B
Borkasu Lazer
Guest
Original poster
Disclaimer
Dead Depression is a RP concept that is based around the tabletop RPG, Red Markets, by Caleb Stokes. While Red Markets contains basic tabletop systems such as dice and multiple systems for combat, social interaction and campaigns, Dead Depression will not contain dice systems nor any regimented systems. While the role-play and interaction will be severely less tense and adrenaline-rushed, it is my hope that skilled writing will make up for that.
Dead Depression is a look into the 'post-apocalypse world' of the Zombie Apocalypse while Because I could not stop for Death, the interest check down below this one, would be considered a 'pre-apocalypse world' of the Zombie Apocalypse.
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Dead Depression is a RP concept that is based around the tabletop RPG, Red Markets, by Caleb Stokes. While Red Markets contains basic tabletop systems such as dice and multiple systems for combat, social interaction and campaigns, Dead Depression will not contain dice systems nor any regimented systems. While the role-play and interaction will be severely less tense and adrenaline-rushed, it is my hope that skilled writing will make up for that.
Dead Depression is a look into the 'post-apocalypse world' of the Zombie Apocalypse while Because I could not stop for Death, the interest check down below this one, would be considered a 'pre-apocalypse world' of the Zombie Apocalypse.
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H.E.R.C continues to quell riots in the Depression as poverty is on the rise
Andy L. Weyner, 21st March 2032
In downtown North Carolina, the situation has stabilised. Over a week ago, thousands of residents and tenants in the laden-apartment buildings and shacks, naming themselves the Destitute, have launched a state-wide protest against the Nest, a pejorative term for a group of people in the U.S that hold the largest concentration of wealth in the Depression consisting of famous politicians, celebrities and billionaires.
The massive state-wide protest has occurred for over several hours or so, millions of dollars worth in property damage and civilian damage caused by the so-called Destitute. Over 20 H.E.R.C offices and outposts have been currently over-run by these protesters as they call for a nation-wide revolution against H.E.R.C.
Fortunately, the riot was dismantled over the course of several days thanks to the work of H.E.R.C. With the help of national military service and special operatives, the leaders of the organised riot, Thompson Bell, and Jonah Lewis, were executed on March 20th, as of yesterday. It is estimated that there were over 252 casualties in the riot itself. H.E.R.C states that the rest of the rioters will currently serve time in internment camps for over a period of 5 years before their eventual release.
The North Carolina Riot is just another in a series of riots that has been perpetuated in the Depression since its creation over 13 years ago. The growing civil unrest has eased since the creation of the Ownership Identification Exchange Program but it is expected that every month will have a riot or so.
H.E.R.C official, Martin Newman, states that the official short-term solution to the riots will be 'standard H.E.R.C procedure until we can get that damn roll-back scheme going on.' Another controversial statement made by Martin Newman surrounded the disparity in the quality of life between the Depression and the Refuse, stating that 'the rioters shouldn't look the gift-horse in the mouth and instead, be grateful for what we provide them.'
One can only imagine what life on the Refuse is.
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What is Dead Depression?
Dead Depression is a role-play setting that exists in a 20 minutes into the future post-apocalypse setting of Earth where most of the countries in the world have been ravaged by a virulent plague that has caused most of the Earth's population to become hungry, flesh-eating monsters. However, the government and the military of the world have managed to cordoned and contain the apocalypse by separating and quarantining non-infected areas from infected areas. These over-run infected areas became known as the Refuse while the non-infected areas became known as the Depression.
A key theme of Dead Depression will be that everything that you do will cost something, in the form of precious items or a Bounty. Whether it be medical expenses, the cost for your ammunition, living space, vehicle maintenance, buying food, romantic relationships, sex, killing a person and so forth; everything has a price in the Refuse and you will have to pay for it, whether it be fiscally or mentally.
Who are you?
