The skyline of New Avalon shimmered with the glow of digital billboards and holographic projections, advertising luxury goods from across the globe. The city was a haven for the Sovereign Individuals—those who had mastered the new economy of knowledge and encryption, those whose intelligence and adaptability had freed them from the shackles of traditional employment and government oversight.
Below the towers, outside the perimeter walls, the rest of humanity lived in what had come to be known simply as the Commons. Here, bulk goods were taxed so heavily that local markets resembled those of the Middle Ages. Meanwhile, inside the city, sleek drones carried lightly taxed luxury items from one penthouse to another.
Circles of Trust
Elias Vance, a data security consultant and one of the city’s elite, had built his fortune designing encrypted trade networks that allowed businesses to operate beyond the reach of local regulations. He belonged to a tight-knit Circle of Trust, a group of like-minded individuals who traded services and information with one another, bound by loyalty rather than law. In a world where honesty had become the most valuable currency, a single act of betrayal could mean exile to the Commons—an unthinkable fate.
Tonight, Elias was meeting with an investor from the Pacific Archipelago, a jurisdiction aggressively courting high-value entrepreneurs. Every city-state now competed for talent, offering tax incentives and minimal regulatory interference. There were no stopping places, no anchors; only the most advantageous ports of call.
As he arrived at the restaurant, he passed through three layers of biometric security and was greeted by the hostess—a former corporate lawyer now displaced by an AI legal system. “Mr. Vance, your guest is waiting.”
The Fall of the State
Over dinner, the investor laid out his pitch: a new data haven in the Pacific, beyond the reach of any government. “Laws will be irrelevant soon,” he said. “The only protections that matter are technological. Patents, copyrights—those are just remnants of an old world. You either control the code, or you don’t.”
Elias nodded. He had seen how quickly the world had shifted. The police had long since been replaced by private security forces employed by merchant guilds, each neighborhood its own fortified enclave. Even justice was privatized—disputes settled through binding arbitration rather than state courts.
He finished his wine and sealed the deal with a handshake, knowing that in this world, nothing was more fragile than trust.
The Wall and the Gate
Outside the city, beyond the towering walls, the dispossessed found new ways to survive. Some excelled in sports, hoping for a contract that would grant them access to the gated communities. Others turned to service work, catering to the Sovereign Individuals in exchange for limited access to the city’s luxuries. And then there were the criminals—those who exploited weaknesses in the system, using their own encryption tools to siphon wealth from the unwary.
One such individual, known only as Cipher, had spent months infiltrating the city’s networks. Tonight, as Elias Vance returned to his apartment, a notification flashed across his retinal display: Account compromised. Funds transferred.
Elias froze. In the end, it hadn’t been a government that took his fortune. Not a tax, not a law—just another player in the game, another sovereign individual, more skilled than he was.
And just like that, he was no longer one of them.
Tomorrow, he would wake up outside the walls.
inspired by "The sovereign Individual
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