Of Mice and Men and Zombies
The year is 1934. Franklin D. Roosevelt is president, Flash Gordon has recently been published, and Bran Flakes remain America's favorite breakfast cereal. The Great Depression has sent scores of the unemployed travelling across the country in search of work, filling factories and farms with all sorts of drifters, from former stockbrokers to former bootleggers.
In a small town in coastal Maine, a strain of rabies has mutated into a virus that robs men of their humanity, and turns them into mindless predators with a biological imperative to spread the infection and consume the flesh of the uninfected above all else. This virus is known as "The Red Plague", named for the distinctly red sclera of the infected caused by internal hemorrhaging that takes place during the initial infection.
Our story follows the farmhands of The Tackett Farmstead, and those they encounter.
In a small town in coastal Maine, a strain of rabies has mutated into a virus that robs men of their humanity, and turns them into mindless predators with a biological imperative to spread the infection and consume the flesh of the uninfected above all else. This virus is known as "The Red Plague", named for the distinctly red sclera of the infected caused by internal hemorrhaging that takes place during the initial infection.
Our story follows the farmhands of The Tackett Farmstead, and those they encounter.
OOC Info
1. Don't be a dick.
2. Characters can and will die. If you don't want your character to die, don't put them in a situation where they probably will.
3. Keep your characters realistic.
2. Characters can and will die. If you don't want your character to die, don't put them in a situation where they probably will.
3. Keep your characters realistic.
Name: (Full name, including a nickname. Only give 'em a nickname if that's what you want them to be called, though.)
Age: (The farmhands are anywhere from 15 to 60.)
Appearance: (Describe your character in as much detail as possible. Don't list things like you're filling out a form, try to go the extra mile. Especially because you cannot use pictures.)
Personality: (Do you need an explanation? The more details, the better. Try to flesh out your character as much as possible.)
History: (A brief synopsis of your character's life.)
Speech Color: (The hexcode color you'll use for your character's dialogue.)
Traits: (See: Trait System)
Age: (The farmhands are anywhere from 15 to 60.)
Appearance: (Describe your character in as much detail as possible. Don't list things like you're filling out a form, try to go the extra mile. Especially because you cannot use pictures.)
Personality: (Do you need an explanation? The more details, the better. Try to flesh out your character as much as possible.)
History: (A brief synopsis of your character's life.)
Speech Color: (The hexcode color you'll use for your character's dialogue.)
Traits: (See: Trait System)
Originally this system was even more complicated, I've simplified it as much as I can. It's in place to allow characters to perform extraordinary feats -- For example, a character with the "Jockey" trait can jump onto and unsaddled horse and take off, while other characters wouldn't be able to do that. This isn't to say only characters with that trait can ride horses, but characters with that trait are much more skilled at it. Your character can still shoot one of the infected, but you're less likely to miss if you have the "Sharpshooter" trait. Capisce?
You can have as many traits as you want, but the max number of trait points you can have is 5. Some traits are positive and increase your trait points, some are negative. Positive traits increase your number of trait points, and negative traits lower it.
EDIT: I'm trying to list as many traits as possible. If you wanna help out, PM me some traits with definitions, and I'll add them. if they don't suck
Agile - You are naturally more nimble than most. +1
Local - You are knowledgeable of Maine's landscape, including towns and shortcuts. +1
Boxer - You are skilled at hand-to-hand combat. +1
Fisherman - You can catch a fish, be it with a rod or net. +1
Woodsman - You can identify edible plants. +1
Hardy - You can take a hit. +1
Farmhand - You are familiar enough with the weighting of farm tools to use one in combat. +1
Ambidextrous - You can use both your left hand and right hand with equal skill. +1
Fire-Starter - You can make a fire with dried wood and leaves. +1
Artistic - You are skilled at an art, be it painting, poetry, sculpting, or some other craft. +1
Nautical - You know how to operate a sailboat effectively. +1
Swordsman - For whatever reason, you are skilled with using swords in combat. +1
Big - You are naturally larger than most men by at least a foot. +1
Thick-Skinned - You can handle extreme cold better than most. +1
Intelligent - You are well-read and knowledgeable. +1
Clean-Cut - You are attractive. +1
Amphibious - You are a strong swimmer. +1
Craftsman - You can build appliances, furniture, and small walls. +1
Showman - You come from a performing arts background. +1
Sprinter - You can run faster than most, and for longer distances. +2
Archer - You can effectively use a shortbow, longbow, or crossbow. +2
Jockey - You are an adept horserider. +2
Hunter - You are a skilled hunter, and can track or trap animals. +2
Jockey - You are an adept horserider. +2
Chef - You can prepare food better than most. +2
Bilingual - You speak more than one language fluently. +2
Motorist - You are a skilled driver. +2
Veteran - You served in The Great War, and have a basic level of military training. +2
Felon - You have a criminal skill. +2
Medic - You can perform first-aid such as stitching a wound. +2
Carpenter - You can build structures. +2
Quiet - You are skilled at sneaking, hiding, and generally not being seen. +2
Sharpshooter - You are a skilled shooter and rarely miss. +2
Prize-Fighter - You rarely lose a fistfight. +3
Cowboy - You can lasso a target. +3
Whisperer - One specific type of animal naturally trusts you more than most, which you can tame. Specify the animal. EG: Dog Whisperer+3
Decorated - You served in The Great War, and have an advanced level of military training, such as guerrilla warfare, sniper tactics, or using chemical weapons. +3
Doctor - You are a certified physician. +4
Lucky - Coincidences usually work in your favor. +4
Hermit - You have enough wilderness survival skill to survive alone in the wilderness indefinitely. +4
Savant - Through natural skill or years of practice, you have one unmatched talent that you are known for. +5
Slow - You're kind of dumb. -1
Clumsy - If anyone trips or drops something, it's probably you. -1
Lame - You have a limp, from any reason to an old injury to club foot. -1
Smoker - You have poor lungs and an addiction to nicotine. -1
Weak - You are not as strong as most. -1
Big Eater - You eat more than most. -1
Bespectacled - You are somewhat nearsighted and use glasses to see. -1
Lead-Footed - Due to an injury, weight, or age, you are a slow runner. -2
Shell-Shocked - Your experiences in war haunt you. -2
Churchgoing - You are a naturally good person who who would hesitate to kill. -2
Hot-Headed - You have trouble keeping your cool. -2
Sickly - You have a persisting illness such as a cough or a fever. -2
Addict - Be it drugs or alchohol, you depend on a substance. -2
Racist - You are do not get along with people of a different race. -3
Reckless - You are the type to take unnecessary risks out of convenience. -3
Old - Your age has taken its toll on your strength, stamina, or memory. -3
Half-Blind - You are either very nearsighted or very farsighted, and you rarely succeed with firearms. -4
Cyclops - You have one eye, and your depth perception is greatly lessened. -4
Maimed - You are missing a limb. -4
Crippled - You are a paraplegic and need a wheelchair to move around. -5
Not-Right - Your unintelligence stems from a learning disability or brain injury. -5
You can have as many traits as you want, but the max number of trait points you can have is 5. Some traits are positive and increase your trait points, some are negative. Positive traits increase your number of trait points, and negative traits lower it.
