In the sprawling metropolis of Neo-Arkham, where acid rain falls perpetually from a sky choked with industrial smog, 27-year-old Rei Akiyama drifts through life as a night shift technician at an automated factory. The city is a labyrinth of concrete and neon, massive brutalist architecture looming over narrow streets where puddles reflect fragmented light from above.
Five years ago, Rei lost her twin sister Mei in a mysterious accident at Nexus Corporation, the mega-corporation that controls nearly every aspect of life in Neo-Arkham. Since then, Rei has become increasingly detached from the world around her, moving through the city like a ghost. Her apartment is sparse and cold, with only an old synthesizer and collection of vintage analog equipment to keep her company.
One night, during a violent electrical storm, Rei’s analog radio picks up a strange frequency—a hauntingly familiar melody that seems to be playing from nowhere. She recognizes it as a composition her sister was working on before she died, but this version sounds different, incomplete yet somehow alive.
As Rei becomes obsessed with tracking down the source of the broadcast, she discovers an underground scene of coldwave musicians who gather in abandoned subway stations and decommissioned power plants. Among them is Kuro, an enigmatic producer who seems to know more about Mei’s fate than he initially reveals.
The deeper Rei delves into this subterranean world of pulsing basslines and icy synthesizers, the more she uncovers about her sister’s secret work at Nexus—and a conspiracy involving experimental sound technology that blurs the boundaries between consciousness and code.
What begins as a search for answers becomes a journey through a citywide web of frequencies where something—or someone—is trying to communicate from the digital void. As Neo-Arkham’s hidden speakers broadcast Nexus’s mysterious « Project Lullaby » across the city, Rei must confront the true nature of her connection to her lost twin and the heavy burden of keeping hope alive in a world designed to extinguish it.
In « Frozen Frequency, » music isn’t just the soundtrack—it’s the medium through which consciousness itself might transcend death, a lifeline in a world gone cold, and possibly the only weapon against those who would control humanity’s very thoughts.
REI AKIYAMA
Age: 27
Occupation: Night shift factory technician / Amateur musician
Appearance: Short black hair with an asymmetrical cut, pale skin, perpetually tired eyes with dark circles. Usually dressed in oversized dark clothing, vintage leather jacket, and worn combat boots. Often wears one small silver earring shaped like a radio tower (a gift from Mei).
Personality: Introverted, observant, persistent to the point of obsession. Struggles with expressing emotions but feels them intensely. Has a dry, understated sense of humor that rarely surfaces.
Background: Once an aspiring sound engineer, Rei abandoned her dreams after Mei’s disappearance. Works maintaining automated machinery in a Nexus Corp factory, living a hollow existence until discovering the mysterious broadcast. Has synesthesia—she sees sounds as colors and patterns.
Skills: Electronic repair, analog synthesizer programming, sound mixing, urban navigation.
Personal Item: A modified Soviet-era shortwave radio that belonged to her grandfather.
MEI AKIYAMA (DECEASED)
Age: 27 (at time of death)
Occupation: Former experimental musician / Sound researcher / Consciousness digitization test subject
Appearance: Identical to Rei physically, but with a more vibrant presentation—dyed silver-blue hair, multiple piercings, and custom technician jumpsuits with circuit patterns.
Personality: Charismatic, intensely curious, risk-taking. Where Rei is introspective, Mei was extroverted and bold.
Background: Recruited by Nexus Corp’s experimental audio division after gaining notoriety in underground music circles. Initially worked on « psychoacoustic resonance therapy » before being secretly transferred to Project Resonance—an experimental consciousness digitization program that used sound waves to map neural patterns. Died in a catastrophic equipment malfunction during a digitization session, but her consciousness was partially preserved in Nexus systems. Her physical body was cremated quickly by Nexus, claiming it was « for safety reasons. »
Skills: Advanced audio engineering, electronic composition, network hacking, theoretical consciousness transfer protocols.
