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Is peace really the opposite of war?
Ren's eyes were locked straight ahead, through the bulkhead and into oblivion. She was well aware of constant noise of the vessel cutting through water, the rocking, the bobbing. She was aware of the weapon in her hand, gripped firmly between her sweaty fingers. But her attention was elsewhere, on one question. She couldn't decide on an answer.
In less than five minutes, she would be part of the mounting attack on Dellot. Her first real action. That wasn't something she'd previously spent much time thinking about. She knew it'd happen one day but it had always seemed distant, far off. Somehow it hadn't felt real. And it still didn't.
Her orders were to assist in taking control of and occupying the town of Dellot, a small neutral town that had been seized by Asirus . However, Ren's vessel was part of Bravo Team—the backup. So she didn't expect much. The beach would probably have been cleared already, the town being swept for any Asirians trying to hide or flee. Her superiors told her to be on the alert in case things hadn't gone smoothly for Alfa but Ren knew it was just a precaution.
And so instead of the battle ahead, her mind was elsewhere.
"3 minutes ETA. Get ready," Chief Zeinhard called to them as he returned from the weather deck. "Looks like we still have a bit of fight on the beach."
Ren looked up. She hadn't expected that. Or maybe she didn't want to.
"I thought the beach would have been cleared by now," someone said from behind her.
"It looks like the forces were split. Alfa pursued most of them deep in the town. However, the last of the forces are now trying to break through the skeleton crew Alfa left behind. That should be a lesson to y'all, to realize how important Bravo team is."
He was right. Ren knew it.
"So get yer asses--," he stopped as the hatch to the weather deck opened.
It was a Talent. Garland to be exact. Ren had no idea what his talent was exactly but it must've been a good one judging by the warfare device he wore on his chest. She wasn't sure what exactly it meant but she'd only seen a few other Talents have that particular one.
Ren fought the habitual salute.
"Sir. I was just telling them we'll have a little fun on the beach." Zeinhard said, suddenly standing a bit more rigid than usual.
"Ahh yes, we shall!" Garland said. He smiled, his voice light and floaty. He looked rather peculiar standing next to Zeinhard. Garland wasn't a small man, he stood about six feet tall. However, he wasn't the mass of brawn that Zeinhard was. Instead Garland had this almost feminine nature about him. The way he moved, the lightness in his voice, his pointed jaw. The juxtaposition of the two was uncanny. It made it hard to believe that Garland was the superior.
"Well, don't let me stop you!" Garland said to Zeinhard. "I just wanted to see the faces of the men and woman that would enter battle by my side." The smile never left his face. It was pleasant to see before facing down death.
"Aye aye, Sir. Bravo tea--" Cut off again, this time by a crash that sounded like a giant monster biting a hole through the side of the ship. Everyone was thrown to the ground violently. There was grinding of metal as tremors pounded through the ship until finally it crawled to a halt. Alarms rang, lights flashed, and somehow Zeinhard was already on his feet, yelling for everyone else to do the same.
Ren shot to her feet. It didn't seem like the ship was sinking, more like it landed on the beach. So that was good. But what caused them to land like that? Were the hit by some sort of weapon? Weapon! She needed her weapon. She had dropped it when she fell but now she couldn't even see past the mess of legs and boots. Everyone around her was already pushing to get off the ship. She pushed back, struggling to slip through them, to even maybe see her gun, but before she knew it, she was headed in the same direction as the crowd, weaponless. How could this happen? Why couldn't it have happened to someone else?
And so she made her way toward the loading ramp where they'd be exiting their vessel and moving onto the beach. She had room to move now. She could have turned around for her weapon. But for some reason she kept going. How could she turn around and run the other way? What would her team think of her? She'd have to find a weapon somewhere else.
The loading ramp was located on the portside of the ship which meant exiting the ship and immediately entering danger. There was no implicit cover. You had to find some wherever the ship landed. Ren watched as several of the men made dashes toward debris strewn across the beach. She began running as well. She wasn't even sure if they were under fire but she ran anyways. Ahead of her she could see Zeinhard and a few others. She tried to find Garland but couldn't. Maybe he was flying?
She was almost to the first piece of debris, a large slab of metal standing nearly 5 feet straight out of the sand. However, it was already too crowded behind it. Zeinhard was trying to get some of the men to keep moving, to make space for the soldiers still coming out of the ship. It didn't look like he was having much success. As she passed them she could see some of them taking shots toward the mainland while others simply gripped their weapons and muttered under their breathes. Ren imagined they were praying to their god and not wishing for their mommies.
