Role-Playing: The Dago

[Lucky Starr]

Yes, role-playing. And in English. The reason for the choice of language is simple: the english language bears more expressions and movie quotes. It is also possible we get people from other nationalities as well. I just know I'm going to get scolded for this. Let's see what we have here first, like - I dunno - rules?

Each person may have up to one character. Since we appear to be lacking in people at the moment, the admins may play more than one character, including NPCs. Note: direct control of someone else's character is... not adviced. For example, instead of saying "Supervillain ("player") kills Superhero", write "Supervillain takes out his gun and shoots at Superhero". That's more dramatic and allows the opposing person counter in one way or another. Just remember, no god-modding. That's not fun at all.

Also remember to keep things proper. I don't want any sexual situations described by every detail. Eww. Keep the gross things out, m'kay?

When creating character remember to include their name (we don't want people walking around being called "hey, you guy over there" all the time. We'll only lose count who's who that way), their looks, what they wear, their skills (and magic. I'll get to that later), their possible background and their nature. Also possibly something I likely forgot. Equipment, perhaps?

I think that's the rules then. The game in question is in futuristi settings with little magic. Now to the actual game environment description. I'll make my own character if people show interest in this.

For rules not made by me, check This place. It also has other RPs, so if we have some trouble starting or so, we can look over there what we should be doing. I guess...

Here starts the RP.

Location

Dago - the city built on a swamp planet. There is a lot of water on this planet, so rains are very common. It's usually rare to see the sun at all because all the tall trees - they cover most of the planet and are higher than the pyramids back in the old Earth. The ground is nothing but swamplands. Any unwary travellers would become lost in the massive forests, and eventually drown in the bogs. The Dago is the only safe haven for people. It is a very large city built over the swamps. It rests on countless support pillars, yet the city is slowly but surely sinking to the swamp.

The history of the city reaches a few generations back. Someone placed a bet that this planet could never be done habitable for humans. Someone else decided to prove otherwise and using the money of his corporation, he built The Dago. The money was consumed quickly and the plans were made in haste. The end result was a dying city. The city was advertised as a vacation resort. Many people travelled in there, some even moved in permanently. The travel costs were so expensive that the people never had enough money to go back home. The lack of money repelled all the merchants. Some smugglers still visit the city, but sell their wares at horrible prices. The lack of funding ruined the order of the city. Most people became thieves and hackers to make their living. Even though the corporation went bankrupt soon after the founding of the city, some soldiers remained loyal to the project. They have lost their work ethics and are ready to punish anyone who even looks at them wrong. A few chosen commanders are constantly keeping an eye for the whole city in their headquartes high above the city. They witness many crimes each day, but they don't care.

The city itself consists of seven sectors. Number one is the military headquartes in the middle of the city, which rests on the largest support pillar holding the city platform. The six other sectors surround the military tower and every other sector has a power plant that gives power to the other sectors. Since the city is constantly sinking, one of these power stations is underwater, and no one knows if it is still functional. In total there are two sectors under water in addition to one being partially sunken on the western half of the city. Some people salvaged the remains of the sunken sectors to get their own sectors higher - just to keep them from drowning. Some people from the sunken sectors built crude towns that float on the swamp's surface. The city and all the sectors have became a huge labyrinth as some roads were blocked by pieces of fallen buildings, while new routes opened below the ruins of these buildings. There are very few structures that are still in their original places. In other words, the once mighty city has turned into a nest of scum where nobody can travel without getting lost.

The sectors are connected via walkways and wreight trains that were constructed to carry cargo only - the trains may actually be fatal for normal people to travel. The sectors were all constructed separately and thus it's possible to detach them. People have forgot about this aspect, and now the few sunken sectors are pulling the remaining sectors down. No one knows for sure how the soldiers come and go from their high tower in the middle of the city, but some believe they are using some sort of hovercrafts. There are no walkways or cargo trains to their headquartes.