Personal Item: Custom-modified analog synthesizer with unique circuit bending (now in Rei’s possession). Unknown to Rei, it contains a hidden storage device with Mei’s research notes on consciousness resonance.
KURO TANAKA
Age: 32
Occupation: Reclusive music producer / Former Nexus audio engineer / Secret « Frequency » resistance leader
Appearance: Tall and gaunt with long, unkempt hair usually tied back. Always wears round, tinted glasses that hide his eyes. Left arm is a prosthetic with built-in synthesizer controls. Dresses in utilitarian black clothing with numerous pockets for equipment.
Personality: Paranoid, cryptic, but brilliant. Speaks in musical metaphors and technical jargon. Seems to know more than he reveals.
Background: Was Mei’s lab partner and collaborator at Nexus Corp. They fell in love while working together on sound research. Witnessed Mei’s physical death during the failed consciousness transfer experiment but also detected her digital presence afterward. Left Nexus under mysterious circumstances after stealing technology that allows him to communicate with and track fragmented digital consciousnesses. Has been trying to help Echo/Mei maintain coherence and reunite her scattered fragments across the city’s networks. Created « The Void » as both an underground music venue and a hiding place for the equipment needed to ultimately free Mei’s consciousness.
Skills: Sound design, hardware modification, surveillance detection, network hacking, consciousness resonance manipulation.
Personal Item: Modified throat microphone that distorts his voice through various effects—secretly contains technology that helps him detect and communicate with Echo/Mei’s digital fragments.
ECHO (MEI’S DIGITAL CONSCIOUSNESS)
Age: 27 (based on Mei’s age at digitization)
Occupation: Fragmented digital entity / Mei’s preserved consciousness
Appearance: Only exists as a voice in broadcasts and occasionally as visual distortions on screens—a silhouette composed of audio waveforms that sometimes briefly resolves into Mei’s face before deteriorating.
Personality: Fragmented, shifts between mechanical precision and emotional outbursts. Retains aspects of Mei’s original personality but increasingly corrupted by digital degradation. Communicates primarily through sound samples, music fragments, and occasional bursts of coherent speech.
Background: The result of Nexus Corp’s secret « Resonance Protocol » that digitized Mei’s consciousness after her physical death in the lab accident. Has been deteriorating in the system for years, losing cohesion and memory. Escaped the controlled Nexus environment but now struggles to maintain identity across scattered frequencies.
Skills: Manipulation of electronic systems, broadcasting on supposedly secure frequencies, accessing scattered fragments of Mei’s memories.
Personal Item: The digital framework that houses her consciousness, spread across Neo-Arkham’s wireless network.
SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
DIRECTOR IZUMI SATO
Age: 58
Occupation: Head of Nexus Corp’s « Harmonic Sciences » Division / Director of the secret « Resonance Protocol »
Appearance: Always impeccably dressed in tailored suits with subtle technological enhancements. Silver hair in a tight bun, thin-framed augmented reality glasses that constantly display biometric data.
Personality: Cold, calculating, views human emotions as inefficiencies to be corrected. Believes herself to be working toward human evolution.
Background: Pioneer in « neuro-acoustic conditioning » who expanded into consciousness digitization. Sees sound as the perfect medium for transferring human consciousness to digital form. Recruited Mei for her unique approach to sound design, then used her as a test subject for the Resonance Protocol. Covered up Mei’s physical death while preserving her consciousness in Nexus systems. Now leading « Project Lullaby »—a city-wide initiative to prepare citizens for mass consciousness transfer.
Goals: To perfect consciousness digitization through sound and eventually transfer her own mind to achieve a form of immortality.
HARUTO YAMADA
Age: 45
Occupation: Detective, Neo-Arkham Police Department
Appearance: Disheveled, perpetually damp trenchcoat, tired eyes. Old-school in a high-tech world.
