Post by Aphelyon on Feb 25, 2017 0:15:03 GMT -5
And you could have it all
It's been days since your last contact with civilization, besides the caravan you're traveling with, and you're sick and tired of being on the road. Your weapon is near broken, your armor is past broken, and it's been days since you've had anything resembling a decent sleep. A Rover tent, after all, isn't exactly the best defense against a horde of angry shamblers, even if they do have the tent booby-trapped all to hell. You're at your wits end, and you're beginning to think that if the zed, raiders, or radiation doesn't kill you, it'll be getting lost in these god-forsaken mountains that does. As the sun begins to set over the gray and blue mountains that stretch into the distance, you see... lights? For a moment you almost can't believe it, but sure enough, as the light dims you can see lights blinking into existence in a valley not far away. Some of it flickers like fire, but some of it is more steady... electricity? You can't make out more details of the settlement, but if there's electric lights, you can be damn sure it's more than a tribe of brainless raiders.
Unfortunately, the town is too far away for you to head to for the night, so your caravan makes camp on the hilltop, careful to keep the fire low and the guard high in case any raiders or trash pandas decide to get bold. Fortunately, the night is calm- maybe everything in the area is attracted to the larger, and- you hope for your current sake at least- more obvious town of the hill. Around the cook fire that night, you manage to find a place in the conversation to inquire about the town.
"Cove." The old Rover answers your question rather gruffly. "It had a longer name, back before the Fall, but now it's just called Cove. It's one of the oldest settlements. I guess because the mountains shelter it so well from the radiation up in Knox, and the valley is fertile."
"And-" a younger Rover girl puts in, "I've heard it's history stems back even long before the Fall. When some of the first humans came to this part of the world, this was one of their ancient settlements."
A couple of the younger members of the caravan seem quite impressed by this, and the mention of humans in particular. You are skeptical- after all, you're not entirely sure humans were even real. Weren't they just the modern strains, but they didn't come back? And, obviously, no Full Dead.
"So, is that where we've been heading?" you ask, eliciting a nod from the older Rover.
"It's the safest place in the mountains, 'less you're a Retro and you want to head to Knox. Otherwise, you'd have to go all the way to Kaintuck, or over to Eden. Or if you're real bold, down south to the Rat Trap." He nods matter-of-factly. "That's where you were wanting to go, right? Somewhere safe? We'll drop you off there tomorrow before we head on our way." A part of you is somewhat disappointed at the thought of leaving the Rovers, but that's the way of their strain, constantly traveling the wastes as their name would imply, and rarely settling down. Still, hopefully Cove would bring you new opportunities. You could find work, maybe settle down for a while. Maybe have some form of peace, as much as anyone does this day and age. Wasn't that your dream when you left home?
As the night lengthens and most of the Rovers settle down for the night, you look out over the gray mountains, watching the flickering pinpricks of light that outline the haven in the hills, and feel a spark of hope. Maybe you can survive after all.
About this Roleplay
Sorry for how... rambling and, uh, narrative the introduction was, it was really intended to familiarize you with the tone of this world, as well as introduce you to some concepts and words that are common here. All will be explained at some point.
This roleplay takes place several generations after what is now known as "The Fall," which was essentially a horrifying mixture of zombie and nuclear apocalypse. We are now left in the irradiated, zombie-infested wasteland left over from all those hundreds of years ago, trying to carve our livings from the shattered pieces of the earth. It takes place in the same universe as a LARP that I attend monthly, which is called Dystopia Rising (shortened to DR usually), and will use the same lore and a few similar mechanics, though obviously adapted to a text roleplay as opposed to a live-action one. This story, however, takes place approximately 40 years before the time period we play in the actual LARP. I chose to have it take place BEFORE our current timeline mostly just to prevent any storyline interference, and I picked precisely 40 years for... some character reasons. Really, my reasoning for even creating this roleplay is that I was listening to "Hurt" by Johnny Cash and it fits DR so frigging well and I just needed to do something about that. And also I want to share the DR universe with others because holy crap it's so good.
Anyways, now that my fanboy moment has passed, I'll get into the real meat of what's going on here. Essentially, this rp revolves around a town called Cove, which sits in modern-day Cade's Cove, Tennessee (thus it's name). To explain why I picked this, there's a few reasons. Firstly, there are no existing games in that area. The nearest ones are the ones mentioned in the intro: Kaintuck (Kentucky), Eden (Virginia), and Gatorland (Florida- referred to as the Rat Trap in the intro for timeline reasons). That means I pretty much have license to get kind of creative with the area, as (as far as I'm aware) there isn't much particular lore surrounding this area. And trust me, I've looked. There's canon on Virginia, there's canon on Kentucky, there's canon on frigging Alabama, and there's not even a game there. But I got nothin' on Tennessee. Secondly, I personally, IRL, am from Tennessee, and pretty close to Cade's Cove, though I don't currently live in the area. My main DR character is also from the same area. And finally, Cade's Cove is just a really logical place for a settlement to be established in the apocalypse. It just makes sense. As mentioned in the intro, it actually began as a settlement for people traveling west, going as far back as the pilgrims if I'm not mistaken. It's, in modern times, a tourist location with lots of traditional cabins and buildings that are hundreds of years old.
