Apocalypse Nautica - [Open]

[Damxge]

-
Sea levels around the world had been on the rise for decades, the water running off of landlocked ice caps slowly but surely submerging coastal lands and forcing human populations to move inward. The restrictions on space meant people had to find new places to live, and with the increased need for usable farmland people were forced to build underground shelters all around the world, or risk starvation. The US and England were the first two nations to normalize "reverse skyscrapers", massive holes in the ground that allowed agriculture to spread more widely as land became more and more scarce. Millions in impoverished countries died from lack of fresh water, the rising sea levels having forced seawater hundreds of miles up into the largest rivers in the world, mass killing fish and animals that relied on the freshwater. Global temperatures rose sharply, the massive amount of new water coverage increasing evaporation exponentially, warming huge chunks of the world to tropical levels where seasons had existed prior, while freezing other areas where they'd never seen snow. The pollution from flooded refineries, oil wells, nuclear plants, and other industrial areas wreaking havoc on the fish population of the world, driving them away from the shores where the pollutant was strongest, making food even more difficult to come by. The fish and animals that remained at the coasts were changed dramatically from radiation and pollution, altering their appearances and forcing rapid evolution, creating new species in a span of a few years. The creatures that could survive there reproduced at increasing rates, their inedible qualities making them even more of a nuisance for humans. While creatures who could eat them thrived, grew, and evolved.

The human population was pushed to its brink, overpopulated for the land available, unable to access resources that had been drowned beneath hundreds of feet of water, shortages of food and clean water. Entire continents had experienced mass localized extinctions of humans. Africa and South America suffering the worse while pockets of people in Asia managed to hold on or migrate west to the EU. Then when it looked as if the ice caps had finished melting away and the waters might stop, fissures appeared across the world, earthquakes ravaging the torn landscapes, driven by the underground activities of humans. The "reverse skyscrapers" or pocket cities as they were called, became deathtraps. Many collapsing in on themselves with the increases seismic activity, others flooding as the shifting land masses allowed water to reach further inland and continue to destroy. And finally, once the dry land had become fractured and sunken, the prehistoric water tables beneath much of the world collapsed, further dividing the land into archipelagos rather than large islands. It was from one of these water tables, the US/Canada table, that something escaped. A breed of aquatic creature trapped underground since the time of dinosaurs. A terrifying, vicious, intelligent creature that had, in small populations, survived their time trapped beneath the earth. Free to roam the impossibly wide ranges of the world's oceans, they began preying on the humans who dared enter the water in search of food. While a relatively small population, they are large and cunning with ruthless aggression unseen in any other living animal, besides humans themselves. The level of their intelligence, however, is yet unknown, and it may never be known to people, as the world's population spirals closer to total extinction.


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--The goal of this RP is to survive in the harsh new environment. Your end goals are your own and I can't tell you how things should turn out for you.  You can contribute to another player's story or make up your own.

--The environment is mostly aquatic with fragmented landmasses, only the largest of islands reaching one hundred square miles of usable land. The landscape is also constantly shifting, new islands forming as the earth shifts and heaves, tidal waves and tsunamis are common. This is most common with smaller, more barren islands, the larger ones are more stable.

--The time period is set tens of thousands of years in the future. We'll assume that the collapse started within the near future so technologies haven't progressed too much further than the level they're at now. This also means that no living person has even the slightest recollection of what the world was like before the waters rose. And because of the loss of information through the flooding and destruction, much of the records of the past are lost. (For instance, no one would know where America was or Russia was or anything, though some lost texts may be found that use the language of the lands. We'll also assume English is the commonly spoken language.)

--THE FISH OVERLORDS really don't have a form yet. I'm still deciding how they'll look/act. You shouldn't have much contact with them at first, though the fear of them would be immense. Kind of like that Ebola scare recently, there's people who talk about it, but no one has really come in contact with it (unless they were very unlucky). So you've got the people who shape their whole lives around it, then there's others who pretend it doesn't exist because they've never seen it.

--The technological advancement of this world was pretty well halted in terms of electronics, computers, and the like once the water had forced so many people inland. Water purification technology and farming/fishing technology were likely advanced fast and far with the growing needs, so some futuristic stuff in that regard might be nice. Because of the time that has passed since the "end of the world", fuel in the way we think about it won't really exist. Gasoline and oil products are a thing of the past and have disappeared almost entirely (Imagine a ten thousand year old water bottle. Yeah, probably plastic dust by now.) That's not to say scrap and the like aren't still around, but most modern methods of construction are pretty well out the window. Welders won't exist because of lack of fuel, solar/wind energy will be a primary driving force with all electricity, which would likely only really be used for lighting and some basic needs. Essentially, when questioning whether or not to include something ask yourself "Was it necessary during the flooding of the world, and could they have made/used it after the floods had ended?" I say no petroleum products because oil wells would be underwater or the epicenter of huge earthquakes. As well, most oil refineries would have been wiped out. Just use your head and be conservative in this RP when adding tech.

