World Whispers in the Dark / characters & WB

[Aerix]

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Introduction

Spoiler

In a world overrun by monstrous creatures from another space and time, there are several fallout shelters scattered in the vicinity of Scarston Peak, housing the last of humanity. Few roads are travel-safe and fewer men brave enough to venture out in search of answers, for there are none.

It has been thirty years since nuclear chaos erupted and nature turned against every living thing. In the wake of such a catastrophe, the surface world was rendered uninhabitable ━ electrical storms ravaged the earth, acid-rain poisoned arable land, the seas and oceans swallowed whole continents, and ice covered half the southern hemisphere. Radiation levels subsided quickly enough, but when the first of the survivors ventured outside, they discovered they weren't alone.

Inter-dimensional barriers were broken, and through silken rifts in time and space, creatures that defied all sense stepped forth, akin to shadows... beings that existed, and to this day remain on the edge of mankind's perception, seeking to destroy everything that radiated life.

Arwin Osran grew up in Ark Valley, having never known how beautiful the world once was except for what he saw in picture-books and old movies. He is a mechanical engineer, an EMR fields & electrical engineering specialist at the tender age of about twenty. He works alongside his adoptive father, Chay Osran, who had taught him everything about the inner and outer workings of the shelter, and together, they take care of its fragile electrical complexities, the heating & cooling systems, as well as the A-Valley's most important means of defence against the monsters ━ the EMR field regulators that emit a powerful DHF / direct high-frequency.

There aren't many things he is incapable of fixing.

Except for the entire world.

The Silks

Spoiler

They are usually described as shadowy beings ━ faceless dark shapes swirling aimlessly across barren and scarred lands. Their size is recorded to vary but they also have the ability to expand and condense their shape. They are drawn to our world by certain electromagnetic frequencies that they themselves are capable of manipulating. They can interact with radiowaves and are often thought to gain power from the leftover gamma radiation. Very specific frequencies cause them to become more physical and grounded in our world, and it is at these times, and these times only, that they become vulnerable and are able to be killed.

They are alpha predators, able to move through solid structures (unless in a physical form), impervious to harm from physical weapons. They are very quick ━ the slowest still being able to outpace the average person. They are less known for their ability to drive people mad through possession. In their gaseous state, they are able to enter through a person's orifices and take possession of their brain. They can cause auditory and visual hallucinations, memory loss, seizures, and a wide variety of other reactions. They are also able to possess someone physically, orchestrating that person's body like a puppet.

They can also lie dormant in a person's body. In this state, they are immune to the electromagnetic frequencies that are used against them but that is also a weakness. If the host is killed while harbouring the creature, it will die as well.

Aside from the monsters, other threats exist. The levels of radiation may have dwindled, but overexposure can still result in radiation sickness ━ nausea, vomiting, a loss of appetite, etc. so those who venture out are still required to wear full-body coverage and a breathing mask. Since the nuclear fallout damaged the ozone, the world is also susceptible to very dramatic seasons ranging from desert-like conditions in the summer to arctic-like conditions in the winter. There are only a few months of weather that is temperate enough to be survivable each year.

Windstorms, firestorms, extreme flooding are dire consequences of entire ecosystems disrupted. The rise of sea levels, loss of biomes, etc. Flora and fauna have mutated as well. Not all mutated animals may be violent, but their mutations have allowed them to survive and thrive in these conditions by kicking up evolution to 11. Their meat and bodily fluids are toxic.

Ark-Valley / Fallout Shelter

Spoiler

A-Valley is one of several underground bunker sites cut into a large mountain ridge. It consists of sleeping quarters, dining and recreation areas, a hospital, reservoirs of drinking water, a crematorium, a hydroelectric power plant, a broadcasting station, large food storage areas where mostly non-perishables are kept (canned proteins, vegetables, nuts, grains, dried fruit, etc.) and large hydroponic farms. Poultry is their solution for protein, as they reproduce quickly and provide eggs and meat. Milk is taken from goats, a more sustainable option considering their crop supply for feeding livestock is not too extensive. Spinach and chard grow well in low sunlight; rice is also very easy to grow and has a plethora of uses.

The shelter runs on hydroelectric power from a nearby dam. Several main pipes connect this site to others but due to an infestation of mutated rats and other rodents they have been sealed off. There are open-air roads that connect the shelters as well but they are only used by experienced soldiers called Rovers. The roads can only be used in emergencies or during scheduled trade-offs, and only during daylight.

