Endless Sands Sign-Up

[Arcanum]

First off the original concept of this RP was created by Translucent History, who was inspired by the flash animation Aladdin 3150. This RP flourished on a another site but died when the site did. I hope it sees an even greater success here. Also, just to put it out there so everyone knows, Translucent History will be assisting me with the management of this RP, since it was his idea originally.

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Introduction
No one knows how it happened. Even after all these years. Our oldest stories tell of how our world was a beautiful place. Lakes, seas, rivers and oceans abounded. Beautiful, majestic forests, spreading across vast tracts of land. And massive soaring mountain ranges. Amidst all of this we had our glorious cities and towns, testament to our ingenuity and symbiosis with the world. We didn't warp the world to our liking, no, worked with it. We cut down trees only if we didn't have any other way of doing something. Our mining operations only pulled enough out of the ground to keep our people out of poverty and in shelter. We were a self-sufficient race that didn't want to waste. All over the world it was like this. No one on our world wanted for anything. It was a peaceful place, a time that is remembered by the oldest of us, as a Golden Era.

We lived in peace for centuries, maybe even millennia. No one really knows. But only the stories, in the oldest of books, tell us how it all ended. But even those books aren't sure who did it, or who started it. All anyone can remember is that one day, a new concept entered the minds of everyone on our peaceful happy planet. Sure there was violence, a few fights occasionally, and yes we had guns, but they were decorative at best, useless pieces of junk at worst. But someone out there got the great idea to refine the idea of a gun. The first working handgun is said to have appeared about 1000 years ago, or so they think. It took a couple of decades for the idea to catch on. But after awhile it wasn't an odd sight to see people walking down the streets with a pistol on their waist. I'm running on now though, what was the concept? War. One of our neighbors got the great idea to create an 'army' and they armed that army with guns, lots and lots of guns.

As this neighbor of ours began to send out this army out the other nations developed their own ways of fighting back. One nation started delving into genetics, creating super soldiers and mutants to defend their borders. Another nation gobbled up all the laser technology they could find and began making all kinds of interesting innovations. Another nation dipped their fingers into the scary depths of the human psyche, what sprouted up there were powerful psychics and human computers. To say the least, our world made leaps and bounds in the realm of technology in a short 50 years after the first nation decided to create their army. The concept of War became all-prevailing. Nations that used to be peaceful allies turned quickly into war-mongering states bent on merciless destruction of each other.

This is where history gets a little hazy for everyone. All of the nations were by now using some form of army to combat the others. No day would go by without another challenge delivered and another battle starting. It became readily apparent that the war wouldn't ever end if the technological improvements kept leaping forward. But none of the nations wanted to stop with the prospect that if they did, one of their neighbors would come up with something that would ultimately wipe them out. Perhaps it was the first nation to start it all, or perhaps all the nations came up with it at once. The histories that have been found are pretty vague. But at some point, someone split the atom for the first time. And the potential for not just energy, but for battle became obvious. For a time, after the first test out in one of the oceans, there was peace again, for no nation wanted to come up against another with that kind of destructive capability. But before long, everyone had that ability. There was peace again, but now, we no longer lived in blissful symbiosis with the world. Now we sought to control and yoke the world to our will. The forests were cut down, the mountains cored and mined out, and our waters were fished to emptiness. But no one cared; this was the world we had come to know. And we wanted nothing less.

And then someone got the great idea to break the peace. They started delivering ultimatums. "Surrender you're wealth. Or face our power." They would say. No one believed anyone could be that stupid. No one obeyed, but everyone quickly learned that they were serious. The nation declared they would let no one be more powerful than them. Missiles were launched by that nation, and the other nations quickly followed suit. Nuclear fire blossomed everywhere on the planet’s surface. Nearly from pole to pole mushroom clouds rose to the heavens. Those who had time ran for shelter. Mountain mines and bomb shelters sufficed. For days people stayed in their shelters. Only when the last missile was fired and the last of the fallout was settled did they chance coming out. Those that survived saw a world torn asunder. Vast tracts of what used to be city were nothing but rubble. Atomic winds blew across the surface of the planet. Survivors barely had time to find supplies and find other survivors before a 50 year nuclear winter set in. Humanity barely survived the war, and now they would have to survive the winter cold. We believe the year by then was 3900. The oldest of us, they remember that long period where they were unable to venture out onto the surface.

It is now the year 4000, fifty years after we could safely come out onto the surface of the world. In just 50 years the world has become something so much different then we expected. A world of trackless sand, a nuclear summer. Shifting dunes and small city-states bent on nothing but survival. Only through the careful management of small cadres of wise and noble rulers are we able to eke out livings in this land of Endless Sands.

Organizations, Races, and People of Endless Sands
Variety is the spice of life and you'll find plenty of it here.

Normals
The most prevalent of all the factions and races in the world. Normals have nothing making them any weaker or stronger than any of the other peoples out in the world. They make their living doing what they can in the world. Normals make up the majority of the traders, merchants and trades-people of the world. They have the potential to be nearly anything. And do nearly anything. If they can dream it, they can become it.

Nobles
These are the small cabals of wise men and learned men and women who run the small towns and cities. They are some of the last remains of the administrative people from years ago. The knowledge passed down through their families during the long winter cold. They alone possess the knowledge on how to run the salvaged energy generators and how to make use of the old administrative protocols. They act as kings, mayors and reeves, to keep the small towns and cities alive, and to keep their small groups of survivors alive.

Mutants
The despised and the dismissed. Sometime in their family past they were irradiated by radiation, or their genome was manipulated through genetic research. Regardless of the cause they now possess strange biological powers. Some can see in the dark like a cat, others can change their form, and still others have even stranger powers. No one really knows the kinds of powers a mutant can have. They have never been documented. And no one is willing to spend very much time with them in the first place.

Beast People
A recognized sub-species of the already hugely diverse Mutant peoples. The beast men either have the ability to hide their beastly side under a genetic cloak of looking like a Normal, or are stuck in their beastly form no matter what. Beast People are just that, otherwise normal people that take the form of some type of beast. They range from feline to in one legendary case, a great draconic form, thought to be their ruler at the time.

Sand and Wind Riders
A group of fun-loving misfits. Often young people who do not want to be just normal law-abiding citizens in a city. They band together and create for themselves their own sand-skimmers. They enjoy nothing more than racing out into the high deserts, catching one of the wind corridors then riding that wind across the desert. They bring with them a sense of love and joy of freedom. Not only are they viewed as misfits, but also as one of the best ways to get messages across the desert. Where it would take a single courier weeks and in some cases months to travel the dunes, a single Sand Rider, with a good tail wind, can reach the opposite end of a wind corridor in less than a few hours.

Breathers
Breathers are just like any other Normal. Except for one small detail; they can't breathe normal oxygen anymore. Perhaps it's a genetic defect, or something to do with the radiation that still pollutes the air in small quantities. But for whatever reason, a Breather needs to filter his air, or in some cases, needs to breath a totally different gas altogether. There have been cases where a perfectly normal Normal, would slowly find out they are a Breather, and would end up breathing argon gas or sulfur.

Tech-Nicks
You can't mistake a Tech-Nick for anything but a Tech-Nick. These people have signed their bodies over to become half machine. They are believed to be created by the original bio-technological creatures created ages ago by one of the warring nations. Now they are just as prevalent as the Normals. Tech-Nicks can have anything from computers grafted into their skulls, to energy blasters in their arms. Some are even known to be able to control the muscle output of their bodies through nano-technology.

Water Hunters
The one true benevolent group of everyone out there. Where the Nobles look out for themselves and marginally for their cities, the Mutants for their own small cabals and the other factions for their own kin, the Water Hunters help everyone and anyone. No one will ever harm a Water Hunter, for only they know the seemingly mystic ways to find the hidden streams and cisterns that hold the most precious of elements, Water. Without it, no one would live.

The Atomic Brotherhood
If there were to be an evil factor in our world, it would have to be the Brotherhood. Despite what our most ancient stories say, about the bombs and missiles that destroyed our once beautiful world, can do to our world, the Atomic Brotherhood does not care. They wish to gather these tools of death and destruction together. They worship these bombs and warheads as if they were icons of some dark god pantheon. A saying is, "Avoid the Brotherhood, for they bring nothing but strife." The Brotherhood is led by a woman named Makala Soecent, although very little is known about her outside of the brotherhood.

The Web of Shadows
The Web of Shadows is a group of highly skilled and specialized assassins, with a network of information spread out across the farthest reaches of the Sands. The members of the Web of Shadows are divided into four groups, each serving a specific role. The Sensors are in charge of maintaining the information network of the Web and are the most basic members. The Spiders are more well known, and are the ones who accept the contracts. The Hunters are the true assassins, with each Hunter posessing something that makes them unique among the other assassins. The final members are the Patriarchs/Matriarchs, who keep the entire group running smoothly.

Technology
The many, many toys you will be able to use.

Believe it or not, despite the very destruction of the structure of our world. With the massive cities and huge acropoli crumbled and tumbled to nothing, the technology created during the War still exists. Caches and old bunkers are found weekly sometimes almost daily by Wind Riders or other factions. Many of them hold weapons. Guns and energy weapons. But occasionally, some new kind of machine will be found that improves our overall lot in life. I cannot tell you specifically. But perhaps, this will help.

Edged weapons
The most basic of weapons that can be found anywhere. Knifes and other bladed weapons that cut, slash and hack. An interesting variation on these is the Energy Edge technology. Combining the energy manipulation technology, with an edged weapon, allows the edged weapon to cut and slash and never dull; although Energy Edge’s are very rare.

