Bell

Steampunk: Battleships and Dragons

OOC is up HERE

Battleships and Dragons has now become Dragons and Battleships, just to show you what douchebags these Dragons are as they have taken the 'mentioned first' position from Battleships within the title.

Steampunk: Dragons and Battleships

Dragons and Battleships

A Steampunk RP

Life for Humanity was great. They ruled the world, and nothing but themselves could threaten their existence. They understood fully well the horrors of war, the destruction and death that came with it. Still they fought, determined to conquer one another in the name of their religions, resources, or nothing more than world conquest. But when the Atom Bombs fell they shook the globe, and there are some things that Humanity would have preferred not be disturbed.

During the war that would become known as "The Atomic Awakening", Humanity discovered a whole new world asleep beneath the surface they knew. Sleeping Giants that had been in hibernation for thousands of years, had become covered over time in the natural spread of dirt and stone. Buried like the ruins of a lost city, there was no trace left of them by time Humans walked above them. But when the bombs dropped, and shook the whole of the world, these creatures, this hidden world, awakened.

It started small. New types of creatures started appearing all over the world. Many of these creatures were the same beasts from Myth and Legend, such as supposedly Mystical Unicorns. But there were also much worse things that started to appear, including the Dragons. They were large beasts, two wings, four legs, and each was about half the size of a large warship. As they spread, Humanity did what Humanity did best... they overreacted, and dropped more bombs hoping that their new inventions of war could save them from extinction. They instead sealed the doom of the world as they knew it.

That which one pair of Atomic Bombs was not able to awaken from its slumber, was instead awoken from the many, many detonations all over the planet as Humanity tried to fight back with fire. It wasn't long before creatures so massive that they had entire mountains on their backs, awoke in a rampage. They came from the Mountains, from the Oceans, from the very earth beneath the cities Humans once felt so safe in. It soon became clear...

This planet belonged to the beasts now.

It was through sheer genius that one man created the technology required to lift vast amounts of weight high into the air. Entire cities were released from gravity, as they rose into the sky. Massive flying ships stayed behind, roaming the Earth for as long as they could, releasing gases into the air that would change the world forever. Humanity's final act on the surface of their own planet, was to blacken the sky, so that nothing on the ground would ever be able to see the sun.



This of course had another purpose, one that was the only reason they could ascend into the sky and be safe. It created an ocean of clouds, above which the now flying cities could hover, drinking in the sun and being hidden from the beasts below. The monsters could have the surface, but this sky, belonged to Humanity.

OOC

Humanity now lives in the sky. Their cities float freely above an endless sea of clouds, and while everybody within these cities walks from place to place, travel between cities is done with flying transport ships. To keep these cities afloat, expeditions to the surface must be made to mine out as much coal as possible. This is obviously a very dangerous task, but even the ships that fly from city to city above the clouds are not safe. All manner of winged beast can sometimes simply drift too high, and all it takes is spotting a ship for them to aggressively chase it down, and there is nothing the crew can do about it.

This is where you come in. For the first time ever, Humanity is putting GUNS on their flying ships. But these ships are very special and difficult to engineer things. They can't simply slap some guns on a transport ship and call it good. They have to engineer a ship specifically designed to carry the weapons that have been created for it, and these weapons are often designed with specific types of Beasts in mind. As such, each Warship is its own dedicated thing, not meant for transporting resources or people, but rather waging war against beasts.

So here's all you need to know.

Technology

TECHNOLOGY

This is an alternate version of Earth. The Atomic Bombs that awoke the Beasts were created, and used during the equivalent of World War 1. That is where the technology was at the time, save for the Atomic Bombs themselves. So at this time, many of their weapons such as tanks and warships, were re-purposed from other areas. Slap a bunch of Naval Guns on a freighter, bam, Warship.

Weapons

As you can imagine, guns are fairly inaccurate, and unreliable. You typically need an engineer nearby when using a stationary weapon, as it can jam, overheat, or any other number of issues can come up at just about any time. Weapons mounted on a Warship are going to be typically a few machine guns, and some small scale Naval Guns. We're talking maybe two to three 3 Inch 50 caliber guns. This is simply a comparison for the firepower they hold, they aren't literally that.

Ships

Currently, ships are nothing more than a boat hanging from a giant balloon. The technology used to hold up cities is much, much too large to fit onto a ship, and engineers are currently working on making it smaller. But in the meantime, you can imagine the nightmare of trying to fight monsters when the majority of your ship is a giant, fragile balloon. Of course, these balloons have catwalks inside them and access areas for engineers to get in and patch them up.

