Imperial Rus'

NeoTokyo's only "nation," dating back to shortly after Landfall, when anti-corporate Dark Enlightenment types ran as far from the coastal zaibatsu authority as they could possibly go. Since nobody else either missed them or wanted millions of hectares of un-terraformed snow and tundra, they were left for centuries to do their own thing - which was mostly hunt, fuck, drink, and cosplay.

Its head of state is the Tsar Of All The Russias, its government a fairly low-key feudal bureaucracy nominally reporting to him. Likewise, the economy, to the extent there is one, is feudal in structure and largely subsistence-based, with some light industry.

For Tourists

Why Is Everybody Wrinkly?

The first thing a tourist from the Landfall Territories will notice is that Russians are remarkably weathered and physically aged in appearance. The second thing is that generally no one is cybered. Access to cybernetic and cosmetic enhancements is, like everything from apartment size to uniform decorations, regulated by the Table of Ranks that applies to everyone from barefoot peasant to the Tsar. Even the Imperial Family is expected to conform to a rugged ideal, not to the plastic eternal youthfulness of Landfall culture.

Rus'Net

Global data feeds are heavily jammed. All you get is The Tsar's Own Truth, all two channels of it, Education and Enlightenment: propaganda with a bit of news, and ballet, classical concerts and telenovelas, respectively.

If you try to hack Rus'Net, you'll discover that the Novy Kreml really is a world-class digital fortress - moments before the Okhrana shows up to politiely knock on your door - backed by troopers in Metalgear.

Tourist Industry

There is, however, a solid domestic tourist-support industry, as it's the single largest source of hard currency, even ahead of Techtronika hunting weapons. Free roaming is not permitted: all tourism must be booked with an hour-by-hour agenda and a local "guide." Guides range from obviously hostile secret police to eager and enthusiastic young people - who are also hostile secret police. Tipping is expected.

Nowadays, there are weekly commercial flights to the Landfall cities, and some minor commerce back and forth, but the Crown-In-Exile has largely been successful in keeping the megacorps out, in part by keeping its people too poor to buy consumer crap.

What's With All The Tentacles?

Fifteen years ago then-Tsar Boris IV converted from the Galactic Orthodox faith that had been the state religion since Landing, to the Church of the Outer Gods, after a sequence of strange events involving the Church and a onetime popstar, Starscream, formerly Starlight Fairy of Happy Aura. Boris died under circumstances which led to his canonization within the church, shortly after its establishment as the state religion.

Old Believers still remain, but inquiring about them is an offense punishable by death, even for foreigners. So make the Sign of the Kraken and don't ask questions.

They Are Always Watching

Most people in the Landfall territories only know of Imperial Rus' through the Crown-In-Exile memes and parties, and would certainly never consider that all that silliness is ops by the remarkably effective secret police, the Okhrana. They're not on par with the best megacorp digital security, but they more than make up for it in old-school methods. That little old lady sweeping the street? Implanted agent, filing reports on everyone passing by. Also packing.

Assume everything you say is being overheard and reported, unless you take extraordinary precautions. Some open zones do exist, specifically so foreign corpos can do limited private business. You'll have to guess where they are, though: the Okhrana is not here to maximize hard currency transactions.

Port Romanov

Baikonur Industrial Zone

Crown-In-Exile