The Projects
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
Contents |
Summary
'The Projects' is a top secret sect of the military, devoted to the research and development of meta-human warfare. Specializing in advanced cloning technologies amongst other things, the organization uses various methods to enhance and perfect the preexisting abilities of meta-humans, or bestow new powers altogether. These successfully enhanced 'projects' are then used as weapons...
The Story so Far
"Perfection is only the first step in making Gods of Men." - Col. Dominic Azuro
A Changing World
Throughout history, in wars great and small, governments have used people with paranormal abilities to gain an advantage over their enemies, harnessing psychic powers that have never been fully explained. The United States and the Soviet Union had been on opposite ideological sides ever since tensions began to grow after World War II. This friction between the two superpowers evolved into the Cold War. There was no concrete battlefield in this new war, though, as both sides had rather built up their nuclear arsenals and advancements in technology. Secret information was a valuable currency in which to trade, but the Soviets took their intelligence efforts a step further, to paranormal espionage. Soon, psychotronic weapons research was well underway. The Americans had to compete. A secret sect of United States military was soon created to explore the possible military applications of psychic abilities. Col. Dominic Azuro was placed in charge of this military campaign. A power visionary himself, he was trusted to see that the organization would always be headed in the right direction for success. Thus, The Projects was founded.
For twenty years, the research and development of various psychic steroids would be the priority, as well as testing these psi-enhancers on living subjects. A synthetic copy of pituitary extract labeled Dialyte Surgic TRIONE acid was one of the many drugs to be successful in the early part of the campaign. However, volunteers for these experiments were increasingly hard to find, given the fact that there were very few people who survived the drugs.
Section Desparu
For a while, people from around the world would up and vanish, never to be heard from again. While there was no concrete evidence of the government's association to the disappearances, a few of these missing persons would eventually turn up again, and attempt to reveal what horrible experiments they'd been used for. These people would consistently die, though, perhaps by a car accident, or a mysterious sickness. The Section Desparu was the silent killer. Made up of the very best teams of Black Ops and Recon agents, all of whom were completely natural and hadn't been enhanced, Section Desparu('The Section that Does Not Exist') became ruthlessly efficient at quietly erasing any potential complications that The Projects might face. Furthermore, a new corporate giant would appear on the face of the Earth to be the public mask of The Projects, and more importantly, creating new opportunities for testing.
The Brightside Corporation
The Brightside Corporation, founded in 1983, specialized in the research and development of cloning technologies and genetic alterations. It first appeared shortly after the Regulators and Dawn Patrol teamed up to attack drug fields. While The Projects hadn't been involved with street drug dealings, Col. Azuro felt it would be best to avoid any potential future complications, especially since he was finding more and more successful results from various 'projects'. And so, The Brightside Corporation thrived. Offering its services to the public, the organization was best known for reanimating people who'd met unfortunate deaths, perhaps by disasters, or crime, or even war, and the monetary profit from this service was more than enough to fund The Projects. The corporation soon branched out across the globe, and became one of the leading developers of cloning technology. The only thing that escaped the view of the general public, was the fact that the DNA used to reanimate the dead, was equally used to breed new weapons. Psychic warriors, grown and modified before their official 'birth', were a tremendous success. Being genetically altered before awakening, their emotions and feelings were tampered with, to avoid any complications and maintain perfect control.
THE ARCHITECT
Meanwhile, Col. Azuro had been working on a special project over the past decade. Despite the fact that he would easily be able to live well past any normal human life through several clone cycles, and see his work complete, Azuro refused, choosing to die a natural death when the time would eventually come. He instead built an independent state of the art super computer, which could continuously evolve as technology progressed, if not stay one step ahead. This system, labeled 'The Architect', quickly grew. Not only in a physical representation of the computer, but across the globe, in an ever watchful network of systems. Representing The Projects as a single entity, various forms of human interference would never be a problem. It lacked emotion, and any sense of compassion. Logical, analytical, and seemingly endless, The Architect would efficiently see to it that The Projects never fell off course at all necessary costs.
EVE
The Architect's first great display of success was its suggestion that The Projects begin research in other areas. Despite the fact that psychic warfare had officially been perfected, the dramatic rise in the meta-human population rendered the psi-armies useless against a large portion of the world. With their superior cloning capabilities and vast knowledge of genetics, The Projects turned attention to the greater meta-human population, rather than limiting its enhancements to people with psychic potential. The decision was finalized, though several attempts at growing these new projects were done without the use of foreign DNA, instead being created from scratch. The eventual success was codenamed 'Project - Eve', as it was a living example of the new opportunities ahead.
The success of The Brightside Corporation hadn't escaped the view of the growing Homo-Superior population. Many mutants, whose abilities were often unwanted, or out of their control, turned to The Brightside Corp. for help. More and more DNA was gathered, and more abilities for potential weapons were collected.
A NEW OPPORTUNITY
"When life has you down, look to The Brightside!" - Campaign slogan of The Brightside Corporation during the Rikti war.
The Projects continued producing and testing their 'weapons' and slowly but surely, a new but unexposed army was born over the course of the next nineteen years. The operation was completely global, and had eyes everywhere. While still an American force, they silently maintained superiority across the nations of the globe, providing intelligence on the weapons productions of foreign countries, and often eliminating the threats. Many of these weapons were even stolen, and used for the newer research and development of cybernetic enhancements. However, a new evil outside of any land, nation, or country on Earth, approached from lights in the skies in 2002. The Rikti invasion nearly destroyed the world. However, during this time, The Brightside Corporation worked closely with the Vanguard, reanimating its fallen soldiers so that the forces could continue fighting off the alien invaders. Eventually, the war was over for the most part, and the majority of the Rikti retreated. Many people had died, but The Brightside Corporation offered as much service as possible to continue aiding the world, producing clones of the worlds fallen soldiers and civilians if the DNA could be provided. Unfortunately, this wasn't always possible. Nevertheless, The Brightside Corp. received tremendous gratitude for their contribution after the war, and continues working closely with the Vanguard to this day.
As the world continued to rebuild, several changes occurred in The Projects. The Architect, having been the main 'leader' of the organization at this point, made many decisions to increase productivity. One such decision was to find new 'human' leadership, or better yet, create it. Col. Dominic Azuro was well in his 60's, and the group was slowing down as he did in age. The weight of the entire global organization was far too much for a single man to hold on his shoulders. And so, The Architect made sure that Col. Azuro was 'taken care of'. In early 2009, Dominic Azuro was eliminated, and quickly replaced by a new director. Created from the DNA of an Arachnos Fateweaver, so that the 'direction' of the organization would remain clear in human eyes as always, Director Chase Kable was placed in charge. Following his 'promotion', the fierce Director Calyena Obscura was given the command of Section Desparu.
The names change...
The agents watch...
The weapons evolve...
The objectives remain...
The Architect continues to create...
The Projects
OOC
The Projects, aside from being created for its IC concept, was intended to repair a lot of suffering RP on the Virtue server. Unfortunately, a good majority of RP situations between various characters and supergroups on Virtue end up with conflicts that quickly move from IC to OOC situations. This can be a result of a disagreement between various peoples on how certain situations should be handled, or more importantly, the lack of respect people have to for their fellow roleplayers. Please note: we are NOT interested in E-peen here. We like to respect the wishes on the individual roleplayer, and their preferred method of handling conflict, as well as respect the unity of any Supergroup/Villaingroup involved, including ourselves.
Interested in conflict with The Projects?
In order for any plot line to develop, there needs to be a conflict. In The Projects, we make a careful effort to maintain the barrier between IC and OOC with these conflicts. This group can and will be very aggressive at times in IC situations, however, this does not mean we expect to win/lose in every one of these situations. If you are an opposing SG/VG, or even an allied SG/VG, you will be expected to play fair, as we do, entering any given situation with OOC respect to your fellow roleplayers, and their characters.
So what does this mean specifically? Here are some rules and regulations that all people are expected to follow, including our members, allies, as well as opposing groups and characters who choose to interact.
1. Rationality is a must. That means, no Godmodding or overpowered displays of your E-peen. You would think this to be common sense, but unfortunately, some people simply do not understand. Each of our characters are designed to have specific skills which they contribute to the group as an individual. This means that randomly developing the ability to dodge a speeding bullet with lightning reflexes, when those powers are completely irrelevant to your plant controlling mutant, will not be accepted. Our members, as well as our enemies, are expected to take hits that are reasonable. With that being said, it is also expected that you have OOC consideration for your fellow roleplayer, and not try to kill their character off with your Level 5,000 world ending energy blast, even if it means you purposely miss their heads by an inch.
2. Respect. As mentioned above, while a character's motives may be to kill off another character, it is expected that YOU(the player) have a mindset where you can respect the wishes of other players OOCly, to avoid ruining the fun for everyone. Roleplay is cooperative, so just as much as you don't want me to kill off your character, I don't want you to kill off mine. If you OOCly feel that you can't enter any given situation without walking out as the only victor, then do not interact. One of the biggest problems on Virtue is the fact that when it comes to dispute RP, no one is flexible with their characters. Failure is the only way our characters can grow, and evolve, and it opens more opportunity for fun RP scenarios in the future! We're not saying that you're expected to play a weak character who doesn't live up to the title of 'super'. We're saying that everyone has an opportunity to have fun here, and there's no reason why YOU should ruin it.
3. Communication. Roleplaying is spontaneous, not scripted. Improvising is obviously the main appeal, as opposed to acting off of a script. However, at certain times, arrangements must be made beforehand to ensure productivity, and most importantly, the enjoyment off all parties involved in the roleplay. While freeform roleplay is perfectly welcomed at random times like the Pocket D, it needs to be avoided to a degree when it comes to a plot line setting. That means, don't just randomly launch a full on attack using nuclear devices on us in the middle of the Pocket D. If you're interested in having your SG/VG conflict with The Projects, the feud needs to be discussed OOCly in advanced, as well as along the way of the plot line, by the leaders of any groups in question. This is not to say the entire plot line will be scripted, but it will allow for us to steer the roleplay in the direction of the desired outcome. We are more than willing to work with any ideas you have for plot lines, whether they're specifically centered around your group, ours, or involve both equally, so long as these arrangements can be made to ensure the fun of the roleplay is still there for everyone.
Is The Projects right for me?
While The Projects is a fairly new Villain Group, we have a very established storyline that extends over the past 50 years. We offer a rich roleplay environment for every individual, as well as for the group as a whole. Many opportunities are open when it comes to joining, as you can choose to either RP in with an established character of your own, or create a new character who has an assumed establishment in the group's history! If you're interested in joining the ranks of The Projects, be sure that it will be a good fit for you by asking yourself some of these questions...
Am I willing to take accept all aspects of the established lore? As previously stated, The Projects does have an established lore that extends over the past 50 years. The main aspects that are most important to keep in the theme of this VG are the control, the conspiracy, and the fact that its members are treated more as weapons than they are actual people. The Architect goes through great lengths to ensure that everyone and everything is moving according to plan. With that, a sense of uncertainty lies in all the members to some degree, including even the directors. This means that you must be willing to accept sharp changes in plot lines at any given time, in any given situation. It also means that you are expected to know your place/purpose in the group, and play along accordingly.
Am I willing to contribute to the group's prosperity first? The Projects is an especially unique group, in that it acts as a single entity in many ways. While personality and individuality varies amongst the members, a very important thing to remember is that the group works together as a whole above all things. Each character contributes something entirely unique to the organization, as each character is a 'project' themselves. This means that while there might be more than one person with the same powers, their application of these powers is what makes them especially useful. Furthermore, anyone who is a member of the group is assumed to have undying loyalty to its cause(whatever that might be). Whether a character is loyal due to a blanket of lies and manipulation, or if their emotions and feelings have been tampered with so that they have no desire to rebel. Characters are above all things, expected to do their job as 'the project' they are. Again, it's important to acknowledge that these characters, despite any humanity, are being -used- as weapons. Furthermore, your character's contribution to the group WILL be carefully monitored, ICly and OOCly. If your only reason for joining the group is to let your character collect dust, log in briefly only to log back out, or only play your character for ERP purposes, you will find yourself removed, possibly without the courtesy of a warning.
Am I willing to play fairly so that all parties involved in any RP will have an enjoyable experience? As stated clearly in the 'Rules and Regulations', our members are expected to play a fair game at all times. If you feel that you can't roleplay anything but a god/goddess, can't take a fair hit in a conflict, or accommodate your play-style so that everyone can have fun, you will not last in this group. We want this group to open opportunities for EVERYONE to enjoy the roleplay. What does this mean, specifically? It could mean a number of things, but as an example, let's say that your Projects character is picking a fight with three other characters. You might be a text fighter, but they seem fond of PvP. Despite your qualms with the PvP system, or your lack of a build with IO's and sets, you are expected to have the decency to meet them in arena for the fight you started. EVEN if this means you lose, your character gets his arm ripped off, or even dies! You will have at least shown respect for your fellow roleplayer's method of handling random conflicts, and have possibly pleased people OOCly, encouraging more friendly interactions in the future! Furthermore, your character will be reanimated and further enhanced if they fail for whatever reason AKA click the 'Base Hospital' button.(Please note that this was just an example. This is not a designated PvP group, however, RPvPers are perfectly welcomed!)
Am I willing to respect the chain of command? As with any group, there are individuals of higher ranking who have authority over those of lower rank.
- The Architect is the final authority. Giving commands, finding targets, and maintaining the entire operation while representing it as a single entity.
