Orlando Furioso

[zyta]

Here's the first post to give you guys a chance to see what kind of world it is in:

Prologue:

It was then in that one fleeting second that I realized my life spent.

Blood was spilling and overflowing my mouth, but the alien who held me by my neck with an iron grip refused to allow the blood to spill out through my mouth. I would die by suffocating in my own blood; I could not think of a worse way to die. Each of my limbs hung stiffly above the ground. I’d wait without moving a muscle for death to come. You know when, barely awake, you realize a scorpion is crawling over you and freeze, still as a statue—like that. My rifle and other weapons lay on the ground covered in grass, dirt, and a mingled of my attacker’s blood and mine; two feet below even my lowest body part, I could not even stretch further to hope to reach them, to hook the strap with my foot.

Pointless ideas. It was fruitless, I will die here. I am ready…

YouTube - Break Your Neck-Sound Effect (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBOailjJR2c)

I fell to the ground. Feeling and warmth was slowly returning to my extended limbs. I rolled over and hacked up blood in a fit of coughing. My attacker was on the ground in front of me quite dead from a snapped neck. I looked up to see my savior with tears blocking my vision. He was a man and then I noticed the battle plug suit.

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/4629/postimage.png
Note, the Elite should look more like a humanoid

“The military’s finally arrived?” I managed to somehow say. My own voice sounded hoarse and shattered. My neck hurt as if it was on fire.

I wore the same battle plug suit as the military, but I was not part of the military. My group and I were separate from the military, thus they acted independently when they desired. It was not considered abandoning if one of us decided to flee a fight the army was preparing to fight. We usually went in first to scout and deal with opposing forces. To make sure it was safe for the rest of us to arrive. Many lives depended on our current mission, the lives of nearly two million explorers in fact. The Earth Federation Fleet hovered somewhere above this planet’s surface in space standing guard over the colonies that were to land and make this planet their home.

My platoon was separated in an incident with the local alien force. We were not expecting to see them so heavily armed and battle trained, we had no previous readings of intelligent life the past two weeks during observation. Now that the army was here the alien force was in full retreat back into what hell they came out of.

The battle plug suits were colored for different divisions of the army. Plain green for foot soldiers, light blue for the Air Force, dark blue for the Navy, Black for the Marines. My company was further devoted to show separation of units by deciding colors for groups and not for what we were specially trained for. I was part of White Team.

“Report back,” my headset said. “The Air Force is planning on a bombing run, you have five minute to get the hell out of there before you turn to crisp.”

I was helped up by the foot soldier and carried to a medical station which took off straight into the air like a helicopter, by far more advanced, running on some new source of energy that I could barely understand. In the air I saw the military’s retribution on the alien assholes.

Twenty minutes later I stood with my company far away from the Military triumph and victory music playing. We were like ghosts; never spoken of, almost like we never existed. We get no praise, no grave in which to bury our fallen. We never get to tell our tales.

From above me the colonies took a wide berth of the space as they descended.

My name is Amaros Ramsey, 22 years old, and a student of the Earth Federation University that just landed.

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Basic information before we begin this tale. The story will take place in the Albireo star System, being my favorite. Albireo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albireo)

The players will all be around the same age (20-25) and in the Company that Amaros is in. Feel free to be in different Team than Amaros.

The planet we're on is larger than Earth and covered mostly in wet grasslands that a person can wade through, but they will get wet a good amount of the time. The planet is pretty primal, unevolved creatures like dinosaurs run around. There is intelligent life, but that will be explained later in the story.

This is not a Halo related story.

You can write in First Person or in Third Person, whatever one makes you happy. I am writing in First Person to get more experience for my novels.

I will be on periodically to make posts and check in on this RP, but if it is urgent you can find me here anytime of the day or night most likely and I will get my butt over here to respond ASAP. My username is the same as on here, makes life simple. Dreamer's Haven Forums (http://dhaven.org/index.php)

Any other questions best be asked now.

1. The colors Green, Light Blue, Dark Blue, and Black are used by the Military and are thus off limits to choose from. Green are normal infantry units, the bulk of the army. Light blue is the Air Force, planes, maintenance, that sort of thing. Dark Blue is the Navy and anything that deals with water. Black are the Marines, super soldiers that can pretty much do anything, jack of all trades, if you will. Special Ops.

