Dead Space: Salvation

[xGabrielx]

Story: In the year 2508, humanity has moved to the distant stars in order to escape from their fate on Earth, caused by rapacious and unsustainable use of resources. The remaining humans realized that the only way to get new resources was from the stars: with Earth's resources used up, the only way to gain the resources to survive would be to search new planets for resources. That's where the Concordance Extraction Corporation comes in. At a time of near-desperation, CEC invented the ship that would eventually save all of humanity: The USG Ishimura.

The USG Ishimura was a ship designed for the new resource-gathering practice: Planetcracking. The Ishimura's job was to mine other planets for their rarest and most valuable resources to take back to earth. Even though there have been subsequent Planetcrackers (a small fleet now exists), the Ishimura remains the iconic symbol of mankind's will to survive, even after all these decades. Thanks to Planetcracking, mankind is now thriving again, and resources are plentiful. The Ishimura performed 35th. However, the events that take place during the 35th planet crack were events that threaten the very survival of humanity, and were witnessed by Isaac Clarke.

Our story takes place on a densely populated space station, dubbed the "Sprawl". The marker that was retrieved from the The USG Ishimura, but the ship itself was destroyed. Something is wrong, people have been complaining of headaches and seeing the dead near the marker, and now half of the station has gone down with no contact going or coming from it. You are apart of the team assigned to investigate the strange happens. Later you discover one Isaac Clarke, who has apparent post-traumatic stress disorder from his experiences aboard the USG Ishimura, and also seemed to been effected by the maker itself. The Church of Unitology and the government will have a large place in the storyline. It all begins in the hospital on board the Sprawl, and you will witness the horror of the Necromorph infection as it begins in the station...



Church of Unitology: Unitologists are often derogatorily referred to as 'Marker-Heads' or 'Rock Worshipers'.

Unitology had its beginnings when Michael Altman discovered the Black Marker. Upon discovering and studying the Marker, Altman led a massive religious movement which established Unitology as a major religion, but it was based solely on the ideology laid out for the Marker. Oddly, many scientists, even Altman himself, have little idea of the Marker's true purpose and origin. At the time many people had lost considerable faith and the new aspiring religion was soon appealing to them and drew more converts. This process was accelerated when Altman was mysteriously killed. The faithful suspected the hand of the government in his assassination, and his subsequent martyrdom only furthered their growth and radicalization.

It would be 200 years later that a colonist would decipher its meaning: The inscriptions are the code for the recombinant DNA that transforms human corpses into the terrifying monsters known as Necromorphs.

The Church is said to have high amounts of political and economic influence; it's mentioned that they often require members to contribute huge sums of money to the church in order to move up ranks. It is also mentioned that they refuse to allow their members bodies buried or cremated; instead preserving them aboard space ships. It is speculated that there are at least three ranks above that of the average believer. Two of these possible ranks have been confirmed as being "Vested" and "Overseer", the latter being the higher. While not directly established, it is also speculated that a third and possibly highest rank, "Enigma" exists. This is based on a video transmission in which the recipient is addressed as "Enigma Lange" after the author addresses himself by inserting his rank within the church before his last name. The Church is noted for having many cult like features including ritual sacrifices and mass suicides.

Writings:

Spoiler

The Sprawl
The Sprawl is a civilian space station built into the last remaining fragment of Titan, one of Saturn's moons - the first planetcrack ever, and even though it started out as a small mining colony, it gradually expanded over time to form a large metropolis. The population of the Sprawl exceeds one million people. The Sprawl itself encircles the fragment, with inner structures such as schools, malls, skyscrapers, and a Unitologist church. They say the time it would take to one end to the other on foot would be about a week, but there is a mass transit system located on the station so no one has ever tried.

Necromorphs:
The Necromorphs are the horribly mutated, reanimated corpses of the dead. These creatures are extremely aggressive, and will attempt to kill any non-Necromorph creature on sight. The sole purpose of almost all Necromorphs is to create more bodies to infect and spread the infection, while the role of one particular creature, the Infector, is to infect corpses to make more Necromorphs.

