Gaslands: a Palimpsest’s Tale
A Continuation of F67X
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What is Earth-F67X?
—————————————————————————It is an alien technology-influenced cyberpunk corporate dystopia version of Earth set slightly into the future, the active year being 2040. Noteable subsettings include North Capitol City, Allure City, Ximbic-8, Aeternus, the Quarantine Zone, the SWAG, and more! It is multiverse friendly.
How Am I Here?
—————————————————————————Due to its advanced defenses and the all-encompassing ribbon world Ximbic-8’s spatial distortions, you can’t just get to Earth any way you please. That said, you could be:
• an Earth native born on the planet;
• an outsider working with an organization already on the planet, such as Xanathan Industries or the Red Technocracy;
• an outsider native of Allure City, which rests atop the Iberean Peninsula;
• an inhabitant of Ximbic-8 who passed through an X-Portal connected to Earth;
• an inhabitant of Aeternus who road the Sarcoan family-curated dimensional elevator at the Pleiades Casino & Resort;
• an inhabitant of Hell who passed through a pre-existing and government-curated H-Portal;
• an outsider who visited the spatially-unsecured colonies on the Moon, Mars, etc, and used a government-curated teleportation device;
• an outsider on a transport shuttle passing through the short-range jump gate connecting outerspace to Earth space;
• or, if you have another idea, present it to the game owner!
How Strong Can I Be?
—————————————————————————On Earth, street or block level, unless you have a good reason. For details, review the C | I | M | P | T system. On Ximbic-8, combat is not expected as it is a story-focused setting, so any weapons you try to bring in there won’t follow your character along unless a special exception is made.
Overview
—————————————————————————This roleplay is oriented around two features:
1. an alien ribbon world known as Ximbic-8 that has auspiciously manifested around the planet Earth in the F67X universe. Ximbic-8 has various portals within it through which any character within the Verse may enter, although it does screen those who try to enter in order to protect itself from harm. While below is a list of Places, Species, and Factions, you may submit your own; however, all should involve entities that will be interacting with Ximbic-8.
2. A subset of North Capital City known as New New York situated in the metropolis sprawl stretching from what was formerly Atlanta through Boston. It features cyberpunk, late-stage capitalism dystopian, and slice-of-life themes, architecture is close, high, layered, with super structures like arcologies, enclaves, and the mainline defensive array.
That Damn Day
—————————————————————————Day to stride
Watch the all
Forestall the blink
The present died
Wistful weep
Watch the all
Forestall the blink
The present died
Wistful weep
Earth-F67X, August 2nd, 2040, +12:00 GMT:
The 32nd anniversary of the First Contact War, the name given to the Val’Gara invasion that wrought havoc on Earth from California to Chad, the latter and former country on which Earth’s ally, the Red Technocracy, detonated the last of their antimatter bombs.
The 7th anniversary of the Cataclysm, whereon the United Earths Confederacy, a unification of myriad Earths originated in universes that abutted the multiversal fault, perished in the fault’s abrupt rupture.
The 1st anniversary of NOW Dayy, which, in Apollo Amon’s immortal and paraphrased words, was ‘Not Our Worst Day … yet’, although it encompassed the Demonic Intrusion, Iberian Incident, Val’Gara Scare, Mutagenic Beam, Discorporate Explosion, and manifestation of Ximbic-8.
It was a date of dichotomies that humanity simultaneously dreaded even as it offered prayers of gratitude for how, against all odds, Earth and all that dwelt upon it miraculously endured; a mandatory global holiday where families pulled together and suicide hotlines incessantly rang; and the twenty-four hour period wherein the Mainline Defensive Array, along with all the rest of Earth’s surveillance apparatus, were most active. For Allure City, the alien metropolis that supplanted Spain, March 2nd meant a mandatory curfew and city-wide blackout; as such, everyone remained home lest they be shot on sight and all network activity was monitored, dampened, and subject to strict fines. In geostationary orbit high above the city’s center was Allure Central Station, the delicate atmospheric bubble of which glinted red as twenty million mines equipped with a dead man switch flashed a simulated countdown and the station’s many residents partook of their first evacuation drill via the gravimetric beam-rail elevator that connected the station to the military compound below.
On Ximbic-8, the ribbon world that, from a distance of 0.003 au, encompassed Earth in the undulation of its 0.6 au expanse and bathed the planet in the soft lavender light that poured through its translucent membrane, the date came and went almost unnoticed. Almost, aside from the jejune drone activity that increased through the otherwise blockaded Earth-bound portals. Ximbic-8, itself a conscious entity, was ancient and unperturbed by the callow paranoias of the cultures it knitted together. As the 8th Ximbic, one among the primordial universes created at the dawn of the Verse, it knew well its history:
In the beginning,
Before all else existed there was the Substrate Sublime, an infinite, yet unreal, Rössler attractor imbued with pure potential. From that cauldron of quantum chaos sprung the Verse, the story of the real within which all multiversal branches and their universal terminals lived and died. Of the oldest amongst these was Axis, an unbounded quasi-dissociated apeirotope universe superimposed and bisected along all other universal planes. Thence, supine on an empyral altar aloft in the nether of Axis’ cinereal midst, Autun lay in chimeric rapture and Ender, by Autun’s fancy conceived, subsumed itself throughout the Verse. Thus most universes were through Autun blessed with creative distinction and by Ender balanced; yet also there strove the personalities inherent in most universes, their internal Keichii. In the Ximbics these were absent qualities, for they, being self-aware and self-composed, required no external spark of imagination, nor interloper of subjective symmetry, nor anarchic dynamism.
Before all else existed there was the Substrate Sublime, an infinite, yet unreal, Rössler attractor imbued with pure potential. From that cauldron of quantum chaos sprung the Verse, the story of the real within which all multiversal branches and their universal terminals lived and died. Of the oldest amongst these was Axis, an unbounded quasi-dissociated apeirotope universe superimposed and bisected along all other universal planes. Thence, supine on an empyral altar aloft in the nether of Axis’ cinereal midst, Autun lay in chimeric rapture and Ender, by Autun’s fancy conceived, subsumed itself throughout the Verse. Thus most universes were through Autun blessed with creative distinction and by Ender balanced; yet also there strove the personalities inherent in most universes, their internal Keichii. In the Ximbics these were absent qualities, for they, being self-aware and self-composed, required no external spark of imagination, nor interloper of subjective symmetry, nor anarchic dynamism.
In spite of Ximbic-8’s ancient history and manifold lore, the day was young and pregnant with potential such that the events that unfolded were such worthy of remembrance.
Places
—————————————————————————| ☰ Ximbic-8 Open, yet simultaneously self-circumscribed, Ximbic-8 embraced the universes it inhabited and expressed toward whatever resided within it an inaudible neutrality toward life. In its hollow n-orthotopic membrane, permeated by a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere, thrived a multifarious continuum of existence adapted to its nigh-absent gravity: lakes coagulated bead-like in its midst; rivers weaved through the sedimentary products of its digestion that clinged not to its walls but, rather, hanged in its center as though suspended by an unseen force; soft as pale amethyst, semi-translucent vegetation draped the land and hovered gaily in the pseudo-sky akin to dandelion spores adrift in an eternal breeze. Fauna likewise floated, fashioned not of opaque flesh, but pellucid gels and gases, light and airy in body with forms reminiscent of pyrosomes, cubozoas, and cumulonimbi; however, while delicate in form, almost all of Ximbic-8’s natives were strong in mind and deftly wielded short-range telekinesis: from that fine instrument cities were constructed and scientific knowledge gleaned. As it multiplied its population, Ximbic-8 similarly expanded, each additional cubic kilometer centered on a cosmic portal. Amongst billions of light-shifted and intent-filtered way-gates, a mere ten-thousand sufficiently and recently accommodated instantaneous spacetime transit between Ximbic-8 and Earth, Q’ab, Careo Fas, Fortis, Terra, Ganaxavori, and Verisimilitude. Passage through one of these portals allowed Ximbic-8 to gaze on the soul of sojourner, then it rejected or accepted them, and if the latter it tattooed on them a symbolic and radiant glyph of their passion that was visible to all. These portals were the only means into Ximbic-8 due to a phenomenon, called the Sea of Broken Night, related to its immersion in the universes in which it was encompassed: spacetime beyond it was intricately and irrevocably warped and, at times, even broken; attempts to pass through this area were not unlike wandering lost in an infinite labyrinth where all paths inevitably terminated in futility.  Three regions thus-far identified in the long stretch of Ximbic's interior are: » Ximbic Central City, a technologically advanced metropolis and hub; here is where most of the portals are located. » Dium, a region resembling a whirling sea of solid metal plates and beams, flashing wires, and electro-radiance, this is a habitat that immigrants from Metallo find suitable; truly, the most beautiful junkyard in the multiverse. » Tuscre, a lush and enormous forest straight out of a fairytale, where wild magic flourishes in tune with nature and rivers wend gracefully through the twisted gravity of Ximbic's interior. | « Ximbic Central City »  ————————————— —————— —— |
