Like spears hurled from the greater landmass into the roiling waves, a trio of slender, steel craft churned a wake miles long towards a pinprick resting just beneath the peaked cap of a wind swept captain. Standing atop the exterior walkway wrapping around a raised command bridge towards the prow of the lead most vessel, the captain was battered by rain flying horizontal from tumultuous clouds denying the sailors the light of the stars.
Streaks, strikes, and arcs of lightning tore the shrouded sky asunder for milliseconds at a time while the crack of ionized air resounded firmly over the din of water both above and below. In the infinitesimal flashes of brilliant energy carving up the night there was the glimmer of dauntless barrels jutting from the crafts deck and sides, battlements from which the works of man would tear asunder the horrors of the merciless abyss they now sailed upon.
The captain's countenance was stony, a firm line slashed beneath a stout nose and eyes cast upon the waves yet ahead. In the incandescence of a bolt slamming down upon the lightning rod of the starboard vessel, her eyes narrowed a hairsbreadth as they honed upon a form rising in their path. There was flesh in opposition to their steel, a slimy exterior running a gradiant between mud and ruddy green along the circumference of a serpentine body. Webbed frills crested its head, and even from the distance the captain knew well that deep set eyes like black pearls were locked upon her ship with the same intent as she favored the sea serpent.
Behind her, a hatch opened and out stepped a man concealed in a heavy rain poncho whipping frantically amidst the storm while his alarmed voice fought to rise over the wind.
"Captain Fortuna! A Raja has been spotted-"
"I am aware," Fortuna said with a heavy air and turned to follow the sailor inside to an airlock, whereupon the hatch was sealed and she proceeded through the next hatchway to be met with a far more frantic storm then what occurred outside the walls of metal around them. There were no windows with which to see the course before them, but monitors set into each manned station had a hundred and one ways to depict the sea and what moved within and upon it, and they all concurred upon the danger before them. Taking it all in with the same steely calm, she strode to her post and settled upon the grand chair with nary a thought involved. At this stuff, uncomfortable seat, a monitor rested on a swiveling stand mounted to the armrest and was repositioned over Fortuna's lap, providing her the most pertinent information available that her senior officers had deemed appropriate to transfer her.
"Ma'am, we're picking up signs of two targets approaching at high speed from bearings 120* and 210*, respectively. Judging by the size and speed of the targets, we believe them to be Tortuga class." The poncho clad sailor reported, pulling back his hood to show a young, unmarred face holding traces of fear over what was to come. Fortuna favored him from the corner of her eye, and he was quick to marshal himself under his superiors gaze
"ETA?""Faster then we can turn to face them, but slower then the Raja will be upon us. By all accounts, it's a textbook ambush."
"No, Todo. The textbook formation would have had four Tortuga. This battle group seems to have been depleted before we arrived." The captain chided the man for his inexperience with a snort, rousing a brief laugh from the attentive crew before they resumed their labors with a touch more surety.
"Notify the Bellator and Interdictor they should reduce speed and target the Tortuga before they have to repel an enemy boarding action. We'll handle the Raja ourselves."A stammering response welled up in the subordinates throat and just as quickly was swallowed down with the slightest turn of Fortuna's head in his direction. She wouldn't begrudge a fresh faced sailor his fear but she'd hurl him into the serpent's maw if he raised a word in insubordination without the chops to back it up. Swallowing the treacherous concern, he clicked his heals together and stood straight at attention to receive orders. Fortuna nodded in approval and waved him off to his station so she could press a button on her console to activate the ship wide intercom.
"All ahead full and bring the batteries to bear at bearing 360 degrees. The Two for Flinching is intercepting the Raja. I repeat, the Two for Flinching is intercepting the Raja. All hands to battle stations.Even as its sister ships slowed and peeled away to address the enemies swiftly approaching from behind, the
Two for Flinching darted forward with renewed vigor. Along the length of the ship, it's armaments bristled to life and adjusted their sights upon the Raja. In turn, the gargantuan monster of the abyss hastened its approach, the length of its body now visible as it churned the water with the slithering of its frilled body. Titans of flesh and machinations of steel lunged forth in confrontation, and when they met it was not to be seen by celestial or elemental light, but by the spark of colossal shells loosed through chemical combustion that sundered nature's unbridled fury with a fusillade of engineered destruction.
