In all parts of the world any overt activity which could be construed as against the state is cause for the offender, and often their family as well, to simply vanish. If this occurs it will be very difficult to prove that they ever even existed. Non-political criminals are usually made an example of, live on public holovision. This is the only reasonably accurate news people outside the higher levels of the elite are likely to see, as all forms of the media are very heavily censored.
The possession of a weapon is capital offence for anyone other then a member of the elite in all areas of the world. Despite this approximately five active resistance groups are known to exist today. They are The Tower, a group which fights to restore democracy to the world; the Douglas MacArthur Army (DMA), a mainly American pro-democracy group, which often works with The Tower; the Sons of Liberty, an American group; Vendetta, Vengeance, Victory (3V), a group composed of victims of Nazi genocide (Jew, Slavs, Blacks, Moslems etc.) who tend to be carry out more anti-Nazi terrorism than attempting to overthrow the Reich; Black Flag, a fairly disorganised Anarchist resistance group and Red Flame, an extreme communist group which is often considered the most violent of all the resistance groups.
In all parts of the world women hold a second-class position in society, being 'protected' from the harsher aspects of life (at least in the upper classes). All elite men perform compulsory military service from the ages of eighteen to twenty-two, in a branch of the services allocated according to their abilities and family background. Proles are subject to call-up into the forces at any time, without notice, and can also be subject to compulsory emigration to a colony world, or re-assignment to another place of residence anywhere in the world with a similar lack of notice.
Within and between the arcologies which dot the face of the Earth travel is via foot (which includes the use of moving walkways in some of the larger cities) or elevators. Travel between cities is conducted either via magnetic levitation trains which travel through evacuated tunnels deep underground or via grav-aircraft which commute between the various cities. In general travel is only for people of the middle class or above, and a high level of clearance is needed to go any distance (which can be obtained by Netrunning). Members of the elite often travel purely for pleasure, which is not an option open to most other people.
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