S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: The Monolith Rises

Hearthridge

Master of Many Stories
Original poster
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Invitation Status
  1. Look for groups
  2. Looking for partners
Posting Speed
  1. 1-3 posts per day
  2. One post per day
  3. 1-3 posts per week
Writing Levels
  1. Intermediate
  2. Adept
  3. Advanced
Preferred Character Gender
  1. No Preferences
Genres
Science Fiction, Horror, Post-Apoc, Psychological
Overview

OOC | IC (tbd) | Lore

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: The Monolith Rises is a fandom roleplay, set in an alternate universe based upon our own, where the area surrounding the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant had undergone radical mutation and evolution, and the landscape had mutated just the same, henceforth known as the Zone. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is not a true post-apocalyptic setting, since the only real affected area is what takes place in the games. However, it is established in the lore that the Zone is growing and expanding.

This will be a group-based story, comprising of a squadron of four Ukranian Special Service field operatives, Charlie-Echo. Players will find themselves in a bleak world, filled with a plethora of environmental dangers and mutated flora and fauna, and while dealing with the bandits and other military forces which have occupied the region. They will have to work together to survive and complete their objectives that are sent to their PDA's as time goes on.

This story will rely on a lot of material that has been established by the Misery mod for Call of Pripyat, in order to provide visual cues and information for the players.

Building Your Character
Atypical to most of the stories I run, this one requires you to actually decide what kind of build your character is. The builds are pre-generated, but they will greatly influence how the game is played and how you, and your squad, will survive within the Zone. Please take the time to read and examine all of the information for the three 'classes.'


  • Name:
    Callsign:
    Role:
    Appearance:
    Age:
    Gender:

  • Personality:
    History:
    Strengths: Aside from Class Strengths
    Weaknesses: Aside from Class Weaknesses
    Other:

  • Personal Equipment:
    Wealth and Resources:

  • Allies:
    Neutral:
    Enemies:

Code:
[tabs][tab=Basic  Info]
[B][COLOR=#DAA238]Name[/COLOR][/B]:
[B][COLOR=#DAA238]Callsign[/COLOR][/B]:
[B][COLOR=#DAA238]Role[/COLOR][/B]:
[B][COLOR=#DAA238]Appearance[/COLOR][/B]:
[B][COLOR=#DAA238]Age[/COLOR][/B]:
[B][COLOR=#DAA238]Gender[/COLOR][/B]:
[/tab][tab=Backround Info]
[B][COLOR=#DAA238]Personality[/COLOR][/B]:
[B][COLOR=#DAA238]History[/COLOR][/B]:
[B][COLOR=#DAA238]Strengths[/COLOR][/B]:
[B][COLOR=#DAA238]Weaknesses[/COLOR][/B]:
[B][COLOR=#DAA238]Other[/COLOR][/B]:
[/tab][tab=Personal Items]
[B][COLOR=#DAA238]Personal Equipment[/COLOR][/B]:
[B][COLOR=#DAA238]Wealth and Resources[/COLOR][/B]:
[/tab][tab=Contacts & Factions]
[B][COLOR=#26FF20]Allies[/COLOR][/B]:
[B][COLOR=#DDCD95]Neutral[/COLOR][/B]:
[B][COLOR=#FF0000]Enemies[/COLOR][/B]:
[/tab][/tabs]


Requirements
I am going to try to keep this minimal, because otherwise it would be no fun. Ideally, having played S.T.A.L.K.E.R. enough to know some of the story woud be preferred. However, I know that will be a stretch. So, all I ask is for some initiative to learn a little about the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. universe.

I will also be requiring a minimum one-paragraph post length and I would prefer at least one post a week. I will be posting at least one GM post a week to summarize what happened during that 'turn,' but if everyone posts quicker then these posts can come out just as quickly. I will also post reactions to posts that require my direct reaction. Please @ me in those posts.

