A Nation Exploration RPG
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IC NOW OPEN TO PUBLIC!
We are a bit overfull and I may have to turn some folks away, but if you were invited or played in previous games, you should still be good to go!
Note: Please ignore my nation's factbook and politics, as it is has been woefully neglected.
Darkness. Darkness all around. Even the powerful green and red navigational lights suspended on the masts above barely manage to shine a few yards through the impenetrable veil of mist surrounding everything. Its eerily quiet. Just barely, one can hear the echoes of distant fog horns, and faint, soothing sound of the ocean waves below. It has been like this all night.
You're all alone. Noone aboard is crazy enough to be out here at this hour. Its cold and dull. There is nothing to see. But you couldn't sleep. This is the last day of the journey, perhaps its the excitement that kept you awake... or the dread. You can feel something in your stomach, and its not the sea sickness. It comes with the shivers. Its been growing on you every day, from the moment you got the ticket.
"What if they were right..."
Suddenly, a cold wind washes over the deck. The mist around starts to break up, first revealing a sea of stars swimming in the endless expanse above, flickering in rythm with the dancing lights of the aurora borealis.
"What if..."
Below the stars, you can now see streaks of fluffy cotton candy painted golden purple by the forever dawning sun, accompanied by shiny aerostats, mooring on cadmium green radio spires or drifting majesticly in the arctic winds.
"I'll never return?"
Finally, slowly rising out of the sea below, the lights of a neon infested metropolis, shining through columns of smoke and vapor rising from the streets below.
Welcome to the diselpunk distopia of the Harkback Union.
The ocean liner Ella Dorina is speeding full steam towards Port Duwall. Aboard its illustirous decks are 603 passengers from far away worlds, a crew of 55 and 5 stowavays. 663 souls in total. Refugees in search of a new home, tourists in search of a cheap getaway, journalists in search of a story, diplomats in search of détente, spies in search of intelligence, curators in search of artworks and relics, cryptozoologists in search of made up creatures, and amnesiacs in search of their memories, whomever they may be, they must have a reason for coming here, for the voyage is treacherous. Fields of icebergs, torrential cyclones and submarine warfare mean that every journey is a roll of the dice. On top of that, the Harkback Union is exceptionally unpopular as a travel destination. Its considered highly isolationist. Its economy self contained, its culture unfamiliar, its techology enigmatic. Cold climate and remoteness of the country discourage the remainder of potential visitors. But even still, once every full moon, an ocean liner worth of foreigners arrive, with little idea of what awaits them...
This journey at least, went smoothly. The captain is an old sea dog who's been running this route for decades, knows every minefield by heart and could steer his ship to port blindfolded. The weather was rather gloomy, with thick morning fogs and sunless afternoons. Service was exceptional, for 3rd class passenger that is. 2nd class passengers found life aboard pretty all right, if somewhat dull. First class on the other hand complained that their lodgings are "attrociously 2nd grade", compared the restaurants to "Soup kitchens" and found shipboard entertainment "vulgar" . Luckily, halfway through the voyage there was a intriguing murder of a wealthy baron which from then on kept everyone entertained.
Now, the Ella Dorina is mere hour away from dropping anchor. The decks are slowly filling up with early birds, mostly seagulls, but also with people who woke up before sunrise to catch a glimpse of what awaits them. Up until the very last moment, many still doubted if the postcards were truthful, and not some forgery to impress foreigners. But the postcards were indeed deceptive, albeit unintentionally, for that no two dimensional image could possibly prepare the human eye, or the human mind for the pure, unbridled megalomania that was now on display.
Skyscrapers, on top of Skyscrapers, on top of Skyscrapers, with bridges and tangled webs of cables running in between, traffic flowing ceaslessly inbetween. Factories, power and chemical plants, competeing to release their foul byproducts high into the sky. Their ever thinning smokestacks, lined with bright red lights stars shining for reasons unknown to those unfamiliar with air travel. Tall spikes of radio masts painted odd colors by powerful floodlights. To crown it all, a central, cylindrical megatower that somehow manages to dwarf everything around it twofold, and is apparently still under construction, judging by the cranes hanging on its sides. But no, even that is not the end of it.
