TL;DR rundown of the state of the world
CONDENSED TIMELINE:
In the early 90s america ended democracy and several states splintered off. The USSR broke up and allied with western europe. The eurodollar became the most common curency (eddies). An alcohol based fuel called CHOOH2 replaced gasoline. America started a war and spread plagues for imperialist reasons disguised as fighting drugs, chil, ecuador, and afghanistans governments collapse, Colombian drug lords set off a small nuke in new york killing 15 thousand. Brain computer interface is invented along with aerodynes.
In 1994 the World Stock Market crashed causing worldwide financial meltdown. The first world started another space race, europe and africa teaming up for the lead. However in the united states 1 in 4 Americans where homeless, Hundreds of thousands rioted as Nomad packs sprung up across the nation. This overwheling unemployment, homlessness, and corruption lead to the collapse of the United States government from the ground up and the suspension of the Constitution in favor of Martial Law in 1996
In the late 90s a very limited nuclear war destorys most of the middle east, fallout spreading around the world and dropping oil supply by half. Rockerboy Manson is clubbed to death by british police, immortalizing his name in the rockerboy movement of artists taking charge in stances for change in the world by any means. The drought of '98 along with evil corps kill the family farm. A 10.5 earthquake shatters Los Angeles. A moon colony named Tycho is established. Finally, Night City begins construction
In 2000 the wasting plague kills millions in the U.S. and Europe. Mutated plant virus wipes out corps in canada and russia. The United States starts the second central american war and fails miserably. The gang of four are exposed for the first central american war and are swept away in a wave of reform. Elections return to the United States although heavily influenced by corps and still missing states. The worldwide NET is also made.
The First Corporate War occurs in 2004 to 2006 between EBM and Orbital Air, introducing the age of direct corporate war. Advancments are also made in human, the first human clone being made in 2006 and living 6 hours
Braindance is developed. The Second Corporate War occurs from 2008 to 2010 between SovOil and Petrochem over new oil fields in the south china sea. The United States assaults a russian weapons platform. EuroSpace steps in causing an orbital war between the euros and yanks. Until a Tycho mass driver drops a two-ton rock on Colorado Springs, causing uneasy peace. A year later the an american "Terrorist Group" tries to stop the construction of Crystal Palace. A five ton rock gets dropped off the coast of D.C. as a warning.
In the early 2010s Human Clones become viable but don't have personality or intellect, are used as spare parts for the rich. Eurotheatre finishes Crystal Palace, establishing a permanent hold in space. Eurotheatre also reaches Mars for a landing, then abandons it for a decade. On April 13, 2013 Johny Silverhand turns a concert into a riot gutting Araskas old complex. Soulkiller and the first true AIs are developed. Netwatch is established to watch the NET, and Rache Bartmoss plants the DataKrash virus in it.
In 2016 a third corporate war happens as cyber terrorists attack corp networks and cause billions of lost profits. But 2016-2021 are otherwise pretty clear for potential campaigns
In 2022 Rache Bartmoss is killed in a corporate raid, two weeks later the DataKrash takes down most of the net. Various corporate operations including the Bartmoss raid explode into the 4th corporate war. Arassaka and Militech move front line troops into battle, dragging in other corps, and causing heavy combat in major cities worldwide. Arasaka sets off virus bombs in rebuilding Chicago to deny it from millitech. Highrides sick of the fighting and led by a station opposite the moon drop dozens of lunar rocks and other "ortillery" precisely across the planet causing widespread death and destruction, are recognized as a new government. International trade is completly broken down. Many Megacorps totally collapse. On August 20th, 2023 Johny Silverhand and Morgan Blackhand set off a nuke in Arasaka Tower in the heart of night city. This destroys the cities heart, kill half a million, and cause another quarter million to die of radiation over the next few years. Arasaka is reduced to a Japan only corporation for the next decade while Millitech is nationalized by the Unitedd States. By 2025 the war is over and the european union is mostly restored. However the NET is officially down and the worlds infrastructure is severely impacted. The Night City Nuke, debris from orbital strikes, conventional explosives, burning of agriculture and annihalation of cities all tinge the skies worldwide a bloody red color for two years. It eventually dies down to brilliant red sunrises and sunsets throughout the next decade (both of these numbers longer in Night City).
Survivors of the Night City Holocause find themselves mutating from radiation. More resistant to physical damage but with a slew of health problems and shortend lifespans. The Diaspora begins as groups displaced from wrecked cities reclaim nearby cities abandoned since the 90s. Nomads serve as the lifeblood between cities. There is massive looting of old teach and scattered Corps are barely functioning. Arasaka breaks into three waring factions. The remaining United States is a functional dictatorship under Preseident Elizabeth Kress due to a State of Emergency.
