Azereiah

Balbasorus Academy

sooo many GMs o_o

Balbasorus Academy

With a raised eyebrow, Hugo saw a really, really stupid joke pop into his head. There was no way in hell he'd let this opportunity go. Full steam ahead, potential consequences be damned!

"...Sounds like you've got a bad temper_ature."

No Messiahs -- Morpheus was Wrong. [The Matrix Reimagined]

Captain Bagwell

Name: Aloisius Bagwell

Appearance:

Captain Bagwell is a tall, thin man, gifted with a large and heavy head that doesn't seem to match his body. He is in no way attractive, and his beard is often poorly shaven. Blue eyes shine out under thin, low blonde eyebrows, with an uncomfortable, piercing gaze.

He wears a brown trench coat over blue jeans and a grey, tight-fitting tee shirt with no graphics. A massive, ornate belt buckle engraved with a depiction of Napoleon Bonaparte sitting upon a horse keeps his too-large pants from falling, with a pair of cowboy boots at his feet.

His appearance within the Matrix is the same as outside, albeit much more heavily muscled.

Age: 45

Plug Status: Machine-Born.

Gender: Male.

History: Captain Bagwell got his position via nepotism. His adoptive father was a hovercraft captain as well, and enforced his will upon the Council of Alexandria to give Aloisius a chance with the prototype Apophis. He is known throughout Alexandria as a slacker, a liar, and generally an unimpressive scamp.

He came to the city as an accidental rescue, as he was not the target of a pulling operation, but rather simply a man who got caught up in the crossfire. His first experience with the Free people was in the middle of a firefight. A ragtag gang of rough folks were involved in a shootout in the middle of the street with a group of SWAT officers, and Aloisius witnessed first-hand his "father" running clean up a wall to escape. Aloisius followed as well as he could, drawn by pure curiosity, and stumbled into a world of pure confusion and chaos, and as a result had to be pulled from the Matrix as well.

His personal life before that is not well known, but it's suspected that he was a homeless junkie before coming to Alexandria.

Personality: A bumbling idiot, but something about him feels powerful.

Position: Ship Captain, Soldier

NPCs:

Doctor Harding

No Messiahs -- Morpheus was Wrong. [The Matrix Reimagined]

---

On Board the Apophis

---

Captain Aloisius Bagwell sat upon the pilots' seat in the second deck of the Apophis Hovercraft. A blinking green light on the command console, next to the control surfaces and camera feeds, indicated a message waiting for him from homebase. Green meant it could wait a few minutes. He leaned back in his chair and placed his feet up on the console.

The ship lurched to the right a bit, and he quickly moved his feet off of the steering joysticks. Even in low power settings, the Apophis was stupidly responsive to the slightest touch, and he tapped his communications headset. As Captain of the Ship, he sent out a message to the skeleton crew.

"Sorry about that! Hope nobody spilled anything. Still getting used to this ship."

The few crew members manning the Plug chamber and engineering stations were visibly bothered. They'd just transferred aboard a few days ago and so far, Captain Bagwell hadn't shown himself to be anything more than a complete incompetent. But orders were orders, and they kept their complaints to themselves.

Doc Harding, the current medical officer, entered the cockpit and offered the Captain a drink in a tin mug. It was something akin to coffee and tea, and it smelled absolutely foul to the uninitiated, but the Captain took it and chugged it down in a matter of seconds.

"Thanks, Doc. I'll let you know if I need anything else." The Captain hadn't turned off his comms and the message was broadcast to the rest of the crew, complete with the sounds of gulping and the clatter of the tin mug on the floor. Doctor Harding rolled his eyes and reached over Captain Bagwell's shoulder to tap the communicator's transmission switch. "Keep this up and you'll be facing a mutiny soon. Do me a favor and don't screw anything up more, alright?", the Doc said. The Captain simply grunted in response and lit up a cigar. The first puff brought on a fit of violent coughing, sending the ship rocking from side to side, with the tin mug clattering about on the floor and getting stuck under the brake pedal.

---

An hour later, the Captain finally got around to pressing the button with the flashing green light. Alexandria had an update for him and his mission, which scrolled down on the console's screen in front of the rearview camera feed.

