NationStates Jolt Archive


Hope Dies Here (Noir RP ooc revival thread, semi-open)

MassPwnage
25-09-2005, 03:16
ooc: This is based off my old noir RP Land of Eternal Midnight, which took place in my version of Hong Kong.

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=416728

However, I felt that Hong Kong was purely too unrealistic in terms of its scope, the characters too honorable, the artillery too heavy and lacking finesse. In short, it lacked the grit and violence that I wanted in it, the graphics stabbings, beatings and shootings and all other manner of stuf that I wanted in it.

Thus, I decided to shift the setting to the industrial city of Xiamen in the north. Xiamen is even darker, grittier and more lawless than Hong Kong, but more on that later.

But first, a reason on why I shifted this RP to Nationstates instead of II. This is my first RP on Nationstates, but I have long known that the people on Nationstates focus more on story and description, instead of the techology, war and deliberate posturing that punctuates II. I am entrusting to you all a very sacred (to me at least) RP concept of mine. It is not grand in scale and power, or monumental in language and location, it is a very simple, yet profoundly elegant statement of the human condition. I am entrusting to you this (as well as a few IIers I'm inviting). Please make it a great RP.

Anyway, about the setting. Xiamen has precious few pictures of it, because it is far too ugly and horrible for any tourists to visit. And, unlike Hong Kong, the city is not prosperous. Xiamen has been hemorrhaging jobs for years from its declining steel and coal industries, as well its heavy industry sector, which is losing jobs to Hong Kong. Xiamen's seaports are also in decline. Few ships visit anymore, and those that do either bring in nothing of value, or illicit goods, smuggled through by corrupt harbormasters. The entire place is dark, either from the clouds, or because the sun is obscured by abandoned factories and corporate skyscrapers, the pollution never ending and refuses to be washed away by the cold and frequent downpours the city gets. The water too, is polluted, black and reeking with toxins and waterborne pathogens. This gray city is populated by the living, breathing dregs of humanity, the lowest of the lowest possible lifeforms, dreary unemployed workers, criminals low and high, corrupt police officers, corrupt politicians, whores (voluntary and involuntary), more whores, drug addicts and others, some of whom are interesting and some of whom are downright boring.

In short. It is a cliched, Sin City like hell.

If the mere thought of a potential cliche sickens you, then fear not. Xiamen is worse than the movies by far, because no one lives in a movie directed by Frank Rodriguez, no matter how cool or stylish it sounds. The actors go home and eat canned ravioli in their multi-sextillion dollar mansions, while the cliched, canned characters fade into some exploitative scriptwriter's imagination, or try their luck at a movie based video game. But the people of Xiamen aren't black and white Sin City characters, nor are they fedora sporting detectives of the 1930s. They are real (as real as NS RP gets), they are believable, and most of all, they are in color.

Yes, there should be no solid black and white type characters here, no clear cut good and evil (unless you feel like making such a character, and RP the consequences of being that way). There are shades of gray, and even shades of color. If we are to say live and breathe, they must act like it, not like gun-toting, mass murdering automatons of film and cheap rest stop purchased fiction. Everyone is expressive, unique and just a little bit crazy.

Of course, just because mass murder is not committed by gun-toting automatons, doesn't mean that there will not be mass murder. No, in fact, this will be the most violent RP that I can possibly make it. As gritty as swallowing a crushed glass cocktail in one gulp. There will be everything from necropedophilic child molestation, to simple, outright killing. Man is a depraved creature, and I simply choose to state the human condition as is. If violence that would do Melkor Unchained and Automagfreek proud is not your cup of tea, then this is not for you.

On RP interaction; I noticed in the previous Noir RP that no one Rp'ed with each other, and everyone waited until I was available to RP with me. Don't do that. It kills the RP. If I'm not around, or if you don't feel like RP'ing with me, RP with someone else in the RP, bring in someone else, or just RP by yourself for a bit to create story and mood, or to flesh out characters some more.

Also lastly some Rules:

1.) No future tech, no fantasy tech and no postmodern tech. The last thing I need, is a load of spaceships, elves and 10-legged tanks in this RP. Of course, it could be argued that an FT or Fantasy tech RP could potentially be as gritty and raw as this, but I think that it would lead to too many arguments and lead to *ugh* technology arguments in this RP. PMT probably killed the first LOEM, because the Cyberpunk like Hong Kong was just too damn sterile in my opinion.

2.) Keep it real. No human is capable of bullet time, and very, very few humans are capable of taking multiple bullets/getting run over by a car repeatedly, etc. A rule of thumb would be, "If it would kill you IRL, then it would kill you in here." Of course, things like miracles could happen, but not very frequently.

3.) RP, RP, RP. No 1-3 line posts. Flesh everything out. If you can't, then make multiple storylines to keep each post long.

4.) Interact with the other RP'ers. (See above rule.) If you don't know something, then make it up.

5.) Inactivity? No, the story must be finished. You're in this for the long haul. Disappearing without a decent excuse is not acceptable.

6.) Above all, HAVE FUN.
MassPwnage
25-09-2005, 03:45
MP Info:

MP is a highly multiethnic, multicultural society nestled somewhere in a corner of NSEarth. The government is run by a single dictator known as the Great Leader, and is nominally Communist, although the government could give less of a shit about how the people conduct business, as long as the tax shipments come in on time.

Most of the people are as follows:

36% Mandarin Chinese
15% Assorted Caucasian
7% Arab
20% Vietnamese
10% Cambodian
5% Cantonese Chinese
2% Laotian
2% Japanese
1% Other

Of course, there is significant blurring with many people of varied descent from multiple sources. Thus, most people know at least 5 to 6 languages fluently as a necessity.

The terrain of MassPwnage is highly varied as well, but it is mostly deep jungle and staggeringly huge urban areas, such as Hong Kong (population 125 million), Daducheng/Haikou (159 million) and Hanoi/Haiphong (110 million).

MassPwnage's economy is based off of many things, mostly high-tech manufacturing, arms manufacturing, pharmaceuticals (legal and otherwise), sexual services, shipping and naval products and processing of raw materials.

MassPwnage has no real police forces on the local level. Thus crime is an enormous problem everywhere. Criminals that cause too many problems are taken out by the centralized LEA (Law Enforcement Agency), however, keeping major crimes, such as terrorism and destruction of public works at a minimum. Local police forces where they exist, are usually paid for by the local commissar out of his own pocket in order to keep his/her constituents happy.