The Story So Far
***Ark Ghost Archives Accessed***
Welcome to Steelport
Steelport is a small island city just off the East Coast of America. It's also where we'll be meeting and staying for the duration of our time together. You can get here by boat or plane, I've already included the necessary arrangements - just specify a date and time.
The central area of the city is the financial and business district, and home to the city's wealthy and powerful. There are several luxury apartment complexes scattered throughout the area. This is where we'll be meeting. Head for Malupo Industries and tell the help desk you're here for the job interview.
The rest of Steelport is similarly divided - there's a nuclear power plant in the northwest sector that provides power to the city, along with a small neighbourhood. The southwest section houses most of the city's casinos, red light districts, hotels and other tourist attactions or small businesses. The entire eastern part of the city is where its industrial works are located, as well as its air and sea ports.
Steelport is sin city, so expect to see gangsters, corrupt police officers, hookers and the like nearly everywhere in some form or other. Be careful who you speak to and remember that everything in this city has a price. Trust no one.
The Ark
Now we answer the question you've been wondering all the while. What exactly is the Ark? In one word, it's the future. I'm not waxing philosophical here - it's a self-sustaining facility built to withstand the End Times, and contains a decade of advanced techonological research. The facility has been abandoned and shut down, lost to time.
Richard Blackburn, the man who created us, returned a little more than ten years ago to restart this facility and uploaded an AI, Alice, into the main computer. Since then, Alice has been managing the facility and repurposing it to our needs - there are living spaces, armories, training areas and the like as was intended for when we were old enough.
Most of the research is no longer in progress, but Alice has them all on file and keeps tabs on similar projects in the outside world. We could build an arsenal of highly advanced weapons if we wanted to... and we might need to.
The Ark runs on its own power source, has areas dedicated to maintaining food and water supplies and the like. The only problem is that it's underground. If you need to live somewhere with a little sunlight, I'll arrange it for you.
The Players
These are the groups or individuals that are like us, pieces on the chessboard. Some of them are our enemies, few are friends... and I say that in the loosest definition of the word.
Aegis
Aegis is an international agency dedicated to preventing threats on a global scale. They don't sound so bad until you realise they are willing to do anything to keep the world safe - even if it means trampling on international laws and basic human rights. They're funded by a few governments but don't answer to any of them...
They have the latest weapons and technologies on hand, and they're not afraid to use it. They hunted the world's most dangerous criminals and terrorists, and they're damn good at it. If they knew people like us existed, would they work with us or against us?
The Righteous
A religious cult that believe in-vitro fertilisation is the work of the devil, and that similar technologies are dangerous and evil. It doesn't make them backward or anything - they're more than willing to use guns and technology. They're just not big fans of genetics research. I don't think I have to explain why they're our enemies - we're abominations to be put down by them.
They have deep pockets and use them to frightening effect. Most government officials who lobby against such research are probably funded by the Righteous... and the leak in Project Genesis and Lazarus likely came as a result of their sabotage.
The Brotherhood
No one knows what this group is really called, but most intelligence agencies have taken to calling them the Brotherhood. They're a league of assassins, to use the cliched term, but that's not all they do. They steal secrets and swear allegiance only to the highest bidder. They're very specific about the kind of contracts they take - the ones that most other hitmen or mercenaries say are impossible to pull off, and they never fail.
I'm including them because this one is personal - they're the people who trained me. I don't know if they were the ones responsible for the break-in or if they simply intercepted me from the culprit, but I was their weapon of choice in America for a good long while, until I learnt the truth.
They knew how I came to be and it's a good bet they know there are others like me, which means none of us are safe if they come calling for blood... or recruits.
Unknown
There are other threats. Threats that might not even be terrestial or from Earth. I don't know. The Ark's systems only picked up disturbing patterns or warning signs like Richard Blackburn did but we don't have enough information to know who else is out there.
One thing is for certain - if our creator thought he needed to bring us back together in order to stop it, you can bet whatever's coming is dangerous as hell... and maybe literally so.
So after reading all this, I can understand if you're not too eager to join up. If you fear for the lives of the family you have, or you think this is another prank or conspiracy nut rant, feel free to ignore it.
