## Destiny of Man *Twinkle, twinkle, little star* *Everything ends, that is the curse upon which our foundations have been built upon. Man does not need to look far to witness these concepts; he just needs to look upon our own dying world to witness it. Like any blazing flame of brilliance it too sputtered out into nothing more than drifting ashes. So we looked to the stars for our salvation. And for a time it would seem that we had found it. The universe outside of our own blue marble was bountiful and filled with resources ripe for the taking. And yet it seemed as if we were not the only ones drifting through the cosmos. We found ruins and relics of civilizations long dead and reduced to memories of distant worlds, we were not the first in this grand cycle of inheritance but we strove to be the last. We colonized planets and started grand intergalactic empires that spanned the stars.* *But for some the void of space still lingered in the back of their minds. The vast darkness stretching for eternity in every direction. It beckons those that notice it. And ever so suddenly the trance is broken and without traceable origins, you'll realize things are not how you perceive them. For some reason, the familiarity of your own begin shall become alien and corrupt. You'll start to see subtle shifts in the darkness, shifts in yourself. But then you'll see that it's always been shifting like a grand ocean, dark and bottomless like the void. But you won't understand why the curtain got pulled back, you will not remember a time before you saw the cracks in reality.* *Your old ways won't protect you anymore, old comforts as useless as wet paper. You'll discover that you no longer trust the soft glimmers of light that you once took for granted. Faces familiar and kind will seem sinister, darker, much darker. The familiar space that you have known will feel eons long, the shadows that lurked behind every closed door and winding corner becoming much more pronounced. The call of the void pulling you towards it every time you look out a view port or look up at the sky at night. You used to look up in your tender naivety and be able to focus on the stars. Now... every time you look up all you can see is the emptiness between the lines, watching the darkness for hours upon end. Thinking in some vain attempt that watching it will stop it from progressing, that you are keeping the void from swallowing everything you love. It will get so bad that you'll be afraid to look away, you'll be afraid to sleep at night.* *This is when you'll decided that the best way to progress is by seeking out these cracks. You'll want to pull back the curtain to see the wizard that has been haunting you. But this only lets the void beckon you even stronger. Every insurance you've ever felt protected you will fall apart by your own hands. You'll be hopeless to watch as every denial you have is broken, every little horror is found in reality. Nowhere you go will you be able to find somewhere where it is not in your head. You only have so much resolve and that resolve breaks in time, but fight you will still try. Eventually though you will look away from the darkness, and when you do you have already lost. The thing you dread the most will already be behind you, waiting for you to turn around. Waiting for you to face the monster, to face yourself.* *And then the screaming starts.* ~ *Note found written in a journal on the Space Station Providence* *Providence*, a asteroid mining complex turned civilian space station went dark three days ago. Communications disturbances are common with the Station being at the edge of Systems Alliance space. But the continued lack of communication has brought concern to the Alliance Navy. Stories of far reaching colony worlds vanishing have been ingrained in the mind of humanity, but those were just stories. In any event the Alliance Navy has decided to send a reconnaissance team out to the sector to determine the cause of the issue. You somehow manged to annoy the right person to be sent on such a backwater mission at the edge of colonized space. Little did you know of the horror aboard *Providence*, a horror you would soon become very familiar with. ### The Setting The year is 2611, five hundred years after humanity discovered the ruins of an ancient civilization on one of Saturn's Moons, Rhea. The Technology found in the ruins allowed for many scientific developments to be forged from the flame of discovery. The most important discovery of all was that of Grand Propulsion Drives or GPDs which allowed for installer traveler across the stars. This Faster than Light travel would become the basis for the start of the age of Galactic Expansion. We ventured out into the depths of space to find more resources, to find more planets to colonize as our own home system was becoming more and more overpopulated by the day. Though ruins such as those found of Rhea would be the only sign of other intelligent life in the Galaxy. The Galaxy was bountiful and filled with a myriad of creatures varied as they were on Earth, but none had seemed to have reached Sentience except for ourselves. Though this fact bothered some, nothing of real consequence was brought to mind because of it as Humanity had enough trouble dealing with itself another species would just complicate matters even more. The Earth Systems Alliance was created in the first span of one hundred years following the discovery of GPD technology. The Alliance is the single unifying force in a Galaxy with hundred of thousands of minor governments that run their own respective planets. Each colonized system has an Alliance outpost to keep watch, collect taxes, and general prevent war from breaking out. Representatives from the