You already have a long list of atrocities to your name, having posted gifs in the old thread and whatnot. You don't want another crime added to the list.
Then it is agreed, we turn this into a thread for discussing Sahle?
There will be no talking, no spitting, no rough housing, and no enjoying yourself. From now on, we will speak only about how hardcore is the best way to RP and why all other methods of RPing suck.
Behind the camps, in the towering shadow of Landfall's walls of steel and glass, a familiar forest had sprouted. Solid mahoganies and smooth-barked jackfruit trees stood amongst bushy green nutmeg trees and Banyans covered in thick veins of root and branch, shielding an undergrowth of ferns and shrubs. There was little evidence of Invictus in this grove, except the oily skinned bat-like birds that scree'ed harshly in the branches above, and the alien red sun where it peaked out from behind the leaves of home.
Few went back here. It was beyond the eyes of the camp, and that meant far from the protection of the soldiers. Dark forests meant wildlife, and the plant-life spilled from the ominous silence of Landfall itself. New days brought new rumors about the colony, as the tens of thousands of people living like refugees outside its walls could hardly ignore it with its stained, broken face dominating the landscape. Some said that the old colonists had all died of an extraterrestrial disease, while others said they were still there but wouldn't open their doors. It did feel like something lived there - Herc felt uneasy looking at it, as if somebody was looking back. This close to it, the walls raised so high that they covered half the sky, and when he looked up Herc felt as if the entire thing would topple down on top of him.
But these trees were nice. When the breeze caught them, they swayed with a rustling music he felt as if he had long forgotten. The gnarled and woody, or puffy and porous flora of Invictus never did that. It made Herc feel cool, like he was able to relax for a moment and forget that the rest of this world was chaotic and ready to kill.
Dora followed, with Yipp, her aptly named little dog, in tow. Dr. Kumar had showed this place to his colleagues and companions, and they felt like it was their little secret. Herc had found used condoms dangling from a leafy bush that proved them otherwise, but it still felt like theirs. He had yet to run across a person he didn't know while walking their newly beaten paths.
"I miss commercials." Dora said, her bubbly voice weighed down with homesick sadness. "And cambots. I guess they were spies and all, but they made me feel sort of safe, ya know."
This had become their routine, reminiscing about what they had left behind. It made Herc feel like he wasn't alone with alien people in an alien place. It reminded him that they had all once lived under the same yellow sun.
"Cambots." Herc shivered. "They used to creep by my window and look in, ya'know. I think they were obsessed with our house."
"Were you a rebel?" Dora asked with a grin.
Herc looked down at his feet. A rebel. He remembered, and it hurt. "No." he muttered. "I wasn't."
Dora went on, oblivious. "I also miss traveling."
Herc looked up. "Traveling?" he said, "What do you call this"?
"I mean... you could go home, and when you left, there were things to see." she said. "Here... it has to look the same everywhere, and there is nothing to do." she paused. "Did you ever go to Cow-Town?"
"No" Herc answered, "I went to Bro-City though. I guess they were probably the same."
"I never went to Bro-city." as Dora answered, her nose wrinkled. "I heard that Bro-City was all hookers and drunks."
"What was Cow-Town then?"
Dora shrugged. "Barbecue and drunks. They had a really fun indoor rollercoaster though."
Yipp caught the scent of something, and he shot off into the bushes, yapping several times for every footfall. "Yipp!" Dora shouted under her breath, but it did not stop. She jogged after it, and Herc followed.
Three leather-winged creatures took flight, screeching angrily at the little dog that had sent them away. They looked like ravens, their feathers plucked and beaks replaced with sharp-toothed mouths that came to a point. Their eyes were black and beady, and they looked down at the Earthling invaders with contempt as they took to the air.
"That dog is going to bark at something that bites back." Herc warned, looking down at Dora as she scratched the satisfied-looking dog on its head.
"I know." she said, worried. She scooped it into her arms. "I am going to have to chain him. I don't want to, but I think I might have to."
