The end of the 21st century was quite eventful for mankind. Cascades of local conflicts that together could be considered as one world war, economic crises, environmental disasters, mutated viruses, and other blessings of civilized society reaped billions of lives.
It also brought a technological breakthrough in developed countries, where blase citizens, unwilling to leave the cozy nests of their prosperous cities, preferred to close their eyes to everything that happened beyond their technological heavens.
Many believe that one of mankind’s greatest achievements of the era was the invention of synthets. Many names were given to them: “bio robots”, “synthetic organisms”, “artificial beings”, but “synthets” was the catchy commercial sobriquet.
The point remains: humans learned how to create artificial living beings and to shape them with almost no limitations.
At first, it was thought they would work miracles like ending world hunger. Growing artificial quasi-animals, basically living blobs of meat, seemed to be the obvious solution, but the expense of growing them vastly outweighed their nutritional value. Synthesis of proteins turned out to be a much simpler task than synthesis of protein lifeforms and eliminated the need to kill those lifeforms.
Synthetic body parts that could be built to any specification brought a revolution in medicine, but only for those who could pay for them— and pay a lot.
Artificial humans with the DNA of great scientists, artists, warriors, and athletes never became great themselves.
The breeding of extinct and legendary creatures didn’t show any prospects. Synthets were either infertile or produced weak, hopelessly mutated offspring. The great mystery of life still kept its secrets. And so artificial children never became popular.
At some zoos and parks one could meet mammoth, saber-toothed tiger, tyrannosaurus, diplodocus, dragon, or chimera. But all that was already available in Virtuality, and live beasts in cages couldn’t hold a candle to the spectacle of interactive virtual monsters.
But still, business did not perish.
One enterprising lawyer, Mr. Richard Owens, found that, legally, every synthet was exactly what was stated in its technical certificate: “synthetic bio-product”.
Such "product" could mean no more than a piece of meat from a nearby mall, even if it looked like a human and could talk.
The bureaucratic machinery of international law failed to react in time. New business flourished. Philistines, wearied of dreams of Virtuality; businessmen, seeking a pliant workforce; armies, searching for perfect soldiers — everyone appreciated the innovation.
Of course there were protests against the “neo-slavery”. Of course they were ignored. With huge amounts of money at stake, ethical values could be swiftly shifted to the background.
The entertainment industry gained a whole new trend, where EVERYTHING was possible.
Want to hunt some “real monsters”? Make barbeque of dinosaur, dragon, or even human you killed? Grab your gun and have some fun!
Or maybe you want to feel like a Roman patrician and stuff your house with obedient living slaves? Or arrange a gladiator arena with fights to the death? Or train your own dragon to ride?
Do you want the girlfriend of your dreams? Or maybe a boyfriend? Your own character from a movie, a video game, or the pages of the book? Voila! Just describe the appearance and character traits.
Everything is possible. No problems. Just pay.
There could be some hitches with characters played by real persons. Most of the actors or their right-holding successors opposed the possibility of cloning their images. After a series of lawsuits, Mr. Owens’s growing company made concessions and stopped copying real persons. Until the legal problems were solved, anyway. But by then the craze for celebrity doppelgangers had already faded into the past.
It had been a long time since anyone would give a second glance to a dinosaur-drawn carriage riding down the street, driven by an elven coachman. Or to a dragon with a palanquin on its back, flying through the traffic of airmobiles.
There were even restaurants and hotels where all staff was property of the owners.
Soldiers needed no pensions, insurance, or wages anymore, only orders and basic maintenance.
Dwarves and goblins, “aliens” and “superheroes” appeared on the city streets. People tattooed with brand logos. People that had no real parents. People that were not considered humans by the law.
And characters from old TV shows have found flesh and blood... and masters.