Catalyst (Sci-fi Adventure)

[Phantom Sekai]

The year is 2034, and human society has had some major changes, but remains very similar to how society has been since the 2010's. The first major change is the terraforming and colonization of Mars. In 2020, a special shuttle was launched to Mars and remained in orbit after arriving, and fired several specialized pods designed to open after landing, and release cockroaches and moss. The moss would survive off the cockroach carcasses and slowly fill the planet's atmosphere with plant life and oxygen. The projected time table would be between 50 and 70 years before nay major affect was seen, so you could guess the surprise humanity felt when after five years, somehow the planet's surface turned from red, to green and blue. It was very similar to Earth's appearance, but it actually appeared even cleaner than the Earth, and so, immediately colonization projects were put into affect. Skip to 2030, Mars was another fully functioning planet claimed by the humans. Welcome to the dawn of interplanetary travel.

The second and last major change was the political situation. 2015 brought a war that consumed the earth for a few days, but was quickly diffused by the UN finally growing a pair so to speak, and getting involved directly. Another 5 years, the same time the Mars Terraforming project was started, and you have a world finally unified. There wasn't peace, but with the major powers of the world finally working together, the major fights between nations were ended.

So, this is the basic rundown. Mars has been populated by humans and terraformed, making it a secondary Earth, and the human race is finally united under a single group. Still, there is the question of "How did the terraforming project move so quickly?"

Well, this is the point of the rp.

In 2032, there was a new "virus" that is changing people. It's causing them to, in short, transform into armored monsters. The virus was originally called "Metal-Mutation" because it changed people into armored monsters that caused huge amounts of destruction. In 2034, it was renamed "Catalyst" because of a theory that proved to be true.

You see, one of these monsters were captured, and the autopsy of the corpse showed that a majority of the cells weren't actually infected with anything. This wasn't an outside viral infection causing anything, but instead a new type of catalyst protein. It was causing what the scientists were labeling our "Final evolution." It was predicted that this catalyst protein somehow awakened dormant genes within humanity and changed their bodies to accommodate for the changes, and awakening our full potential as humans. Basically, these monsters were what humans were going to become, but the catalyst had negative side effects.

On plant life, it just caused massive spikes in their growth and reproduction rates, which is why the Mars terraforming project worked so well, but in animal life, it caused spikes in primal instincts, causing humans to go into a beast like rage.

So what are humans doing? Of course using the catalyst, but limiting it at the same time. By limiting the amount of change the catalyst can cause, humans are actually using the catalyst to stop those who have gone berserk, but this isn't their only purpose. The second purpose is that only Mars surface has been touched, and their have been reports of the catalyst being introduced in ruins that the plant life go into, and this is also where most of the human infections happen, so by using those already infected but able to control it, they're going to investigate the ruins and determine where it came from, possibly why it was created, and how to use it to it's full extent without causing people to go berserk when exposed.

(Look up the series Blassreiter to get a good idea of what people change into)

So basically, I want a group of at most 6 (including myself) of those with the catalyst under control that investigate the ruins, etc. Fun to be had, mysteries to be solved, and a darker plot to unravel.

[InqWeaver]

This sounds really interesting, though I have a couple questions, if that's ok.

[Phantom Sekai]

Ask away

[InqWeaver]

I was curious if these people, once they 'evolved,' do they stay in the heavily armored form indefinitely, or are they human, but can change shape?

Are the characters there of their own free will? were they offered a choice, or forced into it? Can the characters have their own, slightly more sinister/ambitious reason for being involved?

And finally, do we have to follow the more mechanical look of the series you listed as inspiration for their form, or can we design them from the ground up? (also, on that note, any restrictions or guidelines on form, or age for that matter?)

[Phantom Sekai]

1. Because they limit the catalyst protein within the subjects they have gathered, the users can switch between their forms at will, but they also still have the risk to break their limiters and go berserk. Of course with more usage and training, they can even achieve full transformation and sustain it without going insane (of course this will be later.)

2. This is up to the rper involved. You can develop your own back story here and the reason you are part of the group (forced or willing, innocent or sinister, this is up to you to decide. of course I will ask for changes if it interferes with the major plot heavily)

3. I was using Blassreiter as an example of the basic form. They do have to have a metal armor, but it doesn't have to be as "mechanical" looking as blassreiter. They could just have plates on their body that still expose flesh and stuff. Basically, they have to have some metal on them that functions as armor, but doesn't have to be as machine looking as Blassreiter.

[InqWeaver]

In that case, count me as interested.