Forums » Sci-Fi Roleplay » Citadel of the Cyborg (open)

So this is an idea I've been housing for YEARS and I started it ages back as a 1X1. However, my idea needs a bit more than just my two characters to make this flesh out well. So here's my basic plot premise -

In the future (or alternate dimension - originally, my leading lady came from an alternate dimension), cyborg and fully robotic units have taken over the city - in a country already ravaged by war, the government set about creating a cyborg army to defend the country in it's crisis. Year of testing facilities and human experimenting led to a civil war within the walls of the city it had tried desperately to protect. Those who had gone through this experimentation - having been prodded and poked and dismembered for the sake of power - rule over what's left of their home.

Any stragglers within the city have formed a small, but solid, band of resistance. 'Humans' are no longer a real necessity, as they are considered weak by the highly robotic rulers. The group, however, will do all they can do overthrow the robots in control - without humanity, one lacks compassion. So, after finding a stranger that somehow managed to enter the city and escape the security units, the rebels decide they may finally have the key to taking the citadel off guard and shutting down the system.

SO - I've left a lot from major plot details out from my initial conception, as I feel telling anyone exactly the characters I had made and what their role was is too stifling a process. Mainly, I just really want to see the concept become something deeply plotted out.

I'll be using Danny, my handyman of all trades, in this particular unit. If I get anyone interested, I'll post the starter block once we have a semi-established group. If you want more details, I have plenty to give, but also feel free to add your life into this as well.

Read through this post, found it interesting.

Put me in, coach! What do I do? I've got a character up and ready to go.

I've been thinking about creating a cyborg or robotic character, perhaps this could be a nice start. Count me in!

Awesome! I'll add a starter, and you're free to jump in.

Oh cool beans! I'm going to post an opener here, but feel free to message me if you want to go into deeper plotting. I have a few ideas.

awwww yiiisss

The air in the city always retained a faint tinge of iron that mingled withing the inescapable smell of smoke. The heavy, choking stench clung the twisted skeletal remains of the buildings with a vengeance, as if it were still trying to bring down the iron beams that held up what was left behind. Deep within the festering heart of the steel city, a steady thrum still persisted. A small, but bright, flicker of real life.

Danny had small memories of his life before the heart. He had one had a house, with a family. He imaged they might have had a dog, but that might've been wishful thinking. But this was all well over 17 years ago, back before the Cyborg war had split his family apart. Then again, his family was the one who had originally sold him over - but he tried not to think about that.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts, bringing his night googles up to eyes to do sweep of the area. Cyborgs did regular nightly patrols. It really didn't take much to get caught these days. He always hated being lookout for that reason. Instinct buzzed in his gut, and he quickly scrambled up the beam he was perched on, ducking down behind a half crumbled brick wall. There was something out there. Something the perked the radar.

"I'm not getting caught tonight," he grumbled, quietly inching himself back down the beam. He scuffed around the ground with his shoe, revealing a manhole cover that was slightly ajar. Carefully, he slid it over just enough to slip his slender frame in, pushing it back into place as he perched on the ladder. He waited a moment more before dropping down into the murky water.

He could see the faint glow of the lights coming from down the tunnel. Deep within the catacombs of the city was where the heart resided - the small group of rebels that had their residence here. And he really hated to have to be the one to tell them there was something not quite human lurking not far away from it. He took a deep breath, walking the rest of the way toward the fire.

As Danny walked towards the fire, he could hear the conversation of the rebels speaking ever so quietly from a discreet location.

"Rebellion is but a natural state of order amongst mass organization. No one's perfect. Certainly not me." A gruff voice muttered.
"Reznor, you're insane! You're an idiot if you want to defect towards those...things! They're not human, they are one with the machines!"
"Calm down! I'm not rebelling! This whole war is pointless! I've got a comrade out there, an android, fighting for something he doesn't believe in! I'm sure that there's others out there that feel the same!" Reznor responded.

G.E.O or, GEO. It stands for Geared Enforcement Officer. GEO knew what that name meant. Everyone did. It meant that if you weren't human, and you saw one, that could be the end for you. It was a title of honor among the robots, and hatred and fear among the rebels. Though GEO didn't have true independent thought and full control over his actions, he still had moments where he wondered. GEO was one of the first of his kind, a Mark I. It was strange to see one still walking, as most had been hacked or destroyed. The Mark I is notorious for being easily hack-able. All it takes is something to restrain the bot and someone to change its perimeters.

GEO patrolled the streets late at night, moving through some of the rubble of the crushed buildings, looking up only to see an ocean of smoke from the factories. His scanners didn't detect any humans, as he was programmed to do. He continued throughout the city, gripping his auto-rifle. Large patrol bots towering over him shift around the city, scanning for anything outside of where it should be, and ridding the planet of it.