Slug-Throwers
The most common of projectile weapons found in the world, created from the small, decorative fire-arms that were just personal toys. Now you'd be hard put to find any slug-thrower that isn't powerful enough to kill in a single shot. They can come in the form of one handed pistols and hand guns, and long two handed rifles. All need solid ammunition to fire and can be lethal up to and including 4 miles in some extreme cases.

Energy Casters
The next and so far, final step up of projectile weapons. So far they come in 3 categories. The first to be found were Concussion weapons, utilizing a compression matrix that sucked in air, and then fired a concussion wave that would be like getting hit by a boxer’s strongest punch. The second is solid energy, which projects a ball of super-heated plasma. Old records note that during the war, these solid energy blasters were often mounted on crawlers and could get as big as houses. Finally, there are lightning blasters, which fire beams of high charge electricity, hotter than the surface of the sun.

Psionics
By tweaking the brain power of the recipient, psionics technology allowed a person to use their mind to the highest point attainable by human beings. This allowed them to lift things with telekinesis, see the future to a short extent, light things aflame with pyrokinesis and in one case a Psionic was able to teleport himself from one point to another within his line of sight.

Nano-Technology
Using minute robots, so tiny in fact that you'd need somewhere in the range of a billion of them just to see with the naked eye. Back during the war, clouds of them would be released. They would swoop in, worm their way into their targets and like a quick acting plague, eat their way out of the victim, while the victim still lived. Nowadays nano-bots are used by only the most skilled Nobles (or the luckiest of Tech-Nicks), used mostly for the most life-threatening of surgeries and medical procedures.

Crawlers
Quite possibly one of the most important pieces of technology to be unearthed. Crawlers are basically tracked vehicles, just one of a few ways to cross the sands safely. They can range from small 1 person machines, to massive Sand-Hog mining tracks that delve into the deep deserts, like massive cities on tracks.

Hover engines
Designed originally as personal devices to set a commander above the field of action so he could direct his army better. They can range from small units that can lift a man 2 or 3 feet off the ground, which is about as strong as you can get these days. Though the old stories talk of how massive battle bases could be kept aloft by units as big as a city block.

Energy Manipulation
By carefully directing the flow of different types of energy, in the form of sunlight or electricity, many affects can be achieved. Usually used nowadays to power the cities and towns. Though in the past, it was well known for an army to use an Energy coil to unleash storms of lightning or flame out of thin air.

Economy
It's what keeps the gears turning.

Barter System
Pretty self-explanatory, you trade something for something of roughly equivalent value.

Water Credits
While bartering will work for most of the time, sometimes the trading of Water Credits is necessary. As water is the most precious commodity available, and there is so little as it is, even with the Water hunters always searching, the water is rationed. Through the use of Water Credits a person can get a rationed amount of water that will last them for a few days. This also has the added benefit of no one ever becoming "Water Rich" as you need to use that water eventually. Just hoarding it won't help you survive. When your water runs out you can use a Water Credit to gain more. Those Credits are closely watched by the Nobles of each city, in fact they dole them out to everyone. Only the truly poor, those that cannot work for a Water Credit, like the thieves, are without the Water Credits. They must steal water to get it if they need too. Surviving coins and paper money are pretty much useless. Water Credits take the form of small piece of fabric, stamped with the name of the Noble of the city. This would allow the noble or his water supervisor to see that the credit is legal and is to be used for one ration of water. Also, this renders Water Credits only valid in the city they were received, unless there has been an agreement between two cities.

[Arcanum]

Important Places
Various notable landmarks that everyone should know about.
Tsar-Bomba
Quite possibly the largest town/city in what is left of the world. The only way to live in Tsar-Bomba, is to be a member of the Atomic Brotherhood. Despite what people think, that the Brotherhood is a small, fanatical bunch of misfits, this if far from the truth. Well, not quite so far maybe. The Brotherhood is indeed fanatical, but they are far from small. Tsar-Bomba population numbers in the hundreds of thousands. Spies from other large cities like Lon'Din and Paress, say that the population of Tsar-Bomba can be as high as five hundred thousand people, men, women and children included. The city is named after the largest and most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated. The name was discovered when the Brotherhood raided a military bunker and found surviving documents about the bomb. In honor of the weapon's power, the Brotherhood has built a nuclear shrine in the center of a large crater at the center of the city. It is said, that when the end time nears, that the Atomic Lady, Makala, will set off the shrine and send all the Brotherhood to their paradise.

The Deep Sands
An infamous area of sand that is virtually empty. No cities exist there, no merchants will cross it and no Waterfinder will ever enter it. The place is said to be cursed, as never in nearly 30 years has a person come out of the Deep Sands. Not even the daring Sand Riders will go there, for the Wind Corridors that go into it are said to be erratic and when nearing the edge of the area, surprisingly weak.

The World Stone
No one really knows how such an odd tower of white stone could have been left in the middle of the desert like this. Not far from the towns of Neerthak and Musthrak. This thirty story tower of stone, about large enough around for 20 people to encircle it while holding hands. All up and down it are strange symbols and sigils. A few Nobles have been able to read a few of the words and symbols, but they all seem to contradict each other. Some speak of cities long gone, or bunkers already raided. The World Stone has since been named a valuable landmark.

Center of the Wind
Not so much a real place, but an almost mythic theory. The Center of the Wind, is thought to be where all the wind corridors go. A very old saying in a different world says, "All roads lead to Rome." In this case, many Wind and Sand Riders have said that if you travel a Wind Corridor far enough, you may just find them all eventually going to some central area. No Wind/Sand Rider has yet to travel the full distance of a Wind Corridor just yet, as they are always on some kind of errand that forces them to leave the corridor they are on before they reach the end.

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The Endless Sands is a creative RP that follows a non-linear chapter format. What that gibberish means is that you can feel free to add your own details, and, if you stay within the guidelines of the world, create your own faction so long as it's approved by me or Translucent History. The whole "non-linear chapter" format means that each Chapter is its own story. So far ES has been through two Chapters on a different site. While a new chapter brings a new story, it doesn't mean that it will bring new characters. New characters and returning characters are welcome. But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

As for the current chapter, Translucent History and I are still ironing out the details but we will have that information shortly. Until then, please feel free to discuss and submit sign-up sheets that follow this format:

Name: What people call you
Gender: Male, Female, Mutant combination or variation
Age: How old you are
Race: Normal, Noble, Mutant, Beast(wo)man, Breather, Tech-Nick. You can have combinations.
Affiliation: None, Sand/Wind Rider, Water Hunter, Atomic Brotherhood, Web of Shadows, other (if other, you must give a decent description. You can create a new organization if you want, Translucent History and I will be pretty lenient)
Physical Description: What you look like
Abilities: What makes you unique. Include anything from personal prowess, to mutant abilities, to cybernetic modifications, etc.
History: What has happened to you to make you who you are?
Items: What you carry with yourself on a normal day.
Extra Notes: Anything extra you want to add that doesn't fit anywhere else. Completely optional.

That’s about everything. To wrap things up here are some of the characters that you will encounter in the Endless Sands.

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Name: Rek
Gender: Male
Age: Unknown. Around 25-ish.
Race: Normal
Affiliation: Sand Rider

Physical Description: Rek stands at about six feet tall, give or take a few inches. His body is of average size, but his legs and arms are much stronger than those of a normal due to plenty of sand riding. His brown hair is short and messy, and very rarely does he ever bother to fix it. His eyes are a shocking blue, and his skin has an even tan. Rek's clothing consists of dark brown pants, boots, long sleeved shirt, and thick gloves. His clothes aren't in great condition and resemble rags more than actual clothes. He also has a ragged brown scarf that covers his mouth the majority of the time, and a pair of round goggles, the straps colored a dark grey and the lens are tinted red.

Abilities: Rek is an expert sand-rider and has refined his body so that he can ride a wind corridor for nearly half a day without getting tired. Refining his body to that point has also made him stronger and more athletic that a regular Normal. He is also skilled at fighting with his knives and is a decent shot with his pistol.

History: Rek was born into a band of nomads that travelled the desert in search of bunkers that might hold food, water, or trinkets they could sell when they visited a town. The concept of "parents" never really existed in Rek's community, and every adult shared the task of raising and caring for the children. Because of this, Rek never knew who exactly his real parents were. It is also this same upbringing that caused Rek to lose track of his age once he was around ten years old. This never really bothered him, much like it never bothered him that he didn't know his parents.

Rek continued living among the nomads for around another decade before moving off on his own in the city. Once he started living in the cities he realised it was a very different community than that of the nomads, and was attacked by thieves and punks on several occasions. It was at this point that he began learning to defend himself, mostly with edged weapons but also with the occasional slug-thrower. It was also around these years that he retook his inherent passion for the desert and learned how to ride the sands and read the winds.

Back then all Rek had was a beat up board he salvaged from a dump, but once he stumbled across his first bunker he found his true calling. He brought back as much as he could from that bunker and found that there were plenty of buyers. He easily earned enough money to modify and improve his board and frequently went out on trips to the desert to find new bunkers and new things to sell.

It was during one of these trips that Rek discovered his hover-engine and he saw the potential it could have on his board. The crude modification didn't exactly look pretty, but it allowed him to move swiftly across the desert even without a proper wind corridor. From then on, which was about half a decade ago, Rek has been mapping out the desert paths, and any bunkers or other discoveries he finds to ensure he doesn't accidently go to the same place twice.

