The Lost Island of Dr. Moreau OOC [Open]

[Guest]

"These creatures you have seen are animals carven and wrought into new shapes. To that, to the study of the plasticity of living forms, my life has been devoted. I have studied for years, gaining in knowledge as I go. I see you look horrified, and yet I am telling you nothing new. It all lay in the surface of practical anatomy years ago, but no one had the temerity to touch it."
--The Island of Dr. Moreau, by H.G. Wells

Welcome to the Lost Island of Dr. Moreau. All are welcomed to join and the more people we get the more fun this will be. If you have seen the films or read the story then all the better, but it is not required to understand the premise. I'd like to get at least 4-5 people before we start the actual gameplay. Discussion of the storyline and suggestions for it are welcome; nothing is set in stone.

Basic Plot: It has been several years since the original doctor was on the island and performed his genetic vivisection research on animals, and another doctor, James Cole, having found old notes and manuscripts kept by the original man has followed in his footsteps and made a new island to conduct his own research on. With the same pursuit of knowledge as the old doctor, Cole puts human and animal alike under his surgical knife, blending the lines between beast and human and creating something altogether new. It's been a few years since he's started his own experimentation. The beast folk have a village in the northern half of the island while the doctor creates more of them in his lab and compound in the center of the island. There are laws set up to keep the beast folk from giving in to their primal urges, most important of them being "Not to eat of the flesh or spill blood." But some of them have started to break the Laws in secret and with new people arriving to the island to become experiments, rebellion brews in the air and a zoological nightmare waits to come into fruition.

Introduction Post:

The verdant green of the jungle breathed with the wind, like a swollen lung encroaching upon the beach on all sides of the island. Nothing could be heard except the sigh of the wind and the waves crashing upon the shore, occasional wildlife screeching distantly and a passing gull cawing sorrowfully. Deeper into the muggy shadows of tropical trees, the shade playing tricks with the eye and hidden things darting past too close for comfort, it felt like being in the belly of a great vegetation beast. Smoke rises in several plumes to the south, like black fingers holding up the sky and the faint smell of food cooking drifts on the wind. Other survivors, maybe? Or inhabitants of this lost place on the edge of the world? Friends or foes?

In that direction lies the village of the inhabitants of this place. Well established small huts in a large open space centralized around a large cookfire sitting in the middle of the square. Something organic is cooking over the flames and a few other fires within the huts can be seen by the tendrils of blackened clouds wafting from the tips of their rooftops. And wandering around the village in this primitive looking place, are horrible beasts walking on two legs. Monstrosities of nature dressed in rags of clothing, as if trying to retain some semblance of humanity, grumbling in guttural voices to one another in a parody of language that is all but bestial in nature.

Hidden in the middle of the island there is a compound, hard to reach for the maze of trees and rising mountains that separates it from the beach on both sides. From the outside it looks like a humble, comfortable abode with two floors and a tiered veranda all around the outside. From inside can be heard the sound of a lilting piano playing, a melancholy sound drifting through the jungle surrounding the building, with musical notes spilling forth from a skilled and passionate hand. After a few moments, a bestial screaming starts, low at first and then growing in volume, like a woman yowling in pain with the growl of a jaguar spliced into her voice. The piano stops abruptly as the screams continue on in the absence of music and after several moments, the screaming is choked off just as abruptly. Silence fills the air, except for a few wild birds cawing plaintively in the brush and after several minutes, the piano starts up again, unperturbed by the interruption.

Further exploration of the jungle leads you along to find a stream running through it in a south-southwestern crawl and in one of the trees is the split open corpse of a small furry creature, it's fur stained red upon the tree in which it lays and dripping upon the ground beneath it. It is in stark contrast to the vegetable based meal that had been cooking on the fire in the village of the beasts and you wonder what has killed this innocent thing and eaten of it's flesh? Something that might like the taste of you, probably.

**********************

As far as characters go, you can be either a person coming to the island, or a person/being who is already there. Things we need--human test subjects and a few rebellious beast folk who will later try and take over. People coming to the island will most likely be shipwrecked from the same cruise ship and are the lone survivors. I will be playing Dr. James Cole and possibly the leader of the beast folk village, The Sayer of the Law.

Character sheets
Name:
Age:
Gender:
Appearance: (can use a photo and/or actual description)
Bio:
Animal: (for people coming to the island what they will be transformed into and what the beast folk were transformed into; all beast folk are hybrids of humans)
Luggage: (for those coming to the island, things they brought with them; may be useful in a jam)

Rules:

1. All new players must submit a character sheet before play.
2. Luggage = don't go overboard on us and bring like an ak47 to take out the islanders. No more than two suitcases worth of stuff, at most one weapon.
3. The island exists somewhere in the South Pacific near the Equator, so I'm putting a limit on what animals you can be to make their chances for surviving on the island better. Any species that live within the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn and domesticated animals. Map of boundary
4. Please do not go overboard with your animal's powers as well. There will be acceptable limits on abilities and weaknesses based on them being half-human.


Map of the Island

The lines that look like cracks are suppose to be mountains.

Map with a 1x1 mile grid

The Beast Folk Village

All of Dr. Cole's experiments live in a village about 7 miles north of his laboratory compound, and he visits them occasionally to check up on how they're surviving and to give them injections to halt the regression process. He also set them up with a bunch of rules to help them act more human and a "Sayer of the Law" who is the leader of their village.

Laws
Not to go on all fours
Not to suck up drink
Not to claw the bark off of trees
Not to chase other men
Not to eat fish or flesh
Not to spill blood
Not to make love to more than one


There are also no gates around their community, so the beast folk can come and go in the jungle as they please. Most of the laws are designed to help them mimic human behavior and they are made to repeat the list in a chant to help them remember to fight their urges and instincts. Some are more serious than others and generally small infractions are ignored by Dr. Cole. The last three are serious offenses and result in punishment. If a beast person murders another being(that includes the eating of meat), they themselves are terminated but only if Cole is notified of the crime. There is enough jungle and places on the island for things like that to be hidden.

The existence of the laws does not mean he doesn't experiment using carnivores. It is part of his pursuit to tame and conquer instinct, trying to come up with perfect beings in balance between both human and animal. It is up to you while you're making your character to decide if he was successful in that or not.

Any questions, feel free to ask!

[YenWen]

Name: Phyllis (Lis) Cariston
Age: 23
Gender: Female
Appearance: http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs38/f/2008/364/1/c/Jaguar_in_the_shade_by_candypalmer.jpg
Bio: One of the first of the island, she wasn't as much developed as the later experiments. She came as a lover to the doctor, seduced by sweet words and even sweeter promises of riches she could only dream of. The first night of their 'honeymoon', he'd slipped her a drug and sent her right out of consciousness. When she awoke, she was in a clothed, straw bed, in a small hut in the middle of the jungle that surrounded his private island, with her skin now covered in gold fur, accented with black rosettes. The doctor only smiled as he explained to her what happened, and she could see the blossoming insanity in his eyes. She grew angry and slashed her newly grown claws at him, but missed and he escaped into the jungle.
The walls of tress surrounding the small village she'd been placed in frightened her, so she stayed. She met others and learned to calm others who'd be transported here. The doctor now carried a gun at all times, and made it obviously visible. He hung a sign in the middle of the village with all their new rules, as time went on. The first violator was shot right there. As time went on, she became less fearful of the jungle and furthered more and more into it. She learned spots where she could slash at the river, and have a nice fish dinner, without the threat of the doctor.
Animal: Jaguar
Luggage: The doctor let her keep some of her clothing, mainly for personal reasons, seeing as there is now no need for clothing, being animals and all. She has rings, dresses, shirts, skirts, necklaces, and even a few pairs of shorts, but her feet are too big for normal shoes, now.

Hope this alright :3 Tell me otherwise.

[Guest]

It's excellent. =)

Name: Doctor James Cole
Age: 34
Gender: male
Appearance: average height, thin and muscular, short blonde hair, blue eyes, stern features with a bit of stubble on his chin.
Appearance
Bio: He grew interested in Moreau's work when he himself and his work were compared to the old doctor's experiments. Following a trail of esoteric clues he found the old island and scavenged as many notes as he could from the old Doctor's research, abandoning the old wretched place to the beasts that had taken it over. Starting fresh on a new island he swore to himself that he'll succeed where the other man failed. Extremely dedicated to his work, Cole is a bit insane and obsessive. He does these experiments on humans and animals in the pursuit of the perfect blend of both and to conquer the natural traits and instincts that he feels are responsible for hate and cruelty.
Animal: ~none~
Luggage: ~none~ he lives in the compound in the middle of the island with assorted supplies and luxuries and a few weapons; mostly tranquilizer guns, and one hunting rifle he keeps strapped on one shoulder whenever he leaves the compound and close at hand while he's at home. He is also the only one with access to the radio tower from which he contacts the outside world to restock supplies.

----------------------

Name: Oliva
Age: she looks 22
Gender: female
Appearance: long, soft features, strong chin and big, plush lips, dark eyes curvy figure, hair standing up down the center of her head like a mohawk, pink skin with silver stripes all over her body, she looks almost completely human except for her long zebra-esque tail, hooved feet and markings
Image 1 Image 2
Bio: She use to be a zebra that the doctor bought from the black market early in her life when she was just a filly taken from her herd in Africa. She's one of the doctor's first creations and one of his most successful. She is the leader of the beast folk village, also known as the Sayer of the Law. Highly intelligent, she worships Cole as a father figure and a God.
Animal: zebra
Luggage: ~none~

[Sponsored content]