Behind the Mask
"We're not manipulated! We're vigilantes!"
Backstory: Narrative
Whilst sitting in your bleak, disgusting apartment, you scan over your bank account on your barely-functioning laptop. Negatives. Nothing but red numbers. You flip your laptop up off your lap and onto the floor, the landing producing an audible *SNAP*. With head in hands, you ask yourself, where did everything go wrong? As you ponder Self Delete, three raps on a wooden surface echo from about twenty feet away. A knock at the door? Probably your neighbor asking about the- *CRUNCH*... that. You throw your arms down, pissed that you're simply causing further damage, and walk to the door. Opening it, you see a short figure in a long, seemingly leather jacket, standing before you. In his left hand is a suitcase, and upon his face is a full-head mask. A pure white mask, showing no facial features whatsoever. "You. You need help, do you not?" he sates, his voice, while muffled by the mask, sounds shaky and old. "What do y-" you begin to ask, but you are cut off by the man entering your apartment. "Look around you, do you not need help with bringing yourself back to the top?" he asks. It clicks. He's here to get you out of the negatives, to get you out of this stuffty apartment. Out of this stuffty district. "How do you know about me?" you ask, stepping towards him, eying his suitcase before looking back up at his lifeless mask. "I suppose you could call me an old friend... no matter." he says, moving towards your uneven kitchen table and placing his suitcase upon it. He pops it open, what seems like smoke quickly leaks out. Was it air-tight? Inside, a mask. Unlike his, the one in the suitcase only covers the face. "This mask. With this mask, your identity will not be known. Using this, you will become a fighter of all the evil in this world. By supporting the people, the harmless civilians, who have been cursed with the disease of living here, I will provide you with financial support." he explains, picking up the mask with both hands and turning to face you. You look at the mask. It resembles an animal... your favorite animal. You are drawn to it, and before you know it, you are extending your hands out to take it. The man places it in your hands, so gently, as if the mask was made from glass. You remember the red numbers in your bank account... the debt... the muggings... You get sick to your stomach. "Put this mask on, and stop the others. Become a hero. Become... a vigilante..." he says, his voice trailing off. Before you can react, the mask is on your face and buckled on. Thoughts of being the one mask out of all the masks that will do something good for this world. This man, relying on you, freeing you of financial debt for being a hero. For once in your life, you feel as though true change is ahead of you. You and the many others that this man has talked to. The same speech given to you, given to them.
In a Nutshell/TL;DR/What's actually happening
An old man, seemingly with no identity or past at all, has gone around manipulating the poor. He gives each masks, telling them to fight crime and help the world. The result is a bunch of masked fools running around the city punching the fecal matter out of seemingly innocent people and each other, causing more chaos then they feel as though they are stopping. The resulting chases and brawls end up destroying the city, and forcing the local police force to take action. Masks, as the public calls them, simply feel as though the police mistake them for evil-doers. The city is then forced into further chaos, with the police chasing the Masks as the Masks chase criminals around. The old man is nowhere to be found in the midst of the chaos.
How to take part
Take the role of an easily-manipulated civilian in a mask and patrol the city (I'll talk about it eventually) fighting petty crimes. You're a vigilante, not a sociopath. You are allowed to remove your mask to go back into civilian mode, and no other Masks will know that you're a Mask without a mask.
If you feel like this would be something entertaining, make a character;
REAL NAME: (Also a secret identity)
MASK ANIMAL: (First come, first serve)
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: (Clothes included)
GENDER: (One or the other, this isn't Facebook)
AGE: (eh)
EQUIPMENT: (Anything up to small firearms)
OTHER: (Anything else)
Depending on the number of participants, a few can PM me and ask to be police. One at the start, and I'll add more later.
The City
"FINALLY!" I can hear you all cheer. The most important part! The sunny city of
'New Topia' isn't actually always sunny, and has the following districts;
SOUTHWARD SHOALS: The filthiest landmass in city limits. Abandoned homes, rusty cars, cheap pawn shops, corner convenience stores. Probably the most suburban place out of any, considering it has the most - if not all - of the locations for living. Many small crimes take place here, like muggings and car-jackings. Police activity is alright, not high enough that you'll see a cop every hour. Maybe one patrol every hour and thirty minutes. Fake gangs hang out here, so be prepared to be stabbed if you stand within twenty feet of a graffiti tag.
DOWNTOWN TOPIA: Skyscrapers and taxis. Business and large-scale apartments and shopping centers and clubs. Most movement is off of one of the two transit systems, either topside or below the surface. Crime here is lower, but larger scale. Car-jackings all the same, but the kicker is that murder begins here. Assassinations of big-time businessmen or hit-and-runs, police activity is much higher here. Expect to be breathed on a lot of the time here.
CARGO: Unnamed otherwise, it's a small area with warehouses and docks for shipping and handling. While technically not a part of it, the New Topia airport is right across the bridge, and is considered a part of Cargo. Authorized access is required to cross the bridge to enter. Might be a good place to lose the police.
NEW TOPIAN TOPIARY: It doesn't actually have anything to do with topiary. The mayor thought it sounded catchy. Woods and cabins, small rural towns with one or two eateries and gun shops placed seemingly strategically among the dirt roads. Home to street races and hunting grounds, it's the ultimate tourist and retirement attraction. Be sure to climb Mount Topia. Some claim to have seen a large hairy beast somewhere in the woods...
Rules (I'm almost done)
1. At no point are you to kill another player. (Without permission)
2. At no point are you to UNMASK another player. (Without permission)
2.5. If you DO unmask a player, you are more than likely NOT going to recognize them.
3. Players without their masks on are to be seen as OTHER CIVILIANS, and are to be left alone.
4. ~no longer a thing~
5. At no point are you to CONTROL another player.
6. In combat, do not lead the ENTIRE FIGHT in one post.
6.5. If you have a firearm, SHOOT TO MISS. I will NOT allow 'I shoot your legs and you can't move' NO. Guns are NOT disabling tools! They are WEAPONS.
7. You are not a God. Keep things within human bounds if not slightly out of reach, BUT, considering your possible blood-lust when looking at criminals, feel free to get a little crazy. I know I will.
8. Don't pull stuff out of your ass. I DO NOT mean this literally.
9. Don't powergame. EX: 'I run into the room and scream at everyone to get down' is NOT, but 'My voice is so scary everyone cowers in fear and gets on the floor' IS.
10. If I missed something, LET ME KNOW.
11. Enjoy yourself.
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