What a waste.
"Day #301
I've been out here for nearly a year now, and still the shit I see here scares me. When I started this expedition, it was me and twenty others. And now I'm all alone. I'm scared, scared of dying, scared of what will happen to my body. And scared of myself. Of what I've become. A monster. I killed my friends, out of anger, out of greed, and out of pleasure. I killed my own wife, the woman I've loved for five years, because I was paranoid.

I can still see their faces, hear their voices, they stare at me. Call to me. They want my soul. They want my head on a silver platter. And I can't blame them. I was a good man, a good, honest man. Now, I've turned into a foul creature. It's time for me to end it. To stop these voices once and for all. If anyone finds this, please know, I'm sorry.
*GUNSHOT*

End of recording."

Welcome to THE WASTES, an area where even the bravest and hardy of souls break and become monsters.

The story is set in the future, where a great cataclysm ended society as we know it. Nobody knows what happened or why, but at some point something went very wrong, and now what's left of humanity is scattered about.

The Wastes is a large expanse of ruins, deserts and bogs all thrown in together. The reasons people enter it are muxed, some want to find salvage, some stories, some loved ones, it's all up to whoever enters why they came, but one thing is certain. Everyone who enters, either comes out changed, or not at all.

Your character has entered the Wasts for their own reasons, and it's up to you if they survive. The story will be written as if it's all been cobbled together from audio recordings. Players would have to write oht their posts as if they are writting their own diaries, with posts being as long or short as they wish. Players may even start at any point they like, from when their charactrr enters the Wastes, to when their journey ends, one way or the other. You could start at the end and then work randomly, going to the middle and so on.

The only rule of this roleplay, aside from the ones that are mandatory for the site as well as no godmodding, is that they have some manner as to know what day or entry the post is, i.e day #89 or post #43, so as to know when abouts in the story it is.

Besides that it's uo to you what happens, the Wastes is kind of like a sandbox, create something or destroy something, the choice is yours.

Why do they "become monsters"? Is it just psychological torment, stress, and loneliness, or is there toxins/disease/mutations that cause it?

@TheUnknowable for story sake I'd say nobody really knew. But, the reason they turn mad is a mixture psychological torment and toxins in the air, water and soil that cause paranoia in some, extreme bursts of anger in others. What these toxins are is unknown

And some go mad at the mere sight of The Beast, a creature feared by monsters. It us unknown what it looks like, depending on who tells the story it is either very small, or very large with indisrinct features. There are even what seem like ghosts, but what really appear to be the last moments of someones life before they die a grizzly death.

Ok, I just wanted to know because it would affect how I wrote my person. I was thinking of a guy who wanted to create a settlement to try and rebuild society, but becomes paranoid and ends up thinking settlers are there to kill him/take his stuff/etc.

@TheUnknowable that sounds good to me, most people would be superstitious of the Waste, but your guy could just scoff at those ideas and pay for his hubris

Another thing I think would be interesting would be if people told the same day from their own point of view, as to say that what one person saw, another may have not see kind of thing.

You have my interest, that's for sure, although there is something I must ask.
Is The Wastes just an expansive area that surrounds small settlements/villages or cities even? Or would it be something different like a portion of the world map that's simply undiscovered?

You caught my interest and I second Kindos' question.

@Kindos it's a portion of the world map. People live on the very fringes of it, it covers most of Germany, parts of Belgium and bits of France. So it is a very large area

Okay, so society has build its home around the 'dead-zone'.
Thank you, that helps me understand how the world is laid out.

Well this is certainly interesting-not so much the setting as the premise for writing. Will there be any more information on the world in the OOC thread or is a lot of it left to players? I'd like to start at the end of my characters story and try and work my way back.

Another thing I think would be interesting would be if people told the same day from their own point of view, as to say that what one person saw, another may have not see kind of thing.

Maybe write out a few significant events that everyone can agree on and go from there?

@Polybius a lot of the world design would be left up to the players. But in the OOC I will put up core events that every character would basically agree upon.

@Catchphrase, how many interests do you plan on getting before an OOC is up? Just curious.

@Dev3117 maybe one or two more

@Catchphrase, Aight boss. Looking forward to this, seems like a really cool idea.

Ok, the RP is up now. You may enter The Wastes whenever you are ready.

@TheUnknowable cheers for that