EDIT: I'm trying to list as many traits as possible. If you wanna help out, PM me some traits with definitions, and I'll add them. if they don't suck
Positive Traits
Agile - You are naturally more nimble than most. +1
Local - You are knowledgeable of Maine's landscape, including towns and shortcuts. +1
Boxer - You are skilled at hand-to-hand combat. +1
Fisherman - You can catch a fish, be it with a rod or net. +1
Woodsman - You can identify edible plants. +1
Hardy - You can take a hit. +1
Farmhand - You are familiar enough with the weighting of farm tools to use one in combat. +1
Ambidextrous - You can use both your left hand and right hand with equal skill. +1
Fire-Starter - You can make a fire with dried wood and leaves. +1
Artistic - You are skilled at an art, be it painting, poetry, sculpting, or some other craft. +1
Nautical - You know how to operate a sailboat effectively. +1
Swordsman - For whatever reason, you are skilled with using swords in combat. +1
Big - You are naturally larger than most men by at least a foot. +1
Thick-Skinned - You can handle extreme cold better than most. +1
Intelligent - You are well-read and knowledgeable. +1
Clean-Cut - You are attractive. +1
Amphibious - You are a strong swimmer. +1
Craftsman - You can build appliances, furniture, and small walls. +1
Showman - You come from a performing arts background. +1
Sprinter - You can run faster than most, and for longer distances. +2
Archer - You can effectively use a shortbow, longbow, or crossbow. +2
Jockey - You are an adept horserider. +2
Hunter - You are a skilled hunter, and can track or trap animals. +2
Jockey - You are an adept horserider. +2
Chef - You can prepare food better than most. +2
Bilingual - You speak more than one language fluently. +2
Motorist - You are a skilled driver. +2
Veteran - You served in The Great War, and have a basic level of military training. +2
Felon - You have a criminal skill. +2
Medic - You can perform first-aid such as stitching a wound. +2
Carpenter - You can build structures. +2
Quiet - You are skilled at sneaking, hiding, and generally not being seen. +2
Sharpshooter - You are a skilled shooter and rarely miss. +2
Prize-Fighter - You rarely lose a fistfight. +3
Cowboy - You can lasso a target. +3
Whisperer - One specific type of animal naturally trusts you more than most, which you can tame. Specify the animal. EG: Dog Whisperer+3
Decorated - You served in The Great War, and have an advanced level of military training, such as guerrilla warfare, sniper tactics, or using chemical weapons. +3
Doctor - You are a certified physician. +4
Lucky - Coincidences usually work in your favor. +4
Hermit - You have enough wilderness survival skill to survive alone in the wilderness indefinitely. +4
Savant - Through natural skill or years of practice, you have one unmatched talent that you are known for. +5
Negative Traits
Slow - You're kind of dumb. -1
Clumsy - If anyone trips or drops something, it's probably you. -1
Lame - You have a limp, from any reason to an old injury to club foot. -1
Smoker - You have poor lungs and an addiction to nicotine. -1
Weak - You are not as strong as most. -1
Big Eater - You eat more than most. -1
Bespectacled - You are somewhat nearsighted and use glasses to see. -1
Lead-Footed - Due to an injury, weight, or age, you are a slow runner. -2
Shell-Shocked - Your experiences in war haunt you. -2
Churchgoing - You are a naturally good person who who would hesitate to kill. -2
Hot-Headed - You have trouble keeping your cool. -2
Sickly - You have a persisting illness such as a cough or a fever. -2
Addict - Be it drugs or alchohol, you depend on a substance. -2
Racist - You are do not get along with people of a different race. -3
Reckless - You are the type to take unnecessary risks out of convenience. -3
Old - Your age has taken its toll on your strength, stamina, or memory. -3
Half-Blind - You are either very nearsighted or very farsighted, and you rarely succeed with firearms. -4
Cyclops - You have one eye, and your depth perception is greatly lessened. -4
Maimed - You are missing a limb. -4
Crippled - You are a paraplegic and need a wheelchair to move around. -5
Not-Right - Your unintelligence stems from a learning disability or brain injury. -5
IC Info
Antonio "Scarecrow" Corvi - @Deadbeatwalking
Leonard Russell - @Zombiedude101
Abigail McHenry - @FantasyChic
Bill Pooley - @Deadbeatwalking
Henry Broadburn - @Onlythepie
Jack Campbell - @End Here
Anna Simington - @McHaggis
Yulian Tikhvinsky - @Athinar
David "Wolfie" Knapton - @Wade Wilson
Our story takes place in the fictional town of Eastport, Maine. Eastport is a quiet town with few tourist traps or frivolities; Aside from homes, the town has a general store, a bar, a one-room schoolhouse, a doctor's office, a seafood market, and a sheriff's department. It is surrounded on all sides by thick forests, with one paved road to the highway that takes travelers to Portland, which is 30 miles south. Beyond the forests, the town's eastern coast has a craggy gravel beach.
