Date: Sat, 12 Jun 1999 22:03:03 -0400 From: Brandon Quina Subject: World Background: Fallen Paradise (LONG!) Sometime in the near future, a huge millennium virus floods the world and kills untold numbers of people. The "SuprAIDS" virus, a mutation of the HIV Virus whose origins are unknown, was much more dangerous than its ancestor. This was mostly due to the fact that it was completely unknown, at first, that the virus had mutated at all. The actual changes in the virus also facilitated to this disaster; the disease became nearly impossible to detect, remained dormant for far longer periods of time during which it was still communicable, and during this dormant stage the victims sex drive goes through the roof. The disease spread quickly through the world, sparing only those who were just blindly lucky and had exceedingly high morals. Those who were only lucky could die when a lover or friend of theirs contracted the virus and then began hitting on them, where as even those with exceedingly high morals could contract the virus through bad luck; either a spouse having the virus, or a blood transfusion. It was not until people started falling, in droves, to the virus that society realized what had occurred and began to change the way it acted; the change was too slow, and far too late to have any real affect though. Millions were killed in the first wave of what became known as the Epidemic, and society as a whole just crumbled as more and more peopled died and society proved unable to meet the challenge. Only in a few solitary places did people maintain the level of comfort and society that constitutes a real civilization; most of these places either have rigid controls over sex and other forms of physical intimacy, or might as well due to the actions of their inhabitants. Even so, simply due to the fact that people are aware of the virus it doesn't claim nearly as many people; it's a common survival trick to simply avoid any intimate contact with people who display overt sexual tendencies. Due to the downplayed nature of sex in society this is fairly easy to spot. This game focuses largely on one of those pockets of civilization, this one known as ^ÓUtopia^Ô. It is something of a paradise; crime is nearly non-existent, nearly everyone lives to a ripe old age. Everyone has a productive job, most even being lucky enough to have a job they can tolerate if not enjoy. Most people are happy, living fulfilled and productive lives. All is not good in paradise, though. In many ways the shadowy rulers of the paradise have taken their success to far, their laws reaching out past their original extent. In the beginning the races were strictly separated to prevent hate crimes and prejudice and sex was outlawed to prevent the spread of the SuprAIDS virus. Now, it seems as if freedom has been largely thrown out the door. Interracial marriage, or even congress to and from the various ^Óracial quarters^Ô without good reason, was forbidden. Numerous 'deviant lifestyles' were made illegal; these lifestyles ranging from body piercing and tattooing to homosexuality and religion. Yes, religion; while people are allowed to have whatever beliefs they wish, any expression of those beliefs to anyone outside your immediate family is frowned upon and actual organized religion is actively illegal. The merest act of criticizing the rulers of the city can get you thrown in jail; or worse!. (This isn't without precedent even in America; read about the Alien and Sedition acts of President Adams' administration). If the government feels that you need to be monitored, the very concept of privacy can be thrown away as your life is monitored 25/7; if you even complain about this (assuming you know you're being watched, of course) you can be thrown in jail. The fallen paradise itself is ruled by a shadowy council of men and woman who are known as ^ÓThe Keepers of Utopia^Ô and who form the ^ÓUtopia Council^Ô that governs the city at the highest level. They are answerable to no-one, not even the people of the city, and their decisions are final. They were almost universally powerful conservatives; lawyers, doctors, wealthy industrialists managed to maintain a good bit of their power as well as their lives. They grouped together a large group of survivors, founding the present day city and keeping a fairly high standard. Things were, at first, modeled after the old standard of leadership that had governed the United States they were borne into and that they watched crumble. Most of the councilmen are quite old, and indeed cannot survive without the assistance of monthly doses of age defeating drugs. They usually have high morals, and strict standards and beliefs that they uphold; they ran the city quite well for quite some time, but eventually began to grow heady on their power and immortality. Thus caused them to enact little changes, to ^Óimprove the system^Ô and create a ^Ótrue Utopia in deed as well as name.^Ô Many members of the Utopian Council are powerful psychics, harnessing powerful forces. They are not the only ones so gifted, either. Psionic powers have become quite important to society as a whole. They were formally accepted by the scientific community just a few years before the outbreak of SuprAIDS became obvious; they became more and more common after the epidemic died down and things started to return to normal. While still fairly uncommon, pretty much everyone knows a handful of people with psionic powers and most have at least heard of a true psionic power. Most people in Utopia with psi powers have made a more comfortable nitch for themselves than others, using their powers to supplement their otherwise ordinary existence. Truly strong talents, though, are directly controlled by the government. The Council even maintains a psionic institute, where people of all stripes can be trained in their talents; the only such school known to be in existence on the Earth! Science and technology has mostly stagnated over the world as a whole, and even Utopia lost a good bit of its technological base after the epidemic. Unlike a good bit of the world, though, it has recovered a great deal of its sciences and knowledge's; rumors persist of an enclave with pre-epidemic levels of knowledge and technology, but to most people Utopia is the brightest star on the horizon. The life of the average Utopian is only a little different from what we would expect in this day and age, with the exception of a few futuristic gadgets. Most people still drive to work in cars, even if those cars do operate off electric batteries instead of gasoline. Jobs run the gamut from white-collar, to blue-collar to ditch-digging. Most people who live in Utopia itself are fairly well off, operating in more ^Óinformation-age^Ô occupations; those who inhabit the various villages and towns outside of the actual ^Óparadise^Ô are usually more inclined toward dirty labor. Opposite to Utopia, we have Hell. This ^Ócity^Ô is officially just a small enclave of exiles and criminals who dwell in the sewers and ruins under Utopia. Actually, though, Hell is something of a city all its own with it^Òs own unique flavor. Composed of exiles, runaways, criminals, and others who have fled from the harsh-paradise of the upper city, Hell is a harsh and demanding place to live in and quite different from Utopia. Life is much rougher, both because of lack of needed supplies and the simple rough company in which you keep in the under-city. Firstly, while food isn't exactly hard to get, if you want something more than grungily grown vegetables or friend rat you'd better be prepared to pay dearly. Electricity and water is also to be found in the city, though its not limitless; most suspect that the leaders of Hell steal some of each from Utopia, where as others believe that the city has its own independent supply. Secondly, while many residents of Hell are simply "free thinkers" or others whose only crime was not enjoying being locked in the freedomless prison that they view Utopia as being, there are still many who are genuinely dangerous. Rapists, carriers of the SuprAIDS Virus, sociopaths and murders common escape down (or are exiled) down into Hell, making it their new home. The current leader of Hell is one Lauren McGinney, a tough streetsmart woman in her late 40s. She lived a life in the Utopia police force for quite some time, working her way up to a respected position of authority before her secret came out -- she was a lesbian, and thus one of the forbidden homosexuals. She tried to pull some strings, but in the end that only made it worse and what would have likely only turned into a dishonorable discharge from the police force and an official denial of any homosexual tendencies turned into the most feared punishment in the city; exiled to Hell. She wasn't as afraid of the sentence as many are due to the fact that, as a police officer, she knew what Hell was actually like rather than simply what the various rumors and propaganda most people heard. Though bitter and angry at the people above, she has not let it bring her down; she has taken her exile well, making Hell her home and trying to turn it into what she thinks Utopia "should" be in the first place! That is a difficult dream to achieve, though. Its also one that is hindered by many of the people who dwell in the rough-town; either purposely or just by their natures. People in Hell tend to live in small chambers or cramped corners that weren't really designed for living; pipes and hoses and other pieces of superstructure often jut out in odd places. Some re-engineering has taken place, but most of it has been in the way of improving the infrastructure of the entire city as opposed to private dwelling. In addition, people with the necessary skills are both rare and highly priced in Hell! Most people thus make do with what they can grab and hold. The economy is mostly based on the odd metal coinage minted by Lauren and her group, but the money is quite rare and barter is by far the most common form of economic exchange. The occasional merchant comes down to hell, trading items and making a nice profit without having to worry about taxes; every once in awhile, one of these merchants ends up staying down in hell permanently. Mostly, though, Utopia lets the merchants trade with the rough-town as they wish as long as they don't make their violation of law too obvious! Hell and Utopia usually exist in something of an equilibrium, the city above being a freedomless paradise and the city below being a rough and tumble anarchy. Things are beginning to change, though, and that^Òs where the game begins. Brandon, who is going to start running this on DALnet (#Flawed_Paradise) whenever I get enough players -- if anybody is interested, feel free to email me.