Prologue
A thousand years ago, the world of Eunia stood at the peak of civilization; strides in technology and biomedical science far exceeded that of our world's, and though each nation present was ultimately looking out for its own future, the state of the world seemed fairly stable. That all ended, of course, once it was revealed that one nation had been building towards heavy militarization in secret. One thing led to another, of course, and the arms race that resulted could be nothing else if not a cold war. Needless to say, the paranoia that seemed to engulf the land eventually consumed the minds of those in power, and before long the Fourth Great War had broken out.
The results were devastating; many of the world's major cities had been destroyed in the fallout, and with a vast majority of the land rendered inhospitable for humans to live in or even tread into, the survivors of this chaos were forced to live in the ruins of these once-glorious cities and start once more.
Climbing out of that pit, of course, proved to be far more troublesome to the survivors of humanity in this land than expected, but one way or another, they managed to begin anew. Centuries of rebuilding and being unable to leave these ruins for fear of the now-unknown world left these people to develop in these little bubbles, working with what little they could parse from the ruins of technology to try and reach the glory of years past.
Centuries came and went, and the memories of the war remained all over the landscape. Air travel, however rudimentary, has once again been established, and the repair of communications between cities led to a re-establishment of global relations. But even so, the exploration of the unknown beyond the walls of these cities has not progressed much, if at all; rather, the focus on rebuilding infrastructure was of much more value to those in control. The danger that it posed combined with the lack of expendable human resources made it almost unthinkable—until now, of course.
Exploration outside city boundaries, barring the few smaller outposts and channels confirmed to be safe, had been deemed illegal until about two decades ago, when the populations of these small pockets of humanity had finally begun to spring back, more resilient than ever. Seeing that there was merit in exploring more than what was beyond their proverbial doorstep, the networked cities discussed (and came up with) the idea of a paritally government-run sector that would outfit people to explore these lands—now long since overrun by nature—in order to recover the technology that had been lost to time.
This organization, dubbed the 'Guild' by the people as a whole, set up operations a few years later, and thus began their forays into the land around each respective city. Though it remains far too early to note anything substantial beyond what is visible from the air, the landscape of the world has most definitely changed. What is to be found, of course, remains to be seen.
So... In essence, this is a sci-fi world that turned post-apocalyptic, but managed to somehow drag itself back to what we would consider the "modern" era (excuse the confusing tags, please). If there was a way to describe this RP, I think that "Made in Abyss meets Monster Hunter meets Etrian Odyssey meets Mystery Dungeon meets XCOM" is about an apt a description as any; that is, to say, that a lot of the RP will be exploration of the world beyond this "modern" land in search of relics of the past.
There are a few odd things about this RP, and those are detailed thus:
1. Weaponry/Clothing
As metal is still a precious resource within context of the world, weapons like standard guns are far too expensive for most people due to upkeep cost (bullets are VERY expensive). Of course, that doesn't mean that there aren't any alternative gun-like weapons (like XCOM's laser weapons, for example), but as of the start of this RP those haven't been recovered yet. There are some alternatives to start with, but for the most part the use of standard military armaments like those has been phased out.
Instead, a lot of weaponry has transitioned back to melee, with weapons like swords and such becoming the norm for these "explorers". Of course, these weapons are far more sci-fi in origin than their medieval counterparts; things like transforming weapons and augmented blades are among the top-of-the-line gear that has been found thus far. Of course, that's mostly beyond the price range of the average explorer, so many beginners opt to stick to generic stainless steel weaponry instead.
Due to a history of gene modification in Eunia as a whole (elaborated upon later), the usage of armor in combat isn't very practical at all. Clothing is very uniform, but only the very basics that are essentially supplied to people as needed. As the clothing itself is made from artificial materials, the possibility of buying (or even making) custom clothing for oneself has become a means of expressing individuality. It is, of course, somewhat pricy, but these clothes are incredibly durable despite their look and many people, explorers or not, often take pride in that. It is vain, in a way, but that's not to say that people don't find other ways to take pride in who they are. It's more a matter of personal versus cultural opinion, if anything.
2. The people
As mentioned earlier, Eunia has a history of genetic modification, which goes behind the usual augmentation seen in most sci-fi media. While there are many normal-looking humans walking around, there are also those with things like horns or animal features walking alongside them. Needless to say, there were people in the past who decided to change themselves to fit an ideal, and those modified genetic traits were passed down through the centuries to their descendants now. Catgirls and the like, for example, are surpisingly common as a result.
(And yes, it was become some 'genius' scientists decided to see if they could make someone into a catgirl in the first place. For science.)
People that those traits also express wider trends, of course; with the aforementioned catgirl example, the person in question may express higher-than average sensitivity to sound and agility higher than average. Of course, no modification is without downsides, but the field that exploded in the past as a result of that one experiment means that the possibilities are near-endless.
Of course, only so much can be expressed within the human body, so things like lizardmen and beastmen that are more animal than human are more oddities than anything else.
Aside from the wider-sweeping "racial" changes, the bodies of humans have been noted to be able to withstand 3 more generic, "under-the-hood" changes. Things such as increased strength (despite body build, even!), speed, or dexterity are also a possibility, but overlap of certain traits (such as a heavier build with speed) are more prone to only expressing one trait or the other.
This has led to a few crazies attempting eugenics on their kids, of course, but these are the outliers and are usually frowned upon by society.freakin' bluebloods
Things like PSI and magic do not exist within the setting, so don't even try.
3. Setting/The World
Eunia, as things are as of the start of this RP, has 16 major cities that have thus been restored, along with a few outposts in the area. While air and sea travel have been somewhat restored, their usage is mostly for trade than it is for leisure visits how to how dangerous and expensive it is to move between regions. The 16 all communicate via old systems that had miraculously escaped destruction in the past, but that is once more only really for official business.
The primary location for the RP will be a city called New Auren. The old city was built alongside a river, and the ruins thereof have been transformed into a cityscape over the centuries. For the most part, that's the only detail that really matters; more detail will be presented about the town (and the surrounding regions) as the RP progresses, but for the moment this is what is important.
As a result of being a formerly-globalized world, the diversity of origin of people all over these cities is about as varied as a jar of jellybeans. No limits barring the REALLY odd stuff, like... I don't know, blue skin.
4. The 'Guild'
Although it has a longer, more formal name, most people are apt to just calling the Guild 'the Guild'. It is a global organization that is built to record, buy, and sell the 'lost technology' that exists within the world, and is structurally similar to a flea market that got fused with a DMV; in other words, the Guild gives licenses to explorers (at a fee, of course) and an outlet to buy and sell whatever goods they might obtain in the field. These licenses act as a combined photo ID, debit card, and dog tag for said explorers, and having one is essential to be able to easily come and go from the cities on foot. There are anti-theft and anti-counterfeiting measures in place, of course, so stealing these things is a no-no. While there is a fee attached, said fee can be waived under certain circumstances, such as being mentored and acknowledges by another explorer of above-moderate prestige.
The government-run sector of the Guild mostly applies to the issue of ID, while the private sector is more concerned with transactions of money and items instead. Requests can be put in for certain things, but as it is mostly unknown what lies beyond in the ruins of the past, most of these requests aren't really ever touched save for the recovery of a lost explorer (or their remains) or something of similar importance.
I think that's it for the moment. Here's a form if you want to get started; feel free to ask questions if you want more information on anything in particular.
