New Utopia

In the 2016 presidential elections, the UtopiaNow party won by a landslide.

Comprised mainly of scientists, UtopiaNow promised a cleaner world for everyone. They had spent years experimenting, and had finally perfected the technology to build bio-cities. These gigantic metropolises would completely isolate humanity from the outside world. On the inside, farms would be replaced by labs, growing meats from tissue samples and vegetables in hydroponic containers. Huge, glass domes separated the people from the sky: oxygen was filtered in from the occasional vent. Travel between the bio-cities wold be achieved by magnetic trains. In here, humanity could flourish without the destruction of the environment.

After only a few years, UtopiaNow had fulfilled their promises of a perfect world. Eventually, their influence spread overseas, to the point that every last city and town in the world had been replaced by a bio-city.

Suicide rates dropped. Crime rates dropped faster. The human life expectancy boomed worldwide. Technological advancements happened overnight. Everyone was happy, thanks to UtopiaNow.

Well, nearly everyone. There were a few people who longed for the outside, to see trees that weren't grown from a cloned seed, to see birds other than the occasional pigeon or budgie, to feel the rain and mist they had only read about in books. Life in the bio-cities was perfect, but ever-so sterile.

Some of these people had found that all the bio-cities had miles and miles of sewer and machinery underground that, if followed, would lead to the outside world.

So that's what they did. They explored the sewers, found the right ways, got outside and breathed the pure air. Air that had never touched a filter, never known pollution. So clean and pure people were brought to their knees.

These people would stay for days before going back. But they'd always go back, always stay longer, always find an excuse to go out and breathe in that air again, until they found themselves living in log cabins and growing potatoes.

The New Utopians, they called themselves. On the Inside, they were labeled as dissenters and terrorists. Civilians were warned to stay clear from them, that they were dangerous murderers. Eventually, Peace-Keepers (bio-city police force) started to patrol the sewers, arresting anyone caught down there. Still, the New Utopians continue making runs to smuggle anyone who wants to breathe the air out.

This roleplay will surround one of these runs. Feel free to be a New Utopian, Peace-Keeper or civilian. Just remember:

1) The most advanced weapon N.U.s have are WW2 bolt-action rifles. The crossbow is still quite impressive. Peace-Keepers, on the other hand, get power armour and assault rifles and stuff.
2) Both factions are pacifists. Try to avoid murdering anyone.

Things start at a jetty in the sewers for people wishing to be smuggled out. My guy will come along with the boat when some people start coming in.

A sturdy man, with white gloves and standard uniform, waved his ID in front of the scanner and the doors opened. "Blair, you should stop working so hard. There's more to life than drowning yourself in work."
"Ya ya. Whatever. You just enjoy the rest of your night. Chow bro."

Name: Blair Iken
Age: 21
Occupation: Mechanical Engineer, Civilian

Blair stretched his arms and leaned back on his chair. He had short brown hair and auburn eyes. His physique was not overly buff but definitely not scrawny. He pulled up his sleeve, 35:00, its that late already. Pulling himself back up he was once again faced with four monitors. He would work a bit more, finish a few more documents and head out.

~*~

Out...Blair strolled along the lit streets of New Pork, the slang term for New York since the bio city conversion. He gazed up into the atmosphere through that glass dome. The stars seemed so far away. No, even just the earth was beyond their reach. News of smugglers were turned into news of terrorists. He could understand, he could sympathize with the "dissenters". It was human nature to touch what is forbidden and to cross any drawn line. Adam and Eve did it. Young adults do it all the time.

Swiping his card, the door to his home unlocked. "Welcome home." a computer generated voice spoke. "Ya, thanks Mira."

Blair collapsed on his couch and turned on the news. Apparent some more smugglers were caught today.

"What a useless bunch, waltzing out without the lest of preparation. If it was me..."
"If it was you... what....?"

That voice... not Mira.

