Post by The Macropolis on Aug 31, 2018 20:26:04 GMT
In a distant future, humanity pushed Earth to its limits. The Emperium, dominant nation on the planet at that time, crushed the other nations under the weight of perpetual wars, slowing environmental and spatial progress. And when the time where the face of Earth became inhabitable came, humanity was not ready to jump into the infinity of space, and had to retreat underground. Thus was born Macropolis, the world-city. Huge titan of metal, the Macropolis lies deep under the ground, safe from the dangers of the outside.
Life evolved differently under the ground. The Emperium, now almighty, was giving more importance to research, decided to lead humanity into a new age of prosperity that would lead to its freedom from the underground. Orb Corporation, an independent society specialized in robotic quickly raised among the biggest companies of the Macropolis, progressively absorbing most of its competitors. Holding production in one hand and research in the other, the influence of the Orb Corporation raised to the point of challenging the Emperium. As the tension between the two authorities was rising, Orb Corporation made a huge discovery : the Black Steel. This new type of metal, found in the entrails of Earth, had unique proprieties, making it not only extremely resistant, but highly manipulable. They immediately started to experiment on it, convinced to have found the key to humanity's salvation. But they were wrong. Among its many unusual proprieties, the Black Steel was also the vector of a sickness that was even more unique. They called it the Red Plague.
The Red Plague marked the beginning of a dark era for humanity. The symptoms, even if not lethal, were quite frightening. The Red Plague is a metal parasite that progressively converts the body and disturbs the feelings, slowly fusing with its host. The skin tears, and the flesh and bones start melting and grow past their human form, progressively transforming the host into a monster of flesh. The process is insanely painful. The sickness sometimes alters the color of the skin, hair and eyes, when they don't melt and fuse with the rest of the body. The feelings get randomly rewritten, some being erased, some being amplified. While the symptoms may vary, appearing partially or totally depending on the degree of exposition to the Plague, it curiously doesn't always lead to death. In some cases, it even seems to extend your life time, depending of the level of symbiosis with the disease. But even when it does kill you, your body still obeys to the parasite, that keeps deforming your body and growing your flesh exponentially. The infected flesh tends to spread over everything it touches, affecting every material or structure. When Orb Corporation discovered the transmission method, it was already too late. A single drop of tainted blood, and the epidemic started.
Of course when the outbreak of the Plague was discovered by the population, things got out of hands. Orb Corporation was pushed to tighten its grasp on the population, and entered into an open conflict with the Emperium. This new war shattered the fragile balance that was maintaining the order in the Macropolis, and killed the last hopes of humanity to see the sun again. But the first victims of this tragedy were the infected, that were rejected by the civilians and hunted down by both the Emperium and Orb Corporation. Most of them got exterminated, but some survived, hiding in the bottoms of the Pit, the depths of the Macropolis, where no one ever dared to venture to.
After many years of conflict that put the population on its knees, a new group appeared to face the two giant factions of the Emperium and the Orb Corporation : The Freaks. Tired of getting exploited and stepped on, these anarchists decided to stand in the way of a system that was clearly using them like tools. United in their chaos, the Freaks quickly grew, feeding on the hatred that the population had built up all these years against the two other factions. At the same time, a fourth organization, way smaller and far more discreet rose from the Pit : The Lycoris. The infected that survived the sickness and the purges united under its emblem to survive in this society that rejected them. Acting from the shadows of the Macropolis, the Lycoris joined the three other factions in a war that would continue for many years.
Here we are. Several years later. The war still rages on in the streets of the Macropolis. In this conflictual world, you'll have to find your place. No matter who you are, no matter what is your goal, you'll have to fight to survive. Or you can try to hide. But nobody escapes the Macropolis.
Life evolved differently under the ground. The Emperium, now almighty, was giving more importance to research, decided to lead humanity into a new age of prosperity that would lead to its freedom from the underground. Orb Corporation, an independent society specialized in robotic quickly raised among the biggest companies of the Macropolis, progressively absorbing most of its competitors. Holding production in one hand and research in the other, the influence of the Orb Corporation raised to the point of challenging the Emperium. As the tension between the two authorities was rising, Orb Corporation made a huge discovery : the Black Steel. This new type of metal, found in the entrails of Earth, had unique proprieties, making it not only extremely resistant, but highly manipulable. They immediately started to experiment on it, convinced to have found the key to humanity's salvation. But they were wrong. Among its many unusual proprieties, the Black Steel was also the vector of a sickness that was even more unique. They called it the Red Plague.
The Red Plague marked the beginning of a dark era for humanity. The symptoms, even if not lethal, were quite frightening. The Red Plague is a metal parasite that progressively converts the body and disturbs the feelings, slowly fusing with its host. The skin tears, and the flesh and bones start melting and grow past their human form, progressively transforming the host into a monster of flesh. The process is insanely painful. The sickness sometimes alters the color of the skin, hair and eyes, when they don't melt and fuse with the rest of the body. The feelings get randomly rewritten, some being erased, some being amplified. While the symptoms may vary, appearing partially or totally depending on the degree of exposition to the Plague, it curiously doesn't always lead to death. In some cases, it even seems to extend your life time, depending of the level of symbiosis with the disease. But even when it does kill you, your body still obeys to the parasite, that keeps deforming your body and growing your flesh exponentially. The infected flesh tends to spread over everything it touches, affecting every material or structure. When Orb Corporation discovered the transmission method, it was already too late. A single drop of tainted blood, and the epidemic started.
Of course when the outbreak of the Plague was discovered by the population, things got out of hands. Orb Corporation was pushed to tighten its grasp on the population, and entered into an open conflict with the Emperium. This new war shattered the fragile balance that was maintaining the order in the Macropolis, and killed the last hopes of humanity to see the sun again. But the first victims of this tragedy were the infected, that were rejected by the civilians and hunted down by both the Emperium and Orb Corporation. Most of them got exterminated, but some survived, hiding in the bottoms of the Pit, the depths of the Macropolis, where no one ever dared to venture to.
After many years of conflict that put the population on its knees, a new group appeared to face the two giant factions of the Emperium and the Orb Corporation : The Freaks. Tired of getting exploited and stepped on, these anarchists decided to stand in the way of a system that was clearly using them like tools. United in their chaos, the Freaks quickly grew, feeding on the hatred that the population had built up all these years against the two other factions. At the same time, a fourth organization, way smaller and far more discreet rose from the Pit : The Lycoris. The infected that survived the sickness and the purges united under its emblem to survive in this society that rejected them. Acting from the shadows of the Macropolis, the Lycoris joined the three other factions in a war that would continue for many years.
Here we are. Several years later. The war still rages on in the streets of the Macropolis. In this conflictual world, you'll have to find your place. No matter who you are, no matter what is your goal, you'll have to fight to survive. Or you can try to hide. But nobody escapes the Macropolis.