Mostly a W.I.P, but the story is done. Anyone interested? [center][u][h1]The Daylight War[/h1][/u][/center] [center][i]By DesertFox[/i][/center] [center][u][h2]A Darkness Broken, A Darkness Renewed[/h2][/u][/center] For a million years, Vampires ruled both the night - and the world. They were masters of all they looked upon, and their hunger was sated by the blood of lesser races. Creatures that were too stupid to amuse them in the hunt, or too clever to be harmless, were struck from the histories at a whim. Creatures that were too slow to populate, or too confined in their habitats, were also wiped from the face of the planet. Only the entertaining, adventurous and plentiful were allowed to live. Humans were such a species. But humanity was resilient, unpredictable and had a knack for surviving whatever was thrown at it. The humans eventually rose up against their Vampiric overseers, and using daylight and fire, were able to drive the nightmarish horrors from the surface world. And for a million years, humanity reigned. He evolved, grew smarter, stronger. He covered the planet from North to South, from East to West. Every plain, every jungle, desert, forest, swamp, mountain and ocean knew his face. Empires rose and fell with every thousand years, and though he was master of all, he warred with himself endlessly over pride, vanity, greed and power. His former masters watched and waited from the darkness, content that they be confined to myth and legend. The Vampires knew that another war with humanity would end much the same way, especially now that he was stronger than ever. The sun - daylight - was a decisive edge he held over them, and they cursed their foolishness for allowing him to grow as strong as they did. If they wanted to correct their error, and regain their right as rulers of the world, then they needed to negate the sun. Over the span of centuries, the Vampires set their plans in motion. By kidnapping human women, handfuls at a time, and impregnating them with their offspring, they were able to sire the Day Walkers. Day Walkers were Man and they were Vampire, an even split in most things, save for two significant qualities. Firstly, the sun did not harm them, and they could walk the earth as freely as Man. Secondly, in appearance they were Men, and there were very few ways of differentiating the two. Day Walkers were not immortal, unlike their fathers, and lived only for thousands of years at a time. They were also highly unstable, and the older they got, the nearer they verged to insanity. Though they possessed inhuman strength and speed, they were much weaker than their full-bloodied kin, and whilst their fathers only need feed once in a decade, they needed to feed once every ten day period. Still, their loyalty and dedication to their fathers was beyond doubt, and over their long lives, they furthered the causes of which they were assigned. And when Man's twilight era came upon him, he knew it not. Having infiltrated the very top of the human governments and militaries, the Day Walkers used their power and influence to create a conflict that spanned the globe. Man unleashed his vast arsenal of doomsday weapons against himself, scorching both the earth and the sky. Nations that had stood for thousands of years were reduced to ashes in an instance; billions were killed in the nuclear fires, and radiation did the rest. And then the Vampires came back out of the darkness, and sought to claim the world for themselves once more. This time, humanity was in no shape to contest them. The survivors of the Great Disaster fled to fortified enclaves, and established around themselves vast and impressive defences to guard against the onslaught. Though Man was greatly diminished, much of his technology survived, and so he used his knowledge to imbue these defences with the sciences he had acquired over his time. Man became militarised, and he became violent - resilient despite the magnitude of the disaster arrayed against him. From within his fortified cities, he was safe, and each night the Vampires were repulsed again and again. But their resistance has a time limit, and with each passing day, the challenges they face to survive are mounting. In the darkness of the many caves, caverns and strongholds, the Vampires are plotting the final phase of their conquest. The end of Man will not go with a bang, but a whimper. Skyguard, a city of a million souls, rests on the East Coast of the former United States of America. It is the sole surviving bastion of humanity for a thousand miles in either direction, and it is also the key to final victory for both species. For within its high walls, past the machine guns, solar-beams and the barbed wire, the greatest mortal minds are vying to create an airborne virus that will destroy the Vampires. It is the only known threat to the Vampiric race in recent times, and with it gone, there will be no more hope for humanity. With the existence of the Day Walkers still an unknown to the human defenders, they have unwittingly lost the security of the sun. They will no longer be able to sleep soundly in the afternoon, and rush to their defences in the night. For them, this will be the Daylight War. [center][u][h2]Rp Summary[/h2][/u][/center] Simply put, this RP is all about the triumph or defeat of the Vampires. Players will either play as a Vampire, a Day Walker or a human. Vampires and Day Walkers will work in tandem (or not!) to destroy the city, through sabotage and all out assaults, whilst the humans will give all they have and more to buy enough time for the airborne virus to be created. The Day Walkers are very human looking, think your typical hollywood depiction of a vampire. Actual vampires are well, monsters really, all teeth and claws. Humans are still bland. Technology before the Great Disaster was on par with the 21st century, but has now taken on a post-apocalyptic Fallout-y appearance. The humans, despite the Great Disaster, do not know of the Day Walkers and have no suspicions. This would allow for the Day Walkers to sabotage things, physically or politically... unless they pity them, somehow? The Vampires can sneak out at night and murder everyone, or roam the city's dark areas. The humans can just keep shooting their guns until they run out of ammo. This is a freeform, player driven and semi-sandbox experience. You know the setting, you know the overarching plot, but everything outside of that is entirely up to you. [center][u][h2]Races[/h2][/u][/center] [hider=Vampires][center][img]http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/298/3/5/vampire_by_ourlak-d4dwiod.jpg[/img][/center] Vampires come in several forms, but