All [Signups & OOC] American Warlords - Post-Nuclear Grand Scale RP

[RedemptionforaHotdog]

I should have been clearer. I definitely didn't expect there to be any remaining metropolitan areas with millions of people or anything.

I've abandoned the idea I was going with anyway, so, for my purposes, the question of cities might end up being immaterial. We'll see!

 

[dispatch99]

I should have been clearer. I definitely didn't expect there to be any remaining metropolitan areas with millions of people or anything.

I've abandoned the idea I was going with anyway, so, for my purposes, the question of cities might end up being immaterial. We'll see!

If you say so—let me know if you have any additional questions or anything I can help with!

 

[dispatch99]

Regarding the elevator shaft, is there a surviving bit of signage anywhere saying what's on the other floors?

Like if there's a parking lot on another floor that might have another exit.

I'm so sorry I forgot about this—I just added a little vertical map.

 

[RedemptionforaHotdog]

New question! Is prejudice against mutants and genetic engineering strong enough that even if a mutant possessed an entirely beneficial mutation, say, a mildly extended lifespan, people would still be largely resistant to researching and attempting to recreate it?

Or maybe genetic engineering like that is already available to the wealthy and so a few lowly mutants naturally exhibiting a beneficial mutation wouldn't really matter to them?

 

[dispatch99]

New question! Is prejudice against mutants and genetic engineering strong enough that even if a mutant possessed an entirely beneficial mutation, say, a mildly extended lifespan, people would still be largely resistant to researching and attempting to recreate it?

Or maybe genetic engineering like that is already available to the wealthy and so a few lowly mutants naturally exhibiting a beneficial mutation wouldn't really matter to them?

Varies wildly much depends on the group: some would kill you anyways, some would experiment on you but not consider you very valuable or care if they were making your life hell in the process, some would keep you locked up closely, and some would pay you handsomely for samples and cooperation.

The pre-war ultra-wealthy, still largely hiding in their bunker complexes, already have access to good life extension genetic treatments, although some of them still refuse it for religious/ideological reasons, and new science is always appreciated. However, those secrets are closely guarded by those who want the know-how, and are suppressed by those who hate the practice: there's plenty of room for a third party carrying some advantageous mutations to, say, work with the People's Hospitals in Cascadia, or hit up independent gene clinics in International Detroit City or elsewhere, to offer their services.

That said, a minor lore point: if you were specifically thinking about life extension though, I would just point out that it has "only" been 29 years since the war ended, so your character would have been pretty old when the bombs fell to have it make sense if the source of the mutation was radiation. If it was pollution/illegal experiments, there's no problem with it being earlier though.

 

[RedemptionforaHotdog]

That said, a minor lore point: if you were specifically thinking about life extension though, I would just point out that it has "only" been 29 years since the war ended, so your character would have been pretty old when the bombs fell to have it make sense if the source of the mutation was radiation. If it was pollution/illegal experiments, there's no problem with it being earlier though.

How old are we talking? And do you mean they'd have to be old because otherwise the mutation wouldn't be evident or am I having a serious smooth brain moment and not getting what you mean? If that is the reason they'd have to be old, though, surely a mid-to-late-twenty-something not appearing to age much for twenty years would be enough for that person to figure something had changed them somehow.

Very sorry if that's not what you mean and I'm just badgering you with dumb questions because I didn't read the lore closely enough.

 

[dispatch99]

How old are we talking? And do you mean they'd have to be old because otherwise the mutation wouldn't be evident or am I having a serious smooth brain moment and not getting what you mean? If that is the reason they'd have to be old, though, surely a mid-to-late-twenty-something not appearing to age much for twenty years would be enough for that person to figure something had changed them somehow.

Very sorry if that's not what you mean and I'm just badgering you with dumb questions because I didn't read the lore closely enough.

There's no dumb questions! 90% of this stuff is mentioned exactly once and hidden in a wall of text of a spoiler, I don't expect anyone to be able to keep track of this fully—not even myself!

I did mean that "they'd have to be old otherwise the mutation wouldn't be evident", but you actually make a good point about that not really being true. Your original plan sounds good—ignore me lol

 

[RedemptionforaHotdog]

Well, as long as you're giving me the green light! I'll get to work on a character submission.

Also, @OrganicIntelligence , I don't wanna be stepping on your toes by creating another "chronologically older than their biological age" character if you'd like that niche to yourself. Especially seeing as I accidentally copied Jakk from the Realms of Doom RP, haha. You alright with my character idea for this RP?

 

[OrganicIntelligence]

Well, as long as you're giving me the green light! I'll get to work on a character submission.

Also, @OrganicIntelligence , I don't wanna be stepping on your toes by creating another "chronologically older than their biological age" character if you'd like that niche to yourself. Especially seeing as I accidentally copied Jakk from the Realms of Doom RP, haha. You alright with my character idea for this RP?

I'm fine with that, they can sit around a fire with s'mores reminiscing about plumbing and movies.

 

[RedemptionforaHotdog]

One final question: how badly was the atmosphere messed up in terms of affecting the sunlight? Was it, like, full nuclear winter for a while, or not so intense?

 

[dispatch99]

One final question: how badly was the atmosphere messed up in terms of affecting the sunlight? Was it, like, full nuclear winter for a while, or not so intense?

Good question! TLDR: Climate was falling apart beforehand, then there was nuclear winter and storms for like 2-3 years, and the climate is still super unstable but is just now starting to find an equilibrium.

Long version:
The climate was already jacked up prior to the war: the Gulf Stream current had totally collapsed, plunging the northeastern and Atlantic U.S. (as well as Europe) into a minor ice age. This actually became a point of contention between the United States & Europe and the rest of the world: as the rest of the planet suffered from deadly temperature rises, the western countries increased their reliance on and consumption of fossil fuels.
In the Gulf of Mexico, constant hurricanes and a dramatic rise in temperatures thanks to a constricted Gulf Stream turned the region into a steaming, flooded, stormy swamp hostile to human life, but with plenty of tropical creatures and mutants making the place their home—especially once the humans left.
Out west, everything began drying up thanks to a climate-change fueled El Niño—forest fires and dust storms ruled the day, punctuated by the occasional superstorm from fluctuations out east or from the Pacific. Even Seattle now has more clear days than rainy ones.

Between these three regions, starting in the Blue Ridge Mountains in the southeast, stopping at the Rockies in the west, and stretching all the way up to the Arctic, became an unpredictable nightmare of floods and droughts and storms of all kinds.

And the kicker? All of that was happening before the nukes fell. Needless to say, the large-scale disasters and shifts accelerated the societal collapse. Tensions over food supply, fresh water, energy, climate policy, critical resources, and the shifting resource landscape meant that nation states found themselves at each others throats much more than they had in the past.

When WW3 did break out, there was a full-on nuclear winter for about two or three years. This was characterized by a dimmed sun and loads of precipitation year-round, fueled by the ash and dust shot into the sky by the war: cold rains in the summer, blizzards in the winter, thunderstorms and dust bowls whenever. The global temperature dropped by quite a bit and remains depressed, although there are indications that a rapid rise is in the way, possibly even outstripping the previous rate of global warming…

Currently, things in the US are as described above, just much colder and with significant variability from time to time: the west is dusty and dry, the center is chaotic, the south is hot and wet, and the northeast is frozen. In Europe, things are also frozen, and in the rest of the world, things are hot and swing back and forth between flooding and drought.

 

[RedemptionforaHotdog]

Good question! TLDR: Climate was falling apart beforehand, then there was nuclear winter and storms for like 2-3 years, and the climate is still super unstable but is just now starting to find an equilibrium.

Long version:
The climate was already jacked up prior to the war: the Gulf Stream current had totally collapsed, plunging the northeastern and Atlantic U.S. (as well as Europe) into a minor ice age. This actually became a point of contention between the United States & Europe and the rest of the world: as the rest of the planet suffered from deadly temperature rises, the western countries increased their reliance on and consumption of fossil fuels.
In the Gulf of Mexico, constant hurricanes and a dramatic rise in temperatures thanks to a constricted Gulf Stream turned the region into a steaming, flooded, stormy swamp hostile to human life, but with plenty of tropical creatures and mutants making the place their home—especially once the humans left.
Out west, everything began drying up thanks to a climate-change fueled El Niño—forest fires and dust storms ruled the day, punctuated by the occasional superstorm from fluctuations out east or from the Pacific. Even Seattle now has more clear days than rainy ones.

Between these three regions, starting in the Blue Ridge Mountains in the southeast, stopping at the Rockies in the west, and stretching all the way up to the Arctic, became an unpredictable nightmare of floods and droughts and storms of all kinds.

And the kicker? All of that was happening before the nukes fell. Needless to say, the large-scale disasters and shifts accelerated the societal collapse. Tensions over food supply, fresh water, energy, climate policy, critical resources, and the shifting resource landscape meant that nation states found themselves at each others throats much more than they had in the past.

When WW3 did break out, there was a full-on nuclear winter for about two or three years. This was characterized by a dimmed sun and loads of precipitation year-round, fueled by the ash and dust shot into the sky by the war: cold rains in the summer, blizzards in the winter, thunderstorms and dust bowls whenever. The global temperature dropped by quite a bit and remains depressed, although there are indications that a rapid rise is in the way, possibly even outstripping the previous rate of global warming…

Currently, things in the US are as described above, just much colder and with significant variability from time to time: the west is dusty and dry, the center is chaotic, the south is hot and wet, and the northeast is frozen. In Europe, things are also frozen, and in the rest of the world, things are hot and swing back and forth between flooding and drought.

Everything I needed and more! My character sheet shall be a-comin' soon.

 

[RedemptionforaHotdog]

Spoiler: Isaac Bradley

Name: Isaac Bradley

Species: Mutant

Age: (Chronologically) 48, (Biological Estimate) 25~30

Height & Weight: 5'10", 162 lbs

Gender: Male

Appearance: Like many in the post-war age, Isaac is on the leaner side. His naturally high cheekbones and narrow nose result in Isaac's face looking even more gaunt than his weight would suggest it should be. His skin is normally on the darker side of white skin tones, though, living through nuclear winter and in the intense natural winters of the Northeast had made him paler. Isaac tends to keep his dirty blond hair long for as much extra protection from the cold as he can get; otherwise, he ties it back when its length is inconvenient. A pair of deeply set brown eyes add to the overall severity of Isaac's features. Isaac also bears many burn scars on his hands and forearms, as well as much of the left side of his face.

Abilities & Skills: Basic military firearm training, DEWie operation training, bare-minimum survival training, mildly decelerated aging

Allegiances: (Formerly) US/USEG Army

Biography: Born in 2026, Isaac Bradley grew up in an increasingly unstable world. At an early age, Isaac and his family became climate refugees; their hometown in upstate New York was eventually cut off completely from electrical and water utilities as a result of several winter storms of unprecedented severity for the area. Isaac and his parents had no choice but to take up residence in one of the many refugee camps surrounding Albany. With neither the state nor federal government having plans to reestablish livable conditions in any of the uninhabitable towns from which refugees like Isaac had fled, the camps became his permanent home for the foreseeable future. Isaac lived in the refugee camps turned slums until joining the US Army in 2045 at 19 years old. By that time, Isaac's mother had passed away and his father, seeing enlistment as the only way out of the slums, encouraged Isaac to leave him behind and join the army. Isaac only had time to complete basic training before the bombs fell.

Isaac stayed with what remained of the army even as the country fell to pieces and the USEG took control. As the ARU grew in power, Isaac had the opportunity to learn on the job, fighting against the southern rebels. He served in a heavy directed energy weapons unit as one of the many pairs of hands required for the smooth and safe operation of the USEG's remaining DEWies. Unfortunately, learning how to repair and operate DEWies on the job meant lots of burns.

Isaac's unit was deployed as part of the first line of defense in the battle of North Virginia. While initially successful in anti-vehicle actions, the low mobility of Isaac's unit resulted in devastating losses as they were forced to retreat several times. By the time the USEG deployed tactical nuclear weapons, the entire brigade Isaac's unit was part of was already assumed to have been wiped out. Seeing the USEG unleash nuclear weapons on the world again as well as being left for dead by those in command led Isaac to desert—though no one would go looking for a man already assumed to be dead.

Isaac became one of countless wanderers roaming the wasteland. Though it took time for its effects to become apparent, Isaac came to realize he must have gained some mutation that affected the rate at which he aged. After a decade he thought it was strange that he hardly looked older than a teenager. By the time twenty years had passed, it was clear that he was aging at an unnaturally slow rate. As Isaac rounds out his third decade of decelerated aging in 2074, he looks easily twenty years younger than his actual age.

Alrighty, here he is. Let me know if anything needs to be changed.

 

[dispatch99]

Spoiler: Isaac Bradley

Name: Isaac Bradley

Species: Mutant

Age: (Chronologically) 48, (Biological Estimate) 25~30

Height & Weight: 5'10", 162 lbs

Gender: Male

Appearance: Like many in the post-war age, Isaac is on the leaner side. His naturally high cheekbones and narrow nose result in Isaac's face looking even more gaunt than his weight would suggest it should be. His skin is normally on the darker side of white skin tones, though, living through nuclear winter and in the intense natural winters of the Northeast had made him paler. Isaac tends to keep his dirty blond hair long for as much extra protection from the cold as he can get; otherwise, he ties it back when its length is inconvenient. A pair of deeply set brown eyes add to the overall severity of Isaac's features. Isaac also bears many burn scars on his hands and forearms, as well as much of the left side of his face.

Abilities & Skills: Basic military firearm training, DEWie operation training, bare-minimum survival training, mildly decelerated aging

Allegiances: (Formerly) US/USEG Army

Biography: Born in 2026, Isaac Bradley grew up in an increasingly unstable world. At an early age, Isaac and his family became climate refugees; their hometown in upstate New York was eventually cut off completely from electrical and water utilities as a result of several winter storms of unprecedented severity for the area. Isaac and his parents had no choice but to take up residence in one of the many refugee camps surrounding Albany. With neither the state nor federal government having plans to reestablish livable conditions in any of the uninhabitable towns from which refugees like Isaac had fled, the camps became his permanent home for the foreseeable future. Isaac lived in the refugee camps turned slums until joining the US Army in 2045 at 19 years old. By that time, Isaac's mother had passed away and his father, seeing enlistment as the only way out of the slums, encouraged Isaac to leave him behind and join the army. Isaac only had time to complete basic training before the bombs fell.

Isaac stayed with what remained of the army even as the country fell to pieces and the USEG took control. As the ARU grew in power, Isaac had the opportunity to learn on the job, fighting against the southern rebels. He served in a heavy directed energy weapons unit as one of the many pairs of hands required for the smooth and safe operation of the USEG's remaining DEWies. Unfortunately, learning how to repair and operate DEWies on the job meant lots of burns.

Isaac's unit was deployed as part of the first line of defense in the battle of North Virginia. While initially successful in anti-vehicle actions, the low mobility of Isaac's unit resulted in devastating losses as they were forced to retreat several times. By the time the USEG deployed tactical nuclear weapons, the entire brigade Isaac's unit was part of was already assumed to have been wiped out. Seeing the USEG unleash nuclear weapons on the world again as well as being left for dead by those in command led Isaac to desert—though no one would go looking for a man already assumed to be dead.

Isaac became one of countless wanderers roaming the wasteland. Though it took time for its effects to become apparent, Isaac came to realize he must have gained some mutation that affected the rate at which he aged. After a decade he thought it was strange that he hardly looked older than a teenager. By the time twenty years had passed, it was clear that he was aging at an unnaturally slow rate. As Isaac rounds out his third decade of decelerated aging in 2074, he looks easily twenty years younger than his actual age.

Alrighty, here he is. Let me know if anything needs to be changed.

Approved! Welcome to the slaughterhouse, Isaac.

 

[RedemptionforaHotdog]

Yipee! I'll get caught up on the RP so far and see where I might be able to toss Isaac in there.

 

[dispatch99]

Yipee! I'll get caught up on the RP so far and see where I might be able to toss Isaac in there.

Shouldn't be too difficult—everyone is still in the Mall. Let me know if you need any help!

 

[OrganicIntelligence]

So we have an Abrahms and a Bradley. I think all we need is a humvee.

 

[dispatch99]

So we have an Abrahms and a Bradley. I think all we need is a humvee.

a lot of post-war kids and even a few folks pre-war are named after weapons or vehicles—y'all may eventually meet a kid named 12-Gauge (guess what kinda gun he uses—cmon, guess)

 

[dispatch99]

I desperately want to talk about "end game" scenarios I've cooked up but I don't want to spoil anything, girl help

 

[OrganicIntelligence]

I desperately want to talk about "end game" scenarios I've cooked up but I don't want to spoil anything, girl help

I actually had an 'end game', or at least a 'path to becoming a warlord' in mind for Sarah, but it might require some buy-in from the host.