[center][img]http://pre00.deviantart.net/b4a3/th/pre/i/2015/048/d/2/18_2_15_after_hours_by_blakez-d8ihods.jpg[/img][/center] [center][img]http://www.cathyarkle.com/shepaused4thought/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/shepaused4thought-line.png[/img][/center] To think it all began years ago, the gradual decline that would bring the once bustling cities of the world to a halt. The governments of man failing to protect them from something which couldn’t be stopped, their mindless movement unceasing even when the conventional means were used. It all started with murders, disappearances, and kidnappings. At first, nobody thought much about it. The families of those who were found dead or went missing mourned but everybody thought “Hey, it won’t happen to me. They were just unlucky.” How wrong their thoughts were, the mindless act of pushing away something which soon became so unbearing that nobody knew how to act. So unbearing that the pillars which supported them collapsed like a regular man trying to be Atlas. They came one day, the shambling masses of the missing and kidnapped. They were reported found and rescued by all those who had seen them, who had recognized their faces from the milk cartons and daily news reporting on them. The media swarmed, they were taken away by their crying families and given a home. They smelled of rot though, unbearably so that those who lived with them often had to bathe them everyday to remove the smell. They were just as they had been the moment they were taken or disappeared, but they were mindless and unresponsive. They didn’t eat, didn’t sleep, simply sat and went wherever they were led. Then, one of them killed somebody. It wasn’t like the movies, the ones where they mindlessly attacked the man and ripped them to shreds to consume the flesh. No, it was something more. The Reborn, as some had taken to calling them, cared not about eating their target but used their teeth and bare hands as they were the most immediate weapons. They had no motive for who they killed, simply striking with fury and mindless abandon. Those who had been left out on the streets became a danger to civilians, attacking whenever. One couldn’t go anywhere on foot or otherwise without worrying about being attacked. The Cops, the National Guard, they tried to stop them but a bullet through the brain wouldn’t end it nor removing the head from the body. They kept going, ambulating wildly and attacking whatever they touched. Burning the bodies was the only way but the stench… the look of pain and inhuman screaming brought that idea to a halt quickly. People started to riot, break down mentally in public and plead with their governments for some kind of safety only to be met with half-hearted and half-assed attempts. Looting, murder, kidnapping, it all came crashing down as people stopped caring about being civil and did as they wished. Humanity showed its true colors finally and we realized that, if we were to survive, it was either alone or together. Those who had a common goal banded together, protecting each other from the danger of the Reborn and outsiders. Paranoia brought mass killings as those who pleaded with the less civil of groups were often killed out of fear. More Reborn came, crawling out of their graves and rising from those who were murdered in the months following their arrival. People got use to the sight of them and the fear of them died off, so long as one was safe behind the walls of many upstart towns that is. The Outside is death, the Inside is life. Within, it is as if everything were normal. But even being normal comes at a cost, especially in a world like this one. [center][img]http://www.cathyarkle.com/shepaused4thought/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/shepaused4thought-line.png[/img][/center] [hider=The Greater New York Colony] [center][img]http://pre00.deviantart.net/e5ed/th/pre/i/2015/091/0/7/2_4_15_the_wall_by_blakez-d8o2ef6.jpg[/img][/center] The Greater New York Colony, or the GNYC, is the largest and most influential of the colonies that are not part of the New American States. Having made a deal with the NAS, the GNYC is provided with power from the nuclear power plant further up north and runs relatively normal inside. With walls established around almost of all of Manhattan, the GNYC holds a population of over three million people and a security force similar to that of S.W.A.T in numbers of ten thousand. GNYC has a strict curfew for any and all people not working on the walls or guarding, one which starts at 8pm and doesn’t end till 6am. Ships come into port from outside the GNYC to deliver food products, often in trade for medical supplies or care of those injured. A recent decision by the mayor of the GNYC has made Central Park a farm land for fresh food. Rumors are circulating that more than thus injured men and women are being brought in by boat, some say Reborn are being researched as well [/hider] [hider=Reborn] [center][img]http://pre13.deviantart.net/b069/th/pre/i/2015/036/e/1/6_2_15_experiment_by_blakez-d8gtyh9.jpg[/img][/center] The Reborn? They are like any normal person, on the surface at least. They look no difference from a distance, almost seem completely normal when someone sees them wandering the streets. But at a closer look, one can see that they are mindless and move listlessly towards some… destination that nobody knows of. They don’t breathe and don’t speak, just… walk. Unlike the zombies common media would’ve wanted one to believe they were, Reborn don’t eat flesh but simply rend it and tear away the flesh. They seemingly attack at random and will not stop until whatever they attack is dead. Removing the head causes them to hobble around at random, never knowing where they are going and only knowing what is around them by touch. Removing limbs is effective but the limbs will still partially ambulate on their own whenever touched. The best way to avoid a Reborn? Just… slowly walk around them and stay away, sleep with one eye open. [/hider] [hider=The Blackwatch] [center][img]https://i2.wp.com/www.exposingtruth.