Bloodcinder
11-12-2008, 13:05
All the World's an Ocean
This is the OOC thread.
The story takes place in an alternate timeline of Earth dominated by excessive scientific advancement and military conflict. There is a mix of culture and technology from the real Earth's history and our own modern time, although the events take place in 1946.
The rules for participation are few but defined. Clarifications of how the rules will be implemented in practice will be provided upon request. This is considered to be a game in that there will be a winner or winners.
REGISTERED PLAYERS
Bloodcinder as captain Karl Berkeley and as slave Virginia Compton
llama_egg as ???
Zeitgeist as ???
Gio Takahashi as ???
Z as ???
chefTENGU as researcher Natalie
BACKSTORY
1861 - The USS Monitor is destroyed by the CSS Virginia at the Battle of Hampton Roads. With their early victory, the Confederate States focus on naval technology.
1862 - A coup overthrows the existing leadership in the United Kingdom, putting a very anti-American government in place.
1865 - Union President George McClellan authorizes surrender to the Confederacy. Slavery is maintained in America. The United Kingdom begins to fear for its international ties.
1869 - Confederate President Robert Lee turns down a non-aggression treaty with the United Kingdom. Both nations begin silently researching naval technologies at an accelerated rate.
1877 - The Confederacy reinstates the draft during a small war in Asia, drawing heavily from the slave population.
1888 - Relations between the United Kingdom and Spain are cut off due to Spain's incursions into France during a series of short wars.
1902 - The United Kingdom begins The Last War in retaliation against a supposed but specious naval assault by Spain.
1905 - Spain persuades the Confederacy to join the war as allies. By now, Japan and Russia are also allied. Germany has sided with the United Kingdom along with Austria, Italy, and Poland.
1908 - The Confederacy develops the first atomic bomb. They begin stockpiling immediately after a successful test detonation is performed.
1910 - The United Kingdom and China, operating on stolen plans, develop their own atomic bombs and test detonate them.
1914 - The first submersible reaches the Challenger Deep of the Marianas Trench. Nations begin funding deep-sea research to harness new energy sources for the war.
1920 - By now, the world has been devastated by the ongoing conflict. Neither side will use nuclear weapons as a solution due to internal political pressure and alliances. Military bases have been established on every continent including Antarctica and in the northern polar region.
1924 - The first undersea military base is constructed in the Sea of Japan.
1927 - Atlantis is established as a free state in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. It goes ignored by most of the major powers due to what is presumed to be its impending failure. It operates on energy derived from the sea floor.
1932 - Precipitously, Austria launches the first nuclear barrage against its new enemy, Poland. Within the month, most of the nuclear stockpiles in the world have been exhausted. Because the skies do not cloud over immediately, excessive regions at the poles are melted from all of the nuclear strikes. By the time the fallout hits, the darkened surface of the earth is mostly submerged. The calamity hits too fast for the nations to cope, but Atlantis and a dozen other undersea states accept refugees from the surface world until they must turn people away or face their own inability to sustain themselves. The Last War is brought to a tragic end.
1940 - Atlantis and the other dozen states have established elaborate transport systems to link themselves together. They dare not explore the surface world due to the fallout. A peaceful economy develops among them as well as a thriving research community. There are still military bases operating after the destruction of their founding countries as governments in surface exile, and occasionally they raid the thirteen states. However, their actions are little more than those of pirates. In addition, some of the states have maintained the practice of slavery of various minorities from their roots in the Confederacy and other pre-war powers.
1945 - In an area of the Pacific sea floor roughly equidistant from the thirteen states is discovered a geographically small opening to a deep sub-oceanic cavern. The high temperatures suggest enticing energy sources if the bottom can be reached. The cavern becomes expansive rather quickly after passing through the opening, but nobody knows how broad or deep it is. It is named simply The Bay. While the thirteen states are optimistic, they know they must solve its mysterious before the ex-national pirates can rob them and the world of one of the few promises for survival of humanity.
1946 - The vessel Fathom departs Atlantis with a crew compliment of researchers, entrepreneurs, military specialists, and civilians. Their goal is to explore The Bay and bring back any information they find. Once they reach The Bay, they will be out of communications range, hence isolated from the rest of the world. There is no telling what awaits Fathom or its crew.
RULES
This is essentially a narrative RP broken into night and day phases as if it were a Mafia variant. The general rule is that "the host is god/fate" within reason.
During the day, the players are free to achieve in-character whatever the host deems reasonable, respectable, and interesting. During the night, the players offer suggestions to the host out-of-character about what they want to happen the following day. The host will incorporate all player feedback of this sort with his own pre-planned plot elements to lead the flow of the story. Most of the plot will be driven by the actions of the players after the main plot points are considered.
The host will be as fair as possible, but he will favor those players who show themselves to be most interesting to the course of the story. He is fully allowed to benefit or punish anybody at will, although he will attempt to do so only as justified and in the interest of the game. The most effective contributor or contributors to the story will be deemed at the end of the game by the host to be the winner or winners of the game, possibly, though not necessarily, by private poll among the players.
Players are expected to have one character each with a name, backstory, and personality profile of their choosing as long as it fits within the continuity of the story according to the host. Character descriptions other than name and field descriptors are not to be made known initially to anybody other than the player himself and the host. Anything and only things the host approves become story canon. All things that players reveal through their own participation will be considered to be canon unless the host overrides them. The host himself will have one or more characters.
These rules are not meant to subjugate the players. Rather, they are to provide a small framework to evolve a story within the general confines established by the host but up to the participation of the players. It is presumed that players will operate on an honor policy of behaving properly.
This is the OOC thread.
The story takes place in an alternate timeline of Earth dominated by excessive scientific advancement and military conflict. There is a mix of culture and technology from the real Earth's history and our own modern time, although the events take place in 1946.
The rules for participation are few but defined. Clarifications of how the rules will be implemented in practice will be provided upon request. This is considered to be a game in that there will be a winner or winners.
REGISTERED PLAYERS
Bloodcinder as captain Karl Berkeley and as slave Virginia Compton
llama_egg as ???
Zeitgeist as ???
Gio Takahashi as ???
Z as ???
chefTENGU as researcher Natalie
BACKSTORY
1861 - The USS Monitor is destroyed by the CSS Virginia at the Battle of Hampton Roads. With their early victory, the Confederate States focus on naval technology.
1862 - A coup overthrows the existing leadership in the United Kingdom, putting a very anti-American government in place.
1865 - Union President George McClellan authorizes surrender to the Confederacy. Slavery is maintained in America. The United Kingdom begins to fear for its international ties.
1869 - Confederate President Robert Lee turns down a non-aggression treaty with the United Kingdom. Both nations begin silently researching naval technologies at an accelerated rate.
1877 - The Confederacy reinstates the draft during a small war in Asia, drawing heavily from the slave population.
1888 - Relations between the United Kingdom and Spain are cut off due to Spain's incursions into France during a series of short wars.
1902 - The United Kingdom begins The Last War in retaliation against a supposed but specious naval assault by Spain.
1905 - Spain persuades the Confederacy to join the war as allies. By now, Japan and Russia are also allied. Germany has sided with the United Kingdom along with Austria, Italy, and Poland.
1908 - The Confederacy develops the first atomic bomb. They begin stockpiling immediately after a successful test detonation is performed.
1910 - The United Kingdom and China, operating on stolen plans, develop their own atomic bombs and test detonate them.
1914 - The first submersible reaches the Challenger Deep of the Marianas Trench. Nations begin funding deep-sea research to harness new energy sources for the war.
1920 - By now, the world has been devastated by the ongoing conflict. Neither side will use nuclear weapons as a solution due to internal political pressure and alliances. Military bases have been established on every continent including Antarctica and in the northern polar region.
1924 - The first undersea military base is constructed in the Sea of Japan.
1927 - Atlantis is established as a free state in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. It goes ignored by most of the major powers due to what is presumed to be its impending failure. It operates on energy derived from the sea floor.
1932 - Precipitously, Austria launches the first nuclear barrage against its new enemy, Poland. Within the month, most of the nuclear stockpiles in the world have been exhausted. Because the skies do not cloud over immediately, excessive regions at the poles are melted from all of the nuclear strikes. By the time the fallout hits, the darkened surface of the earth is mostly submerged. The calamity hits too fast for the nations to cope, but Atlantis and a dozen other undersea states accept refugees from the surface world until they must turn people away or face their own inability to sustain themselves. The Last War is brought to a tragic end.
1940 - Atlantis and the other dozen states have established elaborate transport systems to link themselves together. They dare not explore the surface world due to the fallout. A peaceful economy develops among them as well as a thriving research community. There are still military bases operating after the destruction of their founding countries as governments in surface exile, and occasionally they raid the thirteen states. However, their actions are little more than those of pirates. In addition, some of the states have maintained the practice of slavery of various minorities from their roots in the Confederacy and other pre-war powers.
1945 - In an area of the Pacific sea floor roughly equidistant from the thirteen states is discovered a geographically small opening to a deep sub-oceanic cavern. The high temperatures suggest enticing energy sources if the bottom can be reached. The cavern becomes expansive rather quickly after passing through the opening, but nobody knows how broad or deep it is. It is named simply The Bay. While the thirteen states are optimistic, they know they must solve its mysterious before the ex-national pirates can rob them and the world of one of the few promises for survival of humanity.
1946 - The vessel Fathom departs Atlantis with a crew compliment of researchers, entrepreneurs, military specialists, and civilians. Their goal is to explore The Bay and bring back any information they find. Once they reach The Bay, they will be out of communications range, hence isolated from the rest of the world. There is no telling what awaits Fathom or its crew.
RULES
This is essentially a narrative RP broken into night and day phases as if it were a Mafia variant. The general rule is that "the host is god/fate" within reason.
During the day, the players are free to achieve in-character whatever the host deems reasonable, respectable, and interesting. During the night, the players offer suggestions to the host out-of-character about what they want to happen the following day. The host will incorporate all player feedback of this sort with his own pre-planned plot elements to lead the flow of the story. Most of the plot will be driven by the actions of the players after the main plot points are considered.
The host will be as fair as possible, but he will favor those players who show themselves to be most interesting to the course of the story. He is fully allowed to benefit or punish anybody at will, although he will attempt to do so only as justified and in the interest of the game. The most effective contributor or contributors to the story will be deemed at the end of the game by the host to be the winner or winners of the game, possibly, though not necessarily, by private poll among the players.
Players are expected to have one character each with a name, backstory, and personality profile of their choosing as long as it fits within the continuity of the story according to the host. Character descriptions other than name and field descriptors are not to be made known initially to anybody other than the player himself and the host. Anything and only things the host approves become story canon. All things that players reveal through their own participation will be considered to be canon unless the host overrides them. The host himself will have one or more characters.
These rules are not meant to subjugate the players. Rather, they are to provide a small framework to evolve a story within the general confines established by the host but up to the participation of the players. It is presumed that players will operate on an honor policy of behaving properly.