Items:
Sand/wind riding board. The board resembles a wind surfing board, only the board is made of dull steel, and the sail of thick cloth attached to poles made of a combination of metal and wood. The board also has a low-power hover-engine attached to it.

A low caliber slug-thrower pistol designed for short range and minimal recoil is holstered on his waist. Two curved knives are strapped to his lower back underneath his shirt. A self-made map marking both fast and lesser-known wind corridors.

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Name: Mektun Kashar
Gender: Male
Age: 20
Race: Breather/Teck-Nick
Affiliation: None

Physical Description: If seen from behind, Mektun would fulfill the standard appearance of a normal. His skin is deeply tanned, his short hair is a messy brown, and he wears loose, lightly colored pants and shirt, covered by a dark brown cloak with hood. However, seeing him from the front is a completely different story. The entire lower half of his face is encased in an air filtering device, and his right eye is replaced with a mechanical lens that protrudes out of his face (like the end of a scope grafted to his eye). The lens of his right "eye" is pitch black, and his left eye is a bright blue. Also, Mektun's right palm is distinctly mechanical, but very few know why.

Abilities: Mektun's air filter, which adds a metallic rasping quality to his voice. His right "eye", which can zoom in and out with a simple thought. A concussion blaster in his right arm.

History: In his early years Mektun lived a very fortunate life. He was the son of a great noble's cousin, so his family was very well off to begin with. He had a decent education and loving parents and even a younger sister, all of whom he cared deeply for. Unfortunately fate had a different plan for him, one that was much worse and began with a nightmarish event.

It happened two months before Mektun's 17th birthday, where he would be recognized as a man in his family and ready to face to world. It was late at night; moments after his family had gone to sleep, when a group of mutants and beast men had a large argument with a regiment of guards. The end result was a blood-filled rampage across the district, one that Mektun's family was caught right in the middle of. The short version of the story is that Mektun's father and mother were killed, and his sister was dragged away to a fate far worse than death. Mektun had tried to defend his sister and his right eye was plucked from his face and swallowed whole by a beast man, who then proceeded to tear off Mektun's lower jaw. With shock and blood-loss settling in, Mektun embraced the cold though of death, but such a fate was not for him, at least not yet.

Mektun's uncle, who had gotten wind of the rampage and rushed to check on his brother arrived in time to find Mektun slipping into unconsciousness. He saved the poor boy and pulled several favors to have him outfitted with a replacement eye and mouth. When Mektun was able enough to move on his own, he thanked his uncle and set out to find a meaning to his now broken life. However, before he set out, he managed to convince one of his uncle's friends to install a concussion blaster into his right arm. He told the man it was his uncle's idea, for self defense, but the truth is that he wants to be ready to kill the ones who ruined his life.

Items: A small knife strapped to his waist for threats and self defense. A beat-up slug-thrower pistol originally designed to fire .50 caliber bullets, but was modified to fire .45 rounds instead due to damage to the interior of the pistol

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Name: Rund
Gender: Male
Age: 26
Race: Mutant
Affiliation: The Web of Shadows

Physical Description: Rund is somewhat unique regarding his appearance due to his mutant ability. To put it simply, he's a shape-shifter, so he can model his features depending on his mood or his job. However he does have a preferred form, which is that of an average sized man with tanned skin, short light brown hair, and green-grey eyes. As for clothes he normally wears loose grey cloth pants and shirt, along with a grey hooded cloak.

History: Rund doesn't remember much about his childhood other than training with the Web of Shadows. The entirety of his younger years were spent in the semi-secluded confines of one of the Web's Supply Centers. The Centers are basically bunkers hidden among the sands where new Hunters are trained, and where veteran Hunters can resupply and check for simpler, less important jobs.

As mentioned, Rund spent his entire childhood in one of these bunkers, learning to perfect his shape-shifting skills, as well as the tricks of assassination. He learned how to trail targets, how to retrieve and plant information, which poisons would paralyze and which would kill, and, most importantly, the anatomy of the human body. He learned where to cut to bleed someone dry in minutes. Where to strike to cause unbearable pain (authors note: no, not the groin). Where to strike with poison claws, throwing knives, and other weapons. Most importantly he learned the finer details of the human body, which allowed him to refine his shape shifting skills to even greater levels.

After many long years of training, Rund was finally allowed out on his first assignment. It was a simple assassination, and easily completed. Afterwards he began to complete missions quickly and effectively, allowing him to fly through the ranks. It only took a few years for him to break free of regional boundaries, and become one of the few hunters able to work wherever they pleased. Yet now, after one of their Order failed a simple assassination against a mere peasant, someone named Mektun Kashar, Rund is getting sent out to redeem the Web's reputation.

