In 2041 the world held its breath as the by then anemic ocean currents faltered and died, the water too hot for it to sink at the poles as it had done since before the dinosaurs. Earth's waters stood still, the vast ocean conveyor now a thing of the past as one of the cornerstones of life on Earth died not with a bang, but a whimper.

It was a whimper that would be felt throughout the world. 

Algae bloomed uncontrolled in the warm oceans, choking out what lived below as they churned out toxins. The scientists looked at the data, the leaders looked at the data, the average person looked at the data, the world looked at the data- the data didn't paint a pretty picture. 

The oceans were a stagnant graveyard, nothing lived, save some archaea and other resilient microorganisms. And the algae. The algal blooms smothered everything, plenty of freshwater lakes and rivers were just as clean as they would normally be, it was a comforting drop in the bucket, but a drop in the bucket nonetheless.

Many thought it couldn't get worse, that surely things would soon right themselves and the world would learn a valuable lesson- speaking of dinosaurs...

Ma' always said nature has a way of restoring balance, if humans tampered with things too much, the planet would kill us off like so many flies under a swatter. 

And so nature did. The toxins in the ocean began to leach into the atmosphere, soon permeating all of the lower layer in a blanket of gaseous death. Billions died choking on the breath they held once the snowball had began rolling, it ran out all too quickly. Some had prepared themselves, and took longer to die. Many killed themselves, unwilling to suffocate in their own atmosphere. The cities of humanity became eerie mausoleums. Great tomb of concrete and steel, ominous and foreboding, they were all that seemed to remain of human kind’s accomplishments.

But there were survivors, like the flies, humanity is stubborn, and not easy to kill completely. Billions may die, and yet some will survive.

Well before the apocalypse, alert minds saw what was coming and sought to prevent it. They approached wealthy nations and cities with plans for great domes and life support system to cover large swaths of land, primarily city, and spare the inhabitants from meeting an untimely demise. Many laughed outright, even more scoffed in disdain, and even more raised objections about the cost. Only a handful of cities around the world accepted, and work began almost immediately. The domes were a marvel of engineering, and the engineers themselves felt proud of their work, much as they hoped it would never be needed. 

When the poison leeched from the waters and into the air, these cities sealed down, locking out the world around as it sputtered and died. Civilization lived on in these enclaves of life and humanity, beacons in a world where the very air is poison.
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Welcome to 2057, the apocalypse, as you can see, there is a distinct lack of zombies. Now, don’t forget your gas mask…

[hider=More Information About the World- Will Expand as Time Goes By]
The RP will start out near the dome built over most of Dallas, Texas
The inhabitants of the cities comprised largely of the wealthy from other parts, and the populace that just happened to already live there. 
And as the section above ground tends to have trees and decent spacing between living spaces, that's generally where the descendants of those rich people and some middle class tend to live, with the majority living underground in conditions not unlike a Vault from fallout, just fewer G.O.A.T.s and vault suits.
Standard hazmat suit you'd see people from a domed city wearing looks like a combination of [url=http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100823084013/stalker/images/e/e0/Bulat_Front.jpg]this[/url] and a demron suit like [url=http://www.radshield.com/uploads/abouts/Dan-Jen-0002-2.jpg]this[/url].
This is the future after all, technology has advanced considerably. If you want a general idea of the tech level, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a good approximation, with some technology (augmentations, weapons, life support systems, shielding from radiation and other hazards, etc) being more developed than others (the immune system is still poorly understood, and there isn’t a cure for HIV). If you don’t want to bolt mechanical limbs to your body, something like the HULC exoskeleton is a perfectly viable alternative for carrying heavy loads. A good example of the average pistol would be the pistol from DX:HR, with a caliber such as 10mm being better for penetrating a hazmat suit in a close engagement than other options. Be creative, worst case scenario is I say “Unfortunately, we don’t have lightsabers.” (though I won’t deny lightsabers are cool)

As far as known Domed Cities, they are as follows
One in Russia, four or five in the US, two in Germany, one in Switzerland, two in China, one in Japan, one in Canada, the Scandinavian countries actually banded together and made a city entirely underground- like a vault, but with a dome for some limited aboveground facilities- nobody is sure why and they don't talk to anybody
The Saudi oil princes and such have one, it's smaller and more luxurious
And while it isn't confirmed, everyone thinks Israel had one, because well, Israel

Beware acid rain from accumulated pollutants and atmosphere toxins.

While the thematic introduction gives the general rundown on what happened, some more details are that the algae mutated in response to industrial runoff, and became a tenacious and pernicious presence, with attempts to kill it failing miserably.

To get into the city post-doomsday requires significant effort, such as retrieving something valuable or vital to the city’s function, and passing several contaminant tests.

That’s all that comes to mind for the moment, anything else that occurs to me/any of you ask I will answer in this section.
[/hider]

 [hider=Rules:]

1: [b]No god-modding.[/b]
Sure, you can be a cyborg with subdermal armor and a giant gun, but you aren't invincible. If you survive that anti material rifle you had better have a damn good reason. There is no plot armor here, we have plot armor penetrating bullets in the future. The big damn heroes had better have a damn plan.