They continued their walk with Yipp in Dora's arms, passing under the green. When the wind shifted, they would catch the scent of the camp. It was sewage and sweat and soot, and a reminder of where they were. And then it would shift again, and it would smell like flowers and fruit. And fresh, wet water.
The plants smashed into the stained steel wall like shrubs against a green-stained wall, and it was there that they found the water. It trickled down neatly from above, falling in a gentle stream from the broken glass walls of the arboretum, leaving mineral stains on the metal. It collected in a clean pool, so clear that they could see the bottom. And they were not alone.
Dr. Kumar was filling jugs in the pool, humming some pleasant tune to himself and completely unaware of the world around him. His white jacket, stained with dust, mud, and blood, had not been washed in several days. It was hard to wash clothes anymore, as the soldiers griped any time they used any resources. Dr. Kumar had managed to convince them to let them have priority in the Infirmary, but even then they could only clean a few select sets. Kumar had once muttered that they would be doing surgery in the nude if things kept up.
"Doctor." Herc called out gently. "Can you drink that?" He looked up nervously at the source. Beyond the windows of the arboretum, there was nothing but uncertain blackness.
"Yes." He nodded. "It is quite safe, I tested it myself. It is, if we are to be truthful, much more sanitary then what can be found at camp." Herc thought of the suspicious trickles of stinking water that flowed in small, shallow streams throughout camp, and he found himself agreeing with the doctor. "I see. I heard it was radioactive in there."
"Maybe." Kumar said. "I don't really know. But it isn't radioactive in the Arboretum, or at least not where this water is coming from."
"Why don't we move in there then?" Dora said, squeezing her dog to her chest. "If everything is so hunky-dory?"
"I do not know." Kumar cupped his hands and squatted, scooping enough water for a small drink. "I suspect there are other things to worry about. It is dark in there, and it is unknown. I rather do think that our leaders, and bumheaded as they often can be, did not muck up that call."
They headed back to the camps, all three of them and the dog. Dr. Kumar had placed the jugs in a satchel, and they clanked softly with each step, sloshing the water inside. As they passed a fruit tree, Kumar reached up and plucked one. It was large and green, with faded orange painted on its sides. The Doctor pulled out a scalpel and sliced at is as they walked, until the fruit had been reduced to four orange fleshy slices. "Want one?" he offered.
"What is it?" Herc asked.
"A mango." the doctor answered. Pulpy yellow juice ran down his chin and stuck to his face. "You never had one."
"My family was poor." Herc answered. He took a slice and began to eat. It was tangy, and juicy, and delicious. Much better then anything they had ate on Landfall. He relished every bite.
They left the green of the jungle foliage and returned to camp. It was as depressing as they had left it. Children chased each other through the muck, stained shirt to sock in the filth of the camp. Adults sat at the edge of their tents, staring at each other and passerby's with equal suspicion. Others gambled, argued and drank, while some slept on the ground amongst the mess. Trashbins - which were little more then bags attached to poles - overflowed and poured their contents across the ground. A puddle of oil burned near the chopped remnants of a drop ship, and nobody did a thing about it.
As they passed a woman, her hair brushed forward to cover a forehead dotted with red pimples, she stared hungrily at Kumar and stuck her leg out. "I'll suck you off for a a roll of toilet paper." she said desperatly. He brushed her off in disgust.
"It is getting worse." Kumar grumbled. "I fear for what is next. You cannot expect humans to live like this for long periods of time. Something bad is going to happen, and nobody will be better for it."
Herc knew he was right, but he had worried so much that he was growing numb of it.
A clangor rose from somehwere nearby, shouts and obscenities drawing everyones attention.
They ignored it at first, but when soldiers began running toward it from further away, it grabbed their attention. "This cannot be good. Cannot be good at all." Kumar groaned. When he started to jog toward the noise, Herc and Dora followed.