Finally, I will have a provisional section or tab that has to be added to each post. It will keep track of your vital statistics, such as health and radiation levels and things of that nature. I will provide this code to add to your sheet at a later time, or it can be added at the header of your posts.

There is also the option of joining the OPTIONAL Discord server, for all of your communicative and question needs here.



Charlie-Echo
Player 1
Mark by @Ego
Player 3
Player 4

Additional Notes
There is a lot of content that is associated with this story, so I will be building a separate thread to compile and organize it in a presentable manner. This will keep this post from being twelve kilometers in length. Also, when the story kicks off, I will have a provisional section or tab that has to be added to each post. It will keep track of your vital statistics, such as health and radiation levels and things of that nature. I will provide this code to add to your sheet at a later time, or it can be added at the header of your posts.

Now, make your character and... Get out of here, S.T.A.L.K.E.R."
 
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Dreams are wishes, too.


Let's do this.


  • Name: Karthika Bulanova

    Callsign:'Plaun' (Плаун); referring to her short, springy demeanor and her off-green recon armour.

    She likes the fact that the common name for it is wolf's claw.

    Role: Recon.

    Appearance:
    A short (5'1), thin woman with a dark complexion and bright ruddy brown eyes, Karthika smiles frequently and well; with her helmet off, it's hard to see her as anything but an encouraging, well-mannered and well-educated young woman, one who could be at home in any national or corporate environment. Her dark brown hair is cut short, and rather fashionably - though given her helmet, it's rare that her windswept style lasts long.

    Constantly abuzz with nervous energy, it's a little harder to see when she's fully kitted for recon. Due to prolonged exposure to the Zone - and/or her own foibles - Karthika insists on constantly wearing full-body gear and an opaque visor more closely akin to a cosmonaut's suit than most Stalkers. It's not uncommon for newbies to assume she's a small man, and given that old-timers are often overcome by their own... Drives and goals amidst the zone, herself included... She's fine with the new meat not knowing.

    Her smaller size makes her an expert at crawling into small chasms, broken ducts, or other things of that ilk, which she does fearlessly, even cheerfully. It's rare for her to show actual discomfort or nervousness, and more likely the farther she is from the zone, or whenever she's in a large crowd of people; showing up as a nervous twitching of her feet, or a tap of her fingers against her waist.

    Age: 29.

    Gender: Female.


  • Personality:Karthika is soft-spoken and polite, a trait which has served her surprisingly well in the Zone. Newbies are often rendered nauseous, scared, and desperate; a soothing, friendly voice can go a long way towards extracting information or favours. It would be foolish to assume that soft-spoken means kind, or accommodating, however.

    Driven only by her desire to be closer to the Zone, Karthika is a Stalker through and through. If it were a matter of sacrificing guys she wasn't too close to, well, it can't be helped. Naturally, since she's taken on a task for the state, well, that's different; her word is on the line, and she was raised to keep her word. But life is cheap, and she has no qualms about that.

    Like all touched by the Zone, she can even be a bit ruthless... Or perhaps those are just unpleasant rumours.

    Whatever mercurial nature she may or may not possess, her voice is a natural contralto, and with the mixture of her vocoder and radio static, it's not uncommon for people to assume they're talking to a young man - possibly a newbie, who needs guiding.

    Sometimes, she likes to play along with that, and advise people on where to travel - whether towards an area rich with anomalies, or one she hasn't tried to map, it doesn't matter. It's just - interesting...

    History: Born of a Russian father and a Tamil mother who settled and stayed in Ukraina when the country declared independence, Karthika could have easily had a future in diplomacy ahead of her. However, her interests always remained elsewhere, and her usually friendly and genial demeanor clammed up when pressed about what she wanted...

    Until the year 2006.

    It took a great deal of string-pulling to first traverse the Zone, but, her parents had clout and cash - and Karthika possessed no small amount of charm, herself. Before long, she'd established herself as an especially reliable guide for those seeking trinkets and tours of the Zone... Charging far less, especially for those who wanted to travel closer to the heart of it all.

