MÖRKTOBER 3 - GLYPH
IN WAY OF EXPLANATION - In this series of MÖRKTOBER posts I’m indulging in world building revolving around my home-brewed CY_BORG setting, MALTA 213X. I’ve been warned that this would get difficult but so far it’s been super easy! That’s because I am a genius, actually.
They say there is no solidarity between punks, mercs, bounty hunters, and various other scum and villains, and they’d be right - but for one exception. A mildly secretive community has recovered old maps from the pre-Crash internet and created GLYPH, an app that allows one to overlay icons dubbed, well, glyphs on set locations. The glyphs have set meanings and once added they are approved by the community through that purest of forms, ratings.
These are just three glyphs you might find on GLYPH and, of course, their interpretations:
- The Cultist's Serpent - A grouping of maniacs operates in this location. Maybe they’ll want to sacrifice you to the software god they recovered from a misbegotten server rack, maybe they simply want to preach its supposed good word. Either way it’s not a bad idea to stay clear.
- The Hand of the Friend - A neutral zone. We might all be rivals in this line of business, but we’ll conduct ourselves like perfectly respectable human beings in this place. Break this one rule and you’ll get kicked out via force and violence. Neutral zones are typically pubs or bars, which means they serve beer, making them a perfect place to meet fixers or informants, if not simply shoot the shit.
- The Stabber’s Stabber - There’s a high chance you got into the punk business because you’re broke. Since it also means you can’t exactly employ a bank’s services, you might need to employ the services of a loan shark. Such people are, as a rule, bastards, but some are such bastards that they get the mark of the Backstabber’s Stabber. This makes them the kind that will slice you open and have your organs and cyberware appraised before you even think of uttering “can I repay you in a week’s tiiaaAAARGGHH!!!”