- The Directors the leaders of the group, usually specially bred for the position.
- Alpha Projects have earned their positions for their unique contributions to the group, be it acts of loyalty, or their special abilities which are especially valuable.(This is the highest rank to be promoted ICly)
- Beta Projects work closely with the Directors, and the Alpha Projects, but actually oversee the field operatives in action, and give commands during such times.
- Gamma Projects are recent accomplishments. Newly created projects, who while still showing the lengths of their potential, are considered trustworthy.
- Potential Projects are newly enhanced individuals, or soon-to-be enhanced. They have the potential to be great, but are still undergoing various assessment tests.
As a member of The Projects, you are expected to respect these ranks without question, for each member of any given rank has been placed into that category appropriately. Characters who have authority issues won't find themselves lasting long in this group. As sticking to the lore is crucial, so is sticking to the chain of command. What does this mean? It means that, hypothetically speaking, if there was a specific 'flaw' in any given project that The Architect saw as a potential threat to the entire operation, that individual would be immediately disposed of. You would be expected to cooperate with this decision.(Again, please note that there will be OOC consideration. More importantly, immediately after such an event occurred, your character would go through a cloning cycle, and quickly return with 'further perfections'. We have no intention whatsoever to ultimately end any of your characters.)
Am I willing to put the group's RP before my personal RP? With all due respect to the individual character, this group has a heavy agenda. While we're all for the development of each individual character, it is equally if not more important to see that the group flourishes as a whole WITH each of those individual character's contributions. This means, if you suddenly run into the middle of a bar fight in the Pocket D and expose yourself as an agent, then end up getting kidnapped and held hostage but expect to be saved, you're shit out of luck. This sort of tedious, petty drama is counter productive to the group as a whole. Furthermore, if that sort of situation were to occur, we'd simply consider you a failed attempt at a weapon, and welcome the disposal of the character. It would mean less for us to clean up!
Am I willing to respect certain boundaries? The Projects would be best classified as a Mature Roleplaying VG. Now, while we accept mature themes and situations, and won't discriminate against your idea of that, you are expected to have some common sense, and not cross certain boundaries. If you are an active ERPer, that is entirely up to you, and something you're entitled to do. You pay your $15 a month like everyone else! However, we ask that you don't associate this RP with the group. That means, if you're in the Pocket D and happen to pick up some random catgirl for an hour of fun, DO NOT take her into the base and fuck all over the cloning machines! Also, do openly get your ERP on in the public view. Even if using team chat, it's not really hard to imagine what's going on between two people standing in a corner, having said nothing in local for over an hour. I do not want this sort of thing associated with The Projects characters, so if you do engage in ERP, please do so in another person's base where it has been permitted, or in another zone of the City/Isles.
RECRUITMENT
((Please note that this group does NOT take Magic origins))
The Projects is always willing to accept more members, and being a mostly global operation opens up many opportunities for that! ALL members are equally valued, and ALL members are equally included in roleplay. If you've already read the questions above, and feel like you're still interested in joining, here are some of your options:
Direct Membership
While all assumed members obviously work for The Projects, this is for people who are directly in the VG. These characters are most likely to be publicly known for being members, should roleplay lead to that, of course. Most of these characters also have 'Project-' in their names as well, though this is not required. Their positions include, but are not necessarily limited to:
- Potentials: Characters who are new to the organization and are in the process of being enhanced, or even being grown from scratch. They have the potential to be great weapons.
((New characters can be created for this position, or characters can roleplay in as well.))
- Section Desparu Agents: Members of the Black Ops teams. This sect of The Projects is for characters of natural/tech origins, in that they have no super powers, and accomplish their tasks as a result of intense training, and the use of weapons(guns, grenades, flamethrowers, jet packs, knives, robotics, hand-to-hand combat, etc). These characters themselves are NOT actual projects, as they have not been enhanced in any way whatsoever. They are equally valued, though, for their devotion and skill.
((New characters can be created for this position, or characters can be roleplayed in as well.))
- Agents: Characters who have been successfully enhanced as projects, and are loyal to the group and its cause. Standard agents do a lot more of the field work, and are often assigned partners to work with. They also generally experience combat situations before the other positions become directly involved. It is one of the more popular positions.
((New characters can be created for this position, or can be roleplayed in as well.))
- Special Agents/Special Projects: These characters have not only proven themselves extremely valuable to the group with displays of devotion, but also often possess a unique skill that the Directors or The Architect prefer to work with more personally. These characters might have special abilities that are less useful in the field, requiring to stay further from combat. They might also be agents of higher ranking, who have more authority and would be considered 'Team leaders'.