Soldiers had gathered one side, and soldiers on the other. Herc recognized Lieutenent Wen, her padded olive-drab armor on and a gun in her hand. She didn't look tired now, but rather angry. Next to her, Herc saw Mollie Chamberlain, the brutish lunar Tyrsman, and he saw Nestor Popov with his uncomfortably wide smile and a finger dancing on the trigger. There were others among them. He had seen many of them before, but he could name only a few.
The soldiers on the otherside were not familar, but there was nearly as many. Their leader had the same two-bars on his shoulders - the same rank as Wen. Herc listened, and watched.
"Step away, Marbrand." Wen warned, hugging her gun. "You are out of order."
"Order." Marbrand grinned, holding his hands out and looking around. He was a slick looking blond haired man, tall and sculpted in muscle. "You have your orders, from Major Hoffman. Major Hoffman. We need guards posted at all the doors to Landfall."
"An Army Major." Wen said. "I'm navy, and Hoffman can go fuck himself. Landfall isn't our biggest problem. Not by a long shot. If he wants to get his people killed, let him, but I am not going to follow him."
Marbrand shot her a look that could burn. Herc felt the tension, and his heart raced. He wanted to leave, but he wanted to stay. The soldiers looked at each other, waiting hungrily for the others to shoot. From the look in his eyes, it was a miracle Popov hadn't fired a first shot yet. His fingers tapped at the trigger guard almost impatiently.
But Marbrand knew he was outnumbered. These were Wen's people, and they wanted to be guarded from the monsters outside their walls more than they wanted guards in front of Landfall. "You think about this." he pointed an accusing finger at Wen. "Or Hoffman will saw off your head and stick it in a latrine." When he and his soldiers left, it felt as if the crowd had exhaled all at once.
3: 10km in diameter, ten stories tall. The camps, since they house tens of thousands of people, would be circling the entire thing.
Diagrams below to help you with understanding the basics of landfall:
and the map, again, to give you an idea of where everything is. This is a map of the entire world, which is roughly 3/4 the size of Earth.
Hugs and I have thusfar been the only ones posting about Landfall, so you'll want to pay close attention to our stuff for details about that area. Right now, I have focused on what is happening outside the colony, and Hugs has focused on what is happening inside.
0
http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/19063/posts/ooc
Flee this place and join us there!
0
0
Then it is agreed, we turn this into a thread for discussing Sahle?
0
I always thought "Severe" was a good one. Or "Despotic". Mix it with a little "Imbecilic" and you have a sentence.
0
0
Few went back here. It was beyond the eyes of the camp, and that meant far from the protection of the soldiers. Dark forests meant wildlife, and the plant-life spilled from the ominous silence of Landfall itself. New days brought new rumors about the colony, as the tens of thousands of people living like refugees outside its walls could hardly ignore it with its stained, broken face dominating the landscape. Some said that the old colonists had all died of an extraterrestrial disease, while others said they were still there but wouldn't open their doors. It did feel like something lived there - Herc felt uneasy looking at it, as if somebody was looking back. This close to it, the walls raised so high that they covered half the sky, and when he looked up Herc felt as if the entire thing would topple down on top of him.
But these trees were nice. When the breeze caught them, they swayed with a rustling music he felt as if he had long forgotten. The gnarled and woody, or puffy and porous flora of Invictus never did that. It made Herc feel cool, like he was able to relax for a moment and forget that the rest of this world was chaotic and ready to kill.
Dora followed, with Yipp, her aptly named little dog, in tow. Dr. Kumar had showed this place to his colleagues and companions, and they felt like it was their little secret. Herc had found used condoms dangling from a leafy bush that proved them otherwise, but it still felt like theirs. He had yet to run across a person he didn't know while walking their newly beaten paths.
"I miss commercials." Dora said, her bubbly voice weighed down with homesick sadness. "And cambots. I guess they were spies and all, but they made me feel sort of safe, ya know."
This had become their routine, reminiscing about what they had left behind. It made Herc feel like he wasn't alone with alien people in an alien place. It reminded him that they had all once lived under the same yellow sun.
