In the near future following cyber wars, attacks by criminal gangs, radical hackers, and rogue states results in the emergence of large city States, including New Berlin. New Berlin aims to protect itself from the cyber wars by imposing SafeNet, a local, highly controlled Internet service. The opposition to Safenet are Roots, the disparate, groups of hackers, urban guerrillas, and anarchists, in the Darklands, sprawling estates and migrant camps which surround the city.