BELIAL.
wanna bewitch you in the moonlight
I WANT TO BELIEVE - an x-files inspired rp gm'd by BELIAL.
"But our fear of the everyday, of the lurking stranger and the sound of footfalls on the stairs, the fear of violent death and the primitive impulse to survive, are as frightening as any X-File, as real as the acceptance that it could happen to you. โ
INTRODUCTION
Deep within the bowels of the FBI, down a dingy set of stairs and a door that needs a good push to open, there lives the files of unexplained, undetermined and unknown activity reported by police or civilians to the FBI. While the cases were noted, they were ultimately filed away to rot in this storage compartment, one of many files in a blue-green file cabinet. No one took them seriously; no one wanted to spare the manpower to really see what was fact and what was fiction.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, attention was turned within the US as to what degree of unexplained UFO phenomena could have been national security issues (planes, cameras, all sent by the crumbling remnants of the Cold War), as well as the amount of information withheld by the FBI and CIA, labeling such things as unexplained and unknown that could have been stealth efforts on behalf of the USโs main โenemyโ. With all this pressure, the Senate made it clear that they would be pushing their national security and information departments to investigate and report on these forgotten cases.
Thus the X-Files, or the โuneXplainedโ files were created. A formal group comprised of some of the lowest denominator of special agents, the most expendable and requiring the least amount of agency resources to send in, were banished to this basement in order to formally clean up and debunk or further investigate all these cases. With cases spanning decades, it was made clear that this โpromotionโ was more of a sentencing to the agents involved. Supervised by the Assistant FBI Director himself, he would see where it was necessary to use and send the agents and other available manpower.
SETTING
The year is 1997 and you are one of these hapless FBI agents, banished to the basement. Some cannot stand to remain on the job, quitting eventually or waiting until they fuck up decently enough to get fired. Whether you are a new hire or someone whoโs been here since the beginning, the cases seem to stack on for eternity. One day youโll hit the bottom. One day.
A half-serious job in a half-lit basement, it would not be a surprise if the time spent going through case files and trying to determine which deserved further looking and which could be discarded, was just a lame excuse to keep the Senate and the public sitting and waiting until they all inevitably forget about it.
ROLES
1. Visited by the MIB - These 'men in black' are entities that are not mere government agents sent to silence those who speak the loudest on things unknown. No, they're hardly human at all. Something between a demonic figure, or maybe something otherworldy, either way they visited your home and made their presence quite known. Whatever you've seen they don't want you telling anyone. Sometimes you see them around a street corner. Sometimes you're sure one of them has followed you into traffic. You just can't shake the feeling of being followed.
2. 'Dreams of the Visage - Without explanation a face has haunted your dreams. A man, a woman, or something undetermined, this thing pollutes your sleeping mind and leaves you restless and unsure. Part of you thinks you'll see it one day when you're awake, and then you'll know if its real or if it's your psyche trying to tell you something. You are fractured, nonetheless, desperate to find answers.
3. 'Animal' Attack - Any manner of cryptid encounter goes under this role. Be it an actual attack by one, a simple sighting or the stalking of a creature on the hunt in the woods, you have witnessed an animal or creature that should not exist. Your evidence, if any, just gets thrown in the pile with the rest of the weirdos. But you're so sure of what you saw that you'll do what it takes to prove it to everyone.
4. Psychic Encounter - While not psychic or holding these traits yourself, you have encountered someone or something psychic or paranormal. Ghosts aren't real, that's a fact of nature, but what of the mutated human genome? Could it be capable of performing extrasensory feats? This event has left you yearning for more, or marked by emotional trauma, and you can't help but feel like there's something you're not quite seeing.
5. Aliens Aliens Aliens - Abducted? Saw a ship? Saw a little green man? You have encountered something related to aliens or UFO, and it has never left your mind since. Maybe everyone just thinks you're crazy, or maybe you're even convinced your sanity is not all there. It's marked you greatly as an agent, however, and you are not sure how to go forward knowing that no one believes you.
6. Unremarkable Agent - An agent that has not been visited, encountered or otherwise marked by an event featuring something unexplainable. Maybe something happened to someone they know, or maybe not at all. Either way, they are 'unremarkable' and are more of the role of a skeptic or third party within the group.
7. ??? - These roles are merely examples of backgrounds/instances that you can put into your character. Try to keep your character from being all-knowing or all-aware of these unexplained things. There are countless more out there, ripe for the taking. All that can be asked is that individuality between characters is prioritised. Multiples and similarities are okay, as these roles are not one for one.
