Sigole, Roy's distraction.
"Your gonna be late for work again! Hurry your ass up!" "Shut up yah old woman!" She acted like his mother, not his landlord. Some stomping and a door slamming told him the argument was already over. He jumped out of bed, padding across the cold hardwood to his dresser. Quickly brushing his dark grey fur he hobbled around the room grabbing various garments of clothing. As he flipped a jacket around his shoulders and opened his door, an ear curdling screech echoed down the stairs. "You STILL aren't gone?!" He stopped, his bushy tail thrashing behind him. "I'm leavin'! Now shut up Merna!" The older wolf's thin muzzle poked over the railing. "I'll have you know, if you don't make this month's rent I'll personally burn ALL of your belongings!" He rolled his eyes and left, slamming the door behind him. "ROY! You better have that money!" she yelled, Roy's ears flattening outside.
Sigole, the beautiful juggernaut capital, spread out before Roy as he walked away from the apartment building. His building was situated on the city outskirts atop a hill. The view was killer, but so were the other people. Roy wasn't in the most fortunate of areas in the city. The rest was breathtaking. Blue scrapers towered above the other residential buildings like captains to an army. The lower buildings a hodge-podge of watercolors, chaotically thrown about to create a hap-hazard beauty. The two centerpieces of the city were The Grand Commerce and The Cathedral of the many. The Cathedral wasn't exactly a religious base as much it was a political one. In Sigole, their is no dominant religion. The Cathedral houses The Many, those who make governing decisions over Sigole and the other branching colonies. The Grand Commerce was a huge complex that covered as much as the average city. Its sprawling center courtyard housed many traders and professionals from around the world. Surrounding the courtyard where many rooms and halls with local traders and wares.
Roy wound his way through the streets till he came to a small orange sign beside a particularly worn out bench. The bus stop was always filled, after fuel resources such as oil became so low as to halt production The Many issued utter control over the flow and use of fuels. Since then, all motor transport ceased and buses were put in their place.
Passing the other seats on the bus, the grey wolf made his way to the middle of the bus. Before he sat down he flashed his silver profile card across the railing as it made a small -bing- and moved to let him sit. The packed buses had a profile system, the more important your job the better class of bus you had and the faster they went.
The buildings of the city flashed by as Roy's thoughts wandered. Dead end job, decent apartment, mediocre profile status. Everything was normal or bare minimum for him. He stared at the orange sky as the sun slid silently over the far mountains. Night shift, at least he wasn't overworked like some others. A tan rabbit slipped into the seat next to him. Dressed normally for anyone along Roy's line, but he held a sleek wafer like object before him. ultra thin rectangles slid over each other and widened as he touched them. Roy sighed and went back to looking at the sky. A network device, everything packed into one. Surf the net, make phone calls, play music, games, organize your schedule, order supplies out of town, link directly with other devices like your wives, you name it this thing does it.
Soon, The Cathedral came into view. It's blue spiraling towers rose high above anything else in the city. Arch windows and a large double door at the front gave it an old castle feel, but the smooth glass panes that covered its outside and flexed with the spirals added a modern touch. Rectangular shaped and filled with countless hallways and rooms it was the hub of all politics, and where Roy worked.
Guards were stationed at every major entrance and to the entrances of certain high profile areas. Mainly it was the meeting room, a large circular room were all the members of The Many met to blow hot air about pressing issues. Roy walked lazily up the large cobblestone path that led to the huge front doors. Again flashing his profile card to the on-duty guards he walked into the barracks.
He didn't get along with any of the other guards, they were all obsessed with their muscles. "You can't trust technology only your own hands." they always said, good luck stopping a sword or bullet with those. Roy opened his locker in the long barracks and took out his uniform. Unlike other uniforms, the guards actually had a smaller less functional version of a battle suit made in the military. The material looked like a bulky cloth, but underneath it had very small ceramic like plates fitted together with fabric in between for mobility. The military suits were best described as highly mobile tanks with thick armor surrounding them. Roy just had the thick fabric weave and smaller plates. The military version also amplified strength through cords running along the combined suit, sensors at the joints picked up when flexing occurred and activated. The guard suits just had minor cords on the arms and larger ones extending along the legs for speed. He was the fastest, but also the weakest.
Once he had the suit fully on he checked it over in the mirror. A flat dark blue color matched well with his grey fur. It was pretty much just like any other clothing, not very bulky for the lack of armor. Only thing that gave it away as power armor were the thicker covered hands and forearms for blocking. Roy had done some personal modifications, thicker and more pointed covering on his knuckles. It was probably hypocritical from his position at the other guards, but he felt it a safe measure.
Suit, check, now weapons. All guards carried a standard pistol firearm and short Gillen brand sword. With increasing technology making bullets in warfare almost useless with thicker armors and magnetic interrupters, ironically, swords and melee weapons had become standard side arms. To counteract the magnetic fields, the Gillen company crafted each weapon with a super compressed ceramic core and then took hardened sheets of refined plastic to form the blade. Coating the entirety in a crystal just under the strength of a diamond, to hold its edge. With better technology to craft harder and easier to make plastics, the blades of the weapon became almost expendable. As long as the core of the weapon is intact the Gillen company can issue a matching blade that bonds to the original models core with a plasti-steel bond.
Walking across the moon bathed courtyard, his sheathed sword bumping gently against his thigh, Roy passed into the room just outside the meeting place of The Many. For all his work in the academy and the hype surrounding the guards of The Many, his pay sure was shitty. He sat next to the large doors, his ears wiggling as he inhaled through his nose. No unusual sounds and smelled of stale paper, it was going to be a boring night.