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Okay guys...first off, I have a confession to make. I love the Dead Space video games...okay not true. I FREAKIN adore them! I belive i may also be obsessed with them true Sci-Fi horror given form in a beautifully rendered digital world!

Here's a couple of clips so you know what I'm talking about...

Dead Space 2 Rockin trailer!

In Space...everyone can hear you scream!

A little bit of history... Backstory and spoiler details.

Okay so thats the twisted little epic that has worked its way into my heart...and I'd love to do a little something to celebrate.

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Anybody here remember our first 13th Floor RPG Production? A little forum game called Legion? Heh, well, I'm thinking of starting a new RP based in the Dead Space universe. Even if you know nothing about the games, I'm pretty sure everybody knows Sci-Fi horror, and might have fun playing an RP set in such a scenario.

I dont know, just a long gestating Idea...Post your thoughts tell me what you think.

Oh for cryin...*clears throat* M'dear, the necromorphs are so much more than Space zombies. ninja

(And I assure you, Legion itself is far from over. wink )

I'll go for it...my only request being that there be at least some hope of a light at the end of the tunnel. Legion seemed to get very dark very fast xp

mm maybe maybe not i,m not good at writing those novel posts you guys do. xd

I'm in Kira. Don't worry about the darkness of the last one, least ways not on my account. You know my bright and cheery nature, anything dark and dreary and I want to shine a light on it to show it for the jackalope that it is mrgreen

I'm fully interesting in it and how it turns out

The year is 2512. Man now walks amongst the stars, defeated, hungry, and desperate, he found no god there to guide his steps, and no life to conquer, in disgust he resolved to make a god, in defeat, he pledged his life to it, in despair, he sealed our doom...

In order to understand the crisis we are about to face in Dead Space: Sanctum, you need only understand three things, The Marker, The Church, and The Necromorphs.


The Marker

Discovered long ago on the human home world of Earth, the Marker was found buried deep beneath the Yucatan peninsula in the center of a giant asteroid crater. For years the locals of the small village Chicxulub had spoken of the "devil's tail" saying that if it was ever disturbed, the devil himself would awake and destroy humanity.

The Marker itself was an immense black monolith shaped like two great cylinders wrapped around each other, echoing the appearance of a human DNA strand. Its design was utterly confounding; made from matter no one had seen before or since, shaped through unknown means, the marker was obviously not of human origin.

The Earth's Government attempted to keep the Marker for itself, to keep it secret, but they were foiled by a scientist named Michal Altman, himself on the original surveyor team who discovered the marker, who leaked knowledge of the artifact to the general public and spoke of its true nature, saying it spoke to the crew, and held great secrets not to be kept from humanity.

Altman died under mysterious circumstances later that year and the aledged artifact vanished from public records but not from the people's hearts, Altman was considered a Martyr and it was believed he was killed for trying to share the secrets of the marker, his sacrifice became crystallized in a new religious movement based partially on his words and partially on the belief that the marker was the key to human evolution, more then that, a engine from a mysterious origin beyond the stars created to save humanity from the self destructive path he had started on.

The new movement became the Church of Unitology a religion based on scientific theory that professed the thoughts Altman and his team had heard from the marker, that humanity would soon become one, and exist peaceful and immortal, reunited with their dead loved ones foe eternity.

Evidence of the marker faded but the church's fervor persisted for another 200 years, unitology becoming the dominate religion of all people, its believers hopeful, knowing they lived in the end of days...

Man traveled to the stars and built immense space stations, their needs satiated by valuable minerals mined by immense "Planet Cracker" Star ships.

Then, in the year 2509, the marker resurfaced.




The above is all the general citizenry of Dead Space (and thus our characters) know, the Marker is disbelieved by most besides the Unitologists, and nobody knows it actually creates the creatures known as the necromorphs; let alone the fact that the marker discovered in space is not the orginal marker but a man-made copy of the original, a equally dangerous and mysterious Icon known by those with access to the secret knowledge as the Red Marker.

