The world of Shadow Rasa

Shadow Rasa is an alternate dimension scientists discovered that could be accessed easily from anywhere. It was found that while we could observe this dimension and communicate with it using electronics, we could not physically travel there. Limitless processing power was possible due to its unique makeup along with instant communication between any two points in the real world which made it quickly become the home of all computer processing for humankind.

It was also discovered that consciousness could be projected into this world providing a virtual space that was indistinguishable from the real world. At first this space was used for entertainment allowing people to play games and have experiences that felt as real as life. Over time people slowly started spending less and less time in the real world and more and more time in the virtual paradise of Shadow Rasa.

History

As centuries past society slowly shifted, Shadow Rasa changed from an escape from reality to a prison for the poor and disenfranchised. Quality experiences still existed for the wealthy and powerful but most people lived their virtual lives in lower resolution cities, their bodies sustained in large warehouses in the real world.

Officially people are allowed to leave their life sustaining pods but in reality the cost of living in the real world (even for a day) far exceeded what most make in a month in the virtual world.

Some argued that the world did not have the resources to sustain the entire population if everybody was let out. Others countered that it was just an excuse to keep a slave workforce imprisoned in the virtual world.

Not everyone in Shadow Rasa was eager to leave though, some enjoyed the longer life span granted from time passing by three times slower in the virtual world. Others couldn’t give up the endless gluttony one could indulge in when all you experiences (food, drink, and drugs) are just signals to the brain.

Politics aside the end result was the rich enjoying everything the real world had to offer while most the poor had to be forever plugged into Shadow Rasa, living out their low resolution lives.

Servers and Hackers

In Shadow Rasa servers and security are physical spaces that are protected like a military base. They use walls, doors, cameras, sensors, drones, and guards to keep out intruders. Hackers use stealth, subterfuge, gadgets, and parkour to sneak in. Defenders of the system use the same tools to keep hackers out.

Once inside agents can steal data, destroy infrastructure or plat information. They can even assassinate targets which won’t kill the person in the real world but does disrupt their signal and kick them out for a few hours in the real (days in the virtual). Tracking programs are sometimes employed during a kill as well, so the targets pod can be found and the threat can be permanently removed.