In Dead Depression, you are a Veyor, the abbreviation for the term ' Surveyor'. Veyors are the unofficial term for mercenaries that struggle to make everyone in their life satisfied; landlords, their families, their friends, the government, and spend resources to make a living in the shit-hole of a world that exists in Dead-Depression. You will need to pay rent to the Turf that you stay in, feed your family and yourself, maintain your equipment, go for medical checkups and do all of the things a modern, civilized member of the human race needs to do to stay sane and healthy.
Veyors are typically known for crossing over the line and into zombie territory to accomplish dangerous missions that have high risk-high reward. They are opportunists who believe that they have a higher chance of surviving better in the world by ripping out Bounties and doing risky tasks instead of working as a pack mule all day in a factory in a random Turf in the Refuse. Veyors are known to cheat, scam and do whatever they can to achieve the highest amount of profit possible for their ultimate end-goal and to make sure their lives run as smoothly as possible in the Refuse.
The end-goal of all Veyors is to hog up enough money and Bounty to retire in the Depression safely for them and their friends and families. Sure, it might border on totalitarianism but it's the only place where you can go into a strip club, get laid, go home and order pizza without worry of having your face chewed off by an infected. To retire in the Depression is a tiring process, one that involves a lot of bribing, smuggling and illegal forgery of identification papers but Veyors have done it and lived through it. They will tell you it's worth it.
To be a Veyor, one must make sacrifices and go to a journey of hardship and numerous challenges to make their way to the safe haven of the Depression. You have recently joined up with a crew of other Veyors in order to ensure a better profit for yourself and to guarantee your safety. Whether you're a veteran or a newbie, it doesn't matter.
Because either one has an equal chance of dying in the Refuse.
How will this RP work?
Dead Depression works on a basic mission level similar to most tabletop games. The main focus of each RP will be missions that will be formulated by me, the GM. For each arc, there will be 2 missions that will be offered to the crew through the Life-Line forums. Each role-player has a vote of which one they would like to do. The majority vote determines the mission that the crew does.
There will be a interlude break between every mission for some character interaction and so forth.
Dead Depression operates on rules of realism and repercussions for every choice you make. There is a cost to everything that you do and you must keep count of how much Bounty you have, how much ammo, what your medical supplies are like and how much food you have.
The Setting
The Refuse
The Refuse is the name given for the abandoned territory of the U.S.A mainly concentrated in the western regions. The Refuse consists of a number of western states blocked by the channel of the Mississippi River which is where the border between the Refuse and the Depression exists. The Refuse consists of multiple graveyards of cities, abandoned infrastructure, factories, agricultural land and abandoned territory currently populated by survivors and hordes of infected.
In the Refuse, everyone who is currently contained and located in the area has lost every right to be a U.S citizen. They are considered legally 'dead' and are restricted from entering the Depression out of fear that they may be a Latent and spread the disease inside the controlled territory of the Depression. A recent census has estimated that over nearly a million survivors are currently trapped in the confines of the Refuse with the infected population at about 100 million or so.
It is considered illegal by the H.E.R.C for any civilian to cross over from the Depression into the Refuse. Doing so results in an immediate termination of their citizenship and they are excommunicated from the Depression.
The Turfs
' Turfs' are the colloquial name given for small pockets or communities of survivors that have managed to persevere over the last decade or so in the Refuse. Turfs commonly rise and fall every year in the Loss due to the lumbering hordes of zombies, internal collapse or attacks from other Turf. The most important factors for a Turf to survive are local resources, defensible geography and infrastructure along with cooperation and teamwork internally and externally between other Turfs.
In order to survive, each Turf exports goods in order to trade imports from other Turfs. Each Turf also has their unique social structure and hierarchy along with enmity with other Turfs.
The Depression
The Depression is the name given for the non-infected territories east of the Mississippi River, where a caricature, a false semblance of the old world as it once was, continues as it once were. There are no roaming Casualties around in the Depression. Jobs are still present there. Clean water and food along with numerous fast food franchises such as Mc-Donalds, Starbucks along with fashion malls and all the hallmarks of capitalism are present within the Depression. The standard of living is considerably better in the Depression instead of the Refuse.