colonizes can complain to the Alliance Council: a council composed of elected officials from some of the most prominent worlds with the Speaker of the Council always being from Earth as per tradition. Under the role of the Alliance a general sense of prosperity and peace is found especially in the core worlds close to Earth. Though the further from Earth they go, the more unrest builds. Sometimes these pockets of unrest boil over such as in 2601 when a secessionist movement at the Outer Edge of colonized space declared war upon the systems alliance. What followed was nine long years of conflict in the Outer Edge colonies. The Outer Edge already being filled with outlaws, raiders and pirates had become severally crippled as a result of the war, their infrastructure and general ways of life had been shattered by the fighting. Because of this when Providence conveniently located in Outer Edge went dark, the Alliance did not respond with much haste. Old jamming satellites and the occasional EMP mine floating through space would still occasionally be tripped, these leftovers from the war would occasionally knock out communications with Alliance High Command. And so days later when they finally deiced to send just a reconnaissance team, they being woefully uniformed, underestimated the problem, if they had known they would have sent a fleet or maybe just have blown the station to little pieces. ### Providence Providence is what happens when surveyors find a mineral rich asteroid out in the Edge. Asteroid mining complexes as they are have a habit of becoming like coral reefs supporting entire ecosystems around it. Mining, shipping, and credit-chasing entrepreneurs all flocked towards the site wanting to stake a claim, following close behind were the smugglers and pirates. As more and more people came in during the rush, more and more building quarters were constructed on the hulk made from the materials that were mined there. Slowly but surely the civilian population became just as important to the thriving little community, as haphazard city streets were formed and large jutting towers were created, pilling atop of one another in stacks and pillars. Life was created on the rock, a land of opportunity and secretes, a so called heart of evil in the Edge. Because of its close proximity to colonized space, the Alliance has only a small presence in the complex. Alliance Navy Observation Post #6434 being a small dingy office in the cavernous dark streets that is searching for radio signals in the void that is deep space. Due to these circumstances, Providence is a hub of narcotics, illegal augmentations, slavery, and a mixture of other less than legal past times. No one person holds control of the station, with it being sort of a conglomerate of warlords, merchants, and wheeler and dealers holding small pockets of influence that change by the day. The populace holds hatred towards the Alliance with a significant part of the 5.6 million souls that live on the station being refugees from the war with the secessionists. And now 5.6 million people have gone silent, not even a squeak coming out of the station. This is why you are going in. You are going to venture deep into the hot, humid, cramped corridors that make up Providence, you will claim into the belly of the beast to find what has occurred there. Have Fun! ### The Sanity Game Here is where I'm going to discuss in simplicity the Sanity Meter. So at the start of the RP you are going to have an upper limit of 200. This number may change depending on your character and their own personality and background with the number being higher or lower respectively. For example a veteran soldier you has seen years of active combat may have a starting sanity of 200, while a civilian attached to the squad or a fresh recruit may have a lower sanity of maybe 180. These numbers of course are tentative and will also be effected by your background and if you have had any mentally unhinging experience before. But anyway the Sanity meter works rather simply. Bad and generally unnerving things that happen will of course mess with your head and will lower this number. If you do something good like helping somebody or making it out of a dangerous situation alive the number will go up. Not losing your marbles is generally a good idea, but maybe you have to be a little unhinged to really see the truth of what is going on? At the start of each round of posts, I will start with a status update which will list your character's name and their current sanity number with a + or - next to indicating if it has gone up or down from the last round, with a number next to that show how much it has gone up or down exactly. Example First Round Joe Smith - 200/200 Hallie Smith- 190/200 Second Round Joe Smith- 190/200 -10 Hallie Smith - 200/200 +10 Got it? Good! ### The Rules - All Guild Rules Apply - OP Is Bad - No Drama - Keep it civilized folks - Romance in the horrible death station? Sure! But be warned get too frisky and the crazy man with the axe and the hockey mask will find you and kill you - Listen to the GM - Do not try and start a rebellion against the GM - Have Fun! ### Character Sheet Template - Appearance: (Picture) - Name: - Age: - Gender: - Appearance: (Description, you do not need both. So pick whatever one you are comfortable with and just delete the other unused Appearance) - Specialty: (Why are you on the team begin sent in?) - Starting Sanity: (Leave this blank, after you make the character the GM will tell you this number after reviewing your sheet and asking for your input.) - Psychological Record: (To keep this nice and short you can just list them. Three Positive traits and Two Negative ones) - Background: - Equipment: - Other:

Okay, so, quick question, since I haven't done any rps outside of PMs since they redid everything. Do we post our characters OOC or in the characters tab?

> Okay, so, quick question, since I haven't done any rps outside of PMs since they redid everything. Do we post our characters OOC or in the characters tab? Post them here first in the OCC, and after I approve it then you post it to the Character Tab. Don't worry everyone has been trying to figure the new format out. Gonna take some time of course, but at least everything is going to be nice and stable.

> > Okay, so, quick question, since I haven't done any rps outside of PMs since they redid everything. Do we post our characters OOC or in the characters tab? > > Post them here first in the OCC, and after I approve it then you post it to the Character Tab. Don't worry everyone has been trying to figure the new format out. Gonna take some time of course, but at least everything is going to be nice and stable. Okay, just wanted to know what you wanted to do is all. Thanks bro. I'll have it up in a bit.

I'll reserve a character. Mine will be in the character tab for sure. Assuming it is approved.

Alright, alright, alright as they say in the business. I'm going to be slowly editing the first post, since I typed that out on my phone whose spell checker is the devil and "corrects" things without telling me. My CS should come up soonish once I'm done flushing out the lovely little details of your wonderful squad leader that totally won't usher you forward to death or anything. In the meantime, if anyone has a question about the lore or anything feel free to ask me here or through PM.

Kind of on the fence over joining at the moment - it depends whether another rp I'm interested in takes off. If it doesn't I'll check back in with you. Oh, and would it at all be possible to play as a non-human? An android or alien of some kind?

> Kind of on the fence over joining at the moment - it depends whether another rp I'm interested in takes off. If it doesn't I'll check back in with you. > Oh, and would it at all be possible to play as a non-human? An android or alien of some kind? Androids or cyborgs are totally game. Aliens sadly are not available to be played, mostly because they are all dead. No other sentient being can be found in the universe, only the ruins of their existence. This development and idea of humanity being seemingly the next in line of a long game of succession has been plaguing xenoarchaeologists for years, and may or may not be addressed in the story.

Nevermind.

Is this still accepting? You had me at Lovecraftian already, throwing in Dead Space really wasn't even necessary. I'd opt for a role as security person/officer tasked with keeping the investigation team safe.

**@Traitor**: You can throw up a CS if you so desire, more fodder for the inevitable meat grinder. XD **@Everyone Else**: Hey look character applications! Commentary shall be applied soon as well as sanity scores! Thank you all for your time and patience. After that is done, The IC should be up soon after that with the first draft already in the works.