Here is what the Ark has on you, and is up to date with public records. If you accept my invitation, it will also keep track of any information you provide and the progress of your abilities and development. It will keep a record so that if we fail, those who come after us will know what it'll take to survive whatever finished us.
Basic RPG rules apply - no godmodding, keep all content tasteful and PG-13. Be respectful to your fellow players.
Roster:
Sarah Blackburn - Reaper
***Ark Ghost Archives Accessed***
Doctor Blackburn
Ark Research Audio Log 1
6 May 1989 07:00PM
Hi... Is this thing recording? Oh, I guess it is.
After decades of hard work, research and bypassing international laws, we've finally caught a break. We've finally managed to set up the Ark. It helps that we're funded by a few government owned shell companies, I guess. The whole basis of our work is of immense value to them, even if they don't want to admit it to the public. In Genesis, after God sent the flood to cleanse the world, He made a promise to Noah that never again would he send such a flood to wipe out the entire planet again.
I don't think He ever accounted for the fact that we might do it to ourselves. Well, maybe He did, but that's whole free will argument, right? God will just sit by and let us destroy ourselves if that's the path we insist on? Anyway, it's why we built this place - and named it after Noah's ark. World War II, the Cold War, nuclear deterrents and all that - humanity has become way too adept at destruction. What if we create our own extinction event? What if one day all those warheads are no longer deterrents and someone does push that red button? Will we ever manage to survive a nuclear winter, or a meteor on a collision course, or the next Ice Age?
This Ark isn't just going to be a bunker of a chosen few meant to survive, no, this is where we're placing the hope of humanity. It's everything out of every fantasy or science fiction novel ever written and we are look for a way to make it real. We're planning for every eventuality and producing countermeasures - aliens, zombies, the Second Coming... well, maybe the last one is a little out of our reach but someone here is going to try.
I'm here to oversee Project Genesis - and create the next Noah. Well, metaphorically, anyway.
Doctor Blackburn
Ark Research Audio Log 2
Project Genesis
18 May 1989 08:50PM
The Ark is amazing. Well, I knew it would be when I first started working here, but I never thought it would be quite like this. The whole place is effectively a country on its own - we've got an independent supply of food, water, oxygen and electricity. The whole facility stretches across an entire city and is virtually undetectable. We don't want to draw any attention to ourselves, and we certainly don't want uninvited guests wandering in.
It's been almost two weeks since I started recording my work on Project Genesis. I must admit, when I started theorising with my colleagues about how we might go about self-directed evolution, it was mostly a dream. It mostly still is - no scientist with an ounce of common sense will tell you we can take God's place and just create a new life out of nothing. No, we're working with the base code this world was programmed with and we can't change that, but we can try to improve on the design or accelerate the growth of it. Do you know how much potential remains unlocked in our genetic material? If we can just find a way to unlock it...
Here lies the main problem with Project Genesis - you can't just 'hack' someone's DNA and give them new physical traits and give them superpowers, no matter what the comics say. No, when I said we were creating the next Noah, I meant it - the next incarnation of humanity with superhuman abilities that can survive nuclear winters, Ice Ages, ecological collapses. A simple search on the Internet and you can find many amazing stories of humans surviving impossible odds or doing incredible feats when threatened or fighting to survive. Imagine a whole race of individuals who can survive days in subzero temperatures, or fight lions off barehanded.
Unfortunately, this is where I fear the government's involvement in funding the Ark... A race of human beings who can survive extinction events is also an army of super-soldiers. My entire team is in agreement on this - we will do our best to ensure that the children born of Project Genesis will reflect the best of humanity. We've had less than 100 years of peace in recorded human history... I hope Project Genesis will be a step in prolonging that period.
Doctor Blackburn
Ark Research Audio Log 3
Project Lazarus
5 June 1989 07:00PM
Well, I am now placed in charge of a second project - Lazarus. Well, it falls pretty much in line with Genesis, and I have to credit Dr. Eva Core for her insight. She posited that perhaps the key to our future lies in our history. Stories and legends of famous warriors, or the existence of demigods and witches. What if these legends of Hercules, King Arthur, Merlin, of Oracles in Greece... what if they really existed or really managed to do the wonders they did? It would mean the goal of Project Genesis has already become reality - and all we really need to do is figure out how these characters of legend came to be?