Types:

• Slasher : The most common form of Necromorph, it attacks using two large blades sprouted from the victim's hands.
• Leaper : A Necromorph more commonly found in Zero Gravity areas, it attacks with its large, scorpion-like tail, which is actually a fusion of the victim's legs.
• Lurker : Reanimated infants that prowl the corridors and are usually found in Zero Gravity. They attack with three barbed tentacles that fire quills.
• Swarmer: Very small Necromorphs that travel in large groups and can jump a short distance. They rip away at flesh until the victim is killed.
• Infector : A bat-like Necromorph with the sole purpose of infecting corpses with a proboscis and turning them into new Necromorphs.
• The Corruption: A mass of necrotic flesh that covers everything in its path. This Necromorph does not attack, but it slows down survivors.
• Drag Tentacle: A very large tentacle that grabs their victim and takes them into a hole, and their doom.
• Pregnant : A large Necromorph that carries a payload of smaller Necromorphs along with two large scythe-like blades.
• Brute: A very large and powerful Necromorph that can charge with great bursts of speed and in some cases launch volatile projectiles when immobilized.
• Guardian: A stationary Necromorph plastered to a wall with six deadly tentacles. It can fire out Pods (See below) as a possible form of self-defense.
• Pods: Small embryo-like Necromorph that sprout tentacles and fire quills at threats.
• The Hunter: A unique and man-made Necromorph that look like Slashers, only with the ability to regenerate lost limbs, making it near impossible to kill.
• Wheezer: The only Necromorph that cannot attack directly. With the host's lungs expanded and relocated to the back, it can render the surrounding environment toxic.
• Exploder : A thin and gangly Necromorph, its legs are fused and twisted together, its right arm is elongated with a foot-like hand, and its left arm is changed into an explosive pustule it is capable of throwing.
• The Leviathan: An enormous Necromorph, composed of three tentacles and a big mouth that spits organic bombs to protect its core, a big pustule inside his mouth.
• Divider : A tall and thin Necromorph with the ability to divide itself into multiple segments. It emits haunting sounds similar to that of whales.
• The Slug: An enormous Necromorph that stuck to the exterior of the Ishimura and blocked the communication with the Valor. It had five tentacles that could throw stuff.
• Twitcher : A spastic and remarkably fast Necromorph formed by marines with Stasis units built into their suits.
• The Hive Mind: The biggest Necromorph encountered as of yet, sealed in the Core of the Planet, controls telepathically all the Necromorphs of the Ishimura, the Valor and Aegis VII Colony, having five pustules in his mouth, and five in his chest.
• Flyer: Like the Infector, this Necromorph can fly, using all the torso of the victim's body, with a skeletal head, the arms of the victim twisted into wings, its lungs now on its back and a tail made of nerves, this Necromorph attackd like a hunting bird, assaulting from above.
• Grabber: An immobile Necromorph, it resembles a harmless corpse unless approached, which causes it to lash out at you with an incredibly long neck made from most of the former human's internal organs and muscles. It attempts to grab you with enormous jaws and impale you on its harpoon-like spine.
• Stalker : A Necromorph that appears to be made from adult siblings, and the bond they shared in life is used to hunt and kill prey after death.
• Puker : A pale Necromorph that vomits acidic fluids on enemies, even without a head.
• Cyst : Little is known about this small Necromorph other than the fact that it grows from The Corruption.
• Crawler : Crawlers are reanimated infants like the Lurker, but with explosive sacs in their stomachs.
• The Pack : Child-like Necromorphs that hunt their prey in packs.
• The Nest : A large bulbous tentacle-like beast, that appears in space sequences. It fires homing payloads of smaller Necromorphs.
• Tripod : A large three-legged Necromorph that resembles the Leaper. However unlike the Leaper, it attacks with an appendage that emerges from its mouth and grabs its prey with its back leg.
  edit Trivia

Weapons

Rules:
Basic guild rules.
I'm pushing that you are not a hero in this! Since we are normal humans, and your actions will change the direction of the story, you will be killed if you go off on your own! Well unless directed by me.
No god modding or metagaming

[mast3rlinkx]

I'd be interested, though you got a bit of lore mixed up. Dr. Altman didn't lead the religious movement. He actually actively resisted the rise of Unitology. The beginnings of Unitology, as well as humanity's first encounter with the Marker, are detailed in the novel "Dead Space: Martyr". Altman himself didn't believe the Marker was something divine, but knew full well that it creates Necromorphs and that they're caused by a defective genetic code that's broadcast by the Marker. He discovered that all the Marker wanted was to reproduce, and that the Necromorphs are its failed attempts to do so. The Unitologists didn't listen, though, wrongly giving him the status of saint when really they should have marked him a heretic for resisting them so much and trying so hard to prove how wrong they are. In all actuality, Altman knew more about the Marker than any would ever know, which was likely why he was remembered as the patron saint of Unitology, despite all his efforts to debunk the religion. Altman had even actively communicated with the Marker, which was how he learned its true purpose. He learned that the Markers are sentient objects. You should read the book, sometime. It's quite a nice story and sheds a lot of light on Unitology, which was only hinted at in the games and what was detailed was according to the religious teachings, not actual historic records. It's kind of like how Jesus was most likely a completely different person than the messiah described in the Bible. People glorified Altman, gave him more credit than he really deserved as far as religion was concerned. I don't quite remember how he was actually killed, but I think it was quite unceremoniously by a Slasher. One thing Altman didn't know about the Marker, though, was its origin. He couldn't get that bit of info out of it during the couple of minutes in which he communicated with it.

