Build No House

Life is a bridge. Cross over it, but build no house on it.
~ Indian Proverb

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Story

The year is 2030 in the behemoth of the Greater Tokyo Exclusion Zone, still recovering from the aftermath of Lost Saturday. Ten years ago complete devastation was brought down upon the Greater Tokyo Area during the closing ceremonies of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics by a mysterious terrorist group. Biological agent Novichok-13 was released inside the National Olympic Stadium and a series of IED explosives were set off throughout the Greater Tokyo Area in high population centers. In the aftermath of these tragic events, the Japaneses Government passed Order 982-A1 otherwise known by its full name. The Nine Hundred and Eighty Second Order of Proclamation, To Fully Honor The Wishes of The Japanese People and His Imperial Majesty To Protect and Maintain Peace. The order effectively restricted all domestic and international travel into the region until peace could be restored and the culprits caught.

It has been ten years since the Exclusion Order was passed and not much is heard from within the Zone these days. Within the first year of the incident, the military barrier set up by personal of the JSDF was replaced with what is known as the Greater Kanto Wall, a heavily fortified structure that surrounds the perimeter of the zone at a staggering 1 kilometer in height. The Japanese government officially was relocated to Nagoya and the Imperial Family was temporally located to Suzaki Imperial Villa. Officially all government actions within the Zone are handled by The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) itself being founded soon after the incident of Lost Saturday to deal with increasing terrorist threats on a much grander scale. Despite international pressure to release the tourists and expats within the Zone the Japanese government refuses to lift the Zone due to matters of "international security".

This story takes place within the Zone. It follows a group of young adolescents (13-18 years of age) who live within the Zone. They were "recruited " at a young age by MPS to serve as part of Operation: Shisa. Shisa is an ongoing operation started soon after the events of Lost Saturday to find individuals with "gifts" and to coerce them into service of the MPS to hunt after individuals with similar gifts who were rumored to have caused Lost Saturday. Gifts that arose after Lost Saturday in some individuals as a side effect to exposure to particles released by Novichok-13. In short they are taking children and forcing them to serve as hunters of terrorists and other individuals that threaten to destabilize the zone.

In this sick game of cat and mouse these adolescents do not have the virtue of being able to "pick sides". To insure compliance MPS holds a very strict policy of retribution. Having cardiovascular bombs implanted into them, failure will always result in death. This death does not just stretch to the agents but it also stretches to the agents family, friends, and anyone that ever even smiled at them. An agent failure to follow through with there orders will also be sending these people to the executioners block as MPS kill teams are on standby at all teams waiting for the kill order. With all words and actions closely monitored by MPS at all times, the line between life and death is a slippery slope.

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Terminology

• Zoners: Zoners is the collective catch all term for denizens of the Zones to refer to one another as a group. Since it has seemed the rest of the world has given up on them, nationalities don't matter any more everyone is a member of the zone.
• Hounds: The name given to the run of the mill officers of the MPS. The name comes from the wolf like insignia that is emblazoned on there uniforms. Used by regular Zoners as a derogatory term, not to be used in front of the MPS.
• T-Papers: Short for Regulatory Transit and Travel Papers. These were issued around the same time that the Greater Kanto Wall was finished, they allow for Zoners to travel between the MPS checkpoints that split up the sectors within the Zone.
• LSP: The Lost Saturday Pathogen, a disease that spreads among the more unsavory parts of the Zone
  it is a lymphatic disease that is believed to be caused by run off exposure to remnants of Novichok-13. It is mostly commonly contracted by scavenges that dare to travel into the "red zones" close to the National Olympic Stadium.
  

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  Technology
  
  The Technological level is similar to that of something seen in Ghost In The Shell, Neuromancer, or Deus Ex Human Revolutions. Cybernetic augmentations are a thing that happened and have changed peoples live sometimes for better and sometimes for worse, robots are considerably more advance, though Zoners are running mostly on 10 year old tech at this point considerably less advance then some stuff that the MPS will bring out.
  

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Denouement

Have you ever looked to the sky and wondered about the future? Do you enjoy the literature of William Gibson? Did the original Ghost In The Shell or maybe Mardock Scarmble get you thinking? Do you like dystopian futures with violent aesthetics that also take the time to pull back and minute and just think? Are you really excited about Under The Dog and also kind of disappointed considering it may never come? If you answered yes to any or all of these things then Build No House may be the Roleplay you are looking for. I welcome you to look around, maybe take a seat and say hi. If you have any questions feel free to ask them about the world or anything like that and I will try my best to help you. :)

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Build No House Character Template

Name: ( Pretty Self Explanatory Your character's name.)
Age: (Your character's age once again between ages of 13-18)
Gender: (Are you a dude or a ladydude?)
Height: (Your character's height)
Weight: (Your character's weight)
Blood Type: (Is this important? Well actually yes it is.)
Birthday: (And when was your character brought into this lovely world?)

Psychological Record: (If you want to be simple about it you can call it your character's personality.But I view it as a little something more, I want to know what makes them tick, what drives them forward? Length is to your digression all I want to make sure is you have a basic understand of your character.)

History: (Where does your character come from, are they native to area? Or were they originally tourists there to watch the Olympic Games and then caught up in the mess that followed? How's there life been since then, what were their plans for the future before the MPS came? When did the MPS come? You know all that good history stuff. Once again as long or as short as you desire just make sure you have a solid foundation to work off of.)

Gift: (Your character did'nt get recruited because they have a pretty face. They all have gifts. Powers if you want to kill them that. Single individual curiosity that make them different from the regular populace. This is'nt anything crazy like being able to cast fireballs but more subtle and very precise in what it can do. For example the ability see bullet trajectories, or the ability so naturally see in the dark. These children are not super heroes nor wizards, they are just a little bit special.)

