[h1]The OOC thread can be found [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/4059409]here[/url]![/h1][hr][hr][hr][center][img]http://i.imgur.com/2tiq1sS.jpg[/img][/center][hider=A Disclaimer][h3]I've lost a lot of patience over the years for people who post in an Interest Check thread about how excited they are to join an RP, only to never actually arrive once the RP's official thread is up. Please don't waste my time. If you post in this thread, you are signing a social contract which states: "I [i]will[/i] join this RP when it's posted." While being inactive is sometimes out of our control and therefore forgivable, I'm not interested in flakes. Thanks for understanding.

Also I know I'm a plagiarist hack-fraud. No need to tell me twice.[/h3][/hider][hr][hr]So there are a lot of Post-Apocalypse RPs out there already. The forums in fact may be inundated with them. But since I'm attempting to add yet another Post-Apocalypse to this long list of them, one could infer that I'm not satisfied with the current offerings, as diverse and high-quality as they may or may not be. Why? Actually there are a [i]few[/i] reasons:[list][*]Too many of them incorporate elements from genres I'm not interested in, at least when paired with Post-Apocalypse: namely Science Fiction, but occasionally Fantasy too.[*]Zombies.[*][i]Furries.[/i] Wow; really?[*]Using plebeian disasters like viruses and alien invasions in their worldbuilding instead of the true patrician's choice: nuclear war.[*]Too much snarky tumblr soccer-mom humor, instead of the gallows humor (in tiny dashes, like the spice to a main dish) belonging to darker, grittier settings. There simply ain't enough grimdark in this genre right now, exploring the very worst of humanity from its scums to its slimes to its flotsams.[*]And frankly, not enough [i]чики-брики[/i].[/list]Through this RP I seek to rectify all these issues.

[hider=The Setting][indent]The "Zone of Alienation," or simply "The Zone," is the name used to describe the highly radioactive and dangerous radius surrounding the remains of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (CNPP). In the mid-Nineties, about a decade after the disaster, a subculture known as "stalking" began to arise; wherein scrap metal scavengers, treasure hunters, and ordinary thrill-seekers slipped through the Ukrainian government's cordons to enter the Zone for their own ends. These "stalkers" are arrested and fined if caught, but there are worse fates awaiting them in the Zone, should they stumble too close to a patch of irradiated soil, or into the nests of the wild boars. This is the true story of stalkers, usually harmless but occasionally not.

What would have happened, however, if there was not one Zone but many? What if the Berlin Wall fell not because of sledgehammers and wrecking balls, but the blastwave of the bomb dropped on Germany?

What if patches of Western Europe have been ravaged and raped as spectacularly as Chernobyl was back in 1986, not from stupid mistakes but from the cruelty of war, and the malevolence of mankind against his own neighbors?

