Mach2

Paint

Name: Mallory Teken

Age: 19

Occupation: Head of Northgate surveillance team

Appearance:

Mallory

Mallory considers herself to be a professional, and she looks the part. The girl wears her light brown hair tied back in a tight ponytail. Her features are cold, with sharp cheekbones and a perpetually intense expression. Her eyes, a pale shade of blue, have been compared to ice. When she is angry or irritated, they seem to stab into your soul like a knife. Everything about her is cold.

In terms of clothing, Mallory's wardrobe is clean and put-together. She wears sleeveless white shirts, and loose black dress pants. A firearm of some sort is always seen at her hip, for self-defence purposes. Her shoes are practical, a simple pair of thin black cross-trainers. They allow her to run and be active at a moment's notice, while still maintaining her professional appearance.

Gear:
Handgun: Mallory's gun is always found in a holster at her hip.
Bullet-proof vest: When the situation calls for it, Mallory will don her vest.
Earpiece: Mal's earpiece is wirelessly linked to her cell phone. She receives and sends updates on Sprayer locations at a moment's notice.

Personality:
Mallory is selfish, and cares little for others. If she stands to gain as the result of an action, she will take that action. Consequences for others are meaningless to her. She cares only about how things affect her.

Having worked hard, harder than most, to get where she is now has made Mallory an incredibly determined person. Even with her past working against her, she strives every day to contribute to the safety and well-being of the city. For her, that means monitoring security and making arrests. In Mallory's eye, those who break the law are deserving of the punishments that befall them. Slightly malicious, she is all to willing to carry out those punishments.

Background:
Mallory was born into a large family in New Orleans. She was the youngest of seven, with an age gap of nine years between her and the next youngest child. As a result, Mallory never was particularly close to her family. This is probably for the best, as many of the Teken children grew up to be criminals or met unfortunate ends after becoming involved in gang warfare.

Mallory was left to her own devices as a child, for the most part. She was incredibly intelligent, and excelled at school with ease. However, in high school, she started to fall in with the wrong group of people. She made friends with the type of people her older siblings were in contact with. Gang members. Delinquents. Even though she graduated with A's and B's, her grades had still fallen from the perfect scores she was used to. After graduation, Mallory was quick to leave. She had watched several of her own family die as a result of gang disputes. It wasn't the future she wanted for herself.

Instead, she moved to Northgate, hearing about the revolutionary steps that were being taken within the city. Seventeen years old, barely graduated from high school, Mallory signed on with the security team. She worked hard, taking the longest shifts and putting in more hours than anyone else. The girl's effort and determination didn't go unnoticed. It took a year for her to make it into the higher ranks of the security services. Six months later, she was appointed as the head of the surveillance team. Mallory is the one who is alerted when laws are broken. She is the one who dispatches enforcement officers. It is because of her that felons find their way into the jail cells.

Paint

Name: Lauren "Sass" Hedley

Age: 20

Occupation: Sprayer

Appearance:

Image:

Sass stands at 5'4", shorter than she'd like, with a slim build. Years of sprinting around the city have made her athletic, despite her day job as a librarian. Her arms and legs are slender, but there is muscle clearly defined beneath the skin.

During the day, Sass's unruly red hair is her most distinctive feature. At night, she pulls it back into a messy ponytail and covers it with the hood of her thin v-neck sweater. The grey garment is the least colourful piece of clothing she owns, but nondescript enough to allow her some anonymity when painting. The rest of her night time attire consists of slim-fitting black pants, bright red runners, and a skull-printed bandana over her face. Her eyes remain uncovered, but she never makes eye contact with the security cameras.

During the day, Lauren's clothing is slightly precocious. She has a tendency for deep v-necks and slim-fitting pants. However, sleeveless or shoulderless shirts are out of the question. Lauren's left shoulder is marked by a horrendous scar. The bullet wound is six months old, but damage within the muscle and bones still pains her when she moves her arm the wrong way.

Gear: Sass carries her gear in a dark canvas backpack. The bag allows her to keep her hands free while sprinting around the city or scaling the side of a building. The main pocket of the bag contains her extensive collection of spray paint. Also contained within the bag is a digital camera, a switchblade, and a small booklet filled with reference pictures and hand-made stencils.

Personality:
There's a reason Lauren took on the identity of 'Sass'. She is precocious, confident, and sometimes even slightly arrogant. She knows her views and her beliefs, and stands by them confidently. Dare to contradict her opinion, and chances are you'll get a passionate lecture on the subject. Her temper is just as volatile as her views and opinions. Do something to set Lauren off, and you'll be looking at a violent outburst. She is fiery when angry, and she angers easily.

