Life is hard in these Hills. It's not like life on the flats. Meth, shine, oxy run like the creeks and rivers. You're life is laid bare for the whole of the small town to gossip and talk about behind your back. Dirt's too rocky to farm, county can't fix the roads, mining is about only the work left but the governments been shutting down coal. Let's not even get into the feudin that's been going since the civil war.
How do you escape? A question that's been asked for generations. Almost no one leaves these County lines alive. The ones that do? They end up coming back. These hills have a hold on the mind. Something keeps calling you back to them. Maybe its because life is slower and simpler up here, maybe its because people know exactly who and what is going to come against them.
Everyday was struggle, everyday was just like the last. But no one will ever forget that day. The day everything changed, the day that we become The Unwanted. A normal Saturday night, bon fires, whiskey and pickup trucks. Just a normal Saturday out by old man Johnson's farm. Then something happened, nobody knows what exactly happened but we were all changed. We had abilities, abilities we couldn't control or asked for. We've been run out of homes by the people we've known all our lives. People who knew us better than we did. What's gonna happen now? How are we gonna survive?
They killed Tillie Helton, they beat her, raped her, murdered her. But we're the monsters? Ironic isn't it? We they may be the first in a generation or two get away with our their lives. Its funny how life works isn't?
Say what you will about Katahrins Mountain, it'll make you tough. These hills and hollers will teach you to survive or kill you trying.
From a letter found on the old Craigh house in Harlan Kentucky
We all had lives, families, friends, jobs. Things were going well. Things like this shouldn't happen to people like us. We had everything going for us, we were gonna take over the world. We had wealth, powerful families and connections. We were going to be doctors, lawyers, singers, entertainers. The world was ours for the taking but no one was ready for this. None of this was our fault. Why can't they see that?
Before that Saturday night, it was the best of the best. Everything we could have ever wanted was ours for the taking. The fastest cars, the finest houses. We had the lives people dreamed of. You ever watch those crappy teen dramas in Southern California? Yeah that was our lives. Our lives in Atalanta
No one knows what happened that night. We were all at the Wildlife Charity Gala, 10k a plate. The richest of the richest, the elites of the south were there, and we were the only that changed. The only ones with this shitty gift.
Our Lives will never be the same. No one will have anything to do with us. We are little more than pariahs now. Our friends don't much to do with us, the shops we used to go to, the restaurants we used to go, none of them want anything to do us. Even the banks don't us around! Do you know how bad things are when banks don't want your money!?
---- General Information ----
This is a supernatural story is about two very different groups of people who come into superpowers. One group is from a very rich part of Atlanta, the other from Black Mountain in Harlan County Kentucky. These lifestyles are about as far apart as you can get.
Society has rejected these people out of fear and are openly calling for their heads. The government wants them for more than a couple of reasons. Hate groups are popping up left and right now as people with these special abilities become more and more common. The world has pretty much turned on you, and would be happy to be locked up or killed.
Now when I say hate groups are popping up left and right, I mean groups like the KKK, New Black Panther Party, ISIS, I'd add some other hate groups but these are the assholes I could think of. Nonetheless the notion stands, these hate groups have shifted their focus away from their usual fare and put their focus strictly on us.
There's gonna be a lot of drama, action, and romance if you're into that kinda thing. The world doesn't want you, hate groups want you dead, and who doesn't wanna know how this whole thing started and why this unknown event happened? I'd like the overall tone to be dark and somewhat desperate. That doesn't mean there won't be time to goof off and blow off steam, but this is gonna be far from a party.
---- Area and Character Information ----
To go into a little more detail of the locations that we will be starting in. Buckhead is an affluent uptown district of Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia. To put into perspective, it's the second wealthiest zip code in the south, Palm Beach, Florida is number one. It's been called the Beverly Hills of the South/East. Buckhead is one of the nation's "10 Top Affluent Communities" due to "the most beautiful mansions, best shopping, and finest restaurants in the Southeastern United States". A little Google fodder for you.
Next up we have Harlan of Harlan County, Kentucky where the median income for a household in the county was $18,665 (I made more than that when I was 18.) Taking up just under two square miles (1.8) and a population of less than two thousand (1,750 as of 2010.) I wasn't to find about too many fun google facts about Harlan so I'll toss out a few things I personally know. Those Hills are one of the most beautiful things I have seen. That's both in reality and drug induced hallucinations. There is a certain... song that it sings. It begs you to stay, if you can escape the song. That song will always play in the back of your mind. It's hard living, both in drink and money, that make just as hard of people. They can hunt, fish, survive off the land, when things break, they gotta figure out how to fix it.
So each group will have a very different skill set for example, the mountain group will be much better at survival, hunting, fishing, so forth and so on. Having lived a somewhat isolated life, the mountain folk aren't the best at being sociable and getting along with people they don't know. More than likely, they are gonna hate a big city. Some may like it, others will wanna get as far away as possible.
The other group will be better with people, able to move around society without an issues. They can get what they need done and if we're honest, they are more than likely a little bit smarter. With that said, there's a pretty good chance these people won't be able fix a car or know how to hunt or survive.
As for relationships and knowing each other. Everyone from the Hills are gonna know each other. Not everyone from the other group will know each other. It is possible that people from the two different groups know each other, just highly unlikely. Also everyone from the mountains are gonna know Tille Helton, and what happened to her.
These are just examples of the difference, and is by no means set in stone. There is no reason for a totally useless dumb ass can be from either place, there is also no reason that someone can't be the smartest guy/girl in the room just based on where they live. The main point is these are too completely different sets of people, different skills, different experiences, different tastes, different everything. One thing that I will beat a dead horse about the difference. Mountain folk are poor, poverty stricken poor. The other group is rich as all get out. Go crazy with the riches people. Also as a side note, if you wanna do something different than the rich person character type, we'll figure that out as needed. You won a raffle, or a guest of somebody, worked there, bodyguard, whatever as long as it kinda makes sense I'm not picky.
---- Story Information ----
The story will be broken down into three arcs. The first one is pretty much world building. Getting to know the characters, and meeting the groups and having the groups interact a little before moving on the second arc.
Arc one:
Katahrins
Our story starts out a week after the death of Tillie Helton. Tillie Helton was a beloved member of the county. Tillie was a kind and sweet young girl who few had bad to say about her. What happened to her was shocking to everyone, and a wake up call for The Unwanted that it was time to get as far away from there as they could. Things were further put into high gear as another just gets away with their life
As a group they get together and talk about where to go and how to get there. They come to figure out Knoxville is only two hours away. Where less than a day later the hate group catches up to them. Forcing them leave in a hurry.
Buckhead
Our story starts out two weeks after the events of the Gala. The Gala was turned upside down when powers start popping off without a warning. As a result three people were killed more were hurt. Details are at best a little hazy. These people have it better than Katahrins. These people have been pretty much forced indoors. As they trying to go about their lives things keep falling apart. Only a handful of places in town are even willing to let them into their buildings. Through this segregation they all meet up and in the end they two are forced to leave town and head north.
I know I just kinda, sorta, spilled the beans on the story. There will be plenty of twists and turns still to come. I only laid out the first arc just so everyone is on the same page. There will be at least two, maybe three arcs.
---- How do the powers work?----
These powers come at a cost. By that I mean for example blood, is used for the activation of the power. The more blood involved the larger the effect of the power. For example, a lighting user may only shoot a bolt based on a nick, but if the user was to slit their wrist open, they may be able to rain down lighting.
So while we have this awesome powers, there is a cost to using them. Going back to the idea of using blood, a PC doesn’t HAVE to use their own blood, you might get a gigantic douchebag using your blood to power themselves. Fear can turn enemies into allies and allies into enemies. As with anything there are different routes you can take to learning the use of these powers. A heavy power hitter with an AOE that uses a lot of blood or you can learn to be precise, making every drop count. Maybe a hybrid of both.
Get creative with your power set, not everyone needs to be an offensive powerhouse. Sometimes a wacky/support/defensive power can be the difference between making it out alive or getting killed.
The one part I have yet to mention. All of the PCs with powers, will have a brand of some sort. Think, Pulse l'cie brand from FFXIII or the fayth glyphs from FFX. A brand or a mark or something that identifies you as a power user
---- Who is Tillle Helton? ----
Tille Helton was much beloved teenager. She was the first person in the mountains for her powers to show up. She was raped, beatin, and lynched. As horrific and shocking as it was. No one really said anything against. They were all too scared of she might have done. For the Mountain folk, this was the turning point. This was the one sure fire sign to them that it was die on that mountain, life was hard enough before Tille Helton's murder.
----
I know I said it once and I'll say it again. Its gonna get dark around here.
If you have any comments, questions, complaints, so forth and so on. I'll be happy answer to the best that I can. Still need a co gm or two.
