Municipal Darwinism

Welcome to the Great Hunting Ground!

Thousands of years ago, the ancients destroyed themselves in a war that tore open the earth and scarred the continents. In those dark times, the people of the world became nomads, moving from place to place. As the tribes gained influence, they built larger and grander wagons, eventually building moving fortresses hauled by hundreds of slaves. And then, one portentous night in the city of London, something was discovered that would change the face of the world forever. A blueprint for the largest internal combustion engine ever built, drawn up by Auric Godshawk, a dirty Scrivener.

London now crawls across the world on vast tracks and wheels, devouring smaller settlements. However, it was not long at all before the other cities followed suite, and now London is but one amongst thousands of traction cities, all fighting and feasting in a mad parody of the natural order known as Municipal Darwinism. Survival of the fittest.

The Great Hunting Ground consists of Europe, parts of Scandinavia and Siberia, and the northen and western parts of Africa and Asia. The north sea is completely dry. North America is purported to be entirely dead, but this is not absolutely true, as there are valleys of trees, and possible patches of life. In South America, now known as Neuvo-Maya, the jungles and mountains are patrolled by the vast Ziggurat-Cities. The northern ice-cap has expanded so that it is possible to simply walk from Russia to the north pole. Africa and Asia, however, are controlled by the Anti-Tractionists League.

The Anti-Tractionists League.

The League believe that the traction cities are a blight upon the world, and that people should settle down and live in static settlements. They are generally peaceable folk, except when fighting against the tractionists. They employ soldiers, spies and a vast fleet of aviators, but rarely attack and destroy cities, merely keep them away from anti-tractionist territories. However, with the death and unlife of Anna Fang, a terrorist splinter faction of the League has appeared, and seized control of the original League: The Green Storm.

The Green Storm.

The Green Storm believe in similar principles to their League forbears, but have no qualms about bloodying their hands in the name of their cause. Led by the Stalker Fang, their soldiers fight twice as hard as any others. Once in the trenches as footsoldiers, and once after death when their bodies are rebuilt into terrifying armoured stalkers.

Stalkers.

The nomad empires were known for building vast numbers of powerful and high-quality stalkers, but they were merely copying an even more ancient design. The first stalkers were built before the Sixty Minute War, corpses with mechanical parts built into them to keep them moving and talking, and preserve their memories. The design was used by the Nomad Empires to reanimate fallen warriors. However, these later machines actively repressed the memories, designed to follow orders unquestioningly, and take heavy fire without faltering. Now that the Nomad Empires are no more than a distant memory, many of their stalkers are still around. However, these stalkers have been unalive for so long now that they have their own memories and personalities, completely distinct from who they were before they died. They are powered by a little-understood technology known as molecular clockwork.

The Green Storm stalkers are inelegant and simple, not running on molecular clockwork, but requiring recharging. they are bulky and simple, but serve their purpose. However, their is one Green Storm stalker that is different to the rest. When Anna Fang (aviatrix and hero of the Anti-Tractionist League) died, her body was rebuilt with care and art, featuring a beautiful bronze death mask, and the most advanced stalker brain ever seen in the Hunting Ground. She is entirely sentient, but despite the best efforts of the Green Storm, does not yet remember who she was before she died.

Characters.

Name:
Age: (for stalkers this does not require an exact number. Just say who built it, and how high the quality is.)
Personality:
Appearance:
Occupation: (Air-trader, bounty hunter, historian, archaeologist, there are a great many possibilities.)
Bio:

Name: Conor
Age: 16
Personality: Funny, likeable, kind
Appearance: brownhair green eyes 6 foot 2 inches
Occupation: Boutny Hunter
Bio: Born in London he travles from place to place, more a soldier of fortune than a true bounty hunter.

