[OOC] No Gods or Kings. Only Man. Bioshock/Rapture RP

[Kingfisher]

No Gods or Kings. Only Man.

“I am Andrew Ryan, and I’m here to ask you a question: Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow? No, says the man in Washington. It belongs to the poor. No, says the man in the Vatican. It belongs to God. No, says the man in Moscow, it belongs to everyone. I rejected those answers. Instead I chose something different. I choose the impossible. I choose…Rapture. A city where the artist would not fear the censor, where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality, where the great would not be constrained by the small. And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city as well”-Andrew Ryan

Rapture: Andrew Ryan’s wonder city. A culmination of submolecular bonding, scientific genius, and the drive and passion of one of the greatest men in America. Situated at the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean, Rapture was birthed with the intention of evading the inevitable nuclear apocalypse, but quickly became so much more than that.
Constructed from buildings built to withstand the perilous pressures of the Ocean’s deepest depths, and with enough imported supplies and home-grown industries to survive for generations without coming into contact with the world above, Rapture is truly a modern marvel, albeit one hidden from the prying eyes of those not considered worthy enough to grace the reinforced glass tunnels of the shining city.

The year is 1950. Rapture has been an established city for four years, and the gears of industry have long since been set in motion. Several large corporations have already been set up within Ryan’s undersea utopia, as well as numerous smaller establishments. The ethics system, or lack thereof, within Rapture allows for a great deal of leeway in terms of the nature of these institutions, meaning that everything from shady laboratories to legal crack houses have begun popping up all over the cities steely streets.
It is a time of prosperity and ingenuity within Ryan’s shinning city-the “Golden Age” of Rapture-yet the first few whispers of unease have begun to flitter about the place, ripe seeds of doubt being sewn into the minds of the troubled. In order to uphold and maintain his paradise under-the-sea, Andrew Ryan has been forced to bring in a larger workforce, but many of these newcomers are having second thoughts about the laws which prevent Rapture’s inhabitants from leaving. Unions have begun to surface, and these groups have far larger backings than Ryan would like to admit…

OOC:

No Gods or Kings is an RP set during the Golden Age of Rapture, a few years before the events of Burial at Sea, and a lengthy amount of time before the original Bioschock game. The game is set around the time that Andrew Ryan begun to expand upon Rapture, bringing in new inhabitants in an attempt to make the city feel less isolated, and so players will have the choice of either being one of the “1st wave” inhabitants of Rapture (The original innovators or workmen that Ryan recruited) or the “2nd wave” (the newer populous).

Players can either take on the role of Characters who have previously appeared in the Bioschock series, or create completely original characters to play. Alternatively players can also play a previously established character, but make edits to their backstory, role within Rapture, appearance etc. No Gods or Kings is a retelling of the story of Rapture, and so events that transpire in the cannon may not necessarily happen in this RP (constants and variables *nudge nudge*) and players can also chose to have a custom character of theirs take on the role that would previously have been filled by a franchise character (e.g replacing Fontaine), as long as it does not conflict with any other players characters/posts.

Andrew Ryan will be GM controlled, although players are welcome to write him into their posts (With the go-ahead from the GM or a co-GM), as long as;
• It makes sense for him to be there
• He doesn't do anything uncharacteristic
• He isn't randomly killed/kidnapped/harmed etc.

Beginner players may apply for one character. Upon “proving” themselves they may apply for a second or third character, with the consent of the GM or a Co-GM.

Character Application Sheet:

Name:

Age:

Appearance (pictures or description, or both):

Personality:

Backstory:

Any other notes:

[Palamon]

Character Application Sheet WIP - Will finish this weekend

Name: Todd O'Hara

Age: 26

Job: "Motivator"

Appearance

portait

A handsome young man by most standards, if you can look past the the crooked nose and slightly off kilter jaw, occupational injuries. Mr. O'Hara stands a full 6 ft tall, a broad and imposing figure. His back is thick with muscles and his arms 'just' fit into the sleeves of his pinstripe suit. His shoulders make his shadow appear rigid and square. His eyes glisten in the artificial light of the city, and thick dark hair makes him look only more at home in the depths of the city.

Personality: Mr. O'Hara is an embodiment of moral neutrality. He's done terrible things and he's done benevolent things, but the one constant is that he'll do anything for money. The idea of ethics escapes him, and personally he really doesn't care. He'll break the leg of a single mother or he'll make a donation to a widow foundation, actions are not based on thought out process or organized systems of code, but rather on immediate emotional feel.

