It is the year 227, After the Fall.
227 years ago, according to legend, the world as civilization knew it ended. Great light rained from the sky, land and soil despoiled and burnt to cinders, and the great cities reduced to rubble that none can live in for fear of disease and illness. Beasts loosed on the world to rend people of their flesh and their lives, beasts that needed no food, water, or rest, and killed for the sake of killing. Invisible swarms of infinitesimal monsters that wrought destruction, chaos, and misery on millions of innocents. As to what happend or why it happened many today are still in the dark Some say G-d decided to forsake His children and leave them to the wolves, others that a clash of powerful magicians, the like of which the world has not seen since, rent the world asunder. Even the origins of the calendar that is currently in use are shrouded in mystery, since it is not entirely clear what "The Fall" was or even if it occurred 227 years ago.
In 227 years, technology has risen, based upon both what was left behind in the ruins of civilization and what has been discovered anew by the tattered remnants of humanity. Gunpowder, rifles, wheels, petroleum, and some vestiges of modern medicine have been discovered and implemented. The sciences have suffered due to the harsh and necessarily practical nature of everything that can researched and implemented. Everything else is frivolous- understanding can wait until there is a definite tomorrow.
Humanity, however, would not have survived had it not had the help of the Hunters- a small group of people who are blessed with "The Syrum" and are thus granted wisdom and power that was thought lost long ago. Their bodies can change or stay the same, and The Syrum has a profoundly different effect on different people. There is a limited amount of "The Syrum" in the world, however, and it is not publicly known where it came from. Hunters blessed with The Syrum do not sicken and die when in the ruined cities like other humans and are naturally immune to some of the nigh-supernatural dangers that plague the rest of the race. Hunters are those who can travel consistantly between towns, outposts, and villages, are the ones who carry goods and medicine, and are the ones who fight off the variety of supernatural beasts that pop up every now and then.
This story begins in the small town of Jansen, near the southern frontier of the Duchy of Ontario and close to a Lake of Glass, in the middle of autumn. The cast of this story are a small band of Hunters.
((Okay, this is going to be Freestyle With Some Rules. Most likely board with potential (POTENTIAL!) chat components. 18th Century tech level in most branches of life, with a few snatches of extremely futuristic technology in a couple areas and a fairly modern form of medical treatment. If anyone would be interested, post and stuff.))
Becoming a Hunter involves getting access to some incredibly rare and expensive stuff, precious and extremely expensive. Hunters generally have no family lines- The Syrum renders them sterile in one way or another except in a few rare cases. Either their immune system becomes too strong or their sex organs end up being scrapped in The Syrum's change or their chromosomes switch numbers to confound diseases, et cetera. Thus, there are generally two ways you become a Hunter: Either you find some of The Syrum or you're extremely lucky and you end up in a position to inherit or be rewarded with Huntership. It has also been documented that a hefty exchange of bodily fluids can in a tiny fraction of cases result in someone who was previously not a Hunter in becoming one, though this last method is very difficult and very risky since even though Hunters might be able to scrape along on 4 pints of blood for a bit, other humans can't and the process of transfusing all of it is lengthly and dangerous in of itself.
After accepting The Syrum, a Hunter undergoes physical, psychological, and emotional changes for a period of seven to one-hundred sixty days. Hunters are more in control of themselves, are capable of feats of great physical prowess, and can even exert mental control over their surroundings, among other things. All super-human acts require practice and patience for a new Hunter who is given a new set of abilities that don't correspond with the ones they previously had as a normal human. Hunters can look like anything- sometimes The Syrum turns them into monstrous things with natural weapons capable of rending metal and body armor that grows as part of their skin, and sometimes The Syrum doesn't physically alter a thing about the human who recently partook of it. What happens looks very random, though there are rumors that extremely skilled Hunters can exert conscious control these aspects and can shapeshift, albeit slowly and over an extended period of time. Hunters can, with practice and training, reduce or nullify their need to eat, drink, or rest, perform psychological surgery on themselves to sort out their issues, heal themselves or others at astounding rates, or blow stuff up by willing it hard enough.
Character Creation: Characters have a few details that determine the meat of what they can do in combat or while adventuring- in everything else the character's prowess is determined by the player and only by the player. These are:
Archetype: Something like a character class, sort of, but more along the lines of a style and not really a truly defining trait of the character. Feel free to make up your own, but here are a few sample archetypes.