Name: Crow
Age: Ancient, built by the Nomad Empires as part of the Lazarus brigade. Fought at Hill 60 with Shrike. he is not particularly elegant, but is considerably more efficient than any of the Green Storm's stalkers. He is also very heavily armoured compared to them.
Personality: Crow is of course merciless and cold, like almost all stalkers. However, he is reluctant to harm women and children, and always finds himself drawn to those with severe injuries, as he was a doctor before he died.
Appearance: Seven feet tall, a preserved cadaver in a metal carapace. He has green lamp-like eyes and wires plugged into his metal skull-cap.
Occupation: Pilot, and occasionally bounty hunter.
Bio: Crow prefers to keep out of the wars of the once-born, but he finds himself preferring the tractionist way of life... or should that be unlife?

Nams: Ceara Raven
Age: 16
Personaltiy: Clever, wity, sarcastic, kind when she wants to be
Apperance: Long black hair, amber eyes, 5'3 1/2
Occupation: Bounty hunter
Bio: not sure yet just made this character up.....

((Okay! How about we all meet on Airhaven? Airhaven is the floating city used by most aviators as a place to drink, refuel and meet. The most popular bar is the Gasbag and Gondola.))

(( Mind if I jump in?)

((Sure! Maybe make a Green Storm spy?))

Crow kneels next to a table in the Gasbag and Gondola. He cannot eat and drink, and no one is sure if he really thinks in human terms, but he seems to enjoy the company, and he isn't disturbing anyone.

Ceara passed the table with Crow, "What's your problem?" He looked kinda depressed.

"The war," replies Crow, his voice akin to the shrieking of gears jamming. "The struggles of you once-born do not make business easier for anyone."
Crow stands up, towering over the other patrons. He extends one metal gauntlet, slick with preserving fluid.
"It's been too long, Ceara," he creaks. "I hear you came by way of Batmunkh Gompa."

((Batmunkh Gompa is one of the main strongholds of the League of Anti-Tractionists. It is in north-west Asia, on the very south-easernmost egde of the Hunting Ground.))

Ceara took his hand, "Yup, I also got lost..."

"Lost?" Crow's green eyes stare at Ceara impassively, as he is unable to form expressions with his eyes, or even blink. He grins, his metal teeth showing. "Did they send raptors after you?"

((Raptors are stalker birds. They are stupid even compared with the rest of the Green Storm's stalkers, but very cheap to make and quite efficient.))

"Yeah, but they got lost too..." frowned Ceara.

"As in 'air-pirates lost'?" Crow reaches into his cloak and hands her some money. "You look like you need a stiff drink," he grinds.

"Thank you, you wouldn't believe the day I had," said Ceara, shaking her head.

"I will weigh up the evidence from an objective standpoint, and then decide whether or not I believe," replies Crow. "I saw your craft at the docking ring. What happened to you, and more pressingly, it?"

"Got lost, birds found me then got lost, got ambushed, and made it out." sighed Ceara.

"Ambushed? By the Green Storm?" Crow's voice is perceptibly louder now.

"Yeah..."

Crow hisses like a burst pipe. "They're lead by that stalker, I heard. She should know better."

"I'm worried what will be the outcome at the end of the war."

((Sure!)

Name: Alice
Age: 18
Personality: dark and mysterious no body really knows alot about her
Appearance: long black hair with icy blue eyes and red ruby lips
Occupation: Green Storm foot soldier
Bio: she looks like nothing but she willkill you in a heart beat if you get her angry enough. She lost her family to stalkers that came and took her to become a foot soldier. She was pledged to be married to the leader of her begade but she ran away before anything could happen

(Good so far?)

((Brilliant! Is she a deserter from the Green Storm or what? Also, if she lives in Green Storm territories, it's quite likely that she's African or Asian. Obviously that's not a hard-and-fast rule, but that is where most of the Green Storm and Anti-Tractionist territories are.))

"There is talk that Oenone Zero has resurrected my old comrade Shrike. If that is true, great things are afoot." The stalker's eyes dim for a moment. "Shrike will change the face of this war immeasurably."

"In a good or bad way?"

"I don't know. They say Zero is a very accomplished stalker surgeon." Crow unsheaths his finger-glaives and regards them for a moment. "It all depends on what she does with him. It is possible that she will use Shrike to replace Fang."

"Fang? Really?" said Ceara.