[OOC] Y Crisis (Pat 1: Decline)

[ImportantNobody]

(Curses! Typo in the title! lol *ahem* No, that was on purpose! Pat 1 is a secret code, of course!!!)

Timeline/Background Information

1924-1935 -A genius in the field of genetics named Professor Himmelreich had revolutionary new ideas in the field of genetic manipulation. Following the defeat of the central powers in WW1, he was hired to lead a multi-national team of the greatest minds from the central powers working to create a super soldier so that they would not suffer the same fate when WW2 came along. At the very least it would be a good deterrence to their enemies. Progress was rocky at best, but it's not correct to say that nothing came about as a result. It's this event that diverted the timeline from the one we have come to know.

1935-1937 -All test subjects used for their genetic manipulation had their y chromosomes destroyed rather then enhanced like they had planned. Pressure was increasingly being placed on the scientists as WW2 was drawing closer. Without enough time to create a super soldier given the pace they were going, they decided to shift gears and take advantage of what they did see in their tests; the destruction of the y chromosome. They put all effort into finding a way to weaponize it against their enemies. It was placed into a gas form that would alter DNA when breathed in.

1939-1945 -WW2 began despite Germany threatening to unleash their new weapon should the allies get involved. As the war dragged on more and more of these gas attacks were unleashed as they desperately hoped for it to work as their last resort. However, there were no immediate observable effects despite their best efforts, so the allies brushed it off. By the end of the war the gas had diffused throughout the atmosphere on a global scale, but in barely detectible levels. The war still ended with the defeat of the axis powers.

1955-1962 -A noticeable decrease in the amount of males being born had been detected. However, most considered it to be mere coincidence and/or simple fear mongering. Focus was still primarily on the Cold War with this "minor issue" as an afterthought. Little did they know that putting it off would have dire consequences that would forever change the course of history.

1962-2003 -Focus had shifted to this new dilemma dubbed the "Y Crisis" as the male birth rate declined to unprecedented levels. At first most of the damage was done in the areas most highly contaminated with the gas back in WW2, cities and places directly bombed by the Axis, but scientists determined that it's unlikely that any area is safe, and everyone had been breathing in the gas for some time now, building up in the body and accelerating the destruction of the y chromosome. The male/female birth ratio dipped below 30/70. Scientists desperately searched for a cure, starting with efforts to filtrate and quarantine the gas. The Cold War was officially put on hold as this matter now took precedence. Nuclear weapons were largely disarmed during this time to take advantage of this brief period of "peace" between nations.

2003-2013 -So far scientific efforts have failed to resolve the crisis and an official state of emergency is declared by the US government and many other countries following suit. Males now make up only 24% of the entire population and most of them are in the unfertile older crowd, tending to die at younger and younger ages. The male/female birth ratio is now 10/90 with no signs of stopping. Scientists believe that the damage has already been done even if no additional gas is breathed in. Reverse engineering the gas has given no clues how to stop it once it's already deteriorating the Y chromosome. Arguments grow even more heated between those wanting to turn to cloning, inducing parthenogenesis, continue with artificial insemination and hope the Y chromosome can hold out, and many other plans (some crazier then the next). Some even wish to do nothing, claiming it God's will to strike down mankind for their transgressions. Companies and groups involved in all of the major strategies grow in power tremendously, politically or otherwise, and some even turn to violence against one another. Many strict laws are passed during this time to deal with the crisis, including the formation of the Genetic Conservation Agency (GCA) as part of the United States Department of Defense. They now took on all issues regarding the crisis, including serving as bodyguards for the remaining males and to quell the chaos experienced at home and around the world as a result. As time goes on they have received more funding and powers then any other agency in the government, becoming like a second army that can do almost whatever they want in the name of resolving the Y Crisis.

2014-??? -WW3 breaks out as an alliance known as World Revolutionary Powers (WRP) makes their attempt to gain control over the world, taking advantage of these desperate times, and the New United Allies (NUA) created to stop them. With the current male population the way it is an individual country would be unsustainable for very long (relatively speaking), so the WRP claim it was either play nice and go extinct or fight for one's survival to take the much needed male "resources" from others, thus buying them more time to find a more permanent solution and allow the stronger countries to live on. Although smaller countries had been squabbling amongst each other for this reason before, most notably leading to the formation of the Arabian Empire, it had not been declared a world war yet until these larger alliances had been made and put into opposition with one another.