| ☰ North Capital City In an effort to consolidate power in Capital City and its epicenter, Discorporate Tower, Apollo Amon instructed the government to seize, via eminent domain, much of lower Manhattan Island—everything south of Canal Street down through Battery Park—on the pretext of historical preservation. Dozens of skyscrapers, like 55 Water Street and 666 5th Avenue, were demolished on account of their lack of upkeep and general unsightliness. Military housing replaced the high rises in the form of two-hundred-year-old brownstones imported from Stuyvesant Heights, Brooklyn. Meanwhile, below, in the mammoth network of suddenly defunct subbasements, high-tech military equipment was installed and eventually became the Mainline Defensive Array. Some, however, were unfit for that purpose, and these, most of which bordered China Town, readily morphed into a subterranean sprawl replete with hobos, gypsies, and various other classifications of ne’er-do-well. » HTK HQ: It was in a division of a sublevel of one such forsaken foundation, inconspicuously accessible via the dilapidated and partially-flooded pre-modern subway system known as New Venice, that the headquarters of the Honorable Knights of Terra (HKT) were found. There, a hodgepodge of domestically-abandoned veterans, displaced rustics, and malcontent officers and enlisted conspired to thwart the infiltration of alien lifeforms into Earth’s biosphere. A coat of arms dominated the oil-rubbed bronze double-door entrance to their headquarters, arranged as two armor-plated medieval knights in an aggressive posture on either side of planet Earth while beneath them ran a scarlet banner that proclaimed: “Make Earth Great Again.” | « North Capital City »  ————————————— —————— —— |
Species
—————————————————————————| ☰ Humans Whether from the Gnaritas System, Careo Fas, Earth, or elsewhere, the human phenotype is as diffused throughout the Verse as it is distinctive with its evolutionary divergent traits almost exclusively limited to hues of skin, hair, and iris; pointiness of ears, eyes, and nose; sharpness of smell and sight; and thickness of body and pelt. Some might have patterned or textured skin, specialized eyes, or even more or less than five digits on their hands and feet. Often the genetic drift is so extensive they begin to identify as different races, such as dwarf, elf, or giant. ☰ Ixbic Natives of Ximbic-8, the Ixbic coloration is a pale and translucent violet both inside and out, thus the outlines of their various organs and the fluid and excrement therein contained are visible. Of a gel-like consistency, they are flexible and amorphous, eyes and other sensory organs chaotically distributed, and vary a great deal in size. Without formal limbs or vocal chords and imbued with minimal dexterity, they rely primarily on short-range telekinesis to overcome obstacles to interaction. ☰ Bangeeif Natives of Ximbic-8 and similar to the Ixbic, for the Bangeeifa few exceptions stand out: instead of gel-like, their substance is gaseous: thus they lack organs identifiable as such and interaction occurs exclusively by means of short-range telekinesis and telepathy; they tend to grow rather large, reminiscent of pyrosomes or cumulonimbus clouds, and are oft mistaken for inanimate natural phenomenon. ☰ Azot A lanky and dexterous simian species with blue-green fur, prehensile tail, slits in lieu of nose or nostrils, and a keratin skeletal system combined with skin that sweats a pungent oil secreted from its pores to allow rapid mend from any misadventure an Azot might encounter in its native jungle habitat on the planet Azot in the Su-laria galaxy; adults weigh up to 35 kg. ☰ Q’ush Lizard people and refugees of the Val’Gara harvest of the planet Q’ab in the Su-laria Galaxy, their average height is 1.5 meters, their skin a smooth mottled green coated in a reflective and viscous layer of moisture that preserves their internal body temperature, and their tongues are forked. ☰ Ganaxan The penta-limbed submoronic rift and cave dwellers of Ganaxavori, their hides are course and their large bulky bodies blend in quite readily with rocky landscapes. While not known for their intellect, they do exhibit signs of tribalism, shamanism, and it is not unheard of to encounter Ganaxan art. Tireless, naturally armored, and not distraction prone, they make excellent guards and laborers. ☰ Alakast Also from the Su-laria galaxy, although they have spread throughout most of it and call more than one planet home, the Alakast are an arachnoid spider-people 1 meter in height with an octogonal leg-span of 3 meters, multiple compound eyes, and a penchant for laying eggs in their art. ☰ Synth Machines imbued with hyper-advanced artificial intelligence and lifelike exteriors, these are the most variegated of all the lifeforms in the Verse, although their programming limits their capabilities and most are built to be companion models, so the majority of synth one encounters will be cute, cuddly, and friendly to a fault; however, looks can deceive, as some are built for the purpose of assassination. | « Human »  « Ixbic »  « Bangeeif »  « Azot »  « Ganaxan »  ————————————— —————— —— |
Factions
—————————————————————————☰ Discorporate Productions
By far the largest for-profit organization on the planet, with a net worth measured in the trillions, this corporation is almost indistinguishable from Earth’s “One World” government, a veil that is thinner each day President Apollo Amon is in charge of both.
