Once upon a time, in the city of Neo-Victoria, a drug called "PHASE" has been sweeping the streets. A drug that enables the user to wipe their identity and reformat it from scratch.

People can now be the best version of themselves.

For the duration of the effect, one feels a deep sense of euphoria, acceptance of self, and confidence. Overdependence is rampant, and most users end up overdosing, which in turn causes an amorphous-layer identity contamination event.

Or ALiCE for short.

Victims fall into psychosis, where they have trouble differentiating their real identity and their reformatted one. Survivors are easy to spot: they often wear the scar of their episodes: a face degloved from their compulsive clawing.