As GEO continued with his patrol, he noticed a manhole cover left slightly open. This wasn't particularly strange or a problem outside of one thing: the sound. This wasn't any regular sound, this was the sound of a human voice. The arrow like slit in GEO's helmet quickly turned from a light, glowing, neon blue to a dark, harsh, red. GEO turned a knob on his auto-rifle from "safe" to "auto". Before sounding an alarm for backup, GEO decided to investigate on his own. He gripped his sleek, white hands on the manhole cover and slid it onto the road. GEO jumped down into the tunnel. He noticed a light coming from around a corner, and the voices coming from the same spot.

GEO quickly shuffled over to the wall, taking cover. GEO wanted to play this tactically, so he had to plan his attack while around the corner from the enemy. This would have been fine had it not been for the sound of his feet splashing in the water as he moved. It was loud enough for the people near the light to hear, though GEO didn't know this.

Reznor then paused mid sentence. His senses were more trained than the other rebels due to cybernetic parts implanted within his brain, but that was his secret and his alone.

"Robin. Shut up for a second." He hissed.

"What? What is it-"

"Did you not hear me? Shut your mouth!"

From deep within, he heard a metallic shuffling of motors and gears in the distance, accompanied by the sound of water. Reznor slowly got up from the rocky concrete ground to go investigate.

"Robin. Stay here. Warn the others." He said.

"I trust your judgement, unlike these other folks. Take care of yourself and don't do anything stupid."

"I'm a wildcard. I don't play by the rules." He says as he stealthily scouts out the area for the machine.

GEO slowly crept towards the corner of the wall. He could hear the voices stop. He slowly reached for his auto-rifle, and quickly turned the corner with his gun aimed, only to find nothing around the corner. The rebels had been smart enough to hide in the cracks or holes in the wall of the tunnel.

GEO lowered his weapon, and let out a "click" sigh of relief. The moment he turned around, a face stood right in front of him. Not a robot, though, it was a human.

Danny wasn't the fighter of the group - He had his combat skills that he learned on street scuffles and his basic knowledge that trigger equates shoot, but otherwise he did his best to stay off to the side when things started to feel a bit antsy.

Danny's claim to fame was the group handyman, so to speak. If it was a broken, he could usually fix it. He couple figure out where things connect and how to mod most equipment just bit better than before.

He'd given a quick salute to his teammates before sliding into one of the crevices. It was a bot alright, no human would make so much noise in here without fear of being ambushed. His toolbelt sat heavy against his thigh as he breathed. Depending on make, as well as the tenacity of his friends, a bit of tinkering to temporarily disarm it could be feasible.

"Sneaking up on us, huh? And right in our safe zone. Eat this!" Reznor exclaimed.

With a swift motion, he pinned down the robot with his legs and retrieved his neutralizer, placing it on the back of the intruder's neck. With a click of the neutralizer, a crackling sound came from the small chrome gun and scrambled the robot's main circuits, as well as his own mechanical parts in his head. He winced, but kept his strength and guard up. It was down, yet it still moved under Reznor's tight grip.

"Robin! Guys! I've got a live one!" Reznor shouted towards the campgrounds.

Before GEO could even react, he was quickly pinned. Before his monitors shut down, he let out a couple of angry clicks.

His vision faded, and a couple of words on his monitor read "ERROR: CRITICAL SYSTEM SHUTDOWN"

GEO was scared, he thought this might be the end. The text on-screen began to also fade, until the finals words faded and GEO was knocked out.

Only a handful of the rebels stepped out of their barracks to see all the commotion. To their surprise, there stood Reznor, atop of a defeated robot, a human killer.

"Robin! Come check this one out...I could salvage this one for parts-"
"No, Rez." Robin replied sternly.
"Huh? No? Well, I'll be..." Reznor retorted with surprise in his voice. "Now that's a first coming from you."
"This one...it...it seems different from all the others we've seen around here."
"How can you tell? They're all the same, regardless. Going about killing our men up there while we lay low and suffer. Such a pity. You're telling me that you sympathize with this?!"
He slammed his foot on the robot, making Robin tense up.
"Reznor! We were just talking about this and you seemed so peaceful! What happened to you?"

Whenever he used that gun, it would always interfere with the parts in his head. He would always acknowledge the aftermath of his shots, and what damage he would take psychologically. It pained him, both mentally and physically to keep something from his entire team, but he feared that there was no other choice.

"Forget it, Robin. This is a conversation for another day. Where's Danny? He'll have a field day with this one."

Danny had wriggled from his hiding space just as he heard his name mentioned as the voice picked up. He took a few jogging steps forward toward Reznor, grinning as he saw the unit still on the ground.

"Oh, no way! Is that a Mark 1?" he breathed, taking a few excited steps forward, dropping to a crouch as he got close. He looked around the men around him, taking in the mixed reactions. "These models are notoriously easy to hack. If we're not planning of salvaging it - which these don't bring in much, they're pretty outdated- I'd like to see what I can play around with, if we're not objected?"

The masses looked around, displaying their mixed reactions towards one another. From the back, a voice piped up.

"No objection!"

Reznor pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed as he looked towards the ground.
He knew that everyone felt uneasy with one of those things down there. This robot infiltrated their safe haven, and one wrong move could spell disaster for each and every one of them. Deep in their hearts they did not object, yet they mostly relied on Reznor to speak for them, as he was...outspoken.

"I'll say for everyone that this place will be safer if you...no. You know what? Let's see what that brain of yours can do to this thing. This could be hacked and quite possibly, if successful, we could have eyes and ears up there without ever going outside." He turns towards Danny. "Are you up for the challenge? Do you accept?"

Danny's face lit up immediately at hearing Renzor's approval. Finally! He rarely got to mess with tech too much aside from dissembling pieces to be re-purposed. "Exactly! You're definitely not going to regret this, I promise." He dropped the rest of the way onto his knees, unzipping one of the various pouches that hung at his waste. He had multipurpose tools and various electrical testing gadgets he's been holding onto for moments like these.

"We'll need him restrained just a little bit longer why I go in an mess with some circuits," he mused, running his fingers over the base of the head, trying to find the small panel he was looking for. Most of the Mark 1's weren't made to have a discreet panel - obviously, they hadn't expected such an escalation. Many newer models were almost impossible to break into the panels.

He pulled out his flathead screwdriver, releasing the opening to the back panel. From a separate pouch, he pulled out his small soldering supplies, and began to work.

Danny was a quick worker, as it was ingrained in his system that time was never on your side. He finished up, clicking the plate back into place. "It should reboot itself within the next minute," he mused, rubbing his hands on the rough fabric of his pants before re pocketing his supplies. "If things works like I'm hoping, we should have it in a sort of reverse order? It shouldn't see us as targets anymore - our heat readings shouldn't trigger any alarms. Speaking of alarms, I managed to disable the programming for it's communication alarm. It's relatively a blank slate for us." He grinned, feeling pleased with his success. "Of course, this all is just theory....it has to boot up." He shot a glance down at the robot, feeling a nervous thrill in his stomach.

Several blocks- or rather the ruined space once representing such distance- from the manhole there stood an outpost, built only a couple of weeks ago by the cyborgs on the surface. It was guarded by just under a dozen sentries and comprised of a few large tents.

A thin trail of smoke wafted from inside one such structure, permeating the air inside with the smell of sandalwood. The room within would have been pitch black were it not for the blue glow of a dusty monitor from the opposite side of its front flap. The light was broken by the silhouette of a sitting figure, with one leg folded on top of the other as they leaned sidelong in their chair.

Riagan usually never took his mask off, but when among the rubble he located a box of incense the cyborg grew reflective and almost sentimental toward the world before the war. Letting it burn hadn't yielded the results he hoped for, however; no matter what he tried, there was no getting rid of the stench of an unmaintained urban ruin. The dust still hovered in the air, oily and unnatural, and he remained uncomfortably aware of the rain-dampened muck beneath his boots.

The cyborg groaned, turning listless bionic eyes toward the half-diminished stick. He reached over with an armored, gloved hand to pinch its fiery tip when something on the monitor attracted his focus. "...Hm."

An icon flashed red inside its respective window; a list of standing units he was to oversee. Though the small text yielded no insight, the icon changed black to denote some form of deactivation. Riagan scoffed. "Old thing. Must be some sort of 'fatal error'." The possibility of rebel interference did not elude his consideration but he was almost certain that this would be just another inconvenience.

Fitting on his helmet, he pushed himself begrudgingly from the seat, turned off the computer and meandered out of his smoky tent to find one among the small outpost's garrison. "GILA!"

Though there was no unit in the outpost assigned such a name officially, a hulking metallic figure turned its head with the sound of a whirl. It approached Riagan without a word and fixed bright green eyes on him attentively. He eyed it cautiously-- partly because of apprehension, partly because it was his job-- and made a beckoning gesture. "Follow."

The machine did so without question, its footsteps heavy enough to very slightly shake the ground around it. The walk would not take long, Riagan thought. Perhaps forty-five minutes between the walk and retrieval. Then he'd be back in camp to slack off like usual.