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[Translucent History]

You all ask way to many questions. :shifty:

I'm kidding. Damn Dark, you are good. That teaches me to check in more often.

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.

Animals! Wow you know I never really thought about it. With the incredible output of the war, animals, no matter how wily or resistant to adversity they can be, are unlikely to have survived very well the apocalypse.

I'd wager that animals do exist. But they would be very far and very few. Animals would be used for food, or food production or labour, little more.. The Flash this RP is based around, shows an elephant being used as a transport. I doubt that would actually happen in this RP.

I can't see someone wanting to kill off their milk giving cow just so they can make a maul or weapon out of it's horns or jaw.

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?

Those powercells, are often stockpiled in bunkers that are uncovered.

As for what is stuff run on? Wind and Solar for the most part.

Nobles as people would know if they checked, have knowledge to recreate and mend old technology. Those powercells can be recharged off of jury rigged energy transfer devices that run off of solar or wind power.

Now my original idea was that the energy weapons worked on embedded powercells that self charged over time. But if you want to make it hard on yourselves, I'll allow you all to work on the recharging of powercells. You can thank me later.

Anything else?

[Arhra]

Originally Posted by Translucent History

Animals! Wow you know I never really thought about it. With the incredible output of the war, animals, no matter how wily or resistant to adversity they can be, are unlikely to have survived very well the apocalypse.

I'd wager that animals do exist. But they would be very far and very few. Animals would be used for food, or food production or labour, little more.. The Flash this RP is based around, shows an elephant being used as a transport. I doubt that would actually happen in this RP.

I can't see someone wanting to kill off their milk giving cow just so they can make a maul or weapon out of it's horns or jaw.

But... animals are able to eat things we can't and turn it into something we can - meat! Sure you'd wait until your milk animal is old and tough before you slaughter it, but you still would. Not to mention you'd kill most of the (unmilkable) bulls.

And a big plus for raising animals is the fact once they're dead, you can reuse practically every part of their bodies. You can even make glue from the hooves!

They also breed a lot faster than humans... So if a fraction survived and could adapt to the wastelands, they'd still outnumber us.

And the original question was about (stable breeds of) more exotic dangerous animals you might find in the desert wastes. You know, like sandworms, radiation mutated giant death scorpions, or burrowing lion... dog... things...

Let's not forget antlions.

Shudder... antlions...

Or there's always the giant roaches, which are often edible.

Originally Posted by Translucent History

Nobles as people would know if they checked, have knowledge to recreate and mend old technology. Those powercells can be recharged off of jury rigged energy transfer devices that run off of solar or wind power.

Now my original idea was that the energy weapons worked on embedded powercells that self charged over time. But if you want to make it hard on yourselves, I'll allow you all to work on the recharging of powercells. You can thank me later.

I did check. Knowledge of how to use something and of administrative protocols that enable you to use it is not the same as knowledge of how to make repairs to or build a new device. Otherwise I wouldn't have asked.

Hmm, perhaps something like the powerpacks for Warhammer 40K's basic las weapons would be good? Let me quote:

Power packs can be easily recharged by exposing them to heat, or sunlight through solar converters. In an emergency a pack can be placed in a fire and quickly recharged, although this method shortens the life of the pack and can destroy it altogether.

So you do need to reload and while power packs do wear out eventually, they'll last practically forever if you take good care of them.

Heh, I have quite a few ideas buzzing around. I'll throw up some of the rough concepts to see how acceptable they are.

Metal Demon: Total conversion cyborgs are scary. All that's left of the original body is the brain and part of the nervous system. Possibly has acceptance issues, depending on how close to human they look.

Wizard: Sufficiently advanced technology is indistingushable from magic! Particularly, say, when you're hooked up to the still functioning kill-sat network or you carry around a foglet swarm that is effectively a jar of controllable 'sand'.

Vault Dweller: Don't you hate being thrust out into the wasteland after your people have been living in a sealed underground vault for who knows how many years to wait out the radiation? Could probably take over the world with enough knowledge of how to repair the ancient technology.

[PhoenixFlame]

Understand I'm not trying to be rude when I say this.

So... Nothing dangerous at all lives out on the endless sands? Sure, I can understand your reasoning to a point, but I can't honestly say I've ever seen a fantasy setting that incorporated a deathworld aspect that didn't have dangerous indigenous creatures. Given the background of the setting, I personally would find it difficult to justify owning any sort of projectile weapon for any purpose other than protection from such things.

Then again, it's your setting.

[Arhra]

Actually, while I think of it, what do you have in mind for the actual plot?

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Name: Zack Lorne
Gender: Male
Age: 24
Race: Mutant
Affiliation: Web of Shadows (rank; Hunter)
Physical Description: 5'7, short dark hair and physically fit, but rather skinny at the same time. Usually found wearing clothes of dark greys and blacks, including a pair of black sunglasses salvaged from who knows where.
Abilities: Boosting; His mutation allows him to, at will, control the beat of his heart, and cause his heart to start beating in excess of 400 BPM, pumping blood and adrenaline around his body much faster, giving him superior physical abilities such as heightened reactions and speed, and even a slight increase in his physical strength. To Zack it seems as if the world slows down while in this state, allowing him to quickly and fully assess any situation and react accordingly. His running speed increases to that of Olympic sprinter levels, only he doesn't tire as easily. He has also been known to jump considerable distances while in his heightened state.*

Gunslinging; Zack is a master with a gun, his natural abilities only heightened even further due to his mutant ability. Slowing his heart rate makes him calmer and makes him a superb sniper, while increasing his heart rate allows him to slow down things around him so that he may pick and choose his targets at will, picking them off with a single well placed shot. He's so good he can even bend bullets around corners and other obstacles and has been known to shoot bullets out of the air on occasion. He shoots the wings off flies as a party trick.*

History: Zack was born into a mundane life in one of the most boring cities in the Sands and for his first 14 years lived a very uninteresting life. He had few friends and he longed for something more, something that would change his life forever and break the monotony of his existence. Then one day, he got that chance; a man approached him, claiming to be part of the Web of Shadows. He told Zack that he had "potential", that they had ways of detecting people with abilities that may be useful to them. It didn't take Zack long to agree to leave his old life behind and begin his training, the idea of becoming a killer barely occuring to him at the time, all he wanted was a purpose in life, if that meant becoming an assassin then so be it.

It took a while for Zacks mutant ability to become apparant though, even though the Web knew he had a power, they couldn't work out exactly what it was. But when he began to show beyond human skills with guns Zack slowly began to work out for himself just how much "potential" he had.

He made his first kill at 18 and has since made many more, becoming one of the the best assassins in the Web, and without question the best gunslinger. A common phrase utter among members of the Web when talking about Zacks kills is, "impossible distance, impossible angle", due to his trademark method of eliminating his targets from the most obscure of places, and at the most obscene of distances.

Items: A twin pair of specially crafted handguns made from the finest salvaged parts in the Sands; they took years to build and cost a small fortune but they were worth it. His backup weapon is a powerful sniper rifle with incredible range and zoom. A deadly 7 inch dagger is also sheathed on his belt.
Extra Notes:

*Think of the assassins from Wanted. That's basically the idea behind all this.

[Arcanum]

Hawk, looks good. I'm just iffy on the whole "curve bullets around corners thing". Yes I've seen Wanted, but still, that's what upset me most about the movie; the sheer impossibility of curving a bullet under normal physics. But there's a problem in itself, "normal physics". If we considered those then no RP would ever be fun. With that said, I'll accept your character as it is, but if you can find a way to explain how the bullets curve other than "I whip my gun really fast and it makes the bullet curve" it will make me very happy.

Also, side note regarding the Web of Shadows, the Web will only recruit Hunters if they are very young. 14 is fine, but anything older and there's too much of a chance that the recruit will become problematic. I know I didn't mention this before, it's just a future note to anyone else who wants to make a Web of Shadows character. And while on the subject of the Web, most Hunters only work within a specific area, and report to only one or two Spiders. However there are some Hunters who are so good at what they do, that they are allowed to take contracts from any Spider, and work anywhere in the Sands. Any PC Hunter will be one of these so that you aren't limited by your character choice.

Now on to answering questions!

In regards to creatures, me and Translucent are discussing the matter (read: I sent him a pm and am waiting a reply) but hopefully it will end with some neat critters for you guys to meet and kill (or get killed by).

Originally Posted by Arhra

Actually, while I think of it, what do you have in mind for the actual plot?

