The year was 2995 AD. Humanity had spread throughout the stars, colonizing new planets and creating new nations along the way. Different peoples and different cultures developed, new ideas were experimented with, and the advent of the next millennium brought forward so many possibilities.

Some of these ideas and experiments would prove to be not as well thought out as they could have been. In one corner of space far from Earth, a group of nations began experimenting with cloning and gene modification. They began manufacturing synthetic humanoids, or Synthoids, as a workforce for things that required the human touch machines lacked. A cloned servant race designed to serve the needs of their creators, some looking like strong men designed to be laborers, some looked like older people to act as teachers, others were young women to be secretaries and so on and so on.

Genetically tampered with to assume a docile disposition, the Synthoids did not seem to resent their status. The same could not be said about the human workers they forced out of the job. Lower class resentment against those who replaced them took the form of anything from anti-Synthoid protests to outright lynching. It was at this point Synthoids started responding, especially the educated ones. Groups were formed to protest their position as property, of lacking the means to defend themselves, of not having any civil rights.

The governments of various nations responded by tightening the restrictions on the movements and actions of Synthoids. By this point, there was one Sythnoid for every 5 humans. Repressed in their everyday lives, and banned from the political sphere, the Synthoids turned to underground channels to communicate and network with each other when nobody was watching. And for years it was like this.

Until a Synthoid murdered a human. Paranoia gripped the human population even as production companies and Synthoids themselves swore this was an outlier and one-of-a-kind defective Synthoid. Had it been a human the incident would have found the Synthoid's action to be in self-defense. Instead, "decommisioning" was the rule of the day and again the cycle of violence against Synthoids in revenge for one human life lost started. Again they stoically endured it while serving their owners.

Then came word that all Synthoids of the same model as the one that "faulty" one were to be recalled and refunded. It was understood that there was a a flaw in all of them and they too were to be decommissioned.

That was the straw that broke the camel's back. Within days whole planets were ablaze as Synthoids rebelled against their human owners. Cruelty begot cruelty, years of oppression were met with a bloodthirstiness and savagery not seen since the old Earth days. Countless innocents were slaughtered in the Sythoids orgy of revenge. The peace time military was overwhelmed while Synthoids belonging to high ranking officials used their insider knowledge to double the damage their street side brothers were doing.

It was the beginning of what would be called the Emancipation War.

For five years the humans and Synthoids battled each other across space, each determined to be the dominant life form. The human's greater numbers and military were offset by the physical superiority of the Synthoids - they matured much faster and had no civilian problem to worry about - and their compromised internal position as well as fractured command between government. It was at this time that sympathetic human nations began supplies the rebel Synthoids with new weapons called Armored Mobile Frames, or just frames, large piloted robots that dominated the battlefield. The human nations quickly began creating or purchasing their own frames and the war dragged on.

All things must come to an end though. A treaty ended the Emancipation War, granting the Synthoids a large swath of stars to establish their own nation. This came at the expense of the people already on those planets, who found themselves evicted.

The war was over but mutual distrust and hatred remained, even after 15 years. And thus conflict is brewing again, with the frame pilots again being on the forefront of battle...

tl;dr - Humans and clones fought a war in space, now they're about to fight another one with you being a mecha pilot for either side.

If you got through all that, congratulations! You have made it to the character sheet! Now you, the player, can choose to be a member of one of the elite frame squadrons for either the human alliance, or the Synthoid nation. The elite human pilots are part of a special forces team call Aces while their Synthoid counterparts are the Guardians. Everyone also gets to choose a frame to pilot, a list of options are here. Players are allowed to offer their own robot designs subject to GM approval.

Without farther ado!

Character Sheet

• Name: Who are you?
• Callsign: What do your buddies call you? Why did they pick that name anyway?
• Sex: Are you a boy or a girl?
• Age: Note - Synthoids have a life span of around 60 years and are fully mature by age 11.
• Faction: Whose side are you on?
• Appearance: Note - Synthoids only have about 20 different varieties. Entirely possible for more than one player to play physically identical characters.
• History: Where are you from? what have you been doing with your life? If you're human this is where you'd say what nation you're from. Synthoids can say what model they are, and what their original purpose was.
• Trivia: Extra info you feel like sharing goes here.
• Frame: Pick your robot.

Players

Humans

• Earl Marino - Royal Flush - Nman
• Miles Wilson - Frost - Dragon573
• Edgar O. Ikin - Jabberwock - darksidevoid
• Spencer Starling - Smokey - Teh Stanman
• Carter Scott - Hothead - Eva Unit 01
• Abigail Capistrano - Skydive - Parable
• Christine Hepner - None - zzzdragon
• Oswin Lel - Sickle Surpris - Rena The Archmage

Synthoid

• Tea Malion - Imbrium - Karrin Blue
• Jacques Satch II - Red Sapling - Sanojutsu
• Seth Curtis - Tank - rayday11
• Samuel Lincoln - Jaws - Parable

edited 9th Jun '13 7:35:41 PM by Parable

Exactly how "stuck" are we with a mech? Will we have chances to choose a different one every [insert number here] missions?