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/japanpolicehhh.jpg[/img][/center] Ah the Blackwatch, the elite of the elite guards for the GNYC. Having been around since the beginning of the colony several years back, the Blackwatch is the most well known military force in the area, second only to the Railmen who guard the subway. Whenever there is an internal issue, the Blackwatch is the first to answer. In times of need, they also guard the walls and manage the primary security force of the Colony. Using military vehicles, the Blackwatch can get near anywhere in the city in less than thirty minutes. [i]The original members that formed Blackwatch were former military personnel, taking it upon themselves to protect the fledgling settlements. Originally just a roving band of military personnel that would travel to each settlement as they picked up more and more members and supplies as they continued to stay on the move until the first walls were being constructed. The group then divided it's members and sent them each of the settlements to protect them while the construction took place. While there they maintained a perimeter around each settlement defending them from the Reborn, and once the walls were complete they moved within each settlement setting up a base of operations to begin training more members of Blackwatch to patrol the walls. This went on for much the early years until the Blackwatch began to take it upon themselves to ration out supplies and take a more active role within each settlement as the governing body. With the rationing of supplies, granting Blackwatch members a greater share than most others, several riots were incited, but with the superior equipment and supplies that Blackwatch had been amassing for themselves the riots were put down quickly and harshly. While the number of those killed in the riots was less than 50, the number of wounded was substantially higher as the Blackwatch, wishing to maintain some semblance of order, opted to break bones than outright kill the civilians. The aftermath ensured that the Blackwatch maintained order in the settlements, although a negative stigma was gained by the group. This lead to many of it's members wearing masks to hide themselves from the public's eyes to ease their life when not on duty. Within the last few years the iron grip that Blackwatch had maintained on the settlements has lessened, allowing for civilians to carry weapons on them at all times within the settlements, but they are provided with limited ammunition to compensate for this. While the members of the Blackwatch still swell, mostly for the better equipment and extra rations provided to it's members, the higher ranking individuals of Blackwatch deemed it necessary to create another division with Blackwatch itself due to the animosity that many civilian's feel towards the group. Using trusted members of the populace they would be trained, armed and provided for given that they become the Blackwatch's secret police force to keep order with the settlements, and if necessary take up arms. The secret group of Blackwatch are often heard in rumors among the populace, but without any proof to their existence they remain simply that, a rumor. Only a select few members of Blackwatch know the true identities of these members to protect their cover among the civilians.[/i] -Created by [@Aro] [/hider] [hider=The Railmen] The Railmen, the original people to have delved into the NYC subway when the Reborn first appeared, the conspiracy theorists and homeless who were worried for their safety. As time went on, many of these stations became their own little city-states but had banded together for the most part as they knew that a single station could not last long on its own. And as such, the NYC underground had began to unify and became known as "Railmen"; those who lived in sewers also are called Railmen as the term Sewermen is actually considered offensive the collective underground population. However, the Reborn were relentless, their attacks constantly and deadly. In their desperation, the governing body of the Railmen, the Underground Union Council (aka UUC or U2C), decided to destroy the lines and tunnels of the worse affected lines. As such, the Green and Yellow lines had been destroyed which seems to have successfully stemmed the undead tide for now. The Purple line was also planned to be destroyed, but reports suggest that there is something... otherworldly that unnerves anyone who goes near it beyond the Reborn that lurk there and as such it has simply been quarantined with a specialized force tasked to patrolling and protecting that line. Since then, the UUC has consolidated its forces and population around the Blue and Red line with Orange being the "capital" line. Recolonization efforts have begun with the Yellow line although regular attacks have proven troublesome at such efforts. The largest change was the official establishment of the Rail Guard, an order of soldiers and trained militia who are given the task of acting as the military arm of the UUC and protecting the lines and its Railmen from the reborn. They have also made contact with the surface once more, unifying as with the "Landers" in the face of such overwhelming threats. However, its not an easy alliance as the armed forces of both factions distrust each other. The Lander's Blackwatch seeing the Rail Guard as armed rabble who are undisciplined and glorified militia while the Rail Guard view the Blackwatch as a bunch of snobbish assholes whose lack of skill is covered up by fancy equipment. In the Rail Guard's defense, they do see much more action in much more dangerous cramped areas with much more limited supplies and equipment and their need to be very flexible and independent of any sort of support means they do not take kindly to strict chains of command. There are those who stand out amongst the Rail Guard who are known as Sentinels; the few who dare take up the assignments relating the Purple Line, otherwise known as the Mythic or the Ghost Line. Such are often veterans or distinguished Rail Guards who go into the Ghost Line as men and come out as legends. They seldom share what they see in the line or what they hear, but whatever lurks in the lost stations has hardened them more than any amount of training can. It should be little surprise that to Railmen, the color purple denotes danger or eliteness as Sentinels are known to paint parts of their armor purple as a sign they've survived incursions into the Purple Line. It's said that only the brave or foolish go into the purple line and that the smart or the cowardly stay out. -Credit for Creation goes to [@ClocktowerEchos] [/hider] [center][h3]Character Sheet[/h3][/center] Appearance: (and a brief description!) Name: Age:(16 minimum, no max) Origins: (Where did they originally come from, doesn’t have to be in New York?) Personality: Likes: Dislikes: Backstory:(What did they do before the apocalypse? Were they one of the people whose family member disappeared and came back? At least 1 paragraph and a half.) Profession: (What do they do in the GYNC?) Equipment/weaponry: (This can be anything, all citizens are allowed to carry weapons of their own wherever they go but have restricted ammo rations.) Other: (Anything extra about your character which doesn’t fall in the other categories.) [center][h3]Rules[/h3][/center] -GM decisions are final but, if your argument against it is valid, a change in decision will be made. -Keep your actions and items logical, this is an apocalypse and in a government style settlement where rations are controlled. -You can be however old or young you want, but remember that it has been ten years since the Reborn first appeared and younger characters will be less knowledgeable of things from before the apocalypse. -If you are gonna be absent for a prolonged period of time, just message me.