(If you haven't watched it already, watch the following movie for a more detailed recap)

LEGACY OF THE MARKER

"Binding promises were made on my soul, grand illusions led astray, ice cold wings swept my heart away, bring me back to you.
Why? Oh why my god, have you abandoned me, in my sobriety? Behind the old facade, I'm your bewildered child. Please take me across the river wide...
-Altman's final words as written in the Unitologist scriptures, Book 19, verse 27.

The Church

The Church of Unitology is a massive religion based on the belief that the Marker will bring about eternal life. Unitology was based on Scientific ideology, but soon became religious after, followers believe, the Earth Government killed Altman. The church consider the Marker to be evidence that human life originated outside of Earth.

Founded around two hundred years prior to the events of Dead Space, Unitology had its beginnings when Michael Altman discovered the Black Marker. Upon discovering and studying the Marker, Altman led a massive religious movement which established Unitology as a major religion. At the time many people had lost faith in religions and the new aspiring religion appealed to them and drew many converts. This process of growth was accelerated when Altman was mysteriously killed. The faithful suspected the hand of the government in his assassination, and his subsequent martyrdom only furthered their growth and radicalization.



Altman is praised by the followers of unitology as a prophet who reunited humanity with the will of their original creators, the ones who created the marker.

The Unitologists refuse to allow their member's bodies to be buried or cremated, instead preserving them aboard space ships. The reason for this is the belief that a human body must be untouched after death, as it is the "vessel" for the member's convergence. "Convergence" is the belief that upon death, if the human body has been kept intact and the Unitologist has lived an unselfish life, that all the bodies will one day be reborn with ascended spiritual and physical prowess, and will live in unity with his or her other members as a single community. It is heavily encouraged by members that they keep their bodies in the best shape possible upon death.

The basis of the religion is based solely on the ideology laid out for the Marker. Oddly, many scientists, even Altman himself, have little idea of the Marker's true purpose and origin. The meaning of the inscriptions about the Marker had puzzled Unitologists for years. Unitologoists believe that the inscriptions on the marker are a message that will reveal the true origin and meaning of human life. The church has also adapted the symbols on the marker to the alphabet, writing their works in this "holy script" in the all but forgotten medium of books.

Unitologists are often derogatorily referred to as 'Marker-Heads' or 'Rock Worshipers, and in an age that is rather nihilistic; rejecting the religions of old and embracing a selfish and somewhat desperate lifestyle of searching the stars for planets to suck dry of all resources, many look down on and persecute the unitologists just as much for their selfless ideology as for their radical beliefs.

There are primarily two kinds of unitologists, the Zealots, many of which split into splinter groups and cults participating in suicide rituals and anti-government cells and the Faithful, who are more dependable and truly mean well by their action. The latter group is responsible for most of the truly humanitarian efforts put forth across the galaxy, trying to better their fellow man and prepare him for convergence.



The above is all most people know of the church, unknown to even most the devout the church's members, however, much of Unitology's history and ideology have been fabricated by its leaders for their own benefit. Michael Altman never truly believed in the promise of the Marker, and was in fact murdered by Craig Markoff, one of the first government agents intent on exploiting the Marker, who used his death and several of his broadcasts to establish Unitology as a rising religious movement under his control.

Moreover, despite the tensions between the church and the Earth Government, the true masterminds behind Unitology were in fact members of a splinter group of the government, who intended on using the Church to fulfill their power-hungry ends, and believed that the creatures that the marker spawned were in fact the next stage in human evolution. The religion was founded to get the public to convert to the supposed next stage in evolution, although the Unitologists remain blissfully unaware of it.

The shadowy upper echelons of the government stay well hidden however, and are actively pursuing Necromorph and Marker experimentation often finding willing test subjects within their swelled ranks.

The Big Game: A popular Unitology Pamplet

Unitology Conversion Quiz