#subsurf

[rainbowthefox]

Me and the Subway Surfers mutuals waiting for Episode 12

[mewmewdoppio]

SQUIDWAY SURFERS!!

[rainbowfox-art]

Birthday gift I had made for @basicallyinsanedog this last weekend

[hadraws-11]

Hadraws 11 can you draw a picture of Miss Maia hugging Charlie please on subway surfers I'm a big fan of subway surfers

Ok? Just 'cause i love them both and together asbnnbs <33

[lunarrumor]

super runner tricky is the best i said what i said js look

so very gay of her. y’all seein the hand ? the stance ? yea js what i thought

[murcielagatito]

greed was my downfall 😔

[subsurfblueberrycookie]

Tutti & Frutti

[hychlorions]

softening him

[thtupidity]

Subsurf pokemon au doodle page (I have no idea how to introduce the finished version)

[tumiyu]

Why is socializing on the internet so difficult?😭 I really want to make mutuals bc same fixation AND I JUST CANT???? WTH WHY?? ITS FUCKING TUMBLR?? WHAT ARE THEY GONNA DO?? BITE??? maybe

[aggravateddurian]

SubSurf: My Cyberpunk SF/Fantasy Universe I've been working on for just over 8 years now...

SubSurf is a near-future cyberpunk urban fantasy universe, set in alternate universe. In this universe, a fantastical element known as 'Etherite' has propelled science and technology. Etherite has also fundamentally affected the development of humans. New species of flora and fauna have popped up across the world.

You might recognise them from fantasy, maybe like those seen in DnD, Skyrim or Shadowrun, but different in their own ways, the consequence of the circumstances of their creation.

Before we begin, let's check the news...

Florida man strikes again!

Now, some of this might sound like a TTRPG sourcebook, and that's because I started this project as a TTRPG, and back then my cyberpunk of choice was Shadowrun (I am a glutton for punishment).

Part 1: What is a Subsurfer?

The term 'subsurfer' started appearing in slang around 2025. The term referred to mercenaries and punks who used the disused Los Angeles Subsurface Transit (LAST) Network tunnels during the Third Continental War (also known as the First Intercorporate War) to traverse the city.

It also had the connotation of being associated with underground culture (e.g. punk) culture. It is therefore accurate to state that the term 'subsurfer' is synonymous with the term 'cyberpunk.'

Part 2: The Subsurfer Life

Subsurfer Archetypes

A list of the typical roles or specialties of mercenaries in the 2080s.

Street Warrior

The Street Warrior is the ur-archetypical Subsurfer. The first Street Warriors were the Baywood Ronin, a crew of subsurfers who revolted against a corp-backed gang in Baywood, on the south side of Morro City, in 2028. Prior to that, without a unified term, Street Warriors were often referred to as gunslingers, street ninja, cyber ninja, street samurai, cyber knights and a thousand other variations, some of which survive today as self-applied designations of a particular speciality in combat.

Street Warriors are the muscle of a mercenary crew. They specialise in the very delicate art of applying firepower or force to targets, making physical holes in things, knocking teeth out and any other number of combat-related tasks. Depending on the speciality, they can range from agile, acrobatic shinobi types to the generic ‘operator’ with an assault rifle, breachers who specialise in explosives and CQB combat with shotguns, all the way to brute force muscly chrome-heads decked from head to toe in subdermal nanoweave armour and equipped with a pair of tech-fists capable of punching clean through tank armour.

Warpers

The Warper is a specialist in psionic warfare. Etherite warps reality, and some beings with large etherite presence in their body, due to genetic predilection to naturally accumulating it in their bodies (and not getting horrible cancer or mutations in the process) or because a corp decided to ‘accidentally’ drop an airship’s worth of etherite dust into the river and your poor family (who can’t afford water filters) had to drink etherite-laced water for the formative years of your life.

Nobody is born ‘magic,’ you develop it. Warpers are powerful force multipliers or gamechangers on the battlefields of the 2080s, and one that corporations and the military rarely employ, because they’re prone to etherwrack, a condition that’s not unlike Violent Cybertech Dysmorphic Psychosis (VCDP, or borg-rage, the final, and often terminal stage of CDP). This means that almost every Warper’s a subsurfer. A subsurfer with the ability to warp space and reality, granting them capabilities on par with some of the most advanced cyberware.

Codecasters

Codecasting is the ‘lite’ version of webcrawling, in that their work exclusively takes place in meatspace. Their weapon of choice is the WANDeck (sometimes just called a ‘wand’), either a small, PDA or phone-sized device they wear on their hip, or in recent years, a neural implant attached to a pair of wireless transceivers mounted on the user’s temples, or inside their optical implants. The codecaster uses a set (deck) of pre-built programs to wirelessly (but sometimes, surface crawling as well) penetrate enemy nets and distribute (cast) their pre-coded attacks on their enemies. This has effects ranging from causing their optical implants to reset, to triggering critical system failures in their enemies, or underclocking an enemy’s control limit to induce borg-rage.

Anybody with a WANDeck and cursory web knowledge can become a codecaster, but the best codecasters have custom rigs, sometimes even backpack rigs, or significantly chrome their own bodies (on par with the most advanced webcrawlers), and code their own programs.

Webcrawlers

Webcrawlers, sometimes called ‘spiders’ (particularly corporate or government operatives), are network specialists who engage in the riskiest, but most rewarding way of accessing the net… connecting your physical body to the net and directly interfacing with it. Webcrawlers are often chromed in unique, often lifechanging and permanent ways, to achieve this. This technology has only existed in the last forty years. Prior to this, webcrawlers ‘ran on the web’ by entering the net through a deck (now called a LANDeck, or simply a spider deck), often worn on their hip or forearm, which contained their programs and other advanced tools for interfacing with the web.

In the 2040s, the cybertech firm MacroComm, the grandfather of the modern webcrawling profession, developed neurodecks, which allowed crawlers to ditch the deck (though many prefer the added layer of protection the deck’s ICE system provides) and directly interface with the web. Today, most webcrawlers are the latter type, who have neurodecks implanted directly into their brains. Some webcrawlers accessorise their neurodecks, including datavols (data volumes, essentially expandable storage devices) to store programs and viruses, and some even have branched into the world of codecasting, augmenting their neurodecks with caster transceivers.

Techies

Techies are specialists in a range of technical fields, ranging from car repair to advanced surgery. They are an essential part of any merc crew, even if they don’t go out into the field and get shot at daily. Most techies specialise in weapons systems, vehicles, or drones, and build a repertoire of contacts, resources, and knowledge to become highly skilled in their field. Those who choose the field of drone ops, vehicle operations (e.g., becoming a professional wheelman or pilot) or medicine undergo extensive training for years, often starting their career working for a gov or corp before they go out on the streets.

The most famous and well-known techies are cybertechs and cybersurgeons (sometimes corrupted to cygeons), the specialists in cyberware maintenance and modification, and implantation and removal of cyberware, respectively. The best comparison is the difference between an electronics technician and an electrician.

Fixers

In a world where crime is just about the only way to make a living in the neon-choked streets of the dark future, it makes sense that someone who is a combination between logistics specialist, organised crime boss, mercenary commander, arms dealer, contract lawyer and celebrity agent is one of the most important professions. Meet the fixer, a logistical master who uses their contacts and connections to arrange jobs for mercenaries, or even for non-mercs, sometimes fixers are employed by bands or media crews to arrange logistics or gigs. Sometimes, they cover up ‘unfortunate accidents’ for corps, others, they’re arranging the shipment of arms through restricted zones, and other times, they’re helping negotiate deals between rival gangs.

The job of the fixer is highly rewarding, but fraught with risk. Fixers are one of the most dangerous subsurfer jobs there is. Betraying a crew for a leg up on another lead could lead to the crew (or a survivor) hunting you down and giving you a lead injection to the back of the head. Organising and executing a hit on a corp could lead to said corp ‘paying you a visit,’ working with gangs could lead to rival gangs doing what gangs normally do, but to you. Piss off a band you organised locations and gigs for, they might destroy your reputation… and the less said about what happens if you decide to fuck an journo, the better.

I'm going to post additional lore over the next few days. Next will explain what Crystal City is, and why living there is worse than living in San Fran or LA, as well as the variants of humanity (and inhumanity) that exist in the world of SubSurf.

[rainbowthefox]

The silly guy...<3

Bonus:

LEG

[charmedoralarmed]

[rainbowfox-art]

Challenged by a friend to do Frank in the Cartoon Network Palette...

[hadraws-11]

Some of my favorites chars of Subway Surfers 💜💕✨

[Twitter]

[lunarrumor]

hc spike as jakes older cousin (and lucy’s older brother) and tasha as trickys older sister

evidence: look at their eyebrows. also i said so