Beyond Humanity: Chaos Quarantine
Progress, advancement, evolution. These are concepts that have driven humanity forward through the ages. And even now, in our modern era, progress hasn’t slowed down in the least. Progress brings us prosperity. But now humanity has been offered a gift. A chance for humanity to go beyond itself; to become something more than human. We thrive on advancement, but how willing are we to advance ourselves? And will this gift truly bring us advancement… or will it lead our society to ruin?
It all started on the first of March, 2016. The city of London was thrown into confusion as the entire city was put into lockdown. Any and all exits out of London were completely obstructed by the country’s military. Any contact with the outside world was made impossible. The millions inside of the quarantine were given no explanation why they were caged in the grand city. To others was told that a dangerous virus was the cause. But no, in the city there was no plague, no pestilence. But as the first day proceeded towards dusk, the true reason quickly unfolded. The first humans awakened. One obtained the power to lift a car. Another manipulated fire with his will. And yet another found herself capable of transforming into a mighty beast. The more time passed, the larger these cases grew in number. They numbered in the thousands, their powers as varied as their goals. Thus concluded the prelude that plunged London into chaos.
You are one of many, awakened to your power that night. This power and how you use it is completely up to you. So what are you going to do? Will you use your powers to do everything you have wanted? To acquire anything your heart has ever desired? Will you fight those who would dare use their powers for evil? Will you seek the truth behind your powers? Do you want to achieve ultimate power or would you rather shun the chance you were given? Or maybe, nothing of the above interests you and you just want to escape this quarantine as it continues to plunge further into chaos?
Our story starts on March 2nd, not even a day past since the discovery of your powers. So what will you do? The options are many, varied. Some are noble, others are evil. As the city stays isolated and the new power players become present, will you join them or stay on your own? Will you make friends for life? Will you meet your mortal enemies? Will you find that one person you always dreamed of? ... Or will you find a gruesome death like many others?
The Chaos quarantine has begun, and you are a part of it.
London
London is one of the largest cities in Europe with a population of over eight and a half million people. The city spans an area of 1.583 square kilometres in total. Through the city runs the river Thames, the longest river of England. It is well known as one of the greenest cities of the world; about forty percent of the city is open water or green space. It has a substantial amount of beautiful parks.London is an old city, first established as a Roman settlement. As a result the city features buildings with architecturial styles of various ages. Only very few buildings give indication to its Roman roots, however, as a result of the London fire in 1666. The city also features a large metropolitan area, one of the largest financial centres in the world featuring the grey and tall environment you'd expect. The city has a varied demographic. The majority (~59%) is white. Around 20% is of Asian origin, 13% is black, 5% is mixed and about 1% is arab. As a result, the city also features a large variety in religions.
The quarantine did little to change these features. This means the city features a large environment with many different settings and people, all available for use in our story. The quarantine did, however, completely halt London's economy. All workplaces within the city are closed. Some privately owned establishments, such as bars or cafés, might still be open in an attempt to brighten the city, but these are rare. The military guards all exits and patrols the city regularly. They have used the majority of parks to set up encampments for the stranded. Here they also distribute food for whoever needs it. There is no public transport throughout the entire city. People can still use their cars, but there is no place to refuel, so these are used sparingly. The city still has power; it is rumoured the military is keeping the power plants running for now. There is no available internet within the city. Cell phones are unable to call or message any phone numbers not located in London.
Because of the recent discovery of superpowers, the majority of the city is in confusion. Powers are only found in approximately 1% of the entire population. Your powers are by no means unique, but they are rare enough to not find another superhuman on every street corner.
Throughout the days, the city will change. How it changes will depend a lot on your actions and how various plotlines develop as a consequence of those actions. It will depend on your involvement with various NPCs and factions (which will be slowly introduced during the RP), and the general feeling of safety that people have within the city.
