Discuss Beyond Humanity: The Genesis Project - Project Underground [M - V,L, some S]

[Gavin]

[SIZE=1]First this was written as an RPG, then it was converted into a story which failed horribly, and now I'm posting it here in the Underground in the hope of making it into an RPG again. I've also decided to launch it with a new title, as I intend for this to be the first in a series of RPGs like Maverick Hunters for instance, and I hope you will help me in that endeavour.

I'd like to point out that if this does get to the Adventure Inn I'm going to be rather selective about whom I let in, and this will be based heavily on their quality. However this does not mean that I'm just going to let in guys I'm familiar with, I'd advise anyone who likes the look of it to give it a shot, remember this is the Underground, there's nothing to stop you from expressing your interest or opinions.

In terms of the storyline I've rewritten most of the ending and decided to divide it up into a number of extracts each about 12 - 15 lines long, in order these tell the beginning of the story from the perspective of one of the main characters. As you will see they are taken as extracts from the journal of one Vanterris Kane, a member of the Genesis Project and the character whom I will be portraying. If this story sees a continuation, and I hope it will, we shall see extracts from other people. Something which I do hope to be able to do, but for now let's proceed onwards.

[center]----------------[/center]

[b][u]Prologue - Extracts taken from the journal of Vanterris Kane[/u][/b]

[center][b]Our story...[/b][/center]

[i]The future is a hard thing to predict, ever changing due to the actions of the people here in the present, changed by our human desires, our needs... our wants... our wishes. Most of us just want to be able to lead normal lives like any other person, we never asked to be what were, never asked to be persecuted and outcasted, some of us even wish we were never even born. We are the hunted because we are different, the hunted because we are a minority, we are the hunted because we are seen to be dangerous, a failed experiment that must be put down like some rabid dog. We hide from others than our own kind, covering our bodies and faces for fear of recognition, should we be recognised we would face persecution and death. We have no one to protect us, no one to teach and nurture us, no one to help us live any other way than the way we're forced to live. Sometime I envy the dead, for they at least know peace...[/i]

[CENTER][b]What we are, and what we were created to be...[/b][/CENTER]

[i]That which we are, is the end result of a belief held by a generation of humans who thought that the betterment of mankind lay in the human genome, that creating children of superior ability would somehow make up for humanity's previous atrocities against itself. They believed that by genetically engineering their children they could produce the next link in the evolutionary chain, they were partially correct in their assumptions however they were wrong about the end result. It was true that we would be superior to those who came before us, that our biological parents were not as genetically advanced as we were, that we did represented a step up in the human genetic ladder. We can look below us on the lower steps of the ladder and see the things that our ancestors have done, killed off entire races for being different, killed off people for not being as advanced as them and even killed those who were disabled.[/i]

[CENTER][b]Our Genesis...[/b][/CENTER]

[i]When our generation was first born we were heralded as a tribute to the genius of our creators and a blessing to our parents. We were not seen as soulless creatures or dangerous animals then, no... back then we were seen as man's greatest attempt to mimic the powers of God, the ultimate expression of human arrogance. But slowly things changed, those who were not as advanced as us became jealous of our gifts, believing that we saw them as being inferior to us, they believed that we secretly lusted for power and prominence in this "new" world. In truth most of us cared little for such things, for in our creation we were given a soul with a better understanding of the world, or at least how it should be, we were naive and we paid the price in our blood. We knew that at some point we could face opposition to what we are, hatred... jealousy... violence... even possible outcasting from the society which bore us. Had such a act being exacted upon our parent they would react with anger and retribution, but we would not, we pitied their fickle nature, a nature which that feared which it had created, we were the new-born monster to our parents Dr. Frankenstein...[/i]

[center][b]The storm loomed upon the horizon...[/b][/center]

[i]We were content to live under the rules of our society, it was good and we enjoyed it's freedoms and advantages. Many of those we lived among, and those we encountered in our daily lives treated us in the same manner as those who were unlike us. In our early childhood there were those who spoke out against what we were, religious and moral zealots who proclaimed that we lacked the souls or morals that they held in such high regard, fools so wrapped up in their own versions of piety that they had strayed far from the true path. They were a tiny extremist minority, much to our fortune, as the vast majority were happy to allow us to live our lives as normal human beings, the lives we are entitled to from conception. We are not animals, nor a disease, nor a curse or scourge sent from God to obliterate those who had incurred his wrath by imitating his work. We look back on groups such as the Nazis and their brethren-in-ideals and shiver, we see vengeful children afraid of those who were different, vengeful children under the deranged supposition that murdering all those people unlike them would allow the creation of their paradise. They and those now akin are those who are dangerous, those who are animals, those who are the disease, they are the curse and the scourge, not us.[/i]

[center][b]The beginning of our end...[/b][/center]

