Welcome to Nocturnal Memoirs
The struggle for power is an endless dance within the walls of Nocturnia. Under its dazzling neon lights, subterfuge, sabotage and manipulation run rampant. Loaded decks, weighted dice, flutes of champagne and crystal glasses of scotch. The smoke of a gun, the wet slick of crimson blood, the flash of red and blue lights, the wailing of a siren.
Yes, Nocturnia is the place where dreams come true. Yes, Nocturnia is a playground for villains and heroes. And yes, Nocturnia rewards the brave and relentless.
Forge your destiny as a mafia boss basking in the limelight, leading your made men with your signature tactics. Or, restore order and be lauded as a hero as you take up the noble mantle of a detective, calling on your division of cops to quell the chaos.
The Supernatural Powers Known as Gyfts
Gyfts. They have been in Nocturnia for the past fifty years. The strange and supernatural powers that manifest in a person when they live in Nocturnia for a period of time, and meet certain conditions. Not all of these conditions are known, but a common condition is the desperate, all-consuming desire to change something, or to not feel weak.
When the condition is met, a person typically has a vision or dream of them receiving or using their powers. And when they come to, bam! They have the ability to use their powers.
Gyfts are on the low-end, typically with enough power to level a one-story building. Gyfts are also highly specialized. For example, instead of being able to control fire, a person would instead be able to animate fire into a living being, or cause comets to fall from the sky. They are as unique as the individuals they belong to, and people often feel a sense of pride in developing their powers, and in being blessed with beautiful or powerful Gyfts.
Researchers have speculated that the source of Nocturnia's power-granting source is somewhere in the city. But for the past fifty years, no one has been able to find anything, turning this theroy into a laughfable myth.
The City of Nocturnia
 |  |  |
Nocturnia. The city of neon light, and nights that ensure no one sleeps, be it through a lively night scene, or the gunfire. It has been around for the past one hundred years. In the early days, Italian immigrants made their home here, suffusing the city with criminal activity. It soon paved the way to a rise of all types of mafia families, making their money mainly in drug production to fuel the night life.
This rise in crime families caused the detectives of the city to be up to their ears in paperwork, trying to find out where all these drugs were coming from. Clashes between detectives and mafias soon became ruthless and cunning, stealing a secret here, bribing there. These conflicts soon became violent, and many died on both sides to maybe put away a bad guy. But leadership was quickly replaced, and the families have persevered to this day.
Nocturnia is made up of districts as weathered and old as ever, though the money flowing in does make the richer districts all shiny and polished. Most of the districts are of a Comfortable mid-range. Only a few districts are Poor or Rich. Industrial districts are like a type of Rich district, except not as profitable.
Mafias and detectives control districts where their wealth comes from. These districts are constantly being fought over. Mafias take control of a district to install a drug lab, which generate drugs for wealth; while detectives take control of a district by constructing a sheriff's office, which generates taxes for wealth.
Noctuenia is 318 square miles (824 square km). The most notable features of Nocturnia as a whole are its neon lights at night, the impregnable black wall around the city over a hundred feet high, and the river that snakes through the city from north to south.
The Quarantined ‘Warzone 13’
Fifty years ago, when people in Nocturnia began exhibiting supernatural powers, the mafias and criminal organizations already present used this to their advantage incredibly quickly.
The nation’s military was called in with the cover intent to restore order and neutralize these powerful individuals. However, their secret intent was to discover the source of these strange powers to empower the nation.
Alas, the military never gained a stronghold in the city, and had to resort to simply quarantining the city behind a large black wall made of carbonfibre and stone. There are thick poles with minimal gaps through the waterway that prevent anyone from using the river to escape. Aide is brought in via trucks through small, heavily guarded gates, where the local Nocturnia police oversee the aide distributed fairly to businesses and health organizations.
People in Nocturnia interact with the outside world through the internet and cell towers. This is how a lot of illicit materials make it into Nocturnia, smuggled on aide trucks.
Aid mainly enters Nocturnia from the North via North Battleford, and from the South via Waterfront Vale.
The Way of Wealth for Bosses and Badges
Wealth is the way to claim (or purchase a chance at) more territory. Each district has one drug lab or sherrif office. The tiers are as follows:
x Poor district's drug lab produces weed and the sheriff's office catches minor offenders, resulting in a meager 0.5 Wealth generated every GM post.
x Comfortable districts’ drug lab produces LSD and the sheriff's office catches major offenders, resulting in a generation of 1 Wealth every GM post.
x Industrial districts’ drug lab produces heroin and the sheriff's office catches armed robbers, generating 2 Wealth every GM post.
x Rich districts' drug lab produces crystal meth and the sheriff's office catches murderers, generating 3 Wealth every GM post.
x Comfortable districts’ drug lab produces LSD and the sheriff's office catches major offenders, resulting in a generation of 1 Wealth every GM post.
x Industrial districts’ drug lab produces heroin and the sheriff's office catches armed robbers, generating 2 Wealth every GM post.
x Rich districts' drug lab produces crystal meth and the sheriff's office catches murderers, generating 3 Wealth every GM post.
If you want to expand your territory, you must expand into the next territory over, not halfway across the map. Some actions, like expanding territory, cost Wealth. However, this is the only way to generate more Wealth. Each district also generates 2/3/4/5 personnel every GM post, non-Gyft, but you don't need to write an NPC sheet for them unless you name them.
I will keep track of Wealth and Personnel in the 0th IC post. You won't have to do anything for this. You'll only have to see if you have enough Wealth to take over a territory before you take action IC-wise.
When taking over a territory that is empty, I'll write minor resistance for you to overcome how you see fit. When taking over occupied territory by another player, you will be engaging in war. You will lose wealth whether you win or lose. And I will gage how many Personnel you lose throughout the interaction. The battle between the players continues until one side surrenders. If the victor is the challenger, they gain a territory. If the victor is the defender, they get to keep their territory.
