Cataclysm: End to the Big Ape

Introduction

Hello everyone, as you may (or may not) know, I'm new here, and the way I started my character got me into a delicate situation where I simply have to start a new faction to even be able to play with other people, or start a new character, but I don't really want to do that right now. Anyway this thread will be about introducing this new faction, what I have in mind for this (long-term) RP and also a way for me to see the reception of the community.

I'll try to start from the bottom, and build up to the current situation in this RP, and how it would start, because I do want to start it with other people from the very beginning, because that would be most fun for me, and for others, as well. Anyway, moving on to the backstory.

Backstory

XXXXX = Name not yet set (It's to be set by the players who play these roles)

Back when Faust and his sister XXXXX were still children, their father was one, among many others to be chosen for the Miniknog research program, claimed to be the biggest privilege and honor one Apex could possibly attain, even to this very day. Ever since his father went into that research program, never to be heard from again, Faust knew something was wrong with the whole system that majority of the Apex followed blindly, like they were brainwashed.

Now, couple of years into the future, raising two kids on her own, Faust's mother fell ill, and with the illness, and no one else to support them, they were forced to move down to the slums, residence of the most unfortunate of the Apex. Couple of months later, despite Faust's best efforts, as well as his sister's help, their mother succumbed to the illness. Later that day, as they were trying to bury their mother, a group of Apex in some sort of biohazard suits came down to the slums and took their mother's body. Faust and his sister tried to stop them, but being just children, they were just pushed away, and their cries were ignored.

Couple of months after the incident, Faust and his sister were taken in by an orphanage, and raised there, just to be passed on to the Apex military service when they were of age to serve mandatory two years, with an option to continue serving past those two years.

One year into the army service, Faust's sister was transferred to a small military research facility to study and help with XXXXX, which was still considered military work, so they allowed it after only one year. However, Faust stayed in the army for another two years, learning everything he could about melee combat, as he really enjoyed it, and he excelled at it, being one of the best, if not THE best melee combatant in the army, surpassing even his superior officers.

At the end of the third year in the army, Faust finally left it, and started a private bodyguard service, mainly offering his services to research groups that went on space expeditions over their own planetary system. The trips were not too long, as for those who did expeditions outside of their own planetary system, the pay was good, and he even got food included on the trips, and also spent most of his time on those trips, so he didn't spend too much pixel while he was briefly back on his home planet.

On one of his jobs, he met a human, named XXXXX, that soon became Faust's best friend, and even joined his bodyguard service. On their travels as space expedition bodyguards, they learned a lot from each other regarding the other one's race, among other things.

As they were traveling back from one of their countless jobs, a radio frequency that they were listening to suddenly gets hijacked;

Rough, Confident voice: DOWN WITH THE BIG APE, DOWN WITH THE MINIKNOG!
(They hear a big crowd in the background repeating the same words)
Rough, Confident voice: GIVE US BACK OUR SONS, GIVE US BACK OUR MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS!
Rough, Confident voice: GIVE US BACK OUR FAMILIES!
(Crowd): *Screams, Roars and Yelling of affirmation*
*Pilot turns off the radio*

Faust, wondering what was that all about, asks the crew about it. They tell him that a sort of rebellion is going on against the Miniknog and the choosing system for research, which immediately catches Faust's interest, and they continue talking about it, until they landed.

As Faust and XXXXX came back to their office in town, Faust opens up and tells XXXXX about his father and mother, and requests an absurd thing of XXXXX; to come with him to look for the people that are running the rebellion, and talk to them, but even though Faust didn't say it, he was constantly hinting that he wants to join the rebellion group. XXXXX just said "Okay" and walked out the door, Faust following behind him.

Having all this money they earned from their job, since they didn't spend much, because they were constantly on the jobs, they could easily pay for rumors on the street. After couple of weeks of restless searching, they finally came in contact with a person that was in charge of recruiting.

Faust and XXXXX requested to join, and the recruiter said he would accept their request, if they passed couple of tests that would confirm that they are not spies or anything of the sort. After couple of days doing all sort of tests, they finally got access to facilities of the rebellion group that were located under ground, right under the slums.

