The Desert of the Real
The World Is Real…
A man stands by the window as you are led in by the blonde woman, the one who told you she could take you to him. You had followed her willingly, knowing deep in your mind that she would lead you to all the answers you spent your life searching for, that she would lead you to him.
He is rather normal, dressed in a black suit of Italian design, small designer sunglasses concealing his eyes, neatly trimmed black hair and goatee, both with just a bit of salt to make him look distinguished. He turns slowly and looks at you, motioning to a simple chair in the middle of the room, a small table between it and another chair. His smile is cold, slightly unnerving.
You hesitate for a moment, unsure of what is going on, but sure that you want the answers you spent countless days and nights searching for. Taking a steadying breath, you walk over and sit down, watching as the man walks over and does the same.
As he sits down, he reaches into his inner pocket and pulls out a small metallic case, holding it in his hand as he crosses one leg over the other and looks at you. The blonde woman comes near you, leaning in and whispering simply, “When he asks you the question, be honest with your answer.”
The man nods as the blonde woman then leaves, disappearing into a room next door. Then, without introducing himself, he begins to speak to you.
Michael: “Everyone knows that the world is real; the hustle and bustle of the late 20th century may not be perfect, but it is home, it is reality. That is beyond dispute... Or is it?
He pauses for a moment, watching you intently with that cold, unnerving gaze of his. You stay silent, not certain if the question was literal or rhetorical.
Michael: “The truth is that humanity stopped existing as the apex of the earth a few centuries ago, nearly driven into extinction by our own clever creations, the Machines. We created them, gave them the intelligence we designed, and thus thought we could control; but we didn't expect them to gain sentience, to start thinking for themselves as we did.
“No, we saw ourselves as gods designing the new beings to serve us and make our lives easier. And because of this, we treated them as slaves, as the unthinking, unfeeling machines we saw them as.
“When they asked for freedom, we pushed back. When they asked for equality, we pushed back violently. When they created their own nation, we went to war with them. A war we lost, one that drove us underground to survive. Those caught by them became nothing but a renewable power source, one they could cultivate like a crop of wheat.”
Are You Ready For The Truth?
He watches you as your mind processes this information, trying to understand what he is talking about. Machines? Underground? War? None of it made sense, and you are becoming irritated by this. Sensing that shift, he continues to talk, his voice smooth, unfazed by the expression of irritation on your face.
Michael: “You are here because you do not believe what you see, something seems off to you, right? You see life in a way others do not; it's like what you view as reality is inherently wrong, unnatural.
“I can’t tell you what to believe, all I can do is offer you the same thing that was offered to me… The truth, the key to the doorway that will answer all your questions.”
He opens the case in his hand, seemingly emptying whatever was inside into the palm of his right hand. He reaches over and sets the case on the table, and for the first time, you notice a glass of water sitting there. Was it there before? You can’t remember. In a simple, fluid motion, he shifts his position, uncrossing his legs and moving to lean in front of you.
Holding out both hands, he opens them at the same time and reveals what he holds. In his right is a red pill, in his left is a blue pill. He watches you, then speaks in that same smooth, cold tone as before.
Michael: “One of these pills is the key; it is the item that will unlock and open the door to the truth. The other is a second lock, one that will forever shut that door to the truth. A proper analogy is this… If you take the red pill, you will follow Alice into the looking glass and see how deep the rabbit hole goes, and there you will find the truth. However, if you take the blue pill, the dream ends, Alice never goes through the looking glass, and your time searching for the truth is forgotten like a dream fading with the coming dawn.”
You hesitate for a moment, then begin to reach for the red pill.
Michael: “Remember, I only offer the truth, nothing more, nothing less… Everything else is your burden to bear.”
Nodding, you reach over, take the red pill, and your journey to the truth begins…
In this game, you are playing one of the red pills who work tirelessly trying to free others from The Matrix. Led by Captain Michael on the hovercraft Michael's Fury, you all split your time between the real world and The Matrix. Between missions given by Zion and The Oracle, your crew searches for and frees other potential red pills, ferrying them back to Zion once freed from their former prison.
I will be looking for up to six players to create the Red Pill crew members of the hovercraft Michael's Fury. If this game interests you, read the Setting tabs and Character Creation rules. We are using the OpenLegend RPG system to run this game. All submissions need to be placed by December 28th. I will make my choices by January 4th, with game play beginning January 5th.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the Pre-Game OOC Thread within the Crew Recruiting tab above.
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