☰ Comte Foundation
Dozens of large corporations thrive under the umbrella of the Comte Foundation, prominent amongst them BMW, Stryker, Virgin, Aldi, and The Abditory, the latter of which—personally directed by Czes Schafer’s lawyer, Lionel Duperie—serves as a cover for surveillance, subterfuge, and humanitarian operations worldwide while officially it functions as a purveyor of wetware solutions to Earth’s defense forces. The Comte Foundation’s headquarters are located in Frankfurt, Eurozone, and occupy the top half of the Messeturm. It remains Earth’s second largest MegaCorp even as it reels from the extensive infrastructure damage that surged across western Europe in the aftermath of the Iberian Incident.
☰ The Honorable Knights of Terra
An unclassified anti-alien hate organization based in North Capital City, the Honorable Knights of Terra try to influence politics to keep Earth free of alien interlopers and, albeit less openly, engage in more direct means of combating what they view as an alien infestation of their planet.
☰ The Cizran Empire
Although in a galaxy, perhaps even a universe, far away, many former denizens of the Cizran Empire have found refuge in Ximbic-8, but almost all feel unease and the weight of their former home’s spiritual shadow.
Rules
—————————————————————————☰ Player Interactions
» Be respectful to one another as this is intended to be a cooperative effort rather than a fight.
» Expect mature in-character content.
» While there is no minimum post length, strive to render a complete scene that is descriptive, engaging, and advances the story.
» This isn't turn-based, so post whenever you want (within reason ~_^).
» Do not edit new content into a previous post: people won't notice it. Just write another post.
» Proof read with a focus on quality over quantity.
» Embedded graphics, if present, should complement the written word rather than overwhelm the screen.
» Standard RPGuild rules apply.
» Expect mature in-character content.
» While there is no minimum post length, strive to render a complete scene that is descriptive, engaging, and advances the story.
» This isn't turn-based, so post whenever you want (within reason ~_^).
» Do not edit new content into a previous post: people won't notice it. Just write another post.
» Proof read with a focus on quality over quantity.
» Embedded graphics, if present, should complement the written word rather than overwhelm the screen.
» Standard RPGuild rules apply.
☰ Technology
In the aftermath of the First Contact War and with help from The Red Technocracy, Earth’s government underwent leaps and bounds in the advancement of technology, with teleportation, space travel, energy barriers, and antimatter missiles all augmenting their arsenal. While these high-end utilities are not available to the public, society still benefited in the forms of pollution-free energy, limited space tourism, and an almost unlimited assortment of body augmentations—all compliments of the mega corporations and cartels that effectively run modern Earth’s society.
☰ Magic
On Earth, real magic, historically, is incredibly rare and almost always stems from mortals forming contracts with spiritual beings, such as demons, in order to obtain power; seldom is this to their ultimate benefit. However, recent interaction with alien species have reinvigorated research into this area and, as a consequence, the line between magic and technology considerably blurs with respect to psionics research and the application of bioforce. Also, in the fallout of the Mutagentic Beam or a consequence of interaction with radiation or beings infected with the Vesuvian Virus, several creatures on Earth, humans included, have mutated; sometimes this is beneficial and translates to, for lack of a better word, superpowers, such as limited earth bending or energy absorption.
Characters
—————————————————————————☰ Guidelines
» The character sheet is intended as a guide and is not a mandatory format.
» Characters must have a corresponding aesthetic to or, if not, explanation for being on Ximbic-8.
» You aren't required to select from either the Species or Factions list.
» You are welcome to create your own species, faction, or even universe from which your character hails.
» While characters may have powers, they cannot be game breaking, limitless, nor elevate the character beyond the setting.
» Characters must have a corresponding aesthetic to or, if not, explanation for being on Ximbic-8.
» You aren't required to select from either the Species or Factions list.
» You are welcome to create your own species, faction, or even universe from which your character hails.
» While characters may have powers, they cannot be game breaking, limitless, nor elevate the character beyond the setting.
☰ C | I | M | P | T
Characters in this setting should not be omnipotent, omniscient, nor omnipresent, so we enforce a scale where the more of one type of power a character possesses the less they have of another. Thus, along five manifestations of power (clout, intellect, magic, physical, and technological) scaled from 0, indicative of an average person, to 5, indicative of a superhuman, we allow the allocation of 7 points. As an example, someone with a great deal of money (i.e.: clout) might buy an advanced machine, but they won't necessarily know how to use it: such is true of Apollo Amon, Earth-F67X’s president; he is reasonably smart but also the richest and most well-connected individual on the planet, thus he would rate a clout of 5 and an intellect of 2.