[i]But slowly people's ideas changed, as they always do, the will of the minority has some incomprehensible way of becoming the conviction of the majority. Those who had objected to the research that brought us into this world were to become our executioners, they like those who had come before them wanted to wipe us from existence so that they too could have their version of paradise. How like the circle of water, from beginning to end to beginning again are the convictions and ideals of man, so continuous and undaunted that they shall echo through time forever. Our numbers were only tiny to begin with, some 1,600 children were born altogether from the research that brought us into being, such a tiny faction made us an easy target. Not one of us to my knowledge had ever committed a crime, or posed a threat to the society we cared for by, we were too young, but youth like old age is defenceless against the shadow that is death. Quickly those in government passed bills demanding our incarceration, citing lies in the guise that they had some terrible illness locked away in our genes just waiting to appear and destroy the world that had created us. Had we had perspective we would have known it was only a matter of time, those who had wanted our destruction was guileful, hiding in the shadows telling our parents that there was no cure for our genetic time bomb.[/i]

[center][b]The chains that bound us...[/b][/center]

[i]Our parents so easily concerned with their own safety were more than willing to give us up, love seems so easily eroded by a sense of self preservation. I remember my own father shouting down my mother in an argument when she wanted to see their "proof", I cannot blame him, he was just foolish enough to look without using his own eyes. Those that came to take us away told our parents that by doing so they could do some small things to help us, make our last days less painful, allow us to be in the company of those like us, and most importantly to be kept from fulfilling genetic Armageddon. The shadow of those who condemned us spread throughout the face of the Earth, our age of enlightenment and wisdom proved to be little less than our Book of Revelations. It did not take long to round us up, as I have already said there were only a relative handful of us to begin with, 1,600 out of 3,500,000,000, a drop in the ocean... We were taken to places that earlier historians would liken to Death Camps, torn away from the life we knew and thrust together like animals in cages, guarded until it was time for execution. Whether they did it to make our remaining existence more miserable, they couldn't risk mass-execution for fear of a change in heart I will never know, small groups were burned to cinders and ashes in firing chambers. Our warden would limit it to 5 or 6 at a time, occurring once every few weeks, those who had given the orders wanted to make sure that their careful house of cards would not yet topple. Five long years did I languish in that pit of hell, never knowing whether it would be my day to die, sometime I looked forward to it as an end to my misery...[/i]

[center][b]Our Exodus...[/b][/center]

[i]The filth on the walls was all I knew as home, the miserable existence of those that did not exist and had no rights. The only heat came from ragged blankets, the only food was a substance so vile than many chose to starve rather than eat it, I for one chose life so that I could gain my retribution. I remember overhearing conversations among older children about plans of escape, I often laughed in sorrow as such thought, this was not to be our Chateaux d'If and we were not to be the brave Edmond Dantes. Had I known that their idle conversations were covers for real plans for escape I would have listened more clearly, but I had thought them the mere ramblings of the damned, how foolish and yet fortunate I was. The night of our escape has been burned clearly into our minds, the pitch darkness, illuminated only by the crescent Moon, the biting cold and fierce winds provided our cover, the guards so complacent after years of idle work would probably not have noticed if we walked out past them. But that was not to be our plan of escape, sometime I think back upon it and realise we truly might have been existing in Alexander Dumas classical tale of escape and revenge, tools fashioned from all manner of utensils proved mightier than any weapon. Those who had used them forged great tunnels beneath of squalid citadel, and that night was ours was to mimic the great Exodus from Egypt, we crawled through darkness for what seems like and eternity, the weather so fierce it seemed as though God was to aid us in our quest. That night 382 prisoners escaped, all that was left of some 1,600 after five long years, the guards so abacked by the fury of the Almighty were left oblivious of our escape for nearly two days, at which time we far, far away...[/i]

[center][b]Our lives begun anew...[/b][/center]

[i]We learned quickly to trust no one but our own kind, we had endured all manners of Hell for five years and we were not about to face it again. Quickly we were given a name, Children of Genesis, a loose term the media used to describe us, the failed experiment, the viper coiled around society's neck. Again fear reigned through the masses, hatred and fear so easily invoked ran rampant, our final destruction was chanted in the streets, such days of fear I had never known. Subterfuge was out only weapon, our only defence, to move undiscovered from place to place became our way, movement without incident, movement without loss. 382 was too large a number to move from place to place undetected, to do so would be to risk our annihilation, something which couldn't be risked. Our retribution required of us to break down our numbers, cells of 12 members were formed and then took flight, 30 cells across the face of the globe, your cell was your family, the only ones that mattered. The remaining 22, the Council and a cell entrusted with their safety, had located a long abandoned military bunker from where they would wait, watch and then strike deadly at our foes. Though we lacked such training as to make us a threat in the beginning we learned quickly, our foes had underestimated us once, we would not let them do it again...[/i]

[center][b]From Genesis, to Exodus, to Revelations...[/b][/center]

[i]I know little of what goes on in other cells, for it is not necessary for me to know such things, I fight for my freedom and that is all that keeps me going. Confined to the shadows like our nemesis, we wait for our day to walk into the light, in a just world such events as I have experience would never have happened, but this has gone beyond us and beyond humanity. We cannot change that which we are, all we can do is make the best of the situation we have been born into, and make the best of the power we have given. We shall see the days where we are free even, if it is only a small number of us who do...[/i]

[center]----------------[/center]

Well that was the back-story to the RPG, however as with any fictional RPG extra information is required for the benefit of those who are joining. Such information is provided below.

[b]The World as it exists Today[/b]

- [u][i]The Third World War[/i][/u]

"[i]It was the war to end all wars...[/i]" a belief held by those who survived man's First World War, it's horrors captured forever in the heart of man. Many hoped that the destruction caused by that conflict would forever steel the mind of man away from such a means of resolving conflict. It was not to be so, within a quarter of a century man had still not learned, another conflict even more brutal than the first broke out killing some 50 million people across the globe, the images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were to be testament to the awesome destructive powers of man. In the aftermath of this Second World War the Superpowers, the USSR and the U.S.A. sought to use such weapons as a means of deterrence against their enemies, how foolhardy they were.

For nearly 60 years after the end of that conflict man was at war with himself, not a physical war as had been witnessed but a new war of fear, the Nuclear warheads as had been built in the tens of thousands lay dormant and unused. Man or at least some of those in great seats of power now focused their attention of crafting the world in their image, one man's terrorist was another man's patriot, dozens of wars came and went but the nuclear stayed dormant. Many wars came and went, the Korean, the Vietnam, the Gulf, the Balkan, the Afghan and the Second Gulf, all examples of man inhumanity to man. He would have to learn the hard way...

Even now almost 40 years after we still are unsure as to the beginnings of the Third World War, man first and only nuclear conflict, much of the records for that time have been erased so we only have a partial picture. What we do know is that on May 6th 2006 a nuclear weapon was detonated in the city of New York, in what was the United States of America. The city was obliterated with over 18 million people killed, to this day we still do not know what group was responsible for the act of genocide, but it was enough to plunge to world into nuclear war. One country accused another of being responsible for the act, tempers flared and then finally the act of war was declared.

October 12th 2006 signalled the beginning of a war so destructive that it would be responsible for the deaths of over 3 billion people. In just under 3 years from 2006 to 2009 man came closer to self-annihilation than he ever did before, entire countries disappeared in the awesome fury of the nuclear power.

- [u][i]The Aftermath[/i][/u]

On February 27th 2009 man finally laid his weapons to rest to survey the destruction he had brought upon himself, this like most wars had no winners, and man would have to live with these acts for the rest of time. Those countries that had been fortunate enough to survive the nuclear apocalypse realised the extent of this terrible mistake they had made, but for all their tears and sorrow the war could not be undone. Man's inhumanity and lust for vengeance had cost him the ultimate price, that which he treasured beyond all, his soul. Those governments who still retained control of their people quickly formed treaties and alliances with others for various materials and supplies, in a way this way had brought man closer together than he had ever been before.

Antiquated and powerless organisations such as the United Nations disappeared in the wake of the war, their so called legislative powers proved inadequate to stop the war. Old boundaries were torn down, collective states such as the European Union were reformed into giant superstates to allow the easy passage of supplies, refugees and medicines. In truth mankind began to tear down the very boundaries that they'd creates to keep himself safe, by 2020 some eleven years after then end of the war man had finally erased all boundries he had created. A single government was created based in Geneva in the old country known as Switzerland, and at last man seemed to be getting things right, at last he could move on.

The following decade saw made enter his second Renaissance, all manner of sciences were pushed to the boundaries that had been established, lands decimated by radiation were restored and made habitable, deaths from famine and easily cured diseases were erased, man had entered his Golden Age. Thus Man began his quest to eliminate those factors within him that might lead to a Forth World War, the project was to be called Genesis, God had made man flawed, man would fix those mistakes once and for all... "[i]On the sixth day God created man, TODAY we perfected him...[/i]" these were the words of Project Genesis leader Malcolm Price on June 6th 2030, the day the first child of Project Genesis was born...

- [i][u]The Present[/u][/i]

The year is 2054, 24 years after the historical beginnings of the Genesis Project, though man hoped to perfect his children, he had done little to perfect himself. The [b]United Federation of Earth States[/b] or [b]U.F.E.S.[/b] is ruled by it's governing body, the Senate made up of some 600 members, however greed and politics, as well as shadowy dealings are crippling to body beyond repair. Many of those in government responsible for it's decay are the very ones who opposed to the Genesis Project, their reasons are their own but they now control many aspects of a person's daily life. On the outside their give a veneer of decency and fairness, but realistically they are making a bid to consolidate their own power for whatever reasons they follow.

We have been on the run for nearly 3 years at this stage, the cells of twelve and lone operatives moving from city to city across the U.F.E.S., though cells rarely intersect one another it is usually to exchange information or members who's skills are required. Operatives working in different cities provide shelter, equipment or false documents to cells on mission in that city, missions are usually attacks on military targets although the assets of certain Senate members are also hit. In response to this the Senate has authorised the military full discretion about dealing with the Children of Genesis, though they have captures a handful of cell members and operatives they have great difficulty in tracking down other members before they've moved on.

[center]----------------[/center]

Well that's as much as I've written at the moment though there may be more in describing the cells and it's members. Any thoughts or comments would be much appreciated...[/SIZE]