Blackthorn Corporation was a role-playing game created by Slash_Prower.
It is set in a speculative fiction universe where the Cold War erupted in 1964, tearing the world apart in what was known as the Final War. The world only barely survived, its earth torn open and its people in chaos.
However, new governments rose from the ashes, forming three regions out of the world and agreeing to a policy of complete disarmament. None of the regions have anything more than a token, mainly ceremonial military force—but a loophole in the contract allowed the regions to hire third parties as proxy soldiers. To take advantage of this, people who called themselves "mercenaries" took over abandoned pre-war cities and declared themselves separate states, agreeing to serve their parent regions in return for a constant flow of supplies.
The RP concerns one of the top mercenary organizations in the world, the Blackthorn Corporation. They are the number 1 organization in the United Americas region, and a member of the Fragile Alliance. The top five United Americas organizations are all part of the alliance, and are ranked as follows-
- Blackthorn
- The Lightwing Alliance
- The Dragon's Chain
- Delta Technologies
- Fenrir's Fang
Both Blackthorn and Lightwing have a huge advantage: Their founder-generals have strange abilities, bringing their power to a level far above normal people. However, more people with strange abilities have begun springing up, and every organization is seeking to grab them in order to become (or stay at) number 1.
The players are recruited Associates, people with abilities who are hired by the Blackthorn Corporation and made to serve directly under the six founder-generals. It's an ideal life, or it would be if the founder-generals weren't mostly insane.
The RP used to be at this forum
, but has since been removed from the internet.
Blackthorn Corporation contains examples of
- Batman Gambit: Jericho is trying to pull one off by throwing the Orion Syndicate and Blackthorn into a war with each other. Then the Corporation to mop the floor with Orion and its allies, which in turn would solidify their status of No. 1 organization and allow Jericho to finally drop his Obfuscating Stupidity without danger.
- Berserk Button: General Wright knows that Jericho's Obfuscating Stupidity is a lie, but can't get him to stop. Because of this, he suspects that Jericho is betraying him in some way even though he has no evidence. It's gotten to the point where having to deal with Jericho (or his associate, Aidan) breaks his stoic demeanor, occasionally infuriating him to the point of violence.
- God Is Dead: Although Christianity still exists, disillusionment was so high after the nuclear war that most of the scattered populace began worshipping their own gods. Now that society has reconstructed itself, many new religions exist. One sect with ties to Christianity claims that this change was brought about by the events of the war splitting God himself apart into separate pieces, which each took on their own identity and domain.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Slight aversion with General Seth Wright- half of his face is terribly burnt and scarred, but he's not so much evil as The Stoic (except when forced to deal with Jericho)
- Humanoid Abomination: Li, the scientist in the basement, is one of these. Two words: Tentacle hair.
- Immortality: Seth has Complete Immortality, while the other founders are The Ageless, considering that Cari and Jericho look to be in their mid-to-late 20s (they are 38 and 42, respectively).
- Mind Rape: A significant part of Jericho's ability. Aidan was voluntarily mind-raped in the process of becoming Jericho's medium, a process which involves Jericho taking part of his own diseased consciousness and forcibly inserting it into the other person.Thousands of voices whispered in hushed tones, telling of unnameable obscenities in a language which could never be considered human. [...] Noise—the clicking of frenzied insects burying themselves into what he used to be—echoed in every crevice of his mind.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Jericho pretends to be ineffectual and cowardly towards everyone, even the other generals.