((New characters can be created for this position upon OOC invitation of the group leaders, or characters can be roleplayed in as well.))
- Directors: The leaders of the group who work directly under The Architect. They may or may not have been projects themselves.
((Please note that the rank of Director is highly unlikely to be reached through roleplay. This position is given to select people via OOC invitation, who make characters specifically for the position.))
Outsiders
Even though The Projects is only on redside City of Villains, the global operation and conspiracy concept opens doors for many others, including your 'hero' characters! Also, many people who do play Villain-side simply do not want to have their character associated with the name of the VG to avoid meta-gaming. The following positions are available for such characters:
((Please send an in-game message to a member of The Projects, or to @Darke Lyte if you're interested in any of these positions!))
- Espionage Agent/Spy/Undercover ear: This covers a wide array of characters, and that's the idea! Perhaps you have a character who is, for all intensive purposes, a 'hero', or perhaps you have a character who is seemingly devoted to a another SG/VG. This position allows for your character to continue with that RP, but be secretly working for The Projects as undercover agents! You might simply be keeping an ear out for anything interesting going on in other organizations, or you might be undercover to destroy the enemy from the inside out! The choice is yours!(Note: This position can be applied to player-made super-groups/villain-groups, or lore based character groups, such as Arachnos/Vanguard/etc.)
- Brightside Corporation Employee: This position is relatively similar to the Espionage/Undercover position above, however it involves no real infiltration. Instead, it allows you to still play a character(be it hero or villain side) who is a simple employee of The Brightside Corporation itself! With this role, your character can have knowledge of The Projects and what's really going on behind the Brightside Corp., but still work for them both and acquire DNA samples for 'the greater good' and 'research'. Alternately, your character can LITERALLY be an employee, and have absolutely no idea of the real agenda.(Depending on certain circumstances, Brightside employees can fall under the 'Direct Members' category and formally join the VG)
- Escapees/Previous Projects: Some people have characters that are centered around a similar concept as The Projects, in that a military organization experimented on them. However, many of these characters don't have an actual name for this 'organization'. If you've read over the information for The Projects and feel that it's a perfect match for your character's history, feel free to join in at any random time, and play along as having been an escapee! This position allows for ties to the group, and it's concept, without actually having to be in any position at all! (Please note: Playing this sort of character can potentially lead to The Projects targeting your character, perhaps to recapture them, or destroy them as incriminating evidence. Please send an in-game tell beforehand so that we can avoid anything you won't be comfortable with!)
(Some notes)
- In order to actually BE a 'project', your character needs to have its already existing powers enhanced to some degree, or have new abilities bestowed altogether.
- Having 'Project-' in front of your character's name is NOT a requirement. However, if your character IS a 'project', we do ask you to come up with a codename for that character. Code names should have a reflect the characters powers, how those powers are actually used, and have a weaponized feel to them.(For example: Project-Access is a skilled at infiltration and assassination, especially when it comes to her remote viewing ability. She can gain 'access' to almost anything, and that is how she is most commonly used.)
- Section Desparu agents can not have powers, including cybernetic implants that would alter any 'natural' abilities. They are natural origin, and use their training and skills, as well as weapons, to achieve their tasks. This means you can not be a 'project' and a Section Desparu agent at the same time.
- A maximum of 2 alts(different characters) are allowed within The Projects as 'direct members' unless you are specifically approached by a leader to make another for a special circumstance. However, there is no limit on how many 'outsiders' you have in, alone or in addition to your 'direct members'.
- There is no official limit to the number of alts allowed in of the same character, as long as all alts receive a somewhat even amount of playtime, and the powers continue to stay relevant to that character's concept.(This means, if your project's ability is to specifically control ice, then there is no reason why you should make an alt of that character that is a Demon Summoner. However, making an ice/cold corruptor after your ice/ice dominator would be considered appropriate. PST in-game if you have further questions about this.)
- Logging your character in to avoid demotion will note suffice for participation in this group. If you don't want to join, or do but don't have the time to devote to your character, then don't join! This isn't to say we expect you to only play this character, and ignore all of your other toons and RP. But since you're considered a member of the group, we'd like to see you! People who are thought to be doing this will receive a first warning, and if no improvement is shown, they will be kicked.(However, if you have RL events, like an upcoming vacation, busier work schedule, or a medical condition, etc., please let a leader know in advanced so we know not to kick you if you're not around for several days at a time.)
- If you ever need to contact the leader of The Projects with questions, concerns, or suggestions, you're more than welcomed to send an in-game private message to @Darke Lyte.