    When the state wanted forces to investigate, she answered the call eagerly. It was a pleasant thing for her motherland's interests and her own to align, after all.

    And she could practically feel it in her lucky star; that it was coming.

    Soon.

    Strengths: Small, lithe, and mobile; an expert at balancing recoil, though not a particularly good shot. Preferring 'bullpup' rifles, she knows how to use terrain and movement to her advantage against opponents, and is rarely in one place for long. Most of all, she loves knives, and is never without one. It's truly impressive to see someone in such bulky gear wield one like it was a part of their arm. Diplomatic and charming, when she's not focused on the Zone.

    Weaknesses: Occasionally overcome with a desire to get closer to the Zone. Nothing else matters at the time, and it takes great willpower - both her own, and those around her - to convince her to focus back towards the task at hand. Overly cautious in strategy; will often err in preparing or surveying anomalies. This is good for her survival, and that of her group, but can let opponents or opportunities pass. Stronger than she looks, but still small and easily winded. Occasionally gripped with a melancholic listlessness that sees her standing in place, staring at her feet, and waiting for time to pass.

    Can be cruel, even misanthropic. While useful in avoiding trauma from combat, in the long term negatively affects her ability to form meaningful bonds, and possibly her survival amidst the Zone.

    Other: Can survive off of frozen pierogi' for pretty much forever. After awhile, you can't imagine eating anything else. She really loves frozen chive pierogi'... Fond of terribly shitty puns and jokes; long-term Stalkers are often as familiar with Plaun's 'shit sense of humour' as much as her exploits. Can play the sitar, which is a nice change from all the balalaike strumming. Dreams, constantly. Loves dreaming. Would dream forever, if she could.

  • Personal Equipment: Somewhat poorly maintained songbook, better-maintained sitar. Various knives, many designed for artefact capture, hunting, skinning, whittling, or other such mundane things. Lighting tool (for meals). 'Lucky' rag used to soak up the blood from her first close call in the Zone. List of 'useful guys' whose callsigns she's aware of. Favoured loadout is Steppe Eagle and PPsh-41, but like all long-lived Stalkers, she's flexible.

    Wealth and Resources: If, somehow, action takes place outside of the Zone - or the group returns to the borders of Exclusion - she is well-off, and capable of calling in some degree of favours. This tapers off rapidly the further into the Zone the group penetrates, but so is the life of STALKERS.

    Like most long-term Stalkers, she has prepared several caches of equipment hidden at predisclosed (GM-determined) places in the zone. All of Plaun's resupply stashes contain at least enough food for two for two days, whatever spare .45 ACP and 9x19 FMJ rounds she could spare, some gauze and medical supplies, and occasionally a 'bonus' for any 'bastard lucky enough to find one' - which could mean anything from barbed wire inlays to embarrassing pictures from the 2005 'Militsya Man of the Month' calendar, to a well-worn stuffed animal. (Depending on her mood when making the cache.)

  • Allies: Roman Bulanov; her adopted brother, though they see each other as full siblings. A practising GP, she generally goes to him after long expeditions into the Zone. Although he doesn't understand the Zone, truly, he's been dragged into the shady world of artefact prices, contacts, and the like... And kind of likes it.

    Her parents, and to a lesser extent, various organisations under the Ukrainian National Umbrella; as a rule of thumb, Plaun is in good standing with the Ukrainian State, and has neutral-to-good relations with the security forces, scientists, and observers attached to it. She cannot call on any favours, but is likely to be viewed favourably by such actors - and more likely to want to return favours, or help, struggling members if found in the Zone.

    Mercenary group 'Dragonfly'; A small expat Merc group, founded by an Italian venture capitalist who had no idea what he was doing. The members were basically lost in the Zone, and after some misadventures, Plaun managed to drag them back to an exit - no casualties. Now harder and more experienced, they're glad to run across one another, and usually swap (self-aggrandising) tales of success and combat.

