After the Schism: 3000AD 120 New Era

[Keyblade Smitey]

Incomming transmision...
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Danger, message corrupt. Attempting to restore...
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Message recorded 17/08/2840, space station St. Peter: To whoever finds this message - My name is *garbled*, I am the foremost scientist working on the US government project 'Heaven's Gate'. We have *garbled* miscalculation. We are only minutes from death here. The radiation *garbled* released devestated the entire station and most likely earth and the colonies as well. *Garbled* time release, so it will broadcast on a secure chanel exactly one hundred and twenty years from now, the calculated time for background radiation levels to reach the minimum saturation this message needs to transmit without interfearance. The *garbled* still open! Whoever finds this, *garbled* must *garbled*. Three locations *garbled* Pentagon, The Whitehoue and *garbled* 51. In each location is a terminal which needs to have *garbled* Alpha Bravo 57 Delta 4 entered into it. But this is no good if the station terminal *garlbed* same code. *Garbled* must enter the codes! St. Peter is a *garbled* to all humanity if left open and must *garbled*! Please, find the termin...*garbled*
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Message is corrupt...

The year is 3000 AD, the turn of the fourth millenium of humanity's great history. But the earth as we know it is gone. The earth as we immagine it, never came to be. In the middle of the 29th century, seven hundred years after Humanity's expansion to other worlds, a cataclysm ripped through the solar system. All humanity's advanced technology just shut down. Ships in space, travling at velocities close to the speed of light, tore themsleves apart as everything on them failed. Space stations and satalites plumeted from the sky. The Lunar Colonies suffacated as their enviro-generators ceased to function. On Earth, Mars, Jupiter's moon Europa and the the newly terraformed Venus, Humanity was suddenly isolated as all communications and transport technology shut down. Cities crumbled and Humanity was decimated, deserted by the technology they relied so much on. No-one knew what caused this event, now called 'The Great Schism', but it left the Human race scattered and isolated for over a century and a half. Now, in the ruins of once-great mega-cities and in new settlements across the four inhabited worlds, proud Humanity scratches a living from the ashes of their greatness.

Yet this is not the worst of Humanity's woes. For some unknown reason, a generation after The Great Schism, the rules of reality started not to apply. Animal genes mutated exponentialy in a single leap, creating a whole new race of creatures, both great and small, who now walk the wilds, both predator and prey. Humans were not spared from this wave evolution. A small number of humans now are exhibiting signs of being no longer homo sapiens, but homo superior, the next stage in humanity. These humans are stronger, faster and sharper than their forebears and a small fraction of this minority display powers beyond the ken of others, manipulating the very elements and energy forms around them. These new humans are still only a minority, but with every generation, their numbers grow. How they are treated depends where they are and who they are. Like thier ansectors, they posess the ability to be either good or evil. In some towns and enclaves, they are heroes, defenders of the people. In others, they are the outriders, the alone, risking life and limb outside the walls, away from those whom they do not understand or fit in with. And in a few places, they are hated, reviled as a threat and are hunted down and persecuted at every turn.

Old or new? Human or something more? Good, Evil or Outcast? That is for you to decide. Walk your own path, no-one else can.

[Divine Shadow]

Taira walked into a deserted town, or rather a village. She looked at the decrepit buildings, all abandoned years ago. She pulled the hood from her cloak down, pulling her goggles down to hang around her neck. She walked to a house, it was medium in size, and had black paint sprayed across the front door. She kicked it in and walked in. 'Home..." She muttered under her breath, her voice sweet with sorrow. She shook away those memories and picked up a picture frame. The glass was cracked, but inside was a pictur of her father, her Mother, and of course herself. She was probably two or three in the picture. She sighed, setting it down. She kicked an old reassembled vacumm cleaner from years ago. She heard a clink as the flap swung open, revealing a small cell. "Rare..." she muttered, picking it up. She put it in her bag and commenced throughout the house, raiding it for anythng valuble that didn't have some memory hooked to it.

