It is the year 2057. The entire western hemisphere lies in ruin, annihilated by nuclear and biological warfare. To the unsuspecting eye, that is. Specks of humanity still persist, dispersed over the desert. They are most concentrated around what used to be Washington D.C., in the former United States. This is where our story will take place.
Although thousands reportedly escaped underground, there is no way to know how many were not so lucky. Many were caught in some sort of half-ground, receiving only partial cover, getting underground too late or coming out too early. These unfortunate individuals are plagued with the detrimental effects of nuclear fallout. It is not uncommon to meet one of these men or women with their skin melted off, limbs missing, or suffering from a number of physical and mental diseases. These mutilations, although unattractive and potentially dangerous, are no longer transmittable. So, unless the poor creatures are themselves dangerous because of mental disorder or simple rage at the injustice of their predicament, there is no reason to avoid them. Still many more have simply lost their minds, unable to cope with the reality of surfacing to such a nightmare; Lost in their dreams of the suburbian past.
If you are above ground, the main threats to your health are raiders, radiation, and feral animals, irradiated or otherwise. Raiders are individuals who have come into possession of weapons, vehicles, large dogs, anything dangerous, and use these rare commodities to rape, steal and kill as they please, taking full advantage of the dire situation. Technology is scarce. Most animals or morsels you can find are irradiated. In the pre-apocalyptic world, even 3 or 4 gray would have killed a human. Now they have adapted to handle anywhere from 10 - 15, as food is almost never pure anymore. Water sources are few and far between, and most of them are tainted with radiation and human filth. If you choose to wander up to the surface, because you have run out of supplies, or simply gotten cabin fever, you may find that mere survival is a struggle. Simply existing in this new world is almost suicidal.
But there are safe havens. Scattered across the barren wasteland are a number of compounds and small mock-cities. Here they stubbornly cling to some hope of regaining normal modern life. Bottle caps are the commonly accepted currency between compounds, but some scoff at this custom and ask for favors or trading instead. Each may or may not welcome you. Some are more exclusive than others, but most will at least offer you water before sending you on your way. The truly hostile settlements are usually those which have been taken over by raiders and used as fortresses. There are also vaults and other underground settlements. Much harder to find, but usually well-stocked and worth it. However, few are friendly, as they are trying to keep the wasteland out as much as possible, thus why they have not risen to the surface.
There are five main classes of people in this world. Citizens, Wanderers, Merchants, Ghouls and Raiders.
Citizens are individuals who have settled down in a compound to try and salvage a quiet life for themselves. If they possess weapons, it is usually in secret, because most compounds have laws against things like weapons and poison.
Wanderers are nomads. They do not belong to any compound, nor do they attack anyone without reason. They may or may not have weapons or companions. They travel across the desert, usually from compound to compound, trading for resources. They scour abandoned structures, both underground and above and may feed on stray beasts or buy or trade for food.
A Merchant is anyone who sells or trades goods for more than personal use. They may be stationed in a compound or they may be part of a traveling caravan, selling to wanderers and even raiders. No matter where you choose to make your trade, who you sell to and trade with is up to you. If you’re going to be a traveling merchant, with or without a caravan, it is a good idea to be well-equipped with weapons, not only to sell, but to defend yourself and your goods. Most merchants have at least one cow, mule, or slave to carry goods and a slave, personal mercenary or predatory creature for protection. You may sell a maximum of three kinds of goods and it must be in reasonable proportion to what you and your caravan can carry. Mention your goods and members of your caravan in your profile.
Ghouls are the unlucky souls who wallow in their deformities, rarely ever accepted into a compound. Many of them become raiders out of hatred for the isolation they experience. Some are mutants or crazies, but many are just severe burn victims. They are treated harshly by their once fellow man and referred to as “ghouls”. This is just derogatory slang for mutant.
Raiders are the partiers of the wasteland. Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. You will nary find a raider without a well-stocked arsenal and a band of similar individuals to run with. They prey on the weak and take what they please. Some even get brave enough to attack compounds. Any self-respecting raider will kill you as soon as look at you, but there are those who plead peace in order to trade information or goods.. but only for a time. They are not to be trusted.