Where the steel ends, the aerostats take their place. A grand fleet of balloons and airships form a sort of city of their own, with smaller planes commuting back and forth. The giant neon letters "SKYLAND" shown on the side of one such vessel.
THE UNION
There are no towns or cities in the harkback union, there is only, *The City*, an all encompassing metroplex of surreal proportions, with each of its districts large enough to be considered a major metropolis, or even a whole country all on their own. Indeed, what's now considered the Harkback Union was at some point a colorful patchwork of theocratic republics, romantic kingdoms and mercantile city states, who's independence was eroded by the ceasless march of industry and urbanization. Verdant forests, rolling hills, fjords, fantastic glaciers and pristine clean lakes, all sacrificed at the altar of wealth and progress. Pollution is... beyond description.
Little is known about harkback society. Actually, quite a lot is thought to be *known* by outsiders, but depending on who you ask, you might get a completely different picture. Local radio broadcasts are almost impossible to receive elsewhere because of atmospheric interference, and few books or newspapers made it abroad since the union's formation, but a handful of smugglers, dissidents and travelers have shared their stories with foreign press. But these stories are inconsistent and given little credibility. One thing that they all warn about however, is that this society makes no differene between tourists and its people, that everyone who arrives is immediately drafted into the workforce. They call it the "Time Tax" and that its almost impossible to dodge. To make matters worse, use and exchange of foreign currency is forbidden by law. Its said that there is a thriving black market where foreign currency can be of value, and an underground canal used to escape authorities, but their location and extend are unknown.
There are no embassies in the H.U., neither does the H.U. have embassies abroad. You will be completely on your own here. The H.U. also doesn't have any official seat of government that you know of that could be contacted. Finally, there is something slightly positive about this place, at least before you think about it. The language here is... International. That is to say, great many languages are being used, especially those former independent states that now compose the Union. You're bound to speak one of them.
PASSPORTS
One doesn't need a passport to enter the Hackback Union, but one does need it to board the Ella Dorina. In case you didn't have a passport, you can always forge one.
- Code: Select all
[u][i][size=200]- PASSPORT -[/size][/i][/u]
[img][/img]
[b][i]Surname/Nom/Прозвішча[/i][/b]:
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[b][i]Given name/Prénoms/Названае імя[/i][/b]:
-
[b][i]Nationality/Nationalité/Нацыянальнасць[/i][/b]:
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[b][i]Place of Birth/Lieu de Naissance/Месца нараджэння[/i][/b]:
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[b][i]Issuing Authority/Autorité de délivrance/Крыніца дакумента[/i][/b]:
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[i][b]ID Number/Numéro d'identification/Ідэнтыфікацыйны нумар[/b][/i]:
- 0-0-0-0-0
[i][b]Customs Declaration/Déclaration en douane/Мытная дэкларацыя[/b][/i]:
-
ID NUMBER
This number is the shorthand for your character's attributes and abilities.
Your character has 5 attributes (by default).
The total number should be no more then 30 (including any special attribute) and cannot be double digit, but it can be 0 (which means you always roll 100).
VIOLENCE - Your willingness and skill to be violent, both towards people and objects.
DARING - Your readiness to act quickly, perform stunts, operate vehicles or do anything else dangerous.
CURIOSITY - Your ability to find secrets, hidden objects, see beyond the veil of secrecy engulfing the world around you.
IMAGINATION - Your creativity and capacity for abstraction, useful for thinking.
STYLE - Your style...
In addition, you may have a 6th number, representing whatever special talent your character has, but this should be negotiated on a case to case basis.
Example:
A violence of 1, daring 5, curiosity 3, imagination 4, style 8 and special attribute "jazz" of 9 (a very talented musician) would translate to
1-5-3-4-8-9
ITEMS, INFLUENCE AND WEALTH
- You may bring with you as many items and cash from your homeland as you can fit into the cargo hold, but do keep in mind that there will probably be a customs inspection. There is no official list of what items are allowed in the Union, or any kind of tariffs on imports. But, for some reason, there is a thriving smuggling ring.
- You may also be from any rank within your country, even the head of state himself.