2: [b]Minimum post length/frequency[/b]
While I don’t expect a whole novel each time you post, and would in fact prefer not, at least a paragraph or two is required. As far as frequency, you should be able to make at least one post per week.

3: [b]Meta-gaming: Not even once[/b]
Say no to meta-gaming, if the shady guy in the underground store sells the scavenger with the big shotgun a suspicious thing, the guy with the funny hat who was nowhere near does not know about it unless he bugged the scavenger somehow.

4: [b]The war on hijacking character actions[/b]
The guy with the funny hat cannot write up a one sided curb stomp battle against the scavenger with the big shotgun without the express permission of said scavenger’s player. Preferably their respective players open a google doc or something along those lines and collaborate on a post.

5: [b]A lady has her standards[/b]
Which means, if you can’t at least put the commas and periods where they need to go more often than not, there will be issues, and I will be unhappy.

6: [b]Single file line, please[/b]
This will be loosely turn based, so please wait your turn, if you want a lot of character interaction (and don’t want to figure out how to write a paragraph to tell us how the guy in the funny hat sneezed extra loudly and fell back asleep) then do a co-op post.

7: [b]Rated M for More Rules[/b]
This time it’s about maturity, and not in the sense of not having a hissy fit if something doesn’t go the way you want, though that’d be appreciated too. As much as I love to see exploding heads as the next person, please keep the gore toned down. If you want to talk about how the rotting body looked hideous, that’s fine, just don’t write in detail the way his disemboweled innards are bloating. And as far as the sexier brand of mature content, kissing, hugging, etc, that’s all fine. However, if you’d like to do the sideways tango, write in a fade to black, and take it to the PMs or somewhere else if you feel the need.

8: [b]Don’t do douchey deeds[/b]
Self explanatory. Please let’s all act like we can compose ourselves and talk reasonably if there’s an argument. I know it’s fun to scream at people, but doing so just makes you unliked and look like a complete asshole.

9: [b]I can kill with just my edginess... [/b]
Character development, please. You are not a half demon half dragon half wombat immortal warrior dude, and you are not perfection. Please play humans, relatively believable ones.
[/hider]

Now that the boring stuff is out of the way, let's get to the character sheet. 

[hider=Character Sheet]
[b]Name:[/b] Obvious, are you a Larry? Or maybe a Bob? Perhaps a Joe…?

[b]Sex:[/b] Let’s see… are you a boy, or a girl?

[b]Age:[/b] Not one thousand million bajillion, please

[b]Appearance:[/b] So... is that color natural? Or do you dye it? Describe what you look like, that scar on your lip, the way your eyes look like they could scratch diamonds, or how you have giant boobs, if you really want (that'll cost ya, trying to fit in the hazmat suit). 

[b]Skills:[/b] What’cha good at? Maybe you can just about perform open heart surgery with household items? Or perhaps you can kill a target from a mile with a single shot from that big rifle of yours? Perhaps you’re so damn nimble and athletic that you don’t need a ladder, all you need is a bale of hay and a high place? (Note: bales of hay may be hard to find)

[b]Traits:[/b] Perhaps you’re freakishly strong, but fine manipulation of objects comes a bit difficult for you? Maybe you’re cybernetically augmented, sure, but that comes at a price, those things require maintenance and you need to eat more, after all. 

[b]Personality: [/b] Are you a sweetie pie? Or a cold bitch? Maybe you really, really, really, really, really love puppies, and other animals? (Note: puppies may be hard to find also) Or you could be a tech geek, far more content to fiddle with your devices and gadgets than talk with those people things, why do they talk anyway? Electronic data transmission is so much faster. Mayhap you’re a pacifist?

[b]Backstory:[/b] Regale us with your backstory, tragic element optional. You should be able to point to your backstory and say “Larry does X because of Y in his past.”

[b]Equipment:[/b] What kind of gear are you packing? A gas mask and hazmat suit are a bare minimum for a brief excursion, and an environmentally sealed tent is a necessity for longer trips. You want your weapons, simply because not everything is dead, and there are other people out there. A surprising amount of people manage to live outside the cities, most of them aren’t nice, especially if you’re from that city denying them entrance. You don’t need to painstakingly list the exact amount of nutrients contained in your food, but mentioning that you have food for X amount of time is a good thing.

[b]Other:[/b] Theme song, favorite food, why your armpits smell like strawberry jam, anything that doesn’t fit in with the main categories. 
[/hider]

And that’s it for now! If you have any questions about other things in the apocalypse or why something is the way it is, PM me, or better yet, post it in the OOC so everyone else can become enlightened as well. I will be expanding this with more detailed information on the apocalypse when some more time manifests itself in my presence.
I'll have my own character sheet up soon, and I hope to adventure through the apocalypse with you!

Current approved character sheets: 6/6 (GM herself will become the seventh player.)

Pending approvals for if anybody needs to drop out: 0/?