THE WORLD OF ALTERED CARBON — CORE CONCEPTS
The world of Altered Carbon is built on a single, devastating premise: human consciousness can be digitised, stored, and transferred between bodies. This is not background colour. It is the engine of everything — the plot, the politics, the class architecture, the violence, and the particular kind of despair that comes from living in a world where death is optional but only if you can afford it.
Six concepts underpin everything. Select any entry for the full classified briefing.
A small disc of neuro-chemical storage implanted at the base of the skull at birth. Contains the complete digitised record of a human consciousness — memories, personality, identity.
Any biological body used to house a digitised human consciousness. Your sleeve is not you. You are the Stack. The sleeve is the vehicle.
Slang for Methuselahs — the ultra-wealthy who have lived for centuries, maintaining continuous consciousness through premium sleeve upgrades and off-site Stack backups.
The United Nations Protectorate's most elite soldiers. Trained to adapt instantly to any new sleeve, any new culture, any new world. Psychologically conditioned beyond normal human limits.
The transmission of a digitised human consciousness across interstellar distances at the speed of light. The body stays behind. Only the Stack data travels.
The destruction of the Cortical Stack itself. The only form of death that cannot be reversed. The only crime the Protectorate treats as truly irreversible.
THE CLASS ARCHITECTURE
METHS
Centuries old. Orbital mansions. Off-site backups. Untouchable. They have not forgotten violence — they have simply outsourced it.
UPPER SLEEVE
Premium synthetic bodies. Regular backups. Wealth buys continuity. Death is an inconvenience they can afford to ignore.
STANDARD ORGANIC
State-provided bodies after death. Quality varies enormously. Waiting lists are long. Nobody is apologising.
ON ICE
Stack in storage, no sleeve available. Conscious of nothing. The poor wait years. Some wait decades.
REAL DEATH
Stack destroyed. No recovery. The only permanent end. Reserved for the worst crimes — and the very unlucky.
Nightcall
Kavinsky