Zoothesia
Zoothesia
Set in Mayaford — a city where widespread AR adoption met the fear of social erasure — the Zoothesia Protocols emerged as an answer. Nicknamed "the Zoo" by residents, the system uses prediction algorithms to decide who each person can and cannot see, guided by a deceptively simple rule: Perception Must Preserve.
The harm you might do determines the world you're allowed to inhabit. What the system hides from you continues to exist. It is simply no longer seen.
Overview
Thematic questions
- How do safety and freedom interact?
- How do complicated, inhuman systems make those who are subject to them feel?
- Does preempting harm create its own forms of harm?
- Is desire compatible with being known?
- What is the relationship between seeing and violence?
Setting
- Near future: 20–60 year horizon, no explicit year
- Mayaford — named for māyā (Sanskrit: illusion). Theoretically any city that adopts the Protocols can appear in this world
- Nayanaport — the docks and surrounding neighbourhood
- Shraville — the industrial zone
- Chitram Row — riverside row homes with large advertising screens; valuable real estate
- Charntown — a tent city and experimental living community on the outskirts. Most people cannot see it; its residents live challengingly alternate lifestyles
The Zoo's slogans
Be Present in the Present
Protocols for the People
Perception Must Preserve
See It All, See It Safely
See the Change You Want to Be in the World
See No Evil, Be No Evil
Presence is a Present!
Stories
Perception Must Preserve
Ch. 1 — A world that filters what everyone sees raises one question no one has answered: who controls the filter?
Would You Stop Following Me If I
Ch. 2 — When AR overlays let your ex-boyfriend see only what he wants to see, becoming monstrous isn't enough to be left alone.
The Predation Circuit
Ch. 3 — On his eighteenth birthday, a young man wakes to an empty city and learns the surveillance that isolated him left one gap.
Day Traitor
Ch. 4 — A trader who profits from reading the market's invisible patterns begins to suspect he is one of them.
Missing Not at Random
Ch. 5 — A teenager's school report about her missing brother becomes an investigation — the protocol that erased him didn't account for her.
Minor Differences Repeating Forever
Ch. 6 — Karina spots her exact double leaving a clinic. The fractal has already been running longer than she has.
Crossover: The Zoothesia DRZ also appears in the Trainverse — a de-realized zone on the UET-1 route near Astana, governed by the Neutral Forge Protocol Authority. A story set at the DRZ can draw from both universes simultaneously.
The Toybox
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The Protocols
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The Zoo — a complex, centralised algorithm constantly predicting harm likelihood. If it believes you'll hurt someone, it hides them from your view. The deceptively simple governing rule: Perception Must Preserve.
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Overlays — deep augmented reality that shapes and masks the world. Primarily visual but also plugged into audio and other sensory inputs.
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Kapala-Halo — an administrative headset that lets the wearer see through the Zoo, stripping away its protective AR overlays. Originally for social workers and system admins; black market versions circulate.
Body Modification
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Foulmaxxing (Phobisculting) — extreme body modification (embedded tech, animalistic add-ons, signals of sickness and grotesquerie) used to become intentionally hidden from wide swaths of the population.
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Faceting — a foulmaxxing subculture that embeds gemstones into the skin. In its final form, facters are literally embedded into large rocks: unmoving watchers.
Setting
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Mayaford — the city. Named for māyā (Sanskrit: illusion). Any city that adopts the Protocols is technically Zoothesia territory.
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Charntown — the invisible tent city on the outskirts. Most of its residents cannot be seen by Zoo users; the community exists in a perpetual perceptual blind spot.
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Chitram Row / Nayanaport / Shraville — named neighbourhoods available for use: riverside advertising real estate, the docks, the industrial zone.
Characters & Agents
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Oren — a Zoothetic psychopomp. Often operates as a drug dealer but is plugged into the body-modding and underground community. Appears as a guide for those beginning to explore perceptual layers they haven't encountered before.
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ProfBot — a tutoring AI agent many children and young adults carry. Defines unknown words, explains concepts, and helps navigate the world in real time.
Thematic Concerns
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The tension between safety and freedom under a system that resolves the conflict by removing choice
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Whether preempting harm creates its own forms of harm
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The relationship between seeing and violence — perception as a form of power
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Whether desire is compatible with being truly known by a system