[sticky entry] Sticky: DURING THE LAST FIVE YEARS...

Mar. 14th, 1999 12:00 am

five years of cr


Your character might have volunteered to stay behind in Exsilium, and been here the full 5 years. Maybe they opted to go somewhere else, but wandered back in through a rift a while before the game started. Either way, they've been here a while, and here's where you can talk about what they've been doing, and who they've done it with!

a few options, for example--
➥ Your character joined the Renovants, and rose pretty high in the ranks. They're familiar with Maggie Stafford, previously the Initiative Greeter, currently head of the Renovants.

➥ Your character joined the Renovants, but split off with the Rough Riders when they broke away, and has happily and rebelliously been in their ranks since. (The head of the Rough Riders is still a work in progress, feel free to make suggestions/volunteer characters!)

➥ Your character was with the Rough Riders until their reckless methods drove them off, and now they're back with the Renovants again.

➥ Your character doesn't want anything to do with any of that, and has been living like a hobo for 2.5 years.

➥ Your character popped in through a rift 8 months ago, opened a sushi restaurant, and keeps losing employees to rifts. Damn those rifts.


Anything is plausible, really! Just fill out the below forum, post it in a comment, and comment around to others. Feel free to ask questions about the setting (or anything else, really) in the provided thread below, too!



Feel free to fill out as much or as little in these fields as you want! They're just meant as guidelines for us to get an idea of what our characters have been doing.

 

ARRIVALS » ❝ what happens when you arrive ❞

Mar. 14th, 2014 12:00 am

arrivals



welcome back;

So, how does your character end up in Exsilium (possibly again)? Well, this world isn't the only one fracturing under the stress of distorted time. The rifts have begun to seep into other worlds, and especially those originally touched by the Transporter. Characters who have been in Exsilium before may be casually going about their business at home for a day, a few weeks, even a few years... but eventually the rifts begin to show up.

They're gaps in reality that show a rainy, derelict, and unfortunately familiar world where there should just be empty space. Your character is free to step carefully around the rift and ignore it, but the longer they do this, the more rifts begin to appear. Put them off long enough, and your character's entire world could be torn apart by them, until there isn't anywhere to go but to Exsilium. And anyone else from your character’s world who steps into them, accidentally or otherwise? Well, they tend not to show up again... anywhere. The smartest choice is to head into a rift before they become too prevalent and damaging. But, really, how often does the smartest choice end up being the one taken?

Stepping into a rift can dump your character anywhere in Exsilium, and this time there isn't any Greeter to help out. There doesn't seem to be anyone around but ordinary citizens, but these days, they won't look at you so strangely if you mention the Initiative. "Oh, them. They're not around anymore." No one's quite clear on the details of it, but all can agree to curse the name — and sometimes the United Earth, too — as the power that fractured the world.


powers;

The days of sentient weapons are over. No one called your character here on purpose, so there’s no one to do any infusing of mysterious technology into your sword/spear/fork/whatever. Instead, the unstable power of the rift itself seems to have imbued them with… something. There’s no one to explain what this power is or how it’s supposed to be used, so good luck working that one out.


network usage;

Along with a power, the rift gave your character the gift of communication. This manifests in the form of hooking up whatever device your character happens to have on hand to the networks in use in Exsilium. Your big, blocky 90s cellphone from home, your sleek futuristic tablet? Your journal, your hand mirror? Instantly hooked up, as long as they’re in your possession. No non-newcomer can use it if it leaves your side, those guys are relegated to boring old technology usage to get online.

 

SETTING » ❝ some changes are in store ❞

Mar. 14th, 2013 12:00 am

world information



the scene after the transporter deactivated;

Time has been so muddled and distorted in the world that removing the mechanism responsible, the Transporter, was too little too late. The timestream was slowly tearing itself apart. Rips begin to appear in reality, gashes that could steal away anyone who fell into them and dump them in another time and place completely. There was no pattern or a predictable cause to these rifts, and people who fell into them were rarely recovered. But was quickly discovered that where a rift opens, if it remained open for longer than an hour, it permanently distorted reality around it. Time froze around the rift, becoming gray and still, completely immobile: timeless. It began to happen all over the world, but it centered on old London, HQ of the original Initiative.

On the other side of the Channel, the UE was in tatters and rapidly disintegrating, thanks to the efforts of the Transports. Within the first year, withdrawal killed hundreds of thousands as the UE infrastructure toppled, and famine killed many more. The world as the citizens of the UE knew it had ended, and all were forced out into a brand new and overwhelmingly harsh world. There were rumors that Exsilium was the only remaining organized power in the world, complete with much-needed food, shelter, and even medication for withdrawal symptoms, and many survivors began to flee to the former penal colony. Very few made it.

However, the rumors weren’t wrong. There was a growing power in Exsilium; it was founded on the remains of the Initiative, but it was something else entirely. This new group strove to find a way to close the rifts that are tearing apart time, strove to find a way to heal a nearly-ruined world. There is no longer a United Earth or an Initiative… only the damage they caused and those who would repair it.


present day;

It’s 5 years after the Transporter was finally deactivated. The two groups that fight to mend the world are still struggling valiantly against the rifts, but with limited success.

Exsilium is one of the best places to be in this warped version of the world. It’s one of the few places with working power, dependable food, and clean water. Life carries on, a little jagged around the edges, but manageable. Great walls have risen around the borders of the island, primarily to protect inhabitants from those outside who, maddened by radiation and lethal withdrawal from Verstatsi, would do anything to get ahold of the resources of Exsilium. Exsilium does allow immigration, but those coming in are watched closely as potentially unsafe, and exiled should they prove to be violent or unruly.

The current government is democracy in its original form; issues are voted on by the entire populace that cares to vote. It is a flawed system, but the best that could be done with so many pressing matters.

For example: rifts.

Rifts open with alarming commonality, and those who fall in are rarely, if ever, recovered. These rifts are responsible for the “frozen” areas of Exsilium, which must be avoided lest those who pass through them linger too long, and end up irrecoverably frozen along with the land. There is an ongoing fight to repair these rifts, but they remain a major threat to Exsilium.

The world outside of Exsilium is in terrible shape. Some cities have been replaced by scorched deserts, some have been entirely reclaimed by thick jungles and forests. Small civilizations have sprung up in defiance of an inhospitable world, but they’re rarely anything more than wandering groups, trying to find one more day of food, water, and shelter. Life out here is hard and sometimes brief. No one trusts anyone else, and with resources as scarce as they are, it’s not hard to see why. The people are debatably more dangerous than rifts, lingering radiation, uncontrolled nature, and any other danger one might face out here.

Great swaths of the world beyond Exsilium's borders are gray and still: victims of a rift left open for too long. These areas can still be saved, but remain a low priority for now.

 

PLACES » ❝ what has become of what we once knew ❞

Mar. 14th, 2012 12:00 am

locations


Exsilium the city has relocated to Old London, and what were once ruins are slowly becoming once again inhabited buildings. They’re renovating from the center outward, so the outskirts are still in poor condition.

Outside the city are the farmlands; anywhere that can sustain a crop, an orchard, or livestock is doing just that, and a large portion of the population works to maintain these farms.

Past the farmlands is the outlands, which are not in nearly as poor condition as Transports last saw them. This is now simply unused land, usually on account of being too rocky, mountainous, or dry to be very useful.

Beyond the outlands is the Wall. This fortification is built 1 kilometer out from the shore all around the island, and rises 40 feet above the water. The Wall is solid up to 20 feet under the water line, and rests upon pillars that rise from the sea floor. Few people outside Exsilium are in good enough shape to make it under or over the Wall, although it has been known to happen.

The Renovants’ HQ is established somewhere in East Exsilium, and the Rough Riders’ is somewhere in West Exsilium.

( You can also refer to the original game's world information for some outdated maps! )

 

FACTIONS » ❝ it's for the best we stay together ❞

Mar. 14th, 2011 12:00 am

factions



Those trying to save time have developed a strategy for closing rifts and fixing timeless areas, but they've also made enemies. There are now two groups in Exsilium, each of them with the same goal, but using vastly different methods.

NOTE: These organizations are not meant to be mod-run or dominated by NPCs! We highly encourage players to insert their characters anywhere in the ranks, from lowly grunt to a position of leadership. There is no mod approval required for that, just notate on the taken page what position your character holds.


The Renovants are the original group; they repurposed the Initiative time travel technology, but have made it nearly perfectly safe to send world-natives back in time. Hardly anyone every disappears anymore. These people take their time with each rift, calculating exactly what must be done to close it, wasting no excess energy, and taking as few risks as possible. They would like to see the rest of the world bettered: governments, countries, and ways of life reestablished... provided Exsilium is recognized as a proper country. Their first priority is improving their home, and they will turn their attention to the rest of the world after Exsilium is secured.

The Renovants believe that the world was always headed for its present state. They believe that anything done in time is only a temporary fix: they may close rifts in time, they may make little changes here and there, but the world they have now is the one they must live with. They focus on improving the present as it stands now, and not trying to recreate it as the Initiative used to. That, after all, is the source of all their problems today.

This group is located in Eastern Exsilium and has the best available technology and resources to work with. Its members live in the most (comparative) comfort.


