The world was humming. A deep vibration that rattles the dingy, partially rusted steel walls as if the very ship is resonating with itself, its every movement, every breath sending shivers along its cold metal frame. A searingly bright light hangs in the air a short distance from the ceiling listlessly, swinging to-and-fro from an invisible cord connected to a small round black indent directly above it, a faint glow coming from its lens.
But everyone was used to the noises of the ship by now, a white noise that falls on deaf ears. A group of people have gathered in a small room re-purposed as an office for the 'leader' of the survivors in the ship's bunker, a middle aged man with frosted hair and stubble from lack of shaving. The luminescence glow of his mechanical eyes betrayed man's relationship with machine, the soft blue light taking in the group with no signs of any emotion behind their gaze. The patch on his shoulder told all that he was an Enforcer, one of the ship's caretakers, peacekeepers, even judges if need be. The symbol on his shoulder was a faded blue palm help open as if to grasp something gently, an ironic statement if the rumors about some of their methods are to be believed.
The Enforcer coughed, then frowned once he had everyone's attention.
"I suppose you all know why I've gathered you here today, rumors spread quickly in this pit." His face tightened at the mention of their shared jail and refuge.
"We're running out of food, and we're running out of water. This bunker wasn't meant to last so many people so long, and the Mechanic Divisions hadn't set up access to hydroponics or water treatment down here before... Whatever the hell happened. So we've taken volunteers, that would be you all, to venture outside and survey the damage. Immediate food and water is to be your first priority, our stockpile is low and we won't be able to feed anyone in a week's time without anything coming in. The man let that sink in with the group as he heaved two crates on his desk. It was true that rumors that food was running low were present, after all that's why they were given less and less rations. Nobody knew that it was this dire however.
"If damages are minimal those of us down here will move back up top and secure better quarters, this will be your secondary objective. I want a thorough investigation before I make that kind of decision however, I need to know that it is safe, not just that it appears to be. I'm sure I don't need to explain what might happen if we're wrong." The man's brow narrowed over his emotionless eyes as he glared at the crowd.
"Your third objective is to find either other survivors who might still of been living out there or might of been in another bunker. I don't know if the others are open or active, as we haven't received word from any of them but there might be a problem with their comms unit. Your final objective is to try to find a safe route to hydroponics and engineering and from there we can hopefully obtain access to its resources to keep us well for a time.""We're not sending you out there without tools though." With a creak the man opened the first crate and laid out two objects, a small black box and a small white box.
"These are your means of communication. With it you can connect to others with it or back to us, it will provide you with a map of the ship, and possesses its own frequency for chatter." With little flair the man put it next to his ear and, as if possessing a life of its own, the object attached itself to his ear morphing and changing its shape to the contours of the man's ear before extending a small black line halfway to his mouth. Next he opened the small white box to reveal two small clear contacts, marred only by small black etches both within and on the outside of the lenses.
"You place the comm unit on your ear as shown, you place these on your eyes so you can actually access the map and HUD." With a slight tug the man removed the comm unit and places it back next to the now closed white box, it slowly returning to its cubed shape.
The Enforcer moved onto the second box, retrieving what looked like a half-faced gas mask.
"This is an air filtration unit, it will protect you from airborne contaminants, smoke, it will even provide you thirty minutes of oxygen if needed. With both of these you should be protected against most situations you could deal with outside this bunker. You place the mask up to your face, over your noise and press the button on the top for five seconds. It should seal itself and start working immediately, to remove simply flip the safety switch and hold the button again for five seconds to remove the seal. Some of you may wish that we have full body void suits for what you all are about to do, but we have to work with the best we have. So unless you all would like to head out there with nothing I suggest you grab one." The man set the mask on the desk by the opened crate and took a step back as he watched the crowd intently again.
"Any questions?"************
Name: Freddie Firenzo
Gender: Male
Attribute: Inspiration
Short Description: a somewhat small man, balding, wears glasses and possesses a pencil mustache. Covers up encroaching baldness with a clearly stolen trilby and hides rather unimposing physique behind a somewhat oversized pastel blue tuxedo.
Short Biography: despite the rather dire nature of the situation, Freddie is quite glad, all in all, that whatever happened happened. He was in the middle of contemplating suicide when the sirens came, trying to decide upon a good method to carry out a deed. However, evacuation put a stop to that kind of thinking, and Freddie rather appreciates the circumstances due to this. Why, he could make off with an entire tuxedo and hat in the chaos, and nobody noticed. For him, this whole apocalypse thing is kind of a definite improvement, really. Certainly an opportunity to reinvent himself, find some sort of track to get his life onto at last.
Inventory: Nadda
Health: Nominal
Wounds: None
Name: Frogdo Badtirigidon
Gender: Male
Attribute: IRONMAN
Short Description: He's a short dude with curly brown hair, spiky stubble, and heterochromatic eyes - blue and brown.
Short Bio: Maaaaaan, he was a dude who came from the streets, maaaaan, and he was angry and resentful and stuff, maaaaan. He's a survivor because he, like, KNOWS da streetz, maaaaan.
Inventory: Empty
Health: Nominal
Wounds: None
Name: Randall Steward
Gender: Male
Attribute: Intimidation
Short Description: a short and filthy dark-haired individual. His back is always slightly bended fowards, which gives him the impression of being a hunchback. Actually, he stays like that to remain unseen.
Short Biography: Randall's parents abandoned him when he was but a a kid. He survived in the streets pretty much as a rat, stealing food and hiding. Treated by everybody as scum, he never found a way to integrate into society and kept living with low standards.
Inventory: Inventory.setNull();
Health: Nominal
Wounds: None
Name: Inspector Marion Dupont
Gender: Female
Short Bio/Description: A tall, commanding woman, previously an investigator in Ship Enforcement. After the warning sirens she moved in an orderly fashion to the nearest bunker. Her goals are: A. Find out if her daughter is safe. B. Get to the bottom of what's going on.
Attribute: Hammerer
Inventory: Nothing.
Health: Nominal
Wounds: None
Name: Harvey
Gender: Male
Attribute: Hammerer
Description: Fairly tall with a lean but muscled body, long black hair and bright blue eyes.
Background: Winging it.
Inventory: Zero
Health: Nominal
Wounds: None
Name: Samuel Allworthy
Gender: Male
Attribute: Inspiration
Short Description: A tall formally dressed man with a conductor's baton
Short Biography: An orchestra conductor who managed to get to the shelter on the way to a concert.
Inventory: Nope
Health: Nominal
Wounds: None