MANiKiN: the new world

what was red? was it the sky or the ocean? I'll never know. maybe it was both?
the red was everywhere, the crimson of blood. my blood, my sister's blood.
and from there the story was no longer happily ever after...

This was a little project I've tried on other boards and has, alas, failed to succeed much to my dismay. So, I thought I might as well give it a try here.




we sing as if the song never ends
for if we stop, we will succumb

☈ Like every tale, this one has humble beginnings. It all began twenty years ago, in a small farming village amidst the state of Texas. There lived a young girl there, a young girl who did nothing but lock herself in her tiny attic room and played with her dolls. She had many kinds of dolls, ranging from antiques to paper dolls, and she loved every single one of them. Unfortunately, it provided this girl, Anastasia, with little-to-no real friends. On the rare occasion she attended school, she was ridiculed to the point of fighting back, which often lead to severe injury. Her parents naturally became concerned with her well-being, and tried to take her dolls away from her, but eventually Anastasia became smart, and locked herself in that room permanently.

☈ It was here that the young girl of ten realized her greatest and most selfish wish: she wished that everyone in the world, including herself, would just become a doll. Dolls weren't mean to her. Dolls had no emotion. Nobody knows quite what occurred after she made this wish, but when the firemen finally broke into the small attic room to drag the girl out, she was nowhere to be found, along with her dolls. It was troubling, to be sure, but her body was never found, and after several years she was assumed to be dead by the government. After a while, the story was forgotten by everyone other than those it directly affected, and the doll obsessed girl, Anastasia, faded into nothingness.

☈ Ten years after the girl's disappearance, it seemed as if her wish could potentially become a reality. Many scientists (with apparently nothing better to do) began to do research in the field of human transformation, with one of their earlier experiments being changing humans into a living dolls, with the same hard body and joint systems of the real thing. Unfortunately, nothing successful came of the project, and it was eventually trashed until eight years after that, when it was picked up again by a man by the name of Dr. Schrodinger. The man, hailing from Germany, was a genius with his mind set on perfecting the doll transformation experiments. Why? He had a daughter who loved dolls, so he wanted to do something that would impress her. But, nobody could predict that such a simple notion of love would lead to something so horrible.

☈ What occurred in Schrodinger's lab that night, Schrodinger himself probably couldn't even explain even if he was with us today. The bottom line was that something went horribly, horribly wrong, and one of the experiments went out of control, breaking free of it's confinements and attacking the scientist. He survived, narrowly, and made his way home quickly after having the lab quarantined. By the time he made it home and sat down on his couch, he was already feeling weird, the strange feeling stemming from a flesh wound the experiment had given him. Thinking little of it, he drifted asleep. He awoke again to the sound of his twelve year old daughter, whom had come in to see her papa. But, the usual warmth he felt from the girl's presence seemed to be gone, and he rose from the couch with a glass-shattering shriek before striking his daughter with an inhuman hand. It was seemingly porcelain, with doll-like joints, and it didn't take long for him to clue into what had happened, as well as realizing what he had done to his daughter, who was now laying on her side on the opposite side of the room, a notable wound in her body. He rushed over, initially to aide her, but something took hold of him again, and he bit her. And then he knew - she'd soon be like him, and he was content.

☈ What happened from there on was nothing but a chain reaction. From the Schrodinger household, the two MANiKiNs emerged, spreading the disease across the country, on over the course of two months, the entire world. No place became safe from the virus, or curse, or whatever it was. nobody knew for sure what was causing it, but most people were focused on staying alive to worry too much about how the hell it all worked. In only those two months, 98% of the world's human population had succumbed to the MANiKiN threat, with the remaining 2% meeting at an oceanside city in the US, known by the survivors as Utopia. The gave the rest of the world the name Dystopia. Survivors continued to assemble at Utopia, building a community from the feet up in the time of desperation. Those who were able to fight were given the task of protecting the city from MANiKiNs, while others did more remedial things like maintain stores and gather food and the like. The city was far from clean of the monsters though, as they lurked left and right amidst the large domain.