People

The quality of the life of the people living in the city are affected by how high the area is from the swamp surface. The people living on the floating village are the most miserable. Due to their crude housing, they have forgot technology alltogether. However, hunting for food in the nearby swamps have given them strength and stamina that would prove to be useful in the dry sections of the city as well.
The people living next to the sunken sections are mostly thieves and hackers. The thieves use brute force to steal food and supplies, while the hackers hack into the city's inner network to change their IDs and credit (money) amounts. Then they travel to any place with shops and buy their supplies with non-existent credits. With their false IDs they always get out of trouble. On the other hand, they aren't as useful in battles, and many have died in the soldiers' raids.
The so-called "normal" people live in the remaining sections of the city that are farthest away from the swamp's surface excluding the soldiers' tower. They live the same way the past few generations lived: they farm their own crops in their high-tech greenhouses, then they sell their products in their common market. Despite their careless lives, they are often raided by the soldiers. The raids seem to be most common in this sector, and damage done infrastructure (sewers, for example) has really made things troublesome for the people living there. The farmers have many robots to aid them in their work, though many have been destroyed in raids and some have been captured by the thieves to aid them in their shady business.
Not much is known about the soldiers. They sit high atop their tower in the middle of the city (tilted like the whole platform the city lies on) and arrange random raids on the people living in the city ruins. Some believe the soldiers have been ripped of all emotion. Others say they are malfunctioning machines. Either way, they are a nuisance that are hard to get rid of. The soldiers have several turrets in their control tower, but none of them are capable of firing the city. The military is said to have several secret plans of unknown intentions. Whatever the case is, only higher rank soldiers know of these.

Since the collapse of local economy, very few spaceships have landed on The Dago. Some ships are shot down by the soldiers, while some are taken over by mobs - but as they have no pilot training, their flights usually end up in fatal accidents. There are very few cases when someone has managed to leave - and never returning.

Urban Legends

It is unknown which power source the generators are using. Many think they use either nuclear or fusion power, but there are few who claim they function with a material called Lukkinium that is mined deep from the ground below the swamps. It is also rumored there is a fourth generator.

One of the urban legends also tell of four heroes who defended and protected The Dago. These four were called The Nanomancers. No one knows what came to them. Some say they died in the hands of the soldiers, other claim they got separated and started living their own lives in the city. There are people who believe the legend of Nanomancers is real and have founded the Cult of Nanomancers. Outsiders have no idea what people do in the cult. These fanatics may have understood the legends wrong or have just taken justice to their own hands and ocassionally terrorize other people. As a contrary to the Cult of Nanomancers, another group of fanatics have founded the Cult of Nanobusters. According to old legends the two sides were in war with each other. People have varying opinions as of what happened in the end, and these two cults have decided to finish their ancestors' wars.

People of The Dago believe that whatever the power generators are fuelled with, it somehow affects people around them. Some people say they have witnessed other people use something described as magic. If this really is the case, people with magic don't use their powers often - possibly because they might be killed as threats (some cases like this have actually happened). Magic is a rare gift and should be taken good care of.

The military has been said to have done horrible experiments on people and wildlife. As a result, many new, mutated breeds were born. It is also said these experiments escaped from the hidden laboratories. Some of these mutants run off to the wilderness to make their living. Needless to say, many of those didn't survive. The others stayed in the city, doing anything to get food. Some experiments were a success, however, and these specimen started living normal lives in the human society, trying to forget everyhting that was done to them. The ones who wanted to remain as human beings would do anything within their capabilities to be acknowledged as somewhat normal human beings. In The Dago, one can't really say if the person in question is one of these experiments. Particularly the human experiments are friendly, while the animal mutants tend to be hostile. The amount of each kind is unknown. Some mutants have been said to be result of power generator leakage.

The Sectors:

Sector 1 is located right in the middle of the city. It's a one large tower that the military uses as its base of operations. As the rest of the city, the tower is tilted. It won't be long until it collapses. The highest point of the tower is at the level of the local trees making it more than 5 miles high - thus the tower is the only area where the sunlight can actually be seen whenever it's not raining. The tower itself consists of several spire-like towers that are connected by tunnels. As mentioned earlier, there are several gun turrets in the tower that shoot anything larger than birds that comes to the city's airspace. There are no known ways in or out for anyone except the soldiers.

Sector 2 stands highest from the water due to the city sinking to the swamp. All the "normal" people live in this sector. They farm their own food and sell it on their own market for money. The buildings are in better condition than in any other sector, but this doesn't mean they're in any good shape. Buildings destroyed in the raids have still caused a lot of trouble blocking the roads. It's still easier to travel than most other sectors, though. From sector 2, the sector number increases counter-clockwise. Sector 2 lies in the easternmost part of the city.

Sectors 3 and 7 are adjacent to Sector 1. They are the most suffered parts of the city where all the ne'er-do-wells live. These areas have holes in the platform on which the city lies, providing many good hideouts.

