Dust City 20XX - An Intro
A quick word about Dust City 20XX
The genesis of Dust City began as a question. What if cyberpunk, but in the Southern Plains of Texas?
This idea has had various incarnations throughout the years, starting with 2 music albums when it was just a vague idea of a future dystopia. One released in 2014 and another in 2017. It wasn’t until around 2022, with the help of Sam Gaitan and Rey Ramos, that the concept was fleshed out into what is now Dust City 20XX. It was an interactive art installation that featured a look into how that future might look and how we might stave it off.
Cyberpunk is a genre filled with characters outside of the norms. Fighting to not only survive, but to make a better future. Texas, and the Southplains are filled with the same. Not heroes, but people who want to live and be happy. What is cyberpunk if not fighting the corpos, being punk as hell? If my years living in the panhandle area have shown me anything, it’s that that cyberpunk ethos exist here and now! This is speculative fiction. Sure, for better and worse. Stories of today with a science fiction glamour. That is what Dust city 20XX is about.
For a few years I worked in and around Civil Rights in my home state of Texas. Those experiences and stories inspired the setting quite a bit. Most cyberpunk works ignore the Southern States, usually we’re sealed off and forgotten, if not destroyed completely. Which is a shame, because there is so much potential, especially in the Plains. This iteration of the project is about telling those stories. Stories that can only be told by people who have lived in this area, or places like it. Over the course of the next year, we’ll be dropping stories as they are finished. So, keep an eye out.
While the cyberpunk genre tends to be brutal and hard, when writing a story set in Dust City, remember that even in its dystopia, there exists hope. Hard fought as it may be. These stories are not about saving the world, but they start the journey there. It’s not too late.
David L. Puga
“...Nuevo Llano. A Mega City that was once a hub in the South Plains! Well back in a time before the climate got a hold of the plains and absolutely rocked the smaller towns and cities. See Giant tornados mixed with the dust and ash to create the much afeared "Dragons de Polvos", or Dust Dragons as they went on to be called, causing the Greater Texas government to evacuate and consolidate the populace into the aforementioned super metro, Nuevo Llano. Oh, and did I mention the earthquakes and oil fires that still burn to this day? No? Well, I'm getting ahead of myself again. This here Guide of sorts is about Nuevo Llano, or what we affectionately call "Dust City". A town that has survived harsh conditions, failed Network State takeovers, and a whole lot of other shenanigans. But filled with a people that persevere despite…
…did I mention that water has become hard to come by? Well, you don’t need that reminder. You can just tell by looking around us. At least as far as the good people at "Playa Water Authority" would have you believe. They're the local proxy of the Greater Texas Water Authority. Whatever the case may be, the rule of law is enforced by the thugs. Excuse me, I meant upstanding folks at the Golden Circle Service. What's the Golden Circle, you ask? Well, it's the city's very own private military group! Bought and paid for by the Greater Texas Rangers and by way of our very own taxes. See, word has it that the State Rangers are stretched thin, which is why they bring in these Private Military Contractors to help "keep the peace". This usually means there is very little oversight and PMC's are allowed to do what they deem necessary to ensure civil obedience from the working class. Usually, it means a whole lot of brutality and pain, least for everyone not on the take...”
- excerpt from the Dust City Survival Guide, authors unknown