[INTEL BRIEFING: PROPAGANDA]
SUBJECT: The Interlink News — A Guide to the City’s Lies
You see them in every public space, every grimy diner, every steam-filled transit hub: the glowing Interlink News terminals. They’re the city’s official broadcast, a constant, flickering stream of amber or green text shouting at you from a bulky CRT screen. It’s the voice of the Corpos, delivered with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.
Don’t ever mistake it for the truth. It’s not news, rookie. It’s a drug.
The “News” is a tabloid-style feed designed to do two things: distract and direct. It’s a joint venture, a propaganda machine likely run by Alterscape Corp (who sells bliss and escapism ) and funded by Aurora Industries (who wants to ensure their machine runs smoothly ).
The Distraction (The Tabloid): Ninety percent of the feed is meaningless, sensationalist garbage designed to keep your mind numb and your eyes glazed.
- Flashing headlines about Vaulted celebrity scandals.
- Loud, colorful ads for new synth-flavors or Alterscape dream-packages.
- Synth-sports scores and betting odds.
- Weather reports that conveniently forget to mention the true nature of the Amber Snow.
The Direction (The Leash): The other ten percent is the real poison. This is the fear-mongering, the corporate-spun narrative that keeps the masses in line.
- It will never report on corporate crime.
- It will never tell you the truth about the Rift, the Blight, or the monsters in the Wastes.
- It will run constant stories about “savage” Outlander gangs, “vicious” Riftspawn attacks just outside the walls, and “dangerous” terrorist cells like Cassandra .
The goal is to keep you scared, to keep you looking at the freaks in the gutter or the monsters in the Wastes, and to remind you that the Civil Authority and the corporate walls are the only things keeping you safe.
The real news isn’t on the terminals. The real news is in the data-shard a Mnemonic pulls from a dead server. It’s in the whispers passed in a dark corner of the Cantina. It’s in the glowing graffiti a faction tags on a wall to claim its turf .
The Interlink News is the noise about the world. The street is the signal. Learn to tell the difference.
[TRANSMISSION END]
