[Freeform｜Survival] The Phoenix Project

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Roleplay Type: Freeform; Original
Roleplay Genres: Survival; Apocalypse; Dystopian Society
Open Slots: Infinite​

They said it couldn't be done.

True immortality, as the alchemists of old dreamed of with the Philosopher's Stone, as endless tragic heroes have sought in fictional Shakespearean and reported, factual happenings alike. A dream sought after by nearly every mortal man this world has spawned, but always outside of what we are truly able to perceive, what we are truly able to grasp. The ability to elude death has itself eluded men for millenia.

That is, until we founded the Phoenix Project.

On the surface, this government-run organization was simple enough: an anti-aging project. Fighting off the scythe of the Reaper as he comes to collect his withered harvest at the end of its days, but it quickly evolved into so much more. Because it doesn't matter what one is dying from. Be it old age, poison, disease, or murder, one thing causes death: organ failure. And how do you reverse organ failure? Heal and restart the organ.

Work on this, naturally, began immediately. Through a combination of previous stem cell research, ingenuity, and sheer determination, we found that by altering the chemical makeup- the very genetics- of lab animals increased their healing to an alarming intensity. But as our methods were to be applied to humans, we needed more than rats to test on.

We needed living human beings.

Walking the ethical border between right and wrong, we collected terminally injured children from hospitals and orphanages to test on. The experiments worked halfway, healing some but not all of the crippling wounds; the genetic makeup of humans is too alien from the rats', and so our experiments continued. Alterations were made until the children's disabilities were fully healed.

It still wasn't enough for my superiors. We needed to know how far the superhealing could go, how fast it worked with fresh wounds in humans. And here is when it all went downhill.

Our government has a sick, twisted sense of entertainment. The Phoenix Project, as a government-funded organization, was wholly the same. The children we were supposed to be helping were outfitted with weapons standard to trainee soldiers, and then pitted against one another in brutal duels to the death. We lost nearly every test subject and had to resort to kidnapping- and effectively executing- more. All in the name of science.

To their credit, the children caught on remarkably fast. In the long run, their knowledge was useless. Reluctant to comply, they were strapped down or tranquilized so that experimentation could progress unhindered. Quick to rebel, they were kept under intense surveillance, disarmed, and locked one or two to a room when we were not using them. And refusing to die, they were subjected to experiments that heightened their aggression but nearly forced them to obey what proved to be authority.

And this is where shit hit the golden fan.

We didn't see it coming. Led by a young girl of twelve named Sirrah, the test subjects rioted. We quickly discovered what they had already learned: they had unnatural speed, strength, and reflexes. And Sirrah was possibly the strongest of the group, for she could quell their aggression with a word as long as they all shared a common enemy.

Us.

We lost several staff members to this battalion of fast-healing, armed children. Finally, one of my superiors managed to pull out his gun. He found Sirrah among the chaos. And in what must have seemed an act of utter dominance to the children, he looked Sirrah in the eyes. He aimed the gun at her face. And he pulled the trigger.

There was a stunned silence before the remaining staff members now easily herded the children back into their rooms. They put up no fight; Sirrah, their leader, had been defeated by the man who had now displayed his authority in the facility. After the children were disarmed and confined, we cleared out the bodies of our fallen colleagues and Sirrah.

Ten hours later we were terrified to find that, standing over the bodies of two of the guards in a pool of freshly spilled blood, with red on her hands and red and gray matting her hair, was Sirrah.

We had succeeded. And now it was biting us in the ass.

What happened next the few survivors of us learned later. Sirrah had already released a number of her friends, just as shocked to see her very much alive as we were, and massacred nearly every scientist in the facility at the time. I and a few lucky others escaped by some miracle and were driven out. We found places to hide while all hell broke loose on the outside world.

Somehow, Sirrah had convinced her friends- and probably believed- that all still-natural humans were the enemy. We still don't know how. Clearly the experimentation had traumatized many of them, including Sirrah, and perhaps having her brains literally blown out of her head caused lasting damage that her new healing abilities could not repair. We might never know. All that matters now is that the Phoenix Project, as the kids still call themselves out of bitter irony, have their hands on weapons ranging from their standard handguns to firearms that any soldier would kill to have. And with these weapons they have created a path of such utter destruction that the government was forced to quarantine the area affected, with civilians still inside. With me still inside.

Civilians, however, are hardy specimens. Despite the now nearly barren wasteland that they once called home, they have managed to find a way to survive. Stray cats, vicious rodents, and mangy, half-starved dogs now walk the broken, debris-filled streets of former cities, but humans hide even in the most obvious of places. Looting abandoned stores, hiding under the debris of fallen buildings, even hiding in the more whole buildings- the Phoenix Project doesn't seem to know that their targets fill in behind them, the areas already searched. It needs to stay that way.

Because I am close. Oh, so close.

I found a reasonably safe area to hide in. I have been able to salvage everything I need from the laboratory to replicate the experiments that caused all this. This means that, at my leisure, I can experiment and see if there is any possible way to kill these monsters I had a hand in creating.

But test subjects. Always test subjects.

I'm not using humans. Not again. Sentience is a variable that one cannot prepare for- especially not when you take into consideration that none of these children are older than fourteen. So I'm back to rats. They already come back to life when killed; they also like biting the shit out of me. But I'm not giving up. My name is Ross: it's already circulating out there. To the survivors I am the last chance at any shred of normalcy. To the Phoenix Project I am the final threat.

And if worst comes to worst... children and rats aren't the only creatures these experiments work on.

~ The Phoenix Project ~​

Banner made by Kudamon. Introduction written by myself and Kudamon.​

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Happy Doomsday, everyone.

This roleplay is loosely inspired by a short story of the same name. However, while said story is a paranormal romance, this is... not so much. You can read specifics above, but all I'm giving right now is this:

You may play a civilian, one of the few surviving scientists, or someone in the Phoenix Project. No matter who you are playing, your goal is to find Ross. If you are a civilian or scientist, your goal is to protect him until he finds a way to kill the Phoenix Project; if you are FROM the Phoenix Project, your goal is to kill him and preserve yourself. Neither of these tasks are going to be easy, AND you have to find him first.

tPP takes place in a future of undetermined time period, however it isn't much more advanced than our world. It takes place in an indeterminate area of the United States spanning at least two states. Both of these variables will be figured out before signups are posted.

On that note, if there's enough interest, signups will be posted after winter break because it's so much easier for me.

If you have any questions, post here or PM me or Kudamon. She's on ZEJ more often than I am. Alternatively, visit IRC at any time during the North American daytime for the next week or so and one of us will most likely be there. Otherwise, on school days Kudamon tends to log on during her study halls.

Post if you're interested!