If it was, really.
Crime is present within all truncated states in the Depression, from ration money laundering, to drug trading, to soliciting, bribery, fraud, whatever anyone can do to make a worth-while living in the Depression. If you were a citizen in the Depression, you were most likely living in a cramped apartment with four other families with little to no private space for yourself. You had no little to no possessions if you managed to make it before the border closed. Your living space amounts to a glorified parking lot and multiple tents. Only the 1%, the uber-rich, get to live and breath the wonders of old life.
The political state in the Depression is all but a mockery of the U.S Constitution. A totalitarian government made up of H.E.R.C enforces multiple laws to make sure that no infection is present within the city limits and for the purposes of ensuring security and their goal of rolling-back the Refuse. Several of the laws include.........
- Outlawing all Latents in the Depression.
- Conscription of anyone who was immune as medical 'volunteers'.
- Active conscription of any male between the age of 16-22 into military service.
- Legalised Martial Law
Life in the Depression is not perfect at all, but spend a day in the Refuse, and you'll be wishing that you were living on a burger pumped full of preservatives and coffee that tastes like card-board in the Depression.
Technology
Technology in Dead Depression takes a brief venture into the world of 21st century technology and is set twenty minutes into the future. Drones, advanced genetic engineering and any technological prototype that could be feasibly created in the world today has been mass-produced and standardized in the world of Dead Depression.
Everyone with a laptop or a cellphone in the Refuse and the Depression has access to the internet thanks to the Salvation Server, a pre-outbreak kick-starter project that involved dozens of weather balloons that project wifi around the US. The Recession is fed by dozens of robotics drones that fly around with supplies of basic food and necessities. Turfs and everyone involved in illegal activity rely on drones to deliver high-value supplies to other Turfs or locations to decrease the risk of running into a zombie horde. Robot walkers are used to transport supplies and act as mobile turrets. Cybernetic implants are now common-place. Veyors use the internet to negotiate and search for jobs online, chat and communicate with other Veyors, find old-world documents, search up information and do their economic business.
You can't exist in the Refuse for long without being tech-savvy.
The Threats
The Scourge (Motherfucking Zombies)
Nobody knows where the Scourge came from. Everyone has made theories about it; from the layman, scientists, lawyers, politicians, religious nuts and conspiracy theorists. Some say it's a bio-weapon from North Korea or Russia that went loose. Some say it's a secret government weapon from Area 52. Some say it's a strain of a obscure virus from South America. Others say it's the reckoning of God himself who's willing to go all Old Testament on us.
Whatever it is, no one seems to know the answer and there's no definite cure to it.
The Scourge is a infection that violates every laws of science that we know and care about, raping in the backside without any mercy. It violates the Conservation of Energy, it violates the laws of Entropy, it violates the law of Conversation of mass.
The Scourge is transferable through contact with infected fluids such as blood, spit, sexual fluids or saliva. The Scourge usually has a measured 95% infection rate, meaning that individuals who are bitten always nearly become infected. The transformation period for a victim to become fully incapable of higher functioning ranges from minutes to an hour depending on the host.
The 5% who don't immediately become infected on bite are divided into two categories: Latent and the Immune. The Latents are known as infection carriers; able to spread the Scourge with the same means of a infected individual while retaining their higher mental functions and ability to empathize with other individuals. This is due to the Scourge amplifying in the system without directly infecting and destroying the brain. The Scourge in the victim's system becomes dormant, continually reproducing without affecting the brain. Latents can become infected if they receive a second bite or if they die from natural or unnatural causes. Latents are viewed with extreme prejudice from most communities in the Refuse and are typically subject for extermination.
