Mechanophage: The Nextgen Infection

Crooked Thoughts · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Crooked Thoughts** on Fri May 25, 2012 7:57 am

My character is finished...

I didn't add the bio just yet; biographies and histories are always part of my final touches. There are a few other things I need to get done for my own roleplays, so it will probably be a while before its added. But, I think you all understand his life. There is some extra information present, but its mainly for my own purposes. I may also add both weapons later, but not for purposes of this roleplay. Just to be careful, I will make the font really small so there is no confusion.

Looking forward to starting this. ^^

A Rubber Chicken · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **A Rubber Chicken** on Fri May 25, 2012 10:44 am

Just like to point out that I am still here, and slowly getting a character together. There was a freak influx of work for me recently so I'm just waiting for things to calm down a little before I submit characters anywhere. With any luck I'll have everything back to normal tomorrow and, after reading through the obscene amount of OOC posting, will get my submission in by late afternoon/early evening. And if not then definitely by the end of Sunday. Promise!

mechanimated · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **mechanimated** on Fri May 25, 2012 6:41 pm

@ARC: Awesome! That's good to hear. I thought you might have changed your mind about joining. I think we're all sorta eager to start, so as soon as you've finalized your character and everyone is satisfied with their bios, we'll begin. Barring any additional joiners, of course. I'll do a very bare-bones sort of setup post describing the caravan and the area of the ruins we're starting in so that everyone has a good mental picture of our surroundings and then we'll be set.

Do you guys want to use a postage order? It's much less hectic and the flow is more clear than just posting whenever, but it also means if anyone gets held up with getting their post in, it delays everyone. Opinions? Will we all be posting regularly enough for that to not be a problem?

Crooked Thoughts · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Crooked Thoughts** on Fri May 25, 2012 8:39 pm

I think, just allowing us to post is the best option. You have already listed why we shouldn't use a post order. The only way I see that working is if there is no order exactly. What I mean is, when and if someone is ready to post, then they do so. But, then they do not post again until everyone else has posted. It is a combination of both systems.That way people are aware that they need to post, no one is posting too much or not enough, and there is no worry of delaying everyone else because you will post when you are ready.

MilkHoney · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **MilkHoney** on Sat May 26, 2012 2:35 am

@mechanimated: I didn't notice any schizophrenia in your bio. Very smooth transition from present to history to present. The description had a bump or two. What stuck out to me was the word wifebeater. Purely a pet peeve. It's a sleeveless shirt. A tank. Domestic violence comes to mind quicker than the clothing item. You presented mild confusion by mentioning it, and then later describing a shirt with a button. Material-wise, the rubber soled boots would be questionable, unless the forest is a tropic forest and there remains an active industrial force in the Wasteland to vulcanize the rubber. After 700 years, vulcanized rubber would be brittle trash. Uncured rubber would be water-proof, but it would also be very soft, like latex and would need frequent reapplication since it would melt off and wear down to the harder leather layer. I'd recommend using all leather. It too could be 100% waterproof utilizing tree bark tanning and oiling and would require no maintenance beyond resoling if he walked his feet off.

Hopefully this will be covered in the set up post, but I'd like to brood over it in the meantime. To clarify, the slaves that survive the Mechanophage escape with chains still on them. Is there a lead chain connecting slave to slave? Is there a Scavenger ambush before they escape?

I've seen the map. Thank you for making it possible that she went from forest to river to ravine to the middle of the Wasteland. From what I've read about our modern electromagnetic "hovering" boards (yes, they exist, but the poor things aren't weight bearing so what's the point really), they don't work over freshwater, but saltwater is a great conductor, so... going to have to invent a salt spring near her home to justify it flaring to life. Okay with you? Very small, wouldn't show up on the map. It would also solve a survival problem of where four people isolated were getting salt for a minimum of 70 years.

