A Dream of Earth - OOC

[Taerra Firma]

Revival! Revival! Revival! Come one, come all and show your interest!

A Dream of Earth - IC

Five hundred years ago a disaster hit the earth. No one really remembers what happened, but the sun was veiled by the thick debris in the air, and the earth, and all that lived upon it, began to die. The temperatures cooled, and a new ice age reared its head. The histories record that the scientists saw it coming and the world tried to prepare.

There was no way for the human race to escape their planet. Space travel was still a complicated endeavor, a matter of exploration, and off planet colonies were nothing but a dream of the future. The technology, however, still in its infancy, that had been developed for those colonies might help to save them now. The nations of the world worked together to build the sky cities, massive floating bio-fortresses, using relatively new anti-grav technology, as a way to preserve some remnant of humanity.

There were a total of ten, claimed by certain countries or groups of countries, USA, UK (including Ireland, Australia, Canada, and South Africa), Russia, China, India, Japan, South America, Israel, Middle East, and one shared by smaller countries of the world. They would shelter the best and brightest of humanity, preserve cultures, and when the skies cleared and the earth flowered once more, civilization could be rebuilt. It would only be for a single generation, or so it was explained to the men of power deciding the fate of the world in secret bunkers.

The cities have evolved into City-States, circling the globe in the upper stratosphere. Below the cities can be seen nothing but dense cloud cover, sickly yellow-black and deadly, which killed the earth below. Above the cities, through polarized solar domes, the lack of atmosphere leaves a dazzling view of darkness strewn with crisp white stars. Giant turbines hang from the bottom of the cities, capturing the heavy air streams and producing electricity. The cities are powered by nuclear power. Collectors, miners of the air, scoop water from the toxic clouds and process it for the cities. Strato-skimmers, small maneuverable powered gliders, can travel the distance between cities, usually by couriers and merchant's.

This RP will start in the Great and Glorious City-State of Us (once known as the USA, but this has been lost to history), and you will play a citizen of GGCU or a civilian of another city that is visiting (definitions of the two below.)

Please consider the technology level to be near-future, as in just a little better than our own. No laser guns, no food replicaters, etc.


Historical Timeline

Spoiler

500 yrs ago – The Planet Killing Event occurred. The skies grew dark with toxic cloud cover and the Earth began to die. The Ten Great Nations Sky Cities were built to save as many people as possible.

400 yrs ago – The Earth has not recovered. The toxic air continues to plague the skies, but the sky cities will not last forever. The leaders of the sky cities realize they cannot keep the cities aloft for much longer because they're running out of parts. It is decided that they will have to mine minerals from the planet to manufacture parts for repairs. Mining is dangerous but lucrative work. Small groups of miners travel to the surface for months at a time to get those precious metals. The sky cities continue.

250 yrs ago – Overpopulation, despite severe population control measures, is a serious problem. The first secessionist groups emerge, demanding the right to create new floating habitats to solve the problem. The sky cities agree, and help to build the first of the sister city-ships, New Hope. Many more follow. These smaller, but more maneuverable, ships are not as self-sufficient as the great ships. They still rely on the original sky cities for many things.

150 yrs ago – The city ship of New Everest is founded.

50 yrs ago – The government of the sky city of UK is overthrown by a revolution. Many of the ruling elite are slaughtered, but most escape in private yachts and cruise ships. Her Royal Majesty, Queen Anne the Second, and her family, are among them, in their private yacht, the HMS Windsor. The aristocracy and those who followed them into exile now travel the skies from city to city, like a band of gypsies. Their former sky city, now known as the Free City of Tibet, is run by a ruthless man who was once a sky pirate, and is a haven for unsavory activities. It is the only sky city with completely permeable borders, which is not to say that the government will welcome you if you're a troublemaker.

Present – The sky cities have a tentative truce. For the last five hundred years there has been a state of discord between the peoples of different sky cities. There have been skimmer skirmishes, and dogfights between opposing battle squadrons, equating to a low level war that is part of the landscape of life in the skies. Nothing came of it until the fall of the UK sky city by revolutionaries from the inside. Eight of the cities are completely isolationist, except for necessary trade and some diplomatic negotiating from time to time. The only official city (not counting the Free City of Tibet) that allows visiting from other sky city citizens is the Great and Glorious City of Us. They have a nominally democratic government and allow some small bit of immigration.

The City-ships:

Spoiler

The big 10 cities are fortresses as large as the city of Chicago, appprox. 30 miles in diameter. They are powered, mainly, by several nuclear reactors located in the bowels of the cities. This is augmented by energy generated by the solar panelled dome and the wind turbines.

The smaller colony cities may or may not have all three power sources or only one or two, depending on size and needs. Fossil Fuels are not used at all.

Every city is like a combo of a biodome and a fortress. The topmost sections of the city, those that are exposed to the most sunlight through the dome, are "natural" spaces full of a variety of flora and fauna, there are farms for growing produce to feed the populace. Who gets how much depends on the population of a given city. The Undercity denizens tend to have a not so good diet, not very much fresh food.

The city section is navigated as much vertically as horizontally, and is probably about 200 stories or so. The higher the level you live at, (the more light that filters down to you), the more affluent you are. There are no private vehicles in the dome, except for a few craft that are operated by the government. Space is at quite a premium, so the original designers didn't want to waste any room on roads as such. It's all public transportation like Maglevs, elevators, and foot power using stairs and wide walkways (this may also include something very much like a rickshaw, pulled by someone, but no powered vehicles). Personal skimmers are most likely kept in a rented space somewhere in Aft Terminal.

The Undercity is the entire bottom section of the city ship, about 50 levels between the platform that supports the ship and the surface. It is a warren of narrow tunnels and access hatches. Mostly industrial looking. Living quarters are tight, and there is no straight shot from any one place to any other. The best example I can give you is that of the bowels of a naval ship. The terminology is the same, fore, aft, port, starboard.

Information on the tenth city:

Spoiler

The tenth city is known only as The Cultural Alliance. It is dedicated to preserving culture, art, and true civilization for future generations. If any Sky City can be said to be a haven for art and culture, it is The Cultural Alliance. It is not quite as isolationist as the majority, but it is difficult to achieve citizenship. Unless you were born into this city, you must prove your dedication to cultural pursuits to become a citizen. This is most often achieved by becoming renowned in your field of study, such as Philosophy, Culinary, Socio-economics, Art, etc....

The city is made up of a number of different countries, mostly European. Each country has it's own enclave on the ship, usually named after a city in their former country, like Paris, Koln (Cologne), or Milan. It is run by a council that is made up of a representative from every nation inhabiting the city. Political decisions have a tendency to take a lot of time due to lack of agreement. Class differences are not as pronounced in the Cultural Alliance as in other cities. That being said, few surfacers ever venture into the undercity.

The Earth:

Spoiler

Conventional wisdom is that the Earth is dead, and so is anyone who goes into the toxic clouds. This is not an opinion. Everyone knows this to be the absolute truth. The only people who go to the surface are the miners. They take a heavily armored ship (jokingly referred to as the coffin, one of many slang terms) to the surface and disembark directly into the underground mine shafts. When the ship returns to the city, it is beat all to hell with acid burns and pock marks, and must be completely refitted before it can be sent back down again.

Terms

Spoiler

Citizen: One who was born into the city or granted permanent residential status.
Civilian: A visitor to the city, and can also be on the path to citizenship. There are different rights for each group. You will usually only find Civilians in GGCU or FCT, since none of the other cities allow immigration.
Collectors: The men and women who collect and purify water from the clouds for the ships' consumption.
Strato-skimmer: A.k.a. Skimmer. Small one or two man gliders that can travel short to medium distances between cities.
Strato-cruiser: Larger ships, requiring a minimum crew of two to fly, that are used for a large variety of purposes, from trade to travel. They can vary in size from as small as a bus to as large as a very small city ship.
Undercity: Every sky city has an undercity. It is the vast maze of lower levels beneath the surface that are crawling with workers who help to keep the ship running. Some of them have lived their entire lives in this shadowy underworld, venturing above only rarely. The undercity is a dangerous and dim place for the unwary or the uninitiated. There are boltholes and dead end passageways that are known only to the lower classes who live there.
CommCore: Inter/Intranet of the Sky Cities. Each city has there own, and there is a worldwide network as well. This can be accessed not only from dedicated terminals, but from Pads as well.
Pad: Sophisticated hand held computer, with touchscreen. Used as a multipurpose tool. Think iPad, but more universal. Everyone owns a Pad. Unless you say otherwise, I will assume your character has one. The sophistication and abilities of the Pad will vary based on expense, of course. The upper classes love their pimped out Pads.

