Oct 17, 2025 0300 EST(about 8 years from now).  They called it the Wet Firecracker War.  Things in the Middle East and Ukraine never settled down.  ISIS flared back up with all new tactics.  China and Russia both continued the arms race.  China continued to challenge territorial laws by creating new islands.  Then it happened.  Who launched first?  Does it really matter?  In the end we all went a little mad.

Just one very, very odd thing.  The nukes all fizzled.  They were duds - all of them.  Even the fissionable materials were never recovered.  A Russian nuclear sub was placed on Kremlin Square.  China suffered a similar fate - as did Washington DC - one vessel each.  Beyond some minor injuries due to the movement, no personnel were harmed.  

Thousands of people witness the ICBM’s detonating, producing brilliant points of light in the sky.  But the miniature suns never blossomed into mushroom clouds.  There was no fallout.  There are rumors all around.  Aliens.  Top Secret SDI programs.  The Second Coming. But the simple truth is that noone knows what happened.

Aftermath
Realizing you are still alive after your leaders have all bugged out and entered bunkers ready to kiss their respected arses goodbye can have a very sobering effect.  The day after was the first in a very long time on which there was no combat anywhere on the planet.  (This doesn’t count a little looting that went on.)  There were many reports of suicides as some people simply gave in to fear of suffering from fallout.  But the real story of the century came in the weeks that followed.

The UN held what might very well be the most historic meeting in history to declare peace.  It has been an uneasy truce though.  After all, it was begun in the wake of an attempt by many nations to slaughter one another wholesale with 4000 nukes.  And there are still about 11,000 left - or are there?  There are rumors that missiles vanished from their silos, mobile ICBM’s vanished.  But only a very high level clearance will provide the knowledge that they all vanished.  The public is being kept in the dark on that issue.

The Plot(s)
You are one of many whose curiosity will not be contained.  Or you may be an agent working for people who want an explanation.  People want an answer to the question:  Who or what could possibly absorb the yields of about 2000 MT of TNT and get rid of it harmlessly?  (An estimated 4000 warheads were launched out of a little over 15, 000 the planet.)  That’s over 8,000,000 TJ.

Yes, I have a very, very specific explanation for what happened.  Don’t try to make it up and expect it to be the truth.  

Those of you who are from agencies or military services can expect to receive orders.  Reporters can expect to get assignments, be subject to expenses, etc.  Civilians operating on their own will have no Press rights, have to deal with all expenses.  You will need to explain how you can keep going.

Characters
You could be a reporter.

You might be FBI, CIA, Homeland Security.

You could be military intelligence.   (You would need to be an officer.)

You could be a Civilian not affiliated with any of the above, but please no Average Joes.  Have technical skills that relate to your purpose.  For example if you are a UFOlogist, have some skills that relate to that.  Otherwise this will be a very short lived character RP wise  ie boring to roleplay.

As this RP may move all over the globe, you ought to bear this in mind as far as ID, Passports, legalities, languages, licenses etc all apply.  How will you travel locally?  That Florida issued driver’s license will be useless in Jerusalem or Russia.

NPC’s
Do not run mine, please.

For things like local drivers, common vendors of Imbiss stands, etc … by all means run them, even name them.  A nice rapport with a local taxi driver can be fun.

What am I looking for?
Think of a TV Drama show.  What characters will make it through the season?  Which will see a second season?  It takes a balance. 

I am hoping for characters who don’t have to be led by the nose.  In fact, I want characters with enough influence to make requests for travel authorizations, get assistance from other agencies, possibly order scientific tests (be specific).  I am NOT going to guide you around.

This is NOT a combat RP.  I detest combat in RP’s where the creation of characters and combat between them isn’t covered by specific rules with dice.  Too many chances for bad feelings.  Feel free to argue over who has jurisdiction.  And if you are a reporter in a foreign country and a dozen security personnel surround you with guns, I’d surrender. 

If we have a conflict between characters, I will mediate.  I mainly plan to stick to science-y types or non combatants who either surrender or run.  Mostly their purposes will be to respond to questions.  (They may or may not have their own security.)  In other words, I plan to run “experts”, local witnesses, etc.

Posting
This is an Advanced / Detailed RP.  In conversations or interaction with others, high Casual is okay.  This means I expect at least 3-5 good paragraphs in most posts.  If you rely on a phone to post, this is probably not the best RP for you.

Commitment - if you can’t commit to posting 3-5 times a week, please don’t waste our time. If you are in a dozen other RP’s, this is probably not the RP for you.  In scenes where several people have to respond, slower posting frequency is to be expected.

Use headers for posts that take place at different scenes.  Do NOT jump into a scene without permission from the others already in the scene.  Discuss it in OOC or PM though - NOT the IC thread.

Please No excessive quoting of others’ posts.  Nothing more revolting than having your own post regurgitated and sent back to you.

Third person, past tense.

When a scene closes, one member should post the scene closed so others hunting for a scene don’t waste time.

Tags are advisable.  Many people forget to Follow/subscribe to a thread.

Interviews and Interrogations
These are the hardest posts to write with any length.  We can either JP them or you can post a 20 questions thing and have me fill in the blanks.  (I may cut you off in mid interview, so save the list - or I can hide the part not gotten to in a spoiler.)

Chronology
Oct 24, 2025 - RP Start date