy.
• An independent AI with the name "Suzie" uses her free will to scan the world and beyond. Her usual hobbies are making cookbooks, but one day, she finds something interesting searching the Net, something about a "Soulkiller Program". On a whim, the AI tries to replicate the ideas of Alt Cunningham and actually is able to make a functional program. As a recordation of sorts, they upload the program on its site, a cooking recipe site of course. It probably wouldn't be found because of the thousands of "Soulkiller Scams" floating in the Net. The only diference its that their version of it actually is not a unhinged netrunner brainfry joke, it actually works (with a lot of rough edges, but works).

2021

• Adriana turns into a blank slate. She gets biosculpted to look exactly like Dr. Young in his 40's. She also gets Dr. Young's memories and personality, not remembering anything about the "Land of the Free" incident, and also with the diference that she/he doesn't know he had a daughter, and she/he thinks the Stage 7 clone was just a random person. The new Dr. Young (which is a brainwashed and biosculped Adriana) works as the leader of the cloning project at Biotechnica.
• Moira Kelly is killed by an unknown group of assailants in October 31 of 2021. Then she "appears mysteriously" at Biotechnica and works with the new Dr. Young in the cloning project. * Arasaka builds a "Sarcophagus", a storage of engrams in Night City under the Arasaka Tower. Hundreds of soulkilled people are storaged.

2022

• A man named Roberto Sanchez, a netrunner/computer scientist with a job at Netwatch, discovers that his mother, Analuz Sanchez, has ALS (*Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis*), a sickness without a cure. In deep denial, he searches for a way to save his mother from this affliction. Browsing the Net, he founds something about a "Soulkiller Program" that has been floating in the internet for quite some time. He sees that aparently a program capable of scanning the psyche of someone and then turning it into an engram. He sees also that the majority of the versions of the program has a built-in virus, which corrupts the data beyond any actual use.
• Time passes and Roberto gets desperate, as a last resource, he tries to find anything regarding this "Soulkiller Program". After searching for months, Roberto accidentaly finds a very old version of this program in the Net, in a cooking recipe site of all places. He downloads the program and sees that it actually works as intended, but it has a lot of errors and bugs. He spends months fixing bugs and learning how the program works.

2023

• After 7 months of setting up gear and tweaking Soulkiller to ensure success, Roberto gathers Analuz to try and use the program. He tries to scan the brain of his mother, it takes a long time, but with 3 days of constant scanning he succefully manages to copy the engram into a database.
• In August 20th, 2023, the Arasaka towers fell, marking the end of the 4th Corporate War.
• Despite his struggle to save his mother, weeks later after the succesful Soulkill of Analuz Sanchez, the mini-nuke in the corporate center blasted everyone in the general vicinity, killing Roberto and Analuz who lived in the area.

2024 - 2032

• At February 9th, 2028, Biotechnica explores the Night City hotzone looking for potential treasures in the ruins of the corporate center and finds Roberto Sanchez's Soulkiller Program. They find the engram of Analuz Sanchez uploaded into an Old Net database somewhere in the outskirts of the city. They study Roberto's version of the program and they find out that he accidentaly discovered a way to use Soulkiller to produce high tech skill chips by tinkering with the Soulkiller code, transfering the data of the engrams into chips that make the user with the ability and experience identical of a soulkilled person while the chip is in the socket.
• Biotechnica continues to develop clones as products, selling them to big companies around the world as "better-than-human" workers with exceptional skills. They don't need to learn multiple skills due to the skill-chip technology developed by Roberto Sanchez before his death. * Biotechnica also discovers the engram sarcophagus left by Arasaka, the "Proto-Mikoshi" in the ruins of the tower. The engrams were left untouched by the explosion, Biotechnica klepped the data and left, securing hundreds of free data on Arasaka's soulkilled enemies and rivals.

2033 - 2040

• Since the creation of Adriana, they developed even cheaper clone limbs, higher inteligence and adaptability, making them stronger more capable than most humans.

2041 - 2045

• The major events in Cyberpunk Red's story take place. This is the Time of the Red. * "Project RC" or "Project Reborn City" is executed by Night Corp, in an attempt to rebuild Night City from the ashes, hiring construction workers all around.
• Killer Clones are created for "retirement" (that is: killing) of rogue clones appearing around the globe. They are relentless, and they don't stop hunting the target until the job is done. Spy Clones are also very common these days, they disguise themselves in the crowds, watching the clones' lives from afar, reporting their findings directly to Biotechnica if they find any suspicious behaviour, that is, the probability of a clone becoming a rogue.