RULES
1. Players are to be 18+. Characters are to be 23+. Characters will not be first come first serve, and if any ideas are too similar I will default to the one that is a) completed and b) fits well with the dynamic and themes at play. These themes are mystery, science-fiction, unexplained, ufology/conspiracy theories, paranormal all within the wrapped paper of a 'procedrual crime drama'. X-Files inspired for a reason. All characters must be current FBI agents, either on active duty or perhaps on some leave/suspension until they are 'fine' again (brought onto the team). I don't want to see quirky/goofy/silly characters made to be goofy/quirky/silly, so please consider how realistic your character idea is before you bring it to the team. I'll accept 7+ players, with a cap of ten (if it even becomes that many people). Single applications for now unless numbers drop and second characters are needed.
2. Posts are to be once a week at minimum, multi-paragraph and full of juicy, juicy descriptors and language. 'Adv-lit' is a retired term, but if you think that applies to you then I think you'll be just fine. However, I am aware that life sucks and they get busy and schedules are sometimes at the whim of outside forces! If you can only manage a few paragraphs from a bad day that's more than okay. Quality over quantity-- provide something for your partners and we will provide back. Please try to be semi active in the ooc, as any ghosters/less activity people may be kicked after a few weeks of silence. If you are finding yourself unable to reply, unable to be active or just no longer have interest, just shoot me a message, no questions asked! All I require is letting me know to some degree so that we can account for any conversation involving your character or any plots with them.
3. Real life faceclaims only. Descriptors/aesthetic images to supplement are okay! Do consider the age of your faceclaim and the age of the character you are having them portray; if they're 20 something playing a 30 year old that's gonna be asked to change. Diversity is welcome and unless the faceclaim in question does not match the age, no faceclaims will be turned away or rejected. Should circumstances arise that an FC needs to be changed that should be brought up to be discussed between me and the player!
If you have any questions on lore/setting please ask and I will answer. Better than to assume and be told that it's not what I had in mind.
4. Not looking for real-life accurate lore on the FBI or other government agencies. Some leeway is more than okay, and unless it makes NO sense whatsoever it will probably be okay to be waved away. As long as you do enough research to feel confident your choice doesn't seem like something a junior high drama production would put on, we should be good!
Last but not least, keep all drama IC and hash things out like adults in DMs if needed. If mediators are ever needed, please ask. If you have an issue with me please don't be afraid to either message me or someone else in the server to speak on your behalf (or anonymously, if anything is wrong). I want everyone to feel included and like they can creatively participate in their plot. Your character matters! Keep engaged and I can guarantee you will feel engagement back at you.
"But our fear of the everyday, of the lurking stranger and the sound of footfalls on the stairs, the fear of violent death and the primitive impulse to survive, are as frightening as any X-File, as real as the acceptance that it could happen to you. โ
INTRODUCTION
Deep within the bowels of the FBI, down a dingy set of stairs and a door that needs a good push to open, there lives the files of unexplained, undetermined and unknown activity reported by police or civilians to the FBI. While the cases were noted, they were ultimately filed away to rot in this storage compartment, one of many files in a blue-green file cabinet. No one took them seriously; no one wanted to spare the manpower to really see what was fact and what was fiction.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, attention was turned within the US as to what degree of unexplained UFO phenomena could have been national security issues (planes, cameras, all sent by the crumbling remnants of the Cold War), as well as the amount of information withheld by the FBI and CIA, labeling such things as unexplained and unknown that could have been stealth efforts on behalf of the USโs main โenemyโ. With all this pressure, the Senate made it clear that they would be pushing their national security and information departments to investigate and report on these forgotten cases.
Thus the X-Files, or the โuneXplainedโ files were created. A formal group comprised of some of the lowest denominator of special agents, the most expendable and requiring the least amount of agency resources to send in, were banished to this basement in order to formally clean up and debunk or further investigate all these cases. With cases spanning decades, it was made clear that this โpromotionโ was more of a sentencing to the agents involved. Supervised by the Assistant FBI Director himself, he would see where it was necessary to use and send the agents and other available manpower.
SETTING
The year is 1997 and you are one of these hapless FBI agents, banished to the basement. Some cannot stand to remain on the job, quitting eventually or waiting until they fuck up decently enough to get fired. Whether you are a new hire or someone whoโs been here since the beginning, the cases seem to stack on for eternity. One day youโll hit the bottom. One day.
A half-serious job in a half-lit basement, it would not be a surprise if the time spent going through case files and trying to determine which deserved further looking and which could be discarded, was just a lame excuse to keep the Senate and the public sitting and waiting until they all inevitably forget about it.
ROLES
1. Visited by the MIB - These 'men in black' are entities that are not mere government agents sent to silence those who speak the loudest on things unknown. No, they're hardly human at all. Something between a demonic figure, or maybe something otherworldy, either way they visited your home and made their presence quite known. Whatever you've seen they don't want you telling anyone. Sometimes you see them around a street corner. Sometimes you're sure one of them has followed you into traffic. You just can't shake the feeling of being followed.
