## Destiny of Man
*Twinkle, twinkle, little star*
*Everything ends, that is the curse upon which our foundations have been built upon. Man does not need to look far to witness these concepts; he just needs to look upon our own dying world to witness it. Like any blazing flame of brilliance it too sputtered out into nothing more than drifting ashes. So we looked to the stars for our salvation. And for a time it would seem that we had found it. The universe outside of our own blue marble was bountiful and filled with resources ripe for the taking. And yet it seemed as if we were not the only ones drifting through the cosmos. We found ruins and relics of civilizations long dead and reduced to memories of distant worlds, we were not the first in this grand cycle of inheritance but we strove to be the last. We colonized planets and started grand intergalactic empires that spanned the stars.*
*But for some the void of space still lingered in the back of their minds. The vast darkness stretching for eternity in every direction. It beckons those that notice it. And ever so suddenly the trance is broken and without traceable origins, you'll realize things are not how you perceive them. For some reason, the familiarity of your own begin shall become alien and corrupt. You'll start to see subtle shifts in the darkness, shifts in yourself. But then you'll see that it's always been shifting like a grand ocean, dark and bottomless like the void. But you won't understand why the curtain got pulled back, you will not remember a time before you saw the cracks in reality.*
*Your old ways won't protect you anymore, old comforts as useless as wet paper. You'll discover that you no longer trust the soft glimmers of light that you once took for granted. Faces familiar and kind will seem sinister, darker, much darker. The familiar space that you have known will feel eons long, the shadows that lurked behind every closed door and winding corner becoming much more pronounced. The call of the void pulling you towards it every time you look out a view port or look up at the sky at night. You used to look up in your tender naivety and be able to focus on the stars. Now... every time you look up all you can see is the emptiness between the lines, watching the darkness for hours upon end. Thinking in some vain attempt that watching it will stop it from progressing, that you are keeping the void from swallowing everything you love. It will get so bad that you'll be afraid to look away, you'll be afraid to sleep at night.*
*This is when you'll decided that the best way to progress is by seeking out these cracks. You'll want to pull back the curtain to see the wizard that has been haunting you. But this only lets the void beckon you even stronger. Every insurance you've ever felt protected you will fall apart by your own hands. You'll be hopeless to watch as every denial you have is broken, every little horror is found in reality. Nowhere you go will you be able to find somewhere where it is not in your head. You only have so much resolve and that resolve breaks in time, but fight you will still try. Eventually though you will look away from the darkness, and when you do you have already lost. The thing you dread the most will already be behind you, waiting for you to turn around. Waiting for you to face the monster, to face yourself.*
*And then the screaming starts.*
~ *Note found written in a journal on the Space Station Providence*
*Providence*, a asteroid mining complex turned civilian space station went dark three days ago. Communications disturbances are common with the Station being at the edge of Systems Alliance space. But the continued lack of communication has brought concern to the Alliance Navy. Stories of far reaching colony worlds vanishing have been ingrained in the mind of humanity, but those were just stories. In any event the Alliance Navy has decided to send a reconnaissance team out to the sector to determine the cause of the issue. You somehow manged to annoy the right person to be sent on such a backwater mission at the edge of colonized space. Little did you know of the horror aboard *Providence*, a horror you would soon become very familiar with.
### The Setting
The year is 2611, five hundred years after humanity discovered the ruins of an ancient civilization on one of Saturn's Moons, Rhea. The Technology found in the ruins allowed for many scientific developments to be forged from the flame of discovery. The most important discovery of all was that of Grand Propulsion Drives or GPDs which allowed for installer traveler across the stars. This Faster than Light travel would become the basis for the start of the age of Galactic Expansion. We ventured out into the depths of space to find more resources, to find more planets to colonize as our own home system was becoming more and more overpopulated by the day. Though ruins such as those found of Rhea would be the only sign of other intelligent life in the Galaxy. The Galaxy was bountiful and filled with a myriad of creatures varied as they were on Earth, but none had seemed to have reached Sentience except for ourselves. Though this fact bothered some, nothing of real consequence was brought to mind because of it as Humanity had enough trouble dealing with itself another species would just complicate matters even more.
The Earth Systems Alliance was created in the first span of one hundred years following the discovery of GPD technology. The Alliance is the single unifying force in a Galaxy with hundred of thousands of minor governments that run their own respective planets. Each colonized system has an Alliance outpost to keep watch, collect taxes, and general prevent war from breaking out. Representatives from the colonizes can complain to the Alliance Council: a council composed of elected officials from some of the most prominent worlds with the Speaker of the Council always being from Earth as per tradition. Under the role of the Alliance a general sense of prosperity and peace is found especially in the core worlds close to Earth. Though the further from Earth they go, the more unrest builds.
