Oh for sure. I don't see the radiation and its fallout disappearing anytime soon whatsoever. I was merely addressing the fleeting effects of the dark years. Namely, reintroducing civility.

While I also want to hear the others opinion on this, having two separate generations, as you said, would make for a very interesting social attribute. Perhaps it'll add a bit of flair into the story overall. Plus, I can still incorporate the above, for it'll be a HUGE story element within this. I'd like to keep how a secret for right now though. Anyway, for right now, why don't you create your character under the assumption that we'll begin at 2065 then. I can't see the others having a huge problem with this. Everyone - including myself - will probably have to amend our biographies a tad.

I'm in the works of creating a general map of the world, which will label the green zones with respect to the yellow and red zones. Hopefully that'll be up this weekend.

Arlear and IrishAngelQueen, other than amending your biography and birth dates due to the above, everything I've read so far looks pretty spot on.

Anima said
Oh I totally forgot to acknowledge your super unique replies Bunnita! Like IrishAngelQueen, it's entertaining to read them. Seldom do I ever see anyone type like that let alone bunny-esque words being thrown in here and there!IrishAngelQueen, though I'm having trouble following that last paragraph, go crazy :D! Also, I approve of your signature. The one Marilyn Manson song I like!

I know right? I am crazy. I follow it perfectly while you do not because im cuckoo. Also I know I love that song too. I love that movie!
Boys and girls of every age, would you like to see something strange? Come with us and you will sed, this our town of halloween. This is halloween thus is hallloween, pumkins scream in the dead of night! this is halloween halloween halloween…

Anima said
Oh for sure. I don't see the radiation and its fallout disappearing anytime soon whatsoever. I was merely addressing the fleeting effects of the dark years. Namely, reintroducing civility. While I also want to hear the others opinion on this, having two separate generations, as you said, would make for a very interesting social attribute. Perhaps it'll add a bit of flair into the story overall. Plus, I can still incorporate the above, for it'll be a HUGE story element within this. I'd like to keep how a secret for right now though. Anyway, for right now, why don't you create your character under the assumption that we'll begin at 2065 then. I can't see the others having a huge problem with this. Everyone - including myself - will probably have to amend our biographies a tad. I'm in the works of creating a general map of the world, which will label the green zones with respect to the yellow and red zones. Hopefully that'll be up this weekend. Arlear and IrishAngelQueen, other than amending your biography and birth dates due to the above, everything I've read so far looks pretty spot on.

I fixed the birth date. Not sure how you want me to fix the biography though. And sorry for the post so soon after the last one. My kindke fritzed on me and only posted half of the original. Fuckaduck.

Still interested and will have a read through tonight. My mum died and I got a new job so I've been crazy busy and forgetful recently. x

// Never mind. I am interested, still. Will post CS shortly

Real World

Name: Avangeline Taylor.
Birthday: March 13th 2040
Appearance:


Occupation: Engineer. This entails some very minor hacking skills, programming, machinery knowledge and an understanding in circuits and electrics.
Biography: The war was bad, of course it was, nukes, gunfire, shit there wasn’t a day that went by that she didn’t think she’d be blown sky high. People died, good people, people she’d known, innocent people that didn’t want part of this stupid fucking war. She had seen the beginning, the first bombs, the day her neighbours house disappeared in a crater and even their dog was nothing but a smudge on the landscape. What got her though wasn’t the bombs, she was five, five years old and the world had fallen to shit, just as she was able to comprehend the world it showed its ugly side, everyone likes to think the civilians all held hands and sang campfire songs to keep up moral but they didn’t.

Wars needed things and if you weren't’ a soldier you were expendable resources, most of the people she knew and loved were made to work the farms to feed the soldiers, a couple went to labs and were never seen again and she and some of the other kids were frog marched down to the engineers, their they ran a gauntlet to fix broken tanks, trucks, artillery weapons, to clean out areas filled with radiation. To clear vents and reattach broken cables, average life span for a rat ( the term for the kods who worked here) three years, just like a rat.

She saw an uglier side of war in the mazes of tunnels and electronic works than she ever had as a ‘civilian’. She watched kids lose limbs, get electrocuted, die from liaisons and boils due to radiation exposure and the bodies? Taken out back where a mass pit burned night and day and there they were thrown like garbage on a rubbish heap. That sort of thing scars a child for life and she was no damn different but she swore she’d survive this much, the adults didn’t deserve to be the only oens who survived after all.