By the year 2030 proper resettlment of suburban Night City begins. Corps regrow but Nomads are still the lifeblood. The NET is walled off after Netwatch fails to clear it for 3 years, CitiNets are established between some cities but are strongly controled. Data pools are established within cities as mini internets essentially. Mega buildings begin construction. By 2040 new factories are finally starting to be made as the world slowly rebuilds
FULL TIMELINE:
1980s
same as real life
1990s
A secret ‘coup' launched by The Gang of Four, a coalition of government agencies led by the current Vice President Dan Quayle, effectively ends federal democracy in the U.S. Many states begin ignoring federal authority, declaring themselves "Free States
Start of First Central American Conflict. American Imperial ambitions, justified as part of the war on Communism, terrorism, and narcotics, kill hundreds of thousands. American veterans return home dismembered and maimed, driving the demand for cyberware.The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) develops and spreads several designer plagues worldwide, targeting coca and opium plants. Governments of Chile, Ecuador, and Afghanistan collapse. A savage drug war breaks out between Eurocorpbacked dealers and DEA all over the Americas. In retaliation for U.S. attacks on Bogota, Colombian drug lords detonate small tactical nuclear device in New York. 15,000 killed.
Breakup of Soviet state. From this point, the old USSR begins a new era of rapprochement with Western Europe; by the 2000s, the "NeoSoviets" are the EuroTheatre's most powerful allies.
EuroSpace agency launches the Hermes spaceplane. First use of high-energy laser-lift arrays. Simple mass driver established in Canary Islands by EuroSpace Agency.
CHOOH2 developed by Biotechnica. An alcohol based fuel that goes on to replace gasoline
First arcology built on ruins of Jersey City; 16 "arcos" begin construction over the next 5 years, until the Collapse of 1996, leaving the huge structures half-completed, filled with squatters and homeless.
The Treaty of 1992 establishes the European Economic Community. A common currency unit (the Eurodollar) is established.
First TRC biologic interface chips developed in Munich, United Germany.
AV-4 aerodyne assault vehicle developed to deal with increasing riots in U.S. urban zones.
World Stock Market Crash of '94. The U.S. is caught manipulating European and American stock markets; a worldwide financial meltdown results from the news being made public.
U.S., European Community, and the Neo-Soviets start a new space race, seeking economic and military advantages over each other. Kilimanjaro mass driver begins construction, under joint agreement between Euro Space Agency (ESA) and Pan-African Alliance.
The Collapse of the United States. Weakened by losses in the World Stock Crash, overwhelmed by unemployment, homelessness, and corruption, many local governments collapse or go bankrupt. The U.S. government, snarled in a staggering deficit and the machinations of the Gang of Four, is totally ineffective.
Nomad Riots. By now, 1 in 4 Americans are homeless. Hundreds of thousands riot for living space throughout the U.S., Nomad packs spring up on the west coast and spread rapidly through the nation. First appearance of booster gangs. U.S. Constitution suspended. Martial law established in U.S
Night City begins construction
Mideast Meltdown. A very limited thermonuclear war destroys much of the Middle East, radioactive fallout spreads around the world. World oil supply drops by half.
'Rockerboy' Manson killed in England. A legendary force in the "populist rock" movement, his stage name was adopted as the term for any musician or other artist who took up the gauntlet for political change.
The Drought of '98 reduces most of the Midwest to parched grasslands. Between agribusiness Corps and drought, the family farm all but disappears.
10.5 quake shatters Los Angeles; Pacific Ocean inundates 35% of the city. An estimated 65,000 are killed.
Millennium cults begin to appear, predicting an apocalypse on Jan. 1, 2000. Thousands migrate to isolated communes and temples to "await the end.
Tycho Colony established. A mass driver is constructed to provide raw materials for orbital platforms.
2000s
full seperation from the real world timeline, media/trends before 2000 exsist, ones after likely don't
Millennium cults run amok on January 1st in orgy of suicide and violence; most destroy themselves.
First "extended family" poser gangs established.
Crystal Palace space station begins construction between the earth and the moon
Wasting Plague hits U.S., Europe, killing millions.
The framework of the NET put firmly in place with construction of the WorldSat network.
Food Crash. Mutated plant virus wipes out Canadian, Neo-Soviet crops. U.S. agribusiness crops survive due to new biological counter agent. Neo-Soviets accuse U.S. of biological warfare.
Second Central American War. U.S. invades Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela. The War is a disaster that costs many American lives and leaves thousands of troops to struggle home on their own. WNS Media Tesla Johanneson exposes secret NSA transcripts of the 1st Central American conflict.The remainder of the Gang of Four is swept away on a wave of reform. Elections resume, although heavily influenced by the Megacorporations. Tesla Johanneson assassinated in Cairo.
First cloned tissue growth in vitro. Micro-sutures, sterilizer fields developed. First Human clone grown in vitro. Mindless, it only lives for 6 hours.
