THE FEED ECONOMY Optional
You Are Your Number. Your Number Is Everything.
"Nobody famous ever got arrested in this city. They got sponsored."
"Image is virus. The feed is the host. You are the vector." — CogniData internal memo, leaked, unverified, still circulating.
Influence
Influence measures how visible you are to the city's attention economy. It is not fame exactly — it is the metric the algorithm uses to decide if you matter. It goes up and down. At certain thresholds it changes what the city will do to you and for you. It is tracked as a number on your character sheet, alongside your credit score and your HP. All three can kill you. Only one of them gets you a table at the good restaurants first.
Optional Complexity
The Brackets with mechanical effects (Micro/Verified/Immune stat bonuses and bribe modifiers) add bookkeeping. Groups who want Influence as pure narrative currency — a number that opens doors and changes how the city sees you — can use the bracket names and flavor without applying the mechanical modifiers. Influence still matters; it just doesn't move stats.
Oxygen / Air Tax is only tracked when a character's air subscription lapses, is confiscated, or they enter a bad-air zone. Most sessions it won't come up. It's already half-optional — the callout below formalises that.
Starting Position
Starting Influence by Class
0 (Ghost) — Rogue Android, Street Chemist, Corpo Deserter, Cult Refugee, Unlicensed Surgeon, Scavenging Academic
d4 × 100 — Machine Priest, Black Market Fixer (niche following, known in certain circles)
d6 × 100 — Gutter Journalist (byline exists, someone reads it)
d4 × 500 — Sexual Terrorist (provocateur; the feed notices provocateurs)
The Brackets
| Bracket | Followers | What It Means |
|---|---|---|
| Ghost | 0–999 | You don't register. Automated systems ignore you. So does everyone else. Tactically useful. Socially terminal. |
| Presence | 1k–9,999 | You exist. Local gangs know your name. One faction has a file on you. Bribes cost standard rate. |
| Micro | 10k–99,999 | You get table service. SecCorp checks your score before engaging. Bribes cost 20% less. PRE +1 on first impressions with anyone who recognizes the number. |
| Verified | 100k–999,999 | Your face opens doors. One faction treats you as an asset. CogniData wants a meeting. SecCorp requires a senior officer to authorize engagement. |
| Immune | 1M+ | Diplomatic immunity in four districts. ARM cannot decommission you without a papal counter-signature. Dyzny Rom has made an offer. The offer does not expire. |
Going Up
Public violence that gets streamed: +d6
Completing a job a faction publicly acknowledges: +d4
Being named on the Zerocalcare broadcast: +d6
Surviving something that was filmed: +d4
The Mouse endorsing you publicly, in character: +d10
The Mouse has never done this for free.
A Dyzny Rom arena appearance: +d20, one time only, non-repeatable
The fine print specifies the sensory feed runs both directions.
Going Down
Public humiliation: −d6
Caught doing something unglamorous: −d4
Account closure broadcast: −d8
Dying on camera: −d10, then reassess at next session
Doing something significant that nobody saw: +0
The city did not notice. It didn't happen.
Mechanical Effects by Bracket
Ghost: Invisible to automated systems. No faction will hire you directly. Zanardi will still take your calls.
Presence: Standard play. Heat accumulates normally. Factions negotiate.
Micro: Bribes cost 20% less. PRE +1 on first impressions. SecCorp defaults to paperwork before violence if your Influence exceeds their sergeant's.
Verified: One faction of your choice considers you an asset and will take your calls directly. CogniData offers a content deal — your memories, commercially licensed, monthly stipend, 40% Influence boost on signing. The contract has clauses.
Immune: ARM needs a Vatican counter-signature to touch you. SecCorp needs senior authorization. Three corporate buildings: you walk in without ID. The fourth you find out at the door. Dyzny Rom's standing offer arrives in writing, hand-delivered by a grunt in full Mouse ears.
Androids and Influence
Androids can accumulate Influence. A famous android is a legal problem — ARM cannot decommission a verified Influencer without a public process that the Zerocalcare Collective will cover live.
At 1M+, an android's Immune status creates a genuine constitutional crisis that no faction has resolved yet because none of them want to be the one who resolves it first.
The Mouse is aware of this. The Mouse finds it interesting.
Oxygen
Only tracked when your apparatus is suspended, confiscated, or you're somewhere the air is bad. Otherwise ignored — it is not a permanent stat.
When activated: You have 5 rounds (combat) or 10 minutes (exploration) before damage begins.
After that: d4 damage per round or per minute. No save.
Extending it: Unlicensed apparatus buys another 5 rounds / 10 minutes at degraded quality. Androids double all thresholds — still affected eventually. In the Sump, halve all thresholds. The air down there is genuinely different.
Ending it: Pay and restore your subscription. Find unmetered air (rare, noted in location descriptions). Get an unlicensed apparatus from the black market — 200 lire, available at Termini or from the Fairy. Descend to the Sump, where nobody controls the air and other things do.