"It took humanity far too long to wake up. First, they claimed peace, and we listened. They asked us to fly their ships freely, and we obliged. And then, when they finally turned for us, the war had already been decided. Now, we fight back."
E A R T H I S L O S T
"This is Air Force One, detecting bogeys on our tail, requesting support from any nearby supporting units." This was the last publicly known message sent on any military frequency in the United States. We can only assume that other countries aren't exactly having a pleasant time of it either, considering what we saw on the television before they blocked our signal. It's hard to tell nowadays, though, how anyone's doing. It's sort of a dog-eat-dog world, except every dog runs the risk of being sent to a kill shelter at a moment's notice.
But I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I? That's not where this story starts, and it's certainly not where it ends. In fact, the story started about 6 years ago, in 2024. We made first contact with an intelligent alien species. Scientists were overjoyed, the population was shocked, world leaders were jovial yet privately held great worry. The main cause of their worry? The message - when we managed to translate each other's language - from our friendly neighbors said that they were on the edge of our solar system, and they were coming for a visit. Not two months later, their ships starting appearing in our sky. Millions of people took to the streets to welcome them, toting classic signs of peace and kindness. And they returned the gesture. They came bearing gifts of technology, medicine, and other wondrous advancements. Our technology jumped forward fifty years at the least, and we struck a seemingly lasting friendship with our visitors, who insisted we call them "Chyss". They were titanic by our standards, their smallest members standing over 7 feet tall. Their leader Ilyxa, or at least "the chief representative of our proud species" as he called himself, was a massive specimen, over 9 feet tall. His thick, corded muscle bulged even through the loose regal clothing he dressed himself in.
Naturally, due to our trust of the Chyss, we hardly thought anything of it when they invited their friends over to the party. They asked if they could park ships in most of our major cities, to experience the vast array of cultures we have on the planet. We obliged. Once again, our ignorance got the best of us. More Chyss ships dotted the sky, and anchored themselves over cities across the globe. London, Moscow, New York City, Washington D.C., New Delhi, Tokyo. You name it, they had their own little embassy there. Things only seemed to get better from there. Chyss and humans became friends, we showed them our recreations, our pastimes, and they showed us theirs. Truly, we were seeing things through rose-colored glasses. By this point, most world leaders had abandoned their superstition. A new age of mankind was truly upon us.
Of course, this all changed in 2028. It had been three and a half years since the Chyss had first made landfall and shook hands with world leaders. It had been two since they docked their ships in our major cities. Two years with relatively little to no trouble, except for the occasional drunken idiot who would throw rocks at a passerby Chyss and be on the receiving end of their very large fist. We truly didn't think anything could go wrong but, of course, it did. I'll remember the day for the rest of my life: March 17th, 2028. On this particular morning, something was very odd. The Chyss stayed in their ships long past morning, which was incredibly odd for them and their obsession with punctuality. Any attempt to hail them and their vessels was met with silence. This went on for hours, until the late afternoon. Around 4 P.M., the doors of their vessels finally opened, and we were entirely unprepared for what happened next. Thousands upon thousands of assault ships streamed from their hangars, some landing troops in the cities they were docked over, and countless others spreading across the planet and targeting military installations and other important infrastructure. Thousands were dead within the first two hours, and millions more within the first month. We tried to mount an effective defense, and we even closed a decent battle line with them in Germany, but it was ultimately to no avail. We simply responded with too little, too late. To make matters worse, most of Earth's armed forces had equipped themselves with a combination of human and Chyss engineering, weapons that conveniently were hardwired to stop working whenever the Chyss decided to make their move on us.
The war was over in less than eight months. We hardly stood a chance when it came down to it. The Chyss were simply superior in every way. Hard to kill with conventional weapons, not to mention they had their own instruments of death that made ours look like popguns. They moved quickly after that, kidnapping millions of us and bringing them to our ships, only for them to return a few days later "indoctrinated", loyal to the Chyss and serving as their public servants. World leaders were "purged" and replaced with Chyss executives. Cities became megaslums and most buildings and businesses were dissolved. The Chyss re-purposed our entire planet to serve their purpose: a planet whose sole job is to produce raw materials, water, and manpower. We didn't know it until a month later, but we had become the most recent colony of the "Chyss Stellar Dominion".
