Welcome to Gaia! ::

Okay...this is the one I've been waiting to do for a good long while...it's called "89."

In the year 2200, Earth is in good shape. We still have war, poverty, and disease, of course, but global trade is booming, there haven't been any major international wars in almost 50 years, technology is soaring, we have space travel, colonies on other planets and in other solar systems, and we have terrific medicine which promises to eliminate disease by 2250. This is where we are when, to our utter amazement, aliens appear in the sky. They speak with us, we visit their ships, they visit our planet, and after two weeks, they gather together and deliver a message to humanity:

"...but we regret that, despite your prospects, you show no sign of ever truly saving yourselves. You are a violent species which delights in pain and misery...there is no place for you in our universe. You will be exterminated, unless you can change your ways within the next 20 years..."

Panic ensues, but this message eventually unites humanity. We know what we must do: build up a space armada to defeat these aliens and save our planet! They were right about one thing: we love fighting, and are damn good at it. We'll show 'em!

2220 arrives. Humanity has created the largest military force and mightiest defense that the solar system has ever known. The aliens return, as promised. The battle begins in the stars. Within the year, our entire interplanetary defense is in ruins and every one of our nearby starships, peaceful or armed, is destroyed. To make matters worse, the aliens have launched fleets to destroy our colonies. They begin attacking Earth. The war drags on. Years pass. Still we battle the aliens. Part of their plan is to fill the Earth with their own kind, so they do a lot of terraforming. Swaths of land are submerged, and vast areas of ocean are raised to create a completely different set of continents. Billions of humans are killed, but we keep fighting. The year 2283 comes, and the aliens leave. They are too worn out from the fighting. Besides, the human population of Earth has been cut down to below 1 billion people, and they are scattered across the planet. We have no space travel, and have lost most of the scientific gains we made since the Industrial Revolution. Surely, we cannot last.

But we do. Humans survive by fighting barbarically for land and resources. Old cities are frequent targets for the remnants of the "Golden Age." Secrets of the past are gathered and hoarded in vaults, only to be broken open and stolen by the next great regional power. We fight amongst ourselves, slowly recovering our technological prowess, over the next 1200 years.

In 3500, humanity has more or less caught up with where it was in 2100. In this year, two people are born who will eventually meet and start a secret country dedicated to the revival of the human race. They call their utopia "Full Moon." Unfortunately, it is attacked and destroyed, and its people flee with their leaders across the ocean to the Domain of Bytrya (the Earth has been divided into 31 geographical Domains, which in turn are divided into Provinces). Renaming their utopia "Light Seed," the leaders create a secret force dedicated to drawing new citizens into Light Seed. This is called "New Star." However, many of the new citizens have suffered in the war-torn outside world, and believe that the only way to make peace is through war. Although the leaders of the utopia are opposed to this, the rebellious factions join New Star and begin using violence to break up nearby kingdoms. Although their tactics are successful, they are disgraced by the rest of Light Seed.

This all changes in a diplomatic mission, in which the leaders of Light Seed visit a nearby militaristic state to plead for an end to violence. They are captured, but the pro-violence movement in New Star arrives and stages a daring rescue mission. The leader and his wife escape, but their son and daughter are trapped in a prison town called "Detun," just beyond Light Seed's northern border. The military state, called Giant Time, is about to execute them when out of the blue a New Star soldier named Varnen Tourian rescues them, destroying the town. This means what the leaders of Light Seed have always feared: war. Grimly, they acknowledge the help that New Star has been, but still holding to their belief in nonviolence, they rename the New Star Conversion Force the Dark Star Army. Dark Star troops now march to battle...can they save their utopia?

...so there's the background story. People would RP as troops in the Dark Star Army (or enemy armies, for that matter--Giant Time is just one of them), fighting their way across a battered, dark wasteland of a planet to save what they hold dear. I'll keep this up for revision before starting the RP--comments would be appreciated and questions welcome.

Really? Awesome! I can try rewording awkward parts, just point them out.