-- Sign Up Sheet --

Code:

[b]Name[/b]:
[b]Age[/b]:
[b]Sex[/b]:
[b]Physical description[/b]:
[b]Personality[/b]:
[b]Backstory[/b]:

You are free to add more detail to your characters if you please, this is just an outline to go off of.

-- Characters --

Glasmar -- Mike

Spoiler:

Sweeney -- Grape

Spoiler:

Jonsun -- Conor

Spoiler:

Any comments, suggestions, or questions are welcome.

[Damxge]

Name: Glasmar Waters

Age: Twenty-five

Sex: Male

Physical description: Just under six feet tall, Glasmar is a thin young man with long bleach blonde hair bordering on white and light hazel eyes. His face is round with a short nose and stubby chin, his forehead just a little too big for the rest of his face. He wears a stubbly beard and has a constant sunburn across his cheeks and nose, freckles littering his well tanned shoulders and neck.

Attire: Shirtless most of the time, Glasmar wears a pair of baggy bleached white shorts that hang just below his knees. On his feet he wears a pair of moccasins made out of crocodile hide, secured around the ankle with a band of tough leather. On the calf of his left leg he has a makeshift leather sheath with a large hunting knife. Around his waist he wears a utility belt, similar to a construction worker's belt, but with pockets that snap closed. On the belt he carries a crude, sword-like machete, a canteen that is almost always full of water, some form of food, usually dried meat, and an array of small tools such as screwdrivers, a hammer, makeshift nails, and things of that nature. Finally, he carries with him a sack. Medium sized, he uses it to fill with rocks to sink to the bottom of whatever body of water he's exploring, carrying the things he finds underwater with him, and for transporting his limited set of belongings.

Personality: While willing to work with anyone, he trusts no one and refuses to sleep in the same place as other people. Either finding a hiding spot away from others or leaving entirely. Besides this key aspect of his personality, he's generally in a good mood, tries his best to be positive, and is doing his best to make his way in the toughness of life.

Backstory: Glasmar grew up the son of a powerful warlord by the name of Blackwaters. Blackwaters inhabited a large island, around fifty square miles, of solid jungle. Somehow, at the center of the island, was a quarry where people before the floods had been excavating for building stone. This combined with Blackwater's immense following allowed him to build a medieval-like castle and town to house and protect himself and his people. From here he purified water and farmed the native fruits that existed on the island. He was so successful that he began exporting water, fruits, and vegetables to other large islands where people had set up villages and, in some cases, cities. While he was respected and loved by his people, to the rest of the world around him he was feared. Should a settlement slight him, fall short on a payment and refuse to make up for it, or dare to travel to his island with the intent of stealing from him or taking over, they were wiped out by his powerful army. An army who used fire and explosives as their primary weapons to demolish entire settlements and sometimes, whole islands. Blackwater's signature method for executing traitors and enemies is an execution through drowning in fresh, clean, purified water. Glasmar was born, however, to a cook in the kitchens of Blackwater's "palace". Blackwaters never accepted him as his child and for the longest time paid the mother to keep quiet about Glasmar. No one must know he had a heir. In fact, Glasmar didn't even know who his father was, he'd only been told he was a great man who had to leave before he was born. He grew up as part of the Hunting Party, a revered group of hunters who supplied meats to Blackwaters himself. They traveled from island to island, hunting massive animals of every kind. Many in the Party died and were replaced, in fact, after five years in the Party, Glasmar was the last of the original members and only at the age of fifteen. He's gone from fetching the water and skinning the kills to leading the hunts and striking the killing blow. It was while Glasmar was away on one of his trips that his mother made the ill fated mistake of mentioning his heritage to another cook. The news spread like wildfire, Blackwaters had a son.
Upon returning to Vola, Blackwater's island, Glasmar's mother was gone, vanished from the face of the earth, and a poisoned knife awaited him at the docks. A small fishing boat, however, was the difference between life and death for the young man. An old friend of his mother's intercepted them as they came back to shore, explained the situation, and helped him escape to a nearby island. The Hunting Party simply told Blackwaters that Glasmar had been killed by a shark they were hunting and that was the end of it. Since that day, Glasmar has been surviving through his skill as a hunter and natural affinity for not dying. While he has ventured far from his father's island, one day he plans on returning and paying the vile man back for what happened to his mother.


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There was something else I wanted to add but I don't recall what it was...