First Corporate War (2004 to 2006). Commando raids and cyberspace attacks between EBM and Orbital Air introduce the world to the age of direct Corporate warfare.
Cybermodem invented.
Braindance developed at UC Santa Cruz.
Second Corporate War (2008 to 2010). SovOil and Petrochem fail to negotiate with each other over newly discovered oil fields in the South China Sea and begin blowing each other up instead. Even cynical observers are shocked at the level of violence.
U.S. assault on Russian weapons platform MIR XIII. EuroSpace agency intervenes, and the Orbital War breaks out between the "euros" and the "yanks" until Tycho Colony mass driver drops a two-ton rock on Colorado Springs. An uneasy peace is reached.
Corporations eradicate mob rule in Night City.
Abortive takeover attempt by U.S. "terrorist group" of Crystal Palace construction. ESA discovers the Defense Intelligence Agency plot and drops a five-ton rock off the coast of Washington D.C. as a warning.
2010s
Network 54 now controls 62% of all media broadcasting in the U.S.
Human clones are now viable, but no technology exists to implant personalities or intellect into them. They are primarily used to provide body parts for the super-rich.
Crystal Palace is completed. ESA now has a permanent hold in High Orbit zone. ESA/Soviet mission reaches Mars. After a landing, the mission returns, and Mars is abandoned for a decade.
April 13, 2013. Johnny Silverhand concert spirals into a riot in Night City. The rioters kill 18, wound 51. Old Arasaka complex gutted.
Soulkiller virus developed. It is originally designed by programmer Altiera Cunningham of ITS as a way to implant recorded personalities into cloned bodies. The transfer technology is a failure, but Arasaka spies learn of its existence and kidnap Cunningham in order to have her develop it into a weapon. Netwatch, previously a private organization, is established worldwide by a joint U.S./EuroTheatre treaty. First true Artificial Intelligence developed at Microtech's Sunnyvale, CA facility. Ihara-Grubb (I-G) transformations redesign the NET. During this time, renegade Netrunner Rache Bartmoss plants the DataKrash virus into the architecture of the NET.
Third Corporate War (2016). Unknown cyber terrorists attack the networks of Corporations worldwide, causing billions of eb worth of losses.
THE FOURTH CORPORATE WAR
Carbon Plague incident. A Corporate AV crash releases a nanotech plague on the outskirts of Night City. The plague ravages the city for two weeks, then mysteriously stops.
Chicago Rebuilding Project begins. Financed by visionary Dr. Richard Storm of Storm Technologies, the project joins Nomad groups under the unifying banners of the Aldecaldo and Jode Families.
Euro Aquacorp CINO attempts to acquire bankrupt Aquacorp IHAG. Rival Aquacorp OTEC attempts to act as "white knight" in the hostile takeover. As both Corps line up allies, a dangerous war both on and below the sea begins.
Covert operations expand as Arasaka Security and Militech spar to see who will control the outcome of the CINO/OTEC War.
Rache Bartmoss, Netrunner supreme, is killed in a Corporate raid. Two weeks later, the dead man switch for his DataKrash virus activates.
4th Corporate War. Covert operations explode into a shooting war as Arasaka and Militech move front line troops into battle. The ensuing conflict involves operations all over the globe, with heavy combat in major cities worldwide.
The Chicago Rebuilding Project collapses as Arasaka Corporate factions detonate virus bombs in an effort to deny the city to the Militech side.
DataKrash virus now infests 78.2% of the NET. Aware of the virus' potential, Saburo Arasaka sets out to create a secure database of uninfected knowledge in the new Arasaka Towers facility in Night City.
Seven-Hour War. Fed up with the fighting, Highriders at O'Neill Two declare independence, using deltas and scavenged mass drivers to drop dozens of lunar rocks and other "ortillery" at key sites all over the planet, causing widespread death and destruction. U.S. and Japan officially recognize the new government.
Total breakdown of international trade. Container ship and air travel have been totally disrupted. Supplies and food sit on the docks worldwide, unable to reach stores, factories, or suppliers. Many Megacorps totally collapse.
August 20th, 2023: Night City holocaust. An incursion team led by Solo Morgan Blackhand and Rockerboy Johnny Silverhand attempt to steal/destroy the Arasaka Secure Database in the Arasaka Towers facility. During the assault, an area denial nuclear device is detonated, which destroys most of central Night City. Over half a million people are killed, and another quarter million die in the resulting aftermath. Militech is nationalized by U.S. President Elizabeth Kress by the expedient of reactivating Militech CEO Gen. Donald Lundee's reserve commission.
Beginning of the Time of the Red. Atmospheric particles from the nuclear blast in Night City, as well as debris from orbital rock strikes, conventional explosives, and the wartime burning and annihilation of cities and agricultural areas creates an eerie red pall over skies worldwide. For nearly two years, skies are tinged with a bloody red color, which eventually dies down to brilliant red sunrises and sunsets throughout the next decade.
