Post by Aphelyon on Dec 30, 2016 14:27:23 GMT -5
war never changes
It is the year 2077. For nearly thirty years the world has been at war, on the brink of nuclear annihilation. In preparation for the seemingly-inevitable apocalypse, the United States government commissioned massive underground Vaults to be built to house as much of its population as possible in the case of all-out war. Each Vault houses 1000, but even still, everyone knows that only a small portion of the population can be saved.
Vault 176 sits on the outskirts of Nashville, Tennessee, nestled in the mountains and protected by hundreds of feet of solid stone, positioned so that it is exactly central to ten schools in the vicinity. For the past five years since construction of the Vault begin, each school has done a monthly drill in case of nuclear emergency, where each school would be evacuated and bused to the Vault- after all, the community had decided, children are the future and therefore priority.
It is October 23, 2077, 9:40 a.m. You are sitting in your class as usual, bored or taking notes. It's sunny outside, with a few clouds and a nice breeze. You think about what you're going to do for Halloween, as that's coming up soon. Hopefully the 31st is as nice as today. The radio plays quietly in the background.
It is 9:42 a.m. Your teacher stops and quickly moves to the radio, turning it up. Voices are suddenly urgent, and even you turn to listen, freezing in near-panic as you hear the news: Washington D.C. is gone.
It is 9:45 a.m. You, along with hundreds of other students from your school and those nearby, load into buses to make the three-minute drive to Vault 176. All you have with you is what you managed to grab off your desk as you were ushered out of your classroom. As fighter jets zoom overhead, you think about your parents.
It is 9:48 a.m. You step off your bus even as more pull into the parking lot, students quickly making their way up the hill and into the massive cave that houses the entrance to the Vault, directed by Vault-Tec employees in white coats. They look like doctors or scientists, but right now you're more afraid of the bombs. The radio plays quietly in the background. Boston is gone.
It is 9:50 a.m. Everything is dark, except for the faint lights of the Vault ahead. You can hear steam and gears in the distance, and instinctively feel the oppressive weight of the mountain above you. Outside, you hear an explosion. Yelling, gears, small children crying while older ones try to comfort them. The door grinds closed.
Welcome to Vault 176.
vault 176
As stated in the introduction, Vault 176 is a Vault built in Nashville, Tennessee, to house students from ten nearby schools. Officially, it is meant to preserve the area's youth and to do its best to raise them well to adulthood so that they can rebuild society once the Vault opens in twenty years. In reality, like all Vaults it serves a much darker motive.
This Vault, like all, is intended to be able to house up to 1000 individuals, plus the Vault-Tec staff. It is built to be entirely self-sufficient, and while much of the Vault's functions are automated, many will be operated by the students or by the Vault-Tec staff. The Vault is divided into five sections: Section One is the highest and meant for the Overseer and Vault-Tec employees. Section Two is just below that, and is the "public" section, though students are only allowed to go there during specific events and under the watch of their chaperones. Sections Three, Four, and Five are meant for the students. Each has three levels- each with different functions- and each Section is meant for a different set of schools. For all intents and purposes, all three of these Sections are identical.
The schools Vault 176 is built to serve are as follows:
Sunny Hills Elementary, Ravenwood Academy Grammar School, Greenmeadow Elementary, Silver Oak Junior High, Tranquil Grove Middle School, Whitewater Academy for Girls, Mountainridge Academy for Boys, Crystal River High, West Bridge Academy High School, and Quinn Charter High School.
The true purpose of this Vault is essentially to become Lord of the Flies. Vault-Tec staff will at first control the students' every move, assigning them to tasks and establishing their daily routine. Over time, they will begin to put systems in place that will cause the students to have more power and authority, and slowly remove their influence entirely from the lower Sections until students are entirely in control. The purpose of having the schools grouped is to cause tensions and prejudice between them and see where that leads. This is why students are only allowed in Section Two on certain occasions: the schools are intended to only interact when competing, such as with a sports event. Once the students have become autonomous, several challenges and scenarios are planned that will put strain on them and force them to make difficult decisions to see how the children deal with each other and handle the stress.
the schools
Each of the schools are described below, grouped by which Section they will belong to.
SECTION THREE
Ravenwood Academy Grammar School, Whitewater Academy for Girls, Mountainridge Academy for Boys, West Bridge Academy High
These schools are the prestigious local private schools. Children who attend these schools are primarily of a slightly wealthier social class, though this is not exclusively the case (some parents work hard to send their children to the best school in the area). As a private school, the education is less standard than the other schools, and provides many extracurricular activities and elective courses, especially in the high school. While the elementary and high school are both co-ed, the middle schools are separated by gender. The thought on this is that that is the age where children are primarily developing their sense of gender, and so both schools are tailored to suit each (albeit primarily with upper middle class stereotypes). As such, Whitewater Academy has many "feminine" classes such as sewing, dancing, and cooking, while Mountainridge Academy has more "masculine" classes like shooting, outdoor survival, and carpentry. West Bridge Academy is co-ed and offers many classes that are both feminine and masculine, and while students may take any class they choose, sticking to gender stereotypes is encouraged and for the most part abided by.
Ravenwood Academy Grammar School's colors are black and white and their mascot is a raven.
Whitewater Academy for Girls' colors are pink and white and their mascot is a mare.
Mountainridge Academy for Boys' colors are blue and white and their mascot is a stallion.