Mixed feelings on post order. I don't type up the fastest responses and don't always live in the same time zone as the roleplayers I group with, so it sometimes works in my favor in large groups so I don't get blitzkrieg'ed by other people posting. On the other hand, I've been left hanging by post order and ultimately everyone jumps ship because someone with a main character disappears and we can't get in a replacement. It also isn't realistic storytelling. For example, if two characters are talking while a third sleeps. The player of the third is forced into posting filler.

@Crooked Thoughts: Wow. I did not see one of your posts, and it was a biggie. Sorry about that.

I like the nightly transformation idea. It is a time constraint and eliminates an OP ability to transform at will. It also makes sense, since the wolves around the Ruin would be nocturnal in reaction to the Scavenger population. Better to avoid hunting at the same time as a strong competitor.

But, I don't know what your talking about... Tyr is the life of every wolf social event. >_>

Hm. I'm sure. Key word is 'wolf'. Doesn't translate well around humans. For example. Territorial marking. Is that a euphemism for 'he will whip it out and piss to show dominance' or will he be mimicking the scratching and rubbing to stimulate scent glands he wouldn't have in human form? Either way, he is not house trained and that is generally frowned upon in human society.

Not safe to assume trust. Prior to her unintended magic carpet ride, Cammara didn't know of any humans other than the three who raised her. They told her everyone else would steal from her, hurt her, kill her; and everyone is a batshit crazy cannibal Scavenger. The slavers only reinforced her misconception. He'll be lucky if Cammara thinks he's rabid. Shy of returning her precious PET, nothing could convince her to give someone else the benefit of a doubt. Conveniently, you don't need her trust to drag her around or take her to his wolfy den, as evidenced by the great success the slavers had on that front. And if she's in shock, she's even more passive and malleable. I don't like that about her and it's going to annoy me, but it is going to get her where she needs to be.

Thanks for warning about the small text not being relevant to this roleplay.

I continue to be amazed that with all the graphics you added, you don't have an avatar pic for your character.

@A Rubber Chicken: Perfectly understandable to not jump into submitting when you already have so much on your plate. Glad to see you stuck around this far. Now I'm not so anxious about hunting down a third to get this started. Can you give me a teaser of what you are thinking of doing? We've got female/engineer/telepathic persuasion, male/fisherman/electromancy, male/lone wolf/beast mimicry.

mechanimated · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **mechanimated** on Sat May 26, 2012 3:24 am

@ MilkHoney: The wifebeater thong is probably a good catch. I'm used to calling it that but it doesn't fit the style of the introduction so well. I'll probably fix that a bit. It only came up, to clarify, because that's his usual article of clothing (hence the tan lines) and was replaced with a crummy mostly-buttonless shirt. As for the boots, well, it's entirely my fault for not explaining what sort of state the Wasteland is in industry-wise. For clarification, the Wasteland is about at the level of early 1900's Britain/America when it comes to manufacturing things. The biggest problem with production is not lack of know-how, though a huge amount of information was lost after the earthquake, but the lack of manpower. With the factories and mines that used to acquire raw materials all entirely leveled and the population cut down to a meagre tenth of its former size, there simply aren't enough people living in groups to effectively produce complex goods on a large scale. Most things that ARE made are tools for living off the land: sturdy shoes and clothing, basic armors (basic in style, not necessarily material), weapons (up to and including gunpowder based firearms, though it is possible to find the occasional tinker who reverse-engineers energy weapons from still-functioning tech), farming and fishing implements, etc. After the earthquake, what used to be chosen professions became familial heritage-style artisan knowledge passed down child-to-child. For example, one of the few surviving doctors would teach his or her children about healing others to prevent the knowledge being lost. An electrical engineer would do the same, gathering and repairing and documenting the blueprints of as many tech artifacts of Luxia as possible for a future generation to make use of. It is these people that were the first to try and recreate the conveniences of their past lives by building or refurbishing factories as smaller personal workshops. It is possible to obtain a lot of fairly advanced stuff if one is willing to travel to the few people still capable of making it. Since the survivors of the quake are scattered all over the place, living for the most part in crude 'villages' consisting of 5-7 families of 5-10 people each. It is common to live with ones grandparents and extended family, if one has any. Trade caravans provide pretty much the only contact between people and are vital to the continued survival of the Wasteland. With the roads destroyed, any sort of journey becomes a dangerous trek. Traders, by moving in huge caravans of as many as 200 people, are safe from attack and capable of carrying information and goods safely to the many little pockets of civilization that wouldn't be able to afford sending out their own to go search for such things.