We've found a live one. Battery complex 03-A22, near your position. We're not sure about his name, but there's a marker on his position in the Matrix. Pull this one out for us, and don't screw it up. Your father wouldn't be happy to hear if you botched your first mission.

Balbasorus Academy

@bluebunny

Just FYI, you can edit your posts in the character tab as necessary. Helps keep it clean. :)

You guys are all newish to RoleplayerGuild, right? Haven't given y'all your proper welcome. Welcome aboard!
The board uses BBCode, so use that as you will. [@Mention] functionality can be added to your post by clicking the @Mention button on the bottom right, and it'll send an alert to whoever's username is in the brackets.

Balbasorus Academy

Hugo nodded and made a mental note. He'd definitely show up, and by then, he'd have gotten everything he needed together. But he wasn't sure what the 'special classroom' was. Another student was walking past, and he called the girl over. She didn't look like she knew many people around there, so they were in the same boat.

"Hey there! Care to walk with us?"

He waved to Cindy, then turned back to Ember. His pipe had gone out, so he quickly dumped the ash again and repacked it with something vaguely fruity smelling, and lit it to take a few puffs. The smoke smelled distinctly like watermelon this time around, with some strange scent lingering in the background that would make anybody standing nearby feel slightly good and tingly.

"Special classroom...? May I ask what that is?"

Balbasorus Academy

Hugo nodded and followed Ember to what he assumed were the classrooms, wondering if Skylar would follow.

"Any idea when the next classes start? This place seems pretty free, so I assume I can just pop into one, right?"

No Messiahs -- Morpheus was Wrong. [The Matrix Reimagined]

---

Earth, Year 3???

---

Years ago, a man named Morpheus -- captain of the legendary hovercraft, Nebuchadnezzar, believed in a better future, and worked tirelessly towards that goal. He envisioned a future of true freedom for humanity, and, as an idealist, found faith in a story. There would be a man found in the Matrix who would save all of humanity. An enlightened man, capable of anything. Morpheus found this man: Thomas A. Anderson. A software developer for Meta Cortex, running a profitable, if illegal, side business providing state-of-the-art viruses and cracking software to the highest bidders. As usual, Morpheus pulled Thomas Anderson out of the Matrix, gave him the highest degree of training possible on short notice, and bet it all on Mr. Anderson's potential prowess.

Morpheus's bet didn't pay off.

The great hidden city of Zion was destroyed in the ensuing war, wiping out one of the last bastions of free humanity. There was, however, another smaller city, hidden elsewhere, full not of idealists, but of realists and utilitarians. After the fall of Zion, the great city of Alexandria began to grow. They stayed hidden at almost all times, only venturing into the tunnels and grand batteries of the Machine world to pull out new recruits. Now, they finally have the manpower to move forwards with their plans.

---

The Matrix

---

The year is now 2025 in the Matrix. David Parker (Green Party) is the President of the United States, as per historical records maintained by the Machines. The Democrat Party and the Republican Party have been destroyed by internal conflicts, and have been replaced by the Green Party and the Tea Party. The Communist Party of the United States holds some offices in large metropolitan areas.

Most access will be in New York City, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and London. Other locations are available, however they are not generally pertinent unless contacts are available there.

All technologies available in the Matrix are equivalent to the real (out-of-RP) world, though advanced some years. Tesla and GE are now primary competitors in the battery and power generation markets, self-driving cars are commonplace, UAVs/Drones are everywhere, and prosthetics technologies have advanced sufficiently for the development of powered exoskeletons and enhanced limb replacements. Neuroprosthetics to give eyesight to the blind and to improve vision are present, but rare. Homelessness and poverty are still a problem, but social programs including universal basic income have been put in place to ensure some measure of help is available for those who can afford a lawyer to speed their applications through.

Wealth inequality has, despite these measures, simply grown worse, with the top 1% now holding more wealth than the bottom 75%.

---

The Apophis

---

Technological developments had been shared amongst all of free humanity through a complex network of tunnel runners and in-Matrix package deliveries. The Nebuchadnezzar had once been the strongest and fastest model ship available, but since its destruction, numerous improvements have been made.