Despite all odds she did survive until the end of the war, unscathed save burns and a few scars. All the same though her family didn’t, or they didn’t come back one of the two. So one of the engineers kept her, his own daughter, Avaengeline, had died in one of the first missile strikes, she looked a lot like her too, and so she adopted Avangeline’s name and life, losing her old one in the fading radiation.

Apparently they had had it lucky, the bombs hadn’t fallen this far and her new father took her from place to place, finding jobs they could do, ideas they could try and salvaging scraps until that town had run dry or sickness set in and they were on the move again. When the Council finally took over her ‘father’ and her were employed as Engineers to keep the new city up and running, everything from fixing the lights that lit the city to keeping the signal towers up and running. It was good work, work that could pay well and while it was safer than the job of a Rat in the war it was still dangerous. Her father, due to old age and shaking hands, lost his life when he accidentally touched a life cable, as his ‘official’ heir she took his place and spends her life on the roofs or in the sewers of the new cities still a rat but a free rat.

Dust Persona

Alias: Ghost
Style of Play: Rogue. A cross between a thief and hunter, she uses her speed, stealth and dexterity to follow a target without giving herself away and uses a combination of 'magic' snaring, daggers and for long range a bow, to take down her targets. She avoids fights she knows she can't win but isn't above using toxins to even the playing field for someone else. What is unseen in the picture is she is in fact an Enlightened.
Appearance:

Seems legit

Sorry, computer went poof-poof for a few days there. Had to install a new graphics card and give her a thorough cleaning. Am back now.

And ready to begin.

Whenever we do.

Here's my CS folks.

Terrible sorry for vanishing. I'm recovering from an allergic reaction. I've been sleeping and just returned from the hospital/clinic. Please bear with me.

@Albiero

I received your CS via PM and will get back to you very soon.

@Everyone else

Ditto what I mentioned above for Albiero. Once I get a few more hours of sleep, I'll be sure to jump right back into the thick of things.

---

Real World

Name: Lillian Coughlin
Birthday: December 14, 2036


Born with a small frame at 5’6”, Lillian is pale in complexion with short kept black hair with strands of white. She has a forlorn look about her gained from living through World War III and the dark years followed shortly after. Often times, as mandated by her office attire standards, she adheres to business professional and casual attire. When she’s off of work, she tries to practice good fashion sense as much as possible though her income can’t support the decadence that the noble class relishes in.

Occupation: Public Relations at Logic (Logic Pad Providers)

Biography:

Born and raised in the South with her parents and younger sister, Lillian’s life was average. She went to school, participated in sports, and helped her dad in his shop. When Lillian turned nine, her world was torn apart as the great war started. During the early days of World War III, many of her family’s friends were drafted into the North American Trade Federation’s military. Borders were redrawn everywhere. Every night, the TV bristled with horrible scenes of trademark cities being blown to bits and battlefields bathed in infernos.

At school, air raid drills and nuclear fallout responses drills were made into a daily thing. Though she was far away from the east coast — where many of the bombs fell — soldiers littered the streets as curfew and other laws were enacted. Propaganda filled with motivation to work for the country and ‘fight for the liberty of N.A.T.F’ were posted everywhere. Her hands were put to work as children helped produce ration packs for the military. Because of decreasing amounts of food, Lillian stole food from the ration pile. She was caught and was punished for it. While she learned to stay out of trouble, more infractions were committed, and the military was never shy in ‘educating’ her.

The dark years hadn’t been kind to any of the survivors of the war. Lillian — for the first time in her life — killed civilians in self-defense as murder and more primal deeds of humanity surfaced. Morality was almost non-existent, for the good samaritans were the first to be met by a robbers desperation. That was what had taken her father’s and mother’s life. From then on, no matter who it was except for her sister, everything and everyone was an enemy in her eyes. The lesson that the dark years had taught her came at a great cost, but it allowed her sister and her to survive.

Ten years slowly rumbled by. Lillian was close to giving up hope of the civilized world she had grown up in until she came face to face with the Council’s military. Relocated almost immediately to the green zones — locations that hadn’t been hit by the nuclear holocaust.