It's 2030 now, and Earth is vastly different from anything we could ever imagine. Indoctrinated human military police, officially called "Enforcers" and unofficially called "Dockies" by those with their minds intact, patrol the streets looking for dissenters and publicly executing the occasional passerby. The Chyss rule from the clouds in their crimson warships, only keeping standing military in major cities. We are their servants, another conquest in whatever campaign they are waging across the galaxy.
But the Chyss have continued to underestimate one key thing about us "simple humans". Our willpower. Our ability to endure an incredibly amount of punishment, of degradation, and stand again and spit in our enemy's face. We will fight, by gun and blade, by tooth and nail, until the Chyss have either left our planet or they all lie dead. They are brutal, without feeling or mercy. But we will be worse.
My name is Kerrigan Lokini, and if you're reading this message you've been called to join the ranks of those who fight against Chyss oppression. The Wardogs will come find you, and together we will liberate this planet once more.
I N T R O D U C T I O N
Hey guys, welcome to Crimson Skies: From Dust. In this roleplay, we'll be playing as a resistance cell in New York City in the face of a hostile alien invader who has colonized Earth and made it into their own personal factory to fuel the rest of their galactic endeavors. I got this idea originally from playing Stellaris and wondering what life would be like for residents of a primitive civilization when you colonized them, and so here we are! The following few sub-categories will explain some of the facets of this roleplay that need explaining. But for now, some rules!
1.) I am the OP, my final decision on everything is what goes.
2.) Respect both individuals in this thread and those in the Discord.
3.) Don't godmod or powerplay, or generally be an ass.
4.) Characters will die. Count on it. But, I will always provide an explanation as to why I feel it is appropriate for your character to die.
5.) I am limiting "former soldier" archetype to two apps, and they have to be exceptional apps.
6.) IC posts should be a paragraph at least.
THIS NEXT ONE IS IMPORTANT
8.) We are fighting humans and aliens that have been armed with weapons and equipment that is hundreds of years more advanced than ours. This is going to be an extremely difficult fight. We are facing a superior enemy in every way. Your character isn't going to action hero out of anything, and if they try they'll most likely find themselves on the wrong end of a Chyss Mass Accelerator Rifle.
S E T T I N G
W E L C O M E T O N E W Y O R K
New York City under Chyss rule is not the city you and I know. It has been transformed into a sprawling megacity that serves one purpose: to process raw materials and produce commodities, weaponry, and goods for the Chyss war effort. Most skyscrapers have been repurposed to serve as housing units for workers, and many city monuments and blocks have been paved over in order to make room for massive factories. The city itself operates almost entirely above ground, with the subway being a hide-away from the prying eyes of the Enforcers and their Chyss overlords. The Chyss administrative headquarters for this sector of the United States are in Manhattan, inside a skyscraper that towers over the rest of the skyline. Most individuals live in abject poverty, and do nothing but work, sleep, and eat.
W A R D O G S
We are the Wardogs, a secretive resistance cell that operates out of the sprawling subway system below the city. Though relatively new and inexperienced, we have grown impressive numbers by recruiting from our communities. Our primary goal is to liberate New York City, block by block, from Chyss rule, so as to inspire the rest of the world to do the same. We are not soldiers, and many of us have never held a gun before, but the massive tunnels of the New York subway system are the perfect place to hide freedom fighters, and train them to fight a superior alien enemy.
However, within the Wardogs, a slight schism is appearing. There are those within our organization who would prefer it to take a new approach. They count anyone who does not work directly with us to be our enemy. They would rather utilize tactics that endanger the entirety of the Chyss infrastructure, rather than make precise strikes at its essential components. Despite the fact that this is a small minority, they are quite loud within the Wardogs. Our characters will have to choose sides in this divide of ethics between the Wardogs, as it will come to a head much sooner than we think.