In addition to your class, you may choose one sub-class.
You can be a scientist or inventor, using your wits and limited resources to better what is left of mankind. You can be a mercenary, renting out your manpower to wanderers, merchant caravans and weaker raiders. If you are a citizen, you may want to be the sheriff or facilitator of your compound. You can be a doctor, patching up your fellow raiders, or giving check-ups to your fellow citizens. No matter what class you are, your sub-class is up to you. They are not limited to the examples, just make up a sub-class or pick one of these and wait for me to approve it. You are not required to have a sub-class, but you must pick a class.
Profile Skeleton
[Please PM to me; DO NOT POST UNTIL I APPROVE YOU. Thank you.]
Username:
Character Name:
Class:
Sub-Class:
Age:
Appearance: [This should be a description, not a picture.]
Clothing:
Companion/group: [Optional.]
Personality:
Bio:
Roleplay Sample: [Please make this at least two paragraphs long.]
Regulations
You are welcome to be a teenager, adolescent, young adult, elderly person, middle-aged person, or even a small child or toddler. I am not very open to roleplaying as an animal, fantasy character or creature. If you really want to be something inhuman, it had better be very clever and well thought out. And your roleplay example should be as something that is not human, so I can see that it won’t end up just being a joke.
Because this is a sci-fi/horror roleplay, I’m perfectly alright with you incorporating elements of post-apocalyptic activity that almost definitely wouldn’t really happen; Giant animals, mutants, telekinesis as a result of contact with nuclear waste. It’s all up to you.
Romance is not forbidden, but not encouraged either.
Please PM me before killing off your character or someone else’s for any reason.
Please PM me if you'd like to make a compound, city or other settlement.
The only other thing I really ask of you is that you show some common sense and make nice, long posts unless you’re having really intense writer’s block. For instance, compounds have screening processes, you have to talk to regulators or facilitators or a sheriff before they just let you in, so don’t say something like “Joseph sees a compound in the distance. He walks in and asks for a drink.” Just don’t do it. Drag things out, make them worthwhile to read and react to.
Compounds
[Please note that all compounds and cities are very far apart.]
The Ratchet City compound is very poor, to the point of destitution. They raise their own food; cows, chickens, dogs, cats, squirrels, whatever they can get. One farmer who often acts as a preacher, sheriff and facilitator lives within the city and sells them produce; fresh vegetables and fruit. No one knows where he gets them from and no one has ever been inside his house. He robs the town blind for these precious food items. [PM me to be this character and name him.] The rest of the town’s money usually ends up in the pocket of Miss Arabella, the town prostitute and spoiled wench. Their water comes from a somewhat irradiated well which leaves the townsfolk generally a little.. off; Ditzy and oblivious, but very friendly. This compound will welcome you with open arms, unless you are a ghoul.
The Industrial Compound is just that, industrial. They focus on mass production of food, bottlecaps, clothing, weapons and random bits of machinery and technology. Most of the people in the compound are very stoic. They are all business and not especially friendly, but they appreciate hard work. This compound is not hostile, but will put you through a rigorous screening process. Ghouls are accepted, as long as they agree to a thorough medical examination.
Leslie Hills is the wasteland's diamond in the rough. All the snobs live here. No one lifts a finger except to pour a glass of salvaged vault wine. The purest water can be found here. It is by far the cleanest place in the desert It is heavily, heavily guarded by well-armed and well-trained mercenaries and tall, thick walls. Every raider dreams of attacking this compound. They will consider letting you in, if you are well-dressed, well-spoken and most DEFINITELY not a ghoul.
Characters
Username: Bulletproof
Character Name: Distant “Dizzy” Jones
Class: Raider
Sub-Class: Inventor
Age: She doesn’t keep track, but she’s probably in her mid-twenties.
Appearance: Dizzy is a tall, gaunt creature with long, elegant limbs. Her coal black hair is very short on the sides, with a luscious Mohawk cascading down her back from the middle. She has piercing green eyes, a sharp nose and a small, taut mouth.