A couple hours later she walked out of her house. She pulled her katana out from its sheath and slashed an X across the door. She looked to the west, the sun already setting. She pulled her hood up, goggles as well. She left the town. Maybe she could make it to the next city in a couple days. She sighed. "Thanks mum and dad... this walk's gonna take me DAYS... you couldn't have passed on something more than your asian heritage, your voice and looks?" She muttered to herself. she sighed and set off at a run towards the west where a few clouds caused the light to pale.

[Keyblade Smitey]

The hot desert wind blew a small eddy of dust in to the workshop, where it mingled with the grease, oil and smell of burning petrochemicals. A young man blinked his eyes rapidly and repositioned his goggles over his light mousey hair as he lent against the crumbling concrete wall that looked ready to collapse at any second. "Can you fix it?" he repeated for the fifth time in as many minutes, "Yo, Anthony! I said 'can you fix it?" There was a clang of someone dropping something metal, the slightly sick 'thud' of said object hitting vulnerable skull, a protracted string of swearing and finally, movement in the correct direction. A dark-skinned, bald young man, his skin and overalls covered in oil, slid out from under the belly of an ancient motorcycle on the back of a makeshift skateboard. The man rubbed his burised forehead "For the last bloody time, Blain; don't talk to me when I'm under a rig!" the man had a distinct British refinement, in stark contrast to Blain's nondescript accent, characteristic of the outriders, who, as a rule, didn't speak much.
"Sorry, Ant. Anyway, can you fix it?"
Anthony sighed and wheeled himself fully out, wiping his hands on a rag, "Yes, yes I can fix the damn thing, but look Blain, stuff like this isn't exactly ten-a-penny! Where in the name of Churchill's most frilly underpants did you get this?!"
"Some old town or other. I'm amazed no-one had looted it. Anyway, what's the catch? There's always an 'I can fix it but...' with you."
Anthony sighed again, "Most of it's fine, just a few pieces I can clean up or get replaced easily, it's the fuel cells that are a problem. This thing runs on a bio-rhythmic, auto-modulating induction aural field harnessing rig, crossed-matrixed with..."
"Ant! English! Not all of us are old-tech mechanical super-geeks!"

[Divine Shadow]

Taira walked past a decrepit farm. An old man had two horses left. She walked forward, pulling out her purse of money. It wasn't much but it was better than nothing. She sighed. "how much for your horse old man?" She asked He looked at her and just pointed to the bag in her hands. She sighed. "Anything i got? then fine." She passed the man the coins, then jumped onto the horse, riding bare back. She nodded at the old man and rode off. She was grateful for getting off of her feet. She was moving faster now too. She sighed a bit, heading again into the west. The sun lower than it had been before. "No rest for the living huh.."

[sephiroth2]

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The raging wasteland continued its duty, as a dust storm swept across the area. From it, Sleif walked through the thrown up earth, not caring about it in the slightest.
Suddenly a yell could be heard from somewhere in the area, prompting Sleif to check out this disturbance. Upon arriving Sleif soon found the cause of the commotion. A person, presumable a man, was surrounded by a group of some large creatures.

As one leaped into the air to rip the man apart, suddenly it stopped. Not its attack, but in midair. The other creatures turned towards Sleifs direction to see him with his right hand raised to the creature. Slight sparks could be seen discharging from his hand as he held the creature in the air. In one quick motion, Sleif swung the huge creature straight into one of the others, receiving a loud crack of its bones breaking.

With rage, the remaining creature launched themselves at Sleif with their claws protruding. They never reached Sleif. As each one, made the foolishness of getting close to him, Sleif sliced each one in half with his sword, until all were dead.

"Thank you sir for rescuing me!" the man said to Sleif. "Where is the nearest town?" Sleif asked, causing a puzzled look from the man.
"The nearest town is over there. Around one and half miles! We should probably get a move on if we want to....!"

The man say to Sleif as he slowly began to stand up. Suddenly the man began to cough up blood. As he looked down he could see that Sleifs sword was right through him.
"Why....!" the man barely said as he looked up to Sleif. "Because I do not like people who are weak, and cowardly!" Sleif replied before he withdrew his blade from the man, causing him to die at that moment.

Leaving the body, Sleif made his way into the direction of the town, once again disappearing in the swirling dust of the wasteland.

[Keyblade Smitey]

Ant massaged his temples, "It uses fuel cells. Like hydrogen cells, but rarer. The ones in there have a living core, made from multiple complex, single-celled organisms. The beauty of them is that they self-regulate, so there's hardly any really advanced old-tech required! Only problem is they were only just being introduced before the Schism," he made a sign to ward off bad luck and Blain rolled his eyes at the superstitious gesture.
"So that's the bad news. What's the really bad news?"
"Three cells are missing. Now way this hog's going to run without them. You bring me the cells, I'll fix it as a favour. Good luck finding them though, they're as rare as they come!"
"Done deal," Blain clapped Anthony on the shoulder and walked out of the workshop.
"See if you can bring some beer with you next time!" shouted a mechanic with an Australian accent from under a mining rig. Blain flipped him off without breaking stride and walked out into the burning sunshine of Dust Point.

Squinting in the afternoon sun, Blain took a deep breath of the hot air, savouring the tangy, spicy scent, undertoned with machine smells from the workshop behind him. He was good mates with all the mechs, he always brought them various rare goodies from when he left the town on assignments and in return they gave him any mechanical help he needed. Blain took in the dwellings scattered, higgledy-piggledy within the ancient walls, everything constructed from crumbling concrete slabs and twisted, rusting metal. Sometimes he marveled that the gigantic iron gates that were the only way in or out of the city could still move, so encrusted were their gears and wheels in red-brown iron oxide. He took in the stream of traders, travellers, disguised bandits and general flotsam trickling through the gates as he strolled across the bustling market street towards the guild. There were a few new faces in the crowd, but nothing surprising. Every day brought more humans and superiors to the town, the only patch of civilization for miles and Blian wasn't too fussed to see people he didn't recognise. As he pushed his way through the crowd, choking on the dust they kicked up, snatches of conversation drifed over him. Other people's lives, hopes, fears, dreams. The topic changed every tiem he was in town. Today a lot of people were talking about attacks on the road. Something about a killer heading towards town. Blain made a mental note of this as he slipped under the awning outside the guild. A little bounty work on the side never hurt.

[Divine Shadow]

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Taira looked back to the desolate nothingness behind her, and then forward to the City. She couldn't remember the name, but she didn't care. As Long as there was food she was happy. She walked to the gates, heading through the way, her head slightly bowed. She had sold the horse earlier on, to one of the fellow travellers.. She had gotten at least double for it then what she had paid the man and that was what counted. She looked around, and looked for the guild. She wandered over to the old building, wondering if she could enter. She spotted a man, heading toward the doors, and ran up to him. She tapped him on the shoulder, and spoke.

"Hey you...do you know where I can talk to a mechanic? I have something interesting to sell, and i need to know exactly how much I can get for it." She looked at him, and smiled a bit. He was kind of cute…in an odd way. Her eyes darted to the long light brown hair, and the grey eyes, and wondered exactly who he was. She wished she could tell if he was Sapien or not. It was so hard to tell or not…both being HUMAN…. She sighed. “Well? Know any place I can find a decent price for a decent item?" She put her hand on her hip, and stood, the one hip slightly cocked out, and she smiled, HOPING he would help.

[snowdog]

The sun fell from view behind a towering structure, both silvery in the orange light, and creeping with vines and leaves.

Joseph took a few steps back, craning his neck to view this, a magnificent skyscraper. Bridging the gap between ground and sky, the building was an oddly beautiful sight as it bathed in the sunset.

His hands sunk into his pockets, and he walked on through this eerily quiet forest-city.

It was odd to think that this was once a bustling metallic metropolis, buzzing with activity through the day, and shining iridescent through the night. Unlike many other cities, it had not been partially cleared of the overgrown forests within it, and so was overrun by plants and wild animals.