The Tackett Farmstead is about 5 miles north of Eastport, and is owned by, unsurprisingly, Farmer Tackett. The farmstead has three barns -- One is used for stables and storage, while the other two are used as segregated bunkhouses. The Colored Barn is an unpainted grey barn with a rusting roof and sun-bleached cow's skull hung over the barn doors, while The White Barn is red, with a wooden barnstar hung over the doors. Though Farmer Tackett insists on keeping the two separate, the two buildings are mostly called "The Grey Barn" or "The Red Barn", and farmhands of all races can usually be found in either one -- Thirty men live in The Grey Barn, while twenty live in The Red Barn.
The farmhouse is a three story colonial house, painted white with blue shingles and shutters, with a porch wrapping around the building. The Farmer lives here with his wife and daughter, as well as the farmhouse workers, ten women who live in a bunkhouse in the attic, who do the cooking and cleaning on the farm. To stop any "Unmarried Fraternizing", Farmer Tackett is known to fire the men he finds near the farmhouse worker's quarters.
The farm is 30 acres, surrounded on all sides by trees, though there is a buffer of waist-high grass between the farmland and the untamed brush, along with a stone fence wrapping around the property. There is a small pig barn with ten pigs, a goat barn with a single goat, and a chicken coop with roughly thirty chickens that mostly roam around the farmstead, coming back to roost in the night. There are two horses in the animal barn, named Blackie and Brownie, although they are rarely taken out.
Though the farm keeps animals, they are mostly consumed by The Tacketts or sold at county fairs -- Nearly all of the money made by the farm is through agriculture. The farm has a cornfield, as well as five gardens and a small cluster of beehives used for honey.
Rhabdoviridae Hematemesis, colloquially known as "The Red Plague", is a highly mutated, hyperaggresive strain of rabies. The first cases being deer, the beginning of the outbreak started with reports of extremely aggressive stags charging at hunters. Originally assumed to be the actions of injured or starving deer, little was done in response by authorities. After about a month of inactivity, reports around Maine started coming in rapidly of riots and grisly murders, all centered around hunting communities.
The virus enters the circulatory system and is quick to manifest itself into the victim, causing symptoms within minutes and full infiltration within an hour. As the virus infiltrates the host, they experience a spasmodic effect. Shaking and or shuddering of the outer extremities in a rapid manner. Following that, seizures and frothing of the mouth will occur as symptoms progress. Copious amounts of infected blood is continually gibbered out of the due to internal hemorrhaging. The last stage is known as "turning", wherein a victim's eyes turn red shortly before suffering a stroke. After victims regain consciousness, they retain only a minimal amount of brain use, and have the same mental capacity as a fairly intelligent chimpanzee.
The Red Plague causes its hosts to permanently enter a primal state of murderous rage with a biological imperative to spread the infection or kill the uninfected and consume their flesh above all else. The infected are reduced to an animalistic state of permanent hostility and aggression, driving them to attack non-infected with no concern for their own safety and no moral inhibitions that could control their actions and behavior. The infected retain the ability to use primitive tools such as sticks and rocks, and can conceptualize simple plans if given enough time.
Adrenaline is constantly being produced and utilized by the infected body, as even days after the change, an infected specimen can perform display extraordinary feats of strength, agility, endurance (especially in pursuit of the uninfected), and ignore wounds such as stabbing, explosive amputation of limbs and even immolation.
While the infected will attempt to bite their victims, it is usually as a means of either infecting or killing them, often by biting into the main arteries in their neck. The infected do not consume each other, and can recognize (and will readily eat) any and all edible food from canned goods to wild animals. Since infected specimens are still living human beings, they can be killed using means that are fatal to the uninfected, though they will ignore any wounds that are not immediately fatal -- Decapitation or destroying the brain are considered the only ways to stop an infected in their tracks.
