2125: The youth are restless_
70 years have passed since THE CRASH. The day everything stopped—and the long nightmare that followed.
But even in those darkest days, some had already set to work rebuilding.
Few became many. A movement became a creed. In time, the tattered shreds of a once-thriving global civilization were woven back together into the triumphant flag of ATLA.
Today, the older generations that lived through the DARK DECADE and THE RECONSTRUCTION take great pride in the invincible order that they’ve made.
The autonomous SYSTEM provides for all of their needs.
But the youth despair.
The human destiny will never be in their hands. They yearn for the freedom of an uncertain world they have never known.
In the shadows of Greater Atla's glistening towers an underground scene has taken root. Illegal raves where minds, music, and hallucinatory visions are synchronized by human CONDUITS, and the boundary between Self and Other is dissolved.
In the haze, amidst the ecstatic rediscovery of revelry, drugs, and lawlessness, a crack has formed.
A NEW FUTURE is already leaking in.
100 years from now...
The CODA Universe is an expansive story-world set 100 years in our future; a setting for new media and endless stories featuring an open-ended cast and spanning hundreds of years.
On this page you will find an early introduction to the world, some of its characters, and learn about the spirit of this undertaking. The project is in its infancy and you are invited to participate in its creation.
.svg)
Saga
Written by humans, set 100 years from now...
An epic tale
The CODA Saga weaves together the stories of every canon character. It begins in the shadowy corners of the nascent underground sync rave scene, and before it is over, will change the human destiny forever.
canon
Written by humans, set 100 years from now...
The Dark Decade
The ten year period from The Crash in August 2052, until the New Dawn Declaration in November, 2062. In an instant, all power, communications and networked computers shut off and stayed off, plunging the world into a brief, but perilous new dark age.
Across the world, survivors struggled against nature and humanity's innermost demons. Before its end, the Dark Decade would claim an estimated 3 billion lives as a result of war, disease, famine and despair.
The System
As GATA establishes new districts and spreads The System to partner states, its automated infrastructure creates even more value from finding efficiencies and then redistributes that value to the people in the form of Yield. But this comes at the cost of strict regulation.
The System is a decentralized, hard-coded infrastructure created by GATA that handles power, economic transactions, communication, and coordination within and between districts.
The Daemon Virus
A mysterious computer virus from the Old World that has infected most legacy computers. Discovered by Atlan researchers during the Dark Decade. Commonly known as “the Daemon” by the people, but those in the field refer to the pernicious code by the name BODYSNATCHER.
The Daemon virus instantly infects any system employing a general purpose processor, regardless of its design, inspiring the invention of Asimovian architecture and more secure "hard-coded" systems.
The Reconstruction
A 40-year period of widespread recovery and reinvention, led by the awesome and terrifying technological supremacy of the fledging hegemon, GATA. These technological leaps were made possible by GATA's secretive research programs, unfettered under GATA's Existence Doctrine policies.
The Reconstruction era transmuted the fear and disarray of the Dark Decade into renewed hope and cooperation. Remembered nostalgically by many as a euphoric period of relief, wonder, and possibility.
Legacy Tech
Technology from the Old World. While some legacy tech is classified "blue" and deemed safe, most legacy tech is illegal in GATA due to the persistent threat of the Daemon virus, a dangerous artifact of the The Crash.
While simpler legacy electronics are valued for their components, old tech with general purpose processors are illegal. Possession of legacy weapons systems, artificial intelligence, or legacy nanotech is a Class 1 offense.
Hard code
Hard code is used to write modules. Modules are physical functions that can be composed into larger composite programs, devices, and other complex systems.
Hard code is impervious to remote corruption because its operation is physically encoded in the shape and structure of its modules. Hard-coded systems cannot be re-written or compelled to perform functions that they were not designed with the capacity to perform.
Links
A brain-computer interface enabling its user to connect their mind with systems. Link users can ‘push’ their intentions and ‘pull’ information using their mind. Skilled link users are called 'conduits'.
Links can be implanted subcranially, or worn on the head as accessories. They can be augmented with sensors and other extensions. Links are an increasingly integral part of daily life in the districts where they are legal.
Sync Raves
A new phenomenon growing in popularity among the disaffected younger generations. These underground raves predominately found in urban Gray Zones offer an escape where those who attend use links to synchronize their minds and lose themselves in a collective trance.
Sync raves are made possible by sync jockeys, skilled conduits that channel the crowd's linked minds using illegally modified sync hubs.
Arcades
Popular destinations for people of all ages to meet and socialize. In addition to games, interactive entertainment, and live performances, arcades typically serve food and beverages, including alcohol.