"Cambots." Herc shivered. "They used to creep by my window and look in, ya'know. I think they were obsessed with our house."
"Were you a rebel?" Dora asked with a grin.
Herc looked down at his feet. A rebel. He remembered, and it hurt. "No." he muttered. "I wasn't."
Dora went on, oblivious. "I also miss traveling."
Herc looked up. "Traveling?" he said, "What do you call this"?
"I mean... you could go home, and when you left, there were things to see." she said. "Here... it has to look the same everywhere, and there is nothing to do." she paused. "Did you ever go to Cow-Town?"
"No" Herc answered, "I went to Bro-City though. I guess they were probably the same."
"I never went to Bro-city." as Dora answered, her nose wrinkled. "I heard that Bro-City was all hookers and drunks."
"What was Cow-Town then?"
Dora shrugged. "Barbecue and drunks. They had a really fun indoor rollercoaster though."
Yipp caught the scent of something, and he shot off into the bushes, yapping several times for every footfall. "Yipp!" Dora shouted under her breath, but it did not stop. She jogged after it, and Herc followed.
Three leather-winged creatures took flight, screeching angrily at the little dog that had sent them away. They looked like ravens, their feathers plucked and beaks replaced with sharp-toothed mouths that came to a point. Their eyes were black and beady, and they looked down at the Earthling invaders with contempt as they took to the air.
"That dog is going to bark at something that bites back." Herc warned, looking down at Dora as she scratched the satisfied-looking dog on its head.
"I know." she said, worried. She scooped it into her arms. "I am going to have to chain him. I don't want to, but I think I might have to."
They continued their walk with Yipp in Dora's arms, passing under the green. When the wind shifted, they would catch the scent of the camp. It was sewage and sweat and soot, and a reminder of where they were. And then it would shift again, and it would smell like flowers and fruit. And fresh, wet water.
The plants smashed into the stained steel wall like shrubs against a green-stained wall, and it was there that they found the water. It trickled down neatly from above, falling in a gentle stream from the broken glass walls of the arboretum, leaving mineral stains on the metal. It collected in a clean pool, so clear that they could see the bottom. And they were not alone.
Dr. Kumar was filling jugs in the pool, humming some pleasant tune to himself and completely unaware of the world around him. His white jacket, stained with dust, mud, and blood, had not been washed in several days. It was hard to wash clothes anymore, as the soldiers griped any time they used any resources. Dr. Kumar had managed to convince them to let them have priority in the Infirmary, but even then they could only clean a few select sets. Kumar had once muttered that they would be doing surgery in the nude if things kept up.
"Doctor." Herc called out gently. "Can you drink that?" He looked up nervously at the source. Beyond the windows of the arboretum, there was nothing but uncertain blackness.
"Yes." He nodded. "It is quite safe, I tested it myself. It is, if we are to be truthful, much more sanitary then what can be found at camp." Herc thought of the suspicious trickles of stinking water that flowed in small, shallow streams throughout camp, and he found himself agreeing with the doctor. "I see. I heard it was radioactive in there."
"Maybe." Kumar said. "I don't really know. But it isn't radioactive in the Arboretum, or at least not where this water is coming from."
"Why don't we move in there then?" Dora said, squeezing her dog to her chest. "If everything is so hunky-dory?"
"I do not know." Kumar cupped his hands and squatted, scooping enough water for a small drink. "I suspect there are other things to worry about. It is dark in there, and it is unknown. I rather do think that our leaders, and bumheaded as they often can be, did not muck up that call."
They headed back to the camps, all three of them and the dog. Dr. Kumar had placed the jugs in a satchel, and they clanked softly with each step, sloshing the water inside. As they passed a fruit tree, Kumar reached up and plucked one. It was large and green, with faded orange painted on its sides. The Doctor pulled out a scalpel and sliced at is as they walked, until the fruit had been reduced to four orange fleshy slices. "Want one?" he offered.