The possibilities are endless - it would mean that superpowers could become a real thing in the future of humankind. Project Lazarus has been approved and has begun its work - locating possible descendants, burial sites, artifacts - anything that would give us the information we need... and if results are promising... if we are lucky and crazy enough to try... bring legends back to life. This is likely to be my last log in a long time. I suspect we will be kept quite busy for months.
Doctor Blackburn
Ark Research Audio Log 4
10 August 1990 07:00PM
Project Genesis is a reality. We have successfully created the first life of humanity's next generation. We're naming her Sarah. It may be a little presumptuous of us considering she's just a bundle of cells at this point, but we're hopeful. Project Lazarus bore fruit. To think that centuries, millenia of human history would be lighting our way forward...
Enhanced intelligence and physical abilities, hyper-regenerative abilities, increased endurance and tolerance for extreme conditions... Sarah is likely never going to fall sick, or get cancer, and any injuries she might suffer is likely to heal in days at most... well, at least if they aren't immediately fatal. We're hopefully not going to test her that far. I suppose those tests are going to have to wait - she's just a fetus right now and it'll be years before we can even observe any of these traits or even gain a glimpse of her ability.
We're already discussing how we'll proceed if Sarah does manage to fully develop. She has nature on her side, but she needs to be nurtured. I'm thinking of bringing her home with me, and I will raise her like my own daughter. The rest of my team agree that any child born of Project Genesis should be given a home and allowed to have a childhood. Some of them have even volunteered to adopt the next few children. We might be getting ahead of ourselves here, but we'll have to figure this out anyway. There's no way a handful of us could raise every single successful Genesis birth. We will have to get in touch with agencies, or find some way to get these children to loving homes.
Project Lazarus is still finding a way to resurrect, for lack of a better term, the genetic samples of legends we've found. We'll likely have to go the way of Genesis and raise them from infancy... but we are hopeful.
Doctor Blackburn
Ark Research Audio Log 5
30 October 1990
I've been a fool. How could I have been so blind? We discovered that the Ark servers were discreetly saving and uploading our files to a separate location. It seems the government agencies funding us have also been keeping tabs. I've moved all my research material onto a ghost server within the archives... but anything that's already been leaked will remain that way...
I'm not stupid either - they know about Sarah and they most likely have plans for her. I need to make sure she remains safe. We have other Genesis children in gestation, but they only know about Sarah so far - hopefully. My team and I are already looking at moving Project Genesis off the Ark... or at the very least, keeping our children safe.
Thank God for small mercies, our success with Lazarus came after we discovered the leak. We can protect Lazarus from them too. We want to find a way to ensure humanity survives an extinction event, not breed super-soldiers capable of creating them.
Doctor Blackburn
Final Audio Log
Date and Time Unknown
They got Sarah.
We've sent the other children away. Some of my team have gone off the grid. They're either out of the country with a baby in tow or looking for a family to raise them without alerting them. Project Lazarus has been declared a failure officially, but the babies from that project are on their way out of the government's reach too.
If only I didn't lose Sarah.
But I will find her.
Doctor Blackburn
Ark Audio Log
1 January 2000
It's been ten years.
I'm back at the Ark. It's fallen into disrepair and gathered an inch of dust... but we built this place to survive the end of the world. I return here with one purpose... to finish what I started. The world didn't end last night, but science has caught up to where the Ark was ten years ago - genetic research, human cloning, weapons research... I came back here to make sure whatever we discovered or created here remains buried.
I also returned to make sure the Ark never goes offline. I'm uploading an AI into the server known as Alice. She will be maintaining the Ark, ensuring its facilities keep running. Repair drones will be created for maintenance. Internet and news traffic will be monitored in an attempt to locate all the children of Projects Genesis and Lazarus. Alice will prioritise the location and contact of Sarah Blackburn.
She is where it begins and where it ends.
Sarah... if you're listening to this, then it means Alice found you. It also means you've seen every file and heard every audio log regarding Genesis and Lazarus. Now you know the truth... and you can finish what I started. Find your brothers and sisters. A storm is gathering, and all of you will be right at the center of it. I may never see you again but just as I hoped the Ark would be humanity's future, I pray it will become yours.