Cities

Cities are at current very simple. It's pretty clear they are 'whatever people could throw together'. It's nothing super impressive, but it works. The biggest parts of these cities are the large outer walls, and most recently, a massive increase in shipyards and airdocks. These are considered a symbol of progression, as Humanity seeks to fight back against the cards they have been dealt.

General

While this is all Steampunk, many things are still in a starting stage. The main source of weaponry is still Gunpowder, and propulsion is large propellers and sails, despite having engines running on Steam. The style and aesthetic is very much Steampunk, but the actual Technology Level is very much World War 1. Don't worry though, as technology progresses naturally through the RP, based on the successes of the ship and its crew, things will get much more crazy and... Steampunky. The aesthetic is still there from the start however.

Warhip Types

Currently there is only 1 type of Warship, the Frigate. However, feel free to let your imagination run wild on what can be in store for the future of Warships. The below classes of ships are listed from smallest to biggest.

Frigate
Destroyer
Cruiser
Battlecruiser
Battleship
Carrier
Dreadnought
Super Carrier
Super Dreadnought

About the RP

You are a single crewmember of a ship. I, the GM of the RP, will be playing the Captain of this ship. If at any point we get a Co-GM then that person will, within the RP, become the First Mate. This just makes it easier as it means the people with power and control over the RP itself, have the same power and control in the RP which means the people giving orders are played by the people with the knowledge of what can and should be done. That just makes sense to me but it's not something I think anyone should worry about too much.

This is a long-term RP campaign where the goal is to ultimately take back the planet for Humanity. Assuming the success of the RP, if there come a time when the greatest threats to Humanity are defeated, the RP will be considered 'won' and 'over'. At this point, the RP may reset if there's any interest in it, but there is an end goal in mind for all this.

Preferably, I'd like to see people who are dedicated to the RP, and willing to see it through. I am looking for people who can post regularly, and can keep up their interest without dropping shortly into the RP, or before it even gets going. I'd rather this be a RP where everyone is in it for the long haul, rather than just a "Sure let's see what happens I guess". I want people to want to post in this and keep it going.

This RP doesn't follow any specific kind of Steampunk. If you're an elitist and the kind of person to go "That's not how that works, THIS is how that works!" then please don't bother. I'm not the kind of person who like, owns Steampunk novels and follows any sort of proposed science behind it all or anything like that. This is for fun, and many things will be made up as we go along. So don't expect that kind of thing.

Character Sheet

Name:

Age:

Background:

Personality:

Crew Position:

Aspirations:

Appearance: (An Image is preferred. Both a Description AND Image is acceptable as well.)

Character Sheet Information

Background: For this section it's important to know that it has been somewhere around fifty years since Humanity took to the sky. This means it's incredibly unlikely that your character would be fit for Military Service aboard a Naval Ship AND have been alive during the War of Atomic Awakening.

Likewise, for location references like city names, many flying cities are named after either the cities they were made from, or simply cities that were left behind. For example, the capitol city that our characters will be living in is called Baltimore. So names for cities can be things like Cleveland, Denver, Austin and so on. And while these are all United States names, of course city names from other countries are perfectly acceptable. Just understand that names that come from other countries will be much further away from the main city... it's no different than if your character was born in Japan but now crews an American Vessel.

There also are no Nations. The United States does not exist, Japan, Germany, Russia, so on and so forth. There is now simply Humanity, and the cities named after the old world.

Crew Position: The positions available within the Crew are Helmsman (There is only one), Gunner, and Engineer. While the first two are obvious, an Engineer can have many different jobs. An Engineer typically does a little of everything, and takes care of whatever problem they are closest to, but to give you a general view of what they do... an Engineer repairs and unjams weaponry, repairs and operates the engine, and repairs the balloon keeping the ship afloat (Without which the ship drops like a rock). While the job of the Helmsman and the Gunners stays relatively the same no matter how big the ship gets, as technology progresses the Engineer is expected to know more systems. For example, Radios aren't a thing right from the start, but not too far into the future they'll be expected to know how to operate and repair them.

Also, while ships are currently limited to Frigates, in the future "Pilot" will become an available Crew Position for anyone to switch to if they desire. This will likely become a position when humanity develops Cruisers.

Aspirations: Simply put, this is any desires your character has. Is there a giant flying white whale that was the cause of the death of your family, and you seek to avenge them by one day slaying the beast? Or perhaps its your general aspiration to see Humanity returned to the surface, and to see the beasts that arose from the Earth annihilated. Or, maybe you're a simple person... maybe all you want is to someday pilot a fighter, and soar through the skies like the dragons you face. Free, unchained, and fearing for your life every single second because this thing was put together by monkeys and there's a dragon on your ass.

Steampunk: Battleships and Dragons

Wow Bell! You've been gone for two years and come in to post this. I'll give you a shot.

@Athol is that name of your hometown?

@Gunther

After my last RP fell apart I've just kinda been hanging around in the background, mostly using the site to message friends and such.

I'll put up an OOC soon.

I'm game; also would aetheric (energy/laser) weapons be a thing in universe, eventually?

@Athol

It depends on how long the RP goes on for but sooner or later they would be yeah, most likely focusing on things like Arc Casters and the like, but to start off with since the idea is to face smaller beasts, it would defeat the point of smaller swarm type creatures were completely shut down by say, a Tesla Tower on board the ship.

Steampunk: Battleships and Dragons

Okay so basically... imagine a Steampunk world with flying airship, where cities float above the clouds because the world below is too dangerous for Mankind. A world filled with monstrous creatures that can't simply be hunted or warded off. From dog-like beasts the size of a schoolbus to colossal creatures the size of mountains. Mankind has lost their own world to these beings, and now it's time to fight back.

Mankind has a plan. The most dangerous beasts are the ones that can fly. Only when Humans have mastered the ability to combat these creatures can they even think about moving towards the surface, and starting to make it safe enough to live on again. And so, they started to create flying ships for war. Sure, they already had airships, that is how you get from one city to the next. They couldn't have the idea to make a city fly without also making some form of transportation fly too. But never before have they built flying ships specifically dedicated to the purpose of war, be it against man, or beast.

Now this is where we come in. The crew of a small ship tasked with hunting down and killing smaller flying beasts. Truth is, none of us know what we'll find out there. Just because you go hunting a deer doesn't mean you won't run into a Lion... or something. The fact of the matter is, there's much worse things out there than what we're being sent to hunt.

But can you handle it?

The RP will revolve around a small crew on board a ship, as they hunt down, and hopefully successfully slay beasts of all types from swarms of Skysharks to small Wyverns. But over time, through devleopment in the RP, the ship will be upgraded, and in time replaced entirely. Imagine a starting point where the crew is basically flying a glorified blimp with a couple guns on it, but far down the line they have themselves a fully steampowered, armored battleship with many guns crewed by hundreds of people. Our characters won't be the only thing to develop, the technology they have to work will as well, so long as they are successful in their hunts, allowing Mankind to spread and grow.

And yes, the name is Battleships and Dragons. Dragons are by far the most dangerous and powerful foes Humanity has to face. They just... aren't exactly the kinds of things you go off hunting in a Blimp.

Advanced Global Security Force

There's something I feel the need to clarify. The AGSF, while on the outside appears to be a sort of organization with goals and intentions, on the inside, there are only ever five members. These five members, our characters, only ever see each other. They are practically plucked from their daily routine via network translocation and they simply 'appear' in a room with a hologram. This hologram, much like Gantz... in the anime Gantz, is their 'boss'. They never receive orders from people, just a hologram that takes on the form of sort of like, a flood of data (It will be explained in more detail in the RP), and it doesn't even talk, it just uses text on display to give orders. This hologram is very playful, very disconnected from life. It likes to play around with the squad, and it's almost as if every mission is a game. That is after all, the reason the squad is always given a time limit, and scored at the end of each mission like a game. Part of the RP may eventually become the group questioning why they are doing what they are doing, who is behind the hologram if anyone, and the most obvious fact of... who are they really working for, again, if anyone.

The idea behind the AGSF which I should have clarified more in depth before, is that its members are taken from the slums on the offer of a new life in the upper city. But ultimately, they give their life to the AGSF, and become like toys to it, even if they don't realize it. Some may fool themselves into believing they are working for some sort of security force, same as you would any private security group. But the reality is each and every mission feels like a different level in a video game. Most often, these missions are as hectic as "Here is your target, kill him, I don't like him and he smells funny" and then the group is given their equipment from a terminal, translocated near the target, and from there it's their job to find the target as quickly as possible, eliminate, and get out. They aren't even able to question who they are going after, or why.

The AGSF can even be cruel. For example, using the group to sever their own ties to their past. Giving the group a target that happens to be a family member of one of the members, and then saying "First to eliminate gets 100 points", obviously driving the other 4 members of the group to really, really want to eliminate the target, while the fifth is kinda stuck in this moment of, "That's a member of my family".

