Today marks perhaps the single most important event in the entirety of Cyberpunk lore.
On August 20, 2023, a Militech-allied infiltration team led by solo Morgan Blackhand and famous rockerboy Johnny Silverhand, conducted a strategic strike on Arasaka headquarters in downtown Night City.
While the crew were simply Militech’s pawns against Arasaka during the Fourth Corporate War, they had a key goal: retrieve Alt Cunningham and destroy the Soulkiller program.
Prematurely, a small ~.5 kiloton tactical nuclear weapon detonated on the 120th floor of Arasaka’s south tower, destroying both the north and south towers instantly, obliterated the surrounding city center, and caused catastrophic damage across the city.
More than 12,000 civilians died immediately, with at least 250,000 dying afterward due to radiation-related injuries and other complications. An upward of 500,000 civilians were injured during the disaster.
According to Cyberpunk RED, Johnny died of a single shot from Adam Smasher. According to Johnny’s account, he didn’t. From Johnny’s perspective, Smasher and agents of Arasaka managed to capture a wounded Silverhand. After some interrogation, Saburo Arasaka ordered Silverhand to be subject to Soulkiller, where his psyche and his memories, albeit fragmented, would be frozen in time on an engram more than 50 years. Per RED’s account, Johnny was split in half from Smasher’s shotgun and Spider Murphy was the one to insert the biochip.
In the months and years that followed, dust and other particles turned the skies red in the morning and evening. This period would be known as The Time of the Red.
Blame for the nuclear detonation at Arasaka Tower was hotly contested among observers. Many felt the attack was self-inflicted, to prevent Militech from capturing Arasaka’s HQ… at least that was the narrative from the US government and a nationalized Militech. Exposés highlighting the supposed truth behind the attack would come to light 20 years later. That said, as noted in a Cyberpunk 2077 database entry, the only undisputable fact is the date, August 20, 2023.
Everything else… “pure speculation, gossip, lies, and conspiracy theories.”