This is the Aethelgard Protocol, the internal design bible for the "Soul-Capture" Cyberpunk setting.In this world, electricity is a relic of the past. The grid now hums with Psionic Kinetic Energy (PKE)—literally the transmuted consciousness of the deceased.1. The Settlement: Obolus PrimeArchitectural Style: "Ossuary-Brutalism." The city is built from conductive, matte-black carbon fiber and polished bone-composite. Buildings don’t have windows; they have "Aura-Vents" that glow with a flickering, bioluminescent teal—the byproduct of the soul-fuel burning in the basements.Atmosphere: A heavy, static-filled silence. The air tastes like ozone and copper. There is a constant, low-frequency hum (the "Chorus") that vibrates in the teeth of every citizen, representing the collective screams of the power grid tuned to a frequency the human brain eventually ignores.The Hook: The Reanimation Tides. Every 24 hours, the city undergoes a "Power Flush" to clear psychic residue. During these ten minutes, shadows move independently of their owners, and the deceased briefly manifest as glitchy, non-interactive holograms in the streets.2. Economy & LawsLocal Currency: "Motes." Small, pressurized glass vials containing a fraction of a second of a "standard" human life-memory. You don’t just spend them; you can break them to experience a fleeting moment of someone else’s joy or warmth.Unique Trade Resource: Grey-Matter Sludge. The physical remains of a soul after its "charge" has been depleted. It is a highly addictive, hallucinogenic grease used by the undercity to "slick" their cybernetics for faster reaction times.The Strange Law: The Silence of the Kin. It is a capital offense to speak the name of a deceased relative in public. To do so is considered "Psychic Interference," as the city-state technically owns the patent on their consciousness once it enters the grid.3. NPC CastName: Exarch ValeriusSecret Motivation: He is secretly "leaking" the power grid into a private server to reconstruct his daughter, but she is being reborn as a gestalt entity of ten thousand strangers.Quest Hook: He hires the players to "reclaim" a high-voltage soul—a former revolutionary—that escaped the grid and is currently possessing a localized network of vending machines.Name: Silt (A "Wicker-Man" Class Cyborg)Secret Motivation: Silt is composed of three different souls forced into one chassis; they are searching for a way to commit "true death" (total erasure) before the government recycles them again.Quest Hook: Silt needs the players to break into the Central Capacitor to delete their original "Identity Files" from the state archives.Name: Madame Vex (Owner of the 'Static Lounge')Secret Motivation: She harvests "residual echoes" from her customers’ drinks to sell as black-market memories to the elite.Quest Hook: She offers a legendary weapon in exchange for a "Pure Soul"—the consciousness of someone who has never used an augment.4. Item Flavor TextRarityItem NameFlavor TextLegendaryThe Widow’s Wail (Railgun)The magnets are cooled by the tears of a thousand archived mourners. Every shot rings with a sonic frequency that mimics a human scream, shattering both glass and resolve.RareStatic-Laced Neural LinkThis spinal implant jitter-clicks when you walk near high-density power lines. It allows you to "hear" the last thoughts of the fuel rods currently powering the city block.RareMemory-Leak StimulantA syringe filled with a bright violet liquid that smells like rain on hot asphalt. Injecting it grants prophetic visions, though they are actually just the forgotten regrets of the city’s founding fathers.CommonObolus-Pattern Breathing MaskThe charcoal filters are infused with pulverized bone to catch psychic particulate. It won’t stop a bullet, but it keeps the "Ghost-Cough" out of your lungs.CommonFlicker-CoinA spent Mote vial that has lost its glow and value. Bored street kids flick them into the Aura-Vents to see if the static can make the glass dance one last time.Would you like me to expand on the "Reanimation Tides" event or perhaps design a combat encounter involving a "Leaked Soul" entity?