August 8, 2072
Dear Journal,

My father's father used to say that the buildings shined with light, that people didn’t have to be afraid of their neighbors because there was some sort of order to things. The buildings still remain; their power is just long gone. We grew up in this world, a world that forged us into who we are, living under the empty shells that our ancestors created. He said that these metal structures that now only hold dozens, used to hold thousands due to dwindling population. Some of us still hope though, hope that we can return to a day when women don’t have to fear for their children, and we don't have to sell our freedom to anyone willing to offer us protection from the elements. Almost everyone has lost hope, but there are rumors. Rumors of a city with that power again, a city that has discovered the secrets of the past. That's why they took them. My family. Because they knew too much. I’m going to it, I’m going to try and reach it. I have others with me who dream of sharing that power for the world. I've managed to gather them all here now. We each have our own reasons for reaching the city, but we all have the same need to get there. The same ambition to see it with our own eyes. The leaders don’t want that though, the ones who think there better than all the rest. The Militia. They see the idea of a return of this power as them losing their own. The last thing they want us to do is hope, and that’s all we can do. Hope, and survive. So they've sent hunters after us. But I have to go now. The longer I wait, the longer they have my family.

Wish me luck journal,
Evangeline LeBeau

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The Blackout:
The world used to be a very different place. Humanity was once strong. The hunters. Not the hunted. The world was theirs to conquer with enormous destroying machines, paving their way through the wilderness. But above all, their world was light with something called electricity.

But now we are weak. We cower in fear of the wilderness we once so boldly conquered, hiding in the empty skeletons of buildings that once held thousands, cities that once held millions. We sell our very freedom to the highest bidder. What are we bidding on? Protection. Nowadays, we’re willing to give up what we used to call rights, in order to feel safe.

So what happened to us? How could a civilization that was once so powerful, simply crumble?

The answer is surprisingly easy. We grew too confident. Too dependent on our technology and too secure in our place at the top of the food chain. So, when someone threatened to take that away… We didn’t quite know how to respond, but with laughter. After all, who could possibly just shut off the world like a light switch?

So we ignored the threat.

And when the world turned off on August 3rd 2013, chaos was unleashed. Everything stopped. Engines, electricity, batteries. Every modern advancement we’d ever made… Just flipped off, never to turn on again.

And no matter how hard the world’s greatest minds worked for years and years, no one succeeded in turning our precious technology back on. The rest is as follows: We crumbled and five years of complete chaos followed, destroying, not only the world’s advancements in technology, but in government as well. The resulting riots were unstoppable, and this time is now known as The Panic.

When things finally started to settle down, the world’s population had been cut in half. Most of us had never even set foot in the wilderness before, and could hardly live without elevators, let alone cars. Survival of the Fittest took place, and the weakest were slowly killed off. We were scared, cowering.

And out of our fear, rose The Militia. Some rumor that they were the ones that turned off the power, for they now hold it. They are the ultimate dictators, run by a sibling pair. The Militia is strict, enforcing rough laws on the people, pushing them around the way they want, not above torture, the word “inhumane” practically flew out the window for them.

So why do we let them do this to us? Surely there are more of us than them, right? The answer to that is simple.

We’re afraid. Afraid of chaos, afraid of the elements, and afraid of each other. Without the Militia, who’s to stop our own neighbors from killing us for a meal? Who’s to make sure everyone’s fed? Who’s to keep the creepy creatures of the night in the forests where they belong?

But there is hope. In the form of rumors. Rumors of a city with the light again. Rumors that the Militia will do anything to stop from spreading.

So. The question is: Are you brave enough to set out in search of this city, with nothing but hope guiding you, and fear hunting you?

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The Plot:
New Haven is the seat of power for the Militia, the center of their control. It’s also where the largest population is and where almost all goods have to go through, the Militia likes to be able to keep a firm hand on everything. In recent years the Militia has become all the more brutal, killing people in the streets for violations as simple as looking at them wrong. Rapes have risen and the Militias’ soldiers take whatever they want without paying, any who try to stop them end up dead or in the Pit.

The rumors of a city with power, nicknamed Utopia, has caused some people to hope for a change. Hope for a time when the Militia won’t be in control, this led to the largest crackdown that New Haven has ever known, it would later be called the Purge. Dozens of random people were gathered together and killed, their only crime being that they lived in the city. The Militia leaders made it clear that anyone who spoke of Utopia or change would suffer a fate worse than death; they would be forced into slavery in the Pit. An inescapable prison-mine that the Militia lowers convicts into. There is no way out and they only get food in exchange for the minerals that they mine. One woman had a dream though, a dream of reaching Utopia and as such she and her two sisters planned out their trip, planned a way to get out of New Haven and find this place, and they happened to be equipped with something more precious than gold. A map to Utopia. It’s rough, old, may not be accurate, and was drawn out by a grandfather the Militia declared insane, but it’s the best shot they have.

In the dead of night though the girls’ sister was taken and thrown into a place worse than the dreaded Pits, from which there had never been a survivor. The personal prison of the Militia. Spots in this place were reserved for only the worst of traitors, people whom the Militia hated, but needed for information. In anger the sisters went and gathered together a handful of people, people who would help them get help for their sister and free the city from the Militia. One of the first ones that they invited in was a smuggler, a man who had more than a little history of getting past the Militia, a pair of teenagers who wanted to leave the city, and a woman who had lost both her parents during the Purge. More people came though, people who had lost friends and family to the Milita, some even who came for their own reasons. One was even ex Militia, leaving when he became sick of the way things were, a thief on the run with her only chance of escape being Utopia. They might not have been the best of friends, some didn’t even know each other before it all began and some even had issues with one another but there was one thing that they had in common. They need Utopia to exist.

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The setting is simple - Its a post-apocalyptic dystopian society ran by a single force that call themselves The Militia. They control everything. There is no electricity. Perhaps there is in the Utopia that our heroes seek. Perhaps not. The world looks like a 24/7 Renaissance Festival; Yes, it's as if the Dark Ages have risen again. As far as weapons, there are guns. But they are scarce and illegal. The penalty for being caught with any is death. Transportation? Try horse and oxen with a cart. Wagons. Anything that isn't run on electricity. Bye-bye smart cars!