I'm not saying this exact thing will happen, it's just an example of the kinds of things the AGSF might have the group do. It plays with them, and practically owns their lives.

I'll add the fact that upon joining they had things implanted into them which are what allows the AGSF to translocate them at will. This, as you might imagine, makes it incredibly difficult for them to get away if they want. But the idea is at least from the start, they certainly don't feel like prisoners. They feel like it's their job, even if it is very, odd.

Like I said in the interest check, I'm drawing from the anime Gantz a lot here, and it works best if you've seen it. But at the same time it is its own original setting and many things will be different. But let me explain how Gantz works, so you can see the similarities and have a better understanding of how the AGSF works.

In Gantz, when a person in the city dies they are resurrected in an apartment room with nothing in it but a big black metal ball. If there are any survivors, they will be in the room as well as the new members. The ball then has words appearing on it, saying such things as "Your old lives are gone. I will choose how to use your new lives." and then it gives them a target. The ball opens up and has all this advanced weaponry inside, as well as briefcases with power armor inside. Whether they get suited up or not, they are teleported near the target, and given a time limit. The target is typically some super powerful alien monster. When they kill the target, they are teleported back to the room with the black ball (The black ball is Gantz.) No matter what, as long as you are still alive when the time runs out, even if you are missing both your arms and legs, you are teleported back to the Gantz room as good as new. They are then scored, and if they reach 100 points they can either leave the Gantz forever and go back to living a normal life with no memories of it, or, they can resurrect someone who died on a mission. After scoring, they are allowed to go back to their normal lives until another mission comes up, and they are teleported to the room again.

Now the differences here are, people who are mortally wounded in AGSF missions are dead, that's it. There is no building up points and resurrecting them, and they aren't fully healed up after being teleported back. If you lose an arm, you lose an arm, that's all there is to it.

Also, people who are members of the AGSF are not dead. They are recruited normally.

Another thing is, obviously, the members are given a new life in the upper city. After completing an AGSF mission, they don't simply go back to their normal life. They go to their NEW normal life in the upper city, instead of returning to the lower city as if nothing ever happened.

New people are not simply added at will as they die. There are only ever five members. This group goes on missions together always, even if they don't like it.

The similarities now, are:

The AGSF is not a known organization. It doesn't exist, as far as the world is concerned, and it doesn't seem to have any members other than the squad of 5.

They can split up once they reach their location, and try to complete the mission alone, but most often, they aren't given enough time to do anything super fancy unless it's an extremely important mission. So setting up and planning isn't very often part of the deal.

The order of events on an AGSF mission go as follows:

The Squad Members are given a warning ahead of time that they are going to be tTranslocated in say, an hour.
The Squad is Translocated to the AGSF briefing room
AGSF hologram gives the group a target, and their equipment, unless they already have it with them.
The Squad is Translocated to a location near their target.
The Squad is given a time limit. Say, 30 minutes for an easy mission. 2 hours for a more difficult one.
The Squad finds their target, say a mob boss or a rampaging monster in the lower city, and eliminates it.
The Squad is Translocated back to the AGSF briefing room
The Squad is given a score based on their performance on the mission.
The Squad is Translocated back to their homes in the upper city.

Of course as the story progresses, changes may be made, missions may become different, and variations in this order of events will be very strange and noticeable to the group.

I just wanted to make these things clear so everyone understands them. I'll probably put a more simplified version of this in the first post of the OOC.

Advanced Global Security Force

There, changed my character. Couldn't resist.

Advanced Global Security Force

I'm probably going to change up my character. Just her design, not so much her character.

Hyper Sci Fi Action/Combat

OOC is up roleplayerguild.com/topics/168545-adv…

Advanced Global Security Force

youtube.com/watch?v=18yK0G9hHts

Name: Ore 'Orellia'

Age: 25

Gender: Female

Bio: She doesn't remember how she got into the AGSF system. She doesn't remember living in the slums, or being offered to join. She has always been a member, as long as she remembers. During mission briefing, the system refers to her as "Founder" status, while all the other members are simply "Active Member". She sure doesn't think she was a founder of AGSF or she'd remember it... then again, she doesn't remember anything before her first day.

Ever since she can remember, she has been acting leader of the AGSF group on each mission. When people question her, as if to say "Why should I let you lead me, I don't even know who you are", the AGSF system... well, it has ways of informing people that she is in fact squad leader. There's honestly not too much special to her history that she can remember. She has done many, many missions over the years she has been there. And in all that time, she still can't say who she is working for. Who is giving her those missions. She and her squad are the only people she ever sees at the briefing room, and considering they are teleported in and out, she isn't even sure where that room is.

Equipment: Ore wears what appears to be a bike suit, built from diamond hard plating. Her armor can take a beating far more than other more agile suits, while her giant mechanical gauntlets give her immense power. The "Grav-Gauntlets" now only make themselves lighter by inverting gravity making them as light as air to throw around, but they are made from the same playing, and have thrusters built all over them allowing for massive punching power. She can level buildings with a single wound up punch... well, lower level city buildings. She's good for noisily busting into places at least.

Reference:

Advanced Global Security Force

youtube.com/watch?v=f3OrURQABTw



In the year 2078, mankind made first contact with beings from another world when alien life approached the planet, and offered humanity a place among the stars. Denizens of Earth had reached a point of technology on their own that a council of galactic races saw it fit to uplift them. Some were afraid that the alien races would see humans as a threat. That they would be seen as too weak, too warlike, too... human. But, as the council put it, "All races were at one time, and to some degree still are, filled with a need for war, crime, and general violent behavior. Humans are not unique in that regard.". Humans were given access to technology, allowed to learn every aspect of them and impliment them into their own life. This brought about an age of unparalleled scientific advancement that catapulted humanity into the stars to join their brothers and sisters within the Galactic Council. A simple name, but simplicity wasn't a bad thing.

Now, the year is 2178. A hundred years have passed since first contact, and the Eart is unrecognizable from what it once was. Every bit of land is now covered in one massive city. Aliens are a natural part of life, and come and go from Earth as they please. Some even live there, making a life for themselves. Earth's city has two parts. The upper levels, which is what everyone would want you to believe is simple "The Earthen City", and then the slums far down below where people live in plague and poverty.

There is only one way out of the slums. The AGSF program. Nobody knows who runs the program... it acts outside the government and, for the most part, in the best interest of Earth. It doesn't even seem to be 'run' by anyone, as those who are chosen are offered a place by a dark stranger with no face, taken to a facility where they are trained and tested by drones, and from then on, their only interactions are with the other members who were also recruited, and a single hologram that gives them their orders. The hologram isn't even a person, it's just... a web of data.

The members of AGSF act in a group of five. When one is killed, another is recruited to take their place. The group is sent on missions ranging from assassination to item acquisition, where they are teleported near their target, given a time limit, and when the mission is complete, they are teleported back. It's simple, but dangerous. But it's worth it, as for as long as they are alive, the members of the group are given a place to live in the upper city, new lives, new names, new everything. They are the Defenders of Earth, when nobody else will do what needs to be done. Bound only by the rules they are given on each mission.

Technology on Earth is extremely advanced. Most weapons are created from, and use hardlight. Armor can be created to give normal humans extreme capabilities well beyond their normal limits. The AGSF provides such things to them willingly, but they must earn better equipment through performance on missions. After all, they won't be sent out with the best equipment on a first mission only to die and lose it all. And so a scoring system is in place. Earn points, earn rewards. Almost like some sort of game. The only question is, if they are playing the game, who is the game master?

No living members of AGSF have been seen by the squad. When they have a mission, they are teleported into a room with a hologram to give them their orders, given their equipment, and then teleported out to their target. As far as they know, the hologram that gives them their orders is AGSF, as nobody else seems to 'work there' for lack of a better phrase. When recruited by AGSF, each member is given a new name to go with their new life. So whoever they were before, that person is intended to die.

Sticking to a 5 person group including me the GM. Look below and see if a slot is open. Initially, spots will be withheld for a couple days for those who showed their interest in the interest check. After a couple days if I don't hear from them, the slots will open up. If someone drops from the RP, either saying such or simply going quiet and not posting anymore, then their character will be presumed dead in the RP and a new member will be recruited. This gives us an IC reasoning to be able to switch out people as we go to keep the RP going.

For profiles, send me your profile for approval in a PM before posting it. There won't be any hard rules on what your profile should have in it as far as structure goes, just make sure it at least has their name, age, gender, and an image to go with it. What else you put in there is up to you. If you want an idea of what to do for a profile however, just look at mine.

Members / Points:

Bell : Orellia : 0
Nerdy Reference : Vaessa 'Veil' Marix : 0
Auz : Kaidnyar “Kaid” : 0