Rare Earth Blues

The year is 2078. The world has transitioned into a fully renewables powered electrical grid, with commercially viable nuclear fission *still* being 30 years away the weight of humanity's growing demand has fallen onto solar, wind and hydro power, and with them, onto battery storage needed to make the grid function as such.

The worlds cobalt deposits have run low and a few corporations have taken the opportunity to buy out giant scrapyards full of early 21st century appliances and hired so called "junkers" to dig through those heaps looking for any cobalt they can get their hands on. The corporations have started challenging sovereign states and slowly wrestling control from the weaker ones across the globe, each one being led by new-age type of nobility, the corporate bourgeoisie.

From yellow, to black and now onto blue, the world is experiencing its next gold rush. This time for rare earth metals.

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This is a personal project that I've been brainstorming for a while, so I thought I'd throw some of these characters out into the wild to see what y'all think :)