Borderlands being the borderlands, as usual.
Many places like the Khyber Pass and the India-Pakistan contested region, much of Latin America, etc, in places not ruled by totalitarian local juntas, are almost completely free. With a twist though: These places all have their own sets of etiquette, codes of chivalry, and unspoken codes of proper behavior. An adventurer who knows how to game these systems will quickly prosper in the various trades going on there. The cocky and arrogant know it alls do not last long in a place where almost everybody are skilled gunfighters. In the Khyber region, there are a lot of Chinese newcomers sick of their country's COVID restrictions in 2022 and the crushing life in the cities in general and are now living essentially like Wild Bill Hickoks, Liver Eatin' Johnsons, and Jim Bridgers amongst the Turkish and Pashtun locals, taking charge of the still-prosperous caravan trades there dealing in everything from spices to weaponry. These places will become the new Wild West frontiers and perpetually so in a cyberpunk future as buffer regions between the hi tech corporate nation-states. Some elements of the population, no matter where they reside, will refuse to be tamed by any megastate apparatus and will head to any frontier in search of adventure and open skies...