Upon arrival, the shock of moving from survival of the fittest back into civilization was a tremendous undertaking, which she slowly adapted to in time. Soon enough, life was back to normal as she found work within the company Logic. Though the pay was low, it kept her sister and herself off the streets. It wasn’t until Dust came along was she finally able to earn through a different albeit unorthodox way. As the VMMORPG took off, Dust became as part of her life as her work.

Though amused by the Council’s new system, Lillian distrusts them.

Dust Persona

Alias: Asurya

Style of Play: Opting to play as an Enlightened Warlock, Lillian focuses immensely on Necromancy where she commands the dead and departed while stealing essence from the living to fuel her own well-being or use to bolster her pool of mana.

Appearance: Created nearly identical to her, the warlock is 5’7” and a narrow, lithe build. As is with all Enlightened, Asurya had ice-blue luminescent eyes and black hair that reaches down to the nape of her neck. Asurya wears a long black jacket mixed with gold trim with a golden arcane sign on the back. She wears a dark shade of purple pants that tuck neatly into black boots. As with many warlocks, Asurya wields a whitish-grey staff and a small dagger for offerings and personal defense.

Lovely picture of Lillian.

"Real World"

Name: Richard Onamor
Birthday: May, 4th 2048
Appearance:
Red short messy hair, and blue eyes compliment his light stubble. His body is thin and weak. Barely able to support himself up for a couple minutes let alone walk.
Height: 5' 11"
Weight: 145lbs
Occupation: Richard is stuck in intesive care due to being stricken with a neuro-muscular disease still uncurable with modern medicine. It is treatable but the treatments are quite expensive, thus using Dust to work off his growing debt.

Biography: Imagine being stricken with an illness at birth that rendered you so weak that the act of simply eating tires you out to the point of feinting. Imagine a boy who wasn't even able to walk until the age of ten. Not because he couldn't figure out how but the fact that simply standing on his own weight caused extreme fatigue. Got all that? Now just imagine THAT boy, had parents that could no longer pay the excessive medical bills to simply take care of him due to the poverty stricken area they lived in. Leaving them no choice but to abandon him at age 17 and figure out a way to survive on his own, barely able to leave a hospital bed.

Richard almost gave up with life. Smart enough to see that there was no possible way to survive on his own he was tempted to just check himself out of the hospital and try to see how far he can go before he dies from excruciating pain and exhaustion, (Most likely not far) that was until one of the nurses handed him a Logic pad and a headset. "They are giving these things out now, hopefully it'll help you in some way." The nurse said before turning it on.

Almost instantly Richard was transferred to an entire new world. Seeing, feeling even smelling an entirely different place unlike his depressing hospital bed. What he loved most of all was when he looked down he was standing! His bare feet touching the grass. Moving his toes and feeling the warm dirt without the pain he was used to. Wandering the tutorial section of the game pushing his avatar to the limits. Running, jumping, rolling and even swimming was painless! It was truly amazing. He promised himself he would thank the nurse first thing when he logs out. When brought back to reality he couldn't help but feel a little depressed, still the smile on his face was wider than his ears. He thanked the nurse a million times over and she quickly explained the ins and outs of the game and how he could earn money to pay for his treatments. "Richard, you can survive... possibly even beat this using that game." The nurse said with a whole hearted smile. Richards eyes grew with hope and instantly dove back in now with a life altering goal in mind. To survive... to live and grow in Dust so that he may live in reality...

"Dust Persona"

Alias: The Laughing Drake

Race: Enlightened

Style of Play: Drake is a mix between a swordsman and a pyromancer. His quick reflexes mixed with his moderately high endurance and pain tolerance proved this style to be best suited for him. Since he usually plays alone he tries to get a variety of different ranges in his style to keep the enemy guessing. Ranging from a head on duel with his blade dancing around like group of fireflies in the night, to straight up volleys of fire blanketing a handfull of unsuspecting enemies. He is also suprisingly agile thanks to his enlightened body, obviously sacrificing raw strength in trade for agility, he's unable to weild anything heavier than a longsword. His cloak, sword and armor are all quite high end pieces thanks to his consistant adventuring in Dust as well as quite intimidating. The downside of being bright red and shiny gold is it tends to be very hard to sneak up on anything blinder than an 80 year old man with cataracts. Even though he is quite agile, stealth was never his strong suit anyway.

