Xenophobia-- Love the Fear (Still Recruiting!)

[Chainlinc3]

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|[City 997-- March 31st, 2050 3 PM]--------\
|City 997 Public University, Central Campus/
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It was another boring day of class at Uni for Tim. He wondered, for the umpteenth time, why they hadn't used a more inventive naming system for government organizations. Even the bad-ass projects like superluminal travel were delegated simply to "Project:" followed by a random hash-code. Why not name it something awesome, like, "Operation Terminatus" or something? The world may never know.

The bell rang, interrupting his reverie and signaling the end of class. That was the one good thing about today-- He had Corollary Metaphysics with Dr. Mendoza now. Dr. Mendoza was by far his favorite teacher, and then there was the fact that the class dealt mostly with technology recovered from the Devastation. In other words, they were working highly volatile, barely understood technology that was prone to cause instant epicness at a moment's notice. So between an awesome teacher and interesting curriculum, there wasn't a lot that Tim disliked about Corollary Metaphysics. He technically had a half-hour before the class started, but he was hoping to chat with the Doc before class, maybe even sneak a peak at his latest project.

A short time later, he arrived in the lab where Dr. Mendoza taught the class. Officially, it was taught in a small room on the other side of campus, but Doc always opted to teach in his personal lab both for convenience and because his lab contained better safety equipment. Tim knocked lightly on the door, and a few seconds later he heard the fumbling of keys in the lock before it swung open to reveal Dr. Mendoza, who wasted no time inviting him in.

"Come in, come in. I was just wondering when you would get here. I could use an extra pair of hands in the lab-- I'm trying to open up a piece of tech that the drones just retrieved from Australia, but all scans indicate that the panel in question needs to be lifted evenly out of position. If it tilts, the containment will destabilize and I would rather not find out what's being contained the hard way."

Tim nodded.

"Sounds like a good plan. Let me suit up and I'll be right over."

Without another word, Tim slipped into a modified pre-Devastation hazmat suit. It was standard procedure when dealing with potentially Tainted artifacts, and the suits had been reinforced to protect from the dangers of dealing with recovered techs. He then headed over to the Doc, who was already suited up and was examining the artifact on the examining table. It looked almost like an operating room, bright lights from above illuminating a stainless steel table, all bounded within a large plexiglass box to dampen any violent emissions.

Tim easily took his place opposite Doc and glanced down at the two magnetic grips that had been applied on his side of the device. Opening containment devices was always tricky-- The panel could be removed without disrupting the energy field inside, but it had to be held at the exact same orientation to the device until it was outside of the critical zone. If it was reoriented within the critical zone, the radiation it emitted would bombard the energy field unevenly, thus fueling the field more in one part than another, causing it to burst outward violently and release whatever was inside in a directed blast out the widest gap between the containment device and the plate. Often times, the released material was worse than the burst itself.

He took a deep breath to steady his nerves, then reached for the grips and nodded to the Doc, who took hold of his a split second later.

"3... 2... 1... Lift."

Tim slowly lifted his side, matching Dr. Mendoza's rate perfectly. As they lifted, Tim spotted something that unnerved him.

"Doc, there's tubing still attached on your side."

Dr. Mendoza looked down and saw the black tube-like connection that was indeed still stretching from the plate back to the containment device proper. Tim was slightly alarmed by the situation: over 90% of accidents in the labs were related to un-severed tubing. Dr. Mendoza carefully released one hand and reached towards the tool tray.

"Ok, I'll just get the scalpel and slice through --"

And that was that. The Doc's hand dipped just a hair too much, and the containment chamber ruptured violently towards Tim, blasting him off his feet and through the plexiglass wall behind him. It was then that Tim recognized the glow that had sprayed at him-- low payload antimatter. The antimatter had coated his hazmat suit and reacted before he had even landed from the initial blast, engulfing him in pain before the world went dark.

Seemingly a short time later, Tim awoke. He was surrounded by those in his class who were more medically inclined, namely the girls if his memory served, but it was hard to tell with his vision as blurry as it was. Well, except for Naomi. A blind man could see her rack.

"Damn... How long have I been out?"

A blur of orangey-red swam in front of his vision, and a feminine voice responded.

"A little over an hour."

He recognized the voice-- Alicia. She was friendly enough, but she and Tim just didn't really hang in the same social circles. That wasn't to say that hadn't exchanged a handful of meaningful glances in the time they had known each other, but they never really became good friends. Tim squinted his eyes, and his vision began to focus.

"Fuck. Is the mess cleaned up?"

Timothy started to get up, but only got so far as sitting up in bed before he felt Alicia's hands restraining him.

"It's under control. Doc's still cleaning it up somewhat, but the whole class is helping him. You just need to rest."

Her hands felt cool on his bare chest. Wait... Bare chest? Heather, a girl who really was much more of a doctor than a scientist, saw his bewilderment and spoke up.

"Your hazmat suit was shredded, so we had to strip you down to your boxers in order to get at the injuries."

Naomi chipped in at this point, a playful tone in her voice.

"Don't worry, the Doc didn't let anyone peek. He seems very distraught about the whole thing."

So THAT'S why Alicia wouldn't let him get out of bed. He turned to her thankfully and mouthed a silent "thank-you." Alicia merely smirked at him.

He returned his attention to Doctor Mendoza, who he could see across the lab area, still cleaning up. He was about to call out to him, when the Doctor clutched his head suddenly, and fell limply to the ground, sprawling amidst the broken glass.

"Doc!"

A male's voice rang out as Tim's own vision filled with a head-cracking violet flash. His hands flew to his head and he fell back in the bed. Alicia cried out in panic.

"What the hell? Tim! Tim!!"

The male's voice again.

"Shit... Shitshitshit. He's out cold guys. This is bad! REAL BAD!"

The last words sounded as if they were echoing down a well all the way to Tim's ears. He felt something in his wrist, but it was more of a vague sensation than any actual sense. Seconds later, something pressed against his neck uncomfortably, before withdrawing and releasing a shouted obscenity. He heard something, but he couldn't seem to make out the words... A female voice, and something about a pulse...

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The year is 2050, thirty years after the Devastation that brought the world to a screeching halt, dyed the streets with blood, and eventually forced humanity to unite under one banner. The Terran Union, as the countries of Earth are now called, exist in numbered cities scattered all around the world. Well, the habitable parts of the world. Africa, Australia and virtually every island on the planet were rendered near uninhabitable due to the Taint left by the Devastation. All remaining armed forces were disbanded under the Terran Union, ushering in an era of peace and prosperity. Scientists even began to find methods of combating the Taint, allowing humanity to slowly begin retaking the lost lands.

Our story begins in City 997, sometimes called Mega Primus because it is the largest prime-numbered city, sometimes even called New York by those who remember before the Devastation. All around the city, average people are stricken by an invisible force-- Each of them going into severe cardiac arrest at the same moment.
Be these people.
Enter the Terran Union.
Love the Fear.

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Background Info:
The world of Xenophobia is effectively Earth, 30 years after a catastrophic event known as the Devastation occurred (in 2020). Rumors about regarding the nature of the Devastation-- aliens, robots, ex-Soviet experiments, nobody knows exactly what attacked us. But no matter who tells the story, one thing is certain: Earth was brought to it's knees by entities labelled by the government only as "Xenos," who struck seemingly from nowhere, with weapons far beyond our comprehension.

The human race was only able to survive by banding together. Governments merged under the banner of the Terran Union. The combined forces of Earth were barely able to repulse the Xeno incursion, but at horrible cost. Millions were dead, billions more homeless. Whole continents were lost under the vile Taint that the Xenos had introduced to Earth-- a roiling, churning biological fog that devours all organic matter but, in a blessing bordering on the miraculous, cannot withstand contact with water. The Terran Union quickly moved to rebuild, creating massive, numbered cities on the ruins of previous metropolises. The project is still underway, rebuilding cities as the human race gains the population to support them.

As far as the public knows, life has returned to what it was like pre-Devastation. Technology, culture-- everything was put on hold by the invasion of the Xenos, and is only now beginning to start moving again. Rumors about of people reverse-engineering Xeno technology in secret, but the Terran Union is quick to assure the worried populace that all research is being performed in the publicly regulated programs in each cities' university. Overall, day-to-day life has returned to normal. The next generation is coming of age and replacing their elders, slowly purging the last memories of the Devastation.

The cities themselves are the epitome of the concrete jungle-- huge sprawls of cement and glass and steel. They look like a normal city today, except newer buildings, nicer overall design, and it's all walled in. Outside of the cities, life is tough. Everything is working against you-- mutated wildlife, bandits, not to mention the powerful storms that have become common after the Devastation. Ruined buildings are common, overgrown and decaying. A few people still live out there, shunning the cramped life of the city for the beauty of the wilderness. Some have even formed small settlements. These towns, however, are generally hostile to "city-folk." While not outright aggressive, they certainly don't go out of their way to help them.

Your characters would be average citizens in city 997, who are struck by the aforementioned cardiac arrest. In general, they should have led fairly normal lives so far.

I can't reveal too much about the plot itself due to spoilers, but I'll try and give you an idea of what you're getting into. Your characters are part of a plan laid far before they were born-- far before mankind even walked the Earth, even. As this plan comes into motion, they will be attacked from every possible side as people the world over become hostile to them. They will spend much of their time running, learning slowly how to fight back until they have an opportunity to turn the tide of the conflict.

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Character Formats:
(No pressure to get started early, I just still have it around and figure I'll put it up for people who are interested)

User Name: A'dur.
Character Name: Keep it realistic. There's not much in the way of Ravek Firestorm in City 997/New York.
Gender: I didn't say sex, because this isn't yes or no.
Age: It should be less than 35, due to certain plot points.
Appearance: What do they look like? If they usually wear a certain outfit, you can include that. Pictures are cool, but if your going with anime try to stick to the more "realistic" styles. If your picture has gravity-defying hair, I'll probably ask for another. Even if you do have a picture, I'd still like a brief description.
Bio: No books. I'd like some detail, but everyone should have had more or less normal lives so far. Technology hasn't advanced by leaps and bounds in the forty years between now and then. It's more or less the same, even the culture hasn't changed that much.
Personality: This is where you should put any effort you shave off of your bio. I want characters more fleshed out here that I've often seen them, so that between the bio and this, I should feel like I'm at least an acquaintance of your character. My bio below is NOT an example of what I'd like, but it is about the minimum. I hope to add to it later, when I have time to revise.
Other: If you really think your character is so special, tell me here.

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Some Final Notes:
-This will be a fairly action-oriented light sci-fi RP, with growing supernatural aspects as the plot progresses. Conspiracies and coverups form a fair chunk of the plot. Despite plenty of combat, there will be plenty of non-combat periods and challenges to allow for character development-- this is by no means a non-stop bloodbath.
-I'm aware that I don't have much information out about this. I can't say a whole lot without spoiling parts of the story, but if you want to know, by all means ask. Otherwise, I promise you that I have this planned out. I'm not just bullshitting stuff and writing myself into a corner.
-I'll say it again because it's worth restating: Feel free to ask me any questions about the plot or the RP in general. I may not be able to answer for fear of spoilers, but there's no harm in asking.
-If you're unsure about joining, please give it a shot and hope for the best. If you find yourself disinterested, there will be plentiful chances to exit cleanly.

[Chainlinc3]

Existing Characters:

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User Name: Chainlinc3

Character Name: Timothy Mendoza

Gender: Male

Age: 21

Appearance:

Long-ish, dirty blond hair. Sleet grey eyes. Roughly 5'6", with an average build. Tends to wear a white t-shirt with any number of black tribal-style designs, along with a well-worn pair of jeans.

Bio: Tim was the only child of a single, alcoholic father. From an early age he realized that safety was simply not found in his home, so he spent as much time as he could out of it, often down at a local arcade. He met up with a group of kids there and, despite the fact that these kids were more or less video game nerds whereas he was more into sports, he slowly warmed up to them. The group became his closest friends, and for a while he dated a girl from the group by the name of Roxy (short for Roxanne). Then high school ended, and Roxy opted to go to a college way out on the west coast of North America. He never heard from her again.

Since then, he's spend most of his time with his group of friends, all of whom went to a local college with him, City 997 Uni. Such originality. Life's been rocky, but he's hanging in, and with decent grades to boot. He's grown rather friendly with one of his professors, simply because they had the same last name. As far as either of them can tell, there's no relation between Dr. Mendoza and Tim.

Personality: Generally friendly, but more or less a failure as far as socializing goes. As such, he often spends his time solo, much to his chagrin. He does, however, have a close knit group of friends that he hangs with whenever he can. If anyone attacks or if he even perceives an attack on one of his friends, he takes immediate and permanent steps to shut them down. Kinda a dork.

Other: Nada

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[Crazy Hobo]

User Name: Crazy Hobo

Character Name: Robert Linklater

Gender: Male (It's still a yes)

Age: 22

Appearance:

Medium length blond hair, blue eyes, about 5'8". Wears odd clothing, basically hipster clothes

Bio: As you would expect, Robert has lived a pretty normal life. No tragic upbringing or an untimely death in the family, actually his childhood home life was almost too uninteresting to talk about. Or at least as far as Robert is concerned. Being normal just wasn't really an option in Robert's minds, it was actually a bit of an insult. All his life he has been one of the odd kids, and he liked it. Fitting in was like dieing, and death is usually something to avoid, so he stood out. A lot. He simply lived his life for the joy of it and not to fit some kind of social norm.

Over the years Robert searched for a creative outlet for his bustling creative spark, and even now has never really found it. He tried painting when he was younger, and found it didn't suit him. He moved on to juggling and yet again found it lacking for him. Drawing and most other forms of art seemed not to fit what he wanted, and so did a dozen other artistic outlets.

He skated through college, which he graduated from a few months ago, with an easy degree in psychology, and is still searching for that perfect craft to fit his ever so odd personality. Still it eludes him even after his college life, and frankly it pisses him off.

Personality: An extrovert in every sense of the word. Most people would consider running naked through the halls with only a bowtie a once in a lifetime drunken occurrence, but Robert does it one Tuesday a month for the hell of it. He usually never really thinks things through either, taking most ideas on his whim rather than on a ration thought, though it's not like he has rational thoughts very much. He lives life to it's fullest, even if that happens to mean attempting a front flip off the two story dorm across from the pool and breaking a leg. Whatever, it was fun.

Other: He is strangely particular about his name only accepting being called Robert because, as he says, "Bob, Bobby, and all the other ones sound way too douchey."

[Silver Wolf]

User Name: Silver Wolf

Character Name: Eliza Ann Burke (Calls herself Eli for short sometimes)

Gender: Female

Age: 19

Appearance:

Eli stands around 5'6" with waist length auburn hair and dark gray eyes. For all the time shes outdoors she really hasn't gained much of a tan and shes fairly slender, just barely within the weight range for her age. Some people believe she looks fragile and some treat her as such, like shes some china doll, easily breakable. She has proven when needed that she can fight, even if shes not that strong.

Bio: Eliza never minded her childhood, for all that others might look down on it. Her mother wasn't rich, nor even well off. A father wasn't in the picture since Eliza didn't even remember a man ever being there, and her mother said he wouldn't be because he ran away. A year before she was supposed to complete her high school degree her mother became fairly ill and ended up hospitalized. Though she tried to finish schooling, Eliza also jumped to start working in order to save up some money against the savings already being sucked away because of the hospital bills.

She never gave authorities reason to wonder if she was alright. She was over 18 so they couldn't pull her into any sort of foster home and otherwise unless the bills were particularly high one month, she wasn't so tight on money though she took care with any spending. She really didn't have life outside of her fairly dead end job as a waitress no less, not that she hadn't gotten offers before from customers.

She was fine with the way her life turned out, though from her mothers view, she worked at a much better job than trying to scramble for whatever double shifts she could manage to get that little extra cash, or even an extra tip. There were times Eliza might even consider an offer from a customer that might earn her a little extra money. But in the end she always turned them down because she would not want to give reason for her mother to worry about her. College was not in the plans for the present or possibly even future. She couldn't afford it and even if she could, she didn't think she could juggle a job and classes.

Personality: Eliza has two sides to her personality, as would most people. When shes not at work for that little time, shes fairly quiet and deep in her thoughts. Though if she feels comfortable with someone, or at least warms up to them its a little easier to express herself. When on the job, she is much more chipper than she really is, with bright smiles and doing everything she can to assist the customers and keep them happy. Though sometimes she tries to draw the line at anything outside her work detail of taking orders and serving the customers. Unless someone knew her schedule at the diner and how often she worked, no one would expect the happy 19 year old to be in the situation shes in. Some weeks she might have pocket money left over from a paycheck, other weeks the entire paycheck would go to the hospital and she would only have tips to work with.

She hates anything that seems like a handout. She will do a task or errand for someone for something in return but will not willingly take something that is offered to her. She has worked hard for the life she has and won't owe anyone if she can help it.

Other: Nahhhh

[Chainlinc3]

Both accepted. If we can get two more, we should be ready to go. More is always good though!

[Chainlinc3]

Ker-BUMP!

Still need more people, so if anyone's interested... well, lemme know! ^_^

[Airedar]

Reservedidid.

[Silver Wolf]

So...We have CH and possibly Air if he ever gets around to posting a profile. Are we getting anyone else? I really don't want this rp just to die off without even being started.

[Chainlinc3]

Eh, it's happened before. Honestly, I'm out of people to politely nag into taking a look-see. I might ask a few people again whenever I next get on the IRC (prolly tonight) but I wouldn't count on getting anyone. So, unless this bumpage lands us any attention or you have friends/acquaintances you want to try and recruit, it isn't looking good for Xenophobia.

[Airedar]

Look, a bump. Most of this is still

UNDER REVIEW BY MYSELF

so subject to change.

User Name: Airedar
Character Name: Ginni Ginseng (don't ask)
Gender: Female
Age: 22

Spoiler:

Appearance: Short (4'10”), skinny, and a bit too boyish to be considered conventionally attractive. Ginni has a round, mischievous face with a propensity for smiling. Her hair is coppery red, the sort of color that warns of crazy people. She has an abiding love of the color, and is rarely ever caught outside without at the very least a scarf and duster, preferably a jumpsuit (or several). She is constantly in possession of a pair of goggles, and is more likely to take off an arm than them. Her eyes are jade green, a very pretty color, as far as eyes go, not that she ever shows them off.

Bio:Born to robotics engineer and transhumanism spokesperson Gabriel Ginseng and physicist Lina Tosh, Ginni grew up in an environment where intellect was taken for granted and genius was the norm. Her own capacity for brilliance was one that started early and kept growing. She was playing with Tesla coils before most children could wipe themselves, was building a computer from scratch by the time most children were learning to read, and instead of going to her prom put a cat on the moon. The cat died. Her school years were socially uneventful, as most of her 'learning' did not take place there at all. She never made friends, as her headstrong and adamantly oblivious personality made her very difficult to hang around with, and her unconsciously offensive tongue made a lot of enemies.

She never did get into a university, as the only one she applied to was set on fire, had the labs blown up (all of them), and was left with a sizable chunk of the campus in an underground cavern complex. However, the various professors were impressed or terrified enough to giver her a Disonorary Degree in General Engineering.

That part of her life over and done with, she set up shop in City 997. Although 'shop' may be a bit of an exaggeration, as it's more of an apartment with miscellaneous bits of machinery and electronics shoved in until it couldn't fit anymore, and she very rarely gets anything that could be considered a customer. As far as social life, she has made only one friend during her stay in the city, a physics student who calls herself 'Liddy'.

Personality: Shrewd, cheerful, and generally exuberant. Ginni, despite any mitigating circumstances, never approaches things at a straight angle. She's devoutly impractical and intensely oddball. Although more than very bright, Ginni's social graces are... rough, and she's liable to insult people without realizing it, miss them taking offence, and then proceed to ignore them as soon as she sees something more interesting to her. Maybe a well thought out bit of wiring.

Other: A transhumanist, taking after her father, and quite good at building strange little robots that don't do much of anything. Ginni is loath to normalcy. She's probably never done a practical thing in her life. She doesn't even eat like a normal person.

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