[hr][hr][center][img]http://txt-dynamic.cdn.1001fonts.net/txt/dHRmLjgwLmZmZmZmZi5WMlZzWTI5dFpTQjBieUJRY205aWFYUjUuMAAAAAAA/blue-highway.regular.png[/img]

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[img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/382270950827098113/387010502741458944/unknown.png[/img][/center]


[img]http://txt-dynamic.cdn.1001fonts.net/txt/dHRmLjMyLmZmZmZmZi5SWE4wTGlBeE9EZ3kuMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA/blue-highway.regular.png[/img]

[img]http://txt-dynamic.cdn.1001fonts.net/txt/dHRmLjMyLmZmZmZmZi5VRzl3TGlBeU9EZ3guMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA/blue-highway.regular.png[/img][hr][hr][h3][sub][sub]Welcome to Probity! As of the current year, this sleepy West Virginia town has a tight-knit community of nearly three thousand happy, healthy, God-fearing neighbors. It is a town where every elder is respected, every wife is starry-eyed and obedient, and every husband can take a load off at the bar after a hard day's work. A town where picket fences are all painted white, where pies are all apple, and all atop a backdrop of a purple mountain's majesty and amber waves of grain. A town where traditional American values are not forgotten. All that's missing from it is you![/sub][/sub][/h3]

[hider=Inspiration][center][h1][u][b]Moral Orel[/b][/u][/h1]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEzEifQdbfQ[/youtube][/center]
Moral Orel is this roleplay's greatest inspiration, about the lives of devoutly Christians citizens in a fictional town called Moralton. Despite the fact that the first season is gross-out humor focusing on the titular Orel Puppington, I encourage you all to check out a few episodes, particularly [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed3fZQlIg4M&t=]Season 3, Episode 4[/url]. It's approximately ten minutes long, features a Christian radio broadcast, sets a similarly dark, realistic tone, and follows the lives of multiple citizens in the way I hope our roleplay will turn out. It's the episode that got the series cancelled, so if it makes you want to hang yourself, check [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJY32WvmeVk&t=]this one[/url] out too. It features elder abuse, senility, jokes about punching animals to death, and a character who is unable to have children. It is also the happiest episode in the series.
[center][h1][u][b]Welcome to Night Vale[/b][/u][/h1]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ujksjzqrhys[/youtube][/center]
Welcome to Night Vale is another big inspiration in play, about a public radio broadcast in a supernatural town. Though Probity is not supernatural, the radio broadcast posts made by myself and the Co-Gm will be similarly personal to individual members of the town. This is to reinforce the idea that every player character knows each other in this small town, and that everybody listens to the broadcasts, making the information in them known to any character. If there's a resounding interest in it, I'll fully transcribe the radio posts to audio, but for now I'll just let you guys learn as much about WTNV as you darn well please. Also, like Moral Orel (and WTPR) it's got a killer soundtrack.
[center][h1][u][b]Honorable Mentions[/b][/u][/h1]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFkeKKszXTw&t=[/youtube][/center]
There are a ton of minor thematic inspirations, but none as big as the first two. [u][b]The Stepford Wives[/b][/u], for example, is a good idea of the caricature of WASP culture in Probity. [u][b]Suburbicon[/b][/u] and [u][b]Edward Scissorhands[/b][/u] have both provided suitable unsettling suburban backdrops, and [b][u]Pleasantville[/u][/b] is similarly tongue-in-cheek about the timeframe it draws inspiration from. Last but not least is [u][b]Betty Bowers[/b][/u], who tells the same "Don't be a bigot" message as Probity in a slightly more hamhanded manner. Give them all a quick look-over if you've got the time, which you probably do if you've read this far.
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[hider=Themes]Every good story has motifs that tie characters together. Most play-by-post stories don't have motifs that tie characters together, but then, most play-by-post stories aren't objectively [i]good[/i]. They're fun to write. My goal is a story that is both fun to write and fun to read, and that requires a little bit of effort from both of us to follow the strict guidelines imposed by the world, and the loose guidelines imposed by the themes.