Fortuna unleashed this upon the sea and its offspring, an unmistakable challenge that was commissioned with a single word barked through lips drawn taught in anticipation.
"Fire."
A man had once said, There are more things on Heaven and Earth then can be dreamed of in your philosophy, and they were more write then they could even know. In the year 20XX, mankind had reached out into the black of space yet still could not grasp the depths of Earth's oceans. Beneath the weight of the world lay mysteries that would ultimately not be unearthed, but reveal themselves to chilling results, as the world was alarmed to find a civilization had developed beyond the sea floor in parallel to the land born mammals, and it had saw fit to reveal itself to world above through bio-engineered leviathans they used to traverse the ocean's depths.
It begin in the spirit of exploration, an uncertain people clawing upwards from the crushing pressure of their homeland to breach the water's surface and witness a land alien to them. It began in ignorance of what was already there, blanketing those rolling landmasses and floating along the surface in ungainly tubs of metal. They'd held legions through the ages of an odd few who made the voyage and witnessed tails of floating wood and cloth manned by alien creatures who had no scales nor could swim on their own, but these had always been considered old folk tales.
Contact was clumsy and marked by fear and reticence, but ultimately mankind came to break bread at the table of peaceful exchange with its aquatic sibling, the Sahagin.
However, hopes of peaceful coexistence were to be ephemeral, when it came to pass that both people were suffering from the same issue only further exacerbated by the other's discovery.
Mankind and the Sahagin were both overpopulated and in dire need of new territory to expand towards. In an effort to save themselves they'd both sought their hopes in the great beyond and, to a great loss of life, would find an answer in the destruction of each other. The Sahagin coveted the seas and land which man had tamed, while Humanity looked down upon the treasures below with unabashed envy. With only the barest of sparks from radical elements on both sides, and all out war was certain to erupt.
The deep sea society of the Sahagin, a hardy people born in conditions beyond the pale most extremophiles could withstand, and with an unparalleled control of their biology to further adapt to changing tides. Mankind sees their Leviathan warships as a deadly foe, yet also a valuable resource if the technology to create them were taken for themselves, and desperately needed food source for its increasingly starved population.
Humanity, a species spread to every corner of the globe and adapted to every conceivable environment regardless of how inhospitable. With an uncanny grasp of tools, they persist in improving upon the works of their ancestors to flourish towards ever greater heights, regardless of the cost. Those from the water's deepest depths are astonished by the sprawling lands and alien resources they could have never fathomed in their home lands, and are eager to spread their people to the lands above.
Thus is born a conflict of necessity, that neither side fully wanted, but could not hold back the tides which clambered for it. It was left to the brave few who dedicated their lives to the defense of others to fight on their behalf, a war on the sea and the shores to determine who alone could live upon the world.
Heavenward Descent
A nautical RP centering around a desperate conflict for the future of two great species, and those who now fight on their behalf across the world at large. The navies of the surface world work under a joint coalition defend their borders while mercilessly hunting for the Sahagin forces rising from the depths. Combating creatures seemingly drawn from old sea fables with the tempered arms of thousands of years of inter species conflict, they are more united then ever as they turn their weapons upon inhuman foes.
You, the RPer, will be in command of your own ship and crew from the combined navies of mankind. Given the sheer number of persons which could staff a Destroyer sized vessel, let alone a Carrier, CS's will be largely unneeded for personal and will only be required for the Vessel being used. Ships will be grouped together into fleets to engage with the Leviathan's at sea, or be sending Marines ashore to counter any incursions onto Mankind's sovereign land. (Think X-Com: Terror From the Deep meets Kantai Collection, minus the Ship Girls.)
Can you hold fast against the aquatic people's bid for your homelands? Or will you be sunk by the engineered Leviathan, along with Humanities future? Only your strength of arms and sharpness of mind will decide who pens the record of this conflict in the annals of history.
Chevaleresse,
Fetzen,
Neziul,
Villamvihar,
abc,
mickilennial,
shylarah
