SYPNOSIS
FUTURE NOW
Heavy metal Les Miserables meet Gladiator
2085, The Biological Virus Wars have ended. Humanity now lives in a very different
world from our own in towering megalopolis-sized mega city-states that are planted in
the dark shadows of the surface and reach high into the clouds. For decades, mutated,
weaponized viruses had eaten away nearly 75% of the population of the planet, and the
superpowers of the world put the remains of humanity into underground cities in order to
cleanse the Earth of the virus with nuclear weapons. Now, a new world has been built
upon the bones of the past. The survivors have built these fortified super-cities, but with
massive amounts of control by the powers-that-rule. In an attempt to save as many lives
as possible, an aggressive, totalitarian system of control has been instituted. All art and
emotionally stimulating objects, blamed for causing the virus and war, have been
forbidden and are now controlled, most significantly: MUSIC.
Every citizen has been implanted with a Personal Central Processing unit called
the Tri-Cronos Orientator, which monitors and tracks their every move. The majority of
people have been convinced that the Units implanted in their hand at birth are for their
health and safety; others live in complacency or ambivalence about the devices. But
there are those rebels who live in the fringes of society who have figured out how to
block the signal and dangerously move about the cities with anonymity. Those who
tamper with the Tri-Cronos or rage against the machine are captured and
reprogrammed – or Mag-Eye’d. The people have lost their freewill. They follow the rules
of law or risk death in defying it. This is the world now, and there is nothing that can be
done. There is no past, no present, only Future Now!
And reigning over them all from the largest super-city is AUTOCRAT
BENINDOR. BENINDOR rules with an iron grip, spreading extreme propaganda on
giant video screens throughout the city. And his most impressive and successful system
of control is the RHAPSODY – a gladiatorial game not unlike the Roman Empire’s –
violent confrontations that pit the only sanctioned rock gods against one another for the
amusement of the masses, but BENINDOR’s RHAPSODY resembles a humongous
pinball machine where the WARRIORS OF MUSIC battle. If the rockers play one wrong
note, they die. It is melodic, bloody euphoria and BENINDOR’s finest achievement. It is
used to abate the masses, condemn criminals who have defied the law, or offer the
chance at glory for those who dare enter of their own freewill. The greatest of the
WARRIORS OF MUSIC, such as FEASEL, D.L. PLEASZALL, and the SISTERS OF
SIN, are volunteers who risk their lives and their legal and social standing by appearing
in the RHAPSODY, and the people love them for it, from the elite and affluent
Omni-Cromes to the mid-level Hivers, to the forgotten and hated Low-Lifers who barely
survive far below in the shadows of the entire towering city.
And there, at the lowest level, a rebellious orphan teen named TEOKN is about
to rise to the highest measures of the super-city to become the savior of all mankind
through the power of MUSIC – through the power of The MANTRA.
TEOKN and his disabled sister NARLA were abandoned by their parents a long
time ago. Because the lower levels are given so little – their food and water is barely
more than scraps and whatever filthy, recycled water that trickles down from the higher
levels – anyone given the opportunity to climb the ranks of society will take it without
looking back. Parents cast aside their own children to have a better life, which is how
TEOKN and NARLA came to be orphans. TEOKN grew up a scavenger amid the
wreckage of war. TEOKN discovered early in his life that he had a knack for collecting
discarded items that have value to others. With his skills in scavenging and trade, he
has been able to build a reasonably comfortable life for NARLA, getting them two
androids, ZIPPY and HERTZOG, to help around their modest home, and has managed
to construct a cybernetic exo-suit for NARLA that allows her to walk and talk.
His life changed when he made friends with WEX, a wise cracking kid his own
age whose father often speaks in disgruntled, hushed moments of a better life for them
all, if only the world above would see the evils of BENINDOR. TEOKN and WEX listen
to Wex’s father in earnest, but they can’t help but have a love for the RHAPSODY,
which anyone can enter, but only a few have ever survived long enough to become
gods. The two boys fantasize that one day they could be counted among the
WARRIORS OF MUSIC. They sneak away as often as they can to find a vid-screen to
watch the games. And when a chance to sneak up enough levels to see the
RHAPSODY in person comes, they take it. On that day, witness to a disastrous attack
on the arena, TEOKN comes face to face with FEASEL, one of the WARRIORS OF
MUSIC. She secretly bestows him with a piece of her Rhapsody machine before she is
taken away and TEOKN and WEX have to flee back to the lower levels.
