Nox

Nox - A Planet of Contrasts

“You think that’s wind rustling the leaves on the trees? Heh, believe me, plants don’t need wind to move on Nox.” Nox Civilian

Nox is a tidally locked planet. It’s sunny side would be totally unremarkable apart from the odd, desert specialized lifeform, and the occasional vein of ore used to power faster than light travel. At the very edge of the bright side of Nox, between the light and dark sides of the planet, is a massive mountain chain known as the Noxian Range. This mountain chain plays an important role in the ecology and habitat of the dark side of Nox, shielding it and helping to “lock in” the precipitation that forms in massive storm systems on the darkside of the planet, creating a sort of greenhouse effect.
The dark side of Nox is unrecognizable from the brighter, desert side. A gigantic, multi-tiered city sits in eternal twilight at the dark side base of the Noxian Range, running in parallel to it in a ring around the entire planet. On the alternate side of this city is a never ending, rapidly regrowing, jungle. This jungle is filled with many bioluminescent plants, many of which are carnivorous. These plants are ever encroaching on the city of Noctis, and because of this, a towering wall of shield generators has been raised as a barrier between the city and jungle. This wall is referred to as “The Burn”.
The Burn is powered by solar panels that have been erected all over the brightside face of the Noxian Range, cables as thick as several carrier class ships drape over the backside of the mountain range, snaking their way through the valleys in order to reach and provide power to Noctis and it’s constantly active Burn Wall. Noctis is a city perpetually caught between the two extremes of Nox.

Nectar of the Gods - Take control of your lifespan

“You don’t come to Nox unless you want to alter your lifespan in some way. Whether that’s lengthening it, or shortening it, that’s up to you. Well, mostly. Nox likes to weigh in on those kinds of decisions…” - Doc Staples on the subject of the planet Nox.

Noctis thrives despite it’s extreme planetary contrasts. The city is home to mega corporations that have ushered in technological and pharmaceutical breakthroughs due to the unique natural resources found on Nox. Chief among these resources is a rare toxin that is produced in some of the carnivorous vegetation that so densely populates the dark side of Nox. This toxin is only produced in 1 out of 2,000 plants, something that while rare, can be obtained somewhat reliably with some effort due to how quickly the vegetation of Nox regrows.
Fountain, the largest and most profitable pharmaceutical corporation on Nox has been studying the ecology of Nox and struck gold when it discovered a unique method for refining the carnivorous plant toxin. Once refined, this toxin turns into the ironically named, “Nectar”. Nectar’s value cannot be overstated. Nectar was originally formulated as a drug for heavily Augmented individuals, as it was discovered to completely negate the negative side effects of cybernetics in the body, allowing people to go further than ever before with testing the limits of human and machine synergy.
While this aspect of Nectar was what started Fountain’s ascent to one of the most powerful corporations in the system, it is its other application that the drug is most renowned for. Individuals whom do not have heavy augmentation, with semi frequent application of Nectar, can extend their life 1.5 to even over 2 times their normal lifespan. It is this aspect of Nectar that has catapulted Fountain to one of the most powerful, and treasured corporations amongst the rich or politically aligned.
While Fountain has made incredible leaps forward with these pharmaceuticals, Daikatana, the second most powerful corporation on Nox has utilized the drug to create new, never before thought possible, cybernetic implants and prosthetics. The drug allows for one to push far beyond their mortal bodily limits, and Daikatana has happily provided the market with technologies that typically only short lived, highly trained military operatives were able to possess. Now, for the price of routine Nectar treatments, and accepting a lifespan more in line with a typical humans, one can become the most graceful of ballerinas, the most dexterous of surgeons, or the most dangerous of arsenals.

The Aug Wars - Godhood for All

“Fleshies looove asking Augs, are you even human anymore? Listen chief, way I see it, as long as you gotta brain and a pair o’ balls, you’re fuckin’ human in all the ways that count.” - Charles Axian on the subject of being human.

Daikatana knew that in the end, they were just as reliant on Fountain and the Nectar it produced as the individuals they created cybernetics for. Without Nectar, they would have a drastically reduced market for cybernetics, and lose massive amounts of profits. Determined to solve this problem, Daikatana's Special Projects Security Division was transformed to be less about protecting what was Daikatana's, and more about ensuring their financial future by attempting to learn of the refining process for Nectar. If they could achieve even half the potency of nectar themselves, it would drastically cut reliance on FLS for their continued research and development of new cybernetic hardware, and simultaneously allow them to create and (more importantly) sell the solution to the Aug sickness that many people started to exhibit after heavy augmentation. Creating a solution to a problem they themselves created was too intoxicating of an idea for the upper echelon of Daikatana to ignore. The profits would be unimaginable, and cybernetic progress would be truly unchained.
Knowing it would have to fight this corporate war on multiple fronts, Daikatana started seeding propaganda into Noctis, as well as hiring investigators to obtain information on the refining process for Nectar. All of this was done through shadow operatives, untraceable back to Daikatana. While it was preferable that the manufacturing process be kept internal upon discovery, Daikatana decided that should the process leak to the public, it ultimately would only help in creating a reality in which cybernetics became more widespread. Daikatana started to frame themselves as liberators who sought to provide Nectar to the people and not just the corporate or political elite.
FLS eventually became aware of these shadow operations, and started to aggressively defend it's discoveries and processes. This lead to an ever increasing arms race on either side of the conflict. Both corporations "benefited" from what was ultimately their own war due to both sides using and needing tech from the other to continue fighting amongst themselves.
During a particularly nasty skirmish with the Nox Liberation Front in Daikatana's main research labs, a gruesome discovery was unveiled. In a desperate bid to innovate and outdo Fountain Life Sciences, horrific bodily experimentation were being conducted on "non existent persons." These people were comprised of the homeless, the poor, and those otherwise cast aside by the city of Noctis. While it was known that in order to develop cybernetics testing on live individuals was needed, the sheer brutality of these tests was far outside the realm of what many considered reasonable, especially given Daikatana's posing as being "for the people".
Upon this discovery being leaked to the public, a third player in the Aug War was born: the Nox Liberation Front. This group was against both sides of the conflict, and was purely interested in stopping the brutal cybernetic testing of Daikatana, and the ruthless hording of Nectar by Fountain. The NLF was labeled as a terrorist organization by the corporations of Nox, but despite this has still been able to create a strong foothold across the planet.
The brutality of Daikatana would be too much for some of its own agents to bare, and lead some to join the newly formed Nox Liberation Front (the NLF,) or go on to become self sustaining mercenaries, seeking an escape amongst the stars, or more power in which to fight back against the wrongs being committed by their former employers.
With the refinement process for Nectar still being a successfully kept secret by Fountain Life Sciences, and Daikatana still hell bent on acquiring that knowledge while developing more and more demanding cybernetics, the need for Nectar, and the war over it, continues.

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