Your Guide To Mistpunk

Mistpunk is based in a post-Armageddon or pre-tribulation time where the world is in a seven year turbulence type of society or verging on excruciatingly wicked society that is borderline dystopian yet also hostile towards good and kind people since they believe the only place for good is in the graveyards or as their willing slaves. The root inspiration of Mistpunk came from Keiko Nobumoto called 'Wolf's Rain', the idea is the same, apocalyptic, in the future, sedated societies in domes, a world gone insane, a handful of survivors on a journey to find Paradise so they can grant the world rebirth, the decent people are either fugitives or targets for the villains to gleefully annihilate and the heroes have pasts they regret and a portion of them seek redemption as they've done something terrible enough to be condemned. The elite are wagering endless power struggles through shock troops and the lesser society is left to either starve or defeat other factions in feudal anarchy to take over the world respite having a life expectancy of a week. These anarchic factions are merely the mindless thralls of the biotic assailants competing for control of the world whereas the only good and peaceful people are survivors who do their best to vanish and remain void of the grid until they have revived the world in paradise. They have a select few ways for surviving but they only know to keep hunting, keep searching and keep moving in a world empty of sanity. Some Mistpunk themes involve anti-experiment rescue missions, escape the lock down master rushes, search for paradise quests (through a powerful source or vital relics), stopping megalomaniac terrorists from flipping the system upside down for their own attempt at seizing power and battle for soul freedom. In some cases mistpunk can be seen as post-apocalyptic but it also encompasses a theme of compassion versus dimensional tyrants or the psychological duality. Some characters however seem more interested in their own goals thus creating an element of neutrality and are often pushed to side with good or with evil because they get mixed into the conflict. The world in Mistpunk is often bubble cities whereas the city not in the bubble is most likely in ruins, and the bubble city is the place where Monotones live in other words people whom believe being void of emotion makes them live calmly in a mad world, they also view the endless struggles of light and darkness as meaningless as if they have always done that. Bubble cities pretend to exist outside of the world yet can't help but to be curious if the world has changed since they've been inside for a while, yet both them and their inhabitants are fated to whither and fade as the world transforms into paradise. Emotions are a strong element in mistpunk as is spiritual and psychological bonding making the unit stronger than the individual. The villain is always a rich politician lusting for power or a ranking admiral/general who controls the military seeking absolute control or an influential corporate lawyer who is a renowned scientist who discovers ground breaking technology that ironically is intended to control society. The fashions of mistpunk are less fashionable than steampunk and less hardcore than cyberpunk but do bear a high degree of stylishness being artistic fashion. Mistpunk is always set in pre-Millennial times in other words a crazy world before the emergence of paradise and is a sub-fiction of dream fiction aside from bizarre fiction. Apocalyptic themes aren't always a big factor in mistpunk but sometimes there's war or saving the world from a nightmare army, it also has the element of dimensions a ruinous world or cities surviving an escalating hostile planet by becoming bubble cities. Also common in Mistpunk is a last defense army of good guys who are trying to defend the only cities worth defending yet having enough powerful forces to defend the Zion settlements, they work with the heroes to defend the surviving world of good people and restore the orderly world that could easily incinerate the bad and wicked. The music in mistpunk is often ambient techno, ambient rock/metal or hard trance and even ambient trance, for the most part future music which is electronic by default. The atmosphere is all around high tech with maybe a couple of areas of synthetic organic or organic plastic environments, few places where true nature meets the city realm entirely and all of it upheld by the music. Though mistpunk bears obvious sci-fi leaning blended beautifully with dream fiction it also has one but on occasion crossed paths with fantasy though Wolf's Rain the first mistpunk work named having elements of bio-magic used in a scientific manner, magic blended with technology, the dangers of science and magic noted and hover ships powered by magic. Thus sometimes mistpunk could have on occasion a sort of medieval architecture that brings chic architecture to an otherwise chic dead genre. In other cases it tends to be friendly towards protagonists who are largely rogueish in practice and puts into question about the potential abuses of super powers if they could be unlocked and were possible even through technology with the biggest casted villians being demagogues who form megacults believing they alone can fix the world, the only goal of the protagonist is extraction which is to find the righteous individuals who are the good people of the world and have them escape a doomed world.

The mistpunk font comes off as a futuristic but distressed emphasis on the edge of the future being inspired by graphic glitchings, 3D alarmist writing, dissolving aeronautics text after wear and tear missions and sometimes culturally dead rushed writing that uses robotic assistance. It definitely emphasizes a world fallen into insanity after achieving its height in technological grandeur and being led or controlled by indifferent individuals and run by low lives, a world where the sunbeams of life have either fled or died out. Ultimately a sci-fi futuristic apocalyptic world living in dystopia where the only law is dog eat dog and the only form of survival is fight or hide which is also in a way emphasized in the fonts.

