The Basics
GM: follycle
Posting Expectations: Two or more paragraphs; proper grammar and punctuation.
Posting Speed: One to two posts per week.
Genres: Action, Futuristic, Sci-Fi, Superpowers
Players: Four to six.
The Variable Project: Vector is a roleplay that takes place in the Variable Project universe, following a small, specialized group, recently recruited by a top secret organization known as Vector, as they undertake several missions to take down what few Corrupted Constants remain around the world. What Variables and Constants are will be explained below.
Psychokinesis
Psychokinesis (henceforth referred to as PK) is an ability that humans evolved to possess around the year 2100. The father of first human to demonstrate an ability to use PK would become the director of the then called Psychokinesis Project. The ability had manifested itself at the age of 12, and granted the young girl the ability to levitate, speak telepathically, and use telekinesis. Scientists closely monitored the girl's condition. Realizing the danger involved with such an ability, work was quickly started to develop a means of controlling this power.
A specialized chip was designed and implanted at the upper tip of the girl's spine, just where it connected to the brain. This allowed the scientists to disrupt the signals in the part of her brains that showed activity during PK use, thus allowing them to stop her if she went out of control. Unfortunately, the girl died shortly thereafter, proving unable to deal with the stress PK placed on her brain. A pill, named Psyche, was developed to offset the effects of PK usage, which included a shortened lifespan and extreme migraines.
Further noting the combat capabilities of such a skill, and noticing a slow increase in the number of individuals capable of PK, the government began hoarding orphans to use as military super weapons. Thus, research into making weapons compatible with their newfound powers began. It wasn't long before they found a highly malleable metal that reacted extremely well to Psychokinetic abilities. Harvesting this metal, they fashioned it into a small sphere for easier portability.
During the year 2127, the first Variable was created. From that point on, those capable of using PK were deemed Constants, and the Psychokinesis Project was renamed the Variable Project. In the decade that followed, several new types of variables would be created, each of them reacting differently to an individual's unique brainwave patterns. Those would be the long-range physical type, the short and long-range mental types, and the most dangerous of all, the spatial type.
In the year 2142, the International Variable Organization (IVO) was created. Best thought of as a top secret UN that focuses exclusively on variable laws between countries, it was their way of maintaining a peace. They enjoyed it for a time, until a Russian Constant went rogue and headed towards the US. The US sent out a Constant of its own in retaliation, but the rogue Russian destroyed the chip that regulated the Constant's PK usage and convincing her to run away with her. In the year that followed, the two made various enemies and allies in their quest to expose the corruption of the Variable Project to the world. It was during this time that Anti-Psychokinetic equipment came into development, as a means of combating rogue Constants.
In the year 2147, everything came to light when an S-rank Corrupted Constant by the name of Cortice launched an attack on the US. With enough combined power with her variables to level a major city in a matter of minutes, there was no hiding this from the world. It was only thanks to the combined efforts of the US, Russia, France, and China Constants that they were able to subdue the out of control Corrupted. The directors of the Variable Project as it was known around the world were forced to give the public answers. In 2148, the Variable Project underwent reform.
That's the history up until the start of this roleplay. Set during the year 2151, a top secret group known only has Vector has been established to deal with what Corrupted Constants have managed to escape and still roam the world. To speak of the technological advancements mankind has seen in other areas, due to global warming, most of what has been being looked into, namely flying cars and the like, have had their research either delayed or forsaken altogether, in efforts to maintain what little stability the planet has left. As such, you can expect that most things in the roleplay work just as they do in the present day.
Constants
Constants are those capable of using Psychokinesis. Among their abilities include levitation, telepathy, and telekinesis, as well as compatibility with Variables. As of the start of this roleplay, only 0.0005% of the living population has demonstrated an ability to use PK. As a safeguard, those gifted (or cursed) with this ability are segregated from the general population, and are housed on the same island as the International Variable Organization summit, with the promise that a solution that will enable them to safely live among others will swiftly be found.
