Post by Azrican on Dec 17, 2020 17:29:15 GMT -6
“That dark part of the war, two hundred men bringing three hundred innocents from the gaping sands - that is where our broken country became whole once again. It was not the Battle of the Bay, not the great armored struggles on the Kopen Peninsula, or the frigid combat within the Issenian mountains. It was that forgotten, quiet theater of the war; in the whistling dunes and towering plateaus of Veranchia. Where men faced each other across the wadis - and the monsters we created.”
The year is 1993 and the country is embroiled in a civil war, the outcome of which will determine the fate of millions the world over. For three years now the frontlines have changed hands again and again, driving republics in two, dividing and destroying families, and bringing a once great nation that strode across the world a mighty giant, to its very knees. Countries both near and far hold a terrored breath in their capitals, watching in horror as the fires of war threaten to topple a titan, and with it the narrow peace she had brought. Closer to home in the country itself, the battles tip decisively in the favor of the ambitious - fascists known as the Outer Axis threaten to drown their opponents in waves of tanks, aircraft, men, missiles and shells.
Holding on by a single thread and their allies cut off and confined to the inland, wild interior of the country, the Inner Allies cling to a distant, forlorn hope of victory and salvation in the hands of the Western Federation. The Federation, a loose consortium of states and cities that were left to flounder after the capital of AlncFord was put under siege by the Axis, struggles to arm itself and even maintain its tentative hold on the distant mountainous and plains regions it controls- the Koralines. On the horizon is a dwindling light however, the mighty armies and navies of the nation that have remained loyal to the Allies returning from overseas.
With their backs to the waters of AlncFord bay, and the guns of their enemies looming in the hills over their once shining capital, the Inner Republic fights like a cornered animal as ships begin sailing into the bay and offloading troops, tanks and weapons. The Axis is prepared for the long game however, with guns lining the channel and raining metal fire upon the desperate captains and crews of the vessels trying to reinforce the capital. The sealift provides much needed breathing room for the harrowed defenders of AlncFord, but it is only a finger in the dyke stemming the inexorable march of Axis boots across the country. If AlncFord is to survive, a second front must be opened in the west, and it must be decisive.
The men and women to open this decisive front are the Auxiliary Volunteer Army, composed of various nationalities aligned, but not directly subordinate, to the Allies. Abandoning their stations from across the world and making the journey back home across both foreign lands and waters, the Volunteer Army brought their weapons and machinery with them, breathing new life to the struggling Allies. They also brought thousands of foreign fighters with them, from other countries both friend and foe before the war. This international force could prove to be the determining factor in the civil war, turning the Axis from the gates of the capital and strangling their ambitions in the cradle.
There is only one problem though: a renewed sealift would be shot to pieces by the missiles and munitions of the Axis, and the Western Federation itself could never cross the entire country quickly enough to save the defenders of AlncFord. This leaves only one choice, a daring overland invasion from the south and through the water starved deserts of Veranchia.
This operation teeters on the brink of failure before it even begins however, not just due to the demands of sustaining a military force across hundreds of miles of desert. Three years ago when the war began, the states of this desert wasteland became marooned in the sands, forgotten by all sides of the war, and it has been this way since. To cross this yawning tomb of sand and stone, the Volunteers must enter and discover the fate of this remote region. The horrors of war have already scoured the nation for three years, and with cautious deliberation the Volunteers question just what sort of horrors the sands of Veranchia may contain. What will be waiting for the men and women who have traveled thousands of miles across continents and oceans to fight for the very survival of their once free country?
Welcome to The Column, a modern action and horror setting that will seek to explore the boundaries of the human condition in war - the struggles and demands of not just surviving but maintaining the humanity which makes life so precious. Players will either step into the shoes of a Volunteer, or a civilian, as they fight their way through the empty deserts and towns of Veranchia, a cruel and demanding region where death from a bullet is not the only fate to meet.
The setting for the RP will be a world not too different from our own, on a planet named only as Scatter in an established universe. While there are numerous differences between this planet and our own, I and another player will make it as easy as possible for other players and their characters to immerse themselves in the world. The country that the RP will take place in, Azrica, is analogous to the United States - though with the addition of a Canadian-esque landmass north. The parallel of Canada, Ameria, is itself an island nation directly north of the continent, with several other island countries occupying similar positions. While the Republic of Azrica is nominally similar to America, cultural, religious and social differences abound.