Our organization/company uses the color scheme idea that the Military uses, but because it is a separate entity than the Military, the colors Green, Light Blue, Dark Blue, and Black are not allowed. Our teams are broken up into 4 or so man teams, each with their own color. The colors can be anything that aren't the banned colors. Each team has strengths and weaknesses, they are all special in their own way. I have not given thought to teams with certain colors being scouts or snipers or whatever. Feel free to choose and match your own color with your teams strength.

2. I made this RP with the thought of the aliens being off limits, however, if someone REALLY wants to be an alien, I may make an exception, but only under special conditions, learned via PM. Just so you know, there are going to be two types of aliens in this RP besides our humans.

3. Nah, no special innate powers or magic. Well, not to the extent that what we're used to. One of the aliens are able to use psychic powers to a very small minimum, like using the Force in Star Wars, bu no overly powerful users like Jedi Master Yoda.

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Sheet.

Name:
Age:
Gender:
Weapons: [Nothing extravagant. What a normal soldier would carry]
Specialty: [Choose three. Can be anything from spying to scouting to medical. Take your pick or choose your own]
Team: [Black, White, Cyan, ect]
Civilian Life: [Does your character work, does (s)he go to school, stay home all day, train?]
Appearance: [We all wear the same battle plug suit, but in different color if we are in different Teams. By appearance I mean what do you look like with that armor off?] Picture are okay, but I would prefer a written description.
Biography: [Be as descriptive as possible, leave no detail out so that I can know how to effectively steer the story with regards to our characters history]
Extra Info:

[John]

This looks like a great game. Why not submit it for Roleplay of the Week (http://www.role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=905) to attract players?

[John]

This RP has been featured as RP of the Week (http://www.role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?p=223963#post223963).

[Torcano]

I'm definately interested, but one thing you might one to clarify: is it set in the Halo universe? Or is that just the "theme" of it?

My feeling is that it isn't set in the Halo 'verse, but that is the sort of sci-fi and tech we should expect? And by "on the planet" you dont mean thats the home planet right? We would be deployed there?

Sorry for all the questions! Just want to get a good idea of the setting so I can contribute better :)

[Torcano]

*tentative sheet* -- subject to change

Name: Lieutenant(1st) Magnar Thane ("Mag" or "Mags" to friends), CO of Black Team
Age: 25
Gender: male
Weapons: XB-50 Deathwind Battle Rifle (telescopic sight, extended mags), XS-40 Fareye Sniper Rifle (thermal scope*), XP-50 Scorpion Combat Pistol (silencer*)
*may toggle on/off or attach/remove respectively
Specialty: Command, Special Ops, Marksmanship
Team: Black Team
Civilian Life: Career military. Has a wife (Emylia) and newborn daughter (Isabel) who live on military base back on Earth.

Appearance: Magnar is 6'2", slightly stocky but very solidly built. He trains daily to maintain a powerful, fit physique, but is not exactly lean. Lt. Thane has dark brown hair and eyes, and a neatly trimmed beard covering the lower part of his face. Thane is not traditionally handsome, but has a rugged masculinity that women may find attractive.

Biography: Lt. Thane is the scion of a family with an untarnished record of military service in each generation. It was expected of both him and his brother that they enter the E.F. Youth Militant Academy as soon as able at age 8, graduate into the Officer Training Program at 14, and finally enter the War College at age 18 (graduating at 22). It was only after this that a male in the Thane household would ever be considered a true "man", worthy of the name.

Magnar took to the martial arts as soon as he could walk. As a child he was constantly fighting mock battles with modified shock-pistols and fighting anyone who he thought was big enough to take him. He earned his father's praise and admiration time and again, and soon the entire family talked of what potential this young boy had.

His twin brother Ezrael however, was the complete opposite. Ezzy was always much more interested by books and all things learning-related than any sort of physical activity. He constantly read, explored, and experimented in myriad scientific areas. He was enthralled at a young age by the complex theories of esteemed physicists, philosophers, biologists, and geneticists; it was apparent to all his teachers that he was what they call "gifted".

Unfortunately, none but his brother showed any interest in his amazing intelligence. Even his mother, over-acclimated to the family's warrior culture, was nothing but embarrassed about his inclinations. So it was when they turned 8, that against the staunchest arguments of both twins they were entered in the Youth Militant Academy together.