The Rough Riders (self-named... they're referred to as the Outliers, by the Renovants) take a much more aggressive approach to closing rifts. They're far more likely to lunge in, do what has to be done to fix it, and secure any and all useful resources while they're there. Their losses are often high, but their payoff is greater. They'd originally grown impatient with the Renovants' slow and careful approach, claiming that with such slow action, the rifts would win out before the Renovants ever managed to close them all, and splintered off to form their own group.

The Rough Riders believe that the Initiative had the right idea, but went about it clumsily and with not nearly enough knowledge of the causality of time. They believe the key to bettering the present does still lie in tweaking the past, in repainting the current version of events to suit their purposes. They're also interested in going past just rebuilding the world—they'd like to see a Utopia come to light, and intend to find it with the liberal exploitation of rifts and technologies borrowed from other worlds.

This group's technology is mostly scavenged from the Renovants, and is constantly breaking down, malfunctioning, and in need of repairs. They don't live very comfortably.


These groups compete with each other, and have no small amount of bad blood between them. They first splintered only 2 years into the efforts to save Exsilium, and have had 3 years of foiling, backstabbing, and disagreements just short of getting bloody to ensure that they're not ready to work together any time soon.

 

FAQ » ❝ few questions we're allowed ❞

Mar. 14th, 2010 12:00 am

frequently asked questions



IC MECHANICS;
➥ Who's in charge around here?
Exsilium is slowly establishing a government, for the first time since being named Exsilium. They've worked out something like the original idea of Democracy, wherein everyone who cares to vote gets a vote. It's a slow system, and is proving to be deeply flawed (and a little corrupted), but the issue is generally backburnered while there's so much else going on. There are ample opportunities to insert your character into this process (or into changing this system) if you want to play with it!


➥ What about the people who are fixing things?
That's the Renovants, and their splinter group, the Rough Riders. (Referred to as "the Outliers" by the Renovants.) They have a whole page here! These two groups have absolutely no interest in governing Exsilium, they're only trying to save it and the rest of the world.

Note: These groups are meant to be mostly PC-led, rather than directed by NPCs! If you want your character to rise into a position of leadership (especially characters who have been here before the game opened), go for it! No mod permission required.


➥ How does death work?
Death is permanent! Sorry, no more resurrection technology. Try not to die!

… However, it’s permanent in a distinctly comic book sort of way. We’re time travelers, right? Surely we can undo this travesty! Deaths CAN be undone, but there’s no longer an easy fix-it button, and this should not be taken lightly. Undoing someone’s death will always come with a sacrifice, which will vary by situation. (This isn’t necessarily decided by mods, though; this is a heavily player-directed game, and whatever kind of revival technique and sacrifice you can think up will probably be fine.)


➥ Is my character stuck in Exsilium, or can they travel?
Characters can go where ever the hell they want to go! They’ll find the rest of the world a wild, unwelcoming, and hostile place, but they’re definitely free to go there. They can leave Exsilium by any means they can think up (swim under the Wall, hop over the Wall, take the single gate that is happy to let people out but more cautious about letting them in, whatever!). They can even hop into a rift and find themselves suddenly on the other side of the globe.


➥ Tell me more about these rifts.
Rifts are holes that open in reality. They can lead anywhere — to another world, to another place in this world, to another place and time in this world… there’s no end to the variety. However, if a rift is open for longer than an hour, it permanently wrecks time around it, and freezes it in place. The immediate area (anywhere from a 5 foot radius to a half mile radius) becomes cold, gray, and lifeless, and anyone who passes through this area and lingers for too long could get caught up in it. It is very difficult to unfreeze a timeless area, and it’s better to heal the rift before it freezes.


➥ So what if you're in a rift when it closes?
Anyone who is inside a rift when it's closed or after it passes its hour limit is lost. There have been rescue missions mounted, and sometimes they're even successful... but it's an incredibly wasteful expenditure of time and resources, and most agree that it's for the greater good to leave any stragglers until rescue is safer and more practical.

However, if a character is rescued, there are usually consequences. Memories have been known to be lost in characters trapped behind a rift; sometimes this loss is temporary, sometimes it's permanent. Sometimes a sense is altered, sometimes a sickness is gained. What kind of consequence it is is left up to player discretion.

Also, once in a while, someone is written off as lost only to reappear later inexplicably. No one really knows how they got back or what happened — and the reappeared person certainly can't tell you, either. These reappearances, rare as they are, come with the most severe consequences.


➥ How do you heal a rift?
Hop through it and mess with things! No, really. There’s some specific object that has been dislodged in time and thrown where it doesn’t belong. Your objective is to find this thing (the Renovants have developed technology to make this easier, a little like a Geiger counter) and pull it back through the rift into the present, where it can harmlessly dispel its chronal energy.

