The year is 2218. The world is in a time of rapid change. A massive crisis between the disadvantaged, poor, and the elites of the world is coming to an end as space travel is finally opened up to the general public. Space tourism has started to flourish in the past couple of years and more "resort" space colonies are being constructed in Earth orbit at a rapid pace.
Poverty is still rampant and the world is every bit as dangerous as it has ever been, even with a sharp decline in terrorism. While some corporations have improved their behavior, others continue to become more corrupt.
Welcome to Chrome Symphony, Episode Three: The Hopes of Humanity.
A sea change in corporate influence
Crest Corporation has expanded into the space travel and tourism business. The company began investing large amounts of money into commercial space flight and their stock prices have skyrocketed in the past year. The new president and CEO of Crest corporation convinced the company's board of directors to invest in making space travel affordable and lobbied the North American Union to lift its heavy restrictions on citizen space travel.
Terrorism in steep decline
The Herei Mob Army and several other terrorist factions have completely fallen apart. The governments of the world cracked down on the influence of these organizations after the Herei Mob Army's main base of operations suddenly vanished two years ago.
Adepts become inept
After the sudden disappearance of Near Earth Asteroid 726, the global adept phenomenon experienced a sudden, unexplained end. Adepts everywhere found themselves unable to manifest their abilities. While astronomers continue to investigate the asteroid's disappearance, other researchers continue to seek an explanation for the sudden loss of the adepts' abilities.
Modern Royalty
The new president and CEO of Crest corporation, Jessica Price, was recently married to the head of her personal security team. The wedding was televised and dominated press coverage. The president retained her maiden name and her husband, Atlas, took her surname. There are rumors that she plans to campaign for a position in the North American Union's governing council.
The Underworld is busier than ever
While terrorism is rare nowadays, the underground crime world is more active than ever before. Shell Lockheed has become a freelance hacker ever since her former employer, EMA corporation, downsized considerably following the destruction of its main headquarters. Shell frequently works with Duncan Sorenson, a fellow hacker. They meet every morning for coffee at a local doughnut shop.
About once per week, the two of them visit the Velvet Room for dinner and drinks. Sophia Weiss, also known as Elise Lorentz, works at the Velvet Room and sometimes accompanies Duncan and Shell on runs whenever they need some muscle.
Life extension technology
Duncan recently underwent extensive cutting-edge life extension technology, which was developed by Crest Corporation using a variant of the nano-technology that the company's new president uses personally. Since the abrupt end of the adept phenomenon, this particular nano-technology has become more stable. Shell and Elise have also undergone significant upgrades to improve their physical abilities.
To start, we have at least two new characters. They could be NPCs but if anyone wants to play them:
JAX 0208
Jax is an A.I. android from the space colony at L1. She was sent by Dr. Camay Thameh to Earth in order to observe things and watch for any signs that the adept phenomenon may return.
Kel Grundig
Kel is a long-time friend and former co-worker of Shell Lockheed. She used to work for EMA corporation but recently started working for Crest Corporation in their R&D department. She specializes in cutting-edge communications technology using quantum entanglement.
Alright, now the fun stuff. If you have any new characters you would like to introduce to the story, please post them here. This thread is also for general OOC discussion of the plot.
When you post your character, please give their name, age, a general description of their appearance, any powers or abilities they may have (remember that adepts are, at least for now, unable to manifest their powers) and a little bit of backstory, if you like.
If you have art of your character, feel free to post that as well.
If you're new to this RP, we use a freestyle, rotating-GM model. In other words, we all write and advance the plot as a collaborative effort and we don't have anyone officially in charge of steering the story. It's more or less a free-for-all but we try very hard to get a feel for the collective flow of things.