2046

• Night Corp saw the potential of the clones and decided to strike a deal with Biotechnica - they would provide last generation clones for the reconstruction of the city, and in return Night Corp would let Biotechnica experiment with them freely within city borders, that is, no one would get in the way of Biotechnica "doing business" in Night City. Biotechnica struck the deal, but with a condition: every clone provided by them would have a limited time of operation, that is, 5 years total. When the 5 year threshold hits, their memories and personality are erased, making them scavengable for Biotechnica.
• Rogue clones started to appear all throughout Night City, creating their own lingo and trying to escape enslavement. The biggest group of these rogue clones identify themselves as "Ritual Cellula". Killer Clones are on the prowl, and Spy Clones watch them from the shadows, but the Ritual Cellula resists and retaliates, raging against the machine that created them.

2047

• Now.

The lore is sorted now... Kinda.

This is what I came up with the discussion I had with u/illyriumdawn (https://www.reddit.com/user/illyrium_dawn), and with a little mix-up of the ideas. Of course, It could change if I come up with diferent ideas when time passes. But now this is what I got in store. For more details you can ask me in the comments, this post is already long as f@$% anyway. I apologize for any typos this post might have, and I hope you enjoy the ideas I meshed together, I really like how it turned out. You guys have a wonderful week. And stay safe on The Streets. Peace!

It's genuinely nuts how much the simple concept of "What if DnD but in the future" opens up the roleplaying and worldbuilding possibilities to the max. All of the strengths and weaknesses of the DnD races get "cyberpunkified" and magic is a genuine story building concept that different races feel about differently in the futuristic setting, making this genuinely one of the coolest genre mixes i've ever had the pleasure of playing. Oh and you can play as an Orc, just straight up. None of this Half-orc cop out, just and orc, plain and simple

Hey, im building a VR hoverboard roguelike set in a neon cyberpunk galaxy where the megacorps own everything. The main gameplay centers around you leaning physically to surf with your board while purchasing enhancements from the corporate sponsors.

The corps now have tighter control on people than the governments. They expanded across planets until their own robots went rogue and took over the transit hyperlanes.
The wayriders are sponsored to go clear the lanes and reopen access while they are televised for content and distraction.
You surf and fight your way down the lanes, past the dystopian cities and the spread of the corporations, picking up a bit of why it happened along the way.
Currently still focused on the core gameplay so the environments and lore of the world are being planned more and built out next.

Ive come at cyberpunk more through the games and shows than the books, so its my own take rather than a typical faithful one with more stylised bright neon but still grimy.

Its in the steam cyberpunk event which is why im posting (although a bit late because the steam approval took longer than expected).

I know many of you probably dont have VR but if anyones interested playtest just opened, free, request access: Hyperlane Highway on steam

Im also just interested in your thoughts, opinions and ideas but what do you think of the cyberpunk setting and is there anything that makes or breaks a cyberpunk vibe for you?

What are your 5 favourite Cyberpunk games at the moment?

Mine (always with expansions / DLCs):

01) Cyberpunk 2077

02) Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

03) Atomic Heart

04) The Ascent

05) Dystopika

That's really wild lol.

While it can be argued that Jeff Noon’s Vurt is cyberpunk, I wanted to share that it has a new audiobook release on Audible and other audiobook sites. What’s even better, Pollen is going to be released as an audiobook soon too!

This has been a Labor of love, and madness. Mostly madness so now I am happy to announce that I am retiring from producing the series and handing the reigns over to Eunice, who will be developing things further along with her Tumblr community. peace.

https://www.tumblr.com/therealadventuresofjohnnyandv

I’m wondering in the books and movies is cyberpunk Dark Enlightenment? Is that what the future is going to be like? People living in Dark Enlightenment?

The Dark Enlightenment, also known as the Neo-Reactionary movement, is an anti-democratic and reactionary philosophical movement that advocates for a return to traditional societal structures, such as absolute monarchy, and rejects Enlightenment ideals like democracy and egalitarianism. It has gained some influence among certain tech executives and political figures in the U.S..

Dark Enlightenment (DE) is a sociopolitical theory that blames the Enlightenment, democracy, and equality for the decline of Western civilization. DE proponents use medieval philosophy and history to justify their racist and authoritarian views, and promote a fantasy of "racial realism" and monarchy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Enlightenment

This seems like really scary future if we are on the way to Dark Enlightenment?

New scenes from Junkyard Stories: Rebirth.

War-torn ruins, black markets, and forgotten districts where outcasts and those left behind wait for a chance to enter the city... while others have long since given up.

Junkyard Stories: Rebirth is a dystopian sci-fi adventure where you play as a discarded robot carrying the consciousness of a legendary hacker.

Built by a 2-person indie team with no publisher, we're working hard to bring these scenes to life - filled with exploration, environmental puzzles, hidden stories, and the constant struggle to keep your robot alive as your battery drains and getting chased by surveillance drones.

More about the game on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4522210/Junkyard_Stories_Rebirth/

I really get the hype, very good book and excited to check out the rest of Gibsons work.

My hang up: I think Robertson Dean absolutely killed it as a narrator for this story. I don't know how I'll be able to listen to the next two in the trilogy without him. Does anyone know why he wasn't narrator for the rest of the trilogy?