So, as for the actual lore of the world, or at least the bare bones of it. As mentioned, the world fell to a zombie/nuclear apocalypse hundreds of years ago, and today we live in a hopeless irradiated wasteland, though fortunately not as horribly destroyed as the Fallout series. Some places, but not all. Anyways. The Fall was begun by an entity known within the DR universe as the "Gravemind," which is essentially a gigantic fungus that grew beneath the surface of the earth. When people die, the Gravemind absorbs their corpses, rebuilds them and resurrects them, and pushes them back out onto the surface of the world to "feed." These are zombies, more often called "zed" within DR. The thing is, even if you kill them, the Gravemind will just absorb them and rebuild them, making it all rather... futile. But back before the Fall, or during it rather, things got so bad with the zed that countries decided to nuke their own major cities to try to vaporize the zed and stop them from coming back. This just caused a nuclear winter and the atmosphere to become toxic to humans, though, and the Gravemind of course just kept chugging along. But now, with rad zombies. Glorious.
Anyways, fortunately for us, the Gravemind also put out a sort of... stuff... called the "infection." You could think of it as being akin to a "zombie virus," but it's far more passive. It's really more like... FEV in Fallout. That is, Forced Evolution Virus. The benefit of the infection is that is causes people to adapt very, very quickly. Evolution that would normally take place over millennia can happen in small scales in a single individual, and drastically between generations. And that's how the modern strains were born: radiation, and the infection forcing us to evolve to compensate. Strains are essentially the different "races" that you will find in the wasteland, and as of now there are 21 known strains (though several cannot be played in this RP due to location, and at least one does not technically exist yet in this time period). Each strain has its own strengths and weaknesses, its own traditions and forms of culture, though of course due to their frequent interaction with each other, none are complexly different from each other. Another advantage to the infection is that it creates a sort of immunity from the Gravemind, and in modern times, most people are able to die and come back from the Gravemind without becoming a zed, sometimes multiple times. The trip is still very traumatic, and no one passes through the Gravemind unscathed, but at least they're alive. The number of times people can generally return from the Gravemind varies based on strain.
This roleplay takes place several hundred years after the Fall. Exactly how many, no one is sure... estimates range from 200 to closer to 600, but what we do know is that it has been at least four generations since the strains as we know them today have emerged. Meaning it's likely been a lot longer since the Fall itself happened. But things like record-keeping are pretty scarce in this day and age, when most people are more concerned about not getting murdered corpses, giant raccoons, and brain-dead dudes in hockey masks. In fact, the majority of people don't even know how to read. They're far more concerned with hitting things with pointy sticks, or if you're not into actually hitting things, you can be the guy who makes the pointy sticks. But I digress. That's really the generals of the world, but there's quite a bit more lore below.
About Cove
Cove is, supposedly, a settlement which has existed since the Fall itself. It is primarily a town run by the Sainthood of Ashes, one of the many faiths that people of the apocalypse believe in. The town's government reflects the modern USA government in some ways, primarily in that it has three branches. There is, of course, the president, who is the head of the government and is in charge of uniting the town. The president, in Cove, also serves as a sort of sheriff or general, and is the leader of Cove's guard and jail. The second branch is the council, the number of members of which is based on the population of Cove. A census is taken every ten years of permanent citizens (not travelers or refugees), and there is one councilor per 50 citizens; currently, there are 5 councilors. The job of the council is to make laws for the town and discuss the course of action for major issues, such as how to allocate resources in an emergency, or when to go to war. Finally, there is the jury, which is essentially the Supreme Court of Cove. It is their job to try those charged with crimes and determine their sentence. The jury always consists of 5 members. All members of Cove's government are voted on by permanent citizens.
Cove itself is primarily an agricultural town. Most of their resources come from farming crops and herbs and trading it for scrap with travelers from the nearby city of Knox (Knoxville). Cove's currency is called "ruby," though they're not actually rubies, but a small copper coin. Ruby is generally accepted in the surrounding areas, such as Knox, but if you travel much farther than that, people will no longer accept ruby as currency, though they may trade for its value in copper.
Cove is surrounded by a fairly tall wall- 6' at the shortest, 10' at the highest- all the way around. The wall is mostly made up wood, but is reinforced on the outside with stone and scrap metal. Of course, because zed can come up from anywhere through the ground, the wall is pretty useless in that regard. Still, it does a good job of keeping out most enemies such as raiders, salesmen, and unwanted wildlife (such as rad bears). The buildings in Cove are spread pretty thin, with plenty of space for farming around them. Most gardens have stones or metal sheets laid under the beds to keep zed from coming up in the crops, and are surrounded by fences to stop people from fighting in the fields and destroying the harvest. Buildings are mostly log cabins, but like the wall, some are reinforced with stone and metal. There are quite a few residential cabins, as well as space set aside to allow visitors to set up their own tents. There are also a few public places, such as the feast hall, hospital, and a couple taverns. (I may add a map eventually, if anyone joins. For now just get creative. If you want to run something like a shop or tavern just ask). Most buildings are pretty basic, generally consisting of only one room with some bunks and possibly other furniture. A few of the larger buildings have more rooms, however.
While the town does mostly use flame lanters, torches, fire pits, and other fire-based sources of light, it does also have a coal generator. The electricity from this is mostly used to power a small number of street lamps, to ensure the town stays well-lit and hunter-free. These lights are paid for by the city's taxes, and the city government trades with a nearby mine for the coal. Citizens can, however, pay an extra fee to use electricity in their house or place of business. Most people opt for fire light, though.
Cove Laws
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Roleplay Rules
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News
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Environmental Info
Date: -
Weather: -
Links
Lore Page
Joining Page