In 2077, the use of computer technology has become truly universal. Some use a PDA, others personal computers, still others a neural processor. Regular Janes and Joes know how to use these systems to access information, communicate, even fight. But there are others who can use the same tech to work wonders: netrunners.

A netrunner knows the ins and outs of computer systems, the programming languages, how to write or mod a killer virus. Deck in hand, they're just as dangerous as a corporate soldier armed to the teeth. Many netrunners are free agents working only for themselves, but a few have signed their own pacts with the megacorps and work to keep corporate data fortresses solid and impenetrable. Today, each and every corporation has a veritable army of netrunners on its payroll.

Netrunners were once considered the rulers of cyberspace, using their skull jacks to roam a vast, global network. They also needed special suits to cool their bodies (although a tub full of ice would do for penniless punks). But this era ended with the cataclysm wrought by the greatest runner of all, Rache Bartmoss. Cyberspace became a land of daemons, cut off by the (nearly?) impenetrable Blackwall.