Continuing on his way, Joseph released a yawn. Perhaps after ransacking the shops around here, he'd find somewhere safe to go to sleep.

<3

[sephiroth2]

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Slief slowly walked into town, listening carefully to the talks people were having. "Did you here? Another person was brutally killed out in the wasteland!Don't let that bother you! It was probably just some of those creatures! Thats just it! Most of the bodies have been found near piles of those creatures, butchered!"

The conversations continued in the same procedure. Sleif heard the same wherever he went, it always seemed to surprise him how fast the news would travel.
As he walked by a large building, he suddenly stopped before turning his head slightly towards the door. Two people peeked his interest, a girl and boy. Sensing the energy from across the way, he could tell they were both special.

"The boy is definitely a Superior, while the girl, I think is a half breed. That is quite rare!" Sleif thought as he finished scanning them.
"This should not be a waste of time!" he said to himself as he continued to walk through the town.

[Divine Light]

Storm walked through a completly abandoned City. Cars turned over and covered in weeds were everywhere. he wondered if anything or anyone was taking refuge in this place. he entered an abandoned shop a saw a man ransacking the place. not being very talkitive he just stared at the man waiting for him to notice his pressence.

[snowdog]

Looting the shop was most unsatisfying. There was a distinct lack of anything useful, the only things seeming to be in here being the remains of foodstuffs, and the like. Nothing he could actually use, or even eat. Joseph sighed to himself, before leaving the way he had came in - through the broken window.

Though, there was a slight difference within the ever-darkening street - a man, stood staring at him with cold-looking eyes. His grey hair waved in the slight breeze. From the looks of it, he had been watching Joseph for a while now. The darker man took a few steps forward, hands falling back into his pockets, his body arching in its usual fairly stooped position. He kicked a weed before letting his dark brown eyes scan the man before him.

Deciding to give him a taste of his own medicine, he stood still, staring at him from a distance. His countenance became a scowl, his eyes narrowed, and his teeth clenched. Just who was this guy, anyway?

<3

[Divine Light]

"well are you just going to stare all day or say something Storm said with an icey tone."what were you doing in there? ransacking the shop?. Storm narrowed his eyes as the other man did."you know you shouldn't be wondering around by yourself".

[snowdog]

"well are you just going to stare all day or say something?"

"I could say the same to you," Joseph growled lowly.

"what were you doing in there? ransacking the shop?"

"Considering you were watching me, you should know what I was doing."

"you know you shouldn't be wondering around by yourself"

"Oh, you're right," Joseph rolled his eyes, giving himself a smirk as he did so. "Whatever was I thinking, running around at night all alone?" He eyed the man with a stony gaze, breathing a heavy sigh. The skies were turning darker by the moment. "Is that why you're here? You need a buddy to make sure you're safe out here, is that it?"

The man buttoned up his jacket before moving to leave.

"In case you didn't notice, it's night," he said, matter-of-factly. "And as much as I'd love to stay out here and keep an eye on you, I'd rather go inside where it's safer."

<3

[Divine Light]

Storm wouldn't let the man just disrespect him like he just had. he grabbed the man by the wrist with a tight grip. being a Homo Superior his strength was pretty stronger meaning his grip was aswell."you think id just let you get away with that? there are multiple reasons you dont want to annoy me".

[snowdog]

Joseph felt himself jolted as the man grabbed him about the wrist.

"A superior," he concluded to himself silently. "No denying it."

"you think id just let you get away with that? there are multiple reasons you dont want to annoy me"

"And there are multiple reasons you don't want to annoy me," Joseph hissed, making no effort to remove the iron grip about his wrist. It was quite painful, but he could stand it; years of conditioning had left him able to put up with the strength of most superiors for some time. "So you're a superior, eh?"

A battle seemed likely at that moment, but Joseph hoped not. He was too tired and irritated to do battle with this arrogant fool. While able to easily do battle, and often defeat superiors, he didn't have the energy to do so at this moment in time.

<3