📡 Ziggurat
“Connecting the Disconnected.”
Ziggurat appeared from nowhere in 2030 with a plan to rebuild the world’s shattered communications. They built the CitiNet, created the Data Pool, and now control the flow of information in Night City and beyond. Their enigmatic founder, UR, may be the most important person no one truly knows.
📋 Overview
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Founded | ~2030 |
| Headquarters | Night City |
| Founder/CEO | UR |
| Employees | 115,000 |
| Industries | Communications, Data Infrastructure, Software |
| Status (2045) | Active, dominant |
Regional Offices: Most North American cities; expanding to London and Melbourne (2043)
👤 Leadership
UR (pronounced “You Are”)
The enigmatic founder and public face of Ziggurat. Extremely charismatic and deeply mysterious. Regularly publishes video journals on his Garden Patch (the Ziggurat content platform). An enthusiast for bodysculpting — has undergone at least three complete transformations since 2030, making it impossible to know what he originally looked like.
Regularly references Rache Bartmoss in ways that suggest a personal connection. Former member of the Church of Elvis. Whether UR is a visionary or something far more dangerous is one of Night City’s great unanswered questions.
📜 History
The Rebuilding (2030–2040)
- Appeared with a fully formed plan to reconnect a world shattered by the DataKrash and the Fourth Corporate War
- Built the first CitiNet (Data Pool) in Night City with a grant from Night Corp and City Council backing
- By 2040, most cities in the NUSA, Pacifica Confederation, Canada, and Free States had Ziggurat-built CitiNets
- Also reconnected cities via data-packet bursts along reclaimed phone lines, free-space optics, and Nomad couriers
International Expansion (2043+)
- Opened offices in London and Melbourne
- Met “stiff — and often armed — resistance” from local competitors unwilling to cede control of information infrastructure
🏢 Operations
Infrastructure
- CitiNet — city-wide fiber optic communication networks, the backbone of the Time of the Red
- Data Pool — open protocol for displaying and sharing data
Software & Services
| App | Function |
|---|---|
| Ask Alex Anything | Pseudo-AI data crawler |
| BabelChat | Chat application |
| ZPost | Electronic mail service |
| Ziggurat Editing Suite | Text, audio, video, app creation tools |
| The Garden | Content sharing platform (social media, streaming) |
| Ziggurat City Database | +1 to Local Expert checks (100eb) |
Users create “Garden Patches” on The Garden — essentially personal channels for streaming, publishing, and social interaction.
Key Personnel
- Bastion D. Fashion — VP of User Experience, created the City Database app
🏰 Night City Presence
Ziggurat Offices
An impressive curved skyscraper designed to soar above the bay. Public access is limited. The building itself is a statement of Ziggurat’s ambition — reaching higher than the city it rebuilt.
⚔️ Concerns & Rivals
- Local competitors abroad — armed resistance to Ziggurat’s expansion in Europe and Australia
- Information monopoly — Ziggurat controls how the entire city communicates. Anyone who controls the pipes controls the truth
- UR’s true identity — his connection to Bartmoss, repeated bodysculpting, and the Church of Elvis past raise questions no one has answered
🎲 GM Resources
Quick NPC Stats
Ziggurat Security: Use Corporate Security stat block from NPC stat blocks. Add NET skills — Ziggurat protects its data above all else.
Adventure Hooks
- Steal data from the Ziggurat skyscraper — the most connected building in Night City
- Investigate UR’s connection to Rache Bartmoss. Is UR a former associate? A student? Bartmoss himself, bodysculpted?
- Protect a Nomad data-courier carrying Ziggurat packets through hostile territory
- A rival in Melbourne has hired edgerunners to sabotage Ziggurat’s overseas expansion
- Someone is corrupting CitiNet data, and only Ziggurat’s deepest archives have the clean backups
🔗 Related Topics
(Sources: CRB pp.281–282; Black Chrome)