Character Sheet:

Spoiler

Name:
Age:
Gender:
Nationality or Sky City of Origin:
Citizen or Civilian?:
Appearance:
Personality:
Profession:
Skills:
Equipment: (What you carry on your person at all or most times)
Assets: (Items you own that you may not have with you at all times, but are available to your character.) Subject to GM approval.
Allies/Influences/Resources: Subject to GM approval. Are you part owner of a corporation that generates obscene amounts of money for you? Do you have some kind of hold over a High Court Judge? Did you save the life of the Governors daughter? Are you best friends with the Pirate King? Whatever it is, put it here, and I'll tell you if it's ok.
Bio/History:

Current Accepted Characters
Gennosuke and Hotaru Haitachi - Pilot and Mechanic, Owner/Operators of the Marilyn Monroe
Cassandra Windstrider - Reporter and wanna-be rebel
Lillian O'Malley - Freelance courier
Carlo Guerrero - Fixer
Daniel "Danny" Pearce - Travelling sales rep
Brittany Ferris - Social Celebrity and Party Girl
Benjamin Knoeller - Corporate IT Tech

Location Descriptions
The Marilyn Monroe - Strato-Cruiser with some life experience


Former Accepted Characters (For inspiration!)

Spoiler

Daijiro Kenji - Computer Programmer with scary allies
Rhyven Donough - Unemployed Mechanic
Nathan Fisher - Pilot and Bounty Hunter for Hire
Gryphon Beryl - Laborer for hire
Darren Carter - Heir Apparent to the chief engineer of the GGCU
Alexander Hawks - Upper Class Playboy
Johann von Österreich - Councilman for the Wien Enclave of the Cultural Alliance, Pianist and Composer
Darek Jao - Acrobatic Thief

[JuliaKnight2316273]

I would like to reserve a spot for myself as the chief engineer in the undercity. will have character sheet soon

[pumirya]

This could be interesting... Any more information available about the everyday technologies used by the peoples and how the various ships are powered. Maybe I missed it, but if not, I'd like to know.

[JuliaKnight2316273]

Taerra Firma if you please tell me how the undercity is laid out. It would be useful, since my character will be the chief engineer that lives in the undercity

[Taerra Firma]

... the sky cities, massive floating bio-fortresses, using relatively new anti-grav technology, as a way to preserve some remnant of humanity.

Above the cities, through polarized solar domes......Giant turbines hang from the bottom of the cities, capturing the heavy air streams and producing electricity. The cities are powered by nuclear power. Collectors, miners of the air, scoop water from the toxic clouds and process it for the cities. Strato-skimmers, small maneuverable powered gliders, can travel the distance between cities, usually by couriers and merchant's.

Please consider the technology level to be near-future, as in just a little better than our own. No laser guns, no food replicaters, etc.

The big 10 cities are fortresses as large as the city of Chicago, appprox. 30 miles in diameter. They are powered, mainly, by several nuclear reactors located in the bowels of the cities. This is augmented by energy generated by the solar panelled dome and the wind turbines.

The smaller cities may or may not have all three power sources or only one or two, depending on size and needs. Fossil Fuels are not used at all.

Every city is like a combo of a biodome and a fortress. There are "natural" spaces full of a variety of flora and fauna, there are farms for growing produce to feed the populace. Who gets how much depends on the population of a given city. The Undercity denizens tend to have a not so good diet, not very much fresh food.

[Pockets]

Name: Rhyven Donough

Age: 27

Gender: Male

Nationality or Sky City of Origin: GGCU
Citizen or Civilian?: Citizen

Appearance: 5' 10'', muscled but not massively so. Short cut brown hair, lightly tanned skin. Left arm and part of the left side of his chest is heavily marred by burn scars and he has a tattoo of an old piece of Japanese Kanji for 'fire' on the inside of his right wrist. Grey eyes.