Samurai: A Hunter who relies on weapon prowess in close combat. Samurai fight like artists provided they have a weapon they're comfortable using, and are deadly in a melee.
Shaman: A Hunter who draws out the latent powers of the earth and their terrain. Closely linked to the earth, a Shaman is more in tune with nature and thus is more capable of sensing unnatural dangers.
Monk: A Hunter who follows a form of ascetic path, looking at their role in life in a heavily spiritual way. Monks attempt to perfect and attune their minds, bodies, and souls. Thus, they don't use weapons or tools and rely entirely upon their bodies to fight, hunt, and the like.
Archaeologer: A Hunter who is a semi-expert on the way civilization was before the fall. Archaeologers have an easier time using the magical machines left behind from previous civilizations and are better at dealing with the more complex or confusing aspects of the ancient past.
Remember that when designing your archetype that there are many different areas of life that you'd have to deal with- the more diverse your archetype, the less able you are at those things or the greater your ineptitude at other things. Follow your conscience and your sense of fair play and also use some good taste.
Yes, "Magic" does exist in a certain sense, though not really in the sense that most people think of magic as. Only people who've taken The Syrum can use it, and it is an internal and instinctual will-powered ability. You master it with practice, and you improve upon it with study. Also, everything magical would be a -kinesis and not a -mancy.
Mention, with your archetype, a few skills you have in the vein of Gunplay, Fencing, Camouflage, Techno-Archaeology, Geokinesis, Biopsychic et cetera.
Your character also has an inventory. You're not allowed to have any highly powerful ancient relics to start off with- No self-charging ray guns. However, there are a few pieces of equipment you could carry around that are modern in complexity, such as batteries, a Geiger counter, or a self-charging flashlight. Everything else would have to be reasonably mundane in terms of the 18th century. NOTE: A sword made out of Titanium qualifies as Modern- someone would need to know how to manipulate titanium in order to make it, and no one knows how to manipulate titanium. There also is no universally accepted currency, thus only goods travel and not cash.
Finally, give a brief history of your character along with a physical and personal description. Mention how they became a Hunter
On being a Hunter:
Hunters are humanity's champions... whether they want to or not. A universal side-effect of The Syrum is that a Hunter is no longer willing to be idle, for good or ill. Some get wanderlust, other get bloodlust, and others cabin fever. It comes with the territory and is generally not forewarned to a Hunter. The need for action can be staved off but unlike other effects of The Syrum, it can never be nullified. Eventually, the Hunter has to move on.
The average life expectancy for a Hunter is 15 or 20 years after taking The Syrum. After The Syrum is taken, a Hunter ceases aging and will no longer fall ill to most common diseases. Combine a never-aging body with a mind filled with action and you get someone who is willingly in danger more often than most people.
Hunters come from all walks of life and almost always willingly accept The Syrum. A vagrant who happened upon a vial of The Syrum is just as likely as a doctor/healer who accepted The Syrum to help more people.
Hunters come in all shapes, forms, and with all kinds of psyches. Just because a Hunter can, if they know how and try hard enough, correct their own psychological issues with a bit of effort, doesn't mean that they DO. That said, Hunters cannot go crazy instantly. With them, it is a slow, arduous process since they're so much better at coping with emotional baggage and psychological damage than unchanged individuals. Due to this, there are no recent examples of a Hunter snapping and flipping out.
The Syrum is infinitely precious; that said, the moment someone takes The Syrum, they ALSO become infinitely precious. A criminal has a good chance of being exonerated from his crimes if he or she is willing to take up the cross of a Hunter, which the entire Syrum makes him or her predisposed to do in the first place. This doesn't mean that Hunters can remain criminals, though. The justice system may be lenient on Hunters but it doesn't ignore their behavior and thus some other Hunters might be asked to collect and/or destroy the original Hunter in question. <p>[---------------------------]
"There is great disorder under Heaven, and the situation is excellent."
-Mao Tse-Tung
"I eat the talking bees because I am George Washington Christ"
-From "Bob the Ball"</p>
Edited by: The Great Nevareh at: 7/10/05 13:16