The Fairypunk Trilogy

art by PixelWayve

The Fairypunk Trilogy is the third connected series by Paul Shapera about the city of New Albion. It contains the albums *The Forgotten Meme**, The Broken Cyborg*, and *The Lost Fairy**.*

 The main characters of the trilogy are the Meme, Xander, Jane, and Symbel. All three albums are narrated by Han-Mi.

## The Forgotten Meme

*Main article*

Once upon a time, there was a little Meme. She was once loved by many, but when she was forgotten she woke up in the tunnels beneath New Albion. Other metal and silicon creatures and Cyber-Schistocerca lived in the tunnels, but the Meme was unique in the fact that she longed to be loved.

The Meme fashioned herself a insect like body of scrap metal, and climbed out of the tunnels to the city above. A strange man dressed in purple helped guide her, and she crawled up to a window where she found Rebecca. Rebecca was the most beautiful thing the Meme had ever seen.

The Meme watched Rebecca from the window for a couple of days, and saw that the girl spent most of her time playing an elaborate, expansive online video game set in an Arabian Nights scenario. The Meme made her own avatar inside this game, found Rebecca's avatar. They became friends, grew very close, and professed romantic love for one another.

The Meme became aware of the sinister undercurrent of the game, where it functioned as a psychic vacuum, drawing people in until they couldn't escape. The Meme tried to warn Rebecca, but the girl passed a gate too far, and the Meme followed her love to their doom.

The Cyber-Schistocerca were feeding on the consciousness of the humans they had trapped. The creatures noticed the Meme was one of them, and told the Meme to step aside so they could feed on Rebecca. The Meme refused, and called upon every other other meme, creating a massive swirl of psychic residue that pulled Rebecca and the Meme back to the waking world. Rebecca woke up and found the little Meme sitting on her lap.

## The Broken Cyborg

*Main article*

Once upon a time, there was a Shanty Town in the center of the large park in the city of New Albion. The Shanty Town had formed its own unique culture of societal strays with radical body modifications. Xander Cale was the mad scientist within the town who could perform these cutting edge, cyber transhuman enhancements.

The Meme and Rebecca approached Xander and asked if they could make them a child. Xander was excited for the challenge, and Jane the cyborg was formed from the Meme's bioessence and Rebecca's DNA. Jane grew up in the park and loved the community that was present there, and she learned how to perform bio-enhancements from Xander.

The Dwarves sent a warning to The Mayor, saying that the wheel was turning and a major upheaval is on the way. In a preemptive strike as an attempt to prevent a Doll like disaster, the Mayor ordered the Blood Red Dogs to attack the park, and kill Xander. During the attack, many residents of the Shanty Town are killed, including Rebecca. Jane is badly injured, and the Meme begged Xander to take Jane to safety. Thirty refugees flee, and the Blood Red Dogs take control of the park.

In the tunnels, a man instructs them how to use a Sandy Drug to enter through a dark stone gate. They visit The Albinos, and then make their way to the Fairy Realms and the city of Victoria. Xander studied fae magic in order to find a way to save Jane, and in the process of understanding fae logic they had gone mad. Xander had used the flesh from their own arm and legs to treat Jane, and when she woke up she found herself healed and with a pair of wings.

Jane studied Xander's notes on bio-science and gave all of the refugees fantastical bio-alterations. With their new modifications, and with the help of The Fairies and the Albinos, the refugees took back control of the park and established the independent colony of Xandoria.

## The Lost Fairy

*Main article*

Once upon a time, there was a little fairy. The Cascadian Hellhounds, led by Jakob Jansson, had attacked the fairy city of Avalon, and Symbel was the only survivor. Jane found Symbel, offering to help her get to Xandoria were there were more of her people. The two are chased by Jakob, who has vowed revenge against the fairies and has a twin brother Jesse with him in his head and in control of his left arm.

Back in New Albion, The Mayor was aware of the approaching Cascadian army and went to seek an alliance with Xandoria to defend themselves. The Meme is highly distrustful of the Mayor after the death of Rebecca, but reluctantly agrees to help against the common enemy. While The Mayor is in Xandoria, she witnessed indescribable changes occurring to both the denizens and nature itself. The Xandorians are building something new and unheard of, called The Singularity.

Jane and Symbel briefly visit The Dwarves, and then emerge back at the surface in a war zone. Jakob finds them and shoots Jane in the wing, but they escape behind a cloud of ash and debris. Meanwhile Blood Red Dogs and the Cyber-Schistocerca fight against the Cascadian forces, and the Mayor picks up a bazooka and dies defending the city.

Jakob finds Jane and Symbel trapped in a store with no way to escape. Jesse tries to stop his brother from carrying out his rage, but Jakob doesn't listen and cuts off his arm. Throughout the narration of the entire album, Han-Mi has been desperate to prevent Jane from being hurt and has been receiving advice from Raven and Lloyd. Now that it looks like there may be no way to save Jane, they tell Han to do any last ditch attempts she may have, and Han steps into the story herself and kills Jakob.

Jane asks who Han is, and the post human explains that she knew Jane in a previous life, revealing that Jane is a reincarnation of Helen. Han says that she wanted to give Jane a better life, and promises that Jane will have a long and wonderful life and that she is loved very much.

Jane and Symbel cross the breech and return to Xandoria, as The Singularity is completed. In the middle of Cascadia's attack on New Albion, Xandoria rises into the air. It had been transformed into a bioship, an impossible organic vessel. It flies away from the war torn city, up into the sky, and headed into the vast and wondrous cosmos.

Raven and Lloyd congratulate each other on a job well done, and offer to take Han to a steampunk narrative for some carrot cake. Han accepts but asks for some time alone, so she can reflect and get herself together.

## Characters and Credits

* Psyche Chimere as Han-Mi
* Kerttu Aarnipuu as the Meme
* Liel Bar-Z as Jane
* Paul Shapera as Xander Cale, Raven, Lloyd, and Basheq Latef
* Vivian Moonic as The Mayor
* Lauren Osborn as Lillith and Symbel
* Oliver Marsh as Jakob/Jesse Jansson
* Cover art for all three albums by Shibara

## Trivia

* The song titles for each album feature unique naming schemes. In The Forgotten Meme the titles are excessively long, in The Broken Cyborg the titles are written in Mandarin Chinese, and in The Lost Fairy the titles are written in code.
* Han-Mi begins each story with "Once upon a time," and the title of each album follows the same format: The [sad adjective] [noun describing a character]
* Although Lloyd and Raven are only heard to be talking to Han-Mi in the third album, it is implied that they are coaching her throughout the entire trilogy and helping her learn how to narrate as a Post-Human.
* The callbacks and references to previous albums begin in The Broken Cyborg, alluding to the fact that Jane is a reincarnation of a previous character, Helen.