Part 1: Heritage

Sega Genesis and his family have not had easy lives. His paternal grandparents, Alberto and Paloma Genesis, immigrated from Mexico to the United States in 1978. Settling in Arizona, they established a prosperous repair shop on the outskirts of Phoenix through years of persistent hard work. Sega’s father Eduardo was the couple’s first child, born in 1983. Most of the boy’s time outside of school was spent helping out around the shop and learning the inner workings of all kinds of things. By the time his sister Esmeralda was born eight years later the boy was clearly talented with math and keenly interested in electronics. Evenings were spent reading library books about computer hardware and software.

The 13-year-old Eduardo was elated when his parents brought home the family’s first PC in 1996 and became fascinated with programming and network protocols throughout high school. He started his first internet company at age 18, just in time for it to be doomed as the dot-com bubble burst. Undeterred, Eduardo was lent money by his loving parents and moved to Silicon Valley in 2003. Like them, the young man had an earnest and determined work ethic. However, the early years of the world wide web were a turbulent time and two more of his tech startups were short-lived.

At last in 2009 his efforts bore fruit as a fourth venture patented some very clever new search algorithms and the company’s market value soared. Letting Google gobble up a majority share in the corporation, Eduardo and his co-founders could start living the high life of new millionaires. It took time for this new-found wealth to sink in for someone from humble beginnings, and the Genesis family insisted on continuing with their familiar way of life in Phoenix. But Eduardo had earned a reputation that preceded him, and new enterprises eagerly welcomed his experience and capital. Rubbing elbows with other successful entrepreneurs in the years that followed, this savvy young Mr. Genesis was being introduced to California’s intellectual elite.

At a cocktail party in 2013 he met the love of his life, an up-and-coming tech journalist named Rebecca Hall, Sega’s mother-to-be. Though both wanted to focus on their careers, the pair were a natural match and they happily married in 2014. Alberto and Paloma were delighted by the wedding, brimming with pride in their son and enchanted with his wife. Rebecca’s well-to-do parents, Jonathan and Suzanna Hall, recognized the merits of their son in law and embraced the union. Suzanna was a senior mechanical engineer with a reputable firm and the more practical of the two. Jonathan, a quirky academic at heart, was a history professor, a scholar of war and weaponry, and an avid collector of firearms. Though they came from very different backgrounds, the families gathered regularly and got along splendidly.

The Trump Riots of 2017 brought an end to this idyllic life, an end through carnage and flame. The Phoenix neighborhood where Eduardo had been raised was overrun by the crazed mob sweeping across Arizona. Alberto died fighting in his front yard, buying time for his wife and daughter to escape their home of 35 years. Paloma and Esmerelda fled in terror maing their way to the repair shop that had served their family so well. The city had grown dramatically over the decades and the blocks surrounding the shop were densely packed with buildings. Hiding in a basement storage room, the women had no way to learn of the spreading fires until it was too late. They were just two of many found in the ashes of the city in the dark days that followed. Neither the Genesis family, nor Phoenix itself, would rise to life the same way again.

Part 2: Upbringing

Sega was born in San Francisco in 2019.