    Neutral: Freedom; She likes the ideas of Freedom, and the members she's met of it are very chill, of course. But the reality is that they lack structure and thus purpose, and are likely to be more dangerous than useful. As such, she views them with a bit of contempt. A pity, because if they actually cut out their individualism and just - worked to make the Zone open without so much wasted time, they wouldn't be so bad... Oh, the change in leadership has done that? She doesn't care, so much.

    Spetsnaz; The Ukrainian Special Forces do not care who you are, or what you've done for the Zone and visitors. They will rescue you if it benefits their orders, they'll let you die if it's an order from on high. She respects this honesty, and anyway, it's much the same as what she'd do, so...

    Enemies: Duty; Paramilitary idealists who think of themselves as being tougher than they are. Worse, still, they end up blocking off interesting areas, so - you know, sometimes they end up drowning in a swamp, and it just can't be helped, right? Pity. She's not opposed to their structure, and is only mildly opposed to their goals - but they've crossed paths so many times that, well - it just can't be helped. She tried quoting the Green Elephant at one over the radio, and it only made the guy more angry for some reason? No sense of humour.

    Virgil Potemkin; A fellow indep Stalker who crossed paths and ended up getting to her goals before she did too many times. They're not exactly enemies, and can even share a drink in neutral territory, but - that weird, angry tension that comes up when someone takes what was YOUR scoop in the Zone... It's boiled over, and they've started sabotaging each other when possible. It wouldn't endanger the group, just yet, but... They're dangerously close to breaking out into a feud, and Plaun doesn't let feuds die easily...

    Medical Research Hospital, 'Children's First'; She has no clue who this group is, or even if they're really a research hospital. All she knows is that several guys in much fancier envirosuits have occasionally laid down suppressing fire while she's in the Zone, taken this or that artefact, and left - just as suddenly, with little explanation. It's unnerving, but - that's life in the Zone.

    It's probably nothing...

What? Too serious...
Okay, get out of here fellow STALKER -

 

  • Name: Mark Sikher
    Callsign: J8LB8 (Jailbait)
    Role: Recon
    Appearance:
    Age: 31
    Gender: Male

  • Personality: Sanguine, borderline psychotic
    History: Mark spent most of his professional military life in a recon unit. Sometimes being a spotter, sometimes designating targets for the air support or artillery. His job profile was mostly to keep it low and move on to priority objectives. That's not to say he wasn't actively involved in combat. In his time as formal military he experienced quite a few grueling and desperate firefights, that were cutting it too close. It is those firefights that earned him the callsign - he'd conduct counter-sniper operations that in them he'd run over the line of suspected sniper fire and in turn flush out the snipers by baiting them into shooting him, allowing his own sniper to finish off the sniper. He lost most of his original unit on the last fights he's been involved in Afghanistan and he doesn't like mentioning it. Nonetheless he's twelve years worth of enlisted experience, lending him the expertise in his role. His first contact in the zone was through Dushman (see cut content and dead city), Dushman liked his expertise, although was worried that an old dog like Mark may not be that much of a team player. Fortunately Mark went along fairly well and on his first outing managed to bait a Freedom squad into open, allowing his squad to safely execute them from cover. As a sort of battle trophy he took with himself one of Freedomers' G36k carbines, that he with the armorer at the Dead City made some changes to make it better for sustained fire. Most of the time until now he spent causing shenanigans at the Army Base, making life difficult for Freedomers, be it distracting their squads or baiting them to come into ambushes or booby traps.
    Strengths: He's a medical expert - be it patching a bullet wound or stopping arterial bleeds, he's always got his trauma kit at hand, plus additional utensils to extract bullet fragments or shrapnell. A lot of his own men came home with intact limbs, because he was there to stop complications right then and there.
    Carbine expert - having his combat part of job primarily be close quarters, he's used to relying on delivering a volume of fire, rather than precision work. He tends to double tap his shots in medium ranges, when aim is required to maximize his hit on target chances.
    Weaknesses: He's prone to being overcome with battle madness. Even though he's used to laughing in the face of death, he can't help himself but feeling compelled to charge into a hail of fire. During his last tour of duty he suffered over sixty bullet hits precisely because he tuned out from being a part of the team and charged ahead.
    Deep sleeper - while solid rest is good and all, even the military could not remove his habit of sleeping deeply and perhaps too comfortably. As such he has to pick good hiding spots if he's on his own, because it's unlikely he'd wake in time to react.
    Other: If he can, he tends to switch around between a shotgun and a carbine - carbine for approach and suppression, shotgun for clearing. In those instances he runs the shotgun exclusively with buckshot.
    Otherwise he's the training and expertise of a Recon unit. Tactical grenade application, booby traps, field communications, etc. But his carbine expertise and uncanny skill at baiting others is what really sets him apart.