Skills: (What else are they good at? Shooting people, demolitions, recon, really good at making dogs with Papier-mâché?)

Augmentations: (Mechanical augmentations if any that your character's has gotten over the years. Anything from robotic legs and arms to cybernetic eyes and neural implants. Most of these would not be willing and instead forced on them by the MPS.)

Weapons: (What do they use to stab and shoot people?)

Equipment: (important items will be placed here. Things of sentimental value or that just don't classify as a weapon.)

Other: (Anything else you feel may be needed)

So our characters would all be members of Operation Shisa? Where's the motivation, beyond not dying, if they're so heavily monitored and quickly discarded I'm not sure how it'd be interesting to play.

So our characters would all be members of Operation Shisa? Where's the motivation, beyond not dying, if they're so heavily monitored and quickly discarded I'm not sure how it'd be interesting to play.

Quickly discarded wouldn't be necessarily how it would be described. More often the idea of death is dangled above their much in the same way you dangle a treat in front of an animal to make it move, encouragement. Actually deaths these ways are few and far between because how much money and resources the MPS throws at Opreation Shisa in the first place. Killing one of the kids is essentially throwing away millions, they will do it if the kids do something really stupid or question orders but its not like they are itching to fire off the trigger. While yes this may seem constricting but that is partly the point, the idea of this RP is not to see what happens when you are given freedom but to see the opposite when you are backed into the corner and forced to hunt and killed because if not terrible, terrible things happen. Do you keel over and accept it or do you bash and gnash like a rabid dog egging them to put you down?

And to answer motivation comes in other ways dreams of Freedom, and the ability to live a normal life. That maybe if they can catch whoever caused the events that started this all that they can be let go, that the MPS won't need them anymore. And there is also a plot with intrigue that will be pulled apart in front of you, as plans fall apart as corruption becomes apparent and as always things are not plainly black and white. I hope this story, the story of your characters, the story of their interactions with one another and story of this world all working in tandem provide enough motivation. These kids may be backed into the corner with no way forward and no way out but it doesn't mean that they still don't have control of what lies ahead. But I understand why some people would be put off by this idea. That's why I'm throwing it out here to see if anybody is willing to bite.

I guess I'll be keeping an eye on this.

There's no harm in voicing interest, suppose I'll see if this takes off.

>GitS

>UNDER THE FUCKING DOG

I AM ALL OVER THIS LIKE FLIES ON SHIT RIGHT NOW.

This idea is really intriguing...
And I freaking love Ghost in the Shell

Unfortunately, with my erratic posting schedule due to real life dramas, I don't think I'll be able to keep up with group RPs. Don't want to be responsible for dragging down the progress, or be left behind by fast-paced rpers.

What a coincidence, I really do like dystopian futures with violent aesthetics! Suppose I've got to do some catching up with GitS to understand the setting better, but consider my interest sparked.

Same deal for me. I love the setting, but it's not coming clearly to me right now. I'm interested, but lemme see if I can get a creative spark.

Question(s). How superhuman are people with augmentations (I recall Major Kusanagi and Adam Jensen having at least something resembling bullet time on a couple of occasions) and would a railgun or a EM pulse rifle be more appropriate for the setting?

Alright I have returned from the abyss (and abyss I mean work) and now it is time to answer some questions! And we have just about five people know which is pretty good. OCC will most likely be arriving sometime tomorrow if all goes according to plan, since I'm just going to give this another day to fester just in case any latecomers want to jump on the fun train.

@Damiann47
Of course there is no harm! I don't bite....well hopefully I don't bite!

@tsukune
Aww I'm sad to hear that. If your schedule ever clears up and where hopefully still here you can join then! Or if you want we could probably figure out a character that could be very low maintenance so if you have to vanish. Somebody like a handler.. I don't maybe like Masako does in Evangelion feeding them tactical information and stuff. Or not really your choice I just felt like I should at least try and give you some options. :)

@Traitor
You don't really need a good understanding of GitS that much though it will help with the thematic and I guess a technological level. Though if you do want to go down that route may I recommend instead of watching all of Stand Alone Complex which may take awhile for you to instead watch The Movie where I take most of the influences from. That is a link to watch if for free from Hulu (so if you are american I believe you should be fine)
@Spoo
Alright that is totally fair you can brainstorm away! If you need a sounding board for your creative spark we are all hopefully helpful people and we all have lighter fluid!

@Turboshitter
Indeed, Indeed all teh hype.

And in regards to your question about how superhuman the people with augmentations are? Well that depends really on the augmentation and the amount of them. But if somebody let us say goes full robot cobot will they be harder to kill than a normal human? The answer would be yes but do character's like Jensen and the Major still get shot and occasionally messed up pretty badly? The answer to that is also yes. So while augmentations could hypothetically make you a walking tank, it doesn't make you invincible not by a long shot. They can give you all the latest equipment and gear but if you don't have the skill or the ability to learn how to control them and master your body all over again they are pretty useless. Augemntations wise they do all the normal things that you expect from cybernetics augmentations like they can make you jump higher, run faster and longer, see farther and hell even have elbow swords if you want it is really limited only to your imagination and of course GM scrutiny to make sure nothing is too OP.

Railguns and EMP pulse rifles you say well yes they do exist. Railguns are still fairly experimental at least at a trooper level though as they figure out how to compensate powersupply and you know not having the barrel be warped by every shot. So right now they are pretty big at about 140.6 centimetres in length, they pack one hell of a recoil and are single shot because you need to wait for the barrel to cool down before you fire agian or else the whole thing will get warped and become useless. And EMP pulse rifles do also exist but also Pulsed energy projectiles exist if you are looking for a nonlethal option for more organic foes.

Awesome. I think I'll actually have a computer to use tonight so I can try to put together a CS.