Sarah Blackburn
Ark Audio Log
7 June 2014
My name is Sarah Blackburn.
You might know me better as the Ghost. The same Ghost that's been all over the media. If you know why you're getting this message, you know how to get in touch.
If you don't, then I'm afraid I'm about shatter your world wide open. You've probably accessed all the other audio files already, so I'll keep it short. If you don't know why you're getting this message... you're the hope of humanity Dr. Blackburn described in his logs.
You're the child born of Project Genesis and Lazarus.
I don't think you need much more convincing - you have superhuman abilities, things nobody else can do. You've never fallen sick, or never had an injury lasting longer than a few days. Your parents might have even been part of the team that created you... if they're not already dead.
Why am I contacting you? I'm calling you home. Our enemies are gathering and the storm is growing deadly. We're the only ones able to stop it.
You don't have to come if you don't want to, but we're all being hunted. You can try and hide and die alone or you can make a stand with me. With us.
Welcome to Steelport
Steelport is a small island city just off the East Coast of America. It's also where we'll be meeting and staying for the duration of our time together. You can get here by boat or plane, I've already included the necessary arrangements - just specify a date and time.
The central area of the city is the financial and business district, and home to the city's wealthy and powerful. There are several luxury apartment complexes scattered throughout the area. This is where we'll be meeting. Head for Malupo Industries and tell the help desk you're here for the job interview.
The rest of Steelport is similarly divided - there's a nuclear power plant in the northwest sector that provides power to the city, along with a small neighbourhood. The southwest section houses most of the city's casinos, red light districts, hotels and other tourist attactions or small businesses. The entire eastern part of the city is where its industrial works are located, as well as its air and sea ports.
Steelport is sin city, so expect to see gangsters, corrupt police officers, hookers and the like nearly everywhere in some form or other. Be careful who you speak to and remember that everything in this city has a price. Trust no one.
The Ark
Now we answer the question you've been wondering all the while. What exactly is the Ark? In one word, it's the future. I'm not waxing philosophical here - it's a self-sustaining facility built to withstand the End Times, and contains a decade of advanced techonological research. The facility has been abandoned and shut down, lost to time.
Richard Blackburn, the man who created us, returned a little more than ten years ago to restart this facility and uploaded an AI, Alice, into the main computer. Since then, Alice has been managing the facility and repurposing it to our needs - there are living spaces, armories, training areas and the like as was intended for when we were old enough.
Most of the research is no longer in progress, but Alice has them all on file and keeps tabs on similar projects in the outside world. We could build an arsenal of highly advanced weapons if we wanted to... and we might need to.
The Ark runs on its own power source, has areas dedicated to maintaining food and water supplies and the like. The only problem is that it's underground. If you need to live somewhere with a little sunlight, I'll arrange it for you.
The Players
These are the groups or individuals that are like us, pieces on the chessboard. Some of them are our enemies, few are friends... and I say that in the loosest definition of the word.
Aegis
Aegis is an international agency dedicated to preventing threats on a global scale. They don't sound so bad until you realise they are willing to do anything to keep the world safe - even if it means trampling on international laws and basic human rights. They're funded by a few governments but don't answer to any of them...
They have the latest weapons and technologies on hand, and they're not afraid to use it. They hunted the world's most dangerous criminals and terrorists, and they're damn good at it. If they knew people like us existed, would they work with us or against us?
The Righteous
A religious cult that believe in-vitro fertilisation is the work of the devil, and that similar technologies are dangerous and evil. It doesn't make them backward or anything - they're more than willing to use guns and technology. They're just not big fans of genetics research. I don't think I have to explain why they're our enemies - we're abominations to be put down by them.
They have deep pockets and use them to frightening effect. Most government officials who lobby against such research are probably funded by the Righteous... and the leak in Project Genesis and Lazarus likely came as a result of their sabotage.
The Brotherhood
No one knows what this group is really called, but most intelligence agencies have taken to calling them the Brotherhood. They're a league of assassins, to use the cliched term, but that's not all they do. They steal secrets and swear allegiance only to the highest bidder. They're very specific about the kind of contracts they take - the ones that most other hitmen or mercenaries say are impossible to pull off, and they never fail.
I'm including them because this one is personal - they're the people who trained me. I don't know if they were the ones responsible for the break-in or if they simply intercepted me from the culprit, but I was their weapon of choice in America for a good long while, until I learnt the truth.
They knew how I came to be and it's a good bet they know there are others like me, which means none of us are safe if they come calling for blood... or recruits.
Unknown
There are other threats. Threats that might not even be terrestial or from Earth. I don't know. The Ark's systems only picked up disturbing patterns or warning signs like Richard Blackburn did but we don't have enough information to know who else is out there.
One thing is for certain - if our creator thought he needed to bring us back together in order to stop it, you can bet whatever's coming is dangerous as hell... and maybe literally so.
So after reading all this, I can understand if you're not too eager to join up. If you fear for the lives of the family you have, or you think this is another prank or conspiracy nut rant, feel free to ignore it.
Here is what the Ark has on you, and is up to date with public records. If you accept my invitation, it will also keep track of any information you provide and the progress of your abilities and development. It will keep a record so that if we fail, those who come after us will know what it'll take to survive whatever finished us.
Basic RPG rules apply - no godmodding, keep all content tasteful and PG-13. Be respectful to your fellow players.
Roster:
Sarah Blackburn - Reaper
Project Genesis
Name: Sarah Blackburn
Age: 23
Gender: Female
Personality:
On the surface, Sarah is a calm, poised and elegant woman. She is always seen dressed very prim and proper, with a gentle smile and an air of grace about her. She is well-read, witty and eloquent, but that also gives her a sharp tongue with which to deliver armor piercing comments. Her grace and charm are also her tools of seduction against men and women alike. She seems every bit the well bred lady while hiding the fact that she's also a dangerous woman to cross.
Trust is a precious commodity in her world and as such, she dispenses it sparingly. Nobody is trustworthy until proven otherwise, and even then she never lets on more than they need to know. Those who do earn her trust and keep it, however, will find they have a staunch and loyal ally who is willing to help them out in a bind with no questions asked. The opposite is true for her enemies or traitors - they will be put down with extreme prejudice.
History:
The first successful birth of Project Genesis, Sarah Blackburn was the proof of concept the team of scientists needed to go forward with the project. Richard Blackburn named her and had every intention of adopting her as his own daughter before she was stolen just a week before full gestation. To date, Sarah doesn't know who actually kidnapped her and smuggled her out of the Ark, but she was raised by the infamous Brotherhood.
A league of assassins with an extensive network of informants, the Brotherhood was the king of the hill in the underworld - with only a handful of operatives on each continent, they've been carrying out their contracts with near impunity. Law enforcement agencies have attributed hundreds of murders to them, but no concrete proof or any way to locate the killers. Their modus operandi was to take in homeless children or orphans and train them from a young age, and Sarah was no exception. Her superhuman abilities was the reason why they kept her under watch and made sure she remained ignorant of how she came to be under their care.
She proved herself a quick study of all the techniques they had to master, as well as picking up computer skills and other talents with ease. She was their crown jewel, the first operative who could do virtually any task unassisted. They started her young, at the age of 16, and for a good 5 years she did her job well, until the Ark located her somehow and she learnt of her origin. The Brotherhood's greatest asset also became their blind spot - Sarah quickly went to ground and disappeared without a warning, evading her tails and spent the next two years building a false identity and a second life, working gathering her own resources and locating the other children of the Ark.
Skills:
- Computer Expert
- Lockpicking, stealth and subterfuge
- Various forms of martial arts
- Extremely capable of using virtually any firearm and knives
Abilities:
- Superhuman strength, agility and endurance
- Enhanced reflexes, intelligence.
- Hyperactive regeneration: anything not instantly lethal or life-threatening, Sarah is almost able to heal from, without any scarring whatsoever.
Equipment/Associated Artifacts:
- A modified smartphone/tablet hybrid device she uses for hacking and the like
- A range of firearms and munitions to suit her needs. Sarah likes to get in close and ensure her targets are dead, so it's usually a pistol or submachine gun with some daggers and knives for close quarters.
- A Lamborghini she drives around personally
- A motorcycle
Other:
