In the spring of 1992, an unknown phenomenon occurred in the outskirts of Knox County. Peculiar weather patterns formed, and unexplained lights in the sky filled the tabloids. Conspiracy theories ranged from government experiments to an alien encounter. Over the course of the summer of 1992, people throughout the region of Kentucky started to report various strange experiences. Tabloid magazines and newsletters would write an increasing number of stories of people claiming to be haunted. TV stations, often in a mocking tone, would interview people with wild stories of voices or visions stalking them. Police and other emergency services issued public warnings against filing phoney reports, threatening consequences for doing so.
As North America entered winter and 1993 rolled in, the reports had spread across most of the world. The internet’s early forums (BBS and Usenet) conspiracy groups were a bustle with reports of strange events happening. A vision here, voices there. Some even claimed items in their homes would move or start to behave differently, with one report that a toaster would "pop up toast" on its own, even when no bread was loaded into it. A TV show, "Unsolved Mysteries", saw record-breaking viewership topping 23 million over the ‘92-’93 season.
To the average person though, life didn’t change. There had always been reports from people on the fringes of society claiming they saw or heard things. Ghost stories were just that… Ghost stories. They were interesting to read about, exciting to share with friends and family, but not something that nearly anyone took seriously...
... well, they took them seriously on March 9th, 1993...
In an instant, all around the world, people heard a deep pounding, coming from everywhere all at once. Shortly after, rifts, tears in the fabric of reality itself, started to rip open. These rifts blanketed the surface; no place above ground was safe. Anyone near them would get pulled through, likely never to be seen again. Undead poured out in their place, unrecognizable once-human creatures who seemed to have only one goal: kill anything alive. There were some unverified reports of people claiming to have been ripped through the rifts only to find themselves thousands of miles away, with no memory of how they got there. The whole world went to chaos in a matter of minutes.
The rifts were unpredictable and would open and close seemingly at random. Some rifts would remain open and pour in the undead for days. Others would appear and disappear in a moment's time. Only one thing was certain. The more people around, the more likely a rift was to appear.
Those in close proximity to the rifts would also report other strange occurrences: Hearing loud pounding from far away, the calls of loved ones long passed, visions of their own deaths, overwhelming feelings of dread and fear. Some have said they saw other things, unidentifiable things, coming through the rifts as well. Whatever these rifts are is far more than just gateways for the undead.
By March 11th, every government on earth had declared a state of emergency. In the United States, major cities had completely devolved into chaos, with the military attempting to quarantine the undead, who now outnumbered the living by many factors. Churches around the country proclaimed the end of times was upon us, and many believers spent their final moments on their knees at a pew as the undead poured in. Rural areas were not spared either, although they fared a bit better, with small pockets of areas escaping the rifts at first. Eventually though, nothing was spared.
In Knox County, it was quickly realized by emergency services that the rifts never seemed to appear underground. The Louisville PD and FD along with remnants of other organizations set up an emergency shelter at The Louisville MegaCavern MegaMall for refugees and survivors pouring out of the city. As the days passed and it was clear there was no help coming, this emergency shelter morphed into something more permanent.
It was also observed that those who died, or died again in the case of the undead, would disappear, almost as if something was going around and taking the corpses. Sometimes corpses would disappear near instantly, leaving only a pool of blood behind. In other cases they would remain for hours, but they always disappeared. Efforts to "keep them" to date have been unsuccessful.
By March 15th, most of the rifts had closed or disappeared. Occasionally, rifts reform with more undead coming through, but the frequency seems to be far less than the initial days. Larger groups seem to incur more rifts, leading to smaller, more spread out settlements. The only large encampments seem to be in caves or in underground facilities.
Season 7 will start 3-5 days (depending on final plans for preseason) into this apocalypse. Here are some things you should consider when developing your Season 7 Characters:
Date and Location: The season will take place in Knox County starting in early March 1993.
The world is in chaos: By the time the main season starts, the entire globe is in complete chaos. All major forms of government have been decimated, militaries are fractured with little to no centralized command. Local governments may exist within small refugee/survivor areas with varying levels of influence.
No one is an expert: Your character can not be an expert in anomalies, rifts, or anything specific to our story or lore. The lore behind the rifts and other phenomena will be revealed over the course of the season. No player characters could have any direct prior knowledge of their origin. Your character could be a conspiracy theorist, but would not have had direct contact with an anomaly prior to the season.
Keep things grounded: This is still "zombie apocalypse survival RP" and that will be the primary focus of the season. The only difference is we are using a paranormal/horror setting to explain where the zombies came from (versus a sciency pathogen, fantasy pollen, etc). Your character must be grounded in reality. This means, if your character believes in ghosts any more than "sure, they might exist" they would likely be seen by others as "delusional" or an "outcast".
Conspiracy theorists: If you decide to make your character a "believer" of the tabloids, forums, etc, they will have been labelled a "Conspiracy Theorist" and dismissed by the majority of people. Additionally, you will have to guess 100% from the information we make public, likely being VERY wrong. You can not use the information in teasers for your characters’ knowledge. e.g. FBI leaks, ECHO photo, etc.
Starting Points: Aside from the preseason (see below), your character likely would have been in Knox County already whether they lived there, were visiting, or just arriving. Lore wise, all organized mass transit would have failed very quickly, with only in-progress flights/rail/bus/etc finishing after March 9th. If you do not play in preseason, you can start in Rural Knox or LV. If you originate in LV it is likely you would find yourself taking shelter in the Mega Cavern Mega Mall and Hotel (see below), which will be a common starting point for characters throughout Season 7.
Coming is easy, going is difficult: Due to something unexplainable at time of season start, trying to leave Knox County is extremely difficult, but conversely it is extremely easy to accidentally find yourself in Knox County. Following roads from outside the county towards Knox specifically gives people a feeling of safety, like it’s the right choice. If you are inside Knox County though and try to leave, you become disoriented and overwhelmed with an immense feeling of dread and despair; every part of you is screaming "this is a bad idea, turn back."
In 1986, the US government passed the Expanding Passenger Rail Efficiency, Safety & Service Act (EXPRESS Act) due to rising concerns over oil dependence, resulting in huge sums of money being given to any company which increased the offering of commuter and passenger rail services. One such company was Evercrest, who started developing Luxury "Rail Cruises". Luxurious trips across the country with all the amenities you could imagine.
The Silver Meridian is one of Evercrest’s premier lines, spanning from California to DC on a freshly laid "southern" tract of rail. Pioneering not only the southern rail route, the Silver Meridian is also the first of the Luxury Rail Cruises to add an economy class, finally making this new and upcoming form of recreation available to the average person. It has been wildly successful, with Evercrest boasting a whopping 29% of all US luxury rail bookings for the 1993 season, selling out of all lines months in advance.
Preseason for S7 will take place on The Silver Meridian. Many details are yet to be confirmed, like Dates, Lengths, etc. We will get these out ASAP.
If you want to submit a character for preseason, they must board The Silver Meridian in Los Angeles, California. They can board with one of 3 passes: Economy Class, First Class, or Crew. You will be able to sign up to these roles during Character Creation. You must be able to justify any of these with backstory. First Class will only be for those who can afford/justify the high expense. If you want to have a predefined role for preseason, your character could play as crew. Roles include: Chef, Servers, Entertainers, Attendants, etc. Everyone else will join in Economy Class.
More details about preseason will be released as we finalize them, but this should be enough for you to start planning your characters.
In the late 70s, a developer purchased land over the Knox Mega Cavern on the outskirts of Louisville. During the initial construction of a shopping center, a massive sinkhole formed. While this was a huge environmental disaster and a major hit to the developer's insurance, like any good capitalist they refused to let a crisis go to waste. They decided to utilize the now pre-dug hole to create a massive underground mall and hotel, themed around the caverns the sinkhole had opened into.
In the first 24 hours after the rifts appeared, Louisville PD and FD realized quite quickly that the rifts were not appearing below ground level. With this information, they moved fast to establish a refugee and safe zone within the Mega Cavern Mega Mall and Hotel. Over the next few days, any remaining agencies in the area, including emergency services, city government, and military units, made their way to the site. All emergency channels were set to repeat the same message:
This is an emergency broadcast. All persons are advised to move underground immediately. A protected shelter with medical aid and food is active at Mega Cavern Mega Mall and Hotel.
If your character will be starting their story at the mall, you need to establish when and how they got to the mall. You can not start "already in" the mall, first spawn will be your first arrival to the mall.
Characters living at the mall will be able to get an apartment in the hotel. This is a new system, allowing for permanent instanced based living spaces connected to the hub. Additionally, there will be store fronts available at the mall which can be applied to occupy once season starts.