☈ Eventually, a government was established around a man known as Jean Parks. He promised to protect the citizens of Utopia from the MANiKiNs, which were now simply referred to as Dolls. He began to stay true to his promise, introducing STRINGS, a group of anti-Doll warriors that were handpicked from the few who could still fight. But, as a result of this forcefully formed government, many people began to distrust it. Very strict rules were put in place, such as not staying out after sunset or else you'd receive a cruel punishment, or paying ridiculous taxes that supposedly funded STRINGS. As a result, a rebellion group rose from the complaints. It was named CARDS, and they were intent on protecting the people as well as bringing down the clearly corrupt government. There wasn't even a vote to office, it just kind of happened!

☈ As the remaining humans continued to fight each other, the Dolls began preparation for a counterattack. While most of them weren't intelligent, a small group of them had seemed to retain their personalities and memories after transforming. This group referred to themselves as the Marionettes, and they were resolved to bring the remaining 2% of humanity down to their world. And, with Dolls seemingly beginning to evolve and grow more intelligent, that may just happen...





sometimes the many p l a y e r s
are more i m p o r t a n t than the actual story

STRINGS
STRINGS is the defense squad formed in Utopia consisting of anyone with experience fighting their name for the MANiKiNs, Dolls.
They are ranked like in Chess pieces.

♚ THE KING ♂
☇ The leader of Utopia's defense division, STRINGS, he who holds the rank of King enjoys sitting back and letting everyone else do all of the hard work. He feels that he deserves to be lazy, seeing as over the past two months he's racked up way more Doll kills than anyone else on his shoddy team of misfit fighters. While he prefers composing strategies over actually fighting, he by far has the most power behind his combative ability. When it comes down to it, though, King is a good guy with strong morals, even if he does have a habit of picking on his subordinates.


♛ THE QUEEN ♀ taken
☇ More or less the Lieutenant of STRINGS, the woman with the rank of Queen can be characterized by her strong will and blunt conversational tactics. Like the King, she is ranked so high because she has demonstrated her power time and time again, against both Dolls and human resistance towards Utopia's government system. She follows the King's orders without any doubts or hesitation, and looks down upon the lower ranks as unworthy with her uncaring attitude. Despite her rough demeanor, she embarrasses easy, which people have noticed as one of her only emotional weaknesses.


♜ THE ROOK ♂
☇ On the chess board, the Rook is the unit mainly responsible for offense, and in STRINGS there are no changes there. As a warrior, he prefers to fight in close quarters as opposed to long range, so obviously he uses a melee weapon. The only thing stronger than his raw power is his thick skull, which must cut off the blood flow to his brain since he can never identify when to run and when to fight. Actually, fighting is his first assumption in almost every combat scenario, and he does so without a strategy. As a result, he often disobeys the King's battle plans, placing other units at risk. Overall, though, the Rook is a carefree guy who seems to think that no matter what, everything will turn out for the best.


♝ THE BISHOP ♀ taken
☇ The Bishop is a girl who places priority on long range attacks, so she specializes in long range weaponry such as bows or guns. She places such a priority for one very important reason: she cannot stand to see the faces of those she kills. Monsters or not, the Dolls were once human, so their efforts were borderline homicide. Though that raises very important questions. Why does she fight? She probably has a good reason, but she's not about to share. The Bishop is a very shy person, often having problems letting her feelings out, especially to strangers. However, once you befriend her, she will treasure you to the fullest.


♞ THE KNIGHT ♂
☇ A warrior with a heavy responsibility, the Knight is burdened with keeping the Pawns in check. He's more or less their bodyguard-slash-babysitter, making sure they follow the orders given and making sure their "conditions" are exploited to the fullest in the Doll hunt. He isn't particularly happy with his role, but he'll live, he guesses. More of a slacker than anything, the Knight doesn't see it fit to attack unless attacked first. He specializes in both melee and long range attacks, which means squat when faced with a female opponent. He has a soft spot for the ladies, and won't hesitate to try and pick one up if he can.