The plot is also being figured out. Me and Translucent came up with about 5 different story ideas, and we're figuring out which one to use first. We hope to have it out A.S.A.P.

Originally Posted by Arhra

Metal Demon: Total conversion cyborgs are scary. All that's left of the original body is the brain and part of the nervous system. Possibly has acceptance issues, depending on how close to human they look.

While it's possible that such things exist, they would be quite rare since I doubt many people would want to waste so much technology just to preserve one person. But like I said, entirely possible if, say, a Noble wanted to live forever, or if someone completed the procedure in secret.

Originally Posted by Arhra

Wizard: Sufficiently advanced technology is indistingushable from magic! Particularly, say, when you're hooked up to the still functioning kill-sat network or you carry around a foglet swarm that is effectively a jar of controllable 'sand'.

Such a thing would also be a rare sight, due to the sheer amount of advanced technology required to pull of something "magical". As for this "jar of controllable 'sand'", it seems more like it would be a small scale version of the Nano-machine swarms used in the old wars to devour entire armies. Like I said, such a thing would be a very rare sight, and you would need a very good reason for your character to have such an item.

Originally Posted by Arhra

Vault Dweller: Don't you hate being thrust out into the wasteland after your people have been living in a sealed underground vault for who knows how many years to wait out the radiation? Could probably take over the world with enough knowledge of how to repair the ancient technology.

Much more plausible than the other two. While most people have already left the bunkers, it's possible that some communities decided to stay inside and survived, or maybe their entrance was blocked by several tonnes of sand and was only recently cleared up.

To sumarize,
Metal Demon -- Approved, but they would be a rare sight to see
Wizard -- Any Wizard characters will be approved based on the reasoning behind their "magical" powers. It is unlikely that you will run into any Wizard NPCs
Vault Dweller -- Approved

[Translucent History]

Get killed by. Ehehehehehehe :p

I guess this is a good time to mention that your characters can be hurt, and yes even killed.

Each chapter can be thought of as a seperate novel within an ever growing series of books. Each chapter will have it's own plot. A single chapter will not go on forever, personally I'd find that boring after while. Journeying to a place can only go on so long right? And battles can't go on forever. We'll eventually finish off an adventure. And then, we can start a new one.

As for plots, Dark and I have discussed things and I believe we've come to an agreement.

It's not my idea though, so I'll let Dark explain it when he has a chance.

...yes I'm lazy, but seeing I'm the one who wrote up the general information, I think I have the right to be.

[Arhra]

Originally Posted by Translucent History

I guess this is a good time to mention that your characters can be hurt, and yes even killed.

...

You actually felt you had to tell us that?

What on earth was this old site like?

Originally Posted by Arcanum Darkfire

Hawk, looks good. I'm just iffy on the whole "curve bullets around corners thing". Yes I've seen Wanted, but still, that's what upset me most about the movie; the sheer impossibility of curving a bullet under normal physics. But there's a problem in itself, "normal physics". If we considered those then no RP would ever be fun. With that said, I'll accept your character as it is, but if you can find a way to explain how the bullets curve other than "I whip my gun really fast and it makes the bullet curve" it will make me very happy.

Eh, if you want to get technical, the mass baggage on shapechangers is a far worse offender physics-wise. Probably a specialised small scale form of telekinesis to put spin on the thing.

Although seeing the scienceness in the 'Boost' power, I feel I should point that it would do the exact opposite of increasing your endurance. You're burning through oxygen much faster. It's the exact same reason you're out of breath after running.

Heh, I find it hilarious that the idea I said to be most potentially dangerous is the most acceptable. Though it depends a lot on how much they know I guess. At the low end they're a pretty standard protagonist-type character after all.

Anyway, yeah, I'd like plot info so I can tailor a character to be something appropriate to be involved in it.

[Translucent History]

Originally Posted by Arhra

Anyway, yeah, I'd like plot info so I can tailor a character to be something appropriate to be involved in it.

But what if we finish off the chapter with that character and you don't want to make a brand new one for the next one? If your character is appropriate for only one situation, aren't you making it harder on yourself in the long run? Why not make a character that you can expand on as the chapters go by? But I suppose I can't force you to do anything.

[Arhra]

...

In general, stories carry certain themes. For example, if there a predominant element of "Ancient technology is bad, we must let the horrors of the past sleep forever!" then it's not exactly a good fit to play a technologist now is it?