Sector 4 is partially underwater. Very few people live here. They mostly eat the fish found in the swamp waters, but it's never too much. A colorful variety of people live in this sector.

Sector 5 is the one where people built their floating village. They have learned to move in the swamps and live by what they can get. They are often hostile towards the people living in the rest of the city, as they hold grudge against them for not letting the villagers in to save them from drowning.

Sector 6 is completely underwater and no people live there for the record. Some stuff from the city below have become flotsam. Some building tops are still over water, and they often have air pockets. This sector suffered so much damage that it's impossible to get back to sector 7 by the short route; the beams connecting these two sectors were damaged and sector 7 lies at least a mile above sector 6 and the swamp surface.

Sector 7 is practically the same as sector 3. Again, the only way to get to sector 6 is to take the long route through all the other sectors. Jumping down from the higher platform in 7 is not adviced, but can be considered with proper equipment. People in Sector 7 use enhanced tools to fish from the swamp below.

The wreight train tracks have all been blocked by rubble and cannot be used for their original purpose until the tracks are clear. Sector 5 and 6 stations are flooded, sector 3 station is totally covered by ruined buildings. All the main paths to sector 7 station have been blocked, but it might be possible to get there by using the wreight tunnels.

It is worth noting that the habitants of these sectors do vary. For example, it's not strange at all to find a hacker or thief in the "upper" sectors. The reason why these people are found on different sectors varies by each person.

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~Lucky

[Lucky Starr]

Okay? Seems like I'll have to work as an example. So, first. Character creation. Umm...

Name: Siriam Lionheart
Gender: Female
Age: 21
Works as rogue engineer in sector 3, very close to higher class sector 2, in the border of these two sectors, but both the wreight train and walkway are far away from her house.

Siriam has long, light brown hair which she keeps tied back as a ponytail. She has a mechanical left hand, which she herself implanted after an accident with her own machinery. She's wearing fingerless leather gloves to cover the ugly mechanical part visible on the left hand. Her other clothing includes oversized shirt and overalls found in a dumpster.

Siriam is a nice, caring person, but she prefers living far away from other people. She has given up hope of leaving The Dago some day, but is still willing to help those with hope. Siriam makes his living by renting her robots to (rather questionable) customers, as well as making tools for them. She sometimes visits the nearby sector in search of more machinery.

Siriam is quiet about her past, but it's generally acknowledged that she is of the third generation living on The Dago. When the city fell, Siriam took the role of helping people around her. After she was used by several people, she withdrew to the ruined part of sector 3 near the military tower to avoid contact with nasty people. She mostly uses her androids to contact with other people, as a female engineer is often looked down to.

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I think that's that. There's nothing wrong in having a character of the opposite gender, it's not like the person is you. Think of them as puppets, at least that helps me. I think I should shut myself up right about now. Hmph.

"Used"... Hey, no dirty thoughts! I meant financially!

~Lucky

[qandalf]

Name: Cyril Batterbee
Gender: Male
Age: 24
Delivers Ingredients to the near greasy spoon in sector 4 by the 'coastline', near the edge of the city, in area with not-so-much people living in there.

Cyril has short not-so-elaborate rust colored hair. His clothing consist several layers of different kind of ripped shirts, and a bermuda shorts. His left shank is clearly more muscular than the right one. His forehead is lightly blue, due to harsh use of the computers. There is socket in his occiput to plug computer in.

Cyril is little shy and systematic person, who is somewhat reliant on the computer viruses. He is a biohacker who makes his earnings by hunting everything from the fishes to the huge scary monsters of the swamps and selling his capture to near the restaurant.

Cyril's past before he settled into sector 4 is widely unknown, since Cyril won't talk much about it. Still it is known that previously Cyril lived in sector 2 with his parents, but probably due to economic reasons Cyril had to abandon the nest.
After Cyril had settled into sector 4, he spent about half an year pleasuring himself by running computer viruses in his brains. It is thank to fell of the city and the escalation of water that Cyril got over the viruses. As part of Cyril's house went underwater, the power cuts made him realize that there might be some hope. Cyril, who had some biohacking skills, hacked his brains once again so he could hunt rodents and stuff whitout expensive implants. Of course its not known has he really buffed his ablities to hunt or just lowered his sense on fear.

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Look! I made it! I wrote my character! Now we can consider some RP

Edit: last chapter was (is ) kinda messy and cyril's past sounded more tragic than it was meant to be. Also changed the smiley face to happier one.