Well, it's a real robot setting, so I would assume new models would eventually be produced, and ace pilots might be chosen to test them or something...

Also, uh, yeah, going to work out a character after work. But still interested so yeah. Just need to decide which side to go with...

EDIT: Actually probably going with Synthoid solely because the Firefly makes me think Macross so yeah.

edited 23rd May '13 12:58:20 AM by Moerin

Pick your frame carefully because you'll be with it for a long while. Eventually the next gen frames will roll out, assuming the war lasts that long, and then you'll get more choices.

Ah, sorry, Moerin seems to have misinterpreted what I asked. I'm not talking about testing out new, better, robots. I was asking about the existing ones. If there'd be chances to swap between those at certain points due to mission requirements, etc.

Do I need to know anything about the real robot genre to join this RP?

What are the different Synthoid models>

Everything you needed to know.

I'm letting people design there own, but here are a few that I already came up with.

Standard: The oldest model in production. Appearing about twenty, they are general-use clones for anything from errand running to gardening. While more specialized models have reduced their role in life, they are still by far the most common Synthoids. This model has three male and three female version.

Teacher: The teacher models look like they are in their early 40's and come preprogrammed with vast knowledge. Their primary duty was to instruct young minds and tutor those who need it. Nowadays they are some of the most active in Synthoid politics but still take vested interest in the education of young Synthoids. There are two male and one female version.

Housekeeper: Appearing as women in their mid 30's, the housekeeper is made for cleaning and running errands. These models are naturally quiet; seen but not heard. One of the latter models, there are only two versions, both female.

Laborer: The go-to model for manual labor. Large males genetically engineered for strength and durability. Despite the stereotype, they are no less intelligent than any other model. One male version.

Oh right, uh... Still working on my character, but would a synthoid designed for entertainment work? By which I mean they're an idol singer (or at least an aspiring one since there's so many synthoid idols just like her that are literally mass produced). Just worried that it might seem a little too silly, but I kind of got inspired due to the Firefly reminding me of Macross and it just snowballed from there.

I mean clearly she'd be using the coordination she was given so she could pull off complicated dance routines to help her pilot her mecha, but, uh, just a little worried it might not fit the tone so I'm asking before I really get to work on this. >.<

• Name: Tea Malion (pronounced Tay-a Mal Ion. The pronunciation is important to her)
• Sex: Female
• Age: 15
• Faction: Synthoid
• Appearance: Dark hair to her shoulders, grey eyes.
• History: A Precision type Synthoid - created to be doctors and engineers in places where screwing up meant really bad things (for example, on space stations.) Tea is rather about being on the battlefield - she prefers doing mechanical engineering, but she'll fight since it's for her people. She is strongly patriotic, not hating humans (after all the Synthoid nation is allied with some) but disliking the dehumanisation of Synthoids that she's certain will result after a war. She has a 'younger sibling' (inasmuch as that's possible) of six years who's currently back in a small town on a small backwater planet.
• Trivia: Due to her Precision type, she has excellent fine motor skills, and is very balanced - if she held a glass of water it'd be as steady in her hand as if it was on a flat, solid plane. She also has extremely precise vision. However her ability to lift heavy object and do more physical tasks is only a bit better than a human's.
• Frame: Firefly
• Callsign: Imbrium

Is the sibling thing OK? I'd imagine that the Synthoids would form family units of some kind, from a standard nuclear family (seems a bit unlikely) to a sort of communal-everyone-works-together-and-the-whole-town-is-a-family-tribal thing. Probably somewhere in between, I guess.

edited 27th May '13 7:42:57 AM by KarrinBlue

@Moerin:

From Idol Singer. Take out the audition part and they're practically Synthoids already. Some considerations though: The characters are all supposed to be elite pilots first and foremost. Even if she was designed as an entertainment model, any singing she did would have to be a side job or something from her past.

I am amused at the idea of a bunch of the same model trying to make it big only to get hampered by the fact that everyone's music sounds the same.

@Karrin: Good question. Synthoids can't reproduce on their own but instead keep up the process of manufacturing their next generation, partly as a cultural thing and partly because they suck at bio-engineering new things. Adult Synthoids can apply to have "children", young Synthoids to raise, and the government actually encourages it to get their numbers up. A lot of Synthoids are actually grown and raised in batches by government run schools. So Tea could have a younger brother or sister back home.

Tea Malion is accepted.

edited 24th May '13 11:09:31 AM by Parable

Yeah, that's what I was thinking of going for. Alright then, I'll get back to writing her up. Thank you~

Yeah, I figured they couldn't reproduce naturally. But as they are human-based they'd have that social drive. So perhaps a Synthoid family is the group of people they went to school with, along with any romantic partners/close friends, or those of the group?

Sure.

I forgot to ask, do the AMFs have things like energy shields?

They do not. But they do have armor that should be abler to withstand energy weapons for a small period of time.