Arcades located in Gray Zones offer a wider range of unfiltered entertainment, and are hubs for sync raves, drugs, the sex trade, and illegal technology, from illicit psychotech to legacy weapons and other contraband.
GrAy zones
Any region inside of the territory of Greater Atla where The System has not been adopted, or its requirements have not been met.
Gray Zones take many shapes and sizes, from expansive rural communities, to troubled cities, or even small city-block sized zones nestled within walled districts.
In Gray Zones, there is no one to enforce GATA law.
Local Authority
A district's local law enforcement, sworn to uphold the laws of GATA under the oversight of the district government.
Atlan regulations dictate the operational principles and procedures for the Local Authority, however the details of their enforcement styles and cultures varies widely between districts.
No matter where you go, the closer you look at the Local Authority, the more ties you will find with the gangs and criminal syndicates that they police.
Criminal Element
Operating in the shadows, often from Gray Zones or the Free Territories, the criminal element exploits the technical limitations of The System to avoid repercussions.
Large multi-district operations rule the informal economy and trade in everything from weapons, drugs, and legacy tech to rare keys and precious information.
These criminal syndicates form an unspoken bridge between legitimate institutions, licensed enterprises, and the gangs that run the streets.
Statics
Static field technology allows structures and devices to be positioned and moved arbitrarily through the Earth's gravitational field. Static tech was proliferated during The Reconstruction, and has transformed transportation, construction, industry, and leisure around the world.
Statics are used for personal and commercial conveyance devices and vehicles. They are also used to suspend architecture, furniture, signage, heavy equipment, and infrastructure. Statics can also be used creatively for their unique, localized gravitational effects.
Keys
Keys are digital signatures that bestow specific privileges on their holder. Every key has its own rules, and while many keys can be bought, or traded, others can only be earned, inherited, or assigned, and some can also be revoked.
Keys are an integral part of every-day life inside of GATA's districts. Keys are how citizens access the district, their homes, places of work, networks and devices, and exclusive goods and services. Keys also play an important role in institutions and enterprise, and are of great interest to operators, criminal syndicates and other motivated parties.
Districts
GATA's extended project to incorporate and elevate the entire world began with the creation of walled city-sized 'districts'. Within their walls, new ideas and technologies can be trialed and safely regulated.
Border checkpoints called Gates control travel into and out of districts. Districts are contained by Field Walls coupled with various highly effective tactical deterrents, and their perimeters are patrolled by Gate Patrol.
The Quorums
GATA's governance is a sophisticated blend of automation and representative decision-making, structured into three distinct but interactive Quorums. The First Quorum is a council of seven members elected by the two thousand representatives in the Second Quorum. Every citizen of GATA can participate in the Third Quorum by voting.
Each Quorum plays a vital role in maintaining the balance and functionality of GATA's societal and political structure.
The AIC
Atlan Information Control, or AIC for short, is overseen by a council of twelve esteemed members who are nominated and appointed by the Second Quorum.
The AIC's mission is to regulate and control information and technology within GATA in accordance with the strict regulations and protections set out in the New Dawn Accords. The highest courts of GATA fall under the jurisdiction of the AIC because only the AIC can establish with any finality what is True.
Collections
One of the enforcement branches of the AIC, along with Gate Patrol. Collections is a bureau dedicated to the tracking and recovery of illegal technology, and the apprehension of those who exploit it.
Collections field agents are called Collectors, specially trained investigators and operators who typically work undercover, and are deployed all around the world, from Greater Atla and its partner states, to Gray Zones and the Free Territories.
Angelis
The ever watchful Angelis is the largest military and intelligence enterprise in GATA. Angelis provides defense, crisis relief, and intelligence services for GATA and its partner states.
With more than 10 million personnel stationed around the world and in orbit, Angelis is an imposing force. Angelis possess the most advanced equipment and Combat Gear, the key to their unrivaled battlefield performance.
Guardians
Angelis’ special forces units. Guardians undergo rigorous training and conditioning, and demonstrate mastery of numerous skills including hand-to-hand combat, use of multiple firearms and weapon platforms, link proficiency, and tactical thinking.
Within the ranks of the Guardians there are numerous elite detachments employing a variety of tactics and equipment, tailored to various threats encountered around the world.
Rapid Response
Rapid Response are Angelis' elite first responder units. They typically deploy in teams of 3-5 with complementary skills and are dropped from orbit in hard-landing pods called an Aegis. They are trained to assess, minimize, and resolve unfolding crises quickly and decisively.
Rapid Response are deployed to conflict zones, natural disasters, and other acute emergencies around the world. They are often dispatched in a peacekeeping and humanitarian capacity to active warzones, and they are widely held in high regard, even where GATA is unpopular.