Players will not be expected to simply play Azricans and Amerians however, and are encouraged to play any other nationalities in the Volunteers who have taken the oath to abandon their countries, families and lives to fight against the Outer Axis. In a full OOC, the most popular - or assumed - nationalities will be detailed to help players create their character, along with a timeline of the war and also its effects on not only Azrica, but the world over.
As a Volunteer, the men and women of the 44th Company will be tasked with follow up operations and determining the events that had transpired in the years while Veranchia was under the dominion of a mysterious, anarchistic system known only as ‘the Antirepublic’. Their elusive foes, dubbed the Black Legion by the terrified citizens of this region, dominate the low valleys and high desert plateaus, and must be eradicated man by man with bullet and knife.
As a civilian, players can take the role of either silent victims of the Antirepublic or its outspoken critics. Whether scraping by a living under the watchful hands of the Black Legion, or interned as a ‘threat to the free order’ by what can pass for the Antirepublic’s government, civilians in the Column will serve an integral role. By supporting the 44th Company, and even fighting alongside it, they will be the unseen comrades wresting control of Veranchia from the bizarre, stateless tyranny of the Antirepublic.
Infodump: For just a cursory glance to motivate character development, provided is a short crash course. I can be found on Discord and through forum PMs to help coach a character concept and fit the niche of the concept into the story, there are numerous stories occurring throughout the Civil War and, particularly, in this obscure theater of the war. Provided after that is a simple character sheet that you can use, while a more detailed one can be found here.
Basic CS:
Name:
Alias:
Age:
Height:
Weight:
Occupation:
Description:
History:
Equipment:
Name:
Alias:
Age:
Height:
Weight:
Occupation:
Description:
History:
Equipment:
Factions & Settings & Events:
The Western Federation (of the Azrican Allies):
The second member of the North Azrican Treaty Alliance (NATO) and largest single military-political entity in the civil war. While graced with force of arms the Western Federation’s military is tied up across the world - a third of it serving under the banners of irregular ‘Volunteer’ units even.
The Antirepublic:
Built upon tenets of anarcho-communism, although mixing various other political and economic facets of the wider Antirepublic, the Free Territory in the former state of Veranchia became an extremely difficult and wild entity through the course of Azrica’s schism. Due to the state’s open desert and treacherous landscape, as well as the despotic nature of the state’s populace, the Anti-Republic in Veranchia was deemed a very severe threat to the Western Federation’s South Verbant Front. As part of the larger Operation Landing Eagle, Volunteer forces moved into Veranchia to support the Western Federation’s 7th Provincial Corps advance through the Centralia Plains.
The Black Front:
Little is known of the organization and politics of the Black Front, mainly due to its thoroughly decentralized nature, which had allowed the Black Front to operate so effectively in the beginning of the civil war. While no explanation has been provided by the administration of exactly how the Black Front and it’s military wing, the Legion, took control of the state it is imagined that Veranchia’s remote population centers and expansive desert made the region more suitable for infiltration than other theaters of the war.
The Auxiliary Volunteer Army (AVA):
Opinions on the Volunteer Army, even years after the Civil War, are divided and often entail storms of criticism and debate. While nominally a paramilitary unit of the Azrican Forces in Austra, the open ranks of these composite units soon swelled with foreign fighters and became an entity of its own in the wake of the Austran Revolution. Rather than disband when the last proxies of the Cold War disarmed, the Azrican Civil War instead served as a new conflict for the Volunteers.
The Outer Axis:
Composed of a broad front of fascists, neo-federates and internationalists, the Outer Axis grew from the circles of disaffected soldiers and politicians that have joined hands with the lexists of the Oriyak League. After the rise of the Black Decembrist Movement and the Alncford Riots, the Outer Axis brought the ideological battle to the streets of Azrica and her cities. With thousands of tanks and other hardware, the Outer Axis became the defacto government of a broad stretch of Eastern Azrica practically overnight.