Once home, TEOKN curiously studies the strange item FEASEL snuck to him
while WEX tells NARLA and the androids all about their adventure above. TEOKN
unlocks Feasel’s item and the group is shocked to discover that it is in fact an OREC of
the old world – a musical remnant of the past with extraordinary power. HERTZOG,
TEOKN’s intelli-droid explains that the FOUR ORECS are believed to have been
created at the dawn of the New World Order by the last rebels of the Old World. The
four measures of musical ORECS were designed and hidden as a failsafe to free the
world from the control of the Autocrats were they ever to amasse too much power.
TEOKN is stunned to discover that the OREC in his hand is real and that he has been
trusted with it. Knowing that this may be the key to freeing the world, he has no choice
but to take on the quest to find and unlock the remaining three measures of the
ORECS. Unfortunately, once activated, the OREC becomes a beacon, and soon the
entire City is after the orphan scavenger.
Their home is attacked, and TEOKN saves NARLA and the androids in the
ensuing chase and fight, but he and WEX are captured by Benindor’s military police
force, the IPE, led by DARNNION, a psycho maniac cyborg being held in servitude to
BENINDOR through mind control. TEOKN and WEX are detained and tortured by
Benindor’s mad scientists, DOCTOR SINSTAR and PROFESSOR GORELY. But the
resilient TEOKN finds a way to escape capture. While attempting to save WEX, he
watches his best friend be killed by DARNNION, and TEOKN escapes into the city
devastated though determined to face his greatest test: a confrontation with fear and
evil that will determine the fate of all mankind.
He finds the second OREC with the SISTERS OF SIN. TEOKN deduces that the
WARRIORS OF MUSIC are as successful as they are because they have one of the
measures of the OREC. He tries to convince them to unlock their measure and fight
against Benindor, but they refuse. TEOKN journeys through the levels and into the
outlands to collect the third OREC from a retired WARRIOR OF MUSIC, D.L.
PLEASZALL. PLEASZALL doesn’t have any interest in rebellion and turns TEOKN
away, though the old man does consider returning to the RHAPSODY. TEOKN can’t
find the fourth OREC, and attempts to find NARLA.
NARLA is betrayed by the scavenger who her brother traded items with for parts
of her suit. The old trader becomes a turncoat after DARNNION tortures him for
information, which the psycho cyborg then uses to deactivate NARLA’S exo-suit and
capture her. BENINDOR convinces his head of IPE to use the little girl to draw TEOKN
out, and when DANNION hesitates for even an instant, BENINDOR electrocutes the
half-man for his insolence. DARNNION submits and returns to his pursuit of TEOKN.
TEOKN reconnects with ZIPPY to learn of NARLA’S capture, and decides that he
has no choice but to use his skills and intelligence and the one OREC he has to enter
the RHAPSODY and fight to the top. He dons a disguise and begins to rock the arena,
much to BENINDOR’S shock. Fearing that this new WARRIOR is going to disrupt his
control, BENINDOR begins to execute a plan that would release an all controlling
MANTRA using the one measure of the OREC that he possesses. This MANTRA,
though incomplete, would still be able to kill the last of any freewill the world has, and if
that plan were to fail, he has also discovered the ultimate failsafe: the last NUKE on the
planet. BENINDOR will not relinquish his power over the world.
In the RHAPSODY, TEOKN rises the ranks and becomes the hero of the people.
In the final RHAPSODY, he convinces D.L. PLEASZALL, the SISTERS OF SIN, and
even DARNNION to unite their ORECS, unlocking the MANTRA to free all the world!
With guitar, drums, bass, and piano untied through the ORECS, the entire city turns on
BENINDOR and TEOKN is able to stop the evil autocrat before he can launch the
NUKE. With the final notes of the MANTRA, if only for a moment, the world is united as
one with the power of MUSIC.
But while TEOKN may have freed the City, he has lost his best friend, and
SINSTAR and GORELY have escaped with NARLA. TEOKN is hailed as a hero to all
mankind, but the war has just begun.
To LISTEN to the tracks, you can
click the individual AUDIO PLAYER CONTROL under each lyric sheet
found in the SONGS section below:
