Setting: Lost Angels, 2053:

U.S. troops backed by Japanese aid and weapons have been fighting in the South American United Republic for about three years, in a vicious guerilla conflict known as the Dollar Wars. The city is in a state of urban decay, since most official government functions (police, hospitals, schooling, taxes, etc) have long since been privatized and taken over by corporations that effectively own and administer cities. Yakuza gangs and the newer street gangs - wireheads and cyber-runners - run unchecked through the Bay area, and effectively control the declining economy.

The Ikeda corporation, which owns most of Lost Angels, has been making recent breakthroughs in cyber-engineering, specifically for its military contractors. Some surprising new weapons have hit the streets, wielded by both corporate police and black-market runners. Enhanced optics, artificial muscle implants, bio-weaponry and other body modifications are now available, IF you have the right connections. Of course, some of the stuff is still in the experimental stages, and black market technicians aren't known for giving refunds - or paying your funeral expenses, for that matter.

The Awakened have kept pace with the new era as well. It is said that a Primogen blood drinker rules the Yakuza with an iron fist, and that the local Faerie clan has extensive connections among the wireheaders and cyberbrokers.

Those rumors are common knowledge among the Awakened, at least those of the Folk who take an interest in mortal affairs. That's no big deal; the Awakened have been meddling with humans since Babylon was first built. So long as the humans remained unaware of our influence, all was well; and the Veil is not broken.