[u][b]Faith/Religion[/b][/u]
I'd like to get this section out of the way first, so people don't mistake this RP for a scathing criticism of religion; It's not. It's a story that praises religion, at its very essence, and criticizes humanity. Religion is a very prevalent theme within the roleplay, but more specifically, religious ignorance. Every character who identifies as a Christian does so in a way that benefits them, and distorts religion to embellish what they like and omit what they don't. The Sheriff focuses on the punitive aspects of religion, PBNN's radio host conveniently ignores parts of the bible warning against slander, and so on. It should become very apparent very quickly that nearly everyone in Probity is going to hell, and those who aren't are probably the ones who are being told they [i]are[/i].

[u][b]Love[/b][/u]
I know what you're thinking. This roleplay is set in a crapsack world, so we're going to drive home that love is an instinctual drive to breed, right? Wrong, dear reader. I would like to reinforce that love, much like religion, is purely good. Notice that word [i]purely[/i]? Hold onto it, it'll become important. The issue apparent in Probity is that love is a little different to everyone. To some residents of the town, it means forgiving your husband after he beats you. For others, it means devotion to peering into the same bathroom window for years at a time. Everyone in Probity eats, prays, and loves, but their personal convictions pervert and tarnish their love in the same way that it taints their faith.

[u][b]Purity[/b][/u]
Remember when I told you to hold onto that purity? Now it's time to cash it in. Purity is a prevalent theme in Probity, from the all-white fences to the all-white church to the all-white neighborhood. People listen to music based on how "pure" the DJ says it is, and every wife in the neighborhood seems to compete with the other over how clean their kitchen is. The purity of Probity's citizens is only skin-deep, like a freshly whitewashed veneer over a visibly dilapidated crackhouse. The example I used is funny because in that situation, there's not an entire town of people claiming that the crackhouse is the best house on the block.

[u][b]Corruption[/b][/u]
Corruption is arguably the biggest theme in Probity, so I'm sticking the secret phrase necessary for the character sheet here; Turkey Sandwich. Glad we got that out of the way. Corruption is the reason nobody in Probity's prayers are answered, and the reason nobody in Probity is in a happy marriage. The thesis statement for this roleplay is essentially "Love and Religion are great, conceptually, but our collective cognitive dissonance makes almost everybody too corrupt to properly embrace either without misunderstanding or misconstruing them." Villains don't think they're heroes because they're willfully blind, they think they're heroes because they have corrupted senses of right and wrong tailored to their needs.
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[hider=Character Sheet][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/avRIiyO.png[/img]

[h2]Mr./Mrs. Firstname Middleinitial Surname, Age.[/h2][sub]Nobody in Probity has a surname that is hyphenated, meaningful, or more ethnically identifiable than Anglo-Saxon. The only women unmarried past their mid 20's are considered either spinsters or whores, and the unmarried men of the same age are unanimously thought to be gay. If you are okay with being dysfunctionally married off to another character, italicize your name and age. Otherwise, make an NPC spouse or expect to be shamed for your abnormality.[/sub][/center]

[h2]Goodadjective Profession[/h2][sub]This is where you put your character's surface level traits -- Their profession, affectations, habits, quirks, hobbies, likes, dislikes, and general demeanor. This is only what your character will develop from, but I would still like to see reasonably three dimensional, realistic characters.
 This is a Slice-Of-Life, so compelling characters are pretty much the biggest requirement.[/sub]

[right][h2]Badadjective Insult[/h2][sub]This is where you either tell us about your character's secret or their worst traits, which they hide from society. Given that this world is painted in shades of gray instead of black and white, don't be afraid to make characters realistically flawed as they are realistically virtuous.[/sub][/right]

[hr][center][h3]Family Member 1 - Relation[/h3]
[sub]Describe your character's relationship with the person they are closest to, which is usually a parent or spouse. Repeat family relationships in descending order of closeness.[/sub][/center][/hider]

[hider=Rules]
1. Thou shalt not be impolite to each other. Not even jokingly. People don't know how to take jokes anymore, so just be [i]nice[/i].
2. Thou shalt not powerplay or _gasp_ God-mod. Interaction is encouraged, but don't break up scenes to walk into them.
3. Thou shalt take up issues with the GMs in private messages instead of flaming each other.
4. Thou shalt let the GMs know if you're gonna be missing for more than three days.
5. Thou shalt strive to write a well-developed character and a well-developed story we can all collectively feel proud of.
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