The Immune on the other hand are seen as the future of the Earth. No matter how many times they've been bitten or exposed to the Scourge, they will never become infected. Scientists have tried to track trends and correlations between the Immune to see what's responsible for their genetic immunity towards the Scourge but since the last decade, they haven't managed to find an answer yet. Immune are extremely invaluable to the scientific community, most of them concentrated in the Depression as lab-rats. The only conclusion they've come to is that the factor responsible for their immunity is somehow related with their bone marrow. Unfortunately, bone marrow transplants are costly and expensive in this day and age.
A recent breeding program to increase the concentration of immune people within the population has been established in the Depression known as the Rising Sun Program. Mandatory sperm donations from immune individuals are used to impregnate uninfected women. The chance of the offspring being immune has been measured to be about 30%. If used in conjunction with a immune woman, the probability increases to 80%.
Modern scientists have managed to synthesize a drug known as Suppressin from extended experimentation with Immune individuals that causes the Scourge in a freshly bitten individual to become dormant, thereby causing them to become a Latent.
The symptoms of a Scourge-infected individual are many. The infection is divided into three phases. Vector, Metamorphosis and Casualty.
The Vector Phase involves the amplification of the Scourge in the victim's body as it converts and completely assimilates the circulatory system of the victim's body. This causes the victim's body to ooze blood from every pore and hemorrhage at a high rate, along with present signs of vomiting and diarrhea as every resource in the body is used to fuel the Scourge's reproductive needs as the victim becomes mentally inhibited and become primordially violent. At this stage, the infected individual is extremely agile and displays inhuman amounts of strength as the Scourge forces the endocrine system to pump a cocktail of hormones inside the host's body. Vectors are extremely infectious due to their mobility and the amount of fluids they exude from their body.
The Metamorphosis Phase takes place after the Scourge in the individual's body has conceivably used up all of their bodily resources to fuel its need for reproduction. The individual's body become still and inanimate, all of their bodily functions seizing as their organs seize up and begin the process of necrosis.
The Casualty Phase is where the Scourge blatantly violates the laws of science. The Scourge uses the dead flesh consumed from other victims or from its own host to create carbon-based organic strands that act as caricatures of muscle strands within the human anatomy. The strands link through the major ligaments of the body, forcing the still-dead host to move as it is merely a 'puppet'.
In all phases, the infected can only be killed with grievous amounts of damage to the brain or the central nervous system.
Rumors of special, more dangerous zombies known as Quirks exist around the Depression and Refuse , though evidence of their existence only are only in the form of anecdotes and folk-tales from other Veyors. Enough anecdotes and stories exist to make the existence of quirks somewhat plausible.
Scientists hypothesized that the cause of these creatures may be due to a mutation in the Scourge caused by outward stimuli, similar to that of bacteria or that the Scourge is actively evolving.
Cults
Puritans are a term given to dogmatic factions in the Refuse who have repurposed themselves towards one single set of beliefs or function. These are the known list of cults known in the Refuse as of 2032.
Shepards - People who believe killing an infected is equivalent to murder. Some believe that they are the next evolutionary step in mankind or take steps to find a cure for them, believing that they should kept herded safe like animals in a zoo.
Meek - The extremists of the Shepards. Believe that the Scourge is God's Will upon the world and that they must spread it in order to benefit humanity. They will use whatever tactic to spread the Scourge wherever possible and break into turfs to infect the local population.
Black Math - A group dedicated to wiping out the Scourge and all of the Casualties.
Crusaders - Scientists who have received 'study sickness' from studying the Scourge for far too long and growing too obsessed with it. They will use whatever illicit and dirty means necessary to find a cure to the Scourge, no matter the cost or the moral grounds that they cross themselves.
Archivists - Group of nerds and neck-beard conspiracy theorists who believe that humanity is doomed and try to preserve as much knowledge as possible in light of the oncoming doomsday. They believe that the only way to stop the infection is a Deus Ex Machina.
Raiders
Asshole, loners that occasionally group up to steal and rob other Veyors because they have 'no choice'.
They usually get killed. A lot.
What? Expecting more?
I'm not giving any attention to these dumb-asses.