♟ THE PAWNS ♂ ♀ female taken
☇ There are two Pawns in STRINGS, one male and one female. They hold the lowest rank for a reason, and that's because they're more bait than anything. You see, the Pawns are two of the few humans that are in the midst of undergoing MANiKiN transformations ridiculously slow. This means they retain their humanity while their body changes, and still having your humanity after a couple of hours, let along a couple of months, is impressive. The cause of their slower transformation cycle is unknown, but because of it they live almost every day in fear of it overcoming them. Since Dolls are drawn to the scent of Doll in the midst of transformation, they make good bait for enemy Dolls. Thankfully, they've been trained to hold their own in combat, and while not as powerful as the Knight that watches over them, they are pretty tough.[/size]





THE CARDS
The CARDS are an anti-Utopia government group that disagree with the self-elected government party and the heavy restrictions they place on the citizens of the city. They've been known to aid the STRINGS in emergency, but are otherwise in conflict with them.
They are ranked by card suits.

♠ THE SPADE ♂
☇ The Spade is the first of the big four in the CARDS group. While not entirely opposed to the views of the reigning government, he feels that people should be able to move around freely whenever they please, and not be severely punished if caught doing so. He is motivated to move against the government by an incident where his younger brother was killed during the whipping punishment for being caught out past curfew, which the government denies having occurred. While generally calm and rational, he uses this calmness to mask the thirst for revenge he possesses. No human, and no Doll will get in his way, and he has resolved to eventually resort to extremes if needed.


♦ THE DIAMOND ♂
☇ Not particularly fond of his more feminine-than-not title, the Diamond is the kind of guy who could really care less about the situation with the government. He's just around because he gets to kill a lot of stuff. He is by far the most sadistic human in all of Utopia, finding joy in the screams and cries of his victims, Doll or not, which tends to put some distance between himself and other CARDS members. Aside for his sadistic nature, he's just nuts pretty much all around, often seen talking to himself or inanimate objects, which begs the question as to how he obtained such a high rank in the organization. One theory is that he killed the previous holder of the title...


♣ THE CLUB ♀ taken
☇ The sworn rival of the Rook, the Club takes a lot of pride in her combat skills and looks for any chance she can get to show them off, even if it means abandoning a task she's working on already. Sick of fighting Dolls and weak soldiers, the only reason the Club is even a part of CARDS is because she is seeking someone who can give her a good run for her money, which explains her obvious affection towards the battle-happy Rook. Like two peas in a pod, really. She often leaves dealing with small fry to the other members of their little group, which often leaves them overwhelmed when dealing with a large number of "nuisances". The Club doesn't strike anyone as a bad person, as she is for the most part well-mannered. She just tends to lose herself in battle is all.


♥ THE HEART ♂
☇ The only pacifist in the big four of CARDS, the Heart is a passive person who doesn't fight unless he feels shedding blood is the only way. He's been known to take pity on his enemies, often treating their wounds after bringing them to their knees. He's a member of the resistance because he feels too many people are injured both physically and mentally as a result of the reign of Utopia's government, and that they should at least be shown the error of their ways. Of course, he sees talking as a better way of accomplishing this, as opposed to violence like everyone else in the group wants to use. He's a really nice guy, he's just kind of a... wimp.





THE MARIONETTES
The Marionettes are a group of Dolls that have somehow retained some sense of humanity even after their transformations occurred. Out of spite, they plot to end the reign of humanity and plunge the world into a world of MANiKiNs.
They are ranked by Ba gua symbols.

☰ HEAVEN ♀ taken
☇ The leader of the Marionettes and self-proclaimed ruler of all Dolls, the one who refers to herself as Heaven is a very relaxed being with a very sadistic side to her personality to whom she only shows her enemies. Torture is her specialty, and she has no qualms with ripping a human off of the street of Utopia and using it in some mad Doll experiment. Her interest is particularly piqued by the Pawns, who's transformation seem to be ludicrously slow compared to those of the average person. She feels no need to engage in battle herself, but if she does she does it long range, as she has a frail body.