Those who live each and every day without purpose, without dreams, without emotions or truth stay inside the bubble. They only know what it means to live in a tranquil reality which they prefer to the maddened struggle of good and evil even if it means they will die as they lived, to no longer be remembered for they didn't live anyways but wanted to be as husks or empty shells cause it was the only life that made sense. Though their fate is tragic it is also disturbing since they are barely people anymore but mere animated beings who see no reason to exist but only the logic of why.

The men who defend the remainders of the good and just world and fight to keep any untarnished cities from being annihilated by the villain forces and hold back the nightmare legion from coming into the world. They know the heroes role is to restore paradise which in their case means humanity and order versus insanity and chaos.

Talismans might be in some cases common sight in fantasy but are rarely present in most fantasy novels except in the form called 'angreal' (wheel of time is the only known exerciser of talismans) which bears powerful magical property. Talismans in reality don't bear magical powers but are known to invoke or summon mystical forces and even stow them for later use. Mistpunks use them as survival methods against chaotic forces who attempt to overwhelm them because talismans have the only power to shield them against chaos.

Being Mistpunks don't use guns because they are for the uncivil, with super tech melee weapons. Sometimes they use shock staffs or even burning staffs for combat being such objects already carry the tech to do the damage. Some of their choices of weapons and fashion might seem like Star Wars nerdom to you but they disagree with the pop-cultural connection. The few ways to battle the carnage is through a staff enhanced with elemental tech properties for those who have almost no skill with their bodies in combat.

The knuckles are a most common commodity of combat for any Mistpunk since more Mistpunks use their physical prowess over their weapon prowess. They still consider guns some of the most useless weapons of all since they are only so easy to handle and only so efficient in packing punches. The metal knuckles are good for close range combat as their long range combat weapon is ultimately their mind over matter prowess!

Mistpunks carry meditation beads around as one of the few forms of jewelry primarily because of how it enhances and aids them. Mistpunks are just as less passionate about jewelry as Cyberpunks are but believe certain jewelry must be worn at all times for they carry mystical properties of blessings or power not regularly granted to a mere mortal.

Most air vehicles are the only form of transportation that Mistpunks can use since the once existing ground vehicles are long since gone. These vessels are the only things that they can use for survival and in a mechanical society they use aero cars for the purpose of dominion. Mistpunks would rather be on the move looking for a safe haven than dwell in a society doomed to cast itself into ruin and ashes.

Mistpunks are unruly unlike dream-fiction characters since they use the most intense and most brutal forms of the martial art to achieve their goals of peace or freedom. Dream-Fiction characters use the more sophisticated or more skilled form of martial arts unless they face a very powerful foe in which case they must use bone shattering martial arts. Mistpunks only use such roguish and unruly martial arts for survival in a psychotic world or to help their faction win territory and riches.

Mistpunks use more advanced and civil technology as opposed to savage and brutish technology developed by advocators of chaos. Electric dominators might use brutish tech themselves but they at least make use of it by using it for helping their master obtain things or to suppress sieges from the mechanical societies puppets. Mistpunks have the control stick whereas the dominator has the weaponry and tools to do hard work or heavy battle.

Gloves are a more common sight in mistpunk since they play a major role in combat such as martial arts who relieving welded objects of their spot to replace them with a fresher one and to amplify one's power of mind over matter.

Mistpunk fashion coincides with a more dreamy or relatively abstract style that is more based on art than it is on being in style. Mistpunks would rather dress like they have an imagination than the desire to be a cultural impression or to stand out or like Cyberpunk to look badass and receive the glory and praise for being so hardcore. Mistpunks still receive the compliments for their choice of dress out but at least they do it with the ability to make themselves look sophisticated and creative.

A relic or a cache of powerful artifacts could be the things needed to awaken the earth's rebirth cycle, it unleashes flames upon the wicked, particle decay on the monotone and raptures the good and innocent. These artifacts or relics aren't just simple objects with symbolic meaning but objects blessed by powerful godlike beings in other words they have been touched by such power. Other artifacts or so-called relics are merely symbolic bearing the idea of godlike powers but not actually bearing them, meaning the most of what they are is an illusion.


Departments of the Mistpunk


Mistpunk Fighter

Inside the dystopian society the Mistpunk fighter is mostly for entertainment earning credits or points rarely engaging in covert incursions. Inside a survival unit the Mistpunk fighter does the majority of combat specifically for rescue or for keeping incursions out, they feel that paradise will bring them purpose besides the combat and high end rewards of mankind. For much of the time they forget what it is like to feel and express what they were taught by overlords to bottle up, a survival unit teaches them what emotion is like which they find more rewarding than the praise and fame that mechanical society can give them.