Abilities: Rund's shape-shifting abilities can be used to alter his body on many levels. The most basic level is changing his outer appearance, whether it is changing his facial details, or the color of his skin, or even to make himself look older or younger. The more advanced levels involve altering the inner working of his body. Some of the more common uses involve shifting his eyes to work similar to an eagle's, allowing him to see great distances. Or increasing the muscle mass in his body, making him significantly stronger. Or making his bones denser so that they can't be broken by a normal fall or strike.

Items: An Energy Edge with a 12" blade. Eight throwing knives laced with a paralyzing poison. A pair of fighting claws (leather gloves with the fingers and thumbs made of metal, sharpened to points at the end and jointed to retain full mobility) laced with paralyzing poison. A walnut-sized pouch filled with ration pills (small pellets, each with enough nutritional value to last several hours).

Extra Notes: Regardless of the way he changes form, it all works on the same principal. Basically he can control the rate at which his cells multiply, and their position/shape. So to increase his muscle mass he just makes his muscle cells multiply at an accelerated rate, while doing the same with the cells around the muscle to make room for them. In order to decrease the muscle mass, or make something smaller, he forces some of the cells to be consumed by others, while other cells are simply forced off his body and into the air. I hope that makes sense to you guys 'cause it made sense in my head.

[Translucent History]

You'd think as the originator of the RP I could get away without a sign up right? Screw that, I'm actually signing up for my now shared RP.

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Name: Makala Seocent
Race: Mutant
Gender: Female
Age: Unknown
Affliation: Atomic Brotherhood

Description: How can you describe beauty? Standing a smooth 6 feet 6 inches tall. She's thin, curvy and well filled out. She boasts quite a set of assets. See the Items section for her clothing.

History: From the Third Book of Nuclear Learning of the Atomic Brotherhood. As written by High Prelate Sahad in 3987.

Let ye who read this comprehend. For our Atomic Mistress watches you even now. Let you who has understanding know that the Lady Makala has stood watch over the Brotherhood for ninety years or more. Though she does number in the ranks of the eldest of the survivors, she remains with the angelic visage of a teen. She holds the very future of our town of Tsar-Bomba in her grasp, for with but a whisper she can set off the The Herald, that godly warhead in the center of our city. She alone has the power to decide our lives and our deaths. Praise our Atomic Mistress! The text here sifts off into lunatic ramblings

Makala is the recognized and uncontested leader of the Atomic Brotherhood. Only the highest order, the Prelates, have ever seen her face. The Prelates say that she has been with the Brotherhood almost since they were able to come out of the caves. They believe she was born sometime before the war ended, but it wasn't until after the winter was over that she gathered the cultists together and formed the Atomic Brotherhood.

What is sure, is she is a mutant. The Prelates name her mutant ability as Vampirism. Many people she calls to her chambers are found later, drained of their blood, but with looks of exctasy on their faces.

As leader of the Brotherhood, she has at her disposal the arsenal of nuclear weapons that the Brotherhood has gathered. Yet, she makes no move to use them. In fact, she promotes the trade between other settlements and the Brotherhood.

She is yet to be seen outside of Tsar-Bomba but things can always change.

Items: Makala wears a beautiful black silk outfit, that covers her from head to toe. It's thin, almost to the point of being see through. She also carries with her, strapped to her waist, a modified 50. caliber pistol and a gleaming solid energy edged weapon.

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Name: Sala Dun
Gender: Male
Race: Normal
Age: 15
Affliation: None, has links to the Thieves Guild and the Street Rats Consortium

Description: Sala Dun is little more then a child. Standing a mere 5 foot 2 inches tall. Despite what you might think being a street rat, which means going hungry, he's really quite well taken care of, he even has some muscle in that small, thin frame of his.

History: Sala Dun, a young member of the Normals. Little more then a teen, but more street-wise then many you can imagine. His is a cliche story unfortuntely. Born to a street-walker, a woman with loose morals, she abandoned him on the steps of a home for the unwanted. When he was old enough he left the home and quickly made his home in the streets. He learned how to be a thief and pick-pocket. He did it to keep his stomach from meeting his spine for the most part.

He's a free spirit for the most part. Wanting nothing more then to continue living. But he's not adverse to stepping on a fight that looks unfair, or take the side of someone who needs help. Not that he always takes the side of the innocent. As there isn't really anyone innocent left in the world.

Sala-Dun currently is apprenticed to Ganekuro, and has travelled with him to Lon'Din to get some practical experience in the ways of politics and being an emmisary. Personally he thinks it's kinda stupid, but hey, he's not about to leave the side of his master/trainer/friend.

Items: Sala Dun wears not but a tattered shorts and a grey wrap that covers his head and shoulders in fabric.

Notes: Sala loves the rooftops. He loves tearing across the usually wide open spaces of the roof tops. At one time what he likes doing like leaping from rooftop to rooftop, climbing lattices and shimmying up poles was called Parkour, but now he just knows it feels good to kick in the turbos and sail across the grand avenue after leaping off the city wall.

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Editted Material: I had meant to introduce this on the site that died. But this will do.

Thieves Guild: A loose band of thieves, pick pockets and other rabble. They do not have a leader, or a set place of gathering, but everyone who has heard of them, agree that the Thieves guild is real. They mean no harm though, and members come and go almost as they please. It's basically just a general agreement by the current members to assist each other in their endeavours to make something in a world that is already rotting.

Street Rats Consortium: Every town in the World has it's share of street rats. Girls and boys who have no familes, or people who can't make an honest living. They aren't thieves though. Though some Street Rats have connections to the Thieves Guild. These people simply have no roof over their heads, and do not have the means to make something of themselves. They beg, scrounge, dig and sometimes steal to make sure thier stomach doesn't starts to massage their spines.

[PhoenixFlame]

Awesome.

Then again, I am a fan of Fallout and DUNE, so I may be a little biased. (and I imagine you two are aswell.)

Can you elaborate on setting material, however? While it's all very interesting, what are the great wastes like? Are there travelling nomads whom roam outside the structured cities besides sand and wind riders? What do people wear for desert survival? Are water reclaimation suits and other apparati common, given the high tech nature of the setting? What sort of creatures inhabit the wastes, if any (IE: Sandworms, Silt Crawlers, Nine-tailed Mole Hounds, Sand Lurkers, maybe Variable Gravity Wells? >_>) and could one make effective weapons or armor from them, ala Fremen Crysknives or Ben Sha'oud Carapace armor?

What mechanics and equiptment do water hunters frequently use, and where is water commonly found? Are there standing bodies of water that are undrinkable, but present themselves as terrain elements, such as rivers of poisoned or radioactive liquids found in say, Dark Reign or Fallout? Can these be purified in limited quantities?

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

This sounds very cool, definately want in, just need some time to come up with my character. Also I'll wait on the reply to PFs questions, cos they might apply to my guy.

[Arcanum]

Edit: Sorry Attila, didn't see your post until after I posted this. It's approved, but keep in mind that not too many people take kindly to Beastmen, especially those who look very mutated.

This brings me to something that I forgot to add about Beastmen. It's mentioned above that some beastmen can control when they are in their beast form, and others are stuck there permanently, there is also another solution for those who are stuck in their beast form. Thanks to technology derivied from a mutagenic research bunker, there exists items that can force a beastman into the state of a Normal. On the old site we had two characters that used such technology, with one using a ring and the other using a belt. Basically so long as the object is on their person and active, they will look like a normal. When the object is deactivated, removed, or broken, the beastman will revert to his normal self.

I'm not saying that you need to use something like this, it's just that your character reminded me to put that bit of info out there .

Now onto Phoenix's questions

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Originally Posted by PhoenixFlame

Can you elaborate on setting material, however? While it's all very interesting, what are the great wastes like? Are there travelling nomads whom roam outside the structured cities besides sand and wind riders?

The vaste spaces between cities are basically endless oceans of sand. Depending on the region and recent wind conditions, there can be massive dunes or flattened areas. This is why the locals refer to the wastes as either the Endless Sands, or simply the Sands. However, due to the shifting nature of the sands, sometimes bunkers or ruins that survivied the bombs will be naturally unearthed for a short amount of time before the sands swallow them up again.

As for travelling nomads, yes they exist. One of my characters, Rek, was raised in one such groups. While nomad groups exist, they are a rare bunch since it's a much harder life than that of a city-dweller due to the harsh conditions of the Sands. Also, to help their chances of survival, and so that they don't spend months travelling to reach a single destination, most nomad groups use Crawlers as both transportation and housing.

And while Sand and Wind Riders are more comfortable with roaming the Sands, it doesn't mean that they are the only ones. For example, while Riders are the fastest method to physically deliver something, they can also have higher prices (depending on who you hire). So there exist Normal courriers who use crawlers, or in desperate cases, by foot.

Originally Posted by PhoenixFlame

What do people wear for desert survival? Are water reclaimation suits and other apparati common, given the high tech nature of the setting?

There's not much special to desert survival, since the majority of the radiation has dissipated and the only threat is the heat and the lack of water. While tools for finding and gathering water aren't exactly common, there exists enough so that every Water Hunter has their own method of finding and gathering water. It is even possible that some Nobles have their own equipement for personal use.

And keep in mind that while the RP does have high-tech elements, every bit of technology has been salvaged from bunkers, or modified from tech found in bunkers. The known kinds of technology are listed above, but if you have a nice idea for something that you want to add, go ahead and post it and odds are we'll add it to the world.