As she made her way passed the first bit of shelter she could see some of the men had kept moving as well. Their options for safety were limited though. A piece of stone from what looked to once be a wall was now just about 2 feet high and 2 feet wide. The other choice was a round bit of black metal standing barely a foot off the sand. She tried to rationalize which she should head to. The metal ball was probably her best bet. It looked just as distant as the stone wall, however, she knew the people in front of her would head to the wall as it provided more cover. Yet, her instincts screamed for her to get to the safest place possible.
It didn't matter. As her mind fought with her body to take her to safety, someone ahead of her, barely five feet away, fell to the sand in a mist of red. At that moment her mind snapped. Her legs made a pathetic attempt to turn around and run the way she came but instead tangled themselves together. Moments later she was picking her face out of the sand. In front of her was the dead soldier, a marine, laying motionless in crimson sand. She hadn't noticed it before, the sounds of gunfire and death. People screaming for help, explosions in the distance. She looked around to find far more bodies than she ever imagined, many of them mangled and still alive.
She was frozen, looking around at the battlement. The town of Dellot was set up on a cliff above the beach, which is where it seemed the Asirians were settled. It didn't even look like Alfa had breached the outskirts of the town. Had they received false intelligence? Were they walking into their deaths? Ren couldn't think straight.
"It's not peace that's the opposite of war," a voice floated down to Ren. At first she thought it her own voice, who elses voice would she be hearing? But then she realized she hadn't even been hearing her own voice over the sounds of everything else. "It's love," the voice said. She was sure now the voice wasn't in her head. She looked up. Standing there was Garland, the smile still on his face. "Wh-what're you doing?!" She yelled. She struggled to her feet now, grabbing him by the arm and pulling. "We can't stay here, we gotta move!" She pulled but he wouldn't budge. He simply looked at her as if nothing were out of the ordinary. "It's love that's the opposite of war," he said. What was he doing? Why was he telling her this? Why wouldn't he move?
She ignored him and kept pulling. Kept pulling until... until finally he moved. Ren screamed. His blood covered her now. Her face, her arms, her chest, they were all covered in bits of Garlands head. She wiped her eyes only to wipe more blood in them. Why? Why was this happening? Why did he do that? Why? Why why why? She fell once more to her knees and wept. She held the bloody remnants of a man and wept for his life. Wept for the lives of the men and women around her. Wept for the dead as well as the living. And she wept for herself.
Yet, as she wept, she heard sudden cheering. She looked up, and through blood and tears, she could see the men and women on the beach cheering. There were no more gunshots. Dellot was completely silent and the beach was roaring with victory. The battle was won. Ren wasn't sure how, but it was over. She looked down at Garlands headless body and somehow knew it was him.
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Welcome to Human Weapons--a totally realistic and yet totally unrealistic RP about superhumans, politics, military, and war. This RP will explore the world of Thear, where, just like our Earth, war had plagued humanity for centuries. However, unlike Earth, in Thear superpowers are rather commonplace, even if superheroes are not. And so with war and superpowers, it is inevitable for the two to cross paths, resulting in the story we are about to create! So don your masks, tighten your gloves, and remove your wedgie because we have some evil butts to kick!
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Alright, I admit, that little bit was totally cool and it ended in such a bad ass way that we thought we'd get right into the action. Well, I'm sorry but there's some stuff I'm going to leave down here that you might have to stop and take a look at for a moment. Most of the geography stuff and political stuff you don't have to read right away. That'll be used later, and even then it'll be explained in the IC. It should be enough to know that we will be [insert nationality here] and will mostly be fighting [insert country here]. The stuff on the superpowers, however, you should almost certainly read that. Also, keep in mind these things are malleable and open to editing at any time.
Thear
Continents and CountriesThe planet we live on, and definitely not an anagram for anything. They say that most of the planet consists of water but it really doesn't 'feel' like it. The land masses span thousands of miles, and are composed of all kinds of biomes. While there are 6 continents, there are many countries. The Western most continent is Carnatacit. Occupying the entire continent is the country of Carn. To the east of Carnatacit is Alisautar. The country in control of this land mass and all the islands surrounding is known as Desyny. West of Alisataur, in the center of the map, is the largest continent known as Erisuaa. Here there is Genland, to the north east, Asirus to the East, and Hanic to the west. The northern most part of the continent is Crafic.
