Understanding Why
It All Fell Apart
Only Drove Men Mad
And Nightmares Manifest
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With unlimited possibilities within it's grasp, civilization had become a self-made heaven. Contemporary politics, economics, philosophy and scientific understanding had been dwarfed, rendered a footnote in history with the sudden explosion in humanities capabilities in changing reality itself. Had humanity of the modern era stood beside those of the future, it would seem like two separate species stood aside each other. All ills plaguing the body and mind had been removed, the soul transcended mortal barriers, the very universe becoming nothing more than a massive controlled environment that was monitored and controlled regularly, creating the ideal worlds for society to inhabit. Endlessly stretching out across known existence, fertilizing the dried up soil, colonizing the vast empty space and creating life where there was none, humanity had become a boon for all known life.
Vast stretches of time had now left that era behind.
As if evil, long suppressed by the good brought forth by humanities discoveries, suddenly arose. Who, why, when, where- none of it mattered as it spread across, drowning everything in a tidal wave as lights across known existence went out one by one. Perhaps someone cracked, a portal to another dimension opened, a war finally broke out, people became too decadent, or reality itself had enough of societies perfection... No one will ever figure out why it broke down.
But society now was caught in a horrific limbo of pain. The magic and technology that had been so perfect and infinitely capable kept civilization alive in it's bleeding and apocalyptic state, as if a dying patient constantly reawakening to experience the nauseating experience of being near death, people kept living. Instead of the apocalypse ending, it kept burning, with more people drowning in endless bloodbath that so commonly spewed forth wherever life was found. Yet life kept growing, then kept dying, then came to life and drew the ire of whatever wanted to squash it out again. The more the apocalypse went on the more imperfections formed, the more life became not only similar to our own, but worse than whatever Earth could ever foster, for all those incredible discoveries made had now turned into a endless assembly line of monstrous inventions, disturbing discoveries and more ways to decimate life itself.
With conflict now found wherever and whenever, it seemed safety was impossible, yet there were words written in marker and blood hinted at a safe zone. Deep within the city, covered in corpses, blood, monsters, decorated by bullet holes and with everlasting buildings poking out high from the red fog, there sat an answer to get out of this artificial Hell, that- bypassing all the dangers -there was still a chance to find the heaven that existed once a long time ago, finding a chance to breathe, to truly survive and to escape the clutches of endless death...
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The Wilderness
The city had been surrounded by vast stretches of wilderness, sparsely dotted with well maintained infrastructure, seemingly abandoned buildings with eerie darkness from the windows, seemingly no light nor life within yet creaking with noises all too familiar with any survivor, hidden monsters, waiting cannibals, horrific self-aware molding that spewed forth killer diseases...Anything could dwell within the strange wilderness, anything but the old wildlife that lived here. Even in the tall grass and beautifully kept trees, they were abandoned, silent, as if every animal and insect, every living thing absent of vegetation had suddenly gotten up and left.
It was so easy to die, so easy to get shot by someone hiding away beneath some advanced invisibility cloak that they hoarded from others as everything fell apart, their high-tech equipment and weapons self-cleaning with advanced nanotechnology, never falling apart as they went day to day slaughtering innocents in the name of some god, or just their own survival. It was possible that the person laying in wait was being hunted after, firing upon an innocent traveler in rampant fear of being discovered, that perhaps a search party had been sent out to find them after liberating some slaves meant for dinner...
Or, perhaps, you'd be killed by a man with nothing more than a club, who knew no language nor anything other than the basic instinct to kill.
And that was just the people, the wide range in between deranged madman to professional killer was like a merciful gift from god compared to the creatures out there, people were predictable in their assumptions no matter how savage, their animalistic drive to survive the wasteland of this universe meant everyone was on the same footing. But they weren't the only hunters here.
The monstrous entities that now existed were numerous, there is no specification that can be given on what they look like or who they are- it could be anything. Terrors from the shadows, living shambling corpses, humans experimented on and driven insane, cosmic demonic forces from another dimension, creatures that had predicted the collapse and finally arose to build civilization anew...
The City
The city would be even worse than the wilderness, if not for the massive makeshift walls surrounding it.
Barricaded, suppose to be protected, the whole place was a short-lived fortress. Large bones jutting from the ground surrounded the walls of the city, with entire seas of skeletons coming in from the major roads- creepily none of them laid upon the concrete road itself, as if hollowed ground from the dead -while the gigantic gates to enter the city were decorated with hanging bodies and heads on spikes. The fortifications seemed to have been cracked open by blunt force and explosives, though no weapon from battle remained, thoroughly scavenged time and time again over the centuries.
Only wind howled out here, the sound of creaking metal greeted visitors, with bodies above hanged by ropes swaying in the harsh winds that blew the thick red fog over the landscape.
Within the city was an endless urban nightmare of mazes, streets torn apart, wreckages everywhere, blood on walls and hastily written warnings both coherent and insane. Some parts of the city had been forcefully risen from the earth, while buildings simply hovered a short height above city blocks, large craters and boarded up residential buildings, all while massive cracks can be found throughout the streets leading to a large abyss...
Strange creatures howl, gunshots ring out throughout the streets, every now and then the light from a building flashes with the shadows of people staring at the outside world. It was a place like any other encountered before, simply with more signs of life and fighting than normal.
Survivors
(also: you)
Those unlucky enough to have both sanity and life in them.
A survivor isn't anyone from a specific background, their history of being here long or short, their ideals, their pasts, their crimes or good deeds. Everyone is on a equal footing now, all caught in the same dangerous hellscape that they so desperately wish to leave.
Despite what you might thing, a survivor- a sane being, possibly armed and not dead or ravaging a corpse -is a very rare person. Roving bands of bandits exist, militiamen, humanoid monsters, they're easily found...but people who resemble civilization are a dying breed. Anyone who can even hold up a basic discussion is like finding an angel, a blessing which is seldom given even to other survivors sneaking around in the endless red fog that covers the universe.
What can be expected outside of your usual sanity and life, is that survivors are well armed and experienced. To have survived this long means you're good at hiding, good at scavenging and good at killing, or at least very good at hiding. No survivor has a home of any kind nor a place of belonging, usually excluded from other communities- though this is a benefit in disguise, as any organized community that exists has some degree of insanity and driven by murderous intent -and survivors often are alone travel within very small groups. There isn't any known safe place for survivors, which is specifically why you may find yourself driven to the metropolitan nightmare.
Rules
I hate rules, or at least on internet stuff, really ruins the mood, feels all tense and anxiety inducing...
Anyway, I'd call myself laissez-faire but I guess that isn't 110% true if we have some sort of hierarchy to things, like me being a GM. Just pass stuff by me if you're unsure, but there really isn't any definitive rules to me, not as of right now anyway, people seem keen on respecting each others boundaries and stuff so I don't think I need to lay down anything really specific.
No killing characters I guess? Thats the only thing I can think of right now.
Oh, and your characters are survivors.
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And thats about it. Anyone should feel free to join as long as you don't mind the overly dark tone.
Watch yourself out there.