☱ LAKE ♂
☇ The Marionette with the rank of Lake is not someone to be taken lightly, that much is for sure. He acts as Heaven's personal bodyguard, and thus has the required strength to fulfill such a role. While not protecting his mistress physically, he has a tendency to do remedial work for her so that she rarely has to leave her throne, such as getting her nourishment. He doesn't complain about his position, in fact, he doesn't talk much at all. However, he doesn't particularly like the other Marionettes, as they all seem to have their own agendas that do not coincide with that of the Heaven.


☲ FIRE ♀
☇ Fire is probably the most selfish of all the Marionettes, not particularly caring for their opinion or what they're doing. All she wants to do is look as pretty as she can be in her Doll-like body. A fashionista in her human life, she quickly found problems wearing normal clothes while making them look good when her joints were in the form of ball joints. As such, she searches for the perfect outfit that will make her look absolutely gorgeous, and if any humans or other Dolls get in her way, she has no reservations with forcefully removing them from her sight. After all, they totally weren't worthy enough to be in her beautiful line of vision.


☳ THUNDER ♂
☇ Thunder is, to be quite honest, ridiculously loud and obnoxious. If he ever had to be stealthy EVER in his life, he would fail miserably from the get-go. In his opinion, Marionettes, despite their hard skin and lack of overall humanity, were far superior to any regular human, and as such they should just all bow to him and his fellow Dolls and accept defeat, where they'd all be killed. He wants to perform a genocide on humanity, a people who never treated him right in his human life. His obnoxious behavior is further fueled by his big vocabulary, since he likes to throw big words around loudly and leave people confused. He gets along well with Fire, but only because they're both ridiculously stuck up.


☴ WIND ♂
☇ The kind of guy who likes to go with the flow, Wind is one of the two Marionettes Heaven refers to as "misfits" due to their relatively happy personalities. He's cheery, and supportive of other members in his group in ordeals that don't involve killing. Really, he's only with them because he feels he wouldn't be accepted anywhere else. He has reservations about harming humans, and if rubbed the wrong way would probably betray the Marionettes. Out of fear for this, Heaven placed Mountain in charge of watching over him, under orders to kill Wind if he showed any resolve of fighting against his own kind. He also has a slight crush on Fire, not that he'd ever admit it considering her personality.


☵ WATER ♀
☇ The other "misfit", Water is a bubbly girl that seemingly lacks the ability to predict the repercussions of her actions. She's a naive thinker, thinking that if she follows the orders of Heaven everything will work out for the best, all because Heaven feigns a friendship with her to keep her in check. Water has a strong friendship with Wind due to their personalities which are both kind in nature, so Heaven fears that if Wind does something, he'll take Water with him. Water is very reliant on other people, especially in combat as she doesn't much like fighting. She thinks death is sad, and questions why she needs to fight people when they were once people too. However, as long as she believes in the words of Heaven, her actions will never waver.


☶ MOUNTAIN ♂
☇ Mountain is the elder brother of Earth, so he feels he needs to set a proper example for his younger sister in this new world ruled by Dolls. He's troubled by the transformation they'd both undergone, but with his parents both dead he decided that taking care of his younger sister and holding her hand through this new world was the best thing he could do. He resents the humans for being able to retain their humanity, and as a result he feels the need to make them all Dolls too, so that his sister could learn to accept her fate instead of dwelling on her human past. Long story short, he has a sister complex. He's really a gentle person overall, who'll only fight if necessary, but in any scenario, his sister comes first.


☷ EARTH ♀
☇ Earth is the younger sister of Mountain, although sometimes she wouldn't like to be, considering how much he smothers her. Despite her younger age, she's got a very tough personality that helped her bare the loss of her family and friends, and the resulting transformation she had undergone. She bears no ill will against those who remained human, since she knew that her condition was none of their faults. However, she just couldn't leave the Marionettes, or else her brother would have a fit. He seemed to think that being with those killers was the safest place, which was just ridiculous. Her personality is pretty sweet outside of missions, though, when she isn't off thinking about things... hopefully alone.