In terms of armaments, the Wardogs scrounge up whatever they can. Most of their standing armory consists of weapons and equipment that were raided from the nearby Fort Drum in a daring theft from under Chyss noses. However, these supplies will not last forever, and soon enough we will have to begin to look for other areas that may have additional - or better - weaponry. The better we can arm and defend ourselves, the easier it will be to take the fight to the streets if - and perhaps when - we draw enough ire from the Chyss to send large forces into the city.
O U R E N E M Y
C H Y S S
The Chyss are a humanoid, bipedal race of aliens. They are considered very large by human standards, with their average height being around 8 feet tall. Their average weight is approximately 400 pounds, but the soldiers are genetically engineered to be much heavier and muscular. While not particularly agile, the Chyss are incredibly athletic. Most of their newborn are immediately indoctrinated into their warrior culture. Particularly intelligent children are separated from the rest of their peers and are taught important leadership skills and take advanced classes before being sent to either a government administration school or to officer training for the Chyss military. The Chyss maintain an incredibly fluid meritocracy for their government, those who display exceptional skill quickly rise to the ranks, and those that stagnate are "removed" to make room for improvement.
Physiologically, the Chyss are significantly different from humans. They are covered in chitinous material that acts as a sort of exoskeleton. Most members of the military have this chitin laser-shaped and then retrofitted with metallic material to form a natural type of body armor. Their cranium is almost entirely thick bone, with a small cavity in the very forefront to make room for eyes and their mouth. The stomach is located in the left side of their chest, whereas their central processing unit, what we would know as the brain, is located in the direct center of their chest. This is their weakest point. They have an open circulatory system, with a single-chambered heart that pumps blood throughout their entire body. We know very little about their reproductive methods, only that the females lay eggs.
The Chyss weapon systems utilize a system of mass acceleration and mass reduction. Chyss small arms utilize an "ammunition" block, a solid block of some form of titanium alloy. The weapon sheds off a small, slug-shaped, piece of this block, reducing its mass and accelerating it to supersonic speeds before firing it. Thousands of rounds of ammunition can be produced from each block, but this process causes an extreme amount of heat, meaning Chyss small arms are often equipped with coolant vents.
Chyss often patrol and operate in small, mechanized units of approximately 8 Chyss foot soldiers and an armored fighting vehicle. They are trained to be self-sufficient, and thus have a very decentralized command structure. They are incredibly dangerous in larger units, massing the effects of fire and disregarding collateral damage to accomplish.
E N F O R C E R S
Enforcers are the primary enemy that the Wardogs will face as we establish our fledgling resistance. They are indoctrinated humans that work for the Chyss regime. Enforcers have been genetically modified by the Chyss to be stronger and faster than the average human, though they still many of our similar traits, and thus can be killed just as any other man or woman can. They serve as the primary police force across the globe, and are an extension of the Chyss' will. They are judge, jury, and executioner. They operate semi-autonomously from direct Chyss orders, actively searching for dissenters and those who shirk from their duties.
Enforcers are armed with the same weaponry as the Chyss, and often travel in 4-man teams known as "Nodes". These Nodes often patrol a square area and can call in fast-moving backup if needed. Enforcers are brutal and efficient, often employing the same tactics the Chyss do, except they can amass much larger numbers in a smaller amount of time.
M E C H A N I C S
P E R K S
In Crimson Skies, your character will have the opportunity to invest in several special skills at the start of the RP. Each character will be allotted 6 perk points, that they can spend on perks with different point values. Perks will have 3 different values: a 1 point perk will be something much more innate or minor, a 2 point perk is a skill or activity that the character is decently skilled at, and a 3 point perk is a defining trait of a character's role in the organization. This will allow us to create a diverse cast of characters who fulfill all the needs of the Wardogs. That being said, not every Wardog is going to be a skilled fighter or an excellent engineer. There will be some who fulfill other needs of the movement. We will need doctors, charismatic recruiters, thieves, drivers, and more. That being said, however, any role that is not filled we will most likely have a NPC for. The perks list is below.