The rebellion's leader was an experienced assassin, and over the course of one year, he taught Faust everything he knows, while XXXXX was training under different person that was master of XXXXX. However, after this one year, Miniknog started targeting the members of the rebellion, not through brute force, or silent assassinations, but through the thing that the rebellion hated the most, the choosing. Over the year, they implemented an informant into the ranks of the rebellion group, and he was giving Miniknog the names.

When Faust realized this, he, along with XXXXX immediately ran to research facility where his sister was working, but what Faust was unaware of was that his sister also had problems of her own. When he and XXXXX came to the research facility, they told them that she was not there. Also, there was sort of a commotion in the research facility about something, nothing they said was very specific, but when Faust and XXXXX were about to exit the facility, a researcher that was running up until that point stopped, and started yelling;

Researcher: SOMEONE TOOK IT! SOMEONE STOLE IT! SOMEONE TOOK PROJECT XXXXX!
(Heavy Inhale)
Researcher: SOUND THE ALARM! NOTIFY THE SECURITY! LOCK DOWN THE FACI...
(Faust and XXXXX exit the facility)

Faust thought that maybe she was home, so he and XXXXX went to check, but she wasn't there. He used the spare key that his sister gave him, and they entered the house, but it was completely empty, so Faust tried calling her from on the cellphone, but he couldn't reach her. After sitting there for a while, they went to Faust's old house in the slums, that was their meeting place, after he joined the rebellion. As Faust and XXXXX were about to enter the house, his sister came out, but not alone, next to her was a XXXXX (Race, not Human or Apex), that Faust's sister referred to as XXXXX, and Faust immediately connected the dots, and realized that what someone stole from that research facility was not an IT, but a HE/SHE, this person was the project XXXXX.

Faust told his sister right away that the rebellion is exposed and that they need to go off the planet, and being in such huge problem herself, she agreed immediately, but said that she wouldn't go without XXXXX, and Faust had no choice but to accept it. With the money that Faust and XXXXX had left, they bought food, advanced resource gathering and crafting tools, and fled off to space.

While drifting in space, they all talked and shared about their experiences, mainly XXXXX (Project), because no one knew much about him/her. After scanning several planets, they were about to run out of fuel, but then they ran into planet XXXXX, an inhabitable planet, and Faust decided that they would land here.

 

Story now (RP Start):



xBFH = Best Friend, Human.
xPXR = Project, Name, Race (Anything other than Human and Apex)
xFS = Faust's Sister
Text in () after "Faust:" means that he is thinking that to himself.
(Also, for some reason, I can't bold up this first part, sorry for that, after that, names are bolded, and it should be pretty clear to read)

Computer: Scanning...
Computer: |--10%--20%--30%--40%--50%--60%--70%--80%--90%--100%|
Computer: Scanning complete; Planet Inhabitable. You are clear to land.
Faust: Hey guys, this planet is safe to land on!
xBFH (From the room behind the cockpit): Ha, talk about lucky, right when we were running out of fuel.
Faust: Haha, right? Anyway, let's get some sleep, we're all tired. We will check out the surface when we wake up.
xBFH: Yeah, your sister and xPXR already fell asleep, I'm hitting the sack too, I need my rest, we'll have to dig out something we can use as fuel tomorrow, so we can power this baby up again. See you in a couple of hours.
Faust: Alright, I'm out too.

*Several hours later*



xBFH: *Snoring*
xFS: *Sleeping Silently*
xPXR: *Making strange noises*
Faust: (They're still asleep. I guess I'll go and check out the surface on my own, and maybe dig a little to see what we're dealing with on this planet).

*About an hour later, Faust checked the surface, decided that there aren't many threats, and then starts digging to see what he can find. Using his grappling hook to climb down the hole that collapsed as he was digging*



Faust (Startled): (A-are those bones? I better check it out...)



Faust: (I better set up some light here).
*Click* Buuzzz *Light turns on*
Faust: (Ok, I'll break this wall down).

*A moment later*



Faust: Ugh...Ahhhh! GIGA DRILL BREAKER!!!!! :O (TTGL, Yo! ^^)
*Drill started producing strange noises, as it's not meant to be used on stuff like this*
Faust: Don't die on me, just a little bit more!

*Drills through the bone wall*



*Sound of cracking bones, as Faust walks down the bone stairs*
Faust: (This was definitely built by someone in the past).

*A moment later*



*Faust spots a bone platform, and an object on it*
Faust: (W-what is that?).

*Faust climbs up the stairs, and realizes that it's a mask. He picks it up, examines it, cleans it up a little, and puts it on*



Faust: (Wow, I can't see a thing. I need to clean up these hol...) Whooooaaaa!
*Faust trips on the bones behind him and falls down the stairs, into the water*

*Couple of seconds after. Faust stands up a bit*



Faust: Ugh...
*Faust sighs*
Faust: I'm too old for this shit! >.< (LW, Yo! ^^)
*Faust picks up the mask, cleans the holes for the eyes, and puts the mask back on*




Faust: Myyyyyyy Preciooouuuuuuussssss! O_O (LOTR, Yo! ^^)
Faust: (The guys must be up and down on surface by now).
Faust: Time to scare me some chickens, mwahahaha! (Click me ^^)

*Faust goes back to the surface to meet the others, and pull a prank on them with the mask*

NOTE: Mask is not magical or anything, but it plays a big role in Cataclysm faction, mainly in the assassin division that is ran by Faust himself. So I wanted to show you how he got to having it, and deciding how his division will look like. Other 3 characters will also get to pick one unique thing that will make them distinctive, and people in their division will follow with that look.

 

Joining this RP
Currently, there are three spots, and they are the following:

1. Faust's sister
2. Faust's best friend
3. Project XXXXX that Faust's sister saved from the research facility she was working at.

The best thing about them is that I left it as open as possible for you to make a story for each of them. Just to clarify, I'll list what exactly you decide on these characters, and also put examples of what I planned for them, in case you don't know what you want out of them.

1. Faust's Sister (You decide on the first name, but the last name is Rothschild, and she's 23 years old)
Her history is decided up until the point she joins the army along with Faust. You decide what she learned during her one year in the army, then you decide what she learned in two years she was working in the research facility. You decide what happened during her time in the research facility, how she met Project XXXXX, and why she saved him/her.

My initial plan for her was that she learned to use guns very effectively in the army, within one year, because she's naturally good with any advanced technology, and firing weapons fit there, as well. In research facility she learned a lot of medical skills, so she can heal people on the battlefield effectively, and also learned to use computers to a much better degree than before, as in, she can hack effectively. She was supposed to be sort of a hybrid by my plan.

However, if you can think of something better that fits the places she was at, you are free to do so. That's the reason I left it unknown.

Codename within the Cataclysm: Pestilence or Famine (In case you don't like these, you can go with Fury or Strife/Conquest, these are more modern interpretations of the horsemen, but if you want to stay true to the biblical names, go with Pestilence/Conquest or Famine)

2. Faust's best friend (You decide on the first and last name, and his age, however, you must be human)
His history is unwritten, until he meets Faust when Faust was on his job as bodyguard for a space expedition, after that he joins Faust. You can decide on whatever he did until before he met Faust. This means, if he learned some kind of fighting style prior to joining Faust on the space ship. What happened to him when he was younger, and so on. Also, you decide what he learned during one year he spent with Faust in the rebellion.

My initial plan for him was that he would be a warrior, a frontliner. When he was younger, he learned to fight with big, two-handed weapons, doing slow, but devastating attacks. At rebellion underground facility, he further improved his skills, and learned to be a master crafter, as well as builder
Codename within Cataclysm: War

3. Project XXXX (Doesn't remember his/her name, but learns what it is later, through an RP event. But they are calling him/her by his/hers project name, so pick something suitable e.g Project Jenova (FF, Yo ^^), age not known until later, learned through an RP event, as well. You can make her/him be any race, other than Human or Apex, and you can be either female or male)
His/her history is completely unknown, and you can RP about finding what your history is (making it up, of course, on your own, and fitting it in)

My initial plan for Project that he was <race> (didn't decide on race, to be honest), and that he was the first awakened Force user (Mage) in this universe, and that he was caught and experimented on by Apex, because they knew he had these powers that no one knew about, so they wanted to use him to improve their own evolution, until Faust's sister saved him/her. Of course, If he was a mage, he couldn't be Glitch, and as for Human and Apex, it's because we already have 2 apex leaders, and 1 human leader of the Cataclysm.

Yes, there are no spells yet or force, or anything, but at some point it will have to come to the game, until then, you can use a sniper, and pretend that it's a fireball you're shooting out.

After these 3 roles are filled, and we start RPing, and we build our base, that's when we recruit normal members. At first, it will be a small base, but later, it will be something very big (I'll explain later).

Pick one of three roles available now, make that character. Fill in the blanks (Backstory, Bits that I left for you to decide...etc. You should know if you ready this whole thing) and PM me the application. Thanks in advance.

If you want to apply as a normal member, you are free to do so, but nothing can be started until we have all 4 leaders, and we build a basic base of operations.

Planet is already found, and coordinates will be provided to the leaders of the faction, once they emerge. Also, I will provide access to Gamma sector, and provide diamond drills for new characters created for these three roles.

 

The Faction
Ok, so first I want to get some questions you probably have out of the way.

Why Cataclysm? Why Codenames for leaders after the 4 horsemen?

The reason is because when Faust met his best friend (Human), they discussed each other's races, and the Human spoke about everything, the beliefs of the old, religion, and everything else. At one point, he told Faust about Cataclysm, God, 4 Horsemen, Demons, hell, heaven, just everything he knew. Faust felt like he would need something like a Cataclysm to end the Miniknog, and change the way Apex people lived. Thus, he named the newfound organization Cataclysm. As for codenames, everyone gets them, not just the four leaders. Leaders just happen to be codenamed after the four horsemen, that's all.

Role playing, while game playing
We all know that primarily, this server is only for role playing. But I don't think that anyone would mind us changing the rules a bit (Only for ourselves, meaning we won't force it on other players/factions).

What do I mean by this?

If there's an RP where I have to fight someone, and the outcome can be win or loss, I will want to do real PvP to decide what happens next, and progress the story. It's simply more fun for me that way, and this is what I expect from every member of this faction, in case people join.

However, if there's a fully scripted role play, from start to the end, and I'm supposed to lose in it, I will play it out and lose it, for the sake of the story.

See? It's give and take kind of thing.

Mods will not be allowed for use in this faction if they are game breaking (Free items, blocks...etc). If items giving some stat, it needs to be crafted by you, and you need to get all the materials in a normal way. If you're helping in building the base, you need to actually go and look for blocks, and dig them up, and build with those, rather then getting millions of blocks with a click of a button.

I want my faction to have real progression, with real effort, and real work put into it. Trust me, it's way more satisfying when you actually work for something, and then accomplish that goal. Don't believe me? Don't worry, you'll thank me later, just suck it up, and join.

To summarize - We progress (Item/Story/Building/Crafting/Everything-wise) by using normal game mechanics, nothing else.

Activities in the Faction

1. Quest system for normal members that reward you with pixels, items and faction reputation.
- The way quest system will work is that we will have a sub-forum, and in it, list of quests made by the four leaders of the faction. Each leader scouts planets, find something for members to do, write up the quests, set up the rewards and post it in the sub-forum. Members comes, replies that he's taking a certain quest, leader adds him to the list of people doing that quest. You do the quest, make a screenshot, post it and say that you have finished the quest, your screenshot gets checked, and you get the reward in game.

- In case it's a collection quest, you gather required materials, trade it to leader, and you get rewards.