Plot

France is widely considered to be the leader of the WRP, being a major threat on it's own right, only getting more powerful as the Y Crisis went on rather then being weakened despite being heavily bombed by the chromosome changing gas. While it's true that their male population has been dwindling like other countries, they spent a lot of time and effort to resolve their problem from the beginning, being united under a woman known as Anastasia De La Fontaine. Great Britain and Germany lead the counterattack against them and their allies in the area, but it's not looking good for them as countries not prepared for this new world war quickly fell to her might. The NUA barely managed to hold the defensive lines in Germany, and it's here that they have remained for some time in a stalemate.

Although the United States and other allies attempted a counterattack to aid them, they experienced great difficulty as a result of the Arabian Empire, lead by Saudi Arabia. They were the only country in the area to adapt quickly to the change. While other Arabic countries were hesitant to change their gender roles as would be required, the new Empress of Saudi Arabia took power in a coup d'état that changed all of that on it's heels, ruthlessly crushing any and all opposition, starting with her own country. The men of the region had been too weakened by now to put up much of a resistance at all. It is in this Empire under her rule that gender roles have been reversed to more of an extreme then any other. The Arabian Empire may or may not be working in conjunction with the WRP, but what is certain is that they are no friend of the allies. Israel is one of the few countries in the area among the allied forces, able to withstand the invasions due to their small yet elite military with female soldiers already trained for such a difficult task, and rapid leaps in technology similar to what the Arabian Empire experienced. The United States, being Israel's closest ally, put focus on aiding them by wiping out the Arabian Empire before they became too powerful...if it's not already too late. Some forces sailed off to Europe to help in the fight against the WRP, but the larger of the two fleets used Australia as their staging point, heading directly to the heart of the Arabian Empire through the Indian Ocean. Their landing point? One of the most technologically advanced cities in the world; Dubai. This is where we find ourselves, just moments before touchdown.

Map

Map

Blue=NUA
Red=WRP
Pink=Arabian Empire
Green=Asian Alliance
Keep in mind that the map isn't absolute, just showing the general trend of the nations. It would be very splotchy in some places if meant to be taken 100% literal on every individual country's alliance.

Rules

1. Standard forum and casual rules apply such as god modding.
2. This will be PG-13 with R rated stuff fading to black to continue in PM's if desired. Although I do see this as being more suited for a mature audience such as a show like 24, this is forum rules so don't blame me. We'll have bloodless carnage and like it, d@#& it!
3. You can be a male character, but should have a valid excuse to be taking part in the action, such as you just got caught up in the crossfire and have no choice in the manner, or got a super rare permit allowing men to take part in jobs listed at such a high threat level by the GCA.
4. This will be "mostly" realistic, so no leaping off twenty story buildings while getting shot at, brushing off the landing while effortlessly slaughtering a hundred enemy soldiers. Basically, make Rambo green with envy and you'll be asked to edit your posts to a more realistic manner. Let's use teamwork and strategy rather then everyone running off expecting to be a one woman army.
5. If people are waiting on you to post for more then 3 days then I or someone else I designate can do some minor controlling of your character to move the plot forward. If you remain gone for an entire week then more severe meddling can be made (anything at all that is deemed necessary to move the plot forward).
6. There will be no exact posting order, but do not post again until two others get a chance to post between each of your posts. Also, if you're in a situation involving other people then you should wait until all others involved post before posting again. If rule number five is invoked with their absence then you may post again before them.
7. Posts should be a good five sentences in length, although preferably longer. I have no upper limit unless you start mindless rambling. Well, perhaps if your character has gone crazy then that would be a nice touch, but otherwise, just be reasonable and you should be fine.
8. You don't have to be from the US. You can even be an "enemy", although with this roleplay everything's not so black and white. Wherever you're from, just make sure you can get involved with the main plot around the general vicinity of the Arabian Empire.
9. You don't have to be some sort of an action hero. Civilians are allowed, which may include politicians discussing matters with each other off in some darkened room.
10. Feel free to contribute ideas of your own to the plot, but if it's a really large plot twist or something then I'd need to confirm it in a PM first before you spring it on everyone.
11. This is just one plot that will come about from this universe. Additional ones may be created in time to explore other aspects of it, including every day life and the changes that they have faced, to an espionage roleplay with the GCA as the primary protagonists.
12. This roleplay is always accepted new people. In fact, please join! We'd be glad to have you!

Character Sheet

You can add information to the sheet as desired.

Name:
Age:
Gender:
Nationality:
Appearance:
Personality:
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Equipment:
Bio:

Character List
Adam Hale
Isis Dynamo
Tommy Oliver
Sienna Avery
Anthony Curtis
Lilian Leigh
Maria Munteaunu

[Protagonist]

Name: Adam Hale (He goes by Hale)
Age: 21
Gender: Male
Nationality: US
Appearance:
Personality: He's calm and collected. He tries to be a gentleman, even though this is rather difficult these days, as now he's holding doors open for nearly everyone. Still, it's the /principle/ he cares about. He's interested in science, theology, and law. He's a bit of a prude, which probably annoys some ladies. He simply doesn't care about the Y crisis in the long run, which makes him come across as cold and uncaring to some people...and they're not entirely wrong. He's also fairly religious, as well.
Strengths: He is trained in combat, has excellent detective skills, and has a good understanding of the legal system.
Weaknesses: He's male, is not allowed to be on the front lines, and is usually less armed than most female soldiers. He also has a phobia of scorpions. His biggest weakness, though, is that he has a sense of chivalry that would seem outdated these days.
Equipment: Silenced mac 10 w/ incendiary ammo, taser, police baton, combat knife, ballistic shield
Bio: He never met his father; his mother was impregnated artificially (sperm Donner). Her mother was ecstatic to hear they would be having a boy, such that she named him Adam. He hates being called that, by the way. He grew distant, as he felt society only saw him as some sort of sperm bank. Which they did. He always wanted to be a cop growing up, but people considered that to be too dangerous a job for him. He was not expendable. So, he began working as a private eye (usually a less dangerous job). His merits in the job eventually came to be such that he was allowed special permission to join the military police, though he's not allowed to be on the front lines.

[Etcetera]

Name: Isis Dynamo
Age: 17
Gender: Female
Nationality: Israeli, but with American/Caucasian liniage
Appearance: Profile Picture
Personality: Fun loving, awkward at times, and hungry for knowledge of any kind. Friendly to everyone, and makes friends quickly. Sometimes manipulative when duty calls, and can influence others to do things through her words.
Strengths: Genius, scientist, and a black belt. She can manipulate others easily through her words, and makes friends and allies quickly.
Weaknesses: Too quick to trust others, and very stubborn, which makes it a risk to assign her missions, despite her skill.
Equipment: 5 Grenades, 10 beakers with various destructive compounds, a tazer, and a handgun. She occasionally carries a briefcase with other equipment in it, the contents of which shift from time to time.
Bio: Isis Dynamo was born in Israel by her two parents, David and Ma'at Dynamo, who still live there to date. She graduated top of her class, and is currently focusing on on-the-job experience, in order to solve the Y Crisis. Her parents firmly planted religious beliefs as she was growing up, and has been a Christian missionary and spy on one occasion to the Arabian Empire, despite her parents' worries. Her parents moved to Israel from the United States years ago after noticing the inclining problem, and being aware of Israel's quickly advancing technology and wishing to assist them. Isis was born soon after her parents concluded that the best option would be to stay in Israel, while her father worked with Israel's "Trophy" program in attempts to create a working forcefield, while Ma'at worked on a chemistry lab, modifying genes and chromosome configurations, as they passed their knowledge down to Isis through the years. Isis is extremely stubborn, with a huge willpower, and hates to be controlled, preferring to abide by her rules rather than anyone else's. She is currently looking for a boyfriend, despite the odds.

[WittyReference]

I'm thinking of an old commando from the Super Soldier era (from what I read, those born more recently have shorter life expectancy so his age and sterility making him unfit for further breeding/cloning research would be line with the established timeline methinks) whose augments have deteriorated with age and exposure but still retain enough utility to make him more valuable as an operative. Two questions about this though, how viable would that idea be first off? The experiments ultimately failed. Would the "success" of my character's increased combat readiness and lifespan been considered a step forward in Himmelreich's research or would the inherit loss of reproductivity and (insert Achilles's Heel here) fit the canon as "just not what we were looking for, Doc" leading to the weaponization? Secondly, a question I already hinted at, what sort of limitations would not only the long term exposure afterwards but the initial testing have on such a character? Is it a deficit of masculinity across the board? Does he find himself disinterested in life or even misanthropic as he just forgot how to care? Does he have to take testosterone capsules just to maintain his energy levels? OR the opposite is true and his body has flooded hormones to compensate leaving him constantly moving and always three seconds shy of a primal rage. Hell, has his body stopped producing testosterone all together and he's constantly self-medicating his abundance of estrogen?

Essentially, I saw that you and the others put a lot of thought into the setting before I popped out of no where, so I feel it only right I put an equal amount of care into the character I plan to bring into it.

[ImportantNobody]

They were mainly experimenting with super soldiers just before WW2, so if he was around during that time he'd be approaching 100 years old, give or take how old he would have been when placed into the experiments. It's possible they used children at some point, although given that they wanted super soldiers right that minute it would be unlikely that children had been the focus, even if we wouldn't put it past the Nazis to do so. The "super soldier era" was sort lived after their failure to make much progress, but I suppose it's not 100% impossible to claim that he could have survived that long as a result of the experiments (that being a super rare case), or that there were still some attempts made afterwards using what they had learned during that time, which was mostly what not to do. If he was in one such experiment that was more beneficial, it was already too late to be put into use during WW2, or perhaps on small scale and covered up after the war was over. Him being a success wouldn't have made much of a difference in the grand scheme of things. While they might not mind sacrificing hundreds of test subjects for the success of one super soldier, the Nazis fell apart at the end of the war and Himmelreich went into hiding, halting a lot of the progress. The most likely people to get their hands on it after that point is the Russians or maybe France after occupying Germany after the war ended. If the research fell into French hand then that would help explain why they have gotten so influential lately.

The men and their testosterone levels/decreased masculinity vary. In your guy's case he might be suffering worse then others. You are not going to get through one of the Nazi experiments unharmed, after all. It wouldn't surprise me that he'd have to take a boatload of pills every day.

EDIT: The characters are accepted.

[Protagonist]

Thank you, Nobody.

This'll be interesting. I've never played an MP before.

[ImportantNobody]

We'll need to brainstorm how those characters can get involved in the plot, if you haven't done so already. You wouldn't want to miss out on the Dubai battle. Israel couldn't have a large scale there because they'd need to cross the heavily defended enemy territory, but they could drop in smaller amounts of help secretly. As for the guy, it will be harder coming up with why he'd be caught up in an active war zone. Unless he was captured while doing something else and brought over to Dubai for some reason.

[Protagonist]

Would the US military be present at all in Dubai during the battle? Just because you're a non-combatant doesn't mean you don't see combat.

Also, mind if make a change to my character's equipment? I was thinking I'd swap out the combat knife for a ballistic shield. Just something I considered now.

[ImportantNobody]

The US would be the main force invading Dubai, being the largest ally of Israel. Australia will be another major ally in the battle. New Zealand will also take part to some extent. I'll have a character from there.

You can change your equipment. Why not keep the knife as well?

[Protagonist]

Sure. When it comes to armaments, the more the merrier!

So we could just have him right behind the frontlines, and then the situation becomes such that he's needed in real combat. Of course, whatever you want to do is fine.

[ImportantNobody]

To get behind the frontlines you'd be dropped down from the air or sneak in from...probably Israel or Africa, although a guy sneaking around in the Arabian Empire would be very difficult without a clever ruse and stealthy...sneakery.

[Protagonist]

I mean, just behind allied frontlines.

Then again, maybe he could pull it off. Since guys aren't supposed to be in combat, maybe they decided nobody would suspect him.

[ImportantNobody]

So he'll be in a ship watching over the battle? Maybe my New Zealander can be a guard on that ship to get some interaction and she'll go on land with you, meeting up with the israelian girl at tht point or beforehand if desired.

[Protagonist]

Sure, that works!

[ImportantNobody]

We'd have to come up with a reason to storm the beaches with the rest. If he wanted to do so I can see him tricking her by showing him his identification allowing him in certain danger situations, and she thinks it's for all high level danger areas rather then lower level ones. That would be awfully stupid of her at first glance, but being not from the US perhaps she just doesn't know the exact policies of the GCA, a United States organization. She'd think it's weird, to be sure, but she'd probably have nobody around who knew about it in order to make sure.

[Protagonist]

I'm game for that, sure.
Now a question for you: Do men's restrooms still exist?

[ImportantNobody]

People need to make handicap ramps for wheelchairs and such even if it's very rare, so I'd assume it would be like that. They'd probably be forced to have at least one male bathroom, although probably just a single toilet unless it's in some area of the city known to house a lot of men. They could also make it a bathroom for either gender, being only a single toilet inside, so it doesn't matter who uses it. Urinals would not be likely to exist very often.

[Protagonist]

Ok, so his life won't suck /that/ much.

[ImportantNobody]

I'm not sure if private buildings have to follow the same mandates as public ones such as having wheelchair ramps, but I could be mistaken. If they have to follow all of the regulations then you're in luck, if not you might have some trouble in certain buildings that want to cut corners and not install a bathroom for men.

[Protagonist]

Noted. I'm just trying to piece together some of the minor things about how this society works, particularly things that can be used to increase immersion or just be sources of comedy, like there not being a men's room in some places.

On another note, I actually have seen places with a designated women's restroom, but not a men's room IRL. They have a 'unisex' room, instead.