The Red Zephyr

Hailstorm

Underwhelming IC intro posted. Since I'm short on time (I ABSOLUTELY wasn't going to make you wait any longer), I abridged what I originally wanted to post. I'll actually have my character intros here soon. You guys can now not idly hit F5 until I do something. I'm sorry it took so long, and once again thank you for your patience.

After my character intro, I will make a tech description for vehicles. vehicle types will mostly have the same function as our contemporary cars, but they are all designed to latch onto sky rails. Here's a basic example of what a (shiny new) car (not sure if I wanna use generic "car" or another word for them) would look like: PICTURE! There would be a few mechanisms on top that allow it to ride sky rails however. The image isn't exact, just a reference.

Since things will be in the context of the RP now, I'll be able to more smoothly throw world-building exposition in there. Once I come back from my trip, I will be posting regularly AND I'll have a pay raise! Everyone will be happy!

Be happy dammit!

Hailstorm

Hailstorm

In a room with one door and no windows, eight men and women argued endlessly across a dark oak table. They discussed the movements of their enemies, the behavior and opinions of the people, the resources they possessed, and the actions they should be taking. The chatter echoed throughout the enclosed room, growing louder and louder until the chatter turned to debate, then devolved into angry squabble.

"We should move now! The people are on our side. Mercenaries be damned; we have the advantage now!"

"Don't be a fool. Numbers are everything and we are not ready. If we go on the offensive and take too many losses, we'll look like suicidal fanatics. People want stability, not war!"

"You can't have stability without removing the cause of unrest! DERB is going to let loose their dogs unless we strike first. Any difference in numbers can be made up with morale and volunteers!"

"We can't be wasting resources on violence now. The mutants are organizing faster than we predicted, and our intelligence indicates they've been snooping around Legus and Andal more frequently. That Albatross freak must be up to something!"

"And what of the so-called Commonwealth? Our spies to the west haven't returned, and the rumors keep spreading. If they have the strength to come our way and match the DERB, everything we've done will be pointless!"

And so it dragged on for several more minutes, while a ninth person listened intently at the end of the table. Her elbows rested firmly on the lacquered surface and her hands folded over each other, occasionally moving to brush a few strands of her raven hair out of her eyes. Despite the obvious displeasure painted on her pale countenance, she spoke not a word to her advisers as they bickered like children over the rules of a made up game. The thought crossed her mind to simply shout "Shut up!" to everyone in the room, but it felt a bit cliched and over-the-top. She could have slammed her fist on the table and proclaimed "You are all right!" like some kind of executive in an old television drama. It was the truth after all: She largely agreed with all of the people at the table, but found it bothersome that each one seemed to find a single priority that transcended all other valid issues.

DERB was indeed still a threat and the main reason for the existence of her organization. The Unburdened were certainly acting strangely, and had bolstered their use of propaganda. The rumored movement west of the Kuro River was emerging as an unsettling variable, and none of the Vanguard scouts had come back from investigation. Voyagers were either annexing or eliminating other mercenary and freelancer competition, and both the Vanguards and DERB had become dependent on them. The Vanguard was little more than dozens of scattered guerrillas at the time, so set bases, territories, and resources were a constant problem as well. There seemed to be problems everywhere.

With an exasperated sigh, Liliana, the raven-haired woman at the end of the table stood to her feet. This gesture alone seemed to be enough to quiet her advisers, so she was pleased not to have to raise her voice. "We will not go on the offensive," she began, speaking clearly and concisely. "Regardless of our cause, we cannot forget that, at our base, we fight for the people and the future. We can't afford to waste the momentum we're gaining prematurely." Leaning toward the center with her hands placed firmly on the varnished table, she continued, "We will not send anymore scouts or fighters to the west. We'll instead focus on controlling the Legus area while keeping an eye over our shoulder. If any of our scouts ever return we'll know the situation, and if they don't we at least know what to deal with after DERB. Until we have sufficient manpower and firepower, we'll keep dealing with the Voyagers. Albatross is still an unknown quantity, so we'll continue to keep subtle tabs on suspected Unburdened, and accept as many into our ranks as possible to obtain information. That is all."

As quickly as she began, Liliana Wilson closed her brief statement and promptly made her way to the room's exit. She purposefully prevented any of them from presenting an argument as to not begin yet another squabble. She was very aware that she had basically just told them "Continue what we've been doing already for the past few weeks" but there was little else she could do. Making the first move was far too risky in any endeavor at this point. Ironically enough, her so-called Vanguards couldn't afford to be the first ones into the fray. The waiting game would continue.

---

In an empty room with a lit fireplace, an older man with a graying, balding head of hair sat alone in contemplation with a slowly-burning cigarette between his thin fingers. His gaze led outside the room's window over the only thing he felt he could still call a city. Below, people traversed from building-to-building, chatting among one-another casually, trading goods and services, and staying clear of the few dozen vehicles rolling across the streets. The view was serene, like something out of a dream or a fairy tale, but perhaps more like a long-lost memory.

This was how everything once was: People felt safe, unworried by the terrors of the world or of their fellow man. Their government and it's military kept them safe from such things, allowing them all to grow and prosper; to live. The world was one full of hope, and of hopeful people working toward a beautiful future.

The man lifted the cigarette to his lips and inhaled, pulling the smoke deep into his lungs, then exhaled with a deep sigh. This place was not that world.

Slowly, he stood up out of his chair and approached the window to get a closer look at the city his army had deemed a "safe zone". As the citizens bustled about, a single transport carrying several crates of various kinds of rations drove steadily through the pedestrian-riddled streets until reaching a complete stop. A group of a few dozen people crowded in front of the truck, eventually circling behind it to prevent escape. Upon closer inspection, each of them seemed to carry some kind of improvised weapon, be it a baseball bat or a pipe. It was a textbook ambush: an attack by disgruntled citizens wanting their "fair share" of rations.

The old man lifted the cigarette back to his mouth and took another puff. Typical, he thought to himself. The more that's given, the more that's expected. However, despite the dangerous situation placed in his view, the old man did nothing but watch and wait.

The first vandal struck. A middle-aged man swung at the truck's windshield with a golf club, shattering the glass, and the driver reacted by accelerating forward and knocking the man onto the ground. Within a second, several other assailants leapt at the transport, ready to beat anyone in their way to a bloody pulp. However, the old man's troops were not defenseless. Before the attackers could break more glass, gunshots rang out from the vehicle and a volley of bullets struck anybody that took a step toward the transport. Ten bodies fell to the ground, and the remaining assailants slowly began to back away.

Underestimating the effectiveness of firearms, General Melioda scoffed, Such a grave mistake for those who have the advantage of numbers and desperation. "What a terrible waste of life."

Taking another puff from his cigarette, the general moved back to his chair and made himself comfortable once more. This world is far from perfect. But perhaps one day...

---

And in the distance, the wings spread and take flight: The shadow looms closer as the light grows dimmer. The fringe boils with abberation. The ambition, the desperation, and the absolution teetered on the scales. The Unknown the Unknowing each wait for their chance to tip them in favor of one or the other. Where will they fall?

The iron rusts. The muscle atrophies. The knowledge fades. The trade collapses. The isolation crumbles. The gun misfires. The corpse blooms.

---

Chapter One: Titan Arum

Hailstorm

A bit of an exaggeration.

IC will be up this morning. WILL BE. 100%

I'll be out of town for three to four days, so I may or may not be on much during said days. That is all.

Hailstorm

SirBeowulf said
Eh, I can't really agree now that I've caught up with the show. Of course, I am a simple man. While the clapping might have seemed a bit forced, I thought it suited new girl's character. Even if she is a cunt. Tsunemori really has seemed to grown a lot and isn't the clutzy ditz she was back in episode one. It really felt like this season was less reluctant to go off the rails into fucked up territory, like what happened in episode four... and in this episode apparently. I'm really just reserving my full view until the final episode, but I've enjoyed it so far.MAYBE IT WAS JUST TSUNEMORI'S BUTT IN THIS EPISODE. I DUNNO.

All of the villains have lost true motivations and planning, and are now simply doing shit cuz it's EVVVVVIIIIILLLL! Everything has been ridiculously dumbed down from the first season. The philosophical elements are almost completely gone, and when they are used they rehash the exact same questions that the first season raised AND answered. Akane is supposed to be this ideal citizen Sybil wants, but instead ONE mad scientist brain and her Frankenstein psycho kid are trying to use Dumbass McCuntyPants for their goals. The violence that was meant to be dark and gruesome has been overused to comedic effect. The new writers have completely butchered how Psycho-Passes are measured, and made it to where jump scares are apparently enough to turn you into a latent criminal worthy of execution. Every character is simply a cardboard cut-out of either what they used to be, or what they are supposed to be:
Akane - Female Kogami
Togane - EVIL! We literally were given a flashback of him killing puppies. He is nothing like Kogami, but Akane draws parallels to them because they are both male and both enforcers.
Ginoza - A blank space where tons of character development from going enforcer should be
Mika - Her sole purpose is to give the audience someone to blame for everything in the show. Literally every action she has taken should have gotten her fired.
Yayoi and Shion - Token lesbians because fuck it
Kamui - A wannabe Makishima, who doesn't actually want to judge Sybil: He just wants revenge for what society did to him and his classmates. He's only interested in Akane at all because the script said so.

*Regains composure*

Hopefully the movie (that the originally writer, Gen Urobuchi, and original studio, Production IG are creating) will retcon this season into filler, return to form, and lead into a third legitimate season.

Hailstorm

Also, off topic but regarding my Psycho Pass 2 hatred from earlier, this is now my "You have completely failed" GIF:

Congratulations

The show no longer makes any sense, and this random fit of clapping taken from the most recent episode is a testament to its pure idiocy.

Hailstorm

jumjummju said
I feel I should also mention that we already have a fist-user here, Catherine, who's extent in martial arts is "I punch thing in face hard and thing die." Kinda feels a bit... redundant, I'd say, to throw in a martial artist as well. Also, if your character is younger than the time the world went to shit, who'd teach them the martial art anyway? I could see some old dude keeping the judo lessons he had from 20 years ago, but no one would learn any specific forms of martial arts. I could see someone teaching general self-defense classes at best, however. :V

It's unlikely all of us will end up in the same group, and it would be odd to have only one character that can properly defend themselves when it's been seventeen years since the world went to shit. Basic self defense would likely be a common skill for anybody who tries to make a living outside of DERB safe zone protection.

Asshatter, a piece of advice too: Make sure you read the rules carefully and title your PM to me appropriately. If it's too much of a pain to accept you, I won't, as much as I love having new members.

By the way, I apologize to everyone: I bought Dragon Age Inquisition. However, I will likely hammer out a bunch of IC tonight, and hopefully have it up before week's end. For real this time.

Hailstorm

Asshatter, I appreciate the apparent effort you put into your CS but there are a few issues:

• You did not PM your CS to me and get approval before posting it.


• This is not Israel, or Earth for that matter, so Krav Maga isn't really a thing. Knowing an equivalent is fine, but KM is essentially a mix of several martial arts with some added lethality. You were oddly specific with the fighting style, but then left the weapon training as "melee weapon".


• A thirteen-year-old did not master Krav Maga in two years.


• Kriss will go out of his way to recklessly save people at the expense of his own life, yet he apparently hates them and can't stand dealing with them. Not only is his personality contradictory for no discernible reason, but he has a meaningless death-wish. You went into detail on how he managed to meet his instructor, but barely mentioned the events that turned him from an idealist to a suicidal cynic-idealist.


• I specifically stated that the limit for firearms was revolvers. Every rule has an exception, but I can't very well grant one if the rest aren't followed.

Also, I agree with Uffizi. It's better to be vague but informative with backgrounds so that you can fill in the gaps later for character development and filler.

Hailstorm

I've had hardly any time to do anything for the last week. I just finished house sitting for my parents, so I should be a wee bit less busy. I have about 1/3 of my IC opening done as of now.

Hailstorm

I am Zephyr, God of the Eastern Wind and Lord of Navigation!

Come.

At.

Me.

Next up: Detailed maps of every individual settlement... Haha no.

Hailstorm

This answers Kyles question that I totally did not miss earlier. It's also something resembling a map we can use with efficacy. I'm working on things of the IC variety by the way. Hype train anyone?

By the way, I placed this map under Bluebacks in the "additional lore" section of the OP.

MOAR MAPPPPPSSSSS!