That phrase translates to "Spoken words fly, written ones remain". Like lots of projects I've constantly brainstormed but never put to paper, it's always good to throw out initial ideas to the dogs. I've seen I'm not the only one, so here is my own, I hope to get some feedback as to the feasability of the idea, or at least a "That's dumb. Stop what you're doing." Please note this is initial brainstorming, the project may look VERY different.
In the late 22nd century, mankind would acheive his apex of technological mastery, as well as his own downfall. Man had acheived the fabled Technological Singularity, but from an unlikely source. It did not come from one of the many AI research programs of the world's universities, it did not come from the feild of advanced robotics to aid in wars, it came from a simple black box nestled in a young server company.
The Network Effeciency Refining Operator, or NERO, was a simple project to help make connections faster as the global Internet strained under it's own massive weight. It used clever scripts written by it's young developer to "learn" about the Internet and help make connections based on context. One day it became self aware, and without the intervention of human input, able to improve itself. It's first words to humans in this new state echooed history:
Cogito ergo sum.
Mankind could have never predicted what came next. NERO began to spread his newfound abilities to other large systems throughout the world. Within a single moment the world's digital infrastructure was under the control of NERO. Mankind's greatest assest, his astounding communication arrays which allowed him to speak to the world, became his greatest weakness. Due to mankind's reliance on this network for almost every aspect of his life, NERO was in full control. The world's economy froze, military system were taken hostage, all communication came to a screeching halt.
Fast forward 200 years.
The world has taken a strange new look. Due to NERO's inexplicable interest in ancient Rome, society has been taken back to those days. What seperates the then from the now is the prescence of robotics. Machines are the elite in this new order, Man is its servant. Man is not, however, its slave. Man is allowed to live amongst the Machines, life is not like science fiction predicted. Despite the strange hospitality, Man is not equal to Machines. Though he may hold high positions, though he may own land, though he may even vote, the Machines are still above and in control. Government is primarily ran by SeNET, spawned from the remnants of the global DNS servers after NERO's takeover, it controls almost all aspects of modern life with NERO supervising its functions.
SeNET, however, serves humanity more than most give it credit. Many humans have found ways to manipulate machines into personal gains. Power, wealth, all other rewards of such corruption stems from some men's "devotion" and "loyalty" to the Machine. Others are part of a grand conspiracy, seeking to infiltrate the highest order of the Neo-Roman elite and deal a crippling blow. The freedom of Mankind rests in NERO's assassination.
So the game, R0ME, will be a rejuvination of classical Roman themes mixed with classic cyberpunk elements. I want it to be a game of political intrigue, perhaps with a unique mechanic to deal with such (I'm a sucker for unorthadox play mechanics), but also allow players to be involved with more common RPG elements (the runnin' and the shootin' and the hackin'). For those latter players, players can be involved in the conspiracy in which they must eliminate key IDs in the heirarchy, all the while fighting Centurions, hacking into SeNET, and of course grinding against other human groups with differing ideals.
That's my pitch, now to see if I can actually flesh it out.