This is how we can effectively gather masses of blocks and everything we need for building our base, as well as having you play the game for something, and not some imaginary nonsense.

This is how it will work for now. BUT, I'm keeping my eyes open for something like this:
http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?threads/quest-maker.45596/

And if something like this gets out, I will do everything in my power (I will even grovel) for them to implement a mod like this on this server. However, everything even remotely like this is still just WIP, and I even heard something official regarding quests is being made, so, might as well wait for that.

2. Reputation System for normal members. You will get reputation for each quest you do, some will give less, some will give more. What do you get with reputation? You rank up. With higher ranks, you get access to higher sector of our underground complex, you gain access to better quests, story-wise you are closer to the faction leaders, possibly also stronger authority and permission to change things in our underground city, and possibly more things, it depends what future versions of the game bring us.

Now, since structures are wiped at the moment, there's really no access to underground anything, for now, we will only have a small base, but when the function to save player-created structures, and load them up after the wipes come, here's what we will start building.



So, let me explain here. Doesn't matter if the planets are round or straight in Starbound. We will split it into 4 pieces, each with 3 sectors, 2 sectors with 3 floors each, and final sector with only one, big floor. The higher your ranking with the faction, the deeper you can go. Yes, the whole planet will be our underground city. With, possibly some structures outside. On surface, there will definitely be big elevator shafts, and elevators will be added when they're available in the game.

Another thing is that every other part of the planet will be run by a different leader. For example Faust's part will be called D (standing for Death) and each sector will be called D-1, D-2, D-3, and floors will be called D-1a, D-1b, D-1c, D-2a, D-2b, D-2c, and D-3 (sector 3) will only be D-3, since it's only one huge room. Faust trains assassins, so if you join an assassin division, you will only be able to get to D-3 (final sector of Faust's part of the planet) and you will only get quests from Faust, and they will mainly consist of assassination type missions, that will be performed during the night. While if you're maybe in War section, under the Faust's best friend (human), probably warrior, you will do quests whenever, and if it's fighting quests, it will be to just go and demolish something, straight up. Of course, there will be neutral quests, that everyone can take, and do them whenever they please.

3. Group exploration of other planets and group gathering

Group exploration, simply a group of people exploring new planets, setting up little camps on them, finding whatever there is to be found of value. Group gathering, same thing, only focused on gathering materials, crafting new gear for yourself, and so on.

Final words

I will ask moderator/admin to open a forum for the faction, once I find 3 members to fill in the required roles, as leaders. Until then, this all will stay here in the storyboard section, as I don't want to rush into it alone. I need the backup of other three leaders.

(Majority of the last parts that I wrote are done fast, there are probably mistakes and things, but I will fix that tomorrow, when I wake up, and make it more understandable. But you should be able to understand most of these things, even though I was writing several last paragraphs in a hurry).

 

Forgot something, even after all this writing, damn it.

So...

Enemies

Obviously, our main enemy is an NPC faction, Miniknog.

As for the PC enemies, it's just PDF for now, I think. It's not that I selected them as enemies, it's simply a conflict that naturally comes. Since we're attacking Apex research facilities everywhere, and PDF is defending everyone. (However, they maybe don't include the NPC world as part of their RP like I do, so maybe it doesn't matter, I'll have to ask around, and see where we stand).

 

Reading just a Backstory and Story now (Rp start), second one being more of a comic, is good enough for the RP part of things. Everything else is about the faction, how it will work, what will be build and so on, it doesn't have to be read right now, it's just for the curious, and the brave . Backstory and Story now are kind of required to even understand what's going on, after that, if interested, you can read on how to join.

It's complicated just for these 3 roles that MUST be filled before the RP starts, because they're also leaders, completely equal, so they need to know about their characters, because they're not completely free to create them however they want, there are some minor restrictions. But I think I made all three of them pretty interesting.

Maybe I should've given characters some temporary names, rather than marking them with XXXXX. Maybe I'll change that tomorrow, and maybe add some coloring, and fix up the mistakes and things that I rushed. I'm too tired to do it right now, after all this writing.