Commonwealth Republics of Veranchia:
The Veranch desert stretches from the hill country of Meridia across the vast interior of the Azrican continent to the Aretzhian borders. Always a lawless, empty place, civilization has been tenuous at best even before the Civil War. When communications and infrastructure broke down with the onset of the Azrican Civil War, many of the western states were left in the lurch which gave rise to the Western Federation. Even more removed than these republics, Veranchia became a desert stretch few passed through to get further east into Meridia.
The Azrican Civil War:
History remembers the four year conflict differently, considering while any millions died, millions more survived. Everyone in-country at the time will carry a story of their own, whether evacuated before a battle raged or left behind to find for themselves as tanks roared through the streets and artillery shelled. The conflict’s time, taking place at the turn of the millenia, meant that technology played a hand in ways that few truly understood the importance of. Whether a civilian trapped between warring armies, or one of the brave soldiers joining the Western Federation in an attempt to stifle the advance of the Outer Axis, every character will have a story of where they were and what they did in the war.
The Western Federation (of the Azrican Allies):
The second member of the North Azrican Treaty Alliance (NATO) and largest single military-political entity in the civil war. While graced with force of arms the Western Federation’s military is tied up across the world - a third of it serving under the banners of irregular ‘Volunteer’ units even.
The Antirepublic:
Built upon tenets of anarcho-communism, although mixing various other political and economic facets of the wider Antirepublic, the Free Territory in the former state of Veranchia became an extremely difficult and wild entity through the course of Azrica’s schism. Due to the state’s open desert and treacherous landscape, as well as the despotic nature of the state’s populace, the Anti-Republic in Veranchia was deemed a very severe threat to the Western Federation’s South Verbant Front. As part of the larger Operation Landing Eagle, Volunteer forces moved into Veranchia to support the Western Federation’s 7th Provincial Corps advance through the Centralia Plains.
The Black Front:
Little is known of the organization and politics of the Black Front, mainly due to its thoroughly decentralized nature, which had allowed the Black Front to operate so effectively in the beginning of the civil war. While no explanation has been provided by the administration of exactly how the Black Front and it’s military wing, the Legion, took control of the state it is imagined that Veranchia’s remote population centers and expansive desert made the region more suitable for infiltration than other theaters of the war.
The Auxiliary Volunteer Army (AVA):
Opinions on the Volunteer Army, even years after the Civil War, are divided and often entail storms of criticism and debate. While nominally a paramilitary unit of the Azrican Forces in Austra, the open ranks of these composite units soon swelled with foreign fighters and became an entity of its own in the wake of the Austran Revolution. Rather than disband when the last proxies of the Cold War disarmed, the Azrican Civil War instead served as a new conflict for the Volunteers.
The Outer Axis:
Composed of a broad front of fascists, neo-federates and internationalists, the Outer Axis grew from the circles of disaffected soldiers and politicians that have joined hands with the lexists of the Oriyak League. After the rise of the Black Decembrist Movement and the Alncford Riots, the Outer Axis brought the ideological battle to the streets of Azrica and her cities. With thousands of tanks and other hardware, the Outer Axis became the defacto government of a broad stretch of Eastern Azrica practically overnight.
Commonwealth Republics of Veranchia:
The Veranch desert stretches from the hill country of Meridia across the vast interior of the Azrican continent to the Aretzhian borders. Always a lawless, empty place, civilization has been tenuous at best even before the Civil War. When communications and infrastructure broke down with the onset of the Azrican Civil War, many of the western states were left in the lurch which gave rise to the Western Federation. Even more removed than these republics, Veranchia became a desert stretch few passed through to get further east into Meridia.
The Azrican Civil War:
History remembers the four year conflict differently, considering while any millions died, millions more survived. Everyone in-country at the time will carry a story of their own, whether evacuated before a battle raged or left behind to find for themselves as tanks roared through the streets and artillery shelled. The conflict’s time, taking place at the turn of the millenia, meant that technology played a hand in ways that few truly understood the importance of. Whether a civilian trapped between warring armies, or one of the brave soldiers joining the Western Federation in an attempt to stifle the advance of the Outer Axis, every character will have a story of where they were and what they did in the war.