Swappernetters: Chrome Kite Story Pack

The Swappernetters: Chrome Kite Story Pack is a game pack that is part of the Swappernetters Story Pack Series. It details the top figureheads in Swappernetters behind the Chrome Kite, a ruthless puppet regime that has enslaved Arkansas for the Society of the Icy Finger - while hiding its abuses under the guise of architectural futurism and "progress." Also featuring are some of the Chrome Kite's legions and foot soldiers, as well as the conflicted officer Geoff Throba.

Descriptions
The Chrome Kite is a brutal, albeit, experimental totalitarian regime put in place by Rappaccini as his puppets over Arkansas / Arkonia. They wish to completely destroy all trace of Christendom in the region they have hijacked, as well as suppress anything that came before them. However, they aren't completely evil by intent. Unlike the Screwworms that they tolerate, who do almost nothing but destroy, the Chrome Kite's leadership believes that enslaving the captive Arkonian population into serving the cause of building a futuristic better land is an essential morale booster.

They reason that if they can seduce the populace into a strong belief in designing better infrastructure, this can architecturally inspire locals toward a brighter, cleaner future. Surfaces are smooth as often as possible, and white or slightly offwhite are preferred colors to use as a base. Splashes of color are tolerated in parts. Glass is utilized wherever it is reasonable to do so, and lit glass uses LED blue, aqua, or teal lighting.

Buildings often have solar panel roofing, as each building is expected to contribute its own part toward the power grid. Some buildings may have additional wind turbines atop the solar roof. When fake terrain must be used instead of real grass in an area, it is often a bright white recycled rubber and synthetic white vinyl set of "grass" blades. Most notably, the Chrome Kite tries to avoid sharp right angles in their building designs and re-designs. They will go to lengths to remove sharp corners, if it can be helped, even if this leads to strange results and counter-intuitive room navigation. Unlike similar dystopian baddies, they aren't opposed to incorporating green into their designs. But they prefer white and blue.

However, even their beautiful constructs become a form of oppression; as they piecemeal destroy everything that stands in the way of this goal. As such, Little Rock in particular is reduced to a mess of blinding white futurist buildings and rotting remnants of the war-torn, rattled buildings that preceded the regime's mad-paced reconstruction efforts. The skyline becomes a schizophrenic jumbling of old and new; as locals both love the look of the new while wishing they were allowed to embrace the values of the old.

Hasam Arbini
To manage Arkonia locally, Rappaccini put Hasam Arbini, and his "progressivist" totalitarian party known as the "Chrome Kite," in charge. From there, he seeks to completely erase the Gray Champion's legacy.

He even goes so far as to sometimes hire Feathertop to do dirty jobs for him - so that there will be a fall guy if things go wrong. Feathertop: a terrorist hated by all!

Perhaps most sickening of all to those living under his thumb: his photo ops! The man never wastes an opportunity to virtue signal, or to pretend like he has Arkonia's best interests at heart.

His self-aggrandizing, self-promoting propaganda is ubiquitous across the landscape.

Hatori Ikomara
Ikomara is primarily in charge of maintaining the infrastructures and secrets that keep up the Tug, and keep the Sodality, Toklisanan military, and SCALLOP from entering into Arkonia. He has to work closely with other cabinet members; but is concerned about the need to eventually upgrade the entire system to feed through a Marlquaan energy transfer system, drawing energy directly from Carpathine.

The old nuclear reactor setup that the Hebbleskins employed is quickly proving obsolete - as well as dangerous! Not only the Tug, but all of the Arkonian power grid rely on this. And to Ikomara, that is poor long-term planning.

It was noted that when the Hebbleskins created their domes around Gerosha, cores weren't protected well. Radiation leaks often killed guards at their posts after only two weeks of exposure. Even Sniperbadger once commented on how poorly-protected those setups were from radiation leaks, when she had to endanger herself by getting close to a dome energy core to disable it!

However, he does wish that the other cabinet members would take his concerns about long-term, clean energy a bit more seriously. To ignore current risks, was to undermine the entire Chrome Kite project!

Richard Swean
Swean keeps the populace distracted, by getting many of them involved in what looks on the surface like a "good cause" - entirely replacing the decaying infrastructure of Little Rock with a megalomaniacal futurist vision for local architecture.

