Shades of Grey (interest, signups, and discussion)

[Jarnakel Magnus]

*Approved by Zyros*

Hey, everyone. New person here. Sort of. Been here for the past month, about, but only post in an RP in this forum, and no-where else. Well, I've got my own RP idea now, and here it is.

Shades of Grey
The global economy has collapsed, completely, and totally. In the first days after the crash, there was chaos, but it soon evolved. Many nations were now without adequate food supplies. Others lacked building material or other things necessary for survival.

As had always been done when a neighbor had something a nation wanted or needed, wars were started, with little warning. Great armies were mobilized, and nations fought each other for access to fresh water, food, minerals, and other resources. It would not have been long before society fell apart, national borders were erased, and the survivors forced to live in a state of perpetual fear. But the collapse was accelerated.

North Korea, belligerent as always, and with no organized body to threaten it, finally carried out its threats, and launched nuclear warheads. Other nuclear nations responded, and the situation cascaded. Luckily, many nations had destroyed most of their nuclear materials, and not all of them were fired. However, while the world was spared a nuclear winter, the devastation was hardly lessened.

Many capital cities and economic centers are now radiated wastelands, and all other cities lie in ruin as a result of prolonged fighting. Bandits roam the countryside, while gangs prowl the cities. Everyone is distrustful, food and water are scarce. Power is, for the most part, gone. Few now remain with the knowledge needed to rebuild, and those who do are hard pressed to find supplies, or people who care. There are small zones where remnants of former militaries maintain tight control, but civilians tend to be turned away, and those that are accepted find themselves in a dictatorship, where they are little better off than before.

However, there are rumors. Rumors of a group of people who predicted the collapse, and, above all logic of the time, prepared for it. There are reports of heavily defended buildings with power, and food supplies. In the areas where reports are concentrated, large ships have been sighted on the ocean, despite the lack of fuel or competent captains. While the stories tend to differ, one thing is always the same. A recurring symbol, on the buildings, on the uniforms of the guards, even on the ships when they pull close to the shore. A symbol of a silver bird....

Shades of Grey takes place in the future of an AU earth, similar to our own. Players will start out in various locales within the former U.S., and will bear witness to the opening moves of the group spoken of in the rumors.

This group is central to the story, but does not have to be dealt with immediately. In addition, the choices the players make determine the game's ending. There are several options, including fighting the group, joining them, betraying them, trying to reason with them, etc. And if you lot can't decide on what to do and end up fighting each other, there's an ending for that, too.

A few interesting points to note. First off, all NPCs in this RP are killable. All of them. Although, a few plot-central NPCs will have plot armor in their first appearances, but anyone can die.

This extends to the PCs, as well. Now, I know what you're thinking, but stop, for just a moment here, please. I'm trying to go for realism here (mostly). I'm not going to be actively trying to kill any of you off (unless you decide to do blatantly stupid things), and if your character dies, you're allowed to bring in another one. After all, who says the starting group are the only survivors who can affect the plot?

Basically, PCs will die if they end up in a situation where they SHOULD, logically, die. For example, if you set off an explosion in a chemical storage facility while you are in it? No. You don't survive. Sorry. In addition, this allows the "good" PCs (things aren't terribly black and white in this RP, hence the quotations) to sacrifice their lives to save another, allowing for meaningful deaths, which can be incorporated into the plot. In addition, PCs will be allowed to kill each other, but ONLY if both parties agree on this.

However, unless you do something REALLY stupid, PCs are immune to death until the end of Chapter One.

As for starting locations, the available places are:
* Coast of New Jersey, roughly midway between the radiated cities of New York and D.C.
* Coast of Florida, near Miami (or in the ruins of Miami itself)
* Coast of Texas, a bit to the East of Houston (Houston is under the control of former military)
* Coast of Washington State, near Seattle (or in the ruins of Seattle itself)
* Coast of California, a few hundred miles North of the radiated Los Angeles area.
* Judith Gap, Montana

I need at least two people starting in an area. If there are any areas with only one person when the game starts, I will move you to a more populated area. This is to ensure character interaction from the beginning.


Character Sheets:
Name: My friends call me Zed.

Gender: Yes. Oh, wait. We're using that OTHER word... Ruins the joke. D:

Age: How many candles on your birthday cake? No, it is not a lie.

Location: Where do you survive day by day? (choose from the starting areas, please)

Appearance: Height, weight, eye color, hair color, clothing, density of freckles on face, number of extra appendages, locations of retractable spikes, etc. (Human characters only, please)

Personality: Are you a saint? An ass? A nervous wreck? One of those overused stoic types?

Skills: Are you a thief? Doctor? Former soldier? What can you do? Please note: there will likely be need of skills NOT related to day by day survival. So don't be afraid to give your character skills that they won't be able to use right off the bat. They'll become useful later.

Background: Don't want to talk about your past? Too bad. I want to hear all about it.

Items of note: Weapons, ammo, any tools, etc. Remember that ammo is scarce (at least, to start), so if your character has a gun, they might not be using it too often. But not giving them a gun leaves them vulnerable. Additionally, don't give your character anything they wouldn't logically have. and no shiny new perfect condition weapons, no Uzis, etc. Basically, use common sense here.
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If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to voice them. There's no set amount of open slots, I'll close signups when I think there's enough, but for reference, about 6 to 8 seems a good number.