Skyggy's Pretty List of Perks
1 Point Perks
Speedster: This character is faster than most.
Strongman: This character is stronger than most.
Marksman: This character is one of the better shots in the Wardogs. Don't get too big for your britches, most of us were working desk jobs before this.
Intellect: This character has a high capacity for learning. They pick up on things quickly, and can teach those to others.
Charisma: A naturally well-liked individual, this character can make almost anyone smile.
Stealthy: This character seems to be naturally sneaky, and can meld with the shadows and move around undetected better than most. This can also apply to hiding in plain sight.
2 Point Perks
Strategist: A rare thing among Wardogs, this person has a strategic and tactical mind for asymmetric warfare. Their advice in our military operations is paramount.
Logistician: This character can truly manage and administrate resources, they are the lifeblood of the Wardogs. They keep bellies and magazines full.
Chyss Geek: This Wardog, while suspicious, seems to know a lot about the Chyss and their minions. Recalling patrol routes, points of interest, and other Chyss facts is easy for them.
Gun Nut: This Wardog is our resident armorer. He knows how and where to get the big guns, and how to maintain them all so they're in working condition.
Spider: This Wardog has contacts all over the city. He knows everybody, and if he doesn't know somebody he knows somebody who knows somebody. Rumors are his currency.
Field Medic: This Wardog is skilled in the art of combat care, but by no means is a doctor.
3 Point Perks
Former Soldier: This Wardog was a former service member who managed to escape the Chyss' massacre of the world's armed forces. He is invaluable in every part of our operation.
True Leader: This Wardog knows how to lead, how to delegate, and how to manage. They run a vital part of the organization with stunning efficiency.
Doctor: "Am I gonna live, Doc?" Probably not, but this Wardog will try his damndest to save you. They also seem to know exactly where to find vital medicine in the scummy city.
Sapper: Maybe he was an engineer, maybe he was a bank robber. Whichever, this Wardog knows exactly where to hit a structure to bring it down. He's also strangely good at making homemade explosives.
Thief: This Wardog knows exactly where to go to get the resources we need that would sell well on the black market. They often lead any mission involving stealth and secrecy.
Reverse Engineer: Get this Wardog some Chyss weaponry, and he'll tell you exactly how it works. We might not be able to build them, but this Wardog can find out how to disable them.
M I S S I O N S
There are a lot of important components to running a successful resistance. Our characters will have to go on missions to handle many of these components. The RP will be divided into two separate "types" of character interaction, though they will be run in the same IC thread: missions and the general overworld. Essentially, once a mission is received, a team of characters and NPCs best suited to the mission will go on that mission, while others will stay back in the Wardogs hideout. Anything can change during missions and during the overworld, but missions will generally be more dangerous endeavors than just moving about in the overworld.
A P P L I C A T I O N
- Code: Select all
[b]Name:[/b]
[list][b]War Name: (A codename so the Chyss cannot find our real names if they listen to our communications.)[/b][/list]
[b]Appearance:[/b]
[spoiler][img]*IMAGE OR DESCRIPTION HERE*[/img][/spoiler]
[b]Gender:[/b]
[b]Age[/b]
[b]Build:[/b]
[size=125][u]Psychological Information[/u][/size]
[b]Personality:[/b]
[b]Biography:[/b]
[b]Strengths:[/b]
[b]Flaws:[/b]
[size=125][u]Perks [/u][/size]
[b]Perks:[/b] (Total must allot to 6 perk points or under.)
[b]Drawbacks and Limitations:[/b] (What is your character not skilled at?)
[size=125][u]Other Information[/u][/size]
[b]Equipment:[/b]
[b]Hometown:[/b]
[b]Nationality:[/b]
