OwO

Sleepless Nights\\ Iron Cages - A gothic cyberpunk RP about hunting the supernatural

@Expendable@KaliW@ERode@Theyra@Abstract Proxy@PerfectThought@Vertigo

Since I had most of the information done and I'm mostly in the position of not needing to change anything, here's the OOC in full functional form so you can make characters with actual world information and a character sheet.

roleplayerguild.com/topics/189830-sle…

Sleepless Nights\\ Iron Cages

Honest	Identity: An ironic name considering she's anything but, Honest is a bitter and cruel cleaner. She holds a profound knowledge about immortals and the supernatural as a testament to her career. As she states, she's overworked, underpaid, and a glorified babysitter. Why she remains in the 10th district within someone else's office is mystery considering that she holds a grade IV license. Whenever questioned about it, she becomes unreasonably angry about some debts. Despite being possibly the worst possible person for it, she manages to be the field trainer for most new cleaners at Mel's office. Though, even Honest won't acknowledge what she does as training. Moreso giving a child a hammer and kicking it out of their hands when they try to bash their own foot. Her relationship with Mel is not one of kinship and pleasantries. Perhaps long ago, they shared niceties. These days, the two seem to function off of purely enmity, spite, and bigger pictures. They'd both gladly throw each other to the wolves to reach their goals and both of them acknowledge that fact. Armaments: Honest wields a blessed chain-glaive. She doesn't have to fumble around with a carrying case that way. Abilities: Relocation is the premise of Honest's magic. With her left hand, she can warp objects she had previously touched to her location. With her right hand, she can temporarily warp objects to a location within eyesight. Objects that are harder to move take more vitas. Even without her magic, Mel is formidable. She's brutishly strong and accomplished with whatever she holds. Though, "accomplished" might as well mean hitting so hard that it shatters to bits. Other: She doesn't carry a MAIDEN with her, but she has access to one. One of Mel's, to be exact.
Mel	Identity: Mel is the head of her titular office. She's many things. Androgynous with a raspy voice. Secretive and always thinking. A collector of history. The one thing she isn't is exhausted. After all, she gets Honest to do all of her fieldwork for her. Mel is polite and amiable. She's especially caring towards newer cleaners. Incubator-type offices that don't simply exploit fresh cleaners are quite rare. Though, seeds of contempt lie deep within her actions. Most people would rather not create an office in the 10th district. Those that do tend to either be running or hiding from something. Most of her time is spent filing paperwork, reading news, looking for leads, and running meetings. If she gets free time, then she's often out looking for books that catalogue the history of the city. Armaments: Mel's weapon of choice is a relic: a wooden-stocked rifle with a telescopic sight. Technically, only the barrel is a relic. With its rifling, it "stretches" and coats each round with malediction. Rather than shooting bullets, it's more accurate to say that Mel fires binding spears. Abilities: Mel's magic is dastardly complex to use: she can fold space. Effectively, she can make two points closer than they actually are. For the most part, it can be used as transport and a way to attack. By shortening the distance between two points, she can increase the range and speed of her attacks. Mel is a marksman by trade. Years of paperwork have unfortunately knocked her down a few pegs since her prime. Beyond that, she has an innate sense of foresight from years of experience. Other: While she calls herself a collector, her office/apartment reveal the truth: she's a hoarder of anything historical.

Sleepless Nights\\ Iron Cages

DARKEN THE SKIES
PREPARE THE MAIDEN
CAGE THE IMMORTAL
BEGIN THE HUNT
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An eternal night shrouds Outis. Neon and LEDs are the only things that illuminate the streets. For most of the citizens, wealth is an abstract concept. Those who are lucky toil in the factories that fuel the city's maintenance. They can take solace in the fact they are being paid some pittance. It beats corvée labour or being shipped to carve out the ruins of the city.

The streets are not safe. Not when there are immortals lurking in the shadows. Immortals, beings that go against natural laws, attract the supernatural. The supernatural hungers for life, yet the vessel of an immortal does not allow for it to be drained. Those who are ordinary are prime targets for the beasties of the night.

Of course, the city is not defenceless. Cleaners--adapted from how supernatural events often leave a mess--wield magics and relics to slay the supernatural. Meanwhile, Hylics slake their weapons with their own life to pierce the supernatural.

That leaves one thing: immortals.

Thus begins the hunt.

Immortals will be caged.

Outis is a city-state that, to its citizens, is the only home for millions of humans. The city is comprised of 10 sequential districts in a helical spiral. While the citizens of the inner districts would describe the city as prosperous, those of the outer districts would describe it as anything but. The majority of citizens in the lower districts are conscripted into factories that sustain the city. Those who are lucky enough to escape the menial labour of manufacturing are, in fact, unlucky. Recyclers--as they call them--are sent to the fathoms underneath the city to find anything that can be processed to expand the city.

The city is shrouded in a mixture of eternal night and star-blocking smog. The moon is the only exception to the ink-black skies. An immovable ivory moon stands far above the city and radiates its visage through the smog.

Each district is administered by a crown-magistrate and their steward-corporation. The only exception is the innermost district which is ran by the crown--the immutable lord of the city. Districts are--for the most part--self-sustaining. Citizens of each district are typically not allowed to leave their respective districts without an immigration pass.

The crown-magistrates impose their will using large security forces. In comparison, only a select few groups are allowed to possess anything dangerous.

The underworld is the ruins on which Outis stands upon.

The city had, at one point, violently expanded and built upon the remains of a previous incarnation of itself. The helical nature of the city is inverted within the underworld. The further within the underworld one goes, the further from the surface they become. Away from the watchful eyes of the crown-magistrates, those who are unwilling to wage under a steward-corporation call the shallow underworld their home. Criminals, anarchists, and political enemies form a recusant community. Of course, that's only the shallows. The depths of the underworld hold vast evil: immortals in hiding, supernatural entities, and relics of unknown origin.

Typically, the entrances to the underworld are where they are closest. In other words, the outermost districts. However, longitudinal tunnels and lifts to the depths exist in most districts. For a price, of course.

The badlands consist of the area outside of the city. An impenetrable black fog surrounds the city. Rather than an apocalyptic landscape of monsters and beasts, the badlands simply lacks. Only dry dirt, sand, and identical stones can be found outside of the stones. There are no signs of civilization be it living or ancient. Criminals who escape to the badlands simply vanish. The identical footing and arms-length view makes getting lost too easy. No matter how long of a rope one uses, the footing remains identical.



Magic is the fundamental ability to disregard the logic of the world.

As a result, magic has no standard form. One person may simply intuit flames while another must create constructs using studied formulas. Despite this, magic is not something people are born with. Magic is, simply put, the culmination of one's experiences and self. It can be taught to others, yet it may morph and evolve due to previous experiences. Learning magic when one has already built their foundation of logic holds massive risks. While one's foundation of logic can adapt and evolve to create new magic, it can just as easily crumble under incompatibilities. Due to its side-effects, magic used solely by dissidents and those who oppose the supernatural.

Some practitioners are able to manifest physiological changes. Of course, to do so without a specialized logic is asking for death. After all, how does one change back if they do not consider their body's state to be fluid? The constant burn of one's life occurs upon manifestation. The permanent haunt of the supernatural. Thus, manifestation is primarily an occurrence under extreme psychological duress.

The usage of magic is to alter reality via one's life. Vitas is the fundamental energy of life.

Most humans are born with the same amount of vitas and die when they lack it. If the body is thought of as a cup, then vitas can be thought of as water. As one ages, their vessel cracks, chips, and breaks until it can no longer hold water. Thus, they die. To use magic is to intentionally pour the water from within. This, of course, means that vitas can be refilled. Typically, the elimination of the supernatural is what allows those who perform magic to not have unbelievably short lives. However, the stresses of magic do put wear on the vessel.

Any attempt to use vitas in an attempt to industrialize the city have resulted in generally bad things happening.

A problem occurs when one is born with a near limitless vessel and supply of vitas. They are able to intuit their own immortality and become immortals.

This isn't necessarily a problem. However, the gift of immortality comes with severe penalty: the permanent disruption of the natural order. The natural order is what binds reality under reason and logic. Something should exist, therefore it does. Something should happen, therefore it will. Simply put, immortals call the supernatural to themselves by disrupting the natural order.

Immortals can not be slain. While the nature of their immortality varies, there is a single immutable truth to dealing with immortals: the only way to stop one is containment.

The supernatural results as a manifestation of the subconscious.

Ranging from representations of primal fears to memetic brainworms, the supernatural are being of vitas that innately seek out vitas to subsume by any means. As the antithesis of the natural order, the supernatural call more supernatural. Thus, the supernatural must systematically be purged to prevent a cascade of destruction.

As beings of vitas, supernatural beings have an innate desire to subsume vitas. The vessels of immortals are much too sturdy to be drained. That leaves one reliable target: ordinary humans.

Vitas is not limited to living beings. Rarely, an object known as a relic will accumulate vitas.

Like magic, there is no concrete example for a relic is, save for the fact that they fundamentally do something unnatural. As they flaunt the natural order, they must be kept sealed in a CAT--a specialized holster or container that fully conceals the object. Relics are typically graded from I to V and correspond to the appropriate cleaner rank.



The hunt is the colloquial term for the systematic containment and elimination of immortals and the supernatural.

The process is fairly simple. The supernatural tends to be able to be vanquished by the usage of vitas, be it channelled through relics or via magic. Immortals, however, can not be vanquished by such means. Instead, immortals must be forced into a MAIDEN--a specialized containment device designed for usage against immortals. While the exact design may vary, they can usually be described as large metal coffins.

There are two primary parties when it comes to the hunt: cleaners and the Hylic Order.

Cleaners are elimination for hire. Typically, cleaners are arranged into offices and associations. Cleaners are administered directly by the crown, but have freedom in what jobs they take. Their administration is primarily a way for the crown to reign them in rather than support their cause. As a result, cleaners are separated into 5 grades with associated perks. The most pertinent of them being the right to travel within the city.

• I - No transit or residence besides one's citizenship.
• II - Limited transit and temporary residence to the first eight districts (under the employment of the appropriate office)
• III - Free transit and residence to the outermost four districts; the ability to form an office.
• IV - Free transit and residence to the outermost eight districts.
• V - Free transit and residence within any district.

Of course, the demand for warm bodies in the fight is in flux. Thus, Freelancers fill the gaps between the districts. Freelancers have no office. Rather, they're hired on a job-by-job basis.

The Hylic Order is a fanatical paramilitary with an obsession of keeping the natural order. Unlike cleaners, they do it for free (if you do not count their extending reach in politics as payment). As opposed to cleaners, Hylics refuse magic. They instead rely upon "blessed" weapons and tools--items staked with the vitas of the wielder rather than items innately possessing it. To call the relationship between Hylics and cleaners strained would be an understatement. The only thing stopping total war between the two is the swift force doled out by each crown-magistrate's security forces.



This is where random things I don't want to put into the narrative will go. A good place to define the specifics of technology, too.

Lore Bits

The technology of Outis is heavily physical. It's closer to Bladerunner than 2077. While most things within a typical cyberpunk world exist, a few exceptions should be especially highlighted. There is no net or cyberspace. After all, that would give a form of communication between districts. Telephones exist, but are connected with wire instead of cell towers.

MAIDENs are one of the few magical tools that were allowed to be developed. Simply put, a MAIDEN is a coffin (or really any large enough container to hold one person) that consumes a vast amount of vitas to close. When it contains an ordinary human, it is unable to close and fully activate due to a lack of vitas. When it contains an immortal, it will indefinitely remain shut. Of course, an immortal inside will be unable to use their vitas for anything besides keeping the MAIDEN. As MAIDENs are designed as a closed system, there is little risk of a supernatural outbreak from such a device.

CATs work under a similar property. The object inside has its vitas drained and kept within a closed loop. However, the difference between the two lies in the amount of vitas necessary for the loop. This means that each relic requires its own CAT tuned specifically for it. CATs that can fit a human inside are generally rare as they will kill (or otherwise harm) anyone who gets stuck inside one. Most designers of CATs, however, consider this risk as the ethical equivalent of a child getting stuck inside a refrigerator. As the life of someone within the city is fairly low, it's honestly easier to get a large CAT than it sounds.

Technology and magic is fundamentally incompatible. Magic adding an unpredictable element to the consistent requirements of technology. However, relics can be worked alongside simpler technology. A relic in the form of a hammer may be worked into a chain. The chain can fairly safely be attached a motor. However, using the effect of a relic to fuel technology leads to unpredictability. For instance, a relic that can accelerate mass can--with some expertise--be worked into a gun. However, using the mass-acceleration property to create energy leads to chaos.

If you weren't in the interest check, feel free to still shoot out a character.

Characters will (at the start) be a part of Mel's office as a fairly new cleaner (think rank I and II). From there, characters will have to both protect the streets and deal the underworld as they live and work in the 10th district--the worst place in the city. If you want to do something else, holla at me. This is mostly to make sure people are on mostly the same foot early. If the RP lasts long enough, we'd maybe get into some cheeky metagame about managing your own office.

Character Sheet and Stuff

Character Basics

Don't feel as though you need to write a novel; I'm just looking for the basics of the basics. I'm going to be fairly lenient with my control over the world. If you want something that only affects your character, you can--for the most part--just do it. Format this how you'd like, just make it look vaguely nice. There's an example in the character tab.

[image here, or something. please make it a decent anime image. if you absolutely can't find something, add in an appearance section]
Name:
Identity: (Consider his a mixture of personality, biography, etc. Effectively, a synopsis for the entire character)
Armaments: (What your character uses to fight. Some people swing a MAIDEN itself, some use relics, some use "Blessed" weapons. Think of the difference between relic and blessed as blessed are just normal weapons you swing, relics have actual abilities associated with them.)
Abilities: (If your character uses magic, place it here too. Otherwise, just the things that they're good at.)
Other:

Musical Playlist

Sleepless Nights\\ Iron Cages - A gothic cyberpunk RP about hunting the supernatural

Let me see if I've got it:

• The source of all magic is life force, known as "vitas";
• Vitas is in all living things;
• Vitas in humans degrade over time (we're leaking vitas);
• To use magic, we have to spend some of our vitas;
• Supernatural creatures crave vitas;
• Killing living creatures releases their vitas;
• Supernatural creatures kill other living creatures to get their vitas;
• Killing supernatural creatures releases their vitas to those around them as they die;
• Immortals are glutted with non-degrading vitas and attract supernaturals towards them;
• We're imprisoning Immortals in iron caskets to keep them from attracting supernaturals.

But if supernaturals crave vitas and we, the human race, are leaking them, doesn't that make cities the next-best source next to Immortals?

What happens to the vitas that humans and other living creatures leak? Does it lie about (perhaps collecting in pools to create the fountain of youth, healing springs, etc.), or is it collected by something?

Does that lead to the birth of supernatural creatures? Or does that get sucked into immortals, so big cities act as charging stations for immortals?

If Immortals suck up all that leaking vitas and we lock up the immortals in metal caskets, does that uncollected vitas spawn another immortal?

@Expendable

List is pretty much correct, with the additional note that the supernatural drain which kills. If someone just croaks and a supernatural didn't do it, the supernatural doesn't get anything.

The supernatural doesn't collect expelled vitas. It can only drain it from a vessel. The bigger cause of the supernatural is the impossible: immortals, supernatural, and magic.

When vitas is lost, it ceases to exist. In the rare case it doesn't, an item become a weak vessel and holds it. It gets special properties, but same as above.

Third question, for the most part on both: no. If the vitas collects in an object, it does attract the supernatural

The caskets perpetually consume vitas to stay closed. One of the few magic technologies they finished before realizing that trying to use tech and magic together was a horrible idea. It disables immortals by using all their throughput. So it doesn't really spawn more since the consumed vitas just vanishes.

Basically, the barometer for the supernatural isn't vitas, it's things that should not exist.

Sleepless Nights\\ Iron Cages - A gothic cyberpunk RP about hunting the supernatural

So is there a source to this magic?

-snip-

So like vampires have a lot of mana after feeding?

@Expendable

I do have a tentative write-up here, but to answer the specifics here:

The source is vitas; it's internal and can thought of as an 'innate' life. You're born with vitas and a vessel to hold it. As you age, the vessel breaks down until it is incapable of holding anything and you croak.

Using magic is to intentionally spill out some of it. It doesn't come back on its own. Instead, it's gotten by killing (or being in the proximity of) supernatural entities. As long as you're alive, you can cast but you can also definitely feel death coming. You could technically live sacrifice it, but poor efficiency, you'd be blacklisted from every morally good actor, you'd require a specific understanding (see: magic) on how to break a vessel, etc. Basically, the only way that would reasonably come up is killing supernatural.

Immortals have near infinite vitas (hence why they're immortal) so their magic is limited to what their vessel allows them to output (it can't be stressed, unlike a human) and their logic (an immortal still can't fathom being able to instantly wipe out portions of the city--most of the time). A vampire immortal would therefore not really have a change in it when they suck.

Vampire (as in the supernatural entity) are like all supernatural entities; they're beings of vitas and not vessels that contain it. They just consume it so they're pretty much at max strength 100% of the time (for better or worse). They'd still follow the characteristics that people view of vampires, but it has more to do with their internal programming (how they are viewed).

Persona ~ Alone at Sea (PERSONA WITH A BOAT 𓊝)

---

Crying is a strange thing. So many thoughts went through Maive's head that, really, she couldn't pinpoint an exact one. She had an inkling of what made her cry, but couldn't quite put it to words if she was asked. It was more that she was thinking in feelings. When she finally felt the hand of someone else, she instinctively reacted.

Maive's arms wrapped around Sofia's torso as the crying girl grasped for comfort. Anything at that moment would have done.

Then Sofia became acutely aware of a bizarre fact about Maive.

Her diminutive stature didn't mean she was weak.

No.

She was condensed.

Like a vice grip, Sofia was now being fully assaulted by the most brutal hug she must have ever experienced. Two neodymium magnets had suddenly found each other and connected. Sofia's shirt had suddenly been blessed by a deep imprint of Maive's crying and snotty face. Her feverish wailing changed to sobs. Then, it changed to deep breaths and hiccups.

Finally, Maive let go. Her glasses were smudged. Her eyes looked more like coloured marshmallows. She desperately wiped the remaining snot off her face using her forearms.

She'd bury it. It didn't matter if it was a hatchet or her own feelings at this moment. Sure, she was alone and confused. But she had to be strong. She always did.

Suddenly slapping both cheeks, Maive looked to the trees. She took one last deep breath.

Rather than acknowledge what Imogen had said, Maive turned back to Imogen. Her face wasn't that of embarrassment, nor was it full of sorrow. Now, her cheeks were red from determination--at least temporarily. She stretched a hand towards Imogen. Thankfully, all of her snot had been wiped on her forearms and Sofia.

Sleepless Nights\\ Iron Cages - A gothic cyberpunk RP about hunting the supernatural

Hey there! In your description of Sleepless Nights, you mentioned that characters have access to magic. Could you elaborate more on the magic system in the world of Sleepless Nights? How does it function and what kind of impact does it have on the characters and the environment? Are there any restrictions or limitations to using magic and how does it differ from technology in the world?

--

So, I've been pondering over the vast, dark and dangerous world of Sleepless Nights and I've dreamed up a character that might just fit right in. A young man of 24, he was born with a gift, a power that was both a blessing and a curse. He possesses the ability to mimic the abilities of others and monsters, absorbing them through touch, much like Rogue from the X-Men.

But this power comes with a price. As time passes, his access to these abilities slowly fades, leaving him to constantly seek out new sources of strength and power. He walks a fine line between hunter and hunted, never staying in one place for too long, always on the run from those who fear and envy his abilities.

Despite his youth, he has lived a life far beyond his years, his powers attracting the attention of both immortals and the supernatural, forcing him to confront the dangers of the dark and foreboding world of Sleepless Nights head on. He is a man haunted by the ghosts of his past, always searching for a way to make peace with his powers and find some semblance of normalcy in a world consumed by chaos.

This character is a man of shadows, a hunter with a troubled soul, always seeking out new powers to add to his arsenal. He is a solitary figure, driven by the hunger for knowledge and the need to survive in a world that seeks to destroy him.

Do you feel like this character would fit within the realm of Sleepless Nights?

@KaliW

If you think of technology as the rational, magic is the irrational. It's effectively exerting one's own personal perception on the world.

There's no definite form to magic. If someone's logic is "I can shoot fire out of my hands", they can. The only limit is the cost. The stronger something is (the more suspended disbelief), the more life it costs (you can think of hp and mana as the same pool).

Technology and magic also don't get along. If the two are meaningfully combined, you basically get a d100 of different results. Plus, magic calls the supernatural. It's not really an issue when the janitors are making a little mess, but if people use it in their regular lives, it becomes a big deal.

As a result, there isn't much interplay between the two.

As for the character, mostly fine. He's going to generally be worse at someone specialized and is still hit by the rule that everything he uses should be logically congruent. Though just as a warning, copying magic from immortals is like comparing a water tanker to a shot glass. It's not really going to work, but you can maybe get a few minor (see: actually quite major) things off them.

The hard rule with all magic is that it should have nothing to do with anything resembling immortality. All humans are rate limited. They hit old age and then die. His age thing is a general not allowed.

Basically, plastic surgery to look young and being born with it are the only reasonable ways in universe.

As for being hunted, I'd also pretty much say that if he's just copying, he isn't doing much to gain ire. Think of an entire apartment block being turned into goo as a typical tuesday. You'd pretty much need to somehow be worse or make enemies of the politic.

Sleepless Nights\\ Iron Cages - A gothic cyberpunk RP about hunting the supernatural

What sort of immortals are we talking about? Highlander immortals? Phoenixes? Ms. Jones? Nanny McPhee?

Are vampires immortals or are they monsters?

Do you get Angels? Demons?

What other supernaturals will we encounter?

@Expendable

Pretty much all of them, but there's no taxonomy to it. Rather than being things like different species, immortals are effectively humans who have rationalized their own immortality. Someone could rationalize it as being a vampire and devour. Someone could rationalize it as a Matrix Agent Smith style body takeover. Someone could view it as though they were a snake, shedding their previous form when it has become too damaged.

As for the supernatural, it functions off of the unconscious and abstract concepts. Hounds. Gargoyles. Ghosts. The moon actually being an eldritch entity. The main factor of the supernatural is that it's life without life. The supernatural can not think or plan nor does it have instinct. They're effectively programs that do what they are thought to do (with a side of being attracted to human life).

So if vampires are immortals or monsters: they can be both. An immortal vampire is a human with vampire tendencies and just can not be killed by any means. A monster vampire is a more beastial, abstracted form that does not have rationale beyond drink blood and hot chip, plus they can more easily die.

Angels and demons are the same. Immortal angels and demons are still human. They just have wings and stuff related to angels/demons. Supernatural angels are more "do not be afraid" and suck the life out of you when they forcefully embrace you. Supernatural demons--there's a lot so I won't get very specific.

Pretty much there is no limit to what you encounter as a supernatural entity. As long as I have a rationale basis--people fear it, it's a concept people know, etc--it can be an enemy. Basically, some classical enemies, some weird enemies, and some absolute curveballs.

garbage zone

Hider

DARKEN THE SKIES
PREPARE THE MAIDEN
CAGE THE IMMORTAL
BEGIN THE HUNT
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-----------

-----------

An eternal night shrouds Outis. Neon and LEDs are the only things that illuminate the streets. For most of the citizens, wealth is an abstract concept. Those who are lucky toil in the factories that fuel the city's maintenance. They can take solace in the fact they are being paid some pittance. It beats corvée labour or being shipped to carve out the ruins of the city.

The streets are not safe. Not when there are immortals lurking in the shadows. Immortals, beings that go against natural laws, attract the supernatural. The supernatural hungers for life, yet the vessel of an immortal does not allow for it to be drained. Those who are ordinary are prime targets for the beasties of the night.

Of course, the city is not defenceless. Cleaners--adapted from how supernatural events often leave a mess--wield magics and relics to slay the supernatural. Meanwhile, Hylics slake their weapons with their own life to pierce the supernatural.

That leaves one thing: immortals.

Thus begins the hunt.

Immortals will be caged.

Outis is a city-state that, to its citizens, is the only home for millions of humans. The city is comprised of 10 sequential districts in a helical spiral. While the citizens of the inner districts would describe the city as prosperous, those of the outer districts would describe it as anything but. The majority of citizens in the lower districts are conscripted into factories that sustain the city. Those who are lucky enough to escape the menial labour of manufacturing are, in fact, unlucky. Recyclers--as they call them--are sent to the fathoms underneath the city to find anything that can be processed to expand the city.

The city is shrouded in a mixture of eternal night and star-blocking smog. The moon is the only exception to the ink-black skies. An immovable ivory moon stands far above the city and radiates its visage through the smog.

Each district is administered by a crown-magistrate and their steward-corporation. The only exception is the innermost district which is ran by the crown--the immutable lord of the city. Districts are--for the most part--self-sustaining. Citizens of each district are typically not allowed to leave their respective districts without an immigration pass.

The crown-magistrates impose their will using large security forces. In comparison, only a select few groups are allowed to possess anything dangerous.

The underworld is the ruins on which Outis stands upon.

The city had, at one point, violently expanded and built upon the remains of a previous incarnation of itself. The helical nature of the city is inverted within the underworld. The further within the underworld one goes, the further from the surface they become. Away from the watchful eyes of the crown-magistrates, those who are unwilling to wage under a steward-corporation call the shallow underworld their home. Criminals, anarchists, and political enemies form a recusant community. Of course, that's only the shallows. The depths of the underworld hold vast evil: immortals in hiding, supernatural entities, and relics of unknown origin.

Typically, the entrances to the underworld are where they are closest. In other words, the outermost districts. However, longitudinal tunnels and lifts to the depths exist in most districts. For a price, of course.

The badlands consist of the area outside of the city. An impenetrable black fog surrounds the city. Rather than an apocalyptic landscape of monsters and beasts, the badlands simply lacks. Only dry dirt, sand, and identical stones can be found outside of the stones. There are no signs of civilization be it living or ancient. Criminals who escape to the badlands simply vanish. The identical footing and arms-length view makes getting lost too easy. No matter how long of a rope one uses, the footing remains identical.



Magic is the fundamental ability to disregard the logic of the world.

As a result, magic has no standard form. One person may simply intuit flames while another must create constructs using studied formulas. Despite this, magic is not something people are born with. Magic is, simply put, the culmination of one's experiences and self. It can be taught to others, yet it may morph and evolve due to previous experiences. Learning magic when one has already built their foundation of logic holds massive risks. While one's foundation of logic can adapt and evolve to create new magic, it can just as easily crumble under incompatibilities. Due to its side-effects, magic used solely by dissidents and those who oppose the supernatural.

Some practitioners are able to manifest physiological changes. Of course, to do so without a specialized logic is asking for death. After all, how does one change back if they do not consider their body's state to be fluid? The constant burn of one's life occurs upon manifestation. The permanent haunt of the supernatural. Thus, manifestation is primarily an occurrence under extreme psychological duress.

The usage of magic is to alter reality via one's life. Vitas is the fundamental energy of life.

Most humans are born with the same amount of vitas and die when they lack it. If the body is thought of as a cup, then vitas can be thought of as water. As one ages, their vessel cracks, chips, and breaks until it can no longer hold water. Thus, they die. To use magic is to intentionally pour the water from within. This, of course, means that vitas can be refilled. Typically, the elimination of the supernatural is what allows those who perform magic to not have unbelievably short lives. However, the stresses of magic do put wear on the vessel.

Any attempt to use vitas in an attempt to industrialize the city have resulted in generally bad things happening.

A problem occurs when one is born with a near limitless vessel and supply of vitas. They are able to intuit their own immortality and become immortals.

This isn't necessarily a problem. However, the gift of immortality comes with severe penalty: the permanent disruption of the natural order. The natural order is what binds reality under reason and logic. Something should exist, therefore it does. Something should happen, therefore it will. Simply put, immortals call the supernatural to themselves by disrupting the natural order.

Immortals can not be slain. While the nature of their immortality varies, there is a single immutable truth to dealing with immortals: the only way to stop one is containment.

The supernatural results as a manifestation of the subconscious.

Ranging from representations of primal fears to memetic brainworms, the supernatural are being of vitas that innately seek out vitas to subsume by any means. As the antithesis of the natural order, the supernatural call more supernatural. Thus, the supernatural must systematically be purged to prevent a cascade of destruction.

As beings of vitas, supernatural beings have an innate desire to subsume vitas. The vessels of immortals are much too sturdy to be drained. That leaves one reliable target: ordinary humans.

Vitas is not limited to living beings. Rarely, an object known as a relic will accumulate vitas.

Like magic, there is no concrete example for a relic is, save for the fact that they fundamentally do something unnatural. As they flaunt the natural order, they must be kept sealed in a CAT--a specialized holster or container that fully conceals the object. Relics are typically graded from I to V and correspond to the appropriate cleaner rank.



The hunt is the colloquial term for the systematic containment and elimination of immortals and the supernatural.

The process is fairly simple. The supernatural tends to be able to be vanquished by the usage of vitas, be it channelled through relics or via magic. Immortals, however, can not be vanquished by such means. Instead, immortals must be forced into a MAIDEN--a specialized containment device designed for usage against immortals. While the exact design may vary, they can usually be described as large metal coffins.

There are two primary parties when it comes to the hunt: cleaners and the Hylic Order.

Cleaners are elimination for hire. Typically, cleaners are arranged into offices and associations. Cleaners are administered directly by the crown, but have freedom in what jobs they take. Their administration is primarily a way for the crown to reign them in rather than support their cause. As a result, cleaners are separated into 5 grades with associated perks. The most pertinent of them being the right to travel within the city.

• I - No transit or residence besides one's citizenship.
• II - Limited transit and temporary residence to the first eight districts (under the employment of the appropriate office)
• III - Free transit and residence to the first four districts; the ability to form an office.
• IV - Free transit and residence to the first eight district.
• V - Free transit and residence within any district.

Of course, the demand for warm bodies in the fight is in flux. Thus, Freelancers fill the gaps between the districts. Freelancers have no office. Rather, they're hired on a job-by-job basis.

The Hylic Order is a fanatical paramilitary with an obsession of keeping the natural order. Unlike cleaners, they do it for free (if you do not count their extending reach in politics as payment). As opposed to cleaners, Hylics refuse magic. They instead rely upon "blessed" weapons and tools--items staked with the vitas of the wielder rather than items innately possessing it. To call the relationship between Hylics and cleaners strained would be an understatement. The only thing stopping total war between the two is the swift force doled out by each crown-magistrate's security forces.



This is where random things I don't want to put into the narrative will go. A good place to define the specifics of technology, too.

Lore Bits

MAIDENs are one of the few magical tools that were allowed to be developed. Simply put, a MAIDEN is a coffin (or really any large enough container to hold one person) that consumes a vast amount of vitas to close. When it contains an ordinary human, it is unable to close and fully activate due to a lack of vitas. When it contains an immortal, it will indefinitely remain shut. Of course, an immortal inside will be unable to use their vitas for anything besides keeping the MAIDEN. As MAIDENs are designed as a closed system, there is little risk of a supernatural outbreak from such a device.

CATs work under a similar property. The object inside has its vitas drained and kept within a closed loop. However, the difference between the two lies in the amount of vitas necessary for the loop. This means that each relic requires its own CAT tuned specifically for it. CATs that can fit a human inside are generally rare as they will kill (or otherwise harm) anyone who gets stuck inside one. Most designers of CATs, however, consider this risk as the ethical equivalent of a child getting stuck inside a refrigerator. As the life of someone within the city is fairly low, it's honestly easier to get a large CAT than it sounds.

Technology and magic is fundamentally incompatible. Magic adding an unpredictable element to the consistent requirements of technology. However, relics can be worked alongside simpler technology. A relic in the form of a hammer may be worked into a chain. The chain can fairly safely be attached a motor. However, using the effect of a relic to fuel technology leads to unpredictability. For instance, a relic that can accelerate mass can--with some expertise--be worked into a gun. However, using the mass-acceleration property to create energy leads to chaos.

Characters will (at the start) be a part of Mel's office as a fairly new cleaner (think rank I and II). From there, characters will have to both protect the streets and deal the underworld as they live and work in the 10th district--the worst place in the city. If you want to do something else, holla at me. This is mostly to make sure people are on mostly the same foot early. If the RP lasts long enough, we'd maybe get into some cheeky metagame about managing your own office.

Character Basics

Don't feel as though you need to write a novel; I'm just looking for the basics of the basics. I'm going to be fairly lenient with my control over the world. If you want something that only affects your character, you can--for the most part--just do it. Format this how you'd like, just make it look vaguely nice.

[image here, or something. please make it a decent anime image]
Name:
Identity: (Consider his a mixture of personality, biography, etc. Effectively, a synopsis for the entire character)
Armaments: (What your character uses to fight. Some people swing a MAIDEN itself, some use relics, some use "Blessed" weapons. Think of the difference between relic and blessed as blessed are just normal weapons you swing, relics have actual abilities associated with them.)
Abilities: (If your character uses magic, place it here too. Otherwise, just the things that they're good at.)
Other:

Musical Playlist

Sleepless Nights\\ Iron Cages - A gothic cyberpunk RP about hunting the supernatural

DARKEN THE SKIES
PREPARE THE MAIDEN
CAGE THE IMMORTAL
BEGIN THE HUNT
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Welcome to Sleepless Nights, sort of the continuation of my roleplaying white whale.

Inspired by series like Lobotomy Corp/Library of Ruina/Limbus Company being the biggest, Chainsaw Man, some other manga here and there, and some RPs that have since been lost to time. The fastest way I could explain the themes of the story would be gothic cyberpunk.

I'm playing pretty fast and loose with technology. The general rule of thumb is that it kind of sucks. Sure, you can fully replace your body in its entirety, but are you really willing to deal with your former senses in absentia? Though, my main limit with technology is that it must be something physical. Guns and chainsaw halberds yes, beam weapons no.

There's also the gothic side of the RP. Characters have access to magic, a system that's deeply personal yet utterly incomprehensible within the world of Sleepless Nights. They also face monsters that must be dealt with in their own specific ways.

Characters will play the role as a new cleaner: guns-for-hire that hunt down the supernatural in a world that's quite infested with them. Life in the world of Sleepless Nights is harsh. For those on the outskirts of the city, they live under the constant expectation of toiling. The mind-numbing factory work beats corvée labour. Criminals are shipped off to the great ruins beneath the city to carve what resources they can out of the previous incarnation of the city. Those of the inner districts have better prospects, yet live even further beneath the boot of the politik.

They'd make their bones under an established office designed as an incubator for new cleaners at first and, hopefully in the future, can branch out a little and have each character have a pretty big amount of agency and control within the RP.

Of course, supernatural aren't the only threat to the city. Immortals live alongside man. Were it not for the fact that the supernatural are drawn to immortals to the point of cataclysm, perhaps man and immortal could live in peace. Unfortunately, they can not. The hunters must imprison immortals in metal coffins to ensure that the supernatural does not blight the cityscape.

Hopefully, we'd get on a regular weekly post schedule.

Anyways, I can answer any questions.