And yes, the Renovants and the Rough Riders have some REALLY weird collections of stuff in their storage rooms. (Read more about the Renovants and the Rough Riders here.)


➥ So… can my character go home?
Yep! The rift they came in through is probably closed again, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be another one opening at some point. Your character can go home at any time, but the home they return to will be just as ragged and falling-apart as the home they left the first time. But they’re welcome to go, and welcome to bring other people with them. This (or a trip through any rift, really) would be a great way to hiatus and explain your character’s disappearance.

Just be careful not to run into a rift beast.


➥ Wait. Rift beast?
Ah, yes. All that chronal energy isn’t entirely harmless! Sometimes it mutates things into unrecognizable creatures, and these creatures seem to have nothing better to do than lurk around and in rifts. And yes, they’re very aggressive. Something might lunge at you from behind a tapestry in a 1500s English castle, attack, and then immediately flicker out of existence again. Those rift beasts, they’re pretty unpredictable. And they can look like anything. A mutated cockroach, a mythological creature, a completely unrecognizable mass of limbs and teeth… it could even look like the person you entered the rift with. Are you sure that’s your friend?


➥ How do powers work?
The rifts are still a vastly unexplored science, and it’s been discovered that people who come to Exsilium through them are often granted unusual powers. No one knows why or how, but they seem to be permanent. A power can be anything you want to give your character, as long as it isn’t game breaking. Use your best judgment.


➥ So there’s a network here?
Yes! The Renovants use one network, and the Rough Riders use another. These come with strict firewalls, but once you earn the group’s trust, you should be given access to them.

There is also a general network, which the non-native communicators are automatically linked up to. Natives can also access this network, if they can find the right signal to latch onto.

When posting to the network community, please indicate in the subject line which of these three networks your character is posting to.


➥ How do the communicators work?
More rift magic: you now power your own communicators just with your presence. And “communicator” is used very loosely. It could be the cellphone you came in with, or the laptop, or even just a journal or hand mirror. Whatever you’re using can now convert your voice/handwriting/whatever into an audio/text/whatever post to whatever network you’d like to post to.

However, encryption still works! If someone using a mundane old computer connection to a network wants to prevent you from reading something, you won’t be able to read it. Yes, you can probably figure out to hack it, but hacking methods vary depending on what you’re using. You can also encrypt things yourself, if you figure out how to. That also varies depending on device.

Your character won’t be able to access the Renovant or Rough Rider networks without being invited, or doing a LOT of careful hacking. (Talk this one out with the players involved before you make it happen!)


OOC MECHANICS;
➥ Is there an Activity Check?
Fuck no.

No really, no one wants that. There’ll be a monthly check in, just to confirm you want to keep playing. If you find yourself not being active anymore though, do consider dropping for the sake of your close CR. It’s hard to plot around an absent canonmate/character friend. You can always come back again later, when you’re feeling it more!

➥ How do I canon update?
Just do it! Say your character fell into a rift, into an inexplicably whole an intact version of their world. They will remember their time in Exsilium, however, so your canon update may not go strictly the way it went down in canon…

➥ Can I invite a friend?
Probably! If you like your friend, chances are good we’ll like them too. Just run them by a mod.


DISCLAIMER: We reserve the right to kick out anyone for being a jerk. Don’t be a jerk. We just want to RP here.


Also, remember to keep your posts to the communities locked, please!

 

PLOTS

Mar. 14th, 2009 12:00 am

plotting post


Here is a record of plots we've done so far. If you have one in mind, please comment to this page to discuss and plan it out!

Players: please visit this page. Uncheck "Someone comments", and check "Someone makes a new top-level comment". This will alert you to any new potential plots.

 

APPLICATIONS » ❝ we certainly hope you're ready ❞

Mar. 14th, 2008 12:00 am

applications

( applications are open permanently. )


Please provide the following information using the HTML template below.

PLAYER NAME: what we call you
CHARACTER NAME: what we call who you play
CHARACTER CANON: what they're from + if they're an AU
HISTORY/PERSONALITY: a brief overview of your character, bullet points style. prose is acceptable but unnecessary.
POWERS/ABILITIES: both canon and your rift-granted power. again, bullet points are sufficient.



For new players, a referral by a current active player in the game is also required.

Post your application on this page to be granted community access. After access is granted, please add yourself to the taken page.

 

DROPS » ❝ it's unfortunate to see you go ❞

Mar. 14th, 2007 12:00 am

drops


Please fill this out and post it in a comment to this page. This is just so people can be made aware of potential disappearances for CR fallout purposes; players are free to rejoin at any time.



 

DIRECTORY » ❝ where our battles begin ❞

Mar. 14th, 2000 12:00 am