Groups of Interest
H.E.R.C (Homeland Environmental Risk Control)
H.E.R.C is a government organisation formed after several years into the Depression America. H.E.R.C is an official government-sanctioned department that is responsible for acting as the de-facto government of the Depression. They are responsible for multiple activities such as researching how to counter the Scourge, maintaining the quarantine, secretly supplying Turfs to take care of large hordes of the undead that pose a threat to the border between the Depression and the Refuse along with coordinating the efforts for roll-back of the Refuse.
H.E.R.C is officially responsible for the creation of the Bounty System in response to a civilian inquiry about the legalities of ownership of territory after roll-back of the Refuse. The reclamation of the Refuse had raised a big question. All of those big factories, abandoned mansions and acres of real estate were now up for grabs. The question is who or what would get it.
The government's response to how ownership would be dictated nearly caused another collapse as riots broke out around the answer that the government would get all of the territory. H.E.R.C formed a solution. In exchange for "proof of life" documents such as passports, identification cards and birth certificates, civilians could file a claim for their property when roll-back came around.
The real benefit was determining how people died. In exchange for birth certificates or other documents for 'proof of life' from dead bodies or dead citizens, governments would seize their property in exchange for ration dollars to the person who granted it. Thus, the Bounty System was born, a new form of currency that people in the Depression had a lack of....and people in the Refuse had a fuck-lot of.
The Salvation Server
The Salvation Server was a pet project of Enzo Takahashi, a visionary billionaire philanthropist who wanted to provide everyone in the world with free wi-fi, no matter their social standing or how poor or rich they were. His solution was the Salvation Server. Thousands of prototype weather balloons floating in the stratosphere with solar-powered, self sustaining transmitters that act as a unbreakable field of wi-fi signal around the world. Neverending. Enduring. The Salvation Server compound was likewise state of the art technology. A built-in mountain base with access to a geothermal power plant, one of its kind. It looked as if Takahashi's dream could come true.
If it weren't for the outbreak, of course. The programmers and operatives of the Salvation Server base contacted for help as they were munched on by their cannabilistic infected brothers and sisters. Within days, the base became silent once more.
Or so it seemed. The servers went back up and running again. Cell phones could access Youtube once more and laptops were no longer non-functional in a world where internet had broken down. A Salvation-Server hosted forum known as Lifeline was created. The programmer went by 'Scoundrel' and they had many a story to tell about the truth of the government's response to the outbreak. They'd managed to hack into what was remaining of the internet traffic in the USA and she'd sent the government's e-mails to all of the remaining survivors on the west coast.
Turns out that to the ignorance of the general public on the west coast, the government was actually preparing their forces and pulling back behind the Mississippi and cordon off the infected East Coast cities to clean them up. Wait for all the vectors to die from starvation and become Casualties before assembling every last soldier they had and launching a full scale assault on the west coast to take back the country. Along with perhaps, nuking some of the Eastern Canadian Cities.
Everyone ran towards the Mississippi, desperate to get into the quarantine zone as it caused massive havoc. There were numerous outbreaks that day. The government was forced to back-peddle on their lies and said that it was all part of their plan along. They set up checkpoints to check for infected individuals.
For a few days only. The government then suspended the entry of individuals from the infected west coast to the east coast as they blew up the bridges in the Mississippi and created a 200 mile wall that seperated the West from the East.
Scoundrel rules over the Salvation Server and still radiates news about the Refuse over to the Depression. Her operation of the Salvation Server is integral to the survival of people in the Refuse. For operation of transactions. For communication. For transport of supplies. For news of H.E.R.Cs operations. Scoundrel is the lord of the new wasteland and yet, does not flaunt his or her power in any way.
Still, H.E.R.C declared the Salvation Server a terrorist group and anyone found using its services would be imprisoned immediately. They did try to send a team of ex-Navy Seal operatives, special forces to take out Scoundrel and her mountain fortress.
They never came back.
The Corpse Market
The Corpse Market is the unofficial term for the illegal black market that operates between the Refuse and the Depression. It is integral to the income of Takers, the survival of all people who live in the Refuse and the continued operation of the Depression by the government.
The Corpse Market began unofficially in the beginning days of the Refuse when small, fledgeling Turfs began to trade supplies with each other that one needed. Libraries traded knowledge for weapons. Hydroelectric dams and solar facilities traded power for medicine from hospitals. All of this was made easier through Scoundrel and the Lifeline forum where Turfs could communicate and do transactions of supples with each other. A barter economy.
Psychos and loners still operated but to the Turfs, they were just another deal. Leave us alone and we'll give you a weapon. We'll give you gas for protection and so forth.
When the Bounty System was created and the Refuse realised that had a shit-load of potential money at their own expense, the Refuse slowly realised with Scoundrel's help that the government needed the help of non-citizens for the Depression to avoid being over-run by the infected. Multiple Turfs in the Mississippi were responsible for blocking the waves of Casualties and preventing them from over-running the border wall.
The final catalyst for the Corpse Market being born was the needs of the Refuse and the Depression. Life on the Depression wasn't all that great, especially for those who lived near to the border. Most living spaces in the Depression lacked basic necessities and were worse off than some Turfs. People needed food, water and documents or Bounty that they could sell to the government for better living conditions and luxury items. The government needed contractors to do the things that they couldn't do in the Refuse. Oligarchs and the rich wanted luxury items that were only found in the Refuse or ancient data that was still left in some derelict bank vault.
Meanwhile, the Refuse, even with its barter system, still needed things that they could rarely produce and only the Depression could produce. Experimental weaponry, experimental ammo, drones, vehicles, Supressin and most of all, safety. Enough Bounty allowed you to buy a home on the Depression, a place where you weren't at risk of getting your face gnawed off.
So, the Corpse Market was born. An underground, illegal economy that operated between the Loss and the Depression, publicly decried by the government but actually funded by the government itself.
The only thing that allows both the Depression and the Refuse to co-exist together. Even, though, they hate each others guts.
Rules
1. Have Fun
Having Fun is key to a role-play working or not. If you don't have any fun during this role-play or have any issues with it, contact me so we can reach a resolution. That resolution may include you getting booted out of the role-play and leaving me the task of finding another partner
2. Imagination/Be Creative
Creativity and being knowledgeable is essential for this roleplay concept. If you love to research little bits of info such as how to create a water filtration system, future technology or economic terminology, then, you fit right into this RP. Introduce tasks for our Veyor crew to do, insert what possible drama and conflicts might occur in a world like this, little intricacies there and there and world-build locations. All of those are necessary if you want to become my partner.
3. Detail and Length
In order for my role-playing experience to be enjoyable, I need detail, description, prosey description that doesn't go into purple territory. Beautiful, bountiful literate writing that is natural and flows smoothly. I need that in my life.
I am a firm believer of quality over quantity but I am expecting each post to be around 3 paragraphs long at least with the highest amount of detail you can muster.
4. Shlick the Dick
I will not accept any fuckboy, hentai, furry tentacle, jesus christ makes me brain hurt so much I can't spell properly, porn without plot RP bullshit. If you want to mangle-mash, we do a black-out.
5. Swear to God, If you God-Mod
Plain and simple. Don't god-mod or even attempt to make an overpowered character because if you do, you will get several warnings and you will be required to edit your post.
6. Posting Requirements
I am expecting to at least post one post per week.
7. Number of Roleplayers
I am heavily pessimistic of group RP's because of the number of people that have dropped out over the years. I am looking for a small group of 4 people, including me, who can fit the requirements above.
8. Multi-Rolling.
You are allowed to multi-role a total of 2 Voyers and 3 side-characters in which you are expected to operate. I am the GM and therefore, I will be operating most of the main events in the world.
If you are interested, please post in this thread and feel free to ask any questions about the (copyrighted) world that I've brought to this forum and any questions about the RP in general as well.
