San Marzano is a small city in California known for its scenic sunrises and staggering homeless population. It is ruled by Mayor Vince Schumiatti and the SMPD, two equally corrupt figures that do little to change the town's ingrained criminal culture. The West Side is generally seen as the "downtown", doubling as a financial and red-light district, whereas The East Side is mostly industrial and residential, though both sides are somehow just as dangerous as the other.
There are dozens, quite possibly even hundreds of gangs in San Marzano, though all of them either work for or live in fear of
The Bombers and
The Razors. These two gangs have been feuding for about ten years ever since The Razors moved into town. They've essentially become The Montagues and Capulets -- They've been fighting for so long, most of them aren't sure why they started fighting, but transgressions of the past and revenge for them fuels their warring. The Bombers control East and South Marzano, whereas The Razors control West and North.
The year is 1987, and a strange fashion trend has swept through San Marzano's youth; Latex animal masks. This spike in popularity seems to be due to their connotation with gang activity and their frequent use in burglaries and other crimes, as well as their popularity spanning throughout different subcultures. Although wearing masks in the city has recently been made illegal, it is a largely unenforceable law, and so there remains a staggering population of masked youth roaming the city after dark. Known in the media as "Feral Youth", these groups control sections of cities with the same ferocity as animals fighting for territory, and utilize planning, equipment, and sabotage far more advanced than feuding medieval kingdoms. Two such gangs that have adopted the Feral Youth trend are, you guessed it, The Bombers and The Razors.
This RP will focus on the relations, in-fighting, and politics of San Marzano's gang population. Stylistically, I'm trying to blend the ultraviolent 80's worlds of Hotline Miami and Drive with the unrealistically obvious gangs of The Warriors and A Clockwork Orange. Additionally, I wanna get all literary up in here, so anticipate
Relation-Based RP and lots and lots of
Character Arcs. The story as a whole will have certain themes which will be reflected through pretty basic symbolism, the actions and words of the characters, and so on. One such theme is the
Cyclical Nature of Life. The Bombers have recently had their leader killed and will soon have to choose a replacement, whereas The Razors are anticipating the death of their last remanding founder, who has acted as the closest thing to a spokesperson for the gang for years. Another theme in the RP is that
The Strong Survive. Aside from the obvious violent connotations, only the pesticide-resistant weeds and grass grow in Marzano, and the only birds that seem to visit the dock are large, aggressive, and probably eating all the smaller birds. If you can't tell already, this is one of those roleplays where the characters are all probably high school dropouts, but they're all watching sunsets and dropping philosophical soliloquies and shit left and right.
Whether your character is struggling to keep themselves alive, escape a life they've found themselves in, or are fighting a battle out of loyalty, crime is a major theme in the RP. I think it's worth mentioning here that there are
Mature Themes, so try not to be annoying about stuff, I guess. Per sight rules I don't think I can actually plant an 18+ tag on the rp, so just bear in mind that it'll deal with mature themes. Characters can get killed or possibly tortured, but nobody is getting raped. Other than that, the world is kind of a
dark place. That's not to say there isn't humor, there totally is, it's just more often then not either absurd or dark. For example, the first post will have a man threatening to engage in sex acts with another man's heart valve over the phone. In terms of how the characters act, think Hotline Miami,
Reservoir Dogs, and Drive. Ours is very much a
Noir story, and so we're balancing out the capriciousness and vulgarity of neon teenage gangsters slicing each other up with serious suspense, pseudo-cinematic imagery, and a generally dour, unpleasantness to the setting.
As of the IC's first page, The Leader of The Bombers,
King Rex has been dead for a week. The last any had seen of him, he was heading to The Grotto to negotiate some kind of drug deal with Gary Tiede, the last remaining founder of The Razors, there was a shootout, and the king was dead.
The Bombers have been engaging in an all-out manhunt for his suspected killer, out of loyalty and the honor of killing their leader's murderer. Gary is one of The Razors' original founders, and has acted as the gang's spokesperson with foreign gangs -- Particularly The Triad in Chinatown, Le Fils de Samedi in Little Haiti, and a branch of an east coast gang known as The Holy 32's. Instead of band together to save him, The Razors have mostly all quietly accepted Gary's inevitable death. See? Themes.
1. Don't insult, flame, cheat, godmod, etc. You know what is and isn't appropriate, so don't be a dick. Certain things can be said in jest, sure, just try not to be unpleasant, antagonizing, or cunt-ish about things. Also, don't do unfair things that would affect the RP in your favor like godmodding, powerplaying, etc. Be cool like the fonz. The point here isn't to "win", it's to write an interesting story.
2. Be on time. If you can't post for X amount of time, that's fine, just
let me know so we can advance. Posting order or not, long unspecified lulls in activity kill RPs and make people wait for what is usual no reason, so try to avoid it. I'm starting training at a job where I get twelve hour shifts, so if I can be punctual and on-time, you can take the time out of your day to check in.
3. There are mature themes, so once again, don't join if that's not your thing. By that, I mean characters will frequently curse, drink, fight, and do other things you wouldn't normally condone. I also mean that characters should (hopefully!) have realistic character arcs and development. Let's all try to write an interesting story here!
4. That being said, try not to go overboard. I'm all for believable, evil villains, but gorn, edginess, walking sob stories and rampant sociopathy just come off as lazy writing. Also, no sex crimes are happening here, so if a post starts with someone trying to commit one, it ends with them being unsuccessful and probably dead.
5. This story has themes, and characters who can roll with them are more likely to stay alive.
The Circle of Life/The Strong Survive/The Food ChainThese overarching themes all essentially point out the same thing; the world of San Marzano, and thereby the
world, is an ugly, unfair place ruled by the cruelest, strongest, and most cunning. Aside from the obvious predator/prey thing with the animal masks, all of the urban wildlife (rats, pigeons, seagulls, stray dogs, alley cats, etc.) are all described as foul-tempered and wild, meaning that any weaker animals have long-since been driven out.
Hope vs. NihilismThis theme is a little less clear at times, but I'd like to still have it there. Aside from each of the characters wanting things to be different than what they are, themes of Hope will be prevalent throughout the narrative. Many homeless gang members get food and shelter at Our Lady of Hope, and the sunrises -- and the future they represent -- are the town's pride and is regarded to as "The only good thing about San Marzano" that few people ever
see. You following?
On the flip side, shit always seems to be going down at sundown, dusk, or night, and those are all times non gang members seem to stay inside. The characters all have various degrees of hardened personalities due to their circumstances, and their street-smart intuition more often than not involves assuming the worst of people. Additionally, many townsfolk seem to have more or less accepted their cycle of corrupt cops and violent gangbangers, and have resigned themselves to living in the literal Wild West.
The Cycle of Life and DeathPeople are always dying. Left and right, the RP will have violence, and will start with one gang mourning the death of their leader and another preparing for it. On the other hand, life is everywhere too. The Bombers' abandoned factory has plants sprouting through the cracks in the walls, and The Razors' nightclub is described as "Buzzing with life". Everybody's always hearing about cousins and nieces and sisters and aunts having babies, because for of the philosophical musings, the story's still in a ghetto, come on.
Passion vs. StoicismThe Red Oni and The Blue Oni. Left brain and right brain. The Id and The Superego. One gang follows a strict code they sometimes struggle with, and the other have sacrificed organization and unity for personal gain and occasionally cartoonish hedonism. Additionally, poverty begets violent, hardened people, who very often unintentionally project
Classical Greek Stoicism, more commonly known as being
Street. These characters and others will not only struggle with this, but with their passions and desires, because if you can't tell already, all these themes are all part of the last one. Drumroll!
Duality/CyclesIn the most obvious of terms, this story is about the red guys fighting the blue guys, and those of them who struggle with being purple. Neither side is completely good or evil, and neither side is really stronger than the other. Both are kept in poverty due to their systematic oppression, which is also largely cyclical. The Poor stay poor and the rich stay rich, but a cycle of violence and crime keep our characters somewhere in between.
Three things I'd like to include that didn't have a better place in the OOC. This bracket used to be the setting, but it's a city with a few small ethnic neighborhoods, nothing too crazy. I realized I don't have to write a huge thing for you guys to figure that the poor part of the town is scary, that chinatown has a lot of chinese residents, the industrial neighborhood by the docks is polluted, and so on. Here's what I figure is more important instead!
Character ThemesShit Deadbeat, didn't you already say there were themes in the story? Yes, but these are
character themes. Certain characters will be vaguely associated with different, random things. The purpose of this is to use these themes in foreshadowing through symbolsim and descriptions. For example, my character BJ has a Swamp theme. He's Cajun, so there's that, but his first appearance is in weather described as "swampy", his alias's surname is "Bog" and so on. Because of this theme, other players could foreshadow events we've planned or that they have in mind involving BJ by using some kind of swamp imagery in say, a dream or background advertisement or something. Now do the same for your character.
FlashbacksCharacters have a lot of backstory, but aren't realistically likely to go around telling every Tom, Dick, and Harry about their abusive father or heroin addiction or whatever. As a result, some posts will be flashback posts! Include some introspective bullshit in front of the flashback so it's not just a post in a hider about your character years ago out of nowhere.
Collaborative ArcsTry to work together to form relationships that change your character, as is one of the points of the RP's largely thematic approach. In other words, focus on rivalries and friendships instead of beating everyone in every fight.