are all monstrous in appearance, and bound by a common weakness to fire. Some spew forth several limbs, others are nothing but a twisted ball of flesh and teeth. They have lived for millions of years, and with each generation, evolution has stepped in a different direction. However, they all share the weakness of the sun. Some ignite instantly when exposed to its rays, whilst others lose their strength and mental faculties. In any case, the results are always devastating. What makes the Vampires the supreme species however, is their Sixth Sense. The ability to actively control the material world with their minds. It is through this sixth sense, called the Birth Right by some, or the Gift by others, they can contact each other and the Day Walkers from several hundred miles away. Furthermore, they can also invade the minds of humans, and enforce their will upon them. However, as has been proven, if a human is strong-willed then he or she may fight off the attack. When it comes to moving objects with the Birth Right, a Vampire can move anything with an approximate quarter of his or her physical strength. During the day time hours, Vampires will hide or slumber in any dark space that they deem safe and suitable, and will sometimes employ Day Walkers to stand watch and turn away/deal with any unwitting humans. If a Vampire is injured by anything other than fire, then it is able to almost instantly heal itself. Burns resulting from flames can take weeks to heal, and can result in infection - the only scenario in which a Vampire is exposed to the danger that microbodies present to humans. [/hider] [hider=Day Walkers] Day Walkers are the result of Vampire and human copulation, and their conception is usually a brutal, horrifying affair. They spend their first five years tutored by their father in the safety of the underworlds. During this time, their purpose is explained to them in full, and they are taught how to hide their true selves from the unsuspecting humans. Day Walkers mature and age at a rapid rate, and though only five years old when they leave the underworlds, they appear as a human in their mid-twenties. A network of existing Day Walkers who live within the human enclaves, then oversee their entry past the walls - a feat usually involving a mixture of fake identification details and subtlety. This same network, also silences those who are losing control of themselves, or who are beginning to develop "feelings" for their human enemy. Day Walkers can live to be thousands of years old, but it is generally accepted that after the first five centuries, they start losing their minds. This process is slow, and can be stalled, but is the result of the "human part" of their brains struggling to cope with their own longevity. During this stage, they develop human-related emotions, such as love, fear and hate. Prior to this, their emotional patterns closely resemble a human psychopath's - in that they feel nothing. A Day Walker's strength and speed far surpasses that of a human's, but is dwarfed by their father's. Worked out mathematically, they have approximately a quarter of the strength and speed of their fathers. Though this makes them superior to humans in almost every way, they can still be killed easily by a well placed bullet. Their wounds heal quicker than a human's, but not instantly like their fathers, and is something they often have to hide when living among the enemy. When a Day Walker feeds, four large incisors emerge from their jaws, coming up in front of their human teeth. They can hide this at will however, and only a dental xray will reveal them otherwise. Though even if a dentist or doctor saw these teeth, they'd be more likely to treat it as some kind of benign deformity, than anything more sinister.[/hider] [hider=Humans] The former masters of the world. Humanity is in grave peril. Vampires stalk them during the night, and in the day, Day Walkers sabotage their chances of survival without so much of a hint of suspicion. Food and resources are growing increasingly rare, and though the wealthy elite of Skyguard live in luxury, the vast majority are downtrodden, starving rats who are living purely because they must. It's in their nature. And it is their nature, that has driven them to stand fast against the odds. Though weak and frail, humanity is ever resourceful, and there are as many heroes as there are cowards.[/hider] [center][u][h2]Lore[/h2][/u][/center] [hider=Technology] When the Day Walkers initiated World War Three, it was the year 2059. The RP takes place two decades after, in 2079. Common technology exists as a reworked, recycled stop-gap from the ruins of the pre-war world. Guns are in abundance, cars are still a thing, and even the odd plane sometimes tries to take off. However, things such as raw metals, fuels and minerals are a finite commodity. Recovery Teams, mounted by Skyguard's military, head into nearby pre-war ruins to salvage what they can. This has worked for a time, but the local areas are starting to turn barren. The Vampires have also wizened to this, and actively seek to destroy anything they deem useful for the humans. [/hider] [hider=Skyguard] Skyguard sits upon the ruins of Manhattan, and overlooks the torn and twisted form of greater New York. With a population of little over a million, the city is understandably crowded and full of squalor. The common man live in cramped slums, but the wealthy few live in the city's centre most point, where much of the tall buildings have been kept in tact. Surrounded by a large electrified wall, they are completely disconnected from the misery taking place just outside of their windows. Solar panels cover the tall buildings, and hydro stations dot the New York Bight. Further north, at Yonkers, the military operates using roads as runways and the pre-war buildings as barracks. Skyguard itself is surrounded by a three mile-wide parameter. These defences extend into the ruins of New York, and consist of fortified emplacements, trench networks and barbed wire. On the banks of Manhattan, a large twenty foot tall concrete wall circles the city from West Village to Yonkers. Hundreds of armed and trained soldiers patrol this at all times. The Inner Sanctum, where the wealthy and powerful live, is surrounded y a similar construct. Although, this s more to keep the common man from looking in on his betters, than as a deterrent against Vampires. In the city's twenty year history, the Vampires have never broken through the wall on the banks, and have only broke through the parameter defences three times. [/hider] [center][u][h2]Maps[/h2][/u][/center] W.I.P [center][u][h2]Rules[/h2][/u][/center] W.I.P