"What is it?" Herc asked.
"A mango." the doctor answered. Pulpy yellow juice ran down his chin and stuck to his face. "You never had one."
"My family was poor." Herc answered. He took a slice and began to eat. It was tangy, and juicy, and delicious. Much better then anything they had ate on Landfall. He relished every bite.
They left the green of the jungle foliage and returned to camp. It was as depressing as they had left it. Children chased each other through the muck, stained shirt to sock in the filth of the camp. Adults sat at the edge of their tents, staring at each other and passerby's with equal suspicion. Others gambled, argued and drank, while some slept on the ground amongst the mess. Trashbins - which were little more then bags attached to poles - overflowed and poured their contents across the ground. A puddle of oil burned near the chopped remnants of a drop ship, and nobody did a thing about it.
As they passed a woman, her hair brushed forward to cover a forehead dotted with red pimples, she stared hungrily at Kumar and stuck her leg out. "I'll suck you off for a a roll of toilet paper." she said desperatly. He brushed her off in disgust.
"It is getting worse." Kumar grumbled. "I fear for what is next. You cannot expect humans to live like this for long periods of time. Something bad is going to happen, and nobody will be better for it."
Herc knew he was right, but he had worried so much that he was growing numb of it.
A clangor rose from somehwere nearby, shouts and obscenities drawing everyones attention.
They ignored it at first, but when soldiers began running toward it from further away, it grabbed their attention. "This cannot be good. Cannot be good at all." Kumar groaned. When he started to jog toward the noise, Herc and Dora followed.
Soldiers had gathered one side, and soldiers on the other. Herc recognized Lieutenent Wen, her padded olive-drab armor on and a gun in her hand. She didn't look tired now, but rather angry. Next to her, Herc saw Mollie Chamberlain, the brutish lunar Tyrsman, and he saw Nestor Popov with his uncomfortably wide smile and a finger dancing on the trigger. There were others among them. He had seen many of them before, but he could name only a few.
The soldiers on the otherside were not familar, but there was nearly as many. Their leader had the same two-bars on his shoulders - the same rank as Wen. Herc listened, and watched.
"Step away, Marbrand." Wen warned, hugging her gun. "You are out of order."
"Order." Marbrand grinned, holding his hands out and looking around. He was a slick looking blond haired man, tall and sculpted in muscle. "You have your orders, from Major Hoffman. Major Hoffman. We need guards posted at all the doors to Landfall."
"An Army Major." Wen said. "I'm navy, and Hoffman can go fuck himself. Landfall isn't our biggest problem. Not by a long shot. If he wants to get his people killed, let him, but I am not going to follow him."
Marbrand shot her a look that could burn. Herc felt the tension, and his heart raced. He wanted to leave, but he wanted to stay. The soldiers looked at each other, waiting hungrily for the others to shoot. From the look in his eyes, it was a miracle Popov hadn't fired a first shot yet. His fingers tapped at the trigger guard almost impatiently.
But Marbrand knew he was outnumbered. These were Wen's people, and they wanted to be guarded from the monsters outside their walls more than they wanted guards in front of Landfall. "You think about this." he pointed an accusing finger at Wen. "Or Hoffman will saw off your head and stick it in a latrine." When he and his soldiers left, it felt as if the crowd had exhaled all at once.
0
0
I just need to stop being so lazy and get to moving that.
0
2: Yes.
3: 10km in diameter, ten stories tall. The camps, since they house tens of thousands of people, would be circling the entire thing.
Diagrams below to help you with understanding the basics of landfall:
and the map, again, to give you an idea of where everything is. This is a map of the entire world, which is roughly 3/4 the size of Earth.
Hugs and I have thusfar been the only ones posting about Landfall, so you'll want to pay close attention to our stuff for details about that area. Right now, I have focused on what is happening outside the colony, and Hugs has focused on what is happening inside.
0
Yeesss.
0
0
0
0
0
Art makers! Go art these things!