About Walk the End
With the globe becoming ever more strained under the weight of humanity; its out of control population, plundering of natural resources and ever more brutal wars. Finally, in the year 2101, mankind was forced to begin its foray into the stars in search of a new home.
Over the course of the next half a century, various settlements were established as the Earth was more or less abandoned. Once a planet deemed valuable was discovered, colonization began immediately, mankind's advanced technology allowing them to render their new homes suitable for sustaining human life. Humanity boomed once again, and the business of hunting for suitable new planets and gaining control over their resources became big business.
Colonization became routine. See a planet that looked like it was worth something; you grabbed it and fought off your competitors.
People became careless.
The newest planet deemed to be useful is Geryon. A harsh planet even after being terraformed, its value came from previously undiscovered minerals and ores under the earth, prompting a mining colony being established there in the year 2221. Miners and their families, along with various officials, geologists and other experts along with security personnel were set up in the colony, and work soon began.
It didn't take long for things to start going downhill.
A mere month later and communications on the colony failed. The drills stopped and a group were sent down into the tunnels to see what the problem was. One survivor was found, lost in the tunnels some days later, delirious and visibly ill. Two of the medical staff in the sick bay were bitten while attempting to carry out tests. And from there on, despite attempts to keep a quarantine in place, the contagion got out.
In the next two weeks, two thirds of the colony's population of one thousand was either dead or a victim of the virus. Subjects appeared to die within 24 hours of first being infected, only for their bodies to distort and become monstrous parodies of what they once were, afflicted with a hunger for living flesh.
The remaining residents were able to shut off areas of the colony that contained the creatures that were once their friends and family. But with the beings able to escape outside or into the tunnels underneath the colony, there's no way out for the survivors. And no help on the horizon.
If you have any questions about Walk the End, please contact one of our admins, Ellie and Tess, here.
Concept and Text by Ellie
Graphics by Tess
Over the course of the next half a century, various settlements were established as the Earth was more or less abandoned. Once a planet deemed valuable was discovered, colonization began immediately, mankind's advanced technology allowing them to render their new homes suitable for sustaining human life. Humanity boomed once again, and the business of hunting for suitable new planets and gaining control over their resources became big business.
Colonization became routine. See a planet that looked like it was worth something; you grabbed it and fought off your competitors.
People became careless.
The newest planet deemed to be useful is Geryon. A harsh planet even after being terraformed, its value came from previously undiscovered minerals and ores under the earth, prompting a mining colony being established there in the year 2221. Miners and their families, along with various officials, geologists and other experts along with security personnel were set up in the colony, and work soon began.
It didn't take long for things to start going downhill.
A mere month later and communications on the colony failed. The drills stopped and a group were sent down into the tunnels to see what the problem was. One survivor was found, lost in the tunnels some days later, delirious and visibly ill. Two of the medical staff in the sick bay were bitten while attempting to carry out tests. And from there on, despite attempts to keep a quarantine in place, the contagion got out.
In the next two weeks, two thirds of the colony's population of one thousand was either dead or a victim of the virus. Subjects appeared to die within 24 hours of first being infected, only for their bodies to distort and become monstrous parodies of what they once were, afflicted with a hunger for living flesh.
The remaining residents were able to shut off areas of the colony that contained the creatures that were once their friends and family. But with the beings able to escape outside or into the tunnels underneath the colony, there's no way out for the survivors. And no help on the horizon.
If you have any questions about Walk the End, please contact one of our admins, Ellie and Tess, here.
Concept and Text by Ellie
Graphics by Tess
My Walk the End Characters
Lilith Amelia Jones
"
Hello, Darkness, my old friend. I've come to talk with you again."
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After the death of her parents, Lilith Jones came to Geryon looking for a fresh start with her twin brother James, now her only remaining family. He signed on as a miner three weeks after the death of their parents. Not wanting to be left all alone, Lilith dropped out of her masters studies in biochemistry to go with him. In spite of a plethora of fears about uprooting to move to such a relatively new colony, James managed to convince her that joining the colony on Geryon would be a good option for them. The first couple of months went smoothly, although Lilith was unable to find work involving biochemistry. She missed her studies, but kept their apartment and finances in order while he worked. She grew worried when communications failed. James remained unruffled, having faith that the "powers that be" would fix things in no time. Lilith had no such faith. When the contageon began to spread, all her worst fears were realized. James was one of the first to be infected, and Lilith was forced to abandon their apartment, as it was in a part of the colony that was considered lost. Her brother and her home, such as it was, were both left behind in favor of self-preservation. She currently resides in a shelter with other people from her part of the colony. They all lost family, friends, or lovers, and all are more than a little disenchanted. Some of the others have merely been sitting around weeping and waiting for the end. Lilith has other ideas. Lilith wants to put her knowledge of biochemistry to good use. If she could just get her hands on a lab and some tissue samples from infected citizens, it might be possible for her to isolate the virus and synthesize a chemical kill-switch. We're not talking about a cure, here. The solution that Lilith might be able to create would not save the infected. It would kill them. She feels that there is no hope for the infected. In her mind, the only real hope the citizens of the colony have is to destroy the people that they used to care about. With the right equipment and time enough to research, it could be done. The only question that remains is whether or not other members of the colony would allow the chemical kill-switch to be produced. Lilith is afraid that sentimental hope for a cure will impede her ability to create what could be the colony's best hope for survival. |
♥ TY SARA!
Alfred Magnus Locke
"
Hello darkness, my old friend...
