BlueDiamondsPearl
Unlucky Member
- The Story
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Did you ever hear that saying about boiling frogs? A frog that is put into a pot of boiling water will jump out immediately, but if you put a frog in room temperature water and gradually increase the temperature until the water boils then the frog will stay, not even noticing that it’s being killed. Consider that to be the grand history of our ancestors.
It started with the invention of methyl bromine based pesticides in 1932 and worsened with the increased popularities of CFCs in the 1970s. Our ancestors, like those frogs, were boiling themselves and did not seem to care. There are records of multiple campaigns and bills to stop the depletion of the ozone, all the way until the 2350s, but it was often true that those attempts were little more than insincere bandaid solutions created to save face or lessen guilt. Through a lack of intervention, the ozone around our planet completely deteriorated. Due to the negative effects of the increased exposure to UV light the common folk of the time became more and more sick. It’s unclear whether or not they ever noticed, but as it got worse the wealthy and the scientifically renowned came together to build themselves an underground utopia.
You would think that a project so large and complicated would be difficult to keep out of the sight of the public, but it went undiscovered for the majority of its creation. Near the end, maybe one or two years before the project’s completion, a tabloid found out about it. The concept of the richest and the most brilliant building an underground city quickly sensationalized. Gossip “news” shows fixated on the rumor. Comedy sketches, memes, and [the future equivalent of youtube channels] were created solely around the conspiracy of what soon became known as “The Sunken City Project”. A Netflix Original was even made about it. But the Sunken City was never truly discovered, and while some started to believe in it, those who did were treated as silly paranoid wackjobs.
The city was successfully built and the top donors (both financially and intellectually) were moved in between September 12th and October 7th 2467. History classes often tend to skip or minimize what happened next, but after the ozone disappeared everyone and everything above ground died. The death of those who didn’t fit the “requirements” was apparently a “necessary sacrifice for the good of mankind”, and “there was nothing the founders could have done”. - What To Expect
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The current day is April 24th, 4475, and your character is a resident of the Sunken City. Depending on which Sector they were born in they may have different jobs, skills, opinions, and outlooks on life and on the government. - Extremely In Depth Info (For Those Who Are Interested)
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Setting
[Pictured above: The walkways within the Sunken City. Each of those imprints to the right is the side of a dwelling. Each dwelling has two floors, has been created using Science (was specifically designed to be the perfect size. It is in the sweet spot between "so small that I'm going to go insane" and "wow this is really comfortable but it's wasteful") and can be accessed from below. The banners on the left are made of a special fabric that's pattern and design is controlled by a digital program, and they are used to display important information and news. Think billboards except much cooler and more fancy. Walking and bicycles are some of the few forms of transportation, as they encourage good health. The lights coming from the ceiling are "Superlights, lights designed to emulate the benefits and uses of the sun. They're almost perfect too, and government supplied supplements will provide you with what the Superlights fall short on.]
[Pictured above: One of the many farm rooms. Everyone is on an extremely nutrient rich plant based diet, designed specifically to eliminate the inefficiency of animal-based food products. The "windows" letting in "sunlight" are also Superlights that are specialized for use on crops. The work place of some Sector 3 residents.]
Government
The government in the Sunken City started out being capitalist, carrying the traditions from the above-ground society and bringing it down with them. However, when the generation of children that followed grew up, they quickly came to believe that capitalism was destructive and counter-productive to their society. Because they were underground there was suddenly was a new limit to their resources, especially due to the carelessness of the founding generations. Their solution? Communism with the strongest morals and honesty policy in history. Think the behavior of the beings in The Host by Stephanie Meyer. The thought process of the council being “If we are extremely open with everything we do and everything we have, then there is no way for the government to become corrupt.” And while they had a surprisingly good, long run, they were unfortunately wrong.