To the west of Erisuaa are the Aecarims. West and East Aecarim, though they share a name, they are not controlled by the same country. West Aecarim is controlled by The Republic of Aecarim while East Aecarim consists of Lizard, Ubalomic, and Natinegar.
To list them nicely, the continents are Carnatacit, Alisautar, Erisuaa, Crafic, East Aecarim, and West Aecarim. The countries are Carn, Desyny, Genland, Asirus, Hanic, Crafic, The Republic of Aeracrim, and Lizarb, Ubalimic, and Natinegar.
GovernmentsCarn has the smallest population of all the countries. With extreme weather conditions, most people choose to avoid this place. Not a significant source of natural resources, Carn is often forgotten during political matters. However that is exactly what they prefer.
Desyny is another small country. While its population is many times larger than that of Carn's, it is still rather small in comparison to the other countries. Desyny is not an ambitious country. It has a simple alliance with Genland for protection.
Hanic is the most populous country in Thear. Previously underdeveloped, this country now has a booming industry, competing with that of Aeracrim. This country has no allegiances and is quickly amassing the largest standing army in the world.
Asirus is a massive country with a large population. Home to large amounts of natural resources and a strong army, Asirus is in constant war with The Republic of Aeracrim for land. Asirus' government is democratic, yet the Prime Minister is a power hungry brute who often bullies the Council into decisions.
Genland is a smaller country, yet has a modest population and a great economy. After centuries of ambition, Genland is now defensive, joining conflicts to preserve itself. Genland is currently allied with The Republic of Aeracrim in its efforts against Asirus. It also receives resources and supplies from Desyny in exchange for its protection.
Crafic, the desert country, is much of a mystery to the rest of the world. The people here live in the deserts and are rarely seen. Some say that the desert is covered in some sort of magic that keeps their civilization from being found. It is believed that if the people of Crafic left their desserts, they could conquer the world.
The Republic of Aeracrim is a large and rich country. The country prides itself in being run by its people, who select representatives that have their interests in mind. However, this is not the case as the representatives happen to all be wealthy merchants. While the country has a president, it is often simply a figure head. The merchant senators believe that their country should be ever expanding. Thus, they are at war with Asirus. They also have their sights on Eastern Aeracrim.
Lizarb, Ubalimic, and Natinegar are all poor underdeveloped countries. Lacking many resources they are constantly at war with each other. However, they have no alliances with the other countries of Thear, and so are often left alone in their squabbling.
Talents
About 1 in every 4 people are born with a Talent. A talent is a genetic mutation that causes a human to have abilities beyond their regular capabilities. Talented people have various nicknames but Talent is the most proper. Science is constantly trying to understand these talents but often only get so far. For example, there was a Talent who could create explosions from his hands. When examined the doctors revealed that his palm sweat was highly flammable. Yet they could not discern how exactly he was igniting it.
Talents typically manifest themselves during the time of puberty, when the body is going through various changes. These talents will start off weak and unrefined. It takes years of practice and training to learn the extent of one's talents completely. Sometimes a Talent will learn that their abilities are something completely different than they previously thought after learning more about it. One of the most famous Talents, Meri Ohi, originally thought her talent to be a healing-type talent. However, she later discovered she was actually manipulating time!
Talents have been around for as long as people could remember. Often they caused more problems than not. Therefore, emergency response teams always include Talents. Police officers, fire fighters, EMTs, they're more like comic book super heroes than anything else.
Talents also play a major role in the Military. Given special training, privileges, and as many incentives as the government can afford, Talents in the military are treated well. While about 25% of the population is talented, only about 10% of the military is talented. Therefore, Talents in the military, depending on the country, are either separated and put in charge of non-talented units, grouped together to create special operations teams, or a combination of both. Regardless of the talent, Talents are almost always held in a higher regard than non-talented.
Technology and TECHsWhen you have a world where people with super powers are running around, of course science is going to have to be a bit different. There have been many times in history where governments tried to kidnap/imprison Talents for various reasons. One of the most prominent reasons being science. Harnessing the powers that these people had was something particularly attractive to the non-talented. However, most of these events in history ended in blood. Lots of blood.
Since then, things have changed. Many countries have laws specifically built to protect Talents from mistreatment. Furthermore, Talents who offer themselves to science are compensated for their time and effort. Having to work around regulation obviously slows scientific advancement down in comparison to the unrestricted testing that was done on captured Talents, however, having cooperative research subjects helps.