The slaves have their arms and legs shackled and have a long chain running through between their arms. The ends of the chain are secured to the first and last slave with heavy padlocks. It will necessitate recovering keys from one of the dead slavers or somehow breaking the chain to escape.

I'm fine with the saltwater spring idea - I'm generally very flexible about my universe and will allow you to make up whatever you want for your backstory. If you want to say you live in the gutted remains of a massive chain of factories in the mountains, and that's where you learned to be an engineer or something, fine. If you want to say your ancestors from Luxia were doctors and your family has been maintaining and using an ancient surgical drone in the hopes that you would find someone to recreate it, sure thing. Anything to do with terrain, culture, and tech is largely a blank slate for you to make stuff up in, within the bracketing foundations I've laid down. If you'd like another justification for the hoverboard working, there roads in Luxia had massive pylons buried underneath them to allow for magnet-powered transport to easily layer itself for several hundred feet above ground traffic. After the quake, these pylons would have been shifted around all over the place, providing all sorts of randomized 'roads' for a still-functioning hoverboard to use.

As for posting order, I think that using a posting order should be encouraged but not strictly adhered to. If two characters are having rapid interaction, it's fine to post repeatedly. If someone is asleep, it's fine not to post until they wake up. We'll try to stick to the general order in which we make our first posts, but if we don't, no big. As long as everyone posts at least once every 1-2 days, I think we'll be fine.

Crooked Thoughts · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Crooked Thoughts** on Sat May 26, 2012 8:25 am

@Honey: Yea I really enjoyed the idea of him being a wolf by night and a man by day. Though, if I went with that dynamic, I would have to change his character a bit since he would be cursed. Even though Tyr would look it as a gift and burden bestowed upon him by the spirits. He might even think that a wolf spirit shares his body.

And yes, no matter what form he is in, Tyr would have no reservations about whipping it out and doing his business.

As for the intro and the chain situation, I figured my character would assist there.

I was gonna have my character out hunting, when the combination of scavengers and slavers disturb his prey causing him to turn his attention elsewhere. He will continue to stalk from the shadows, probably from a high vantage point. Once all hell breaks lose (people start dying off and the scavengers attack) Tyr will stick around to take whatever valuables are left. I imagine that what slavers are left are pretty well armed and manage to do some damage and weed out a few scavengers before succumbing to their numbers and the mechanphage itself. Seeing that only a few humans are left, Tyr's pity and curiosity will get the best of him and he will decide to intervene. After all, how many chances will he get to meet other humans. Besides, he and his pack can easily take care of a few scavengers and if the humans turn out to be threats, they are still chained and can be dealt with as well. From there, two things can happen, the scavengers can be dealt with directly or they can be lead off by his pack. The latter would be better, as you all could then free yourself and steal what you may from the dead slavers. And just for kicks, I would keep Tyr in his wolf form and lead them to his home, where only then he would change back.

What would you follow, a strange man or a strange wolf?

7achary · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **7achary** on Mon May 28, 2012 7:58 pm

Hello, mein peeps, I'd like to submit a character. I'm going to spend tonight writing it up, just letting you know I exist.

I totally followed you here, Fly. I'm looking for some good RPs and I know I can find them in your wake.

This looks fantastic. I can't express how excited I am to make a character. I've got a bandit-esque figure looming around my psyche, but I'm going to read the accepted sheets first.

Crooked Thoughts · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Crooked Thoughts** on Tue May 29, 2012 4:08 am

Yea, I stumbled upon this little gem last week. The story was unique, it instantly gave the inspiration to create Tyr and so I had to join. With you here, the Rp is overflowing with talent.

