Introduction
Tuesday, August 19th, 2031
Philadelphia PostSixty Million Dead in 60 Days! Global Humanitarian Disaster!
Author: Dean Nelson
Starting on June 20th, 2031 what had begun since a trickle of deaths starting at the new year which piqued the curiosity of medical journals across the world has exploded. Each day a million have died, and no one is entirely certain of the reason why. A recent press conference by the WHO however has reported that no single commonality exists amongst the deceased except what potentially caused their deaths. All living witnesses report to that common factor being that the victims were overcome with despair. Can Despair truly be the cause of so many deaths in the past two months?
Currently, as this is being written up twenty percent of Philadelphia is deceased, and civil law and order are breaking down across the globe. The global crisis is expected to continue, but some scientists holed up in Zurich have discovered that an emotional inhibitor pill if administered fast enough to the infected can keep them from dying. So far the results have been mixed as scientists are still unsure as to how this 'despair' is spread. The United States will begin rationing out their shipment of the inhibitors across the east coast since it was the hardest and first hit in the country. Outrage has spread across other parts of the country, but the federal government currently in Raven Rock insists it's only a matter of fairness.
Critics however point to the fact that eighty percent of the population of Los Angeles have died, and the refugees leaving the city are partially a result of the government's inaction. Some states such as Texas and Oregon are threatening secession over the matter if they don't receive their share of the inhibitor pills. There is also the fact that not everyone infected with despair dies but instead turns into something vengeful, and angry. The weekend's previous expeditions into Chicago and Memphis by the military prove just that especially with the high rate of casualties they suffered. There is hope a study out of Canberra has discovered that five percent of the global human population is immune to this ongoing pandemic.
The Despair, and Humanity
Disease, the wrath of God, nature's punishment, or just something intrinsic to the human condition the despair has been on overdrive, and it is right to be feared. For whether you catch it or not the comforts of the old world are gone, and some even say the world belongs to the emotionals now.
The Despairing: Those infected with Despair, and most surely going to die. Despair takes weeks or months, and people may not even realize that they are infected. It starts with a gradual dissipation of the mood. The things that make your life joyful begin to be sapped away, and eventually, your mere existence becomes a pain. Eventually, you just go to sleep one last time, and never wake up.
The Vengeful: Those that have despair, but instead don't die in their sleep. They become irrational, petty, violent, and angry. Their love becomes lust, and their prejudices become hatred. The vengeful have a hivemind like the connection of their own and are viewed as cancer for they parasitize off of humanity through consuming people's body, and blood. Some are better able to control the beasts they have become and blend into society, and this allows them to consume food regularly without the need for flesh, but they still have to consume blood regularly. Others have become beasts without conscience relying on pure animal instinct, and need to be put down. A vengeful has every right to fear being caught as it's a death sentence so they often stick in areas that have long since lost law, and order to continue existing.
The Normal: Those most afraid of catching despair as they currently have the most to lose from it. They are regular, plain old humans who are free to indulge in their emotions but feel afraid to catch the despair. Some have taken to black marketing inhibition peels to suppress their emotions, and thus cut the chance of catching despair down significantly. Yet the pill is only meant for those with despair, and by taking it from those who need it the death rate is going up. People have every right to be afraid, but the desire to keep a dying world going through selfishness shouldn't be one of them.
The Inhibited: Those who have contracted despair, but were able to have caught on quickly enough to be rationed a prescription of inhibitor pills. Your ability to feel emotions is completely gone if you take the dose as prescribed. Yet some people want to enjoy life for a little bit longer, and skip doses, halve them, or quarter them to get a little bit more out of their emotions before despair overwhelms them. There is a risk that they could simply be delaying the inevitable whereas those who take the medication on a dedicated routine could live out the rest of their natural lives.
The Emotional: The five percent of humanity that is immune to the despair, and whatever else is caused by it. It is more than that though as the emotional are free to enjoy their emotions without contracting despair. Yet there is a flip side to this immunity, they have started to feel a hivemind like presence with other emotionals. So they must struggle between their individual humanity, and the collective humanity they are becoming a part of.
Rules
1) There is to be no godmodding, flaming, flamebaiting or trolling in the OOC or IC so please just keep things civil.
2) One page in the IC will have a time adjustment on it as it relates to mechanics that all types of characters on it. An example being that the inhibited will have to keep medicated, the vengeful have to find a way to get blood, and the emotionals will deal with an ever increasing loss of individuality as time goes on.
3) There are a series of events that will happen, and affect everyone differently.
4) Your decisions determine whether or not the city of Philadelphia falls so make them wisely.
5) Just because emotionals, and vengefuls have an access to a hivemind does mean they can metagame with it.
6) If an Inhibited character decides to play the risks with their medications they should know that their despair could become untreatable.
7) Criminal actions affect the stability of the city, how one can get food, and other factors. The greater (or worse) the action the more stability is affected.
8] The military is here to keep law, and order with the general collapse of the police force. That doesn't mean police characters are unavailable, but most likely will be attached to the military.
Applications
- Code: Select all
1] Nationstates Name
2]Character Name:
3] Sex and Gender:
4] Type of Character You are Applying for?
5] Occupation:
6] Appearance (Picture or Description):
7] Current Plans for the future:
8] Biography
9] Roleplay Example:
Location
The Roleplay is taking place in the city of Philadelphia which is experiencing a hellish change. Twenty percent of the city has died of despair, and under authority from Raven Rock a military governor is going to be entering the city and clamping down hard. His primary goal is to ensure the black zone inhabited by thousands of vengefuls is kept isolated from the healthy population, and he intends to let them cannibalize each other, and starve. The general's priority is to document cases of despair have them put on inhibitor pills, keep the cities sanity, and ensure emotionals are rounded up to be properly tested for a cure. He has orders to ensure Philadelphia doesn't fall, and will go about any method to ensure it doesn't.