End of the 4th Corp War. This includes a three-year wrap-up as pockets of fighting are quelled by Militech and national armies. While there is only one nuke dropped during the war, the world's infrastructure is severely impacted, although not destroyed.
NET is officially down. Alt Cunningham establishes the Ghost World in the ruins of a bio-destroyed city.
Japanese government almost breaks down. By repudiating Arasaka, national face is saved. Arasaka is reduced to a Japan-only Corporation for the next decade. The European Union is mostly restored.
2025-2030
Survivors of the night city holocaust find themselves mutating from the radiation. Most benefiting from denser bodies, higher pain tolerances, and easily coagulating blood. Along with increased rage, reduced lifespans, and a slew of painful health problems
The Diaspora begins. Groups displaced from wrecked cities now set out to Reclaim nearby cities abandoned since the Collapse of the 1990s. They are supported by Nomads who set up convoys between cities.
There is massive looting of old tech and abandoned storehouses. Only scattered Corps are still functioning and only on a very reduced basis, Local businesses are left to take up the slack, often with resources plundered from abandoned Megacorp facilities.
Very limited VPNs within Corporate parks. AIs occasionally creep into the wrecked cities' old NETs to seek out other AIs to join the Ghost World.
Arasaka breaks into three warring factions: the Kiji 雉 (Green Pheasant) Faction, headed by Hanako Arasaka; The Hato 鳩 (Dove) Faction, helmed by supporters of Michiko Arasaka, Kei's youngest daughter, who as a U.S. citizen, instead allies with the new U.S. government; and the Taka 鷹 (Hawk) Faction, led by Saburo's rebel son Yorinobu.
The remaining United States is now a functional dictatorship under President Elizabeth Kress' State of Emergency
2030s
Resettlement of Suburban Night City. In time, Night City Central will be rebuilt, but for now, the foothills and the small cities around Night City are overpacked with refugees fleeing the radioactive ruins of the Corporate Zone. Start of Night City Reconstruction. Gigatons of fill are shifted from the radioactive ruins of the central City. Much of the old Bay is filled in.
Reestablishing of Nomad High Roads. Nomads now operate ports, container ships. Corporations are now mostly local, but as Nomads establish trade routes, Corps branch out regionally.
Start of CitiNets, local VPNs established in some of the Reclaimed Cities. These networks are usually "air gapped" with only limited (and strongly controlled) access between them. Netwatch oversees the development of this new series of networks, with Corporate backing.
Like Elvis sightings, rumors arise that Rockerboy Johnny Silverhand's body has been kept in cold storage in a body bank in the wreckage of Old Night City. Although this is never substantiated, the claim is that it has been stored there by a fullbody conversion (FBC) fan of his who recovered it from the Arasaka blast site. Rumors spread that legendary Solo Morgan Blackhand has been spotted in various First Wave cities.
First Wave Cities start Reclamation under support from local governments and remaining Megacorps. These First Wave Cities are ones that require only a limited amount of resources to rebuild.
"We have no United States until we have a country again." – Pres. Elizabeth Kress. While local Elections resume, there will be no national elections until a treaty exists between Free States and remaining United States.
Rebuilding of old factories by Corporations and other individuals begins to replace lost tech. New Corps start to rise from the wreckage of the 4th Corp War.
Netwatch attempts to clear out the R.A.B.I.D.S. and reestablish the Old NET. After a losing threeyear battle, they give up and shut down all the major Nodes into the Old NET (although some Netrunners still try to go there to loot the abandoned systems). Establishment of first Data Pools, information servers and exchange systems designed for open use within the limits of a city. Data Pools produce free, open content created through the collaborative efforts of a community of users. In design, they're similar to the hyper-stack "page" system attempted and then abandoned for the NET in the early 90s.
Rise of the first Mega Buildings to handle homeless population. These are "all-in-one" arcologies designed to rapidly create safe, habitable zones.
Beginning of first new factories replacing, upgrading, or repairing old and scattered tech.
2020. normal guns, chrome is king (potential campaigns)
2021 likely location of maxtac campaign, very up in the air still tho
2022 the 4th coroporate war and the seven hour war (establishment of space countries because they dropped moon rocks on earth)
2023 the night city holocaust, begining of the time of the red, many die from the nuke and fallout
2025 end of the 4th corporate war
2030s rebuilding in night city. Likely the time of the kid campaign, so that yall can still be meaty despite not living in NC proper
early 2040s long live the queen, cyberpunk 2, and combat zone. People are still meaty
mid-later 2040s blened/2020 combat system. The meatyness is leaving, single bullets are again lethal, cyberpsychosis stays in veins for a while tho
2050s/2060s return to normalcy, corporate takeover of NC
2070s events of edgerunners and 2077
90s