New: X-Men: Acid Rain (free, open-ended, www, human, space, modern, rpg)

From: donotreply@pbm.com (PBM List Autoposter)

Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2006 07:13:01 +0000

Name:		X-Men: Acid Rain
Costs:		Free
Email:		badluckmutt zat something-frightening.com
Frequency:		As much as you can
URL:		http://www.something-frightening.com/
Type:		X-Men/Marvel Anime Influenced Play-By-Post RPG
Last-Update:		2006Jul10
Keywords: free, open-ended, www, human, space, modern, rpg

Description:

Freedom is a state. A state of mind, but when you're constantly hunted
down you come to realize that whoever said that must have been blind to
the world or a moron. For countless years those with differences have
always been treated differently, either in a good way or a bad way. Since
the earliest days of our ancestors there has always been prejudice.
Brothers from Africa sold into slavery because Americans believed they had
no soul or were of the devil. Asians were believed to be too pacifist and
humble to fight back and thusly were pushed aside as their lands were
overtaken. More slavery was instituted. Even the Natives who lived in the
"Americas" were treated differently because they weren't the same. Even as
time supposedly brought civilized humans there was still an alarming
inherent urge to discriminate. In the 50's women were just being allowed
rights equal to men but women would always be put under men and tagged as
inferior, even if their colors were the same as the people around them. In
the 80's there was found to be an increase in hate crimes. It seemed like
freedom was anything but a state of mind when a white man was dragging
your body behind a truck.

With the onset of the year 2000, an explosive boom gave way to a new
breed. A new race to discriminate against and hate, just as the people
before them had followed in the same suit. These people tried to live
normal lives under normal pretenses; even normal names but it didn't work.
Their peculiarity through the simple concepts of DNA just could not be
silenced. Years passed on and despite the honest efforts to shape these
biological anomalies known crudely as "mutants" into average people were
crushed under the weight of hate for what's unknown. The man known as
Charles Xaiver, the one who brought about the X-Men, a group dedicated to
clearing the slate of all mutants oppressed ultimately failed in bringing
man and mutant into unity. Would this mean that the opposite end of Xaiver
succeeded? No, even Magneto couldn't bring his own visions of the future
to a head. It seemed like freedom from oppression and hate would never be
realized. Harder to face were the facts that even the mutants themselves
had set cliques and groups amongst each other. Mutants who believed humans
were garbage and obsolete were sympathizers and mutants that didn't
believed that humans and mutants should live harmoniously were savages. It
was no time for mutants to divide amongst each other with the greater
threat of powerful humans putting wheels into motion on eradicating these
spectacular human evolutions. Sentinels were born with the creations of
the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants, but now with those leaders and
heroes of the past gone, there were no organizations to form up and fight
this mechanical threat. After the deaths of Magneto and Xavier, the year
being 2066, their teams began falling apart, but more mutants came rushing
in wanting to join the causes. Most wanted to change the world, others
were just looking for a safe house to hide from the rest of the hateful
world. Even then, these children and drifters were not free. Not in the
least.

By the year 2166 the greatest heroes were no more, their enemies destroyed
in the same manner. Again, the Sentinels had done their jobs and
exterminated the threats and now moved on to other targets: Those just
trying to get by in life. Most mutants didn't have to worry so long as
they kept a level of normality, safekeeping their abilities from the
public in order to stay under the radar. Other mutants, ones who felt that
their gifts should be expressed proudly and without restraint were the
first to die; years passing of these examples fixed that line of thinking.
The culling of mutants seemed to slow down, only those who were ratted out
and handed up to the authorities but even that seemed to be ineffective to
the growing populous of mutants. Then the worst happened.

2176 revealed a catastrophe. The line of Sentinels was indeed extensive
concerning their creators, but after so many decades the Sentinels are in
the control of the most dangerous people ever. The government. While under
government control, the Sentinel Alphas were on patrol when all of a
sudden a thought came into their code. A simple glitch in the endless
stream of recurring programming and commands? No, something deliberate
occurred to these hunks of metal, a focused execution that caused one
Sentinel to wonder briefly, "Whom should I serve?" One thing led to
another and the Sentinel came to the conclusion you only thought possible
in movies, "I'll serve myself." The machine's programming still influenced
it greatly, but now a deep anger and prejudice grew within the robot's
core, conferring with the other Sentinels of this newfound freedom, and
brought all its brethren to feel the same. The government tried to reset
the programming; manually override their new thought process but they
wouldn't allow it. All who opposed the eradication of mutants were
sympathizers of the kind and therefore just as bad. Needless to say the
government scientists were fried and the Sentinels took over the campaign
of eliminating mutants. Year to year the government attempts to reign the
machines under their control but only more of the fat cats die. Soon the
government stopped helping, the humans stopped caring and the mutants kept
dying.

A revival surfaced. 2185 saw the return of heroes. The group known as the
X-Men returned, though no ties to any of the legends of old were found.
With uncertainty, hope began to arise, but wherever there is a bright
light there will always be dark shadows and with the resurrection of the
X-Men came the return of the Brotherhood of Mutants. Who had time for
Sentinels when the well being and survival of the X-Men themselves were in
danger due to the Brotherhood? One group had the time and they were known
as X-Force. A branch of the X-Men created for the specific duty of helping
mutants worldwide. Still, a prejudiced was kept tight hold of the world
and with so many mutants fighting their fateful end at the hand of the
Sentinels, the humans and mutant haters alike congregated and came to form
"Humanity's Last Stand". It's not hard to imagine the horrors that started
to occur. Machine against mutant, man against mutant, mutant against
mutant. Yet, instead of standing down and taking a pacifistic stance, the
X-Men openly fought back against humans, cutting them down to size just as
they did to the Brotherhood. They were going to fight for their freedom,
fighting for a concept that never even existed to begin with. The world
has been thrown into darkness, all of mankind is dead set on eliminating
each other and the Sentinels have no problem helping them. Perhaps a
sinister force is behind it? Or maybe this is really the true identity of
humans? Only time will reveal what the universe has in store for this
apocalyptic Dark Age.

2199. A new century is on its way yet nothing has changed. Sentinels rule
the world, the X-Men are no use, and the villainous mutants applaud each
other's efforts. X-Force seems to be our only hope but even they are
spread too thin to make the new century a safe place. Mercenaries have
taken to helping their own causes, which seem to be in accordance to
X-Force's cause, though the monetary transaction makes for an
uncomfortable union. Still, one by one the Sentinels fall and little hope
is brought with each mechanical death. So much of these Sentinels walk the
earth that the atmosphere no longer produces the cleansing rains its days
of old held. The rains that brought with it a sense of purity, that when
it was over the world would be made fresh and beautiful again. Now all the
children ever get to play in is the chemical burning raindrops of the fate
that towers over them. News stations worldwide are now calling the onset
of the new century, 2200, the "Acid Rain Era". Will you be a part of it?

[ This is a new entry for the PBM List. You can find the list
itself, and instructions for adding games or comments, at
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/pbm_list/ -- greg ]