Ignition: Resolute Dawn (Open!)

Sooner or later though, we all have to wake up.

RESOLUTE DAWN

The year is 20 AR. It has been twenty years since the Empire “reclaimed” our worlds. We hadn’t heard from them in over a hundred years, we thought the last lights in Sol had flickered out when our grandparents left during the exodus - but then on the borders of our systems we saw their cruisers, all flying the same flag.

I can’t remember much from before the Empire arrived, but I do remember when my parents and brother left to fight. I remember a baby - a sister, maybe. When I was a kid I’d think of them for hours - wondering where they were and what adventures they were on. But now it seems the more I think of them the more blurry the images become.

Within only a few years, the Royal Empire had taken hundreds of colonies. Anyone that didn’t submit to their rule was crushed under their heel in the name of imperial expansion. “Expand or die.” My home - Sentry, was one such case. Our defenders managed to resist the Royals twice before being obliterated by orbital bombardment. I was just one more orphan among millions after the Empire began to establish themselves, and like a lot of them I ended up shuffled around the foster system - the rest is history.

Under the rule of King Roderick, the Empire has claimed most of the known galaxy - with only the strongest alliances and rival races halting their march forward. Most people say it’s a dangerous time to be alive - but me? I say it’s incredibly lucrative.

My name is Haigen - I’m a mercenary.

My family - like many others, fled Sol and the violence there. They dreamed of peace and a new start for their people. Before she left, she told me to live to defend that dream. But when the empire destroyed my home, there was nothing I could do. When I was old enough to understand, I knew I needed to learn how to fight - to be ready to defend the people I care about.

Still, mercenary work wasn’t my first choice of employment, but I wasn’t about to take orders from some Royal jackoff, and my family needed money. Despite what proper Royal nobility will say about the prosperity of the Empire, times are tough for the people who live on the bottom, and my foster parents' protein farm barely scrapes in enough to feed their kids.

So, when I was old enough to shave I packed what little I owned, said goodbye, and set on my way to support the people who’d given me everything. Child-soldiering is tough work, but the consensus is the same no matter where you go.

Best to teach ‘em young. Ever heard how you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? Well, the same goes for mech pilots. The physical and mental strain of driving thirty tons of heavy artillery into battle can break an older pilot - aneurysm, stroke, heