Durandal — Roleplayer Guild

Section 19

"War never changes, or so some say. From a certain point of view, they are right. Motives backing conflicts are often very similar: protection, resource scarcity, long-standing tensions. But only fools believe that the persecution of war itself remains forever the same. A century ago saw the rise of mechanized warfare and air power. Infantry were no longer the center-pieces of the war, but rather your logistics, your technology, your aircraft and tanks. The information you could gather. If you feel behind in  the first, second, and last, it didn't matter how large you were, you would fail. Conflicts which before would take months ended in days, and those that would have been little more than brush-fire wars consumed regions for years. And then they invented it.

Sixty-two years ago, one person was blinded and another hospitalized on a military testing range. Approximately eighty more witnessed the unleashed power of the atom. Nuclear weapons had been birthed in a microsecond, in that little flash when countless atoms were split, unleashing their destructive potential upon the planet. And with that, almost nothing changed. The threat of a nuclear war never existed, and a pursuit of the peaceful applications of this immense energy source occupied most of the time of researchers. Mutual destruction was not an objective the world desired. It was not the invention of the bomb itself that set us on this course, but the hate of mankind towards itself.

Half a million people died instantly on that third day of Fromer thirty-seven years prior. Another half-million perished within the week and thousands over the decade after that. The first ever nuclear attack against a human was carried out not by those with the greatest power in the world, but by terrorists. We pursued them, destroyed their way of life, their culture, their people, all that they were and all that they had been. It was the first time in decades in which the wrath of the 'civilized world' had been unleashed upon another. That began the arguments, the side-long glances, the conspiracies. We fell into a spiral, trundling towards our own destruction, although none would realize for near thirty years.

Resources and ideals caused this war, this untold death. I suppose that was one failing the world never overcome, its discrimination and apathy towards certain groups. Now only that wrath replaces it. How civilized we are. But such has been the history of these past three years, these three years that have seen a war span across continents and cultures, ignoring almost all borders and status. We have unleashed our nuclear armaments, our orbital weapon stations, our burgeoning armies. But it is the war of technology which will spell our doom, and none have realized it. Our descent began with our uplifting and our revelry, and it will spell our doom. As we have advanced, so will we fall. The future has wed war, and we will fall unless we stop it."

Hello Guild, and welcome to Section 19, a cyberpunk RP I've been nurturing over the past few months. The general premise is that you will play as members of the titular organization, working to save the world from its own destruction alongside whatever secondary objectives the gods of paper-work decide to hand you. Please refer to the below for more information.

The following information has not been thoroughly edited, and so may not be the final representation of the universe, but is close enough in nature to be useful enough to conduct the RP. 

The world, one which I have yet to name, is for all intents and purposes an alternate Earth, even if the planet is not Earth itself. War has consumed a majority of the world's nations for near three years as of the starting point of the RP, a very brutal, tiring war, arising from arguments over territorial sovereignty, dwindling world resources, and the power complex of an unstable dictator, becoming a three-way war once a former megacorporation decided to join in the fun. Very much in a cyberpunk manner, you, the players, will be exposed to robots, powered armor, artificial intelligence, augmentations, and all manners of technology which are in development or pipe dreams in our modern world. However, it is very much a non-traditional style RP.

Cyberpunk focuses in large part on the rebellious segments of society, those who oppose/resent some totalitarian government or corporation whose only goal is to make the world's population miserable. I intend to focus heavily on the "cyber" rather than "punk" part of the genre, however. You will take the role of government agents in the RPs namesake organization, Section 19, similar to an amalgamation of the CIA, FBI, Military Special Operations Forces, and Secret Service, created earlier in the world's timeline as a response to the growing threat presented by terrorism. Although not directly participating in the war, the operations you undertake have as much influence on the world as that of the militaries of the various nations in their sweeping engagements. Although there is no set plot which you will follow, there is an underlying threat of the rise of genetic augmentation, an untraceable, almost unnoticeable method by which groups with access to the technology can make secret super soldiers, making the world a much more dangerous place, and one of the underlying goals of your task force will be to stop these projects at their heart if they appear.

Onwards to more about the setting itself. There are four major nations in the world, wielding the greatest influence of all of the planet's states. They are the Tarhague Republic, the Mersian Federated State, the Ascandian League, and the Kingdom of Halesh. Tarhague's government operates under a democratic parliamentary system similar to that of England's without the monarch. Not terribly strong economically, many still travel to this nation, boosting its already large population. Not directly involved in the war which consumes the world, many refugees flee to Tarhague in hopes of restarting their lives, with the government willing to accommodate many of these peoples. Moderate in ideology and action, Tarhague is renowned for its stability. Rising consumption of alternative energy sources and the dwindling of easily accessible oil supplies have placed the largest strain on their economy. Cities within the nation are much like modern New York City, with the outer areas not being as settled and medium-sized areas of natural land separating the inhabited areas, although many live in such zones to escape the bustle of contemporary society. Augmentations in Tarhague are the pinnacle of normal, with price, quality, availability, and sophistication generally standing in the middle of world standards.

Mersia leads the Coalition, host to the most powerful military of the Coalition in size and organization if not technology. Their economy is somewhat stinted due to heavy regulation of business, with much of their overseas exports made in the form of farm products, the result of the dedication of the majority of the nation's space to crop and grazing area. Hive cities are necessarily dense, some of the densest in the world, with an average population of 330,000 inhabitants per square mile in the hives, although the exact measurement varies. Government policy is socialist in nature although there exists comparatively small corruption and opposition to such a form of rule. Instead, much of the conflict within the country stems from the ideological struggles of those whom support or oppose the expansion of augmentation. Most augmentations are generally on the lower scale for the manufacturing capabilities of Mersia is less than that of others. In terms of culture, it can be roughly considered similar to real world Latin American countries.

The Ascandian League is a totalitarian state with vibrant nationalism infusing the core population and some related ideological groups, but most of the compliant and conquered countries resent the League. The military of Ascandia is large, advanced, and competent, one of the few reasons it has been able to sustain itself against its foes; their economy has also shifted almost entirely to production of war goods, replacing losses in a hasty manner. Opposing the Coalition and Corporation, regimented law and oppressive measures are common within the boundaries of Ascandian territory. A massive urban sprawl covers much of Ascandia's surface territory, with its subsidiary members varying in this aspect. Dedicated farming and industrial complexes occupy key areas, above or underground, entrenching them firmly within their territory. AUgmentations are of high quality and expensive to acquire, assuming one can even do so outside of the League military. A thriving black market exists inside the country.

Halesh is similar to the Holy Roman Empire in government style, with the monarch theoretically wielding great power but not in practice. Nobles administrate many of the provinces, although civilian government personnel can rarely attain such positions. Very industrialized and facing the problems common to such nations, exploitation and corruption are rife within Halesh. Hive cities are small relative to the rest of the world although much more numerous, with a proportionally larger number of people existing outside of the confines of the hive cities. An ethno-centric culture, racism and bigotry is a common problem when dealing with Halesh society. Joining the Colaition as a means of weakening Ascand's power, they contribute less than they should towards the war effort. Augmentions, although minor, are generally quite advanced.

Hive cities are one of the developments which occurred during the timeline of the planet's history, with the first recognizable organizations appearing approximately 29 years ago. A consolidation of government, population, and production, hive cities are extremely dense metropolises, similar to and named after the similar cities in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Much of the world's population lives in these areas, and many of your adventures will take place here as well.

Augmentations have almost fully replaced prosthetics and are arguably the most important developments to occur within the world. Mostly made of metal and plastic and dealing with physical rather than mental processes, high-grade augments utilize carbon fibers or arer materials in their creation. Despite the proliferation of such devices, the procedure to install an augmentation is invasive, hazardous, and sometimes unsuccessful as the gene-conditioning procedure to coax the body to accept such an installation is prohibitively expensive. Able to outperform even peak humans with mid-grade augmentations, this class of technology enables greater feats of skill and advancement than any time before. Many, if not most, augmentations come with am in-built battery which can be charged through any normal or specialized port, although the latter is highly recommended. Additionally, one can create a special connection in order to use the body's own energy reserves to power augmentations in case of emergencies, although such systems requisite a higher rate of food consumption. Limb replacements are the most common, followed by organ, eye, and finally cereberal enhancements. Augmentations can range from unnoticeable changes in body structures to full replacement. I would like to think of the augmentations in Deus Ex as similar to the mid/mid-high end of augmentation. As to level of augmentation, players will generally be assumed to have higher quality augmentations than normal and in greater amounts, but not terribly so at the beginning. While I will not allow near-full body replacement at the start, that is something you can work towards. So no more than two limb enhancements and replacements, non-exclusive. No more than one optical augmentation, no more than two organ augmentations. Please note that this is tentative and the limits may change by the time the RP begins.

As to how advanced the augmentations shall be, a lot of them are fairly basic in nature. Normally, the bionic parts are simply that, metal and plastic replacements for pieces of your body. However, things such as inbuilt weapons, defense systems, radar, data tethers, filters, etc. also appear in the world. If you are familiar with the Deus Ex series, I am basing the augmentations somewhat off of those. Cerebral enhancements shall be, for the moment, done on a case-by-case basis. Nanotechnology is very much a developing part of the setting of Section 19, seen primarily in the creation of nanostructures, directed medicine, and nano-scale electronic components.

Section 19 arose approximately 10-20 years, a detail that is yet to be determined but should not be terribly important if at all to the proceedings of the RP itself. Created as a response to the growing threat of terrorism and war within the world, a group of nations multilaterally contributed portions of their military, foreign and domestic intelligence committees, and administrative personnel to the fledgling organization, code-named Section 19 by the participants after the date of the conference's beginning. No official name was established by the attendees and none by any of the directors, preferring instead to refer to the organization by its original designation.

Originally overseen by a committee of government officials randomly selected from the constituent nations, Section has since then developed an autonomy outside of supervision, allowing them to operate in manners which might not always be legal but ensure smoother operations. Recruiting occurs both with assignments from governments as well as independent enlistment of candidates. Entry requirements are stringent in both physical and mental fields for most positions, ensuring that only those who can do their job well enter Section, supplemented by a thorough psychological and background examination. An entire wing of Section is devoted to internal affairs, ensuring the continued health and dedication of personnel and investigating possible signs of mental trauma or corruption.

The field and intelligence operative wings of Section are organized in a pyramidal cell-type structure. Most common are the field teams, collections of 3 to fifty people who cooperate frequently with each other to further their assigned task, be it the gathering of intelligence for an operation, assassination of a target, or simply assisting in the execution of a construction initiative. Teams are built specifically for their purpose but with a mind aimed towards versatility, so that the loss of a member will not spell the end of that cell and their operation. Information about the operations of other cells are normally withheld so as to ensure the safety of the organization's personnel as a whole.

Managing the cells are networks of intelligence and administrative personnel, equal to or greater in number than those whose tasks they help facilitate. Collating information gathered by the cells and determining the worth of this information, the networks also assign secondary objectives if necessary. Network hubs operate outside of active zones so that their can be no overlap in territory and further secure the safety of Section.

Directors and sub-directors manage entire wings of Section, responsible for prodigious amounts of material and personnel. The equipment available to Section operatives is some of the most advanced in the world, although often loaned out from armories only on special request due to the possibility of the technology being lost. Doesn't stop many from enjoying their "toys." Recently, Section has become involved within the war itself, with many cells deployed as substitutes for standard Special Operations Forces or on propaganda/subversion missions.

You will play as one of these cells, operating in various locations for different purposes under different rules of procedure, from combat to civilian interaction.

I will create a timeline and refine these descriptions at some later point in time, but am somewhat pressed for time at the moment. Enjoy.

I plan for the group to be somewhat small, so expect positions to be limited.
Name:

Age:

Gender:

Team Position: (Sub-commander x 1, communications x 1, electronic warfare x 1, field specialist x undetermined)

Appearance:

Personality: (Picture optional, but written description is mandatory)

Equipment: (Nothing fancy for now. Near-futuristic and modern weapons. Energy weapons included)

Skills:

Augmentations: (Subject to revision)

History:

(Make these characters come alive. I don't expect very lengthy character sheets, but please develop them well)

1. Have fun in this RP
2. Please keep arguments outside of the OOC, I do not want to deal with that clutter. Settle it in a PM.
3. Standard Gateway rules apply
4. Characters are subject to review and modification before I accept them
5. Writing level should be advanced, please try to write at least a well-sized paragraph or two per post
6. No power-playing, god-modding, etc.
7. This RP will be different from others in terms of how I manage it insofar as my interaction as GM with your characters. In this universe, I am akin to God; I am more powerful than God. Your actions and words will have consequences upon the world, even if not immediately apparent, as I am attempting to make this as dynamic and realistic an RP as possible. As such, I can and at times will subject your characters to arbitrary actions, and leave you to handle the consequences. In the real world, you do not have much say if part of a building decides to collapse as you pass by it, or if a stray bullet from some conflict miles away strikes you. Neither will you in here, although I will notify you of the action in the post itself and clearly delineate the action I have enacted. (To ensure that you have read these rules, please put your favorite color at the top of your character sheet). However, I am not trying to kill or incapacitate your characters, and will not try and do so without permission or if you become absent for an undue length of time. This RP will not be an easy adventure, so be sure that you can deal with this policy and the overall difficulty of the setting before you apply.
8. Please try and post at minimum once a week. Inform if there are any issues that will not allow you to do so.
9. Potatoes
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