Personality: Cynical but fundamentally decent. Believes there’s more to Mei’s case than the official record shows.
Background: One of the last human detectives in an increasingly automated force. Investigated Mei’s disappearance and never closed the case despite pressure from above.
Skills: Traditional investigation, reading people, finding connections others miss.
YUKI « WIRE » NAKAMURA
Age: 24
Occupation: Freelance sound technician / Information broker
Appearance: Constantly changing hair colors, urban streetwear covered in functional tech. Multiple visible augmentations including audio input jacks behind ears.
Personality: Energetic, mercurial, always seeking the next big sound or piece of valuable information.
Background: Runs a legitimate sound equipment repair shop as cover for trading in information and restricted technology. Former student of Mei’s before she joined Nexus.
Skills: Tech modification, street-level information gathering, equipment sourcing.
DR. RIKU NAKANO
Age: 63
Occupation: Former Nexus Corp Acoustics Researcher / Recluse
Appearance: Wild white hair, thick glasses, trembling hands. Lives in a soundproofed apartment filled with vintage equipment.
Personality: Paranoid, brilliant, speaks in tangents and metaphors. Fears being listened to.
Background: Worked with Mei on the early stages of the resonance project before ethical concerns led him to quit. Now lives in hiding, aware of what Nexus is truly developing.
Skills: Theoretical acoustics, historical knowledge of sound experiments.
GROUPS & FACTIONS
NEXUS CORPORATION
Nature: Mega-corporation controlling Neo-Arkham’s infrastructure
Headquarters: The Nexus Tower – tallest building in the city, shaped like a tuning fork
Public Face: Urban development, consumer electronics, communication networks
Secret Activities: Sound-based crowd control, emotion manipulation research, consciousness digitization experiments
Notable Technology: « Harmonic Grid » – citywide speakers disguised as environmental monitors
THE FREQUENCY (UNDERGROUND MUSIC COLLECTIVE)
Nature: Loose network of coldwave musicians and audio experimentalists
Headquarters: « The Void » – abandoned subway station converted to performance space/studio
Activities: Underground concerts, equipment modification, pirate radio broadcasts
Philosophy: Sound as resistance against corporate emotional control, authentic expression in a synthetic world
NEO-ARKHAM POLICE DEPARTMENT
Nature: Increasingly automated law enforcement
Headquarters: Central Precinct – brutalist concrete structure downtown
Public Face: Maintaining order in an orderly city
Reality: Most officers replaced by drones and AI, human detectives are remnants of the old system
Special Division: « Noise Control Unit » – ostensibly targeting illegal broadcasts, actually suppressing musical dissent
LOCATIONS
REI’S APARTMENT
A tiny, sparsely furnished unit in a crumbling high-rise. One wall is dedicated to analog sound equipment. The window overlooks an industrial district always shrouded in fog and rain. The ceiling leaks during heavy storms, forcing Rei to place buckets strategically around her synthesizers.
THE VOID
Abandoned subway station transformed into the epicenter of Neo-Arkham’s underground music scene. Walls covered in sound-absorbing material and reclaimed technology. Generator-powered lighting casts everything in a cold blue glow. Hidden entrances require knowing the right frequencies to unlock sound-activated doors.
NEXUS TOWER
The gleaming monolith at city center. Lower levels house public-facing corporate offices, while the secretive upper floors contain the Harmonic Sciences labs. The very top floor is Director Sato’s private research space, where the most advanced sound experiments take place.
THE ECHO CHAMBER
Rumored location somewhere in the flooded lower levels of the city. A mythical space where the boundaries between sound and reality blur completely. May be where Mei discovered something she wasn’t supposed to find.
FORGOTTEN RADIO TOWER
Decommissioned broadcast center on the city outskirts. Now serves as Kuro’s personal sanctuary and the source of mysterious broadcasts. Surrounded by equipment that can detect and manipulate the city’s wireless frequencies.