He's a proud man, and he presents a suave and careless demeanor. This demeanor only falters when aggravated as he has been know to have quite the temper.

Backstory: Born the son of Irish Immigrants, Todd O'Hara never really had much. Growing up education was thrown to the side and what he know he learned on the streets of New York as a news boy. He got his first taste of violence when he made the mistake of joining in a fair work protest. That's where realized what he was gonna do when got older. So he started beating people up for money. He found himself on the other side the protest lines, beating down on protesters, and getting paid by any company who needed "labor motivation".

To summarize: Big guy, small brain. Moral compass - almost non-existent. Works for whoever pays most. "Motivates" employees who may be disgruntled or seek to cause "issues" with production and business.

[Kingfisher]

Name: Madeline “Mad Maddie” Hollinghurst

Age: 19

Appearance (pictures or description, or both): Maddie’s face is lean and slender, with a small cluster of freckles gathered around her slim nose. Her eyes are a yellowy green, and her eyebrows have been finely plucked. She has a sharp chin, broad forehead, and a wiry neck. Maddie has raven hair that has been cut short for practicality. She has a skinny build, with faint curves, and a surprising amount of muscle for someone with such delicate features. Her body is fairly toned, with a hint of softness.
Madeline dresses in a fashion that would be considered tomboyish by most (partially due to personal preference, and partially due to personal preference), often clad in a grey trench coat, similar to the one worn by most of Rapture’s police force.

Picture

Personality: Cool, calm, and collected on the surface, Maddie is unhinged, maniacal, and otherwise sick in the head. A volatile young woman with an aptitude for violence, Miss Hollinghurst is an amoral individual, possessing a complete disregard for the rights and feelings of others. Impulsive and aggressive, Madeline has a history of behavioural problems, vicious outbreaks, and sadistic tendencies.

While not perhaps someone most people would wish to be aquatinted with, Madeline’s lust for a fight, coupled with her drive to get things done and combat skills make her a formidable asset to Ryan’s security force.

Backstory: Maddie was born in Liverpool, England, initially being raised by a family that were troubled in both the psychological and financial sense. Madeline’s father was a dockworker who put in multiple shifts, before spending all of the day’s earnings on drugs and booze, and then going home and beating his mother and his baby girl. When he was particularly irate, daddy Hollinghurst would lock young Maddie in her room for days on end, accompanied by several fresh bruises and scars for good measure.
The young girl grew up without friends or siblings, and spent her leisurely time catching rats and birds in traps that she’d set up about the family’s home, before breaking their necks once she’d claimed her bloody prizes.

The start of the Second World War saw Madeline evacuated to Devon, where she was taken in by the eccentric Doctor and Mrs Blackwood. The radical change in lifestyle took some adjusting to, but Madeline quickly became very fond of the pair, liking them a great deal more than her birth parents. The Blackwood’s tutored young Maddie, and she soon fell in love with the vast expanse of books that were available in their homes library, after the Doctor had taught her how to read and write.

Despite finding life more enjoyable, Maddie continued her old hobby of capturing and torturing animals, up until one fateful evening where Doctor Blackwood caught the young girl in the act. Fearful of how he might react, Madeline was rather surprised to the find that her foster father was not so much horrified by what he found as he was fascinated, taking an even greater interest in young Madeline. The Doctor begun to develop a physiological profile of Madeline, based off of both behavioural observations and interview sessions he held with her, diagnosing her with several different personality disorders, as well a plethora of psychopathic tendencies. Rather than try putting her in therapy or giving her medication, Doctor Blackwood instead encouraged her to take her urges out animals, in an attempt to placate the “darkness” inside her, and make her less of a threat to other humans.

Taking a fondness to his adopted daughter, Doctor Blackwood begun to pay for Madeline to be tutored in several extra-curricular activities, buying her lessons in everything from art, literature, and ballet, to fencing, marksmanship, and martial arts. While she really took a shining to the combat based activities, Madeline still immensely enjoyed the less-aggressive classes.

Madeline spent the duration of the war under the Blackwood’s tutelage-growing especially close to the good Doctor, as they bonded over their butchering of woodland animals-and grew to become a rather intellectual and competent young woman, becoming somewhat forwards thinking for someone with such an arsenal of mental defects.
During the course of the war Madeline’s birth farther was conscripted into the army, ending up being killed by friendly fire, while her mother died during the Liverpool Blitz. With no parents to return to, Maddie remained with the Blackwood’s, living out her idealistic lifestyle within Devon.