He is pompous, arrogant, self-righteous, and at times childish. But can also be dangerous, if sufficiently provoked! He tends to be well-guarded, keeping Hgs nearby at all times. And if they're not good enough? He keeps Sicklesaw or Lady Chillingworth on speed dial!

Gina Swinton
Perhaps the singularly most evil member of Arbini's cabinet though, was one gender-confused Gina Swinton: the Secretary of "Education"!

She demands an aggressively leftist indoctrination campaign, that tolerates no alternative learning.

And with this, the resistance found its greatest talking point: ending her arbitrary monopoly on education!

Will Clamdor
To deal with resistance, the Chrome Kite has General Will Clamdor, a vampire, who is unafraid to launch military strikes against civilian targets!

Birch Thunders
Birch Thunders, a Marlquaanite plant-man is made the Secretary of Agriculture. With Swean and Ikomara, he runs the Beautification Committee. He is a low-level Marlquaanite plant elemental plant-man, who is frustrated that the Phex-1 Jeral "Arbustombre" Cormier is more infamous. He would love nothing more than to prove which type of plant-man is superior!

Geoff Throba
Knowing how dangerous it would be to retire; Throba is forced to swallow his dignity and remain on the force. His police always use the minimum of force on Swappernetters - unless they do something he deems in turpitude. In fact, he frequently offers Frontliners tips on how to avoid getting themselves into trouble! He arrests only when it's absolutely necessary to maintain his cover, as he's quite sympathetic to the youth whose older loved ones were callously disposed of by the Chrome Kite.

Throba wonders for how long he can keep up this ruse. Yet, believing in the Twirlflames' mission most of all, he takes pains to ensure that they are never arrested under their real names. With their aliases, he can have charges dismissed.

But if he were ever to take in Tabitha Pang as herself, he knows full well she'd be executed without a trial - simply for being Hea's daughter! He can't allow that. That isn't why he joined the force! He signed up to protect the innocent; not to protect an elite thug class, at the expense of harming children! That he has to play both sides, like a completely corrupt cop, makes him sick to his stomach. Yet, he does what he believes he must.

Cilian Rotzky
Beneath Clamdor are the Mercury Troopers, or "Mercuries" for short. Swappernetter youths often refer to them as the "Hgs" (pronounced "Hogs.") Yet, even these storm troopers are far from the only menace to those resisting Chrome Kite tyranny. Hgs are authorized to use military-grade force on suspects, in ways that ordinary police are not authorized to.

Stacey Lohsima
Sometimes affiliated with the Hgs are the Microwave Mouth Corps, female assassins who take inspiration from past Microwave Mouths Christina Wade and Janet Phillips. They sometimes attack directly, and sometimes pilot Stagtar droids for remote assault.

The Stagtar Legion are inspired by Scott Morrisson's Stagtar, originally created as a way to stalk down Ron and Stephanie Barrin, while getting the jump on their Pilltar and Strawberry droids. All of this was as punishment for the Barrin family preserving Seth Lambrelli's legacy, as Seth was Morrisson's mortal enemy.

Now, the Microwave Mouth Corps treat any and all resistance to the regime as if they were Stephanie Barrin irritating Christina Wade with questions of logic about the definition of marriage!

Requirements
Main article: Chrome Kite Story Pack requirements

The Chrome Kite Story Pack details the main six heads of the Icy Finger's puppet regime over Arkonia, and also offers some of their notable henchmen as downloadable characters. Each of these was made with Get to Work - Eco Lifestyle installed, and each item varies according to need for these packs. The game packs involved are likewise Outdoor Retreat through to Realm of Magic. This pack was completed before the release of Journey to Batuu, so no items in the pack require that one. Stuff packs employed include Luxury Party through to Nifty Knitting. The Chrome Kite Story Pack was finished before Paranormal or any later official DLC stuff packs were released.

Future editions for other games
Ambitious modders may consult Dozerfleet staff on the blog or [mailto:bulldozerbegins@gmail.com by email] regarding permissions / insights into making the cast of Swappernetters for other games. No GTA mod currently exists; but such a mod should be theoretically possible. PC versions of most post-apocalyptic games, including Dying Light and Dying Light 2, may be capable of supporting Swappernetters gameplay. A future Paralives version of this pack has not been ruled out either.