☰ Sheet
Name
> real name, nicknames, or call-signs.
Physical Description
> gender, age, height, weight, coloration, tattoos, markings, clothes, items typically in their possession; essentially anything another person would notice when they see your character.
Soul Sigil
> only necessary if your character enters Ximbic-8, this is a light-emitting visible-through-clothing tattoo on your character that is symbolic of whatever their identity is wrapped up in.
Out of the Ordinary
> # C | # I | # M | # P | # T
> skills, powers, abilities, pull, wealth, education, augmentations, and anything else the character can do or possesses that sets them apart from the average human.
Species
> if not one of the above predefined species, describe the appearance of the species and give a background on where it originates from.
Purpose
> trade skills, political alliances, and overall reason for being on Ximbic-8.
History Thus far
—————————————————————————» Spencer is chased around Ximbic Central City by a Hilth (law enforcement robo-chimera), but escapes into a weird little shoppe. Therein is a Cizran named Belacrazu who sells experiences. He takes two of Spencer’s in exchange for one “on the house.”
» Czes says goodbye with Lionel to Earth, gets in a jaguar-shaped extra-armor, and walks through a portal to Ximbic. However, when he gets to Ximbic-8, he's no longer in his extra-armor, just him, alone, in a field gazing up at the stars. He takes a nap.
» In a run-down alley of North Capitol City, former NYC, Mateo lays on his bunk in his mobile MercSades “apartment” van he shares with an acquaintance and jacks into the net to talk to a virtual therapist.
» Mateo needs some time to think about his session, so he goes for a midnight stroll, but stumbles across a dead guy ripe with all sorts of cybernetic implants. He drags the body to a fixer-designer named Fesyen.
» Fesyen has Mateo detained while he appraises the value of the corpse’s implants. Hours later when Mateo is free, he allows him to take some outerwear in exchange. Mateo takes it, and murders Fesyen on his way out the door.
» Dom talks to the military counselor about his upcoming gender surgery. After work is over, he goes for a stroll in central park, meets a girl, they hit it off. Then he attends his evening HKT meeting in New Venice.
» At the HKT meeting, targets for elimination are assigned. Dom meets a woman named Han, and they decide to team up and get rid of an Azot (little monkey alien) street performer monopolizing attention at the corner of Fifth Ave and 19th ST. On the way there, Han scares Dom with a drive-by shooting. They arrive at the site of the Azot and Dom advises Han to play it cool, but then his military pager goes off and he has to run to the Mainline Defensive Array.
» Mateo makes his way to Jag for a safe night’s sleep and has a weird dream. Turns out, a billion other people had the same dream.
» Hundreds of millions of people are reporting missing in what is called the Rapture of the Forgotten.
» Czes says goodbye with Lionel to Earth, gets in a jaguar-shaped extra-armor, and walks through a portal to Ximbic. However, when he gets to Ximbic-8, he's no longer in his extra-armor, just him, alone, in a field gazing up at the stars. He takes a nap.
» In a run-down alley of North Capitol City, former NYC, Mateo lays on his bunk in his mobile MercSades “apartment” van he shares with an acquaintance and jacks into the net to talk to a virtual therapist.
» Mateo needs some time to think about his session, so he goes for a midnight stroll, but stumbles across a dead guy ripe with all sorts of cybernetic implants. He drags the body to a fixer-designer named Fesyen.
» Fesyen has Mateo detained while he appraises the value of the corpse’s implants. Hours later when Mateo is free, he allows him to take some outerwear in exchange. Mateo takes it, and murders Fesyen on his way out the door.
» Dom talks to the military counselor about his upcoming gender surgery. After work is over, he goes for a stroll in central park, meets a girl, they hit it off. Then he attends his evening HKT meeting in New Venice.
» At the HKT meeting, targets for elimination are assigned. Dom meets a woman named Han, and they decide to team up and get rid of an Azot (little monkey alien) street performer monopolizing attention at the corner of Fifth Ave and 19th ST. On the way there, Han scares Dom with a drive-by shooting. They arrive at the site of the Azot and Dom advises Han to play it cool, but then his military pager goes off and he has to run to the Mainline Defensive Array.
» Mateo makes his way to Jag for a safe night’s sleep and has a weird dream. Turns out, a billion other people had the same dream.
» Hundreds of millions of people are reporting missing in what is called the Rapture of the Forgotten.
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