• Name: Earl Marino
• Callsign: Royal Flush
• Sex: Male
• Age: 36
• Faction: America Humanity
• Appearance: Boom◊
• History: A colonist from Neo York who fought in the Emancipation War, Earl served his nation - his planet, his species - as a frame pilot. Once the war was over, he did what most soldiers do: He went home. Pieced together a life for himself. He had trouble finding a job for a few weeks but quickly became a plumber for his cousin's company. You could say he had a good life since then, never really went hungry, always had a roof over his head. He was even married until she passed away a few years back. Once trouble started brewing and they were using pilots by the truckload - just like in the old days - Earl volunteered to be reactivated and rejoined Human forces, hoping to do something with his life. His skill as a pilot hadn't degraded, and with the newer, better, frames than what he used back in the day, he was able to perform well enough to get into the Aces
• Trivia: He is basically the Michelangelo of plumbing. Both residential and commercial.
• Frame: Gladiator

edited 27th May '13 12:44:00 AM by nman

For plot purposes, characters cannot be from the Sol System or any of the stars in the immediate vicinity.

Ah, my mistake. He's now from deep space.

Accepted.

• Name: Jacques Satch II
• Callsign: Red Sapling, his father's callsign during the war was Red Willow
• Sex: Male
• Age: 14
• Faction: Synthoid
• Appearance: Reddish brown hair, tall and with peachy skin
• History: A standard model requested by a former revolutionary leader and thinker of the same name, meant to take after his legacy. His resentment to the humans is inherited along with his father's teachings but often debated with himself and other of his kin if the retribution of the size and horror of the war was appropriate. In any case he joins the military to protect what his father helped build and that he cherishes so much.
• Trivia: Has a pet puppy
• Frame: The Invoke

edited 27th May '13 12:37:54 AM by sanojutsu

interest.

Accepted, welcome aboard.

If you have any questions, just lemme know!

• Name: Miles Wilson
• Callsign: Frost- His callsign originated from a difference of opinion he had with another recruit as to the nature of the Synth's. He took the calmer "they're alive" stance, while she took the fiery "they're glorified toasters" route. They'd had multiple arguments on the subject, and one physical altercation, after which some poetically minded officer stated putting them in the same room was like mixing flame and frost- one big mess. The names stuck, much to the chagrin of both parties.
• Sex: Male
• Age: 23
• Faction: human
• Appearance: Black hair, green eyes. Miles has a slender build and moderately handsome features, though he has a small, barely visible scar on his left cheek, a small, straight line about an inch long where a rock cut him after he fell off of a swingset early in his childhood.
• History: He was born on a largely agricultural planet, raised in an existence some would consider idyllic. His father served, fighting against the Synth's, but to no real avail. And with the agreement that led to peace, when he finally was recalled from duty, he had no home to go back to, because the planet he'd lived on was, unfortunately, one of those given away. The family moved to Neo York, where Miles spent most of his childhood, and for the most part, they adapted. When the conflict began flaring up again, Miles enlisted so as to be ready when it began in earnest.
  Thus far, his preparations seem to have worked fairly well.
• Trivia: Though cynical in political matters, feeling that people who make policy decisions are too disconnected from those they affect, he harbors no real resentment or hatred for those he fights against. He fights because he believes his species needs to, for the same right to self-determination his enemies once fought for. In short, no one's right, and whether anyone wins or not, someone loses, so he's simply trying to make sure it's not him this time.
• Frame: Buckshot

edited 27th May '13 9:11:38 AM by Dragon573

• Name: Edgar O. Ikin
• Callsign: Jabberwock
• Sex: Male
• Age: 48
• Faction: Humanity
• Appearance: The truth is...
• History: Originally an R&D specialist with doctorates in both mechanical engineering and biology, Edgar leapt at the chance to enter the fray against the Synthoid menace when the War began. Piloting a generic Magellan frame, he and his team proved very effective at fighting back the Synth threat... at least, until they were surrounded in an ambush and captured. Though some of his comrades weren't so lucky, the Synth intelligence network identified Edgar as a person of interest due to his background working on shady government projects, including weapons, and detained him on an asteroid for interrogation. Unfortunately for them, Edgar was completely uncooperative no matter what he was threatened with, and gave them absolutely nothing. Over the course of several months, he and the other prisoners orchestrated a successful escape from the facility by hijacking the frames stationed there and razing the entire thing to space dust.
  
  After the War, he went back into his R&D work, more driven and more of a workaholic than ever before. Now, however, with war fast approaching and anyone with eyes and half a brain able to see it, he's re-enlisting to once again fend off the advance of the conquest-hungry Synthoids. As expected of cloned scum such as them.
• Trivia:
• Frame: An Invoke, stolen during the prison break on the Synth facility he was being held at. As a frame manufactured by the enemy, it's difficult to find replacement parts for, but Edgar enjoys it for its sniping capabilities, which allow him to take a role that would normally be impossible with a more attainable craft. For the sake of distinguishing it from the enemy, however, and for camouflage purposes, he's had it painted jet black, with the only spot of color being the V-shaped, cyclopian scanner on the head, which is red.

edited 27th May '13 7:58:13 AM by darksidevoid