Personality: Hard. Rough around the edges, bitter seeming at times but he has a strong sense of right and wrong despite living mostly as a thief and criminal.

Profession:Unemployed.

Skills: Good at repairing basic engines. Experienced in hand to hand combat though by no means an expert also employs blades when and if he ever fights. Knives and swords dont run out of bullets.

Equipment: Minimum of two daggers or knives. He'll carry a gun and does know how to use it when he can get one but prefers his blades. Always carries a pouch of rolling tobacco to make cigarettes (or whatever the equivalent might be) a lighter. Recently acquired a completely pimped out Pad from a rich man who's name rhyven has already forgotten. Its the top of the line with a lot of extra bells and whistles and Rhyven doesn't even know everything his new Pad is capable of doing yet.

Assets: Knows a lot of the undercity. Friendly with a lot of the more criminal elements in the city and therefore has a bit of a network for aquiring equipment, supplies and such.

Allies/Influences/Resources:

Bio/History: Rhyvens mother died in childbirth and at the age of ten he and his father were in an accident, crashing their skimmer. The fire killed his father and left him severely injured. He was cared for but spent a lot of time bouncing through the system until he was 18 and cut loose. He made his way to the undercity, penniless, alone, scared and unsure of his future.

He was lucky enough to be taken in by a few of the less desirables in the city and they taught him to fight, and how to take care of himself. It was during this time that he found he had a knack for piking up on mechanical devices and how they worked. By no means any abnormal talent he simply had a slight edge at understanding the iner workings of vehicles. He's been working on something like an old Motorcycle from before the disaster that struck Earth. Its very difficult though because obviously theres little information on how exactly they were designed or meant to work so hes basically trying to create something new from scratch with only a vague idea of how to make it work.

(Hope this is ok, I'm really interested in this story. Could be a lot of fun I think)

[JuliaKnight2316273]

(I'm going to put my character sheet up, but its still a work in progress. I have finals tomorrow and friday, so it wont be finished til friday afternoon.)

name: Darren Carter (known as Dar)
age: 20
gender: male
height: 6 ft
Sky City of Origin: GGCU
Citizen
Appearance: [img] http://www.formulatv.com/images/fgal...cas-bryant.jpg [/img]
Personality: Is very cold towards people who live up top in the city. He has very a very strong belief that the people who live in the undercity should be getting better food and medicine. He thinks of everyone who lives in the undercity like his family(even though he doesn't show it), and everyone who lives up top pompous rats. However, underneath his cold shell, he is kind, caring and has a fun side when around his friends
Profession: Heir Apparent to Chief Engineer/mechanic
Skills: has very good close combat fighting skills
Equipment: walkie talkie to communicate with the other engineers and mechanics, butterfly knife(keeps in his back pocket), tool belt, and a pad
Assets: has five hundred years worth of journals, blueprints, and maps in his room. All about the engines, turbines and how to fix and maintain them. Was given to him by his father who was the last chief engineer before he died.
Allies/Influences/Resources: His Grandfather Tyzon and the library of journals, blueprints and maps that reside in the Chief Engineers room. Only CE is allowed in there, the door to the room remains locked while Dar is out, and the only key to the room is kept on Dar's person at all times. It was one of the first rules he learned from his grandpa. That and don't let anyone see where the room is located.
History: Is part of one of the only families in which everyone including the women have been engineers and mechanics. In addition is part of the only family in which all of the first born males have become the chief engineer. He has lived his whole life in the undercity and has never been up to see the city state. He grew up with seven brothers for a time. However, because they don't live in the greatest environment, and very little medical care, four of them died before their fifth cycle of living. He learned fast how to fight and run because that was the only way you could get exercise, and if you didnt stay fit you got sick. Then once you get sick, you usually dont get better. By the age of ten, Dar knew every system, pathway and dead end on every level of the undercity. The day he turned sixteen his father died while fixing one of the key systems that turns the wind turbines that keeps the city in the sky.

