Post by Aphelyon on Mar 29, 2020 18:21:32 GMT -5
They say the world used to be all green and filled with prey, that the water was clean and the summers didn't burn. It was too long ago for most cats left alive to remember, or even their parents or their parents' parents. The world we know today is harsh and brown, all cinders and dead branches. The sky is so often grey with ashy clouds; a blessing, really, as when the sun comes through it sets the world ablaze. The landscape is littered with the bones of the old world: crumbling buildings and barren trees and dry rivers. Sometimes even literal bones.
The life that is left is sparse and feral and desperate. There is little water and shelter, and even less food. Creatures must fight for everything they have, even- and sometimes especially- with members of their own species. Truly only the strongest or cleverest survive, and no one is above doing what they must to do so- stealing, scavenging, killing. There is no code of morals anymore, not when the only thing left is scraps.
The life that is left is sparse and feral and desperate. There is little water and shelter, and even less food. Creatures must fight for everything they have, even- and sometimes especially- with members of their own species. Truly only the strongest or cleverest survive, and no one is above doing what they must to do so- stealing, scavenging, killing. There is no code of morals anymore, not when the only thing left is scraps.
The intro and title are pretty self-explanatory: this is a roleplay that takes place in a post-apocalyptic world following what amounts to an ecological collapse, which rendered much of the world largely uninhabitable. The seasons are more extreme, with winters being extremely, extremely cold, and summers being so hot that sunlight during the day can start fires, if there's anything left to burn. If the temperatures alone weren't enough to kill just about everything, alternating between them throughout the course of the year is enough to prevent most things from adapting to those extremes. Obviously, most life has been killed off, either but the temperature or by a lack of food due to reduced plant life. Similarly, most rivers and streams have been reduced to sludge, and where the water does still flow, it's often not clear. Humans are mostly gone, though there are still stories and legends of bands of humans who still exist, trying to survive in the ruins just as desperately as anything else. It is not of concern to most cats.
At the moment, there's not really any kind of overarching plot, but we may develop one as we go on. Most characters should be fairly hostile to one another, unless they are, and sometimes even in spite of being, close kin. Being relatively solitary creatures, cats are mainly concerned with their own survival or the survival of their kits- anyone else, including their mate, siblings, parents, and of course any non-related individuals, are expendable, especially if they get in the way at all. Altruism is essentially dead but in the rarest of cases, and while cats may occasionally work together towards a common goal, they help and tolerate each other only so far as they are useful to each other. It's not a question of morality; it's a question of survival.
At the moment, there's not really any kind of overarching plot, but we may develop one as we go on. Most characters should be fairly hostile to one another, unless they are, and sometimes even in spite of being, close kin. Being relatively solitary creatures, cats are mainly concerned with their own survival or the survival of their kits- anyone else, including their mate, siblings, parents, and of course any non-related individuals, are expendable, especially if they get in the way at all. Altruism is essentially dead but in the rarest of cases, and while cats may occasionally work together towards a common goal, they help and tolerate each other only so far as they are useful to each other. It's not a question of morality; it's a question of survival.
To make joining easy, just post a short description (sentence or two) of your character, and any other important information (relationships, personality traits, etc.) that you want people to know from the get-go. Don't spend too much time worrying about writing out backstory or an in-depth personality description anything like that; ideally, there will be plenty of time to explore that in the roleplay. Remember that these cats are also several generations feral, mostly living alone, and desperately trying to survive- they will likely be ragged, scarred up, and you probably won't see any pure (or even close to pure) breeds left. Similarly, cats who have disabilities such as being blind, deaf, or severely injured likely would not have survived long, especially if their disability is not a recent development. There may occasionally be exceptions to this, but they should be very rare examples. Similarly, abandoned or orphaned kits will not last very long on their own and are relatively unlikely to be adopted (though it certainly can happen).