Welcome to The Zone. We don't use bottlecaps or bullets as our currency here; rubles, kroner, and pounds-sterling are the name of the game. After all, [i]most[/i] of society is still functioning outside these walls of barbwire and sniper nests. And while "the" war has ended, a new one has begun, behind the burning hills.[/indent][/hider][hider=Our Characters][list][*]In theory the soldiers are there to keep the outside out, and the inside in. In theory they're preventing contamination from leaking outside the Zone, and innocent people from getting themselves killed in a multitude of exotic, gruesome ways. In theory they cannot be bribed. But [i]someone[/i] must be letting these smugglers pass through with their weapons, their rations, their trucks full of wealthy city-slickers...[*]Copper is expensive and no one knows this better than the scroungers. Besides mastering the arts of stealth and scouting, they also have great people skills. After all, they will need lots of trucks to move their heavy goods, then drivers to operate them; and the soldiers at the cordons need to be looking in the other direction at just the right moment...[*]Why Florida or Cancún? The Zone has bizarre economies already, but even within this ecosystem, a unique industry has boomed: tourism! Yes, as long as someone has the right street cred (and the right number in his bank account), he too can experience the thrilling and exotic life of a stalker, without the dirt, the stink, or the danger! These people are rarely found in the heart of the Zone, much preferring the idyllic and tranquil fringes (where the bandits fear getting too close to the military checkpoints), but things can always go wrong...[*]Mutant hunters tend to have good reputations among the stalker camps; they keep the area safe and they're handy with a gun. Of course, the fresh meat they bring into camp is an incentive all its own to tolerate the occasional wannabe-cowboy.[*]The Zone's strange economy could not exist without traders. Where there is money, there are bodyguards, who give rise to safer roads and shelters, which in turn create bustling towns of safe, easy commerce. Stalkers swarm around these savvy businessmen both for a good night's sleep and for a nice, heavy backpack brimming with good gear.[*]Where there are humans, there is greed. Some men would rather steal from others than produce their own profit. Bandits are a very real threat in the Zone; sometimes more so than the mutants. They tend to be territorial, and to kill each other as often as they slaughter the weak and "innocent." Some old factories and farmhouses are known bandit-hives, with reputations as death-traps for stalkers trying to find their fortunes in more "honest" manners.[*]The most frightening monsters are the ones who blend into a crowd. Some stalkers are rapists, some manslaughterers; a few are so depraved their actions have no names in the legal dictionary. These criminals know that there is one place, just one, where the cops will never try to follow them.[*]There is no magic medicine to cure the sickness once you've got it, but there are plenty of preventative measures. A symbiosis has formed among men who study and map the Zone's radiation pockets, and then, those to whom they sell that data: the craftsmen. Those who know where the radiation is and those who acquire, build, and repair the equipment a savvy stalker needs to fight it.[*]Not everything can be smuggled in by trucks; sometimes the things break down, or they're commandeered by bandits, and no one wants to starve waiting for the next shipment. The Zone has given rise to pockets of self-sufficiency in the form of baking, canning, tailoring and cobbling, gunsmithing, and more.[*]Sometimes a criminal is so vile, so depraved, so sick in the head, that the government is not above hiring one stalker to kill another. Some have made their fortune just off spending their bullets on fugitive murderers and other lowlifes. And why not? You get to shoot people, make money doing it, and go to bed with a clean conscience.[*]AND (maybe) MORE![/list][/hider][hider=What to expect from this RP][indent]Mature themes; death, gore, rape, sexual deviancy and more will be discussed and, depending on legality between the laws of the federal government and of the Roleplayer Guild, actually roleplayed out. (So obviously pedophilia won't be explicitly roleplayed for the entire internet to see, but don't be surprised to learn a character [i]is[/i] a pedo.) we ain't flinching away from [i]nothin'[/i].

High standards for spelling and grammar, but not post length (thus the Casual forum placement).

A strong sense of player autonomy and freedom, going where and doing what they please; but also an environment which reacts to their actions, and forces them to face their own consequences. (GM railroading will be provided where the players don't want an "empty sandbox" experience, and request accommodation accordingly. Sandboxes are fun but only when the player knows what toys he wants to play with and in what fashion. So feel free to just, like, ask a trader if he needs any odd jobs done or something, if you and your buddies cannot figure out where you want to go or what you want to do.)

It will be feasible for us to roleplay in several Zones, and even several [i]nations'[/i] Zones, if we get enough players. Don't feel left out if you're not involved in what might seem like a "main" storyline; just recruit some friends!

A distinguishable lack of plot armor. If your character is stupid he will die. [url=http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WorldOfBadass]Such is life in the Zone.[/url]

If you choose a super-obscure round to chamber your super-special weapon in, you're gonna have a bad time. Remember that unless you have connections with a smuggler, the most popular cartridges to scavenge from the dead and their stashes will be 9mm, .22 LR, and .223 Remington (according to world sales; maybe this is different when restricted just to Europe and Asia). Anyway, use your bullets wisely.

Misfortune and misery all abound. Lots of remorse, regret, nihilistic philosophy, and alcoholism. Go watch some Tarkovsky or some [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Herzog#Filmography]Herzog[/url] if you will need help nailing this sort of atmosphere.

Cheeki breeki.[/indent][/hider]