There are ways to ‘steal’ Wealth from other players, such as kidnapping a mafia boss and forcing them to divulge their supply route, pushers, or giving up their blackmail on certain cops. Actions like these can cause 0.5 Wealth to be ‘stolen’ from the kidnappee/coerced and given to the kidnapper/manipulator, awarded every GM post. In reality, I won't penalize the kidnapee by stealing from them. Instead, I will just award 0.5 Wealth to the kidnapper. This way you can relax as a kidnapee.
Below are a few actions and their Wealth/Personnel cost. Keep in mind that these are just tries, they are not guarentees (kind of like a gatcha system). They also don’t include the fight that will ensue when the challenger challenges a district of a defender. Note that fights will typically end up in a loss of Personnel for both sides:
Action = Cost
x To attempt to claim a Poor district = 2 Wealth, 4 Personnel
x To attempt to claim a Comfortable district = 5 Wealth, 10 Personnel
x To attempt to claim an Industrial district = 7 Wealth, 14 Personnel
x To attempt to claim a Rich district = 10 Wealth, 20 Personnel
x To attempt to leave Nocturnia = 100 Wealth, 200 Personnel
x To attempt to claim the unknown source of power (pre-requisite: must discover the unknown source of power) = 100 Wealth, 200 Personnel
x To attempt to claim a Comfortable district = 5 Wealth, 10 Personnel
x To attempt to claim an Industrial district = 7 Wealth, 14 Personnel
x To attempt to claim a Rich district = 10 Wealth, 20 Personnel
x To attempt to leave Nocturnia = 100 Wealth, 200 Personnel
x To attempt to claim the unknown source of power (pre-requisite: must discover the unknown source of power) = 100 Wealth, 200 Personnel
Rules
x No God-modding. You control your character/NPC's/Personnel, and that's it.
x No auto-hitting or instant-killing. Always give your opponent a chance to react.
x Post at least once a week. Those who go longer than two weeks without a post risk losing their character in an untimely demise.
x PM a player and ask permission before kidnapping them.
x Be a good sport and allow your PC/NPC to be kidnapped.
x Remain respectful at all times.
x Collaborations and ideas are recommended, always feel encouraged to reach out to the GM and each other with questions or ideas.
x Have lots of fun.
x No auto-hitting or instant-killing. Always give your opponent a chance to react.
x Post at least once a week. Those who go longer than two weeks without a post risk losing their character in an untimely demise.
x PM a player and ask permission before kidnapping them.
x Be a good sport and allow your PC/NPC to be kidnapped.
x Remain respectful at all times.
x Collaborations and ideas are recommended, always feel encouraged to reach out to the GM and each other with questions or ideas.
x Have lots of fun.
The Character Sheet
[hider=Character Name]
[center]
[img]No larger than 500 px high[/img]
[h1]CHARACTER NAME[/h1]
[b]Title[/b] | [b]Age[/b] | [b]Gender[/b] | [b]Height (in feet)[/b] | [b]Weight (in pounds)[/b][/center]
[b]Goal:[/b] (What do they want in Nocturnia? Power, fame, glory?)
[b]Secrets:[/b] (What do they hide from others?)
[b]Fears:[/b] (What makes their muscles tense up?)
[b]History:[/b] (What is their background? Have they grown up in Nocturnia, or did they manage to sneak in through extraordinary means? Remember that powers are granted to those who live within Nocturnia after a certain period of time.)
[center]__________[/center]
[b]Alliance:[/b] (Are they a Mafia Boss, or a Detective?)
[b]District:[/b] (What district do they do business or uphold the law in? What district do they currently ‘own’? You can have three Poor districts, or two Comfortable districts, or one Rich district when starting out. Remember that districts you own must be touching one another, just like Settlers of Catan.)
[indent](A little description of the district, including notable buildings.
Remember, each district has up to one drug lab (for mafia bosses) and one sheriff office (for detectives.))
[/indent]
[b]Faction:[/b] (Title of faction they preside over. This is a mafia for Bosses, and a cop division for Badges.)
[indent](Quick description of the faction.)
[/indent]
[center]__________[/center]
[b]Gyft:[/b] (The title of your Gyft.)
[indent](A description of your Gyft.)
[/indent
[b]Limitations and Weaknesses:[/b]
[indent](A description of the limits and weaknesses of your Gyft. The stronger it is, the more weaknesses it should have.)
[/indent]
[/hider]NPC Sheet
[hider=Character Name]
[center]
[img]No larger than 500 px high[/img]
[h1]First Name Last Name[/h1]
[b]Age[/b] | [b]Gender[/b] | [b]Title/Alliance[/b]
[/center]
[b]Description:[/b] (A little about who they are.)
[b]Gyft:[/b] (If applicable.)
[/hider]Relationship Sheet
[hider=Character Name's Relationships]
[table][row][/row][row][cell][b][h3]Character Name[/h3][/b]
(Description of relationship, how your character feels towards the other, if they are friends or not.)
[/cell]
[cell][color=2e2c2c]________________________[/color]
[color=2e2c2c]________________________[/color]
[color=2e2c2c]________________________[/color]
[i]"In-character quote of relationship."[/i]
[/cell][/row]
[row][cell][b][h3]Character Name[/h3][/b]
(Description of relationship, how your character feels towards the other, if they are friends or not.)
[/cell]
[cell][color=2e2c2c]________________________[/color]
[color=2e2c2c]________________________[/color]
[color=2e2c2c]________________________[/color]
[i]"In-character quote of relationship."[/i]
[/cell]
[/row][/table]
[/hider]
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