This school had an overwhelmingly athletic, strong, and energetic population, and immediately Ezrael was singled out. However, after a small number of incidents involving Magnar hurting some kids very badly, he was left alone for the duration of their time there. Although the Academy did put a heavy emphasis on physical abilities, as opposed to the higher level schools it's classes mainly revolved around regular studies. Of course young Ezzy rose to the top of every class he was put in, even when moved up to higher years. In this way both twins managed to excel, helping each other in the area of their weakness.

Upon graduation to the O.T.P., the situation was changed dramatically. The first part of the program was Basic Training, two years of hard workouts and combat training, interspersed with week-long intervals of academics. Ezrael barely made it through this personal hell without dying, and for Magnar seeing his brother so broken and defeated it was heartbreaking. For on top of the actual workouts, Ezrael performed so poorly in fitness assessments that he was punished with extra personal training. Magnar did every bit of it alongside him.

It was then they entered the second phase of the O.T.P.: combat experience. Everyone wishing to become an officer had to first serve a two year term as one of the rank-and-file. It was in this way they were able to gain the respect of and emphasize with their troops, as well as gain a true understanding of real combat before leading.

They were deployed at the age of 20 to the colony of Kugan IV. This world was rich in minerals and other resources and was used primarily as an industrial world producing mainly war materials. Driven by poor treatment and lack of rights, the majority of the massive working population revolted. By the time the twins arrived, the rebel forces included the near-entirety of the colonial defence forces and ten times their number in armed civilians. In addition, they had managed to secure the services of a large group of mercenaries.

The fighting was fierce on Kugan as the infusion of Federation troops created a balance of forces. The frontlines became a complex network of bunkers, trenches, and other fortifications, and ground was won through weeks of attrition. Magnar immediately felt at home as his boots hit the ground in their first deployment into battle. And when he first pulled the trigger of his rifle he knew the shot would fall true. Magnar was born for this, and that was why it pained him so to see his brother fighting alongside him. Ezzy had no place on the battlefield, and off it he would have been capable of true greatness.

He would have never admitted it, but Mag knew deep down inside that having to constantly be at his brother's side was holding him back as well. Ezrael would have never asked for anything, but Magnar would never have considered doing otherwise.

Eventually though, Magnar did slip up. The Battle for Thrakenport was the major turning point of the war, involving the greatest build-up of troops yet on the planet. Both sides had grown weary of the stalemate, and this city represented the one spot on the front that both sides had fortified to a lesser degree. It was here that Magnar had his greatest hour, and his worst.

As they pushed into the city, the entire advance was halted by a vital fortified position at the Gate of Hactar. Their company was deployed on the flank of their force, and as they came upon the Gate they moved into the buildings at its base. They waited for the call to advance and the men began moving through the houses looking for any loot still around. Just as the horn sounded, Ezrael found a small dark passage that seemed to lead towards the wall. It was decided then that Magnar would go through it, and if nothing was found rush back to join the attack.

It happened however, that the tunnel lead into the actual gate-fortress itself. From within the depths of the base, Magnar slowly made his way through the winding passages, slaying one man after another silently, wiping clean his knife in between. Incredibly, he eventually found the gatehouse itself. Mag fought through the entire guard contingent single-handedly and activated the gate mechanism. This action was the turning point of the battle, and the unexpected rebels were routed by the energized Federation troops.

In the aftermath Magnar was found in the gatehouse, wounded in countless places and sprawled on the ground beside the gate switch. He was honored with the Medal of Heroism, but found no joy in it. For he eventually found his brother after recovering enough to walk. Ezzy lay comatose in a hospital bed, his body disfigured by the terrible blast of a plasma grenade.

Magnar was rocked by this to the core, and struggled to motivate himself to even attend the War College. Every day he would visit his brother, who although now a hero to the family was near gone from this world. Mags never grew to accept what had happened, but plugged on with his education nonetheless. It was only a few weeks after graduation that Mag got the call that sent him over the edge. His brother had died.

The new 2nd Lieutenant Thane immediately resigned from his post, and left the Earth Federation Military forever. He would no longer honor his father, and his father's father by doing as they wished. To him the memory of brother meant he would never call his father that again. There would be no forgiveness, and if he ever saw him again, no mercy.

But war was all he had ever known, and all he would ever know. He knew that was where his gift was. So Magnar began travelling as a mercenary across the stars, serving wherever the money was.

Until one day, he got a very interesting call....

"So Mr. Thane, we've heard you do war. And you do it better than anyone. How would you like to make 10 times what you are now, and keep doing that war thing you do?"

Extra Info: [To Follow]