Edit: Looking to join? This roleplay has been rebooted, and can be found here: https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/163691-event-horizon/ooc

[color=MediumSeaGreen]Silence cut like a razor, spilling blood by the gallon and filling the air with the pungent smell of iron. It was a massacre, taking place in an empty hall which told no secrets. It was a protest against human ingenuity – a strike against the great pioneers.[/color]

[color=Gold][center][i]It has now been one hour since contact ceased with the Willman Laboratory in Ursa Major following what was described by technicians as a “violent crash and static” on the other end. Government officials have not ruled out the possibility of some sort of disaster, but continue to insist that the cause is likely some sort of technical issue with the station’s transmitters –[/i][/center][/color]

[color=MediumSeaGreen]At the end of the hallway stood a nondescript door leading to a standard biological laboratory, where a balding white man in his early forties lay decomposing on the harsh concrete floor, his eye sockets black and hollow, his skin broken by small holes all across his body as if his innards had planned a vast exodus en masse. His lab coat was stained a sinister grey color, and that same liquid spread from his body to create a puddle around him on the floor. It had the consistency of blood, as well the smell.[/color]

[color=Gold][center][i]– laboratory was founded by Dr. Hector Russell, a giant in the fields of astrobiology and microbiology, for the purpose of studying the effects on known organisms in unknown environments, and for the discovery of unknown organisms –[/i][/center][/color]

[color=MediumSeaGreen]On a usual day, the Willman Frontier Laboratory was not a quiet place. It was a place where eight hundred individuals – scientists, largely, along with their families – lived and worked in relatively close proximity, and where everyone seemed to be in quite a hurry to run from metal box to metal box, to share some step toward discovery.

But the silence had spread beyond the laboratory, through the hallway and out into the small colony. The living quarters were silent, no children played, no colleagues chatted in the dining hall. Instead, the dead populated the Willman colony. By the hundreds they lay, their eyes devoured, their skin perforated from the inside. They were many, they were [i]all[/i]. There was no room for the living.[/color]

[color=Gold][center][i] – a spokesperson for Russell Innovations will be addressing the public shortly regarding this situation, likely in an attempt to quell speculation. The government has already stated that, should the Willman Laboratory not contact Earth within the next four hours, a team will be dispatched to investigate what has unfolded at the most distant human settlement in all of the universe.[/i][/center][/color]

[color=MediumSeaGreen]Alone, rocking back and forth almost involuntarily on the floor of a maintenance closet, Doctor Hector Russell tried in vain not to hyperventilate. The door was shut firmly in front of his face, shrouding him in utter blackness save for the dim light emanating from the gap at the bottom. Hector expected to hear footsteps outside, a rescue party or, perhaps, a colleague: come to tell him that none of it was real. But there were no footsteps. Only silence, and the man’s own ragged breathing. He kept rocking back and forth on the cold floor. He kept moving, he needed to, else the sensation inside him drive him to utter madness. If he stopped, he could feel them pull, outward. If he stopped, he could feel them crawl beneath his skin.[/color]

[hr]

Event Horizon is an original science-fiction/mystery roleplay taking place in the year 2163. Humanity has successfully built manned shuttles which can exist for long durations out in space, and has already explored a good portion of the Milky Way galaxy, creating many thriving colonies in mankind's solar system and a few in adjacent areas. In space stations, on Mars, and in many other locations humans live good lives. They moved to make a fortune, or perhaps to get away from the clutter of Earth and her nearly ten billion residents, or perhaps for any of hundreds of other reasons. The mastery of space travel was like a gold rush for the scientific community, who began setting up outposts all over the galaxy and, in one instance, on the edge of the neighboring galaxy of Ursa Major.

The term “event horizon” usually refers to black holes, and references the point at which escape from the hole’s pull is impossible. It is, simply put, the tipping point: the point of no return. The destruction of the Willman Laboratory is humanity’s event horizon. It is the first page of the final chapter of our species’ history. But the folks in this story do not know that, not just yet.

Your characters will be among those sent to investigate the silence at the Willman Laboratory. Depending on your character's background and profession, you may have an extensive knowledge of the ongoing situation, or you may have just received a simple briefing. It will be up to you to decide whether or not to share the information you've been given with the rest of your team. The expedition will be the first witnesses to the most important event in human history, and they likely will not live through it. I will say this now: do not expect your character to “win”; do not get your hopes up for them to have a happy life, growing old on some private estate on a corner of Mars. Your character will die at the conclusion of this story, as will mine, as will everyone’s – unless they prove extremely lucky. What I’m trying to say is, do not get too attached. Yes, they will die, but they will just be the first of many. We have reached the point of no return.

Interested?

[hider=Lore & Stuff]
[hider=The Universe]
[u]Earth[/u]
Population: 9,800,000,000
The Earth remains the largest concentration of humanity in the whole of the universe by far. The planet’s politics remain fractured as they have for thousands of years – currently almost two hundred countries lay claim to land on Earth – but it was generally the larger countries which had the resources to create colony shuttles and have the infrastructure to launch them successfully. Most smaller countries pledged a semi-formal allegiance or pledged to pay tribute in exchange for their inclusion in these countries’ expeditions and colonies, and created larger factions which endured into the spacefaring age of human development. Among these were the Commonwealth, comprised of almost every former territory of the British Empire, with the United States being a notable exception, having constructed their own with the backing of Japan, Mexico and Israel. The European Union, at this point comprised of nearly every country in continental Europe, also constructed an expansive launch pad in southern France. China was among one of the first to figure out how to launch ships that carried a populace far larger than that of the expeditions of the mid 1900’s, and garnered the support of a few other nations in southeast Asia. Other countries followed suit as well: Russia; Saudi Arabia, winning over the support of much of the Middle East and northern Africa; Brazil, bringing along most of South and Central America; and Nigeria, along with much of the rest of central and southern Africa. In the year 2100, the nations of Earth signed an accord to implement a comprehensive population planning program designed to stop the human population from surpassing ten billion.

[u]Mars[/u]
Population: 3,350,000
Beyond Earth, Mars claims the title of the largest human colony in the universe. Rudimentary terraforming techniques have left the surface of Mars breathable and somewhat hospitable (in many places, the land is akin to that of a desert on Earth), and colonists from all of the major spacefaring nations flocked there. The planet’s largest industry is the mining industry, though many corporations have recently set up shop on Mars in an attempt to escape scrutiny on Earth.

[u]Luna[/u]
Population: 950,000
The Earth’s moon holds historical significance to the human race: it is the first place that humanity ever set foot on besides their home planet. Further, the Lunar Colony was the first off-world permanent colony to be established. Unlike some of the smaller colonies, has been separated by Earth nationality almost since its inception. The moon’s population is centered around a city near where the original moon landing took place, and which is predominately inhabited by Americans. Encircling that city are settlements just as homogenous, from Russia, and Brazil, China and so on.

[u]Bessel Agricultural and Scientific Stations (B.A.S.S.)[/u]
Population: 70,000
The Bessel Agricultural and Scientific Stations are a series of airtight space stations orbiting the planet Earth. Just as the name suggests, this colony was created with two goals in mind: to produce and distribute food to the other colonies, and to further the research into space and spacefaring. BASS is run by a council comprised of members of both the scientific and agricultural community.

[u]Saturn[/u]
Population: 30,000
Though there isn’t (and, indeed, cannot be) a colony on the surface of Saturn, there are tens of thousands of people living in mining colonies and small cities on the gas planet’s many moons. Roughly seventy years into mankind’s push into the stars, it was discovered that valuable minerals from Saturn’s rings could be harvested by small orbiting stations, triggering a “gold rush” of sorts to colonize Saturn’s satellites and monopolize on this new find. The astromining industry is still the largest by far in these colonies, though they’re slowly starting to develop into diversified settlements.


[u]Willman Frontier Laboratory[/u]
Population: 800
The Willman Frontier Laboratory is humanity’s first and only colonization attempt outside of the Milky Way Galaxy. Located in the Ursa Major I dwarf galaxy, one of the closest neighboring clusters, the laboratory is fully self sufficient and is still able to communicate with Earth and the colonies. The laboratory was founded by Dr. Hector Russell, a respected microbiologist who continues to run the program on site and the laboratory’s director.

[/hider]
[hider=Politics]
In the universe of Event Horizon, Earth is still split along national borders, preventing the population of the stars by one united human race -- rather, it had begun as a show of superiority and financial ambition between several large political blocs on the planet, and those border lines drawn on Earth have, for the most part, been drawn in the same color across planets and colonies. However, there is one major international organization which has managed to successfully keep the peace and organize colonization efforts between the various blocs: The Global Coalition. The GC was the spiritual successor to the United Nations, which collapsed in the year 2078 during the start of the Russian Invasion of Europe. In the aftermath, it was decided that the next international governing body should hold no allegiance to any one country at all, and was granted the island of Comino in the tiny nation of Malta, which would serve as a sovereign capital for the Coalition. Any time a situation arises in one of the many international communities or outposts in the universe, it is generally the Coalition which steps in and handles affairs, with support or funding from the major nations of the world.

[i]Note: I'll be completing this section soon.[/i]

[u]American Alliance[/u] 

[u]The Commonwealth[/u]

[u]European Union[/u]

[u]Indochinese Alliance[/u]

[u]The Russian Federation[/u]

[u]The Arab League[/u]

[u]The Brazilian Alliance[/u]

[u]The Nigerian Accord[/u]
[/hider]

[hider=Technology]
[i]Note: Humanity is currently still at the beginning of the spacefaring age. As a result, society still looks quite similar to that of the present day, and most of the technological advances are not too far out there. There is no teleportation, guns still fire bullets, etc.[/i]

[u]Space Travel[/u]:
Ships are generally made much larger than the shuttles of the 20th century, and can now be piloted fully via an onboard interface much like an airplane, rather than via a control center on Earth. Ships have Earth-like gravity, thanks to a small Gravitational Adjustment Device (GAD) which counteracts the effects of space; additionally, ships have oxygen circulated internally, allowing passengers to move around without the need of an oxygen suit. Generally, a small number of oxygen suits are kept on board only in the event of an oxygen leak, or the need for external repairs arise. Space travel specifically is done using hyperdrive technology. Once a ship has cleared a planet’s orbit, it may enable the hyperdrive, restricting directional mobility but drastically increasing the speed of the vessel. As a result, a trip from Earth to the Willman Lab in the Ursa Major I Dwarf galaxy would take three or four days instead of several decades. 

[u]Colonies[/u]:
In the absence of sophisticated terraforming technology, colonies have to rely on an acceptable substitute: the use of airtight interconnected buildings on the planet’s surface which utilize large, industrial Gravity Adjustment Devices to normalize sections of the city, as well as centrally planned oxygen circulation running nodes throughout each section. However, there is access to the outside planet, usually for the purpose of maintenance or mining endeavors, via a series of airlocks. In cases of transnational colonies, each region is generally separated by customs checkpoints, and every area is governed exclusive of each other, usually in the form of a city council.

[u]Medicine[/u]
Though medicine in 2163 still looks largely the same as it does in present day, numerous groundbreaking advances have been made. Numerous diseases have been eradicated due to extensive vaccine research, meaning that the human race hasn’t had to deal with a widespread epidemic in almost a century; occasionally a minor outbreak will occur, often in the colonies, but it is usually quickly treated and contained. Great gains have been made in the medical cybernetics industry, with fully functional replacement limbs and body parts becoming a reality in the early 2100’s. 

[u]Weaponry[/u]
Work in Progress

[/hider]


[hider=Timeline]

[b]2039[/b] – The second space race begins as a result of competition between the United States and China, who both begin construction on large launch facilities capable of sending colony ships into space. Many other superpowers and political blocs soon follow suit.
[b]2042[/b] – The Seattle Pact is signed, cementing a formal alliance between the United States, Mexico, Japan and Israel, and consolidating their spacefaring efforts into one program.
[b]2048[/b] – The moon’s surface is prepped for colonization by construction drones.
[b]2050[/b] – The first permanent colonists from the United States land on the Earth’s moon, and the first human city not built on Earth – named Kennedy – is established.
[b]2062[/b] – The first Mars colony is established by the European Union. Led by a Lithuanian Captain, the EU expedition beat a Russian colony ship to Mars by several months, causing tensions between the two blocs.
[b]2077[/b] – Russia launches a full-scale attack on the Baltic states, which draws international condemnation and military aid to the defending states from numerous western powers. The United States, France and Great Britain send special forces units to engage directly with Russian forces. China likewise does the same for Russia.
[b]2078[/b] – With the nations on the security council at war with each other, the United Nations ceases to exist.
[b]2081[/b] – The Russian War ends at a virtual stalemate; Russia is allowed to retain “ownership” of the Ukraine and much of the Baltic region; however, these areas will remain autonomous regions within the Russian Federation for at least fifty years, and will hold fair elections undisturbed by the Kremlin. Russia is forced to pay financial reparations for the war numbering in the tens of billions.
[b]2081[/b] – The Global Coalition is created as a successor to the United Nations. The GC is granted land in the island nation of Malta, and is classified as a “transnational autonomous region”.
[b]2086[/b] – In one of the GC’s first major initiatives, the international entity sponsors the construction of an orbiting station whose population may number in the tens of thousands. The station was created to grow food and distribute it to the newly formed colonies on Mars and Luna, as well as to serve as a research hub.
[b]2100[/b] – Every nation on Earth signs the GC-backed “Sustainability Doctrine”, a set of laws and guidelines designed to halt the growth of the population and, as a result, irreparable damage to the planet.
[b]2112[/b] – Valuable minerals are found in the rings of Saturn, triggering a second “gold rush” to establish colonies in the area.
[b]2115[/b] – After nearly a decade of trying to unify the whole of Africa under one space program, the nation of Nigeria succeeds, building a launch facility outside of Lagos which rivals that of some of the earlier facilities in Europe and America. 
[b]2154[/b] – Dr. Hector Russell, a celebrated South African scientist and businessman, establishes a research outpost in the Ursa Major I Dwarf system. This marks the first permanent human settlement outside of the Milky Way. The outpost is named the Willman Frontier Laboratory after Beth Willman, who had discovered the system.
[b]2163[/b] – All communications are lost between Earth and the Willman Frontier Laboratory.
[/hider]
[/hider]

[hider=Important Stuff]
[hider=The Long-Term Plan]
My goal is to have this roleplay be separated into distinct sections, or Acts. Act One, called Contact, will revolve around the expedition sent to uncover the fate of the Willman Laboratory. Acts Two and Three (and perhaps more, depending on how successful Act One ends up being) will focus primary on new character in a new setting, but in the same Universe. So while your brave Act One soldier who grew up in a poor Mars colony may have perished at the Willman Lab, his daughter may be on the verge of a monumental scientific breakthrough on Earth which will be central to the plot of Act Two. Alternatively, your characters could be totally unrelated -- each Act could be a totally fresh start.

There will be a whole lot of death in this RP; after all, it is about the end of humanity. That part of the story is already "written", so to speak. I think that part will be the hardest for veteran roleplayers to get used to. Having done this stuff for almost a decade, I can say from experience that it is extremely hard to let go of a character whom you've poured your heart and soul into. So I understand if this gets folks out of their comfort zone, but I also think that that's half the fun of it all.
[/hider]

[hider=Game Mechanics & FAQ]

[u]On Aliens[/u]
[quote=@FortunesFaded]If we're talking strictly sentient species, then no, humans have not discovered anything that appears to be on par with their own intelligence. They have found "life", but that comes in the form of bacteria found on distant planets. At this point, that's the extent; although the human race has not gotten too far into the spacefaring age: they've really only explored the Milky Way, and had just begun to explore Ursa Major and other nearby galaxies. Just because aliens aren't in this at the start, doesn't mean they aren't coming.[/quote]

[u]On Cybernetics[/u]
[quote=@FortunesFaded]In terms of cybernetics, humanity will have developed them to an extent, though not to the point where people have become more machine than they are man. The universe of Event Horizon is [i]nowhere[/i] near the level of, say, the universe in Deus Ex. Cybernetic appendages are fine (rudimentary versions of these have been developed in the present day), so are mechanical tendons and muscle (in instances where an individual had, say, a crippling leg injury which prevented them from walking, but they still physically have their leg). In general, "physical" replacements and enhancements are fine -- things that allow folks to continue functioning -- while super high-tech things like cyborg eyes and, like, built in hacking features are nowhere near developed yet. As is, all cybernetic enhancements are still wildly expensive, meaning if someone has them, it's either because they need it (like they lost their hand) or they're super wealthy (and wanted to enhance their running abilities, or something).[/quote]

[u]On Multiple Characters[/u]:
[quote=@FortunesFaded]As for multiple characters, I've been thinking a lot about this, and I may have come up with a rather unorthodox solution. It might not work. If it does work, however, it'd be pretty cool. So, anyone is entitled to however many characters they'd like, as long as they pledge to give 100% to every single character (meaning, if you choose to have three characters, I'm expecting three paragraphs per post and have all of them be actively involved in the story). However, most people won't want to do that, as it'd be rather time consuming. So, when I create the OOC and put up the character sheet, I'll invite anyone (especially the people who have expressed interest here, because you guys are the only reason this thing is getting off the ground in the first place) to create Character Sheets for the NPCs. So say you make your character, who happens to be, like, a soldier on board the ship. However you also make the CS for the Doctor and the Mechanical Engineer. Then, when your initial character dies (and odds are, they will -- there will be a lot of death in this RP), you're free to pick up one of the characters that you helped make. In the mean time, while you're playing your first character, I'll be fully in charge for all the NPCs. Think of me as, like, the banker. All of the NPCs will be in my "bank" during the course of the roleplay, and you can choose to "withdraw" one to play as at any time, should your character die or if you wish to play as two characters. During that time, though, I can and will be killing off characters and developing them of my own accord until you choose to pick them up, and when that happens you become the person totally in control of them.[/quote]


[/hider]
[/hider]
[hider=The Expedition]
[hider=Crew and Specialists]

[i]Note: Any positions which are not filled will be filled by NPCs. Additionally, positions can be created by characters in their CS if it is approved by the GM.[/i]

[u]Crew[/u]
Pilot -- Available
Co-Pilot -- Taken
Navigator -- Available
Mechanical Engineer -- Available
Electrical Technician -- Available
Quartermaster -- Taken

[u]Willman Expedition[/u]
Fireteam Leader (Sergeant) -- Taken
Assistant Fireteam Leader (Corporal) -- Available
Rifleman (Private) -- Available
Rifleman (Private) -- Available
Doctor (Medical Professional) -- Available
Scientist (Specializing in a form of biology, either microbiology or astrobiology, which is the study of extraterrestrial life, or both) -- Available
Official/Inspector -- Available

[/hider]
[/hider]

[u]Character Sheet[/u]

[b]Name[/b]:
[b]Age[/b]:
[b]Gender[/b]:
[b]Profession[/b]:
[b]Nationality[/b]: [i]I would recommend stating both the specific nationality (Like, Japanese) and also the political bloc that country belongs to (I.e. American Alliance)[/i]
[b]Birth Planet[/b]: [i]Or station, in the case of the BASS or the Willman[/i]
[b]Appearance[/b]: [i]Please write a description. If you’d like, you may include a picture as well in the space above the “Name” section. Please do not use drawings or anime.[/i]
[b]Strengths[/b]: [i]You must have at least as many weaknesses as you do strengths, and no less than two.[/i]
[b]Weaknesses[/b]:
[b]Personality[/b]:
[b]History[/b]: [i]This may be as brief or expansive as you’d like it to be. Just remember, revealing and expanding upon events in a character’s life is far more powerful when done IC – and that when you write something here, and not in the IC, other characters won’t know anything about it.[/i]
[b]Family[/b]: [i]Does your character have a spouse, or children? Are their parents still alive? Here you may list the names and ages of the character’s immediate family, if you so choose. This is mainly here because, again, lots of death in act one. You may end up playing as one of these folks in act two, if you so choose.[/i]