Altar
Established concurrently with the founding of Atla as an extension of the Research Corps, ALTAR's prime directive has always been the safeguarding of GATA's secrets. Some believe they are in possession of mysterious objects of unknown origin that have been used to inspire many of GATA's most transformative innovations, which have been carefully introduced into the world by proxies.
In the compartmentalized world of GATA, many secrets lurk beneath the surface, and the influence of ALTAR in that murky realm is as certain as it is unseen.
The Manna Flower
Engineered by Atlan scientists early in the Dark Decade, the Manna flower is not just a marvel of genetic engineering, but also a symbol of hope familiar to every person on Earth, and essential to daily life for many, especially in the Free Territories.
The Manna flower was seeded around the world by Atla, and was designed to develop through three stages of maturity during which the plant can be induced to produce a myriad of useful compounds.
Representing salvation to some, and an invitation to dependency for others, the Manna flower remains an indispensable resource world-wide.
Eidetics
Adherents to the Eidetic movement reject technology, viewing it as humanity's great transgression. They espouse a life intertwined with nature and spirituality, and see the Crash and Dark Decade as a divine instruction for humanity to live humbly. Many sects revere the Manna flower as a gift from above, denying its Scientific origin.
Thriving primarily in the Free Territories, the movement finds a terrible champion in The Cure, a leaderless terrorist organization merging the religious zeal of the older generations with the capable support of an extremist, secular environmentalist cohort among Sovereign youth.
Wallrunners
Wallrunners, or simply “runners”. Specialized smugglers and illegal operators who use various methods to breach into a district's interior.
Wallrunners are named for the most common breaching method; running really fast. Wallrunners have to contend with Field Walls, Gate Patrol border guards and their jelly rounds, physical obstacles, and other specialized defensive measures.
In recent years more lethal deterrents have been deployed, as tech crime has been steadily increasing across the most affected districts. The great wallrunners push the limit of human speed and reflexes, and the rest retire early, one way or another.
Fabricated tech
Fabricated technology refers to the recycling of existing components and raw materials in the creation of new, custom modules and devices. In GATA, most "fabs" have a translucent shell to facilitate inspection by authorities.
Fabricated tech came into prominence during The Reconstruction, when industrial manufacturing was still very scarce globally. An effective and convenient way to maximize the utility of existing technology was by breaking it down into components and parts and recombining them into what you need when you need it.
While some still hand fabricate, automated personal fabricators have simplified the process of reusing and recombining components.
The Found Objects
The Found Objects are believed to be assemblage of mysterious objects of unknown origin. It is claimed that over thousands of years of human history, these objects have been coveted by various groups, governments and individuals, before being collected by Atla during the Dark Decade and Reconstruction.
Despite numerous accounts of the Found Objects from Atlan citizens during the Dark Decade, there has never been any official confirmation of their existence. Perhaps these mysterious artifacts have long since been hidden away within the depths of ALTAR's deep-sea complex.
The Research Corps
The Research Corps is the driving force for humanity's exploration of the Universe's ever-deepening mysteries. While it began as an Atlan initiative, and became a critical resource for GATA during its infancy, the Research Corps is now one of the formative institutions of the young space nation, Sol.
While many of the Research Corps’ researchers investigate the mysteries of science from the relative safety of the lab, others are deployed into the field to seek and study new discoveries, assist with disaster response, and shadow other researchers and specialists.
Operators
People who take on private commissions are called Operators. This profession is all about skillful navigation of the byzantine systems of GATA. With a solid reputation and a good collection of keys, skilled operators earn access to more exclusive commissions offered by The System, institutions, and other legal enterprises.
Of course, if there is a more questionable task that needs done with skill and discretion, operators with fewer inhibitions can be found in the shady corners of Gray Zones.
The Hundred Hands
The largest criminal syndicate in the world. Known to operate in all corners, the Hundred Hands are a network of secretive illegal enterprises, and shot callers united in one goal; to circumvent all walls, pick all locks, and "take all that can be taken".
Feared by independent gangs and upstart crime bosses, because once you reach a certain size you are faced with a simple choice; either pay your dues to the Hundred Hands, or prepare for war.
We Decide The future
We Decide The future
The CODA Universe is not just a fictional world.
It is a community-created decentralized intellectual property.
It is an experimental model for human creativity in an ai-infused future.
It is a playground for us to collaborate, learn, and inspire.
We will discover the tools to create new realities and tell new stories.
We will confront our fears and realize our dreams.
Together, we will find our path through this new frontier.
Stay in sync
Sign up for the CODA newsletter to stay up to date on the latest news and releases.