**Appearance:**  **Name:** Skye Wynters **Age:** 28 **Gender:** Female **Specialty:** Military/Security Squad Leader **Starting Sanity:** **Psychological Record:** -**Positive Traits:** Reliable, dedicated, professional -**Negative Traits:** Patronizing, insensitive, coldhearted **Background:** Skye successfully filled the shoes of her father, who was a military officer of the alliance. She fought valiantly for almost the entire duration of the Outer Edge war, refusing to be suspended long past her official period of service. An overall stable and composed psychological profile coupled with her talent to lead and survive turned her into a respected veteran that her superiors just couldn't withdraw even if it meant violating a protocol or two. While she's not exactly exemplary as a flawless leader, soldiers reported about her motivating competence and presence that carried more than a handfull of squads safely through highly hazardous territory. After the last battles were fought, she was mostly used for escort missions through pirate-ridden pockets of space. Though she's not a bloodthirsty murderer by any stretch of the imagination, her old battle scars still burned with the urge to keep fighting, and this was as good as it gets. At least it kept her senses keen. She volunteered for the ride to Providence much to the dismay of her commanding officer, but she of all the people available to lead that expedition probably had the best chances to return unscathed. **Equipment:** A flexible _combat suit_ (O2-mask not seen in the picture), offering just the right amount of protection while not impeding movement. Standard issue _energy rifle_ with custom modifications to shoot three different kinds of ammunition: purely plasma-based and physical projectiles as well as non-lethal kinetic pulses, according to situation. A _modified power glove_ to compensate for the major disadvantage of her favored weapon - excessive heat emitted by the rifles plasma cells - that has further uses, such as semi-remote access to virtual interfaces like non-encrypted doors, lifts and station systems. Very robust and hydraulically enhanced, can be used to crush or hit things in a pinch. _Two standard issue plasma grenades_ that can purge a whole middle sized rooms interior with white hot liquid fire, from her time during the war. After carrying them around for more than a year they turned into sort of lucky charms. She sincerely hopes she'll never see the need to use them. _Two cans of standard issue, single use disinfectant, wound sealing spray_ to administer first aid if medical personnel is not immediately available. Standard regulation for squad leaders. _________________________________________________________________________ On an unrelated OOC note and directed at the sheet above mine, Four Eyes <3

While I'm waiting for our mutual friend to kick this sucker off, I will put a note that if my character seems too much, I will nerf or tone down.

Your mutual friend is sorry for his sudden absence, life kind of happened rather arbitrarily. Though, that has been settled and should not happen again. Anyway character reviews here we go. You guys don't need to type any of this your CS, if you don't want you can just answer my questions here or PM them to me. Anyway once these questions are addressed we will be ready to go. **@Drake** Okay, the I like the start and the idea works. But before I'm going to accept it I just need you to expand on her history a little bit more. The concept as a mercenary during the war works and I like it but I'm going to need some background on how she got experience with the power systems maybe a little bit about her work during the war, what she was doing exactly, maybe a little about her life on the outer edge as well life is hard out there and you know government has no time to deal with people out there. **@agentmanatee** Hacker, that will be interesting. Getting his skills from working on farm tech is considerably kind of an odd way to go about it but it could work. Though to break into Alliance systems at fifteen would make him more or less a child prodigy. If that is the case well the Alliance mility sector would of just ripped him from his family there and then to _"integrate"_ him into the system, rather then send him to prison. Intergrating being more of a more fabulous case of brainwashing then anything else. 18 might work. The loose cannon, hating authority thing is fine but just be known that while he might of gotten away with flaunting his mouth before people in the squad may not like that and consequences may arise because of this. **@Ubermensch** Your good so far, though I might like a little bit more on his background before he joined the Alliance. **@ShiningSector** You have the same issue as Ubermensch basically what was his life like before he joined the Alliance. Everyone has a past. **@DAWNSTAR** You are all good! Formatting is pleasing, background is just long enough to get the general idea of where she comes from and where she is going. Because Mika has shown symptoms of PTSD in the past but has at least attempted to receive treatment... starting sanity is at 160 higher than an average citizen but lower than the will of an iron veteran. **@Traitor** The one question I have for you is how was Skye's relationship with her father? Anyway experienced leader, determined, saw active combat, experienced with death. I'm going to put you up at 200/200 Sanity. This probably won't last XD.

> **@Drake** > > Okay, the I like the start and the idea works. But before I'm going to accept it I just need you to expand on her history a little bit more. The concept as a mercenary during the war works and I like it but I'm going to need some background on how she got experience with the power systems maybe a little bit about her work during the war, what she was doing exactly, maybe a little about her life on the outer edge as well life is hard out there and you know government has no time to deal with people out there. I'll take care of it soon as I can. Edit: Excuse me while I go write a three page back story with a bunch of irrelevant information, because I'll probably start story ranting.