Unfortunately, even in paradise the sunsets.

One of Doctor Blackwood’s former patients, Edgar Burgan, broke into the Blackwood estate in the dead of night, slipping into their mansion without being detected. Unhinged and completely unstable, Edgar butchered the Doctor and his wife in their sleep, only missing Maddie because she was in the basement fiddling with her rat traps.
With no other immediate family, Madeline was sent to America, to stay with Mrs Blackwood’s brother, a man known simply as Sullivan.
While Maddie did not get along with Sullivan quite as well as she had done with her foster parents, there was a mutual respect between the pair, the man occasionally sharpening the young girl’s combat skills, as well as teaching her a few new tricks of his own.

Unbenounced to Madeline, Sullivan was Andrew Ryan’s personal head of security, and when the Rapture project was put into motion Sullivan was expected to go with Ryan to his shinning city.

Rather than demand that Madeline accompany him, Sullivan offered her the choice to either go with him to Rapture, or be set up with another family and live elsewhere. Having no further attachment to the surface world, Maddie agreed to go with Sullivan, looking at it as a chance for a new life.
Madeline adjusted surprisingly easily to life under the sea, enjoying the feeling of isolation that came with living in Rapture.
One evening, Ryan was hosting a high society dinner for his associates in the Rapture Central Council, and Sullivan attended, taking Madeline with him. When the topic of what lengths Ryan’s security forces should go to was raised, Madeline became extremely vocal about her opinions, proposing several methods on how to keep people in line, much to the dismay of Sullivan. However, Andrew Ryan became rather fascinated with all that Madeline had to say, listening intently and even prompting her to continue as she mouthed off about different ways to make a man forcibly submit.

After the Dinner, Ryan contacted Madeline, informing her that he was building an elite team of “Sharks” to help keep Rapture clear of “parasites”, and offering her a role within his special squadron. Maddie instantly excepted, and soon begun training under the tutelage of one of Ryan’s top enforcers.
Now that talks of uprising have begun to drift about the slums, Madeline has been given the task of keeping tabs on the growing threat of the workers unions, being authorised to respond with extreme prejudice if the situation demands it.

Mad Maddie has been set up with an apartment not too far from the Rapture docks, giving her a keen view of the goings on of the lower classes, and a network of informants to feed relevant Intel back to her.

Any other notes: One of Andrew Ryan’s “Sharks”, Madeline is a formidable opponent, despite her instabilities, possessing great skill for someone so young.

[cerozer0]

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but could I make a bounty hunter/detective-type character?

[Kingfisher]

Yeah, I don't see any reason why not. Rapture had a police force, so that's just as feasible. Crime at this stage is fairly low though, but I suppose players could always change that.

[cerozer0]

Alrightie! I'll work on my character then, and probably have it up today or tomorrow.

[Kingfisher]

Ah good, good. I look forwards to it.

[cerozer0]

WIP (this is taking longer then expected)

Mary

Name: Mary Himura

Age: 24

Appearance (pictures or description, or both): Mary is a short and healthily stout woman, her arms and legs well muscled and her face fairly pretty. A child of an American mother and Asian father, her heritage shows clearly from the foods she cooks to the clothes she wears. Faintly colored skin, a scar of her nose, and dark eyes dominate her face, which is normally formed into a stoic look. Mary's hair is long and dark, reaching her mid-back in a cascade of deep browns and reds, and it is normally tied back in a loose ponytail to keep it out of her face. Her eyes are a deep brown and her face is small and round, cheeks a faint pink at all times. On the bridge of her nose is a long scar, faded and semi-healed with time, and apparently it was gained during a 'lab accident' when she was younger. Dressed normally in a variety of dresses when not working, however when she does have a case, Mary dawns darker, much more resourceful outfits.

Personality: Quiet, thoughtful, and ruthless. Doesn't speak unless spoken too and seems painfully polite at first glance, but inside she is a mess of witty comments and dark humor. When she has a job she is known to never give up or quit until it's complete, having a mind set of 'if money is involved I'll do it'. A real neutral party, politics and justice are forgotten, replaced by thoughts of self-gain. While she is rather greedy, Mary does actually have a bit of sympathy for those lower then her and is not oblivious to the hardships of others.

On a job she is quick and quiet.

Back Story:

Any other notes: