Ruled Britannia: A Cyberpunk Story - OOC/OPEN

[Forest State]

IC Coming Soon
Theme Song
Mood Music
Brought to you by the Pub

"I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery." - Thomas Jefferson, 1787

Welcome to the year 2067, and to the city of London. Formerly located in the United Kingdom, now located in the... State of Britain. The world's changed a lot in the past fifty years - the royals are no longer in power, and Britain is now the second smallest country in the world after every other country bar Switzerland has become a part of a larger centralized superstate. Resources becoming scarcer has forced nations to pool their assets together to keep things running smoothly, and former geopolitical tensions have been moved to the backburner and turned into regional concerns. Well, every country has become a part of a superstate except for Britain, which has used its old skill at trade to maintain its independence. The rest of the world grew more and more connected, while Britain grew further and further apart.

With that disconnect came the new British way of life. The British dependency on trade saw the rise of multinational conglomerates that based themselves in the country because of favorable laws, making it their base of operations and the heart of their development. Things changed in the government, and the corporations went right along with those changes; the extreme tensions between Britain and the European Bloc over the status of Northern Ireland among over things caused the State of Britain to become more and more on edge, more and more authoritarian, enacting more laws every year to give the government more power. The British Intelligence Division was founded in 2054 to serve as a multi headed monster of an organization that could act as both spy and secret policeman for the government, and the corporations that had made the country their home went along with it.

BID called for privacy to disappear in Britain, and the corporations went along with it, with companies in every field from tech to social media selling out their clients and ensuring that the State of Britain would become the first real omnipresent government. And as technology improved and people became more connected through it, that government presence only increased. The introduction of System Identification Numbers, small chips implanted near the lower spine that are required for all citizens, marked the death knells of the last age, and of privacy and independence. Suddenly, everything from internet browsing to all travel was tracked and watched, and every major corporation was incorporating SIN cards into their services.

Those who illegally removed the cards would quickly find themselves as outcasts, unable to connect with others online and unable to use the cryptocurrency administered by the new central bank, the Bank of Britain. But as discontent grows with the tension and the surveillance state, and as the number of the invisible faction grows with each passing day, it's clear that things are about to change once more... And this time, those who start a revolution will have no name and no face.

What is this, and how is it different from other threads? This is a cyberpunk RPG meant to be as challenging and tense as it is fun. You'll find yourselves outmanned, outgunned, and beat in the technology category until very late in the thread, when things grow a bit more even due to advances made in early scenarios. Still, there's some light at the end of the tunnel for your little group, but it's going to be a challenge to reach it. Another part of this challenge is that the RP has a slightly different system than most. In combat with enemy factions, more challenge will be added through the use of dice. Various enemies will have various strength levels based on their equipment and training, and these various enemies will be more or less difficult to hit depending on who they are. D10 dice will be rolled by the OP and co-OPs in combat after users attempt actions against enemies, and each one will have a certain chance of success. Wounding a soldier in heavy power armor with small arms might require, say, a seven out of ten, and would in other words have a difficulty of seventy percent. On the other hand, killing a lightly armored enemy in close combat with a melee weapon might have a twenty percent difficulty, and would only require a roll of two or higher. The dice also apply to the enemy. How you decide to play the game and how you arm and outfit your characters will have an impact on things. Want to load up with armor for more protection? Enemies would require a higher roll to wound you, but your movement will suffer and it's hard to sneak around or disappear into a crowd while using combat gear. On the other hand, you could blend in more with the civilian crowd, making you easier to hit but allowing you to take on a more stealth style in combat and even avoid detection entirely at certain times. Your weaponry will also affect the difficulties you face, and you will have more and more options with this as the thread continues. The choice of what style to pick is up to you, just remember that it has consequences. How does this thread work? The format of this thread is something of a combination of a semi open world and a story based one. There will be distinct periods, and you will always be aware of which stage of the thread we're in. These stages will have different types. There will be times when you can go on side missions that will affect the main story, and these missions are far more open ended than the main part of the thread and can even be suggested by players. However, don't take them too lightly. What you do in the city outside of the main missions will still affect things and can come back to bite you later. There's also story events, which are the other type of stage. When the thread is in this stage, you'll see most of the characters come together for one or two major operations that move the story of the revolution along. These ones have the most consequences, and the most direct consequences too. After each story event, there will also be a recap representing what's been gained and lost. Sometimes, this will come in the form of new technology and new weaponry that's available. Other times, it will come in the form of updates on the situation of the revolution. Win big, and you'll see the progress meter move closer and closer to anarchy. Slip up, and expect to see your enemies capitalize on your mistakes. Your actions will directly affect the outcome of the story, and you'll see this at the end of every story event. The Earth of 2067 is very different than the one of fifty years prior, in 2017. Global tensions rose in the 2020s before they were forced to fall because of the growing problem of resource deprivation, which led to rapid centralization in Europe and then in Asia followed by Africa and lastly in the Americas. Countries banded together to make the most of the resources that were left while rapidly increasing the development speed for alternative energies and other alternative types of resources. The result? There's very few countries now. Here's the list of countries in the world outside of the State of Britain, and their relationship towards the resistance movement. European Bloc Location: Europe + Israel Attitude: Ambiguous, potentially favorable The European Bloc was the first to centralize, becoming the newest incarnation of the European Union and uniting all of the countries in west and east Europe under their blue and white banner. Well, all of the countries except for Britain, which decided to tough it out on their own and rely on trade to get their hands on needed resources, and Switzerland, which maintained its famous neutrality and rebranded itself as a tax haven for conglomerates, sharing the wealth of some of the world's biggest corporations. The European Bloc has become one of the biggest economic and military powers in the world and is said to have the world's most advanced military thanks to its pooled development funds. But for the Brits, that hasn't been a good thing. The Bloc is in a cold war with the State of Britain, and some of the security measures came in direct response to tension with the Bloc. Switzerland Location: Central Europe Attitude: True neutral Switzerland is famous for neutrality, but now they're more famous for the corporations that call the country home because of its status as the world's best tax haven. Will the Swiss be breaking their neutrality? Probably not. But that doesn't mean they can't help the revolution. Switzerland is the home of many military corporations and contractors that can provide weapons, bodies, or both, for the right price. In a revolution, that professional help can be a turning point. Asian Prosperity Sphere Location: Asia, East Europe, and Oceania Attitude: Varies wildly The most decentralized of the superstates in the world is the Asian Prosperity Sphere, an initiative that was created when China and the Koreas set aside their differences and later invited the Australians to join, before convincing the Japanese to set aside old battles a number of years later. The country would then expand throughout the rest of Asia in the space of a few years in response to the European Bloc, but wouldn't have the same level of high centralization as Europe. While the Bloc was one entity, the APS became very much a union of nations that were together to protect themselves from foreign threats. Their responses to the resistance will depend on who you ask. Different countries have different attitudes, but Australia has been rumored to be working with the Americans and their allies in Europe. Union of North America Location: North America, the Caribbean, and Central America Attitude: Favorable In North America lies a confederation of nations in between Europe and Asia in terms of centralization, with the United States and Canada and Mexico taking the lead and the rest of the region following under their banner because of the looming threats to the south and the looming problem of resources. They've had strong ties with Europe from the start thanks to the NATO days of the past, and if anyone decides to covertly help the Europeans subvert Britain, it will be Britain's own old allies from across the pond. However, confederation politics and varying ideas between North and Central America complicate matters... African Nations Pact Location: Africa and various islands Attitude: Neutral Africa was always a area with potential for centralization because of the need for development, and finally centralizing every country has done wonders for the continent despite the Saharan and Sub Saharan divide causing mass internal conflict at times. The Nations Pact is always a wild card in international politics now because Africa hasn't been a superpower before in its history. And it's not always possible to know where they're going to lean on a matter. However, their tensions right now are hanging on one thing, the middle east and the extreme tension between that region of Asia and Egypt. South American Nations Alliance Location: South America and part of the Caribbean Attitude: Hostile Britain's allies come from an unlikely place, with SANA making a pact with Britain in response to North America being a threat to both nations. They've also become at odds with Europe because of this and while the cold war over there goes on, the United States has always reminded Britain that war with Europe means boots on the ground in South America, which is militarily behind most other nations. Don't expect any support from them... It would be more reasonable to expect the opposite. The world of 2067 is a more advanced one, and there's more available technologies than there are today. These are some of the elements that will feature in this thread, and how they work. SIN Cards These small chips are implanted at birth near the base of the spine and are connected to ID. They're necessary for everything that's connected to the government, and these days, they're necessary for anything that's run by big corporations Banks, retailers, social networks, and important services all require SIN cards to be connected to accounts, making it possible for the government and for the corporations themselves to gather a complete profile of someone's life. The cards also track movement, making it possible for BID to easily view all of the locations that someone's been in, and almost all internet browsers connect with someone's ID and SIN card to track activity across the web. It's a privacy advocate's worst nightmare, but fortunately, there is a way out. Most people in the resistance, if not all, have removed these cards surgically, deciding to take a much harder life instead of allowing the government and corporations to watch their every move. Others, a small and elite group of programmers who remain in the shadows and haven't yet been identified, have figured out how to hack these cards, allowing the user to continue using connected services without leaving behind records in the system. As a result, the few who have these cards are invisible. However, there's a small number of the cards, and they're the most expensive tech product on the black market. Ballistics versus energy There's two types of ranged weapons now. Ballistic weapons, and energy weapons. Ballistics are the basic ones that have existed for awhile. Rifles, pistols, shotguns, and the like. They're always reliable even after so many years and they can pierce armor, making them a balanced choice for anyone that can get their hands on them. But remember, if you use these, you'll be limited by the ammunition that you can carry. These days, the average magazine holds ten bullets. Remember that number, because once you run out, you'll have to either reload or you'll find yourself unarmed. Gun control is strict, and ammo isn't unlimited. Use it wisely, and always be mindful of how many magazines you have. But there's also energy weapons, which do high damage to exposed skin and light armor but don't penetrate. These weapons don't have to be reloaded and instead have to be recharged after a certain number of shots(four for rifles and pistols, one for shotguns and heavy energy weapons), which takes a turn to happen. Unless, of course, you carry a spare energy cell and swap out the empty one to keep fighting instead of recharging. Use this strategy wisely however, or risk ending up with two empty cells in the middle of a battle. They also don't penetrate. Try to use one of these against powered armor, and you're screwed. Implants Later in the game, you'll have access to technological implants from the black market that can give a significant advantage. However, they'll be off limits early in the game despite being used by the enemy, because unless you have a hacked SIN card, the implants are just another device to be tracked that will result in the entire group being hunted down. Don't think that you can just hack them; many have tried, and none have succeeded so far. Maybe sometime in the future, that will happen. We all hate rules, don't we? But even an RP about anarchists needs some rules. I'll try to keep it simple. 1: Respect your fellow players. Don't intentionally try to piss off people that you don't like and don't bait someone OOCly by out of character IC actions. 2: Follow the site rules or at least don't stretch them too far. Don't feel like you have to make everything PG, because this is a somewhat dark RP, but at least keep us out of trouble with the mods. 3: Outside of missions, players can handle combat themselves. However, in story segments, combat will be handled by dice rolls by the OP and the Co-OPs. Please respect this by not dealing damage to the enemies before the OP can roll. PC on PC combat doesn't require rolls, obviously. 4: Perfect grammar isn't a must, but an attempt at good grammar should be made. 5: One line posts are grounds for ejection from the thread. Shorter posts are acceptable in dialogue heavy situations, but shouldn't be the norm. You don't have to write a novel, but your posts should be a couple of paragraphs or more. 6: Inactivity for long periods, unless you warn us about going away, may result in character death to clear room. 7: Small arms and other powerful weapons MUST be gained through combat. No starting with rifles, machine guns, railguns, plasma rifles, or anything else of the sort. 8: Your characters may be wounded without your permission because of dice rolls. They won't be killed off without your permission because of a roll, however. 9: Hacked SIM cards and other advanced tech need OP permission to have. 10: Have fun, and remember. This action will have consequences. Code: Select all [box][b][u]DISSIDENT FILE:[/u][/b] [i][u]INSERT FULL NAME HERE[/u][/i] [b]NAME:[/b] (Delete all in parenthesis) [b]GENDER:[/b] [b]AGE:[/b] [b]APPEARANCE:[/b] (Pictures can be used within spoiler tags in this section) [b]NATIONALITY:[/b] [b]OCCUPATION:[/b] [b]CRIMINAL RECORD:[/b] [b]PHYSICAL ASSESSMENT:[/b] (This is different than appearance. It should be an assessment of where they are physically. Will they be able to fight in a revolution, and if not, why?) [b]SKILLS & TRADES:[/b] [b]PERSONALITY:[/b] (At least one paragraph) [b]BIOGRAPHY:[/b] (At least two longer paragraphs or three shorter paragraphs) [size=50]#1066 - Tracking tag, don't delete.[/size][/box] Thanks to New Grestin for the banner, and to the denizens of the Pub for various ideas and suggestions and tweaks during the creation process! Check them out sometime, we (most of the time) don't bite.

[Forest State]

Reserved; characters list goes here.

[Max Empire]

Tagz

[Nea Videssos]

Hmm...
So, basically anarchists (not sure what type, since there are various subcategories) fighting a government akin to what the Tories wished they could be?

Tagz

Finally stopped playing Victoria II to come back to NS?

[Max Empire]

Hmm...
So, basically anarchists (not sure what type, since there are various subcategories) fighting a government akin to what the Tories wished they could be?

Tagz

Finally stopped playing Victoria II to come back to NS?

Yep. XD

I've been on the pub discord a lot. I saw Forest lay and hatch this egg. XD

[Ormata]

Tagged.

[Forest State]

Hmm...
So, basically anarchists (not sure what type, since there are various subcategories) fighting a government akin to what the Tories wished they could be?

Tagz

Finally stopped playing Victoria II to come back to NS?

Pretty much. This world runs with the theme that tech kept getting better and more connected and nobody really did anything to stop it from being used for surveillance purposes. There's all kinds of different rebels, but there's somewhat of an anarchist line among the main group because as you'll see in the IC, their plan is to get freedom by destroying all of the technological infrastructure that lets the government do what they can do. Also, since cryptocurrency is used now, doing that would effectively wipe out everyone's bank account and cause anarchy.

[TriStates]

Where did you get that gorgeous looking banner?

[The Olog-Hai]

Wow, this is like the first time I've actually seen Max's nation.

This looks interesting, if I have time.

[Forest State]

Where did you get that gorgeous looking banner?

It's actually from another Pub guy, New Grestin, as the credits state.

[Max Empire]

Wow, this is like the first time I've actually seen Max's nation.

This looks interesting, if I have time.

Congrats to you my dear.

[Beutarch]

Tag.

[The Knockout Gun Gals]

Looks good, mate.

Tag.

[Rupudska]

This is a tag so I remember this exists and to read it.

[The Olog-Hai]

Wow, this is like the first time I've actually seen Max's nation.

This looks interesting, if I have time.

Congrats to you my dear.

This isn't the discord! I'm mostly safe from you here!

Yeah, TriStates, Grestin ends up making like all the banners for Pub RPs.

[Ormata]

Removed due to current issues.

[The Knockout Gun Gals]

DISSIDENT FILE: INSERT FULL NAME HERE
NAME: Ali Amran Jackson
GENDER: Male
AGE: 37
APPEARANCE: (Pictures can be used within spoiler tags in this section)
NATIONALITY: English/British
OCCUPATION: Construction Worker
CRIMINAL RECORD: Yes, 8 years in prison because of robbery and homicide.
PHYSICAL ASSESSMENT: (This is different than appearance. It should be an assessment of where they are physically. Will they be able to fight in a revolution, and if not, why?)
SKILLS & TRADES:
-Physically fit and capable
-Pick lock (through the use of both analog and digital-based tools)
-Combat training (Street-fight, mostly)
PERSONALITY: (At least one paragraph)
BIOGRAPHY: (At least two longer paragraphs or three shorter paragraphs)
#1066 - Tracking tag, don't delete.

[The Olog-Hai]

Quick question: Would I be allowed to have no SIN card, I guess? I know you want no one other than the Co-OPs to have a hacked one, but would a lack of one be OK?

[Danceria]

The shit one must unfortunately undertake in order to get a butter knife licence.

Tag

[Ormata]

N/A

[Forest State]

Mah Character is done.

Might make another one. Not sure.

Looks good, accepted. At least one of my character applications will also be up today, and then I'll add the roster list after that. I was thinking of naming Co-OPs today also but I'll wait on that until we have a better idea of who's signing up.

[The Olog-Hai]

Forest, I was planning on making a drifter-type character who does odd jobs for food (since he got his SIN removed) and sometimes does petty crime to manage to get by. How does that sound, or is it no good?

[Forest State]

Forest, I was planning on making a drifter-type character who does odd jobs for food (since he got his SIN removed) and sometimes does petty crime to manage to get by. How does that sound, or is it no good?

Of course. Characters being forced into action by becoming outcasts is something I planned for with that mechanic.

[The Olog-Hai]

Forest, I was planning on making a drifter-type character who does odd jobs for food (since he got his SIN removed) and sometimes does petty crime to manage to get by. How does that sound, or is it no good?

Of course. Characters being forced into action by becoming outcasts is something I planned for with that mechanic.

Cool, sounds good. I'll have an app up sometime.

[Forest State]

Application number one for me...

DISSIDENT FILE: JEREMY HOLLAND
NAME: Jeremy Holland
GENDER: Male
AGE: 31
APPEARANCE:

NATIONALITY: British
OCCUPATION: Fugitive. Formerly computer technician and programmer.
CRIMINAL RECORD: Sentenced for industrial sabotage and treason.
PHYSICAL ASSESSMENT: Overweight, at about two hundred and forty five pounds. Definitely not athletic, and the weight isn't because of a tall height or because of muscle. Not the kind of person that's going to be going anywhere fast, though he can be deceptively strong at times because of the raw power given by a high weight. The weight also gives him low stamina though, meaning that he's the kind of guy that will usually be sighted with coffee and energy drinks, and the kind that sometimes gets around via scooter instead of by foot.
SKILLS & TRADES: Very high proficiency at coding and programming, as well as some engineering skills and general good skills with technology and machinery. Also good with strategic skill such as planning and organization, and definitely administration. Also one of the few people that can hack a SIN card, if given the right equipment.
PERSONALITY: Something of your average loner type, the stereotypical antisocial nerd that most people would picture sitting in his mother's basement with Mountain Dew and Doritos. And for awhile, he was that type of person, withdrawing from others often and feeling uncomfortable in social situations. However, the skill at programming that he developed gave him a bit more confidence, proving that even if he wasn't in shape, he could do something well and proving that he was able to be truly world class at something. He's still the type that interacts awkwardly with others, but these days, there's less fear and his isolation is often more willing.
BIOGRAPHY: Like many of the others involved with the resistance movement, Jeremy comes from Britain and hasn't lived anywhere else but the south of the country, the region known as the heart of the current order. And like those others, he grew up in an era of the government becoming more connected with technology and the technology becoming more and more invasive, providing useful services at a high cost. The tech was always something that intrigued him, and even when he was a younger boy, he would spend a lot of time at home while other kids were outside or hanging out, and he would work on different kinds of technologies; first basic machinery, and then he learned how computers worked from the inside out. At first, it would seem that those skills weren't useful, but that would change in the future, when he was grown and he was working.

His first job would be in the IT department of a major company in London and the job would pay a fair amount and provide housing in the big city. His job would be to keep the servers online, and he would instantly excel in that thanks to his prior tech knowledge and all time time spent with computers and learning how they worked, all the way from a basic to an advanced level. His skill at that job would see him promoted to the cryptography department, and he would learn the art of encryption quickly and that would become his main job from then on. Cryptography would also have him working with more and more highly secured information, and eventually, his company would be contracted by the British government to secure some of their information.

But becoming more and more upset with what his country was turning into, Jeremy decided to switch sides and used his inside access to break his own company's encryption and allow members of a hacking group to stage what was supposed to be the largest leak in the history of the country. However, the plan would fail and backup servers would keep the encryption up, and the actions would be tracked back to Jeremy, forcing him to remove his SIN card and disappear completely. He would go off of the radar, but he wouldn't leave the fight. He'd become not a foreground figure, but someone shady in the background, someone who wouldn't fight but would pull strings to help this resistance, and to get back the life that he had lost with his actions. Now, after being forced underground for attempting to help the rebels, it was personal.
#1066 - Tracking tag, don't delete.