2. 'Dreams of the Visage - Without explanation a face has haunted your dreams. A man, a woman, or something undetermined, this thing pollutes your sleeping mind and leaves you restless and unsure. Part of you thinks you'll see it one day when you're awake, and then you'll know if its real or if it's your psyche trying to tell you something. You are fractured, nonetheless, desperate to find answers.
3. 'Animal' Attack - Any manner of cryptid encounter goes under this role. Be it an actual attack by one, a simple sighting or the stalking of a creature on the hunt in the woods, you have witnessed an animal or creature that should not exist. Your evidence, if any, just gets thrown in the pile with the rest of the weirdos. But you're so sure of what you saw that you'll do what it takes to prove it to everyone.
4. Psychic Encounter - While not psychic or holding these traits yourself, you have encountered someone or something psychic or paranormal. Ghosts aren't real, that's a fact of nature, but what of the mutated human genome? Could it be capable of performing extrasensory feats? This event has left you yearning for more, or marked by emotional trauma, and you can't help but feel like there's something you're not quite seeing.
5. Aliens Aliens Aliens - Abducted? Saw a ship? Saw a little green man? You have encountered something related to aliens or UFO, and it has never left your mind since. Maybe everyone just thinks you're crazy, or maybe you're even convinced your sanity is not all there. It's marked you greatly as an agent, however, and you are not sure how to go forward knowing that no one believes you.
6. Unremarkable Agent - An agent that has not been visited, encountered or otherwise marked by an event featuring something unexplainable. Maybe something happened to someone they know, or maybe not at all. Either way, they are 'unremarkable' and are more of the role of a skeptic or third party within the group.
7. ??? - These roles are merely examples of backgrounds/instances that you can put into your character. Try to keep your character from being all-knowing or all-aware of these unexplained things. There are countless more out there, ripe for the taking. All that can be asked is that individuality between characters is prioritised. Multiples and similarities are okay, as these roles are not one for one.
RULES
1. Players are to be 18+. Characters are to be 23+. Characters will not be first come first serve, and if any ideas are too similar I will default to the one that is a) completed and b) fits well with the dynamic and themes at play. These themes are mystery, science-fiction, unexplained, ufology/conspiracy theories, paranormal all within the wrapped paper of a 'procedrual crime drama'. X-Files inspired for a reason. All characters must be current FBI agents, either on active duty or perhaps on some leave/suspension until they are 'fine' again (brought onto the team). I don't want to see quirky/goofy/silly characters made to be goofy/quirky/silly, so please consider how realistic your character idea is before you bring it to the team. I'll accept 7+ players, with a cap of ten (if it even becomes that many people). Single applications for now unless numbers drop and second characters are needed.
2. Posts are to be once a week at minimum, multi-paragraph and full of juicy, juicy descriptors and language. 'Adv-lit' is a retired term, but if you think that applies to you then I think you'll be just fine. However, I am aware that life sucks and they get busy and schedules are sometimes at the whim of outside forces! If you can only manage a few paragraphs from a bad day that's more than okay. Quality over quantity-- provide something for your partners and we will provide back. Please try to be semi active in the ooc, as any ghosters/less activity people may be kicked after a few weeks of silence. If you are finding yourself unable to reply, unable to be active or just no longer have interest, just shoot me a message, no questions asked! All I require is letting me know to some degree so that we can account for any conversation involving your character or any plots with them.
3. Real life faceclaims only. Descriptors/aesthetic images to supplement are okay! Do consider the age of your faceclaim and the age of the character you are having them portray; if they're 20 something playing a 30 year old that's gonna be asked to change. Diversity is welcome and unless the faceclaim in question does not match the age, no faceclaims will be turned away or rejected. Should circumstances arise that an FC needs to be changed that should be brought up to be discussed between me and the player!
If you have any questions on lore/setting please ask and I will answer. Better than to assume and be told that it's not what I had in mind.
4. Not looking for real-life accurate lore on the FBI or other government agencies. Some leeway is more than okay, and unless it makes NO sense whatsoever it will probably be okay to be waved away. As long as you do enough research to feel confident your choice doesn't seem like something a junior high drama production would put on, we should be good!
Last but not least, keep all drama IC and hash things out like adults in DMs if needed. If mediators are ever needed, please ask. If you have an issue with me please don't be afraid to either message me or someone else in the server to speak on your behalf (or anonymously, if anything is wrong). I want everyone to feel included and like they can creatively participate in their plot. Your character matters! Keep engaged and I can guarantee you will feel engagement back at you.
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