Everyone has a job to do in the shelter which has overtime become unwelcoming to new-comers. Elected members form a Council that oversee everything and make the decisions. Any wrongdoing is punished by labour while any and all severe criminal offences result in exile. Only a handful of people are actually trained to go outside, for different reasons.

It houses a few numbers shy of a hundred people.

Character List

Members of the Council:
Head of the Council -- Selene
Chief Engineer -- Chay Osran
Resident Doctor -- Leland
Leader of the Rovers
Representative of the Farmers
REP. Educators
Chief Researcher
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[Aerix]

Arwin Osran

Arwin Osran, a mechanical engineer / EMR fields & electrical engineering / residing in the Ark-Valley, one of the last standing bunker sites in Scarston Peak.


He is thought to be twenty-three years old, speculated to have been born during summer. Goes by he/him, and prefers men. Currently three-months single following a rather unfavourable break-up with Kayne, a cheating bastard, and one of the rovers – A-Valley's reconnaissance group.

Arwin boasts of a lean muscular build, standing at approximately six feet, give or take. He has short, strawberry-blonde hair, which is perpetually mussed, a pair of murky grey eyes that are always looking for something, and a fair skin tone peppered with freckles. His hands are calloused from frequent manual labour, arms scarred by burn marks and cuts. He likes wearing bright colours to contrast the bleak dull grey metallic bones that make up the body of the shelter. He prefers shorts to trousers, loose-fitting tees and shirts, and overalls.

His favourite colours are red, yellow and teal! Style examples #1 #2 #3 #4 #5

Background

Arwin came to the A-Valley as an infant. He was told his parents had fought hard to reach the shelter in order to give their son a chance to survive, but they were unfortunately torn to pieces by the Silks a few clicks from Scarston Peak. Arwin was found in the hollow of a tree trunk by a group of rovers and placed in the care of its Chief Engineer, Chay Osran, who had taught him everything about the inner and outer workings of A-Valley. Arwin now works alongside his adoptive father, taking care of the shelter's fragile electrical complexities, the heating & cooling systems, as well as the A-Valley's most important means of defence against the Silks - the EMR field regulators that emit a powerful DHF / direct high-frequency. There aren't many things he is incapable of fixing.

Arwin has always been rather inquisitive, mischievously clever, and painfully stubborn. He believes nothing is impossible, and enjoys proving others wrong. He often gets himself into trouble because he has issues with authority and detests being told no because deep down he always thinks himself to be right, no matter the circumstance. He acts on impulse most times, and doesn't seem to be able to stay put. He desperately wants more from life, even though he is constantly being told the world out there has nothing else to offer and that he should be happy with what he has. He has tried many times to convince his father, and the Council, to allow him to do to the outside world, alongside the rovers, but he's always been denied. 'You're too important for the future of the shelter for us to put your life at risk' they'd argue. He has very few friends, despite being friendly and talkative. Being the Chief Engineer's son comes with both perks and prejudice, after all. Most of his agemates are either farmers, or rovers, and they don't take too kindly to someone like Arwin complaining about his life.

He often reads and fantasises about grand adventures and is always the first one to offer help or put himself in harm's way, not because he has this moral need to protect the weak, but because he wants to feel something, to experience anything else other than the dull and dreary confines of the shelter. He feels rather lonely, in truth, and depressed. He's always wanted to know more about his parents, but all he has to remember them by is a tattered old blanket they had left him in, and a faded note that said 'Please take him.'

He hasn't got a lot of relationship experience either – his last boyfriend broke up with him because Arwin was being 'too much' but even a blind man could see that Kayne was simply interested in someone else and afraid of being honest. Arwin doesn't like being lied to or being pushed around – a harsh truth is always better than a soothing lie. Ever since the break-up, he's been spending a lot of time manning the radio, and communicating with the outside world. The outside world, however, rarely responded. Even the shelters they used to have constant communication with in the past have stopped responding. One day, however, he got in contact with someone who felt just as lonely. And the more they talked, the more Arwin entertained the idea of going out there, to find him.

And one day, following a rather harsh altercation with his father, he decided to do it.

Arwin enjoys reading science-fiction novels, old comic books, and playing with an old play station console he himself has repaired countless times. He likes to tinker and collect oddities – whenever the rovers bring back pieces of tech, Arwin makes use of them. He's got quite the collection of VHS tapes, a VCR, and a record player. He's tried many times to build a functioning robot, and he's getting real' close, for sure!

In his spare time, he hangs around the research department, making notes of everything the few scientists that reside in A-Valley know about the Silks.

He does not get along well with pessimists. He hates bad or sad endings to good books, and detests spinach.
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[Aerix]

Secondary Characters
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Spoiler: Kayne Barclay

Kayne Barclay, the rovers' newest recruit and A-Valley's most wanted eligible bachelor. He is twenty-five years old, and has two younger sisters who work in the shelter's hydroponic farm. They arrived at A-Valley two years ago following a flooding disaster at their old bunker site. A-Valley hasn't had any new arrivals since then.

The rovers are made up of mostly young, durable men, and women, and are sent on scavenger missions or trading routes as frequently as necessary. The Council keeps a tight hold on the rations that are handed out, so that the need to venture outside for anything that cannot be grown inside is not great.

Kayne is a sweet talker, a flirt, an opportunist, and a doting older brother. He cares a lot about what others think of him and likes to be perceived as a good, genuine guy. He and Arwin bonded over talk of adventure, and comic books, when Arwin was repairing some of the rovers' equipment, but Arwin grew feelings for him when Kayne started bringing him scrap metal pieces from the outside world, as well as whatever interesting thing he'd find but couldn't understand. They got along pretty well but Kayne was very much concerned about other people's opinions, so he managed to convince Arwin to keep their relationship a secret.

Most of the younger inhabitants of A-Valley are part of a clique that Arwin doesn't quite like or get along with -- they do not like him either -- but they like Kayne and Kayne loves their attention. He cared a lot about what they thought and ultimately broke up with Arwin because of how they perceived him. Now, he's dating one of the shelter's educators.

Arwin's heart broke, not quite so much because Kayne cheated but because he never once acknowledged their relationship existed. He thinks him a coward now, and loathes being in his presence.

Kayne is 5'11'', has messy blonde hair, and dull brown eyes. He's got broad shoulders, and a muscular build. He is terrified of the outside world but manages to keep it together so that nobody notices. On his first ever run, he recovered an old guitar and has been learning how to play it ever since. He's only learned a few easy songs but already he's got everyone praising him, which is all the applause he needs.

Spoiler: Chay Osran

Chay Osran is Ark Valley's Chief Engineer and Council Member
He is a grumpy genius who lost the love of his life to the Silks many years ago and has made it his life's mission to keep the people she cared about safe. He drowns his sorrow in home-made moonshine, and tinkers to pass the time. Twenty-three years ago exactly, he used to be a rover, and following one of their recon missions, he and his wife, who was still alive back then, ended up being saddled with a child. They found a baby in the hollow of a tree trunk, with a note that begged for him to be taken and kept safe. His wife always wanted a child but she could never bring herself to expose a baby to the cruelty of this unlivable world, so she was beyond happy they had a little bundle of joy to take care of. But their happiness didn't last for long. A year later, Chay fell ill with a lung sickness before an important trading mission in the outside world, and his wife volunteered to go in his stead, to spare him the trek that would have undoubtedly ended his life... but it was her life that got whisked away in an instant. She was torn to pieces by a Silk.

In his grief, Chay vowed to the heavens that he would find a way to destroy them forever, but it's been twenty years or so, and his confidence had been whittled down to despair... which he always tried to mask with a smile whenever Arwin was around.

His son was much like his mother, even though they were not related by blood -- he would never fail to give him a headache with his new-found ideas and an abundance of mischief whenever he tried to put them to action. Still, Chay always tried his best to teach him everything he knew, hoping to pass the mantel of protector to someone as skilled at keeping the Shelter running as he was. Sadly, Arwin's mind would always drift towards the world beyond their cage of metal, and that always worried Chay. He is too scared to let him out, too scared to lose a loved one again.

Chay is rather tall, and lanky. 6'2'' give or take. He has shoulder-length brown hair, blue eyes, wears glasses, and spends most of his rations on smokes -- it is a miracle the shelter still has some to go around.

 

[PassingWhisper]

Senan Cadell



Senan's Character Sheet
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