Chrome Symphony [OOC]

The world has fallen on hard times. For years now, governments have continued to exist, but meant nothing next to the megacorporations. Huge conglomerates rule the world, splitting it apart piecemeal and fighting over the scraps. Some people are wealthy, and enjoy all the luxuries you’d expect. Many are some for of corporate drone or wageslave, living a corp life, in corp housing, buying all the corp products and following all their rules. Even more have slipped through the cracks one way or another. Every society has some sort of bottom propping it up, and this one, well, it’s huge. Your poor, your dispossessed, your criminals. They’re just about everywhere, living on the fringes and in the shadows. The shady underbelly of society is filled with career criminals, either of the organized variety, or the sort who hire on as disposable assets for the highest bidder.

And through all the strata of society, one common thread tends to flow: It’s better offworld. Access to space is highly regulated, but all the rumors say the colonies are staggeringly advanced, or utopias free from want, or all manner of fairy tales. The fact remains, people do occasionally both come and go, and just about everyone wants to go, if they can…

Welcome to Chrome Symphony, Episode One: Planetbound Blues.

Human +

Humanity has found a few ways to expand its horizons and improve on nature. Cybernetics are commonplace, both as prosthetics, and enhancements. Biotech isn’t far behind, for those who prefer genetically-modified tissues to implanting unliving machines. Either way, it’s not too difficult to improve upon nature.

Powers of the Mind

20 years ago, people exhibiting strange superhuman abilities began to surface. Some blame the clandestine release of some sort of engineered virus or similar corp plot, others simply attribute it to evolution. Known as Adepts, Psychics, Ether-Liners, Espers, or any manner of other colorful names, these individuals display unusual powers, usually along a single theme. Many a corp has a high demand or even bounty out for such people, although whether it’s to put them in a job or a lab, may depend on who’s looking.

Cyberspace

The ‘Net has evolved over the years. Cyberspace is a whole new world, composed of abstract data representations and constructs. Of course, the local networks tend to have different looks, depending on who made them and what sort of image they want to put forth. The whole place is quite a playground, with some people spending quite a lot of time in entire virtual worlds. It can be dangerous for a hacker, but it’s one way to make a living.

Okay, so all that wall of text out of the way, here we go, an OOC thread for an RP. This would be for general discussion of the plot, or whatever else in he game. And posting of characters (see sheet below this for a basic framework). I don't know if I want to put any limits on characters at the moment, though I would assume more leaning toward the deniable assets, Shadowrunner style type, than anything else.

Here's a basic character sheet template:

Name:

Street Name: (or nicknames)

Gender:

Species: Human? cyborg? esper? android? etc?

‘Ware/Psychic Powers: Got any cyberware, bioware, or whatever else? list and describe them.

Appearance: What your character looks like. A picture at the top of the whole sheet/profile also works, although you can still note anything not immediately apparent.

Personality: Although I mention it here, it’s more for your reference than anyone else’s, so consider this section optional. It’s something you should think about, but no need to try and describe it in detail ahead of time and stick to it. See, i’m more of the opinion that a character’s personality will come out during play anyway.

History: Your character’s backstory. How did they become who they are and get where they are today?

Note: if you want to do anything really unusual, or want to let me know something as a GM that you want to keep secret from the other players feel free to PM me.

Name: Duncan Sorenson

Street Name: Dreadful Duncan, Duncan Donuts, D

Gender: Male

Species: Cyborg

‘Ware/Psychic Powers:

Mostly machine limbs; right arm is still the original biological arm but with a cybernetic exoskeleton. Has basic ether abilities (can manipulate some electromagnetic waves including light, radio, and X-rays). Cybernetic limbs have slightly above-human strength but not made for combat.

Appearance:

5'11", wears a dark tan cloak, silver and black hair, red eyes. Usually wears prescription sunglasses which contain a HUD device (similar to a highly-advanced Google Glass) even though his brain has a direct neural interface.

Personality:

Kind of a corny sense of humor, very serious most of the time; quiet when there's nothing important to say. Makes inappropriate jokes from time to time.

History:

Duncan used to be a hacker when he was completely human. As age set in, he opted for gradual cybernetic upgrades in order to stay physically mobile. He is 206 years old and regularly gets longevity treatments as well as maintenance work on his cybernetics.

After becoming mostly machine, he works security jobs in addition to performing hacking work for hire. He prefers to stay out of public view as much as possible due to the nature of his work and goes to great lengths to protect his identity.

(Character sketch by Nitrocosm, color by Miroku)

Atlas

Age: 27

Height: 6'-2"

Weight: 170 lbs.

Eyes: green

Hair: blonde

Gender: Male

Species: Human

Abilities: No special powers. He's very agile and has had military training. Atlas is very good at stealth.

Appearance: Atlas is dressed in normal, typical outdoors attire, nothing out of place for someone who might travel long distances on foot.

Personality: Atlas tries to be friendly but has problems making friends. He is bothered by a lot of things that remind him of his past. He has lost some of his memory but has flashbacks from time to time that make him unstable.

History: Atlas is a former soldier and has PTSD. He was involved in a major incident (to be defined in the story) and played a major role that involved doing some horrible things.

(Character art courtesy of Nitrocosm)

Shell

Age: 29

Height: 162cm

Weight: 108kg

Eyes: Deep Violet

Hair: Pale Blond

Gender: Female

Species: Human Cyborg

Abilities: Ether-based gravity manipulation, high-speed cybernetic parts. Can run extremely fast and is very agile; can jump quite high. Weak against electromagnetic phenomenon like lightning, static electricity, and E.M.P.

Appearance: Shell is small and appears to be light weight. Her cybernetic body is very heavy relative to a human and is all machine from the neck down. She has a human brain with artificial eyes and ears. Her brain is attached to a computer implant and she has constant connections with the wireless net.

She wears a pale green skirt and matching shawl. The rest of her metallic body is exposed and shows a lot of mechanical joints, vents, and maintenance ports.

Personality: She is kind but somewhat introverted. She talks a lot if she needs to do so.

History: Shell works for a research corporation - one of the mega corporations that rules the world - and is extremely loyal to her boss, until a certain thing happens that makes her question her loyalty.

Shell became a cyborg when she was 15 years old. She was found by the corporation in an alleyway, nearly starved to death and in the process of dying from a disease. Most of her body could not be saved and in order to preserve her brain, almost all of her body was replaced with advanced machinery. In order to repay the corporation, Shell pledged her loyalty.

Here is the full character model for Duncan "Donuts" Sorenson.