And so science advances at an extraordinary rate--a rate that infrastructure cannot keep up with. What you end up with is a gap in technology from those who can afford it and those who cannot. So while a plasma-burning jetpack can be purchased, it's not very common. Flying cars, invisibility cloaks, cybernetic enhancements, they exist--but they are not overly common. At the same time, people in many areas of the world do not even own televisions. Even in first-world countries, there are many places where technology is sparse. A few hundred miles outside a megacity and towns can be found without electricity.
The same problem goes for the military. Jetpacks, laser-shooting guns, cyborgs, smart-bombs, etc, they are very possible. But they do not comprise of the entire military. They simply do not have the money or resources. Any equipment (including any kind of drug, body modification, etc) that is specially designed using advanced technology is considered Tech. High ranking soldiers who have proven themselves are given Tech, leading to the nickname TECHs. Similar to Talents, TECHs are either divided to lead a command, or they are grouped for Special Operations. Unlike Talents, however, these soldiers are not given the special treatment that Talents receive. As a result, there somewhat of a rivalry between the two as TECHs believe they've earned their title while Talents had their titles handed to them.
On the other side of the spectrum, many soldiers are equipped with their basic survival tools and rudimentary weapons. Weapons are prone to hangfire, misfire, etc and ammunition is limited. Explosives are just as dangerous to the person using them as they are to the enemy. Vehicles are a bit more reliable but again, ammunition is limited as is fuel.
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RulesOkay so I know most RPs follow the same typical rules. Well, so will this one. Mostly. The only thing I'll be particular about are Talents. But more about that in a moment.
-Don't talk about Human Weapons. (Do you know how LONG it took me to realize the purpose of this rule?!?!? YEARS!!!)
-We are all in this for fun. Yes, I know I get super serious in my post sometimes, but I swear I am in this for fun. SO I really want you to be in it for fun as well. So lets not forget this first (second?) rule!
-No excessive racism/sexism/other-isms. Building off the first rule, we're here to have fun. I understand that racists/sexists/hateful people exist. They may exist in this RP. However, if I feel anything is in excess or that someone is being targeted, I will step in immediately. Offenders will have one chance to explain themselves before being removed from the game.
-No sexy time. Yeah, I know we're here to have fun, but not that much fun. Fade to black or whatever. Take it to PM. We don't want that here.
-No Godmod. This is an awesome umbrella term that makes me write sooo much. Thankfully this isn't a pvp game so I don't have to get too indepth with this one. Basically, just be realistic with your characters. If I have a gun pointed at your head and I pull the trigger, sorry but you died. No miracle saves, no moving just in time, no one sudden resistance to bullets, no. None of that. Do not let your character get into this position. Furthermore, taking control of another person's character is also considered Godmodding. Don't do it. Lastly, your character will not be privy to information released in the OoC without reason. I don't care how smart your character is, you're not L. You're not a god and you will not piece together than information if I do not deem it possible. I won't crucify you for this one though so don't worry. We'll simply have to go back and make edits.
-You MUST set limitations on your Talents! I do NOT want to see "Controls Fire" as your Talent. That is sooo vague. Do you turn into fire? Can you manipulate it? Does it burn you when you play with it? How much money do you spend on fire resistant clothing??? How does your hair stand up to the flames?? No, but really, set limitations. If your power is strong, your limitation will be strong. If its a bit weaker, you are allowed to have less limitations. Examples include invisibility but only for as long as you can hold your breath, impact accrual by number of times you've cranked your arm, strength manipulation at the cost of body integrity. Simple limitations can include becoming fatigued/nauseous after using too much Talent, increased time between Talent usage, injury after Talent use, etc.
-Hate to be a stickler but 3 sentences per post isn't hard, is it?
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Character Sheets(Include your characters Image here if you have one.)
Guild Name: (This one always gets people. This is your name here in the guild--your user name.)
Character Name: (Your character's name.)
Age: (Your characters age.)
Gender: (Your characters genetic gender.)
Appearance: (If you do not have an image please be as descriptive as possible. Everyone should at least have height and weight listed here.)
Talent: (Explain your talent here. Include the full extent of the ability, what your character is capable of now, as well as any limitations set on the ability.)
Bio: (Help us get a good idea of where your character is coming from and what s/he is like.)
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