[ValleyGirlBlondie]

Name: Sweeney Spears

Age: Twenty three

Sex: Male

Physical description: Standing at approximately five feet ten inches, Sweeney has pale, cadaveresque skin, blue-grey eyes and messy black hair. He has a lithe body, with little muscle definition. His face is angular, with a large nose, small mouth and larger than average eyes. He constantly sports dark bags beneath his eyes, and has sharp cheekbones.

Attire: Sweeney's attire consists of a dirty oversized grey t-shirt, black overalls, and a pair of coarse leather boots. He wears a utility belt, with pockets often filled with fruit, dried meat and medicinal plants. Also attached to his belt is a small dagger. Attached crudely to one of the suspending braces on his overalls is a makeshift buckle, a decent length of rope, and a roll of bandage.

Personality: Tending to keep to himself, Sweeney avoids large groups and doesn't like bonding too much with others. However, this is because of his focus on survival. He's a natural cynic, but beneath his bitterness and general negativity, he can be a caring person.

Backstory: Having grown up in a large family and lived in a pocket city for majority of his life, Sweeney learned from a young age that survival came first and that you had to do all you could to make sure you were safe. He had a rough childhood, often having to not eat and constantly be working underground in the filth to survive and help his whole family survive. Unfortunately, as he grew older these days continued leading to him being dirty, underweight and often bordering on starvation. By the age of twenty, he'd finally gotten the balance between work and health just right so that he could survive with minimal illness. But, by the age of twenty-one, his pocket city was crumbling due to seismic activity and he had to flee if he wanted to live, leaving his family and entire life behind. Moving from island to island, and losing all he knew over and over, he eventually played his cards safe and kept living as a nomad, eventually finding himself near the island where fruits, water, and other goods had been exported.

[Conor]

Name: Jonsun 'Blackgrin' Conway
Age: 28
Sex: Male
Physical description: A ragged, salty-looking man, Jonsun stands at 5"10 and is lithe and slender in build. His brown face is scared, and his black beard forms into a long braid, as does his wild hair. Jon's face is gaunt, his eyes wide and calculating. He has more lead teeth than natural ones, most of which are at the front of his jaw, gaining him the nickname 'Blackgrin' amongst his mutinous crew.
Personality: Jonsun is foolishly wise. His confident, easy-going personality can be quite suspicious to some, and he often plots. Jonsun's interests revolve solely around himself, as is the nature of his lifestyle, though these interests often take their form through philosophy, ideals and mindset, rather than through material goods. Jonsun considers himself, in some regard, as some sort of philosopher/guru, though his habits of theft, murder and betrayal say otherwise.
Backstory: Born to a small clan that lived on floating rigs designed to endure and convert the sea into usable energy, Jonsun's first few years were simple and bare. When he made the sudden decision to join a crew aboard a passing ship - the only other sign of life he'd ever seen - it was a sign that the young man was meant for grander things.
Jonsun pulled his weight on a ship, and found himself swapping crews when he could often. He loved the freedom he had now discovered, and took full advantage of the possibilities. As a result, Jonsun travelled a lot of the world in his late teens, and made many friends along the way, as well as enemies.
At 20, Jonsun turned to piracy aboard a ship called 'The Trident'. He sailed under Captain Riggs, a strong, but savage man who had lived by the Red Code all his life - the Red Code being a list of ideals and morals which a pirate must live by. The 'red' part comes from the creed that all pirates must sale under a red flag of some kind as a symbol of their lifestyle. The Red Code deems it forbidden for a pirate to hide their identity.
Jonsun lived and breathed piracy from that day on, living solely off of stealing, murder and scavenging. The soft, warm, honest boy he had been for so long evolved into a more selfish, realistic individual - an individual who wanted to live free, or die. and Jonsun came very close to that on many an occasion.
Jonsun had become close to Captain Riggs, and was soon promoted to First Mate by the time he was 24. From that point on, Riggs and Jonsun formed an unlikely partnership, and the duo were responsible for many successful robberies, plunders and assassinations.
On a warm night in the South Water, Jonsun was awoke to the sound of cannons firing. He ran up to the deck to see what the crew were firing at - a huge monster, rising from the sea. Soon, it became apparent that their were many, all made of a strange, hellish mass of scales and teeth. That night, Jonsun and Captain Riggs spent five hours fighting back the creatures, and in a moment of devilish opportunity, Riggs kicked Jonsun overboard to distract one of the last-remaining ones. But Rigg's timing was off, his harpoon rifle jolting off to the left and missing the target. Jonsun, still processing the mutiny of his Captain, was helpless to the creature's wrath, and was yanked under the surface.

[Damxge]

Cool characters, guys! I went ahead and posted the rp thread, so y'all can post whenever you like.

Gonna see if Chavster wants in as well.

[Conor]

Shall post sharpish

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