  • Personal Equipment: H&K G36k, with rather crudely modified handguards and upper assembly to permit more sustained automatic fire. A surplus TT-33 modified just enough to make it more up to date and not fall apart by the slightest gust of wind. Trauma kit, consisting of tourniquets, pressure bandage, gauzes, bandages and other essentials. Otherwise bog standard recon equipment
    Wealth and Resources: hardly if any, barring the food he was doing Dushman's errands to repay for the equipment he has.

  • Allies: Mercenary, has some sporadic contacts with the army
    Neutral: Loners, Ecologists, Clear Sky (or remains of), Army (when the know it's him)
    Enemies: The rest of the factions, particularly Freedomers
 
ПРЕВЕД!

We can bond over killing shit and having a laugh, fellow STALKER. Also, actually having a medic on hand is nice, given the natural inclination to eat some salo, drink some potato water, and walk it off...
Sounds like Mark has seen a lot, though. It'll be good.

The Zone has a way of making things right... All things, right, again...
 
@Ego Accepted! Just know that you will have penalties for using a G36, as the Recon isn't versed in that weapon's group. You can improve your skill, it will just take more time and focus.
 
Hey, everyone. I have set up an OPTIONAL Discord server for people to join and chat in, to communicate with myself or other story members, and to receive updates quickly. You can find it here.
 
@Ego Accepted! Just know that you will have penalties for using a G36, as the Recon isn't versed in that weapon's group. You can improve your skill, it will just take more time and focus.
Are you sure of that? I say so because by G36K I mean the carbine variant of G36 (see picture), rather than the full length rifle and Recon class seems to indicate that carbines are class-compatible. I don't mind it either way, I just want us to be on the same page. Also I should mention Mark likes medium-heavium armor, so given that chance I'm pretty sure he'll have class-based penalties for that or do you intend Recon class be just barred from better armor until much later?
 

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@Ego Ah! Makes more sense then. You're free to use just about whatever you want for weapons and armor, honestly. I won't be handing out power frames to anyone anytime soon but if you want to don some heavier duds, I dont see an issue save for stats.
 
I have started working on the Lore thread. Keep an eye on it for more updates! It takes a while to write and code it up, so more will be added over time.
 
  • Sweet
Reactions: lepidoptera
Fleshes...
Why are they so cute...

Anyway, that's a really nicely put together lore thread. Hopefully this might attract a few others STALKERS (fellow Stalker) who might be new or underexposed to the series, itself..?
 
I'm hoping! I will be doing tooltips next, then world lore. I'll also see about integrating the interactive area maps for each region.
 
  • Bucket of Rainbows
Reactions: lepidoptera

New creatures added!
Anomalies added!
Artifacts added!
Timeline added!
 
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I will be going out of country tomorrow for a few days. I will not be able to post updates until the 10th. However, I am still looking for more players!
 
Still looking for STALKERs!
 
Still looking for players!