Mistpunk Journeyer

You won't find a journeyer in a mechanical society or at least a good portion of all cities gone insane, if one does exist they are merely made to be spies for the opposing faction whom only know anger. True journeyers are part of the survival unit when they encounter one yet for the most part they journey alone with only the eagle to guide them, they also search for paradise because they hear people there live in peace. The only emotion they know of is joy having little idea what tears are, what anger is and what fear feels like however when they take on dangerous missions they begin to understand such emotions.


Mistpunk Mender

In the mechanical society the mender only holds the role of medic in anarchic factions but in the survival unit they hold the role of fixer, medic and morale booster as well as mind healer. Their desire to find paradise is contributed to the fact they tire of having to patch up what mankind blatantly harms or destroys since they get left with the mess. Their common emotion is pain since being a medic means to also have to deal with an individual who passes on by intense writhing pain or by fading in a blast or maybe slow loss of reality becoming utterly dormant! The worst death they've seen is a being whom looks zombified for there is no death like the empty shell that was once a person!


Mistpunk Seeker

The seeker in a mechanical society is always helping the elite power monger find powerful items scattered about the city so he may have an edge in crushing the anarchic factions. In the survival unit the seeker is looking for powerful relics that could change the fate of all and make the survival unit more powerful than they that hunt them. This in a sense makes the seeker a sort of archeologist but also a paragon in turning the tables against chaos consistently, they always pack their trusty dominators which are android armored soldiers so they can blast through hard lock places or run down foes!


Mistpunk Vagrant

The vagrant is always the front line in the mechanical society on the anarchic faction or the elite power monger's side. In the survival unit they are the pilots of the hover plane as they are the x-ray to determine where they are, they use the power of their minds to do all the fighting since they accompany enough to tear an entire army to bloody shreds. Their plane is fueled or runs off of hydro electric cold fusion and rarely needs recharge but when it does they often dock in suburbs to acquire it knowing the suburbs have become desolate havens for the criminally insane who wouldn't bother with one unknown who simply steals from long extinguished residents. The vagrant more than often is entrapped by fear since controlling fear is a bit of a challenge when faced with a darkened world turned to insanity. Paradise is the only place the vagrant dreams of since it is the place where they feel safe and where they can enjoy their powers without the distraction of the crazy world.


Mistpunk Streamer

The streamer comes off the mindless entertainer as well as the charismatic and well-spoken sensei, one who keeps the world from acknowledging the tragic state it is in and the other who helps people cope with the ravaged state of the world. In this future they have private ways of broadcasting themselves even without the network being available to them wherever they go. Guess the old inventors should have considered an oversight of its design because the streamer knows how to fix anything that will help him/her get himself/herself out there. Streamers don't do conspiracy videos since that stuff is useless in a world that man has already successfully destroyed and brought about the apocalypse. In some cases they are paid to entertain the masses merely to keep them sedate while the powers continue their dystopian operations in the background and in others they oppose the powers and help keep the people of Zions calm while the world's a mess and everyone awaits the powers to wipe themselves out. Who they chose to work for determines if they wake up in Gehenna or Paradise.


Mistpunk Oracle

An oracle is not your every day mistpunk but a special one that has the ability to see the future, enter others dreams without aide and broadcast their inner voice from their body awake or asleep. They are often bio-engineered, born of an innocent figure or simply endowed through their extreme faith in a higher power. They are more powerful than the average psychic and drawn in to their destiny by fate like a fish drawn to the mouth of the bay through a strong raging current in a river.

Mistpunk In The Central World

The central world ultimately refers to the Middle East, Europe, Africa and only a sliver of Russia and knowing the future is uncertain one thing is definite, spirituality in the sense of dreams and all maintains a universal theme there as much as it does in Australia (by their mythology) and the Americas. Mistpunk helps to expand upon the artistic theme that the central world before the time of rulers was quite passionate about, yet here one could embrace it like an every day thing. The mistpunk psychic ops soldier wears suits similar to that of crysis the game but uses it to synchronize their power to bio tech that can make it into a weapon, venters use more nano-fabric suits similar to the old psychic while being armored with exoskeleton plates; the psy ops is the equivalent to the vagrant but more militarized. The mistpunk punisher has nearly no equivalence to any of the others save maybe the fighter but he is more of a private cop, someone who will exercise the law where it is void or where it is needed under license of the local establishment making him only half of what a Ranger agent is. The mistpunk freelancer is about like the seeker but in a different fashion, they aren't assassins as they don't take on contract terminations for political factions or corporate lords nor guard dignitaries from harm, they take on private contracts to terminate dangerous individuals by view of civilization or society.

A Soundtrack For Mistpunk And Its Fans