Clothing: Dizzy wears whatever she can salvage from wreckage or rend from wanderers she kills. She mostly finds coats and shoes, which she sells to merchants. She mostly just wears her tank top, tanned light brown from years in the desert, her cutoff jean shorts, steel-toed boots, laced up to the middle of her shin, thigh-high black stockings, cinched to her shorts with safety pins, an ammo belt around each shoulder and one through the belt loops of her shorts, a handgun in one holster and a revolver in the other. She has a daunting makeshift bag on her back, secured with two belts for straps, which she only takes off to fight. She sometimes ties her hair back with a leather boot lace.
Companion/group: Dizzy used to travel alone at all times, but has recently been “adopted” by a small band of raiders around her age, or a bit older. There are two other females in the group and eight males [PM me to be one of these raiders]. They are a fairly casual bunch, not incredibly malicious, but not against killing anyone who stands in their way or stealing from anyone and everyone. The one weak spot of the group is children. They’ve never killed a child and avoid it at all costs.
Personality: If you can’t tell just by her appearance, Distant Jones is a badass. She doesn’t take shit from anyone and she doesn’t mind butchering you if you block her sun. She has no permanent home, making her bed anywhere and everywhere. She loves to be up high and climbs any tall wreckage she can find, spending hours just watching the sand. Although she is very tough on the outside, her closest secret is that she dreams of being a mother and teaching her children the ways of the wasteland.
Bio: Distant doesn’t remember her parents, the farthest back she can remember is when she was nine, and she was a little raider back then too. All alone, just her and a steel dagger. She faintly remembers a big, furry animal that once accompanied her around, but exactly what it was or if there was anyone else, she doesn’t know.
Username: Bulletproof
Character Name: Miss Arabella Lee Kristasia Metropolis
Class: Citizen
Sub-Class: Prostitute
Age: Nahn-teeyun , thank ye very much.
Appearance: Arabella is a shapely young woman with heart-melting blue eyes. She is very chesty and has an hourglass figure which she is very proud of. She has lots of blonde curls and waves and a full, pouty mouth.
Clothing: Gowns, feather boas, fishnets, heels and lots of eyeliner, mascara, blush and lipstick.
Companion/group: Arabella lives, “works” and gets spoiled rotten in the Ratchet City compound. Her services are rare in a sex-starved, post-apocalyptic world and they pay her handsomely. So her companion is basically every available man in the compound.
Personality: Arabella is a proud Southern Belle. She is a selfish, bratty thing unless you’re giving her something she wants. She’s never openly cruel, but she plays mind games and teases any man she pleases. Her favorite hobby is breaking handsome young hearts.
Bio: Arabella was spoiled by her rich mother and father when she was very young and remembers it vaguely, up until they hid underground where they were later slaughtered by raiders. This has not helped Arabella’s entitled persona at all, in fact it has only made it grow larger. She often uses this as a ploy for sympathy and attention. Whether or not she has ever really been saddened by or mourned their deaths is a mystery. She has long dreamed of moving to Leslie Hills, but time and time again they deny her because she is such a whore.
Username: Kaotic
Character Name: Kasey
Class: Wanderer
Sub-Class: ?
Age: 22
Appearance: Height-5'9"
Weight-225
Hair-brown
Eyes-light brown
Clothing:Clothes-Slightly tinted goggles worn on top of head, a vest made of soda tabs over some cloth armour, dusty pants, torn at both knees and ripping up the back of one leg. Shoes were plundered off a dead body, they have thick rubber soles.
Companion: A male dog named Drawp. He is scrawny (for now) a brown mutt that's fiercely loyal to its master. Name: Drawp.
Personality: Kind to most, but can be aggressive when attacked or provoked. Is not afraid to kill, but prefers not to.
Bio: Kasey has been a wanderer her whole life, just traveling from compound to compound, never really making a home. She prefers to be out in the open with her dog, sleeping under the stars. Her family has slowly died off, either from raiders or from age, but this hasn't really changed her, other than that she has had a fairly uneventful life. She has two blades hidden, one on her right hip and one on her left ankle. She uses these only when absolutely necessary. Currently, she is looking for supplies for Drawp.