Originally Posted by PhoenixFlame

What sort of creatures inhabit the wastes, if any (IE: Sandworms, Silt Crawlers, Nine-tailed Mole Hounds, Sand Lurkers, maybe Variable Gravity Wells? >_>) and could one make effective weapons or armor from them, ala Fremen Crysknives or Ben Sha'oud Carapace armor?

It's kind of funny what happens when you introduce an old idea on a new site, since this kind of question was never brought up before. I think Translucent would have a better answer for this than me, but I'll still throw this out there. Considering that some human Mutants were derived from radiation, it's entirely possible that other animals were affected as well. And just like how there is rarely two Mutants that have the same power, I would assume that many of the creatures out there are unique, and would have many unique properties to them. That said, depending on the creature, I guess it would be possible to make weapons, armor, or tools from their various shells, bones, hides, etc.

But like I said, I'm sure Translucent could offer more info about this.

Originally Posted by PhoenixFlame

What mechanics and equiptment do water hunters frequently use, and where is water commonly found? Are there standing bodies of water that are undrinkable, but present themselves as terrain elements, such as rivers of poisoned or radioactive liquids found in say, Dark Reign or Fallout? Can these be purified in limited quantities?

Every Water Hunter has their own method of finding water, whether it's technology found in a bunker, a mutant ability, or something else. They also have their own ways of retrieving this water. However, Water Hunters for the most part share their knowledge with other Water Hunters, making it possible for a Water Hunter to have several different ways to retrieve water in different scenarios, making him more versatile and effective.

As for where water is found, the short answer is underground. After everything that has happened in the world of Endless Sands, all bodies of water have been either dried up or buried. However, when one knows where to look, it's entirely possible to find the location of an underground river, lake, or even ocean. The methods for retrieving the water from these underground sources is, like I mentioned, unique to each Water Hunter (i.e. you can make up your own way to do it).

As for the quality of the water, it varies depending on the source. Sometimes it's pure freshwater, other times it can be a salt-water ocean, or in the worst case, a radioactive muddy stream. When a Water Hunter comes across a source of "dirty water", they will extract the water first and then purify it before bringing it to a town.

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I hope this answers your questions and I'm glad to see that this has sparked some interest. Can't wait to see your characters.

[PhoenixFlame]

Originally Posted by Arcanum Darkfire

And keep in mind that while the RP does have high-tech elements, every bit of technology has been salvaged from bunkers, or modified from tech found in bunkers.

Oh, certainly. I hadn't considered that current conditions may not have been accounted for in the "first age", that would make their commonplaceness unlikely. I'd just recalled several similar settings using rigged technology for survival, and figured rigging was a fairly popular science given the number of Technicks. Post apocalyptic settings are often rare in technology, but incorporate their own variant of steampunk.

As for creatures, being a biology major, I'd have to remind you that uniqueness among creatures doesn't last too long. Given that all creatures strive/exist for reproduction of their species, they require a species category to fall within. If unique, or sterile, unable to mate, they quickly die out and cease to exist. Just was wondering about common species.

But yes, thanks for your response, and I'd be interested to hear your companion's.

[Attila the Pun]

Name: Carrion

Gender: Male

Age: 27

Race:Beastman

Affiliation:None

Physical Description:Tall with green scales, blue eyes, and a large dorsal fin running down his back. his hands and feet end in claws and he has small pointy teeth in his mouth

Abilities: Psionics (can emit a sharp sound that causes those around him to experience there worst fear)

History: As a Child, Carrion was always fasinated with the few surviving lizards and learned much about them. He lived a happy life...until it happened. An undetinated bomb went of beside his town.
He woke to see beast men tending to him while he drifted back into sleep. He late woke, covered in scales. He was attacked later that night by several raiders. They were beating him when he yelled out in pain. and then.. it stopped. He saw the three raiders on there knees, coxering in fear. He took ones sword and bruttally murdered the owner and other two raiders.
He looted from them a sawed of shotgun, the sword, several water credits and 8 shells. Now he walks the wastes, hunting malicious people who seek to make the world a bad place(like the brotherhood).

Items: He is caved in a cloak and wears tattered cloth. the cloth also serves as a pouch, carrying a sawed-off shotgun, eight shells,(two already loaded), a sword and 7 water credits from various towns and citys

Extra Notes: Carrions ability is a sort of once aday use thing

Is there anything I need to change?

[Attila the Pun]

Cool! Also, how exactly do characters gain there abilities. My character,for example, gained his powers and from from a mix of radiation and a needle for injecting psionics, sortof like plasmids from bioshock and how many characters can we make? Three maybe?

[Arhra]

Hmm, I'm a little curious about your comments on salvage.

Clearly they'd have to be able to replicate at least some of the ancient technology - how else would they be able to create power cells for their energy weapons and perform cybernetic modification?

On that subject... power... what does most stuff actually run on?