Since his father died, the title of Chief Engineer was given back to his grandfather Tyzon, who had been in retirement for a number of years. His Grandfather mostly deals with the politicians and be a leader to the people of the undercity, while giving the responsibility of doing all the fixing and maintenance to Dar. Since, he is getting on in years, he has been teaching Dar how to play the game of politics and how to be a leader. However, Dar being narrow minded when it comes to dealing with people from the city, is having difficulty with it. He was branded with his family crest on his chest, just under the left collar bone. It is a tradition in his family to burn the crest into the chest of all first born males when they become of age. which is sixteen. the original crest of his family was lost three centuries ago. was rumored to be made out of platinum.

just the white outline

[Elmepo]

If you're still accepting here's my CS

Name: Nathan Fisher
Age: 25
Gender: Male
Nationality or Sky City of Origin: Originally from the Sky City UK, but has since abandoned any claims to citizenship, officially belongs to no city state.
Citizen or Civilian?: Civilian
Appearance:

Personality: Nathan is relatively cynical, and holds no high opinoins of this world, and as such is often thought of as a loner. He often holds to this, preferring his own company to that of others, although he does enjoy the company of his few friends you just wouldn't know it. He is a careful strategist and fighter, never going into a fight he doesn't believe he has a good chance of winning, and holding no high beliefs about loyalty, honor or the ruling class. He will do whatever it takes to win, and will not hesitate to kill someone. Very few people will ever get to meet the real person, or talk to him beyond a few, short, terse sentences. He is forward and usually gets straight to the point.
Profession: He works either as a strato-cruiser/skimmer Pilot for hire, or, whenever he can't get such desirable jobs, he instead hires himself out as a kind of bounty-hunter, often getting paid to retrieve lost children, stolen items and the like.
Skills: He is a trained close-quaters combatant, capable of holding his own, as he often has to. He is also a trained marksman, though by no means an expert, but still a force to be reckoned with. He knows an incredible amount Strato-skimmers, although he knows next to nothing about the strato-cruisers, just how to fly them and their basic mechanics.
Equipment: He always carries a pistol and two extra magazines, a lighter and cigarettes, a small multi-tool, watch, compass.
Assets: A sniper rifle and two automatic rifles, computer, office, granted with permission of the GGCU, which is often threatened to be taken away if he ever steps too far out of line. If you allow it, I would also wish for him to have his own skimmer, albeit a less than brilliant one.
Allies/Influences/Resources: His work is provided to him by his Company, "Retrievers", which acts as a conduit for him, as he rarely ever gets missions by word of mouth (that is he hears that someone would be willing to pay someone to ....). The business and accompanying office help put people at ease and assure them that he isn't a con-man. He has no high ranking allies, although he is certainly known to various officials. He does however, have high influence with many of the mechanics, pubs and weapons dealers due to the high profits he generates them, especially considering the amount of times his skimmer has been almost destroyed.
Bio/History: Nathan was born in what could be called the middle class of the city state of UK, and he learnt to defend himself and to cut off all ties to others at a young age, else he would have fallen prey to the city's numerous gangs and thugs. When he was fifteen he secured himself a place on a skimmer to the GGCU, acting as nothing more than simple help. However, once he got there he was again offered a position, this time as a permanent member of the small crew, and he worked with them for two years, before he saved up enough money to hire his own skimmer, which he then used to do various missions for people, he continued doing so until he was able to buy his won skimmer, and start his business. Over time he has become a skilled captain and Pilot, and also earned a reputation not only for keeping to his word with business deal, but also for his lack of compassion for those who attempt to con him, a reason why so very few people attempt to cheat him out of his pay. To date he has only a few friends, The captain he originally served under, his two crew mates and fellow businessmen, and a small few throughout the city.

[Pockets]

Quick question. Is planning ahead with other players on some basic information allowable? As an example Elmepos' Character Nathaniel doesn't much care for those that try to cheat or con him. My Character Rhyen has on occasion been a thief and a con, therefore might they have interacted at some time in the past? Elmepo and I could debate amongst ourselves on the level of any possible past interaction and the outcome of that interaction.

Also my character enjoys mechanics and has lived for numerous years in the undercity, might he have run across the chief mechanic at some point? potentially making contacts there.

[JuliaKnight2316273]

nevermind. spoke too soon