Appearance:

Although you'll probabbly never see it, his appearance in game is not unlike his own in reality. The only difference is his overall physique is more athletic in nature as opposed to just plain skinny and emaciated. His eyes glow a pure white which hint a very light gold hue. He also wears a white and gold mask that hides his face along with a thick red halfcloak that is suprisingly light and flame retardant. His armor looks impressive but is more flashy than really protective. Its a little too light to be hit head on with something heavy and would not fare well against hammers or spears.

Okay, here are my comments for everyone - except Albireo. I'll PM you instead.

@Arlear

I can't see anything I want changed. However, I'd like to point out that since we're now starting in 2065, your character is 40 years young. There is nothing wrong with this whatsoever. I'd just like to point that out in case that changes anything for you. Otherwise, I enjoyed the bio read, and the prospect of a radiated musician is just plain awesome!

@IrishAngelQueen

Can't see anything I want changed with character, so we're good there!

@cthulu

Loved your character! The details in the biography - dark as sin - was enjoyable to read! Your character is fine as is.

@Roman07

You may certainly join us! From what I can see from your character thus far, he'll make a fine addition indeed. I'm anxious to read the bio whenever you can get that up!

---

Everyone is considered accepted so far. I don't really have a cap for this, but when we begin, that'll be our cut off new people lest we're still relatively early on or a sensible point for them to jump in occurs.

I will be updating the initial thread with a map, how the combat within this will work (heavily inspired from another group rp I'm currently in), and setting descriptions of each stage we'll be in.

Hang in there folks; we're almost ready!

@Anima: Was wondering what happened. Figured my CS was so objectionable you just didn't bother answering :p I look forward to hearing back from you.

@Roman07: As a HEMA participant, I can't help but note that your characters weapon as shown in that image is quite literally impossible to ever remove from it's sheathe. Back scabbards are a real pet peeve, since you're more likely to injure yourself than successfully draw your weapon. With a sword that sized, though, we get to simply amusing levels.

Although, allegedly the Buster sword is back mounted...Figure out how THAT works.

Naw, I intended for him to be a middle-aged fellow. ^^ Lived before, through, and after the war. Leaves lots of interesting things to learn over time, yeah~?

@Anima. Thanks I took a lot of the 'rats' treatment from old Victorian England where children were used to fix industrial machines for pittance return. It was a dark time and thought it would fit in well here, glad I was right. :)

I like this group and we haven't even started the ic yet. I'm so excited. And I apologize in advance if my ic posts are only one or two paragraphs long.

Oh! Albireo. I have a solution to that.

A lesser known invention of some excellent use. Exceedingly simple, but it allows massive weapons to be carried on the back- Something that actually makes sense, given that they would drag on the ground if worn at the hip. Many sheathes for blades that size were actually only partial sheathes. The lip still locked into the chappe to keep it in place, but for about half of the sheathe's length there was no outer edge, meaning you could pull the sword -part- way out and then simply pull it from the side, no need to draw it out the entire length and break the laws of how long arms are. It was fairly popular for bastard swords and greatswords, due to their general blade length. Admittedly, this also meant extra maintenance on the blade and sheath due to them being partially open to the elements compared to full sheathes, but it still made larger weapons easier to draw.

Or, you could...you know. Wear them on your belt. Most war blades actually didn't have sheathes, since you would only use them so rarely, and wither have to immediately repair them afterwards anyways or...be beyond such concerns.

But yes, I know such things are possible, they're just wildly impractical. Even your example is still clumsy as hell, as the main issue is that drawing from your back is difficult and time consuming, things that are not exactly ideal in situations where you need to quickly procure a weapon.

Although the Ottomans had a neat workaround. Spring-loaded sheathes. Though that was, in part, due to their blades being so curved, but still a neat way to back draw. Probably even more dangerous though. This IS the same culture that had invented the whip sword, after all...

@Anima So...Should I be worried that I haven't heard from you yet or...?

*Shrug* Didn't say it was practical. Just doable. Personally I'll stick to a nice simple shortsword and parrying dagger at the belt.

Sry guys I'm back. Had a little minor internet issue but its all fixed now. The long ass sword was bugging me too so I'm tweaking things a bit. I'll have a full cs up shortly :)