Capitalism: Approx 100 years or less
Functional/Ideal Communism: Approx 650
Semi Corrupt Communism: Approx 500
Corrupt/Oppressive Communism: Approx 750
Examples of corrupt behaviors being performed by the Sunken City Gov’t:
- Creating the “Supplement Drought” effectively lying to people, saying there aren’t enough supplements to go around. Government officials often bribe civilians by suggesting that they “might be able to sneak them some” if the person does an unfavorable task. This has created what is essentially a Supplement Black Market, where supplement-wealthy bureaucrats can employ the “underprivileged” and pay them with supplements. (This can include sex work, drug creation and distribution, and servitude/maid service). ((Basically there’s a bunch of little bubbles of capitalism within the “communism”))
- Threaten to assign (or actually do assign) a person to UV Panel Repair if that person has openly spoken out against the government or has shit talked/threatened a gov’t official. (It is essentially a death sentence, no one has ever returned from Panel Repair, and it is too dangerous to bother looking for their bodies). A couple of people have claimed to have heard someone knocking on the exterior access hatch.
- Any form of law enforcement is in the palms of the gov’t leaders because the leaders could take away their access to supplements or food/water. Any crime committed by a leader or officer is almost always swept under the rug.
- There is probably a lot more but I haven’t thought it up yet. The point is that the government is corrupt and gross in this RP
Sectors
Sectors will be talked about in much more depth in the future, but for now here's the basic idea: You're born into your sector, and your sector determines which jobs you get to choose from. You cannot move between sectors. There are 4 sectors.
Sector 1: Where the bureaucrats/leaders live (as well as some that aren't part of the government). Rarely any troubles here. Could be considered the fancy (upper class kinda) sector.
Sector 2: (Middle class equivalent) Only a few troubles here or there. Nothing really worth complaining.
Sector 3: (Another middle class equivalent) Sometimes there are troubles here, but that's just normal... right?
Sector 4: (Impoverished, lowest class equivalent) There are always troubles here, but hey it's tough all around. The city is most likely just going through a recession of sorts, right? I mean the crime rates are kind of high, and the cops never punish the right people, and no one is really happy but... This isn't permanent.... Hopefully.
History/Timeline
2467- Sunken City Complete, the people and scientist began moving in (Ava age 44). Starting population of 13791.
2475- UV saturation reached lethal levels, external death rate increasing drastically
2528- Scientist Ava Williams (main inventor/scientific contributor to the Sunken City project) dies of old age at 105 years old June 27th, 2528. This date became one of Sunken City’s days of observance, “Ava Williams Day”.
2572- Capitalism ended, beginning of communism
2689- Birth regulations put into place. Children allowed/encouraged per couple: 1-2. Couples who choose not to reproduce should file it with the government so they can give the child slot to another couple. Couples who want to have a third child must file a request.
3208~3223- Roughly the time when the government began to take a turn for the worse; became increasingly more corrupt, but not enough for citizens to feel uncomfortable/stressed about it. (Maybe a specific person joined the council and they were the slow turn of things?)
3719- Semi-corrupt-ness has shifted to surprisingly corrupt; those in power begin to use their ultimate control for the more noticeable worse
4475- Current date April 24th, 4475! Corrupt government has been going strong, power supply is near it’s end but no one is paying attention or noticing for some reason? - Creating the “Supplement Drought” effectively lying to people, saying there aren’t enough supplements to go around. Government officials often bribe civilians by suggesting that they “might be able to sneak them some” if the person does an unfavorable task. This has created what is essentially a Supplement Black Market, where supplement-wealthy bureaucrats can employ the “underprivileged” and pay them with supplements. (This can include sex work, drug creation and distribution, and servitude/maid service). ((Basically there’s a bunch of little bubbles of capitalism within the “communism”))
- Important Miscellaneous Info
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1.) The roleplay will take place on kik
2.) Only one character per person (except for the mods). This rule might change though, we'll see.
3.) Roleplay quality is expected to be between casual and detailed
4.) Ava Williams is the main scientific contributor to the city, and was/is kind of viewed as a hero
5.) Our characters don't speak english, they speak a language that was evolved from english. If your character sees any writing from "the past" they will not be able to understand it.
6.) There will be multiple super cool (and dangerous) creatures but I'm keeping those secret until during the roleplay.
7.) There is definitely more information that will be revealed if enough interest shown. I just didn't want to fully develop it if no one is going to join. (I also didn't want to overwhelm anyone).
8.) Diversity (ethnicity, gender, sexual/romantic orientations, mental/physical disabilities etc) is ENCOURAGED AS HECK! Please don't be scared to play who you want to play. Hate (racism, transphobia, etc) will not be tolerated.
