| Name | Nexus Prime |
| Type | Capital city |
| Media | Setting for the cyberpunk TV series "Afqla & Burly" |
| Location | |
| Description | A nightmarish vision of the dangers of unchecked technological progress and corporate power |
| Key features | Pervasive surveillance • Ruthless security forces • Extreme wealth inequality • Environmental devastation |
Nexus Prime is the capital and largest city of the nation of New Netherland. Sprawling across several islands at the mouth of the Hudson River, Nexus Prime is a colossal, hyper-advanced megacity that serves as the center of the country's government, economy, and technological development. However, it is also a dystopian vision of unchecked corporate power and the consequences of technological progress.
Nexus Prime covers an area of over 300 square miles, with the majority of its population and infrastructure concentrated on the three main islands of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Staten Island. The cityscape is dominated by towering skyscrapers, vast automated manufacturing complexes, and a labyrinthine network of elevated highways, monorails, and maglev trains.
The city is divided into distinct districts, each controlled by a different megacorporation or government agency. The Financial District in Lower Manhattan is the center of Nexus Prime's economic power, home to the headquarters of numerous multinational conglomerates. The Midtown Technopolis is a gleaming high-tech enclave, while the Undercity in Brooklyn harbors the impoverished masses struggling to survive.
With a population of over 30 million, Nexus Prime is one of the most densely populated urban centers in the world. It is a truly global city, drawing in immigrants and workers from all over New Netherland and beyond. However, it is also a place of extreme inequality, with the privileged corporate elite living in luxury while the majority of citizens live in squalor.
The divide between the haves and have-nots is stark and unforgiving. The upper class enjoys unparalleled wealth, comfort, and access to cutting-edge technology, while the lower classes struggle to eke out a living in the overcrowded, pollution-choked slums. Systemic discrimination and lack of social mobility perpetuate this vast gulf between the privileged and the disenfranchised.
Nexus Prime is not governed by a traditional state apparatus, but rather a complex web of interlocking corporate monopolies and government-corporate hybrid entities. A handful of powerful megacorporations effectively rule over the city, leveraging advanced surveillance, security forces, and propaganda to maintain absolute control.
The Nexus Prime Security Authority (NPSA), a paramilitary police force, ruthlessly suppresses any dissent or challenges to the established order. Citizens are constantly monitored by an array of cameras, drones, and other invasive technologies, with little recourse against violations of their privacy and civil liberties.
Nexus Prime is a monument to technological progress, with ubiquitous automation, advanced computing, and cutting-edge breakthroughs in fields like nanotechnology, biotechnology, and renewable energy. However, this progress has come at a staggering environmental cost.
The city's infrastructure and industries are powered by the unsustainable extraction and consumption of natural resources, producing massive amounts of pollution, waste, and environmental degradation. Smog-choked air, contaminated waterways, and barren wastelands characterize much of Nexus Prime's outer boroughs and the surrounding region.
The critically acclaimed but short-lived cyberpunk television series "Afqla & Burly" used Nexus Prime as the backdrop for its grim exploration of totalitarianism, class struggle, and the erosion of individual liberty in a dystopian future.
The show followed two former special ops soldiers, Afqla and Burly, as they turned vigilante to fight against the systemic oppression and injustice of Nexus Prime's corporate-controlled regime. Through their eyes, viewers witnessed the city's stark contrasts of advanced technology and deep-rooted social ills, as well as the high-stakes, morally ambiguous conflict between the protagonists and the overwhelming power of the authorities.
"Afqla & Burly" served as a cautionary tale about the dangers of unchecked corporate power and the dehumanizing effects of technological authoritarianism. Its depiction of Nexus Prime has become a defining vision of the cyberpunk genre, influencing numerous subsequent works of speculative fiction.
Nexus Prime stands as a nightmarish reflection of very real 21st century anxieties about the future, including the growing influence of multinational corporations, the erosion of privacy and civil liberties in the digital age, the catastrophic impacts of environmental destruction, and the potential for technological progress to exacerbate rather than solve societal problems.
As the world grapples with these complex issues, the cautionary tale of Nexus Prime serves as a stark reminder of the dangers of prioritizing profit and power over the wellbeing of both people and the planet. The city's legacy as the setting of "Afqla & Burly" has cemented its place as a powerful symbol of the high-stakes struggle for a more just and sustainable future.