Despite her volatile temperament, Sass is a natural born leader. She always seems to know what to do in a given situation. She plans carefully. Nothing matters more to her than the safety of her crew. As a result, the loss of The Devil's Own, her former crew, causes her feelings of horrible regret to this day. There are nights when she wakes up from nightmares in which she watches them drop from gunfire before her eyes. However, Sass puts up a brave front. To those who know her, she is fearless. It's only when a person gets very close that they realize the damage the loss of her crew did to Sass.

Background:
Lauren was born to a fairly well-off family. She was raised well, but was always the kid on the playground who you didn't want to mess with. When the anti-advertisement laws were established, she was ten years old. Even at that age, the girl was a budding anarchist. Dozens of times, she was sent home from school for scratching messages into the paint of girl's washroom stalls. "Free hugs afternoon recess by monkey bars" was her trademark. For a child, it was the most basic form of advertisement. For her teachers, it was a delinquent behaviour that would lead to trouble for her later in life. Lauren's free hugs set the example for her classmates. Every afternoon recess for several weeks straight, the children would gather around the monkey bars and hug one another, laughing as they rebelled against the rules in the most innocent way possible.

Eventually, Lauren's schoolyard antics came to an end. She went beyond hugs, scratching messages advertising chocolate bars, folded paper airplanes, and other childhood toys. She also started charging, fifty cents for each of her goods. For a ten year old, she managed to make a good bit of change. When her teachers found out, they gave her one warning. Lauren refused to stop, feeling the need to rebel. She was expelled.

In her next school, Lauren kept a lower profile. Her acts of rebellion became subtler. She excelled in art class, but her pieces frequently contained controversial images or a graffiti-esque style. She completed all of the assignments she was given, but always found some way to make them hers. To make them different. In eleventh grade, Lauren became involved in the Sprayer movement. She took on the pseudonym of 'Sass', a nickname several of her classmates had already taken to calling her when she back-talked her teachers. By the time she graduated, Sass was piecing together her own crew, "The Devil's Own".

After a year, The Devil's Own were famous throughout the city. Their tags were known. Their monikers were on the tongues of Sprayers everywhere. Even their art styles could be recognized. The crew consisted of Sass, Kraut, Scarecrow, Trigger, Mouse, and Data. The six of them were unstoppable...almost, anyways.

Six months ago, a job went wrong. The six of them were working on a huge mural, an advertisement for a struggling clothing boutique, when Scarecrow and Trigger sounded the alarm. They'd been sighted, and law enforcement were on their way. Even though the crew wasted no time in sprinting away, they didn't make it. Trigger was gunned down first. Data fell when he went back for his friend, and took a bullet to the brain. Mouse, Scarecrow, and Kraut were subdued and arrested. Sass took two bullets to the shoulder, but kept sprinting. She returned to her tiny apartment, where she began the bloody task of removing the bullets. With a pair of kitchen shears and a set of tweezers, the job was messy. She nearly lost consciousness several times. When Sass finally managed to get herself bandaged up, she had nearly bled out.

She hasn't painted since then. For weeks, Sass mourned the loss of her friends. The guilt of letting her crew suffer harm weighed heavy on her. Finally, she began going out again after curfew. She found her old paintings, all tagged with a bold red 'X'. But she also found others. New artists, painters without crews, ones she had neglected to notice when she'd still had The Devil's Own at her side. Finally, Sass brought a can of red paint with her. She painted a red 'X' beside the paintings of a few of her favourite artists, along with cryptic clues as to where to meet her.

Sass is back, and she's gathering a crew.

Paint

Looks good. Accepted, Gisk.

Paint

I was actually thinking that, and the only thing in the way was the timeline. That'd work very nicely. Let's do it.

Paint

Hey, there are character sheets in here! That's pretty awesome to wake up to.

@Polyphemus: Accepted. Very nice sheet. I love the 90's culture obsession.
@Parteebear: Accepted. Thomas's tattoo is going to be the death of me. That's adorable. XD
@Sam12435: Accepted. I could see your character being a really effective 'watchman' for the group with all his smoke bombs.
@Bad Juju: Of course, make yourself a sheet, we'd love to have you!
@Gisk: I'm gonna assume you're adding more to your sheet yet? I loved the idea you PMed me.

@Everyone: Just a reminder, the anit-advertisement law is a relatively new thing, only being implemented ten years ago. All of our characters are old enough to remember a time when there was still public advertisement. Just in case that plays into anyone's background or character motivation. ^_^

I'll probably end up doubling up on characters for this one. I'll get started on my sheets now. For now, here's a quick overview of my character concepts:

Lauren "Sass" Hedley: By day, Lauren works part-time at a small library in downtown Northgate. By night, she becomes Sass, leader of one of the city's most capable Sprayer crews. However, six months ago, her crew was arrested. Two were killed, two were arrested, and Sass managed to escape with only a bullet in her shoulder. Today, she is picking up the pieces of her career as a Sprayer, working to find herself a new crew. Sass is back, and everyone knows it.
She'll be the one who gathers everyone together into a crew. Yay teamworks1!!!!11! :D I imagine she'll have particular interest in Gisk's character, considering he was released from prison.

Mallory Teken: Cold, heartless, and career-driven, Mallory is a rising star in the city's security system. She has no mercy for those who abuse or break the laws. Mallory measures her success by how many criminals land in the jail cell because of her actions. She comes from a family of disrepute, and is driven by the fact that she wants to be better than them.
Mallory's got a nice potential for background story with some characters if you guys are interested. :3

Paint: Dystopian city, graffiti, delinquency, and more!

Whoo! OOC is up! :D

I PMed everyone, but I'll go ahead and post here as well.

And with that, I go to sleep. Night!

Paint

^I'll edit that and make it look cooler tomorrow...>.<

Media is everywhere.

It controls us. Our lives are controlled by advertisements. The latest fashion trends tell us what to wear. The celebrities show us how to look. Music preaches how to act. Every day, our brains are assaulted by hundreds, if not thousands, of images and advertisements. Everything is advertised. Food. Clothes. Books. Cars. Films. Music. The list doesn't end. Advertisements are everywhere. Television. Newspaper. Magazine. Social media. Banners. Billboards. All too often, the images that are projected into our minds are less than beneficial. The sight of an underweight model with too much eye makeup ruins the esteem of young girls. Huge billboards featuring men and women in scandalous settings do nothing to enrich the minds of those who view them.

Ten years ago, the city of Northgate took a step towards freeing its citizens from the influence of media.

As of August 17th, 2058, all public advertisement was declared illegal. Billboards were torn down. Television commercials stopped, and radio ads cut out. Initially, the change was hard to accept. But over time, it became the norm. Today, Northgate is the model city. Crime is at a low, jobs are abundant, and homelessness is hardly an issue within the city limits. Dozens of communities across the nation are following its example.

Citywide Surveillance

Along with the ban on advertisements, other changes were implemented. The government of Northgate went beyond protecting its people from the effects of media. They took the next step in ensuring safety, protecting people from themselves. The entire city is monitored by closed-circuit televisions. As one can imagine, dozens of jobs as security guards, monitoring the screens during the night. Because during the night, the curfew is active. Between the hours of 11:00pm until 5:30am, no one is allowed outside their homes.

There are countless other jobs available contributing to the security of Northgate. All data is monitored. Phone calls are tracked and emails are monitored for potentially threatening keywords. The words 'spray' and 'paint', within the same message, are an example of a red flag. Bills must be payed on time. School and work attendance is tracked. Much of the data is entered manually by low-salary interns into a huge computer system, designed to track the citizens of Northgate. Should any red flags go up, security officials are notified. Investigations occur rapidly, thanks to the CCTV systems, and if necessary, law enforcement officers are dispatched.

Law Enforcement, Crime, and Prison

Northgate follows a 'tough on crime' policy. Murders amongst citizens are rare. Robberies are rare. Rape, assault, breaking and entering...all of these are infrequent events, even in such a huge city. However, when they do occur, felonies are punished severely. Jail time and impossibly high fines are imposed for even slight crimes, such as being out after curfew. A Northgate jail is not a place anyone wants to visit.

Despite the way the city handles crime, its jails are lawless places. Within the walls of a Northgate prison, the authorities hold total power. Anything, and everything, is legal. The rumours are never confirmed, of course, but stories always leak out of its walls. There are tales of brainwashing and torture, both physical and psychological. All, of course, is done in order to force delinquents to accept the wrongness of their actions, and embrace a future where they can once more contribute to society. Many who are imprisoned do not return. It's a taboo subject, one that most citizens don't like to think about. After all, crime is rare.

The Sprayers

Just because advertisement is illegal, it doesn't mean it is non-existent. For small businesses or new start-ups, getting their name into the city is a nearly impossible task. A loophole in the law makes it possible to be advertised for. It's only the creation of an advertisement that is considered illegal. This is where the Sprayers, highly capable graffiti artists, come in. Anyone can request a Sprayer, from reputable law firms to low-level prostitutes trying to make a quick dollar. When an individual requires an advertisement, they send their request to a Sprayer or the captain of a team. In the middle of the night, after curfew, the crew goes out and paints that advertisement onto one of the city's immaculately blank walls. The work is risky, but the pay for a single piece of graffiti is worth it for many.

A crew of Sprayers can be seen as a cross between a sports team, a work force, and a family. They are incredibly close, yet still totally anonymous. They function under false names. Many Sprayers choose to 'tag' their work with a small illustration or stencil, symbolic of their pseudonym. Over time, a Sprayer can even become famous under a pseudonym as their work is seen throughout the city. Each crew of Sprayers is sworn to total anonymity. Should one be captured, the unspoken rule says that they don't give up the rest of their crew. However, in the jails of Northgate, who knows how well a person can maintain their composure.

It's not an easy job. Each Sprayer risks their life and future every time they go out to paint. Even the purchase of spray cans, the medium of choice, is a risky business. But for many, it's worth it. Some do it for the anarchy. Some do it for the money. Some do it simply to see their art.

The City of Northgate

In the year 2068, there are obvious changes from today's society. However, Northgate has been primarily focused on maintaining their state of control and order. This has resulted in a lack of advancement over the past ten years. Walking down the streets, one can see a simple, plain, cityscape. Walking down the streets of Northgate, one will see no bright neon signs or flashing megascreens. There are no billboards or posters.

The buildings of Northgate consist of undecorated grey walls. In downtown, skyscrapers stretch into the sky. In residential districts, cookie-cutter apartment blocks are frequent. Throughout the city, buildings are close-packed. This results in narrow streets and narrower alleyways; a set-up that allows plenty of hiding places for the Sprayers. Walls are constantly being painted over by the city's authorities, in order to cover up the omnipresent graffiti that keeps springing up.

Due to the curfew, homelessness within Northgate is virtually impossible. Over the past ten years, the homeless have gradually faded away. Many were arrested, charged with breaking the curfew laws when they couldn't find a place to spend the night. Others fled beyond the walls of the city, forced to start a new life outside of Northgate.

Transportation

The primary method of transportation in Northgate is the large monorail system. The tracks go all over the city, and the number of trains functioning allows for optimum travel speeds at all times of the day. The monorail functions from 6:00am, a half hour after curfew ends, to 11:00pm, when it begins. Two separate sets of tracks run alongside each other. The main one is used by the citizens of Northgate. The second one, noticeably smaller, is used by the city's emergency services.

During the night, the monorail doesn't run. As a result, the primary method of transportation for Sprayers is foot. Most are capably athletic, a result of running across the city after dark.

Rules

1. No being rude in the OOC.


2. If you are going to be unable to post, please let everyone know so that we can work around it.


3. If you go 4 days without posting in the OOC or IC, I will have to set your status to AWOL. A week of AWOL, and your character will be temporarily retired. The space will open up for a new character to join.


4. No godmodding, no metagaming, all that generic stuff.

Characters
Polyphemus as Lee "Clarion" Brandt
Parteebear as Thomas " " Marshall
Sam12435 as Jace "Free" Damon
Gisk as William "Gray" Hess
Mach2 as Lauren "Sass" Hedley and Mallory Teken
Swarley as Carissa "Anarcho" Keen
Wreck as Tyven "Jager" Gorman Geier
Apokalipse as Augustyna Repinski
The book of bad juju as Matthew Van der Gelt
Commander as Trevor Westbrook

Character Sheet

Name:
Age:
Occupation: Sprayer? Law enforcement? High ranking security officer? Innocent data-entry intern?
Appearance: Pictures are great. I love pictures. If you have a picture, please include a picture. But I'd like to see some text as well. Elaborate on stuff that isn't clear in the image, such as clothing style, height, and composition.
Gear: Spray paint? The latest firearm model? Cybernetic implants?
Personality: As brief or as detailed as you wish.
Background: Anything relevant. If you've got something you don't want everyone in the RP to see, PM it to me. Ex: Your character is a street orphan, but midway through the RP, you reveal that they're actually the abandoned child of Northgate's mayor, and their father is now looking for them....yeah, that's not gonna fly. XD
Extra: In case you've got anything else you wish to add.

And, of course, if you guys have more ideas for me, please let me know. I'm only one person with one brain, and there's a limited number of ideas inside that brain. Outside input is always appreciated!

Days Since Last Post

Active: Users who have posted once within the past 4 Days.
Polyphemus: 3
Sam12435: 1
The book of bad juju: 3
Wreck: 3
Gisk: 3
Swarley: 1
Apokalipse: 2
Commander: 0
Mercenary Lord: 2

Awol: Users who haven't posted in more than 4 days. Don't panic if you see your name here, as you still have a week to post something. It's understandable that sometimes there just isn't anything to post. If that's the case, just make a quick comment in the OOC to let me know you're still here.
DR_TRAPEZOID: 4
Parteebear: 5
Chantilly: 5

Retired: Users who have spent a week on AWOL status. These characters are no longer active.

The Trauma Ward

Thanks! I've heard of SAI before, I'll have to give it a look. I've been using Gimp.

Paint: Dystopian city, graffiti, delinquency, and more!

Well what fun would a clean cop be? Gotta be corrupt, else it'd be boring!

Ugh. Forgot how hard it is for me to write an OOC.

Paint: Dystopian city, graffiti, delinquency, and more!

Will do, Wreck. Can't wait to see your character.

Actually, I'll probably PM everyone. Juuust to be sure you all know. XD