West Bridge Academy High School's colors are purple and white and their mascot is a lion/lioness.
SECTION FOUR
Sunny Hills Elementary, Silver Oak Junior High, Quinn Charter High School
These three schools are the more urban/suburban public schools in the area. They are firmly middle class and pretty average as far as schools go. They are generally considered pretty good schools, but for the most part are nothing exceptional. They are the largest schools of their type in the area, being free (unlike the Academies) and serving a large population than Greenmeadow, Tranquil Grove, and Crystal River. Because of this, they are not especially close-knit and there is not a lot of sense of unity or school spirit.
Sunny Hills Elementary's colors are black and yellow and their mascot is a honey bee.
Silver Oak Junior High's colors are silver and green and their mascot is a woodpecker (red-headed).
Quinn Charter High School's colors are dark blue and gold and their mascot is a black bear.
SECTION FIVE
Greenmeadow Elementary, Tranquil Grove Middle School, Crystal River High
These three schools are generally considered the "lower class" schools of the area. Despite this impression, they are not bad schools- they just serve a more rural community, which others in the area consider to be rather "hillbilly." In actuality, these schools teach just as many wealthy kids as poor kids- the thing they share in common is the fact that they live in the country. Some are wealthy large-scale farmers, while others are poor mountain folk who live in groups of trailers. Despite these differences, this school has a strong sense of community and school pride, as most of the people know each other and have most of their lives. The school is overall more agriculture-based than the other schools, with less focus on strictly "academic" courses such as math and English and more agriculture-based electives such as horticulture or livestock care.
Greenmeadow Elementary's colors are green and yellow and their mascot is a gosling (baby goose).
Tranquil Grove Middle School's colors are gray and blue and their mascot is a gray fox.
Crystal River High's colors are red and yellow and their mascot is a raccoon.
the sections
SECTION ONE
Section One- or as the children will come to know it, "the office,"- is where the majority of the Vault-Tec employees live and work. It is actually entirely self-sufficient even from the rest of the Vault, so even in the event that the societies formed by the children later completely break down, the Vault-Tec employees will still be able to live fairly comfortably. It includes a greenhouse, water purifier, and small nuclear generator, as well as the Overseer's office, the "teacher's lounge," the screenroom, and several rooms for the staff.
The Overseer's office is pretty standard: it consists of a desk with control terminals for every aspect of the Vault, as well as the Overseer's living quarters.
The teacher's lounge is essentially a living and dining area for the Vault staff.
The screenroom has screens and controls for all the cameras in the Vault- which cover practically every inch- and controls for the doors and similar basic functions.
There are ten bedrooms in Section One. Each one has its own bathroom, two small bedrooms (each with a bunk bed and dresser), and a small central "living area" consisting of a radio, couch, small table, cabinet, and microwave. Section One is built to comfortably house up to forty-one people (including the Overseer). The teachers for the different Sections, as well as Section One staff, all live here.
SECTION TWO
Section Two is the smallest Section, at least in terms of number of rooms. Like each section, it has its own small nuclear generator. Past this, it consists almost exclusively of a single large room called "the auditorium." This is where group events for all three Sections are held- it consists of three sets of bleachers (one for each Section), and a large central area that is plenty large enough for most sports, such as soccer, volleyball, or tennis (though not sports requiring a very large area, like baseball or football). The Auditorium is connected to the first level of the next three sections through the three "Principal's Offices."
SECTION THREE
Section Three, like both of the other school sections, consists of three levels. The first level is the living and schooling area. The hub area is the Cafeteria, which is set up very similar to a school cafeteria. The Cafeteria is connected to the Principal's Office, which in turn connects it to Section Two's Auditorium. A few halls also lead to classrooms- twelve in all- a library, a nurse's office, and the Gymnasium. The Gymnasium is essentially a much smaller version of the Auditorium.
As the Section that houses the "prestigious" private schools, Section Three is set up to deal with more "refined" and skilled kinds of work. Children can choose whether they would prefer to go into science or art- if they choose the latter, they will end up mostly learning how to deal with maintaining robots and machinery, as well as advanced maths and sciences that will supposedly help them when the Vault opens and they are tasked with rebuilding society. Art students, on the other hand, are tasked with "keeping up morale," and are taught fine arts such as painting, dance, music, and theater.
The second level of Section Three is the living quarters. It is connected to the Cafeteria by an elevator and set of stairs, which lead to Section Three's "lounge." The lounge is essentially a relaxation and recreation area, with a few couches and chairs, some tables, a couple radios, and a few closets with things like board games. Two hallways lead off from the lounge, lined with dormitory rooms. One hallway is for boys, and the other for girls. Each dorm consists of a small living area with a small table, a desk, a couch and loveseat, and a radio. A bathroom is connected to this, as well as two small bedrooms, each with two bunk beds, one dresser, and extra drawers set under the bottom bunk of each bed. Both hallways have 10 dormitories that students are randomly assigned to based on age range (this is calculated so that the Vault at max capacity really would have 1000 occupants. In the roleplay, only as many rooms as actually fill up will be used).
Finally, the third level is far more barren than the others. For Section Three, it mostly consists of classroom-like rooms where "extracurricular" activities, as well as "work" activities will take place: robot maintenance and other projects for the science students, and art, dance, and music studios for the art students.
SECTION FOUR
-
SECTION FIVE
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-