Superhuman abilities and its users
All player characters discovered their powers sometime on the March 1st. The way you discovered it came through sudden realisation. Very simply speaking: You just simply knew you had them once they 'awakened'. It is the same as realising you have any other skill, and using it (if your ability needs to be actively used) comes as easily as moving your limbs. Doing anything advanced with your ability, however, is something that you will need to train yourself in and learn. To compare to something in real life: Even if you know how to move your limbs, that doesn't mean you can dance as well. Just because you know how you can do it, does not mean you can do everything skillfully.
At this point, no player character has any knowledge regarding how anyone has obtained these powers. As far as you can see, there is no clear common denominator between who obtains abilities and which abilities they obtained. Abilities are found in children, adults and elderly of both genders and all ethnicities. Some people say they even saw animals use these abilities, but these are rare accounts. As mentioned before, about 1% of everyone in London has some power or another. The variety and scope of these powers both vary immensely. There are a few with powers at a very insignificant level. A pyromancer who is only able to create and control very small amounts of fire or someone who may be able to only make himself shine with bright light. On the other end of the spectrum, there are a few with abilities that go far and beyond what most people can do without limits.
Most people, however, will have powers that are significant enough to be of use. Usually these powers fit within a specific niche. Such as "Can create and control fire" or "Can transform into a werebeast", just to name a few simple examples. This is also the group in which the player characters will start. You have one specific ability and you will be able to do it pretty well. Using your ability will use energy and tire you out. And more powerful abilities might be more limited by exhausting their user tremendously. Players are allowed to think up whatever power they want for their character. I will work with you to incorporate it into a proper power for this RP if I deem it too strong or too weak for a PC.
Naturally, there will be room for growth of your powers. Power growth can be achieved through various ways, but you have to figure them out yourselves. Who knows, there may be some people out there in the quarantine with more information?
Regardless of your power, all ability users are granted a basic level of superhuman resistance and a minor healing factor. The RP reason for this is that you will be able to survive some hits instead of dying instantly to whatever comes your way. The healing factor means that wounds that would take weeks to heal irl now heal within a day or two. I basically added this to allow all PCs to stay in the action. Although I haven't set an exact timeframe for the RP, by the nature of the setting it probably won't last a very long ingame time. (maybe a couple of weeks, at most) I don't want characters to be wounded and incapable of doing things for nearly half of the RP just because they wanted to have an exciting and close fight. Naturally, if either of these abilities are part of your character's one ability, they will be far stronger than this basic level.
Role play
The RP format I try to provide is a very free one. I provide you with a setting, the quarantined city of London, and within this setting I have established some major NPCs and through time some major factions will establish as well. What you do within this setting is up to you as a player. There are major plotlines which will develop themselves over time which are tied in to these major NPCs and factions. And you can choose to get involved or ignore these completely... which will of course lead to various different outcomes depending on what happens. As a group of players, you can work together... or you can not. Again, I will leave that up to you guys. I do plan to get every player character to at least know eachother, however, but I'm not forcing anyone to group up with the rest. Maybe everyone will do things on their own, maybe two or three distinct groups will form based on their ideas and goals? Up to you.
In other words, I'll basically be steering the world and the NPCs. Players are welcome to create their own locations and their own NPCs as long as these fit within the world. Players are allowed to control their own NPCs or can delegate control to me. Naturally, how you interact with an NPC is completely up to you. You can try to befriend them, make them your enemy, try to woo them, try to kill them... anything is allowed with any NPC, even the major ones that I introduce. Everything is allowed as long as it's in line with the rules of the forum (Mostly regarding mature content) and in line with how your character would behave.
Rules
Disclaimer:can be changed at any notice. I will post in the OOC if I do so.
1. All guild rules apply
2. Anything explicitly 18+ will be taken to PM
3. Please note us of any long periods of absence in the OOC
4. If you disagree with anything I or another player does, please let us know in the OOC or do it privately. But please be respectful and do not fight about it.
5. I do not expect the writing of a pro. Just try to keep a minimum of spelling/gramatical errors.
6. Try to post at least a paragraph, no one liners.
7. Just be respectful in general and have fun :)
Now that we have gone over everything. Here you have the character sheet.
Anyone is welcome to join! If you have any questions, please post them here as well or PM them to me.