The Apophis is currently the only ship of its kind - a prototype. The Mark V, No.1 Hovercraft. It has a total crew capacity of several dozen, which for the purposes of this RP is effectively limitless. In the main plug room, a circle of ergonomic surgical chairs is present, equal in number to the number of crew rooms available. Its top speed and defensive capabilities are classified information, but it's well known that the ship is roughly fifty meters long, ten meters wide, and ten meters tall.

There are four decks present.

Apophis internal layout

On the top deck, Deck Four, is the entertainment lounge and main cafeteria. It is the smallest of the four decks, and the least well protected, as it is meant to serve as an extra layer of spaced auxiliary armor in an emergency.

Deck Three includes the engineering compartments. Engine maintenance, hoverpad control consoles, and a number of access tubes to the hoverpads running along the side of the ship can be found here. In the very center of Deck Three is the top floor of the Plug chamber, for monitoring the crew. On the port side of the Plug chamber's top deck is an auxiliary ship control console, separate from the main cockpit, for the event of the main cockpit becoming nonfunctional.

Deck Two is where most of the action takes place. Crew quarters are in the rear, kept warm by the heat of the grand engines above. Forwards of the crew quarters on Port side are an auxiliary cafeteria, smaller and less comfortable than the Deck Four cafeteria, but still functional. Across the hallway, forwards of the crew quarters on Starboard side is the medical bay, complete with isolation chambers, robotic surgical tools, and a library of medicines for all known diseases that can be easily contracted on a hovercraft. In the middle of Deck Two is the bottom floor of the Plug chamber, through which one has to pass to gain access to the long tunnel to the ship's primary cockpit, which is small, cramped, and only seats two.

Deck One, the bottom deck, is a single massive cargo bay, filled with stockpiles of MREs and ammunition. The front end of the bottom deck is the gunnery station - a fully automated machine that reloads the main missile batteries. The rear end of the bottom deck contains a large bomb rack, manually operated, and the loading/unloading hatch. A sign is on the front end of the bomb rack, with instructions: Move bomb to loading hatch, set detonation time or proximity, and open hatch.

---

Da Rules

---

Da Rules are mostly the same as any other well managed Casual RP. No godmode, no mary sues, blah blah blah. Please try to use [@Mention] to get your partners' attention. If you miss it IC, then post your [@Mention] in OOC.

Post your CS in the OOC, or PM it to me, and I'll look it over for approval.

If for some reason you have to drop out, I will deposit your character at the city of Alexandria at the first available opportunity... Unless you'd prefer your character being killed, for narrative purposes.

---

Characters

---

Your main character must be Human. For "special roles", like Agents or Machines, PM me details and what you'd like to see happen with the character, and I'll review your ideas and correspond with you on how to handle it.

PM me your CS, or post it OOC with an @Azereiah tag to catch my attention.

Character Sheet, Minimum Guidelines

Name:
Appearance: (Images and/or text-heavy descriptions permitted. Feel free to have a Real World appearance that differs from your Matrix appearance.)
Age: (8-90)
Plug Status: (Machine-born or Natural-born)
Gender:
History: (If Natural-born, you are from a free human city. If Machine-born, you originate within the Matrix.)
Personality: (Keep it simple - I'd prefer if you showed your personality through IC posts)
Position:

Available positions, will update as characters apply:

PILOT - You make the ship move. One position available, covers for the Captain during off-shifts and when entering the Matrix.
COPILOT/GUNNER - You keep us from dying. Simple, right?
ENGINEER - Fire extinguishers and simple repair kits can be found every ten meters inside the ship. Keep her running well.
HACKER - Manages access to the Matrix for Soldiers. Provides simulations and equipment for Soldiers.
SOLDIER - Enter the Matrix, fuck shit up.

Balbasorus Academy

Hugo cheerfully follows, though he doesn't skip. The suitcase would make skipping rather awkward and slightly dangerous.

"So, where are we headed?"

Balbasorus Academy

Hugo had been distracted. As he wandered off, he heard what Ember said, and turned to return. He forced the music in his head back so he could focus again.

"...Oh! Right. Completely forgot. Yeah, I should probably get my bearings before I go to my dorm. I'd like to finish the tour."