A young man stepped out from the shadows of the apartment. From appearance alone, anyone could have guessed he was one of the terrorists, the New Utopians. In the much more relaxed, machine-aided environment of the bio-cities, even the poorest man could afford opulent silks and fabrics. Except a navy blue coat which had no doubt been a cover for his actual purposes, the boy wore cotton shirt sleeves, suspenders and leather pants, all of which were built to last. Rather than the smooth skin and long nails someone's hands get from an easy life, his were rough and weathered from working in a field. There was also the matter of the crossbow slung across one shoulder.

He was also holding a crude clipboard.

"What would you do, Blair Iken, age 21, engineer and potential New Utopian? We're starved for ideas, and the PKs are stepping up their patrols. We have a place for men like you."

"..."

Blair spoke not as he listened. There was a moment of silence, then she spoke. Mira. "Shall we call the police sir?"

There was another moment of silence. Was he going to let her call? The intruder would be caught and things would end the way they are. "No, hold the dial for now. I have a few words with the traveling salesman." Blair's expression seemed to say 'why not, lets hear his pitch'.

"Before we start, I'd like to commend you for your bravery, to march here for the sake of making a pitch. But at the same time I would also like to condemn you for your foolishness. What if by the decision on the whim of desires I had called the police? You would have been a fugitive with your face marked."

Blair shook his head as though to emphasize his point. "Not very bright. However, if it was me... I'd work as a civilian until I collected enough equipments and power to leave and stay out. I mean..." His hand began to motion up and down as though presenting the intruder's body as demonstration. "Look at you. I can spot you as a terrorist all the way from China."

Blair's expression changed once again, this time, an adviser of sorts. "Now, let me give you some advice. If you had not worked yourself up to your current state, you could probably well have joined the peace keepers and then taken off with their superior equipments while patrolling. Wouldn't that, be a better idea than carrying an antique as weapon?"

His eyes were opened as though waiting for a response or even an acknowledgment. At the same time he was, in fact, waiting for the pitch as to why he might want to join a group of terrorists. Judging from first impression, Blair's character build seemed very... on the spot and on the whim, saying whatever came to mind where ever and when ever.

The boy smiled and made a note on the clipboard. "Yes. I'm sure Mr. Rearden would love someone like you. But don't worry about that. I represent Mr. Rearden and I am here to, as you say, make a pitch. Our field agents have been watching you for some time, Blair Iken. They say you're intelligent and hard-working, lots of other positive little comments as well. And from what I can see you're not entirely opposed to the idea of a new utopia. That's what we're pitching."

He walked across the room, looking at everything in the apartment with an air of contempt. "UtopiaNow said that on the Outside humanity is destined for destruction and that we would take everything we love along with us. Well, we say that life is more than just spiraling around the drain of oblivion. Humanity's problem was in thinking that they could have their cake and eat it too, that they could enjoy the wonders of the Outside without straying far from the creature comforts of the Inside. Some sacrifice is involved."

"Take this Mira you keep speaking to. A girlfriend of yours, yes? The reports didn't mention marriage. Anyway, if you were to leave with us, she could not come unless she agreed with our ideals. That is the sacrifice you would have to make." This was the young man's fifth time on the Inside, and he had not seen an apartment before.

"Watching me for some time... well I'm honored I must say. Its definitely the best feeling in the world to be marked by terrorists."

Blair winked, part sarcasm and part jokingly.

"If that's all you have to say, I'm not interested. I don't resent new utopia but you know, it just doesn't have.. a strong enough....*snap snap* allure to draw me in. I have a good home, good job, financially secured, contributing to society, my own circle of friends and in general a good life. I'm quite satisfied actually. However, if I was to leave the bio cities, I would have to make my own house, find my own food, no working water system, no heating, no microwave, no modern conveniences and... basically go back to stone age - you get my drift? So convince me, what makes your product so deluxe that I would pay... oh I don't know, maybe my whole life, to buy it?

By the way, Mira is an AI I wrote up. I'm not married yet."

<<can i join? i'll have some trouble thinking up a good charater for this though...hmm...>>