“I remember the day… the day the world went south. My name is… well names don’t mean much these days to they? The idea of humanity that’d been built up since the dawn of civilization crumbled within a day. Now there’s a new world, and with it, a new world order. This is a world of the rogues. The virals. The infected. This planet belongs to them… and we’re not welcome guests. It happened so fast… it was only a matter of weeks and then… the world fell.”
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The Apex Virus as it had been dubbed before the fall of the CDC is a ravenous, infectious disease originating from a mutated strain of rabies in the jungles of Senegal. The virus infects a person through any contact of fluids. Saliva. Blood. Etcetera. The disease has an incubation period of a mere hour, an hour of increasingly sporadic behaviour and aggression. Within the first few minutes of infection, reddening and irritation around the throat and eyes becomes apparent. Violent fever and vomiting soon follows, as the host becomes more aggressive. Brain capacity slips as the victim begins twitching, and becomes unresponsive. The final stage comes in the form of violent seizures, until the man taken over is completely infected. The infected stage, a stage that goes by many names depending on who you ask, becomes a feral, aggressive creature with violent tendencies to hunt, kill and eat. The brainless creatures are fast, agile and strong, their brains fixed with a sole instinct; hunt. The infected reject infected flesh, which is why they seldom turn on each other and often hunt in packs or hordes. Animal flesh is eaten just as much as human and they seem to have no preference. While still human, and capable of dying any way a human can, they seem to have no nerve connection, allowing them to have endurance, durability and pain toleration far stronger than the average man or woman. They make bloodcurdling howls, chirps and almost bird like noises, that help give them away if not for their quick, twitchy behaviour, glazed eyes with minimal pupils or dark, clear veins. These new predatory beasts attack in a flurry of fists, teeth and nails, and have excellent eyesight and hearing. Before the collapse a vaccine hadn’t even begun… and with the world in shambles, it seems like only a fantasy now.
The infection centered around Senegal and took a total of three weeks between it’s acknowledgement and the collapse of humanity. Nobody really knows how long the disease had existed, but the first few attacks in happened in Africa and were ruled off as murders. Vectors had spread at an early date, and unexplained disappearances, murders and strange sightings had sprung up from Indonesia to Romania and even Mexico. By the time the disease was discovered, it was far too late. Africa was too far gone as infected had swarmed the sprawling continent, quickly adding their small population to the infected numbers. Cape Town had an incredible battle holding out until eventually the hordes from neighbouring Nigeria and Botswana overtook them. The UN planned to send out a series of nuclear strikes to abolish, or at least minimize the virus, despite the apprehension of many scientists. With all the focus on foreign affairs, China was caught off guard and fell in a matter of days. New Zealand closed its ports, but as the vectors got through, they became trapped. Nepal was in a secure location, but the numerous refugees from India and China alike caused the virus to find it’s way into the sanctuary. With nowhere to run and an offensive attitude being too late, the remaining countries took up Defensive positions. Few succeeded.
Life in post outbreak is a grueling one to say the least. Virals outnumber humans roughly 4000 to 1. Running water, electricity; with the exception of a handful of areas, these luxuries became a thing of the past. The new world order began, where people focused slowly on survival. People lost their humanity. Those who were good died off. Those who were willing to do what was needed survived. Raiders and scavengers became just as dangerous as the infected; though far less numerous. Certain areas were far worse off than others. East Asia became a wasteland. America’s East Coast became a giant swarm. Australia was infested. But there were those that prospered. Ireland was in reasonable health. Chile’s residents evacuated to the Andes were several encampments made a stable population. Citizens banded together in America and Europe to create small scale safe zones, from Riverview in southern British Columbia to The Resevoir in Nevada. Several large cities continued to run, notably Perth, Istanbul, Sao Paulo and Honalulu. Those who survived however weren’t the same as the economy had collapsed; they became more primitive, dealing in local currencies and often with corrupt governments. This life isn’t an easy one… do you have what it takes to survive?
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10 Rules
1. Don’t forget the setting. This takes place in modern times two months after the fall of civilization. The location is primarily along North America’s western coast. This grants a lot of freedom with setting, from California to Alaska.
2. Not zombies. The infected aren’t zombies. Though the concept of zombies does exist in this in this world, they’re renowned as fictional. Due to graphic reality of circumstance, most people don’t use such a childish term for a real threat.
3. More advanced than casual. While this is a casual roleplay as it’s my first one and I have no experience on this site, I expect well written posts with decent grammar and spelling.
4. No time skips. If one person skips a day, everyone has to jump their story to that time. It’s incredibly annoying.
5. Uncensored. This is the end of days, and in real life you wouldn’t have people running around censoring every ‘shit’ or ‘fuck’ that comes out of their mouth. Be realistic. Feral humans are running around slaughtering and eating everything in sight. Gore is more than ok. This is a gory and vulgar world. That being said, intimate details involving sex are never crucial to a story’s development. Be brief, or skip to the aftermath.
6. No godmodding. A crucial one. Everybody wants to be that mysterious sword wielding badass that can charge into a horde and come out unscathed. We’re not Michonne. People can have unique skills or be good at fighting infected, whatever. But your character isn’t immortal and realism is key.
7. Remain reasonably active. Anyone who’s character doesn’t post at least once a week is fair game to be killed off.
8. Respect. Don’t skip over other people’s stories and no killing other characters without their permission. As GM, I’ll abide to this rule as well. That being said, people shouldn’t be afraid to kill off their characters. You can always make a new one and an apocalypse without death becomes monotonous.
9. Character. Explore your character well. Fill out the CS with detail, and keep them realistic and within reason. Every skill they possess has a reason and they have a good backstory. There are many jobs that become useful, whether on the run or during attempts to rebuild civilizations. Soldiers, medical professionals, farmers, athletes; they all have their virtues. Variety is the spice of life. As stated before, give a rich backstory that shouldn’t be applicable to everybody you see. Try to diversify skills. Not everyone’s gonna be an expert marksman or a natural doctor.
10. Lastly, this is essentially an open sandbox RP. You have complete freedom with your story and story's will often overlap, but there's no common goal or mission everyone shares nor is there a concrete plot characters must follow.
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Character Sheet
General
Name:
Gender:
Age:
Sexual Orientation:
Birthplace:
Appearance:
Apocalypse Gear
Preferred clothing:
Weapon:
Personality
Personality:
Weaknesses (Fears, Ailments, Addictions etc):
Habits or Quirks:
Special skills:
Pre-Apocalypse
Former Occupation:
Hobbies:
Family:
Friends:
Religion:
Level of Education:
Background:
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This is my first RP up here so I hope this goes well! Character sheets should be pmed first so I can check them out, then put in the CS tab of course. If anyone has any questions, comments or concerns post below.