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Alfred grew up on Niobe, thus his inclination toward being a miner. He had a good amount of experience before an event that changed his life happened. A mentally unstable criminal attacked his family, killing his youngest sister and paralyzing his father from the waist down with a gunshot to the spine. Alfred wrestled the gun out of the insane man's hands and shot him in the head. The criminal died instantly, and Al was horrified by what had happened. He'd saved his mother, his oldest sister, and his baby brother, but that did nothing to wash away the guilt he felt over taking someone's life.
He was tried for murder, but was acquitted. However, he had too many problems dealing with what had happened to spend much time around people. Instead, he threw himself into his work as a miner, wallowing in the darkness, solitude, and guilt. After about two years, he became the lead man working one of Niobe's foremost mines. That is how the government found him.
When they offered him the chance to join a mining crew on a new colony, he accepted immediately. He could not bear being around his family any longer. They were grateful that he saved their lives, but his guilt caused him to see judgment where there was none. So, he boarded a ship bound for a new world, and perhaps a new life.
As it turned out, life on Geryon wasn't all that different from Niobe, at least not until the "accident" happened. He remembered it well. He'd been safely inside the cab of the drill, operating it with expert grace. Then, it punched through the wall and a blast of foul-smelling air rushed through the tunnels. He was too stunned to move, at first. Luckily for him, that is how he escaped infection. When the wind dissipated, his brain snapped back into action and he leapt from the cab, shouting that they should evacuate the mine immediately.
The other miners agreed, and they beat it out of there as fast as they could. Some were not fast enough to escape the virus--just another reason for Alfred to feel guilty. He'd been protected from the toxic air because he was safely enclosed in the drill's cab. He constantly thinks that it should have been him, that he should have been infected and had his head blasted off his shoulders. There was enough blood on his hands that he felt he deserved it.
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♥ TY SARA!
Robert Michael Blythe
"
So go on and scream. Scream at me; I'm so far away.
I won't be broken again. I've got to breathe - I can't keep going under.
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Robert, or Rob for short, is hardly what he appears to be. Although he is a miner here on Geryon, things weren't always that way. Rob used to be a very successful businessman on Pollux. He was wealthy, had a beautiful wife, possessed the finest things...Rob lived the good life. Everything changed when his wife, Carrie, died. The circumstances were mysterious, and Rob was convinced that she'd been murdered. No one listened. Her death was ruled an accidental overdose, but his wife had [i]never[/i] done drugs before, at least not to his knowledge.
Everything changed after he lost Carrie. He gave away his money and all his worldly possessions to various charities and signed on with a mission going to a new colony. He needed to start over, and what better place to do so than on a fledgling colony? Even though he had no idea what he was doing, he signed on as a miner and learned quickly enough not to be questioned or scrutinized closely. He was passing for a common man and doing a good job of it.
Enter the breach and the infection. Rob doesn't know how he managed not to become infected. He feels guilty that he made it and others, many of whom had tried to befriend him, had not. He also felt guilty that he'd turned away everyone's attempts at frienship. He just hadn't been ready for it, and now he wasn't sure he'd ever make it to a place where friendship was a possibility.
They were caught up in a war with unfeeling, thoughtless creatures that used to be people they knew, people they cared about, even if only at a superficial kind of level. They were trying to escape infection from a disease they didn't understand. They were trying to do a lot of things, and none seemed to be working out as they struggled along and the colony slowly fell apart around them.
There was no way for them to communicate with their brethren outside of Geryon. They'd been given a lot of shoddy equipment, truth be told. The equipment that worked best and seemed to stay in one piece was the mining equipment, and look where that had gotten them. He wasn't sure if there was purposeful malice lurking somewhere in this mess or not, but there was one thing of which he was deeply certain. Robert Michael Blythe is in a hell of his own making.
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♥ TY SARA!
Alexander Sherwood Hall
"
Some of them want to use you; some of them want to get used by you.
Some of them want to abuse you; some of them want to be abused.
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Let's just begin by stating that Alex is an ass. Everyone says so. It's just who he is. He grew up in a broken home on Medea. His father was an alcoholic louse who never got out and did anything. He had to go to work at the age of thirteen to support his mother and six siblings. He is the oldest of the Hall children, and has been working his entire life.
His father was so wasted on a constant basis that his mother found comfort in the arms of other men. Part of Alex wanted to be angry about it, but really...he couldn't blame her. His father nearly beat his mother to death when he found out about the cheating. Alex begged her to take the kids and leave him, but she wouldn't. He's never understood why.
His four brothers and two sisters all started work as soon as they could manage to get it, not just to help support the family, but to get away from their angry, abusive father. It was a miserable way to exist, but that's how they did it until a new opportunity came along.
Alex jumped at the chance to leave Medea, even if it meant going to a fledgling colony on an ice planet. He hated to be cold, but he was offered enough money to set his mother and siblings up in a nice, new house far away from his father. Once he saw them settled in and happy, for the first time since he could remember, he boarded the transport for Geryon with no regrets, save that he wouldn't see them for quite some time.
Everything was fine, in his mind, until they lost communications. He got depressed when he realized that he might not ever reconnect with his family, and they were the whole reason he was here. Well...mostly.
Angela was the other reason. She'd been his steady girlfriend since grade school, and just before he left, she broke it off with him because she was pregnant with another man's baby. He should have seen it coming. Committed relationships never ended well. So, he gave up on the idea of spending his life with one woman.
Now, Alex does his job, kills zombies and protects citizens. He doesn't believe in making emotional connections, but he doesn't believe in sleeping in an empty bed, either. So, he finds a sad form of comfort in the arms of different women night by night, or day by day depending on his security shift.
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♥ TY SARA!