Excessive use of PK has displayed a number of side effects. For one, it shortens one lifespans. Another side effect is near unbearable migraines. The Psyche drug counteracts both of these. If one exceeds the limits of what they're mind has proven capable of, or if they use it for a continuous, prolonged period of time, individuals begin to lose their mind and enter a deranged state, at which point they are deemed Corrupted. Corrupted individuals have enhanced PK abilities, stronger than those of their sane counterparts, but they very often don't live longer than a few years at best. They're swiftly dealt with, though a few have managed to escape, some of them with variables no less...
There is currently no way to salvage someone that has become Corrupted.
Variables
A physical Variable's base form.
Variables are crafted into spheres from a special metal that is highly malleable and very reactive to Psychokinetic abilities. Currently the strongest substance known to man, nothing has proven capable of breaking a variable other than another variable. Variables require a user to "sync" with them before they can be used, which means they must be touched, and the user must pass their PK energy through it to have their particular energies accepted by the metal. Only variables compatible with one's particular brainwaves may safely be synced with. If one attempts to sync with an incompatible type, corruption is the likely result.
Variables come in three varieties thus far: physical, mental, and spatial. Furthermore, each of these three exist in both short-range and long-range variants.
Physical
Physical variables are those commonly seen in the sphere form. Due to the highly malleable nature of the metal, those with PK abilities can easily transform it into whatever shape they so desire. This shape can be maintained for hardness, and used to cut things (think a sword). Short-range physical type variables require constant contact with the user to be used. If the user drops or otherwise loses contact, the variable will revert back to sphere form and require the user to sync with it again.
Long-range types do not require additional syncs after the initial one. Likewise, they do not require constant contact. Capable of being controlled from a distance, the base sphere is capable of dividing into several smaller ones, which are capable of being fired off much like bullets. They're also as freely transformable as their short-range counterparts, able to take up whatever shape the user so desires. Despite being made of the same material, long-range physical types are less durable than short-range types, so it's ill-advised to use them for close range combat.
Long-range types do not require additional syncs after the initial one. Likewise, they do not require constant contact. Capable of being controlled from a distance, the base sphere is capable of dividing into several smaller ones, which are capable of being fired off much like bullets. They're also as freely transformable as their short-range counterparts, able to take up whatever shape the user so desires. Despite being made of the same material, long-range physical types are less durable than short-range types, so it's ill-advised to use them for close range combat.
Mental
Mental type variables are inserted at the upper tip of the spine. Often taking a chip form, mental types enhance the abilities of the user, and sometimes provide additional effects, based upon one's brainwaves. For instance, one may gain the ability to absorb kinetic energy to weaken blows the body takes, or the ability to tell if someone is lying by reading brain activity. Short-range types often deal with enhancing something internal to the user, while long-range types often have to do with something external to the user. These types are preferred in matters of espionage.
Spatial
Considered the most dangerous type of all, as well as having been outright banned from production, spatial types grant users control over various subjects, and the form they take varies by user. In the S-rank Cortice, her spatial type took the shape of a large myriad of small spheres that circled around her body in a tight formation. They had developed a sort of anti-matter like quality, consuming anything that touched them without prejudice. As one can imagine, even approaching the Corrupted Constant was a daunting task. Other spatial types may offer increased control over such things as water, or give one the ability to manipulate gravity. In these cases, they'll take more of a chip form, much like mental types.
Vector
As mentioned several times before, your role in the story is as a newly recruited member of Vector, a top secret organization that claims to be tasked with eliminating what few Corrupted Constants are still on the loose. Your character will, obviously, be capable of using PK, and they'll have already undergone training with variables and the like before the roleplay's start, at which point you'll be considered graduates ready for their first mission. This roleplay will follow a mission based format, with the story developing the further along the characters get. As things progress, the characters will be left to question what and who they're really fighting against, and the morality surrounding what they're doing, all whilst engaging in kick-ass battles that will hopefully prove to be both interesting and entertaining.
If you have any questions, do feel free to ask, preferably in this thread so that others can see the answer.
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