Also, since this seems to be a prequel to Dead Space 2, would we end up running into Vandal eventually?

[Sir Beowulf]

Hey Gabriel.
I'm pretty interested. And I've got a good picture picked out and ready to go.

Spoiler

Pretty freaky, eh?

[Daxam]

Interested. And may I say that I'm glad there aren't any Feeders. Those things are, in my opinion, probably the creepiest types so far -.-

[Sir Beowulf]

Now you need to add them, Gabriel!
Do it!

And yes, those things are freaky as hell.

[Daxam]

I just had to open my mouth XD

[jumjummju]

Considering that I loved the Dead Space series, I shall join this. Just give me a plasma cutter and a force gun and I am INVINCIBLE.

Quick Question: Who are we gonna be, exactly, anyway? Scientists? Miners? Clones of Isaac Clarke? :P

[Shoryu]

Oh yeah, Dead space = Interest for me unless it's butchered or sumthin XD So yeah, totally interested =3

[xGabrielx]

Whoa nice collection of RPers we have here >:3

I'd be interested, though you got a bit of lore mixed up. Dr. Altman didn't lead the religious movement. He actually actively resisted the rise of Unitology. The beginnings of Unitology, as well as humanity's first encounter with the Marker, are detailed in the novel "Dead Space: Martyr". Altman himself didn't believe the Marker was something divine, but knew full well that it creates Necromorphs and that they're caused by a defective genetic code that's broadcast by the Marker. He discovered that all the Marker wanted was to reproduce, and that the Necromorphs are its failed attempts to do so. The Unitologists didn't listen, though, wrongly giving him the status of saint when really they should have marked him a heretic for resisting them so much and trying so hard to prove how wrong they are. In all actuality, Altman knew more about the Marker than any would ever know, which was likely why he was remembered as the patron saint of Unitology, despite all his efforts to debunk the religion. Altman had even actively communicated with the Marker, which was how he learned its true purpose. He learned that the Markers are sentient objects. You should read the book, sometime. It's quite a nice story and sheds a lot of light on Unitology, which was only hinted at in the games and what was detailed was according to the religious teachings, not actual historic records. It's kind of like how Jesus was most likely a completely different person than the messiah described in the Bible. People glorified Altman, gave him more credit than he really deserved as far as religion was concerned. I don't quite remember how he was actually killed, but I think it was quite unceremoniously by a Slasher. One thing Altman didn't know about the Marker, though, was its origin. He couldn't get that bit of info out of it during the couple of minutes in which he communicated with it.

Also, since this seems to be a prequel to Dead Space 2, would we end up running into Vandal eventually?

Ahh thank you, I will add this when I make the OOC ^^

As for your question?

Who knows, though maybe we will be directly responsible for deciding her fate >:3

Interested. And may I say that I'm glad there aren't any Feeders. Those things are, in my opinion, probably the creepiest types so far -.-

Now you need to add them, Gabriel!
Do it!

And yes, those things are freaky as hell.

Of course >:3

Heck maybe if, IF, we get off the station we may run into some new types I make myself or from DS3

Considering that I loved the Dead Space series, I shall join this. Just give me a plasma cutter and a force gun and I am INVINCIBLE.

Quick Question: Who are we gonna be, exactly, anyway? Scientists? Miners? Clones of Isaac Clarke? :P

YES!


We shall ALL be Clones of Isaac Clarke!

Your job is to; be insane, ask constantly about the women in your life, be sad that all the women in your life seem to die, and shoot your dead girlfriend in the face ^^

Though really, yeah we will just be the people on the station. You can be anything and any one though I am going to limit the amount of people that get to be a engi or sec officer for clear reasons XD

[xGabrielx]

Also guys feel free to send me a few char ideas you have if they are a little out there, just saying heh.

Its better than when you get a CS and I refuse all the work you put into it >:/