THE WORLD OF BURNOUT
BURNOUT is set in Teyrnassis Cabál. The largest continent on a mineral-rich world known as Daereen.
Our story takes place in a gritty cyberpunk-inspired world dominated by organised crime clans, emerging A.I., and a population obsessed and controlled by the spectacle of Zero Gravity Racing.
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ZERO GRAVITY RACING
A Zero Gravity Race, or a ZG race, is a highly dangerous form of motorsport. It dominates almost every aspect of life in this world.
Each team has two ZG cars on the grid. Team members can work together or compete to take each other out depending on their team’s strategy race to race. Due to the velocity and speed that the vehicles travel, a ZG driver would have more in common with a fighter jet pilot than a regular race car driver. In fact, the wealthiest teams often 'upgrade' their drivers almost as much as their cars with cutting-edge tech.
Races take place over elaborate circuits constructed in huge arenas—or even throughout entire cityscapes retrofitted to perform like a racetrack. Due to this, many clan members and wealthy citizens have opted to live atop huge skyscrapers, while the less fortunate are forced to choke on the smog and debris below.
Each ZG Team is controlled and run by organised crime syndicates known as 'clans'. The Clans use their influence over the races to control the population, generate wealth for their organised crime empires, and prevent their inter-clan rivalries from spilling over into outright bloodshed on the streets.
The CLANS
There are many rival clans that make up the world of organised crime in BURNOUT. But, each minor clan falls in line and operates under the control of the four major organized crime clans:
The Taj Clan: Controlled by the ruthless Taj Bran. Once a middling clan reliant on larger clans for support, the Taj Clan has grown into the most ruthless and successful clan under the ruthless leadership and innovation of Taj Bran. Their recent success and merciless techniques have bred resentment amongst the other clans.
The Nezabukov Clan: Named after the flowers that cover their enemies’ graves. They’re a fairly neutral clan, willing to do business with the others as long as they keep their influence away from their race team.
The Leukanese Clan: As the oldest clan to take an interest in the races they are ZG Royalty. They have the most heritage when it comes to the sport of ZG Racing—but have recently been outspent and outraced by the Taj Clan’s march towards success. Known for their obsessive fan base and their racing symbol of a Lynx mid-pounce.
The Kallik Clan: The most isolated of the four major clans situated to the north of the continent separated by a vast wasteland. They run the Nezabukov Clan’s sister team and provide services to other clans in terms of muscle and illegal exotic trading.
The clans are semi-legitimised due only to their controlling interests in the four major ZG racing teams and the grip that ZG racing has on the population.
major characters
THEO BAZEROV
Theo’s family was in deep with the Nezabukov Clan. They got involved in a skirmish with their own clan and the Taj clan and were forced to give their youngest son, Theo, over to the Taj Clan to save face and avoid recrimination. Since then, Theo has fought and clawed his way to the top of the racing food chain. He became the Taj Clan’s star racer despite not having many of the advantages of his fellow racers. He enjoyed life in the limelight for a few years. That is, until the ‘upgrades’ to his biology began to take a toll. After winning two personal championships and helping the Taj Clan to four Team Championships over roughly a ten-year professional career, he was deemed a ‘Burnout’ by the Taj family and sent into enforced retirement. During his decommission process, he mysteriously merged with a corrupted, experimental A.I. nano-bot swarm known as, IRIS. This period of time is a little foggy for Theo, and it’s still unclear if his merging was an accident, or, if IRIS chose him. When we meet Theo, he is filling his addiction to speed and risk with any kind of stimulant he can get his hands on. No matter how harmful.
IRIS
IRIS is an experimental A.I. intelligence made up of a swarm of self-perpetuating nanobots. She is imbued with a vast knowledge of Teyrenese history and game theory designed to help ZG racers get the best out of their cars. A.I. technology is supposedly illegal when it comes to augmenting ZG racers, but the clans have never been one to let the rules get in the way. IRIS is The Taj Clan’s latest experiment to transform military-tested A.I. nanotechnology for racing purposes. Learning that she was deemed too unstable even for a murderous clan organisation and scheduled for termination has given IRIS a bit of a chip on her shoulder. IRIS is dependent on Theo for survival as a host body—something she’s not thrilled about. That being said, the more time she spends as a part of Theo, the more she can empathise with the human condition and relate to people beyond her programming.
TAJ BRAN
A quiet boy growing up, Taj was never in serious contention to take over his familial clan. When his father died, the leadership of the Taj Clan was set to transfer to a member outside the Taj Family. Taj’s older siblings were more than happy with this after seeing what leadership did to their father. But Taj was not. He ruthlessly murdered and manoeuvred his rivals out of the way to the top job displaying psychopathic levels of control and domination many in the clan didn’t think he possessed. Since his control, the clan has grown into a well-organised machine. They’re income has tripled, and they now own the most successful race team on the grid. But ruthless tactics come at a cost. Where his father ruled through a mixture of fear and admiration, Taj is only able to wield fear. Which leaves him vulnerable to recriminations from both within and outside of his clan.
JESSICA HAN
Jessica grew up with Theo. Not coming from a clan-affiliated family, she joined the family business modifying and repairing the ZG Cars of minor race teams. Not satisfied with her meagre role in life, she joined Theo’s pit crew team in the Taj Clan ZG team. As Theo’s success grew—their relationship dwindled, and she began to be swallowed up in the slog of being a clan-affiliated mechanic. She feels she is the only person that knows who Theo really was before racing for the Taj Clan warped his personality. When Theo was forced into retirement, she left the team and returned home to restart her family business after her father’s passing. After working at a high level on a Taj Clan pit crew, most clan thugs respect her enough to leave her alone. But those that don’t, can expect to get their teeth knocked out with a spanner.
ALFIE
Once a member of the archaic Teyrenese Military, Alfie—like most soldiers—became a gun for hire for Clan missions involving overseas conquest. After both perpetuating and falling victim to many clan atrocities in the line of duty, Alfie went off-grid to start up a resistance cell made up of jaded soldiers looking to get revenge on the clans. He is a fanatical ZG fan, despite knowing what the races have cost civilisation. He is trying to be a better man. And he’s willing to kill as many people as it takes to do that. Turning over a new leaf for Alfie means destroying the clans at any cost. He tries to avoid civilian casualties, when possible, but if you get in his way (or touch his ZG sticker book) he’ll blow you apart.
THE MEDIATOR
The Mediator is one of the two (currently known) beings to inhabit the ENVOY NETWORK VOID. They were once human but chose to transcend their human body and truly merge with their A.I. companion when the clans began to hunt them down. They have a plan in motion, a plan that involves IRIS in a mysterious way designed to play out over the entirety of the series.
THE OTHER
The Other is the second of the two (currently known) beings to inhabit the ENVOY NETWORK VOID. They seem to be subservient to The Mediator and more eager to hurry their plans into motion. They also seem to begrudge the need of IRIS for to make their plans work.
glossery
Burnout:
An ex-racer or race team employee who has slipped through the cracks of society and refuses to play by the clan’s rules. The term is often associated with narco-vape users.
Chipped:
A pejorative term for someone that is ‘fucked in the head’, or, ‘not all there’. Derived from the term ‘chipping’—which is the process of modifying a racer’s ability through nanotechnology.
ZG Car:
Zero Gravity Car. A race car designed to move at high speeds without touching terrain.
HELGA 2.0.:
The ZG Car Jessica retrofits for Theo’s mission based on the specs for the first car he won a race in. With a few upgrades, of course.
ZGA:
Zero Gravity Authority. The governing body that oversees the running of the races. Supposedly impartial—but nothing is impartial when the clans are involved.
Narco-vapes:
A means of consuming illegal narcotics, stimulants, and other things that are generally bad for you in the long run.
Envoys:
Figures of semi-myth that were said to be the precursors to modern racers. Their origins and questioned reality form a large part of the ongoing mythology of the show.
Bootneck(s):
A slang term for soldiers for hire that are veterans of the clan’s many turf wars and wars for materials.
Wallet:
The amount of disposable income an individual has on them at any one time.
Torchbearer:
Originally a term of endearment for Teyrenese citizens. These days, it’s become a term for someone of a clan affiliation. E.g., ‘He’s a torchbearer for the Leukanese.’ Or ‘The bastard’s a Taj torchbearer.’
“May the road take you ever onwards.” “And bring you home with speed and grace.”: A mode of greeting and departing common to all clan members and clan-affiliated individuals.
“If you can’t outpace death. Make sure you’re in heaven half a second before the Devil knows you’re dead.”:
A saying Theo and Jess used to say to each other growing up. One which is occasionally co-opted by IRIS for manipulative reasons.