- You may even go so far as to bring companions with you from your country, but if everyone is doing that things might get tricky so please only do that if you really really really need to entourage (no, they do not need passports or stats, and should be considered... disposable if the plot demands it).
- One thing you may not have however, is any kind of contact or hidden stash or secret hideout already withing the H.U. UNLESS you discuss it with me first before you join the game.
ACTIONS
- Everybody plays their own character from their own countries, I play as the world.
- If you wish to explore/do something tricky, do not assume that it succeeds. Instead, end your post with an ACTION (My character tries to do YXZ) and I will reply with the results as soon as possible. Things that succeed 99.999% of the time (eating breakfast, getting dressed, blinking) do not count as actions of course, but anything beyond that does. Any attempt to gain information about the world, obtain items or interact with people/vehicles/machinery also counts as actions.
- Success rate of actions depend on your characters attribute score, and the difficulty of what you are trying to do. ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE, but the odds won't always be good. To tell whether you succeed or not, and by how much, a dice is rolled. d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20 or d100. If the roll is LOWER or EQUAL to your relevant attribute you succeed. If you roll a 1, its an epic success. If you rolled the maximum on the dice, You fail miserably. EXCEPTION: If your attribute score is higher then the maximum roll, and you rolled the maximum, a new dice is rolled from the next difficulty rating to determine results. This can repeat several times if you are very unlucky.
Difficulties:
d4 = Cakewalk. (Walking on a cake)
d6 = Routine. (Cutting up a cake evenly)
d8 = Doable. (Baking a cake)
d10 = Tricky (Throwing a cake at a mime)
d12 = Hard (Dodging a high-velocity cake)
d20 = Nightmare (Repairing a broken cake)
d100 = Impossible. (Not eating the cake)
INJURIES & DEATH
- From the moment you get off the ship, your character may suffer injuries relevant to one or more of your attributes. These attribute will be reduced until you manage to heal the injuries. For example, you may spill tomato sauce on your aviator jacket. This will lower your style by -2 until you manage to get it dry-cleaned. Or you may accidentally get 9 grams of lead lodged in your cerebral cortex. This would reduce your imagination by -5 until you get brain surgery.
- If any attribute reaches the domain of negative numbers, you may... PANIC! or FAINT! or be MORTIFIED!. This may cause you to lose control of your character temporarily or pernamently, Depending on the circumstances, perhaps someone might be able to still save you, but if not there will be more ships coming later!
KNOWLEDGE AND MYSTERY
- All players should start out with fairly limited knowledge of the H.U., or at least, limited accurate information. You may know rumors, or even be certain of this or that statistic, but use them in speech or thought bubbles, not in narration so as to avoid confusion.
- Information you gain through exploration, investigation and interactions are called
FRAGMENTS are insights into the inner workings of the union required to piece together what the hell is going on. Fragments can be
- Shared to other visitors.
- Analyzed or combined.
- Sold at the black market.
TIME Or the lack of it
- Part of the H.U. is built beyond the 66th parallel, the time of day is a constant twilight this time of year. However, in some districts you might see broad daylight, or there can be a sudden heatwave. The weather is erratic with all the steam and artificial suns. Point is, it can be really hard to tell "what time it is". You can have breakfast or tea any time.
- We will not synch up the clocks of visitors. Anyone can interact with anyone else, no matter where they are in the story, thats just how it works here (You still have to be in the same location, at least).
Some actions performed will cause time to move forward for your character by 1 Harkback Hour. Time progress is kept track for each character by the OP. When you accumulate 10 hours for your character, your timer is reset and something(s) will happen. These actions are:
- Travel on a single transit line any number of stops.
- Travel by taxi anywhere.
- Explore an area to find new locations.
- Crafting/Cooking/Repairs.
- Working a shift at your assigned place of work.
- Resting/Healing conditions.
- Visiting a Location.
While visiting a Location in an Area, you may end up performing a series of smaller actions (shopping, fighting, investigating) that together add up to an hour. Depending on the situation you may have your clock moved forward by an hour in these cases.
Walking between districts is possible, but can require several rolls and can take up to 10 hours depending on distance (each autobahn intersection counts as 1 hour walking distance).
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