Sometimes these pockets of unrest boil over such as in 2601 when a secessionist movement at the Outer Edge of colonized space declared war upon the systems alliance. What followed was nine long years of conflict in the Outer Edge colonies. The Outer Edge already being filled with outlaws, raiders and pirates had become severally crippled as a result of the war, their infrastructure and general ways of life had been shattered by the fighting. Because of this when Providence conveniently located in Outer Edge went dark, the Alliance did not respond with much haste. Old jamming satellites and the occasional EMP mine floating through space would still occasionally be tripped, these leftovers from the war would occasionally knock out communications with Alliance High Command. And so days later when they finally deiced to send just a reconnaissance team, they being woefully uniformed, underestimated the problem, if they had known they would have sent a fleet or maybe just have blown the station to little pieces.
### Providence
Providence is what happens when surveyors find a mineral rich asteroid out in the Edge. Asteroid mining complexes as they are have a habit of becoming like coral reefs supporting entire ecosystems around it. Mining, shipping, and credit-chasing entrepreneurs all flocked towards the site wanting to stake a claim, following close behind were the smugglers and pirates. As more and more people came in during the rush, more and more building quarters were constructed on the hulk made from the materials that were mined there. Slowly but surely the civilian population became just as important to the thriving little community, as haphazard city streets were formed and large jutting towers were created, pilling atop of one another in stacks and pillars. Life was created on the rock, a land of opportunity and secretes, a so called heart of evil in the Edge.
Because of its close proximity to colonized space, the Alliance has only a small presence in the complex. Alliance Navy Observation Post #6434 being a small dingy office in the cavernous dark streets that is searching for radio signals in the void that is deep space. Due to these circumstances, Providence is a hub of narcotics, illegal augmentations, slavery, and a mixture of other less than legal past times. No one person holds control of the station, with it being sort of a conglomerate of warlords, merchants, and wheeler and dealers holding small pockets of influence that change by the day. The populace holds hatred towards the Alliance with a significant part of the 5.6 million souls that live on the station being refugees from the war with the secessionists. And now 5.6 million people have gone silent, not even a squeak coming out of the station. This is why you are going in. You are going to venture deep into the hot, humid, cramped corridors that make up Providence, you will claim into the belly of the beast to find what has occurred there.
Have Fun!
### The Sanity Game
Here is where I'm going to discuss in simplicity the Sanity Meter. So at the start of the RP you are going to have an upper limit of 200. This number may change depending on your character and their own personality and background with the number being higher or lower respectively. For example a veteran soldier you has seen years of active combat may have a starting sanity of 200, while a civilian attached to the squad or a fresh recruit may have a lower sanity of maybe 180. These numbers of course are tentative and will also be effected by your background and if you have had any mentally unhinging experience before.
But anyway the Sanity meter works rather simply. Bad and generally unnerving things that happen will of course mess with your head and will lower this number. If you do something good like helping somebody or making it out of a dangerous situation alive the number will go up. Not losing your marbles is generally a good idea, but maybe you have to be a little unhinged to really see the truth of what is going on? At the start of each round of posts, I will start with a status update which will list your character's name and their current sanity number with a + or - next to indicating if it has gone up or down from the last round, with a number next to that show how much it has gone up or down exactly.
Example
First Round
Joe Smith - 200/200
Hallie Smith- 190/200
Second Round
Joe Smith- 190/200 -10
Hallie Smith - 200/200 +10
Got it? Good!
### The Rules
- All Guild Rules Apply
- OP Is Bad
- No Drama
- Keep it civilized folks
- Romance in the horrible death station? Sure! But be warned get too frisky and the crazy man with the axe and the hockey mask will find you and kill you
- Listen to the GM
- Do not try and start a rebellion against the GM
- Have Fun!
### Character Sheet Template
- Appearance: (Picture)
- Name:
- Age:
- Gender:
- Appearance: (Description, you do not need both. So pick whatever one you are comfortable with and just delete the other unused Appearance)
- Specialty: (Why are you on the team begin sent in?)
- Starting Sanity: (Leave this blank, after you make the character the GM will tell you this number after reviewing your sheet and asking for your input.)
- Psychological Record: (To keep this nice and short you can just list them. Three Positive traits and Two Negative ones)
- Background:
- Equipment:
- Other:
mickilennial
Alisdragon911
Rockette
Lemons
DocTachyon
Captain Uni
vietmyke
Starting Sanity is going to be at 140, being more of an techie, still higher than an average civilian 100 because I'm assuming some of her outlaw father's grit rubbed off of her, combined with living out on the Edge a lifestyle that tends to harden people a bit.
@Ubermensch
Your good old country boy revision is good! Starting Sanity is also going to be at a nice 180/200
@agentmanatee
DAWNSTAR's statement is correct, the age is only the real problem and then I can give you a starting sanity.
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RP Update
It is currently 11:24 PM EST time, I have to finish going over some things for work and sleep eventually. So I'm going to say IC should be up by 8:30 AM EST, in the meantime everyone that now has a Sanity score can post their sheets to the character tab. Should probably inform you as well that a strong winter storm is coming into my area over the next two days, so if I do suddenly vanish it may be because my power got knocked out. If this is the case then I shall post a note of such occurrence from my phone, when I have the time and I'm not freezeing my arse off trying to get the backup generator online. 