7achary · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **7achary** on Tue May 29, 2012 3:48 pm

Submission complete. Hope you dig my wasteland raider.

Crooked Thoughts · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Crooked Thoughts** on Tue May 29, 2012 4:25 pm

Though my opinion bares no weight in this roleplay, the character looks good 7. If my tribal scavenger idea was not accepted, I was going to go with marauding criminal as such as yours. He definitely brings life to the other side of the spectrum represented by the salves. Meaning, sure you would want to help a woman who was mercilessly captured or a small child, but would you really free a convicted murderer? Or would you leave him.

mechanimated · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **mechanimated** on Tue May 29, 2012 6:26 pm

Hello folks! I've been a bit absentee for the last few days due to some unfortunate issues with my router. I'm back though, and on top of all of the things.

@7achary: I'm gonna look over your character now and most likely approve it. If I have any issues, they will be sent over PM and you will be expected to rectify them before the roleplay begins, regardless of whether you're already approved or not. Glad you decided to make something for this, though. I hope you find it enjoyable!

@ ARC: I will wait for you to post a character since you said you were working on one, but if you don't have anything done by wednesday, we will start without you. You will still be allowed to insert a character after that, as a straggling slave who played dead and followed behind, or as someone unrelated who stumbled into the ruins, or whatever plausible scenario you can think of.

7achary · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **7achary** on Tue May 29, 2012 8:53 pm

I made the edits you suggested, Mecha. Gozer is ready for action.

I like everything I see here, so I'm sure I will enjoy myself. How soon do think we could get started?

EDIT: Two questions. What season is it, from the farming perspective? And would we be carriers fr the Mechanophage should we leave the Ruins? Like could we end up killing the majority of the remnants of the human population if we traveled further out of the ruins?

And, please, you can just call me 7.

mechanimated · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **mechanimated** on Tue May 29, 2012 10:31 pm

@ 7: I sent ARC a message, and I guess if there isn't a response we'll get started tomorrow. I'll put up the first post nice and early in the day to give all of you plenty of time to respond, again, assuming ARC doesn't respond and say that there is indeed still another character on the way.

MilkHoney · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **MilkHoney** on Tue May 29, 2012 10:59 pm

@mechanimated:
Most important first: Has Rule #5 come into play?
So is there a tropic forest I need to know about? Yes, still harping on about the rubber boots. But since my girl grew up in the main drag of woods, it is relevant for me to know. Besides, it's fun to pick your brain about the Wasteland. Synthetic rubber had been created by the Victorian period: I do not know the raw materials required, but from what you've said, the descendant of a chemist might have the know-how.
Is that Wednesday 1AM we start or...? Just kidding. I'm impatient, but I don't expect interruption of circadian rhythms. I'm content to wait until your introductory post shows up.

@Crooked Thoughts:

What would you follow, a strange man or a strange wolf?

Ahem. I decline to answer that question, on the grounds that it may be incriminating. I will say, however, that Cammara would follow a wolf. The threats to her safety are a perceived known there, whereas a human would be assumed to be more dangerous and unpredictable. Plus, she's curious by nature, and a wolf is something new. She wasn't explicitly warned against curiosity or wolves.

@7achary:
Read it, liked it, glad to see a barbarian build on board. Gozer's caravan, and more specifically, his female relations, have much in common with Cammara's mother. I didn't want to address it directly because Cammara doesn't know her mother's background, and thus it doesn't affect her. Because of his size and aggression, Cammara would have singled him within the slave caravan as a person to avoid, perceiving him to be as threatening as the slavers who beat her and on par with batshit crazy Scavengers. If he followed the wolf, she might too: better to be behind the big guy than in front of him.

Post Script
Oh, and if shinen hasn't contact you yet, I ought to say there is another character on the way. I might have done some headhunting earlier. Eheh... did I forget to mention that? Yeah, well. I can't say much about the character, as I have been kept purposely in the dark (the cheeky brat), but I can say it is female/teleportation.

Crooked Thoughts · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Crooked Thoughts** on Tue May 29, 2012 11:15 pm

I'm not sure if it was here or not, but I recently recalled someone mentioning that my profile had a lot of pics, but no avatar pic. Is this still the case? Because on my computer, it appears.

Also, I can petition a few people if this could use another female character in order even the ratio so we start.

shinen · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **shinen** on Tue May 29, 2012 11:27 pm

MilkHoney wrote:@mechanimated:

Post Script
Oh, and if shinen hasn't contact you yet, I ought to say there is another character on the way. I might have done some headhunting earlier. Eheh... did I forget to mention that? Yeah, well. I can't say much about the character, as I have been kept purposely in the dark (the cheeky brat), but I can say it is female/teleportation.

Cheeky brat? That's not a very nice description of me. Accurate, though.

@mechanimated, I'll be submitting a character in the upcoming wee hours of the night. I'm completely new to the website as MilkHoney linked me here just two days ago, so I can't PM yet, but I'm assuming that submissions still work. That said, this means that I'll put a couple of im contacts you can get hold of me at if you have any issues that need clarified or rectified, since I can't actually pm yet.

@Crooked Thoughts, as you can see above, I'll be submitting a female character. So assuming my character isn't terrible, the gender imbalance won't be quite so drastic soon.

EDIT: Oh, and if anyone can direct me to that snazzy character template that 7 and Crooked used, that'd be awesome.

mechanimated · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **mechanimated** on Wed May 30, 2012 1:53 am

@ MilkHoney: I am keeping an eye on the gender ratios, and I was actually going to request ARC do a female character because I feel once we exceed 4 players total, there needs to be more balance. I follow the Left 4 Dead ratio, clearly. If someone is dead set on making a male, I'm not disinclined to magically transforming Milo into a Milla, so to speak, to keep the ratio relatively reasonable. Whoever it is better have a damned awesome character though, to demand such accommodation.

As for the rubber production, Luxia didn't and does not support rubber trees (the soil in some areas is ideal but there is not enough rainfall). All rubber is derived from petroleum, and there is in fact a single still-functioning oil well guarded by a small but highly militarized village. It's almost Spartan in nature, and is the home of a curious union between nerds and jocks. The rubber production (among other things) is the responsibility of a sort of 'guild' of chemists and engineers numbering 40-50, though sometimes has as few as 20 or as many as 80 members depending on interest and birth rates. The protection of the incredibly valuable oil and even more valuable individuals who know what to do with it is the business of the 200-220 warriors, +/- 50 or so. Their job is to defend the village, farm, hunt, and otherwise provide for everyone living there, and take care of minor repairs to things like housing and weapons. They take care of the million petty annoyances that come with running a town while the specialized chemists and engineers work almost round the clock maintaining the oil pump and producing goods that are sold to trade caravans bi-monthly.

I welcome inquisitiveness regarding Luxia as it was before and the Wasteland now. It is a fully developed world in which I've set other roleplays and written stories about, so I can likely answer most anything you would like to know. Ask away!

@ 7: It is late August, though no one but an astronomer and a historian could tell you the exact date and year. Farming-wise, the entirety of the Wasteland is currently arable land barring the areas inside ravines, as there is not enough sunlight there to grow most crops. Hiner's Valley used to be too densely forested for farming, but after the quake thinned out the trees somewhat it too easily supports crops. The land near the cliffs also has a high clay content, making it more difficult to farm there but not impossible. Considering your characters talents, you might like to know that the staple crops of Luxia (and the Wasteland) are barley and rye, due to their hardy growth and ability to 'hibernate' during particularly harsh winters to continue their life cycle in the spring. Corn, wheat, and potatoes are also grown. No other crops are widely distributed. Rice is rarer to come by and is grown only by settlements on the banks of rivers to allow for easy irrigation of rice paddies. Soybeans are also popular for their protein, as it is much easier and more reliable to far than hunt. However, despite their adaptability to many types of soil, they grow well only in warm climes and as such are only grown in significant bulk during the summer season.

For reference in our calendar standards:

Spring: February-April
Summer: May-July
Fall: August-October
Winter: November-January

The seasons can vary significantly, most often with early springs and late falls. A hard winter qualifies as one where the temperature falls below 10 degrees Fahrenheit for more than a day or two at a time. Summers routinely hit 90 degrees and stay there, though summer thunderstorms are common, preventing drought conditions.

Currently it is warm and dry, with occasional short showers once a week on average. Plant life is still green, but fall will start to set in within a few weeks and all plants that bloomed early in the summer are already well on their way to autumn.

Our characters are carriers of the phage, but the contagion is blood-borne. We would not be a threat to others unless we bled all over them or their stuff. The phage, once within the system, enters a binding phase that renders it incapable of surviving for more than a few hours outside of a living host. It would not permanently infect surfaces or be capable of lying dormant in soil like the inactive phage does. If male, any children a carrier has will not be infected but will carry the necessary docking genes. If female, the child will always be both infected and carrying the vital genes. A non-infected individual mating with an infected one has a very small chance of being exposed and subsequently dying, but the chances of this happening are <1%.

@ shinen: I'll be around to read through your character well into the night myself, as I am a dingbat who sleeps only with the waning-or-waxing crescent phases of the moon. Glad to know you're submitting a female and I don't have to bully you into it.

mechanimated · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **mechanimated** on Wed May 30, 2012 8:05 am

Semi Important Note(!)

I neglected to clarify this in the introduction and I don't think I could gracefully shoehorn it in now without it being clearly unfitting, but having powers is not entirely unheard of. Despite the fact that Chathair Tús Nua literally fell out of the sky, almost 40% of the total survivors of the quake were natives of the city. This was due to the enhanced physical performance and unique powers granted by the phage. Over half of the survivors remained in the Ruins and gradually degenerated into Scavengers, but a good number escaped into the general population and had children. Powers only manifest in children of female carriers of the phage, so it did not take long for such abilities to be bred out of the general populace. There are no currently living humans in the Wasteland who draw their powers from the phage, though there were several a scant two generations ago. There are only carries of the docking genes left now, though their numbers are steadily falling as well. The ability to use magic, known as 'having the spark', is still in existence. It is extremely rare, as only the children of two magic users are guaranteed to be able to use magic themselves, and the earthquake culled the population so severely that the chances of that happening were slim to none. All magic users left tend to live either in seclusion, hiding out where their powers can't be exploited, or conversely in large groups, where they are protected from bandits and slavers hoping to score a valuable asset.

For reference, the populace breaks down as such:

Total Population: 255,000 (population increasing at a steady rate of .2% of total population every generation)

Natural Phage Carriers: 0%
Docking Gene Carriers: 7% - 17,850 (decreasing at a rate of .001% every generation)
Scavengers: 12% - 30,600 (decreasing at a rate of .01% to .08%, as Scavengers are essentially immortal unless actively killed)
Magic Sensitive: 2% - 5,100 (numbers tend to fluctuate wildly, as the spark occurs at random in different rates with every generation)
Normal Humans: 79% - 201,450

Average Life Expectancy for Male: 67 years
Average Life Expectancy for Females: 75 years

Average Settlement Size: 50-120 people (Very rarely, a settlement will have as many as 400 people in it or as few as 6. Less than that does not qualify as a settlement)

7achary · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **7achary** on Thu May 31, 2012 4:53 pm

Thank you for the information, Mecha. In general are there any active robotic or computer systems in the wasteland? Maybe not active but dormant or on reserve power?

And thank you, MilkHoney, I am very excited that Gozer has elicited such positive responses from you all. I wasn't sure if he would go down well, and it's nice to see I made some good decisions in his creation.

I am completely ready to start when you are, I've been planning a post sure to engender some great reactions.

EDIT: Welcome, Shinen!

Mechanophage: The Nextgen Infection

a part of “Mechanophage: The Nextgen Infection”, a fictional universe by mechanimated.

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