In a train station at a dawning hour of the autumn morning, a single figure was waiting. The cold air bit at him, his cheeks growing rosy as did his nose. He stood in a freshly washed uniform that had not a single wrinkle on it and had not yet adopted the shape of his body, the platform beneath his feet had many cracks through which weeds and other vegetation grew. While the station itself was well-lit, the surrounding city was left unlit save for a few candle lights shining through the windows adorning the houses in the sleepy town.
It was foggy. In fact, thinking back on it, it was very much possible that this "man" was in fact a woman. Shirasagi High's uniforms, while differing between the sexes, could perhaps be confused for one another from a distance...
Actually, our narrator may just be blind.
Returning to the situation at hand, this unknown character, alone in the deserted station, seemed to be awaiting his or her train; a reasonable assumption, if we consider the location. With the fog of the morning creating a thick veil over the area, the features and exact look, feelings and emotions emanated by the figure were vague at most, but an observer could possibly and barely see that this person seemed at least somewhat excited to meet their new fate. Something in the way they stood gave off an aura of security, confidence and acceptance; acceptance of what fortune had chosen for him-slash-her.
Suddenly, lights could be seen through the fog as the awaited train approached. In response, the unknown character picked up their lightly packed bag and headed towards the edge of the platform. The train came, only a single car following behind it. The machine's brakes groaned and it pulled in up an almost supernaturally perfect fashion directly in front of the character.
Not a single man descended from the vehicle to make the figure enter, but the person quietly entered nonetheless, not letting the nonexistence of an escort subtract from their noticeably good mood (or was it?). Before entering, however, the character took a look around, and with the fog now steadily dissipating, the character's features were now able to be seen in detail, even by our perhaps blind narrator.
This "character" is you.
Setting
The Closed World takes place in 2014, in the Independent Japanese Federation, an alternate history version of Japan. Its history is best explained through this timeline, which begins in 1918, with the first divergence from true history...
August 1918: Following the death of the Tsar and his family, Lenin and other leaders of the Russian SFSR are killed by a western-power hired group of assassins. The communist government falls into in-fighting and eventually falls.
December 1918: After the fall of Soviet Russia, American supported capitalists take power and establish the Russian Federation. The new Russian Federation spends the next few years rounding up countries that declared their independence during the revolutions and manage to restore pre-revolution territories.
1921-1929: Despite its initially close nature to the United States, the two begin to grow apart and in 1929, following the Wall Street Crash, decides to cut most alliances with the other power. The Russian Isolationist Period begins.
1932: Higher-ups in the Russian Federation aid Adolf Hitler in gaining power in Germany, due to incentives of technology sharing, though they still remain guarded in regards to international interactions.
1939: The Russian Federation and Nazi Germany sign a pact, though the Russian Federation chastises Hitler for his war-mongering in that year and ready their forces in case of war. As the Germans invade other countries in Europe, Russia refuses to aid Germany.
1940: Germany invades the Russian Federation. The latter declares war on the former and its allies, ending the Russian Isolationist Period. While the Russian Federation focuses its forces on the western front, the Japanese Empire invades and occupies Primorsky, Sakhalin, Kamchatka, Khabarovsk and Magadan.
1941: The Allied powers incite a revolution in Paris and power over the occupied zone is taken by the allies. Vichy France is invaded shortly after. Italy defects from the Axis and joins the Allies. Germany sends most of its forces to the western front and makes an uneasy armistice with the Russian Federation. The Russian Federation removes its troops from the west and focuses on Japan.
1943: The Russian Federation takes back the occupied areas of their territory and invades Manchuria and Korea. At the same time, the United States, retaliating to an attack on American holdings in 1942 by the Japanese Empire uses its naval power to liberate areas in southeast Asia.
1944: Following the liberation of Manchuria and Korea, the Russian Federation prepares to invade Japan. They begin the invasion in July, beginning with Hokkaido and have taken most northern territories by the end of the year. America liberates all of southeast Asia around this time and sends aid to their Russian allies.
August 1945: Russia takes Tokyo and the Japanese Empire surrenders. Earlier, in the same year, Germany surrenders. The Second World War ends.
1947: Korea and Mongolia are granted independence by the Russian Federation. Shortly after, the United States grants the territories in southeast Asia independence. However, Japan remains occupied by Russia, with the exception of Kyushu and Shikoku, which are occupied by the United States.
1949: The Russian Federation and the United States, both tired from the Second World War, decide to watch from the sidelines as the Communist Party takes power in China, much to their chagrin.
1950: Occupied Japan is officially incorporated into the Russian Federation as the Autonomous Republic of Japan.
1953: Southern areas of Japan previously occupied by the United States are granted independence.
1961: The Russian occupied area of East Germany is reunified with West Germany.
1987: The United States supports a group of southern Japanese militants in taking Honshu back from the Russians. Hokkaido then declares independence and secedes to the southern provisional government.
January 13th 1990: The Independent Japanese Federation is founded, with Japanese (70%), Russian (20%) and English (10%) as its official languages. Russia, despite its obvious chagrin on the matter, decides to remain neutral on the matter.
1995: The IJF and the USA make an economic and military alliance and the Japan Self Defense Forces are founded.
The Independent Japanese Federation, otherwise called the IJF or Japan
Capital: Tokyo
Official Languages: Japanese (70% of the population native speakers, spoken mainly in Honshu and Shikoku and the rest of the country), Russian (20% native speakers, spoken in Hokkaido and most northern regions and in northern areas of Honshu. Was the sole official language of the Russian controlled territory until 1990) and English (10% native speakers, spoken mostly in Kyushu and other southern regions)
Government: Federal semi-presidential constitutional republic
Currency: Yen
The IJF is divided up into multiple Republics, which are the following;
-Hokkaido
-Tohoku
-Kanto
-Chubu
-Kansai
-Chugoku
-Shikoku
-Kyushu
-Okinawa
Aside from this, there is also the Federated City of Tokyo and the Southern Islands District (including Tanegashima and Fukue-jima, among others). Each Republic is independently-governed, though they also answer to the National Diet of Japan.
Other than its alternate history status and aforementioned differences (languages and thus cultures depending on area), the IJF is very close to our own world's Japan in terms of technology and daily life, with exceptions to those who were particularly influenced by the culture imposed on them by either the Russians or the Americans. See internet information for these kinds of things.
The Closed World takes place in the Republic of Shikoku, on the island of Harumishima, which, as part of an Japanese-American funded project in 1980, was connected to Kyushu by an over-water railway system (which was later connected to the countrywide railway system after the IJF became independent). At the end of the line is New Harumi City, of which modernization and construction began in 1979 and was finished in 2004. In terms of architecture, technology and standards of living, it is similar to Tatsumi Port Island of Persona 3. Unlike other areas of central Japan, only Japanese is primarily spoken there, much like any city from before the war, with English and Russian being kept to schools and those who speak it between themselves.
No one knows the reason behind the construction of the city, but its high standards of living and calm yet modern atmosphere quickly brought in new population. Most teenage students in the city go to Shirasagi High, which applies to our characters.
Regarding our characters, they don't seem to have much in common, but a common struggle, pertaining to the title of this RP will pull them together...
More information will be added to the OOC and this part as we go along. I like to allow players to add their own ideas too, so I'm open to any suggestions!
Rules and Character Information
1: Keep the RP PG-13 to mild R. Feel free to describe till your heart’s content the effects of a serious injury and feel free to swear like a sailor if you wish, but keep any sexual situation to just references in passing please! Making out is the limit!
2: Please, no Godmodding. However, if you deem that powerplaying could help with the plot, please ask for permission first from the target of the powerplaying. At the same time, don't endlessly spam powerplaying, as that makes things very unfair.
3: I would like at least three good paragraphs or more of written content, except during interactions when I will allow a filled paragraph or two, as to keep things active. Don't know what to write? Talk about what your character thinks, sees or about the place he/she is in.
4: This is not the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: There will be no Aliens; No Time Travellers; No Espers; No Sliders; and no one with strange, otherworldly, ungodly, or otherwise mystical powers. However, if you absolutely think that some sort of interesting thing might make your character, go ahead and discuss it with me through PM.
5: Try to make original characters with little to no inspiration from existing characters from shows/games/other media.
6: If you need to go on Hiatus or break for a period of time, let us know. We don’t want to assume you got bored of the RP and left it without saying a word about it. If something important came up or you suddenly became busy with work, just let us know so I can work something out.
7: Try to post at least once a week. Again, this is to prevent lack of interest in the RP by vanishing characters. Also, it will help maintain a flow in the RP so it won’t slow down too much. This isn't a mandatory rule to follow, but it is encouraged, and if you need more time to post: don't be afraid to post in the OOC about your concerns and I'll be glad to make the proper accommodations.
8: Try to reply if you know for sure a previous post was meant for you specifically to reply back too. It’s only polite so the RP won’t be kept waiting for a single person to reply back so everyone can have fun.
9: If you fail to post or notify anyone the reason for your absence, there will be consequences...
Note: a “Reason” can be something simple, for example:
“I’m sorry for not posting for so long, I was bogged down by work and school work”
or
“I was sick for the past weeks”
or
“I was on vacation with family”
You do not need to go into detail, just a short reasonable and truthful answer to your disappearance.
10: Please try to interact a lot within not only the IC, but the OOC too. RP's without communication die faster than a Yak-38 falls out of the sky (yay, plane jokes!).
11: At least in the beginning, we are all on the same side. If you wish to do something somewhat unsavory, please speak to me in a message, in order to guard the surprise for the others, NOT ON THE OOC PLEASE.
12: Any Mary-Sues/Marty-Stu's will be mercilessly stamped out of existence, and bought down to Earth with a crashing bump. Your character cannot be the best at everything, and win every fight they're in with no challenge. Even the greatest characters in anime, games and movies take hits and damage, and find their opponents hard to beat. If there's no challenge, then it's boring and pointless, and there's nothing to overcome.
13: On the other side of this argument, this does not need to be a gritty, miserable slog. A strong sense of adventure, heroism, fun and excitement are also part of this genre, and I play to get away from miserable things, not to have them rammed into my skull in my free time. Keep it balanced out; seriousness is the general tone, but there's moments of levity and joy too.
14: Have fun! Loosen up and have fun! We’re all here to slice up monsters, have school romances and do other useless fripperies! So no fighting other than within the RP, thank you.
If you have understood all of these rules, please put your or your character's favorite color somewhere in your character sheet.
Name: (full name, including nickname if they have one. Also, if there are multiple ways of writing said name (for example, if your character is Russo-Japanese), they're welcome!)
Age: (14-18)
Gender/Sex: (Including both for political-correctness)
Height: (preferably in metric system. If not, put feet and inches and do the conversions on the
web)
Weight: (again, preferably in metric system (XX kg))
Hair Color:
Eye Color:
Blood Type: (ABO and Rh, please)
In Depth Physical Description: (can be a photo or other image if you wish. Descriptions are also welcome)
Personality: (their outlook on life, their approach to everyday events, war, et cetera)
Origins: (Geographically speaking)
History/Bio: (can be in-depth as you wish, but please tell how they came to be where they are. However, if you would prefer to reveal this through the story, send me a message with it and I'll approve it or not)
Combat Style: (Fast and weak? Strong and slow? Can be as explicit as you want, just keep it at least somewhat distinct and/or unique)
Extra Information: (Stuff that doesn't fit anywhere else; hobbies, trinkets that they carry, markings... Spoken languages are also quite important!)
You may be wondering why I've chosen to have this take place in an alternate version of Japan and not just normal Japan. Really, it's only for reasons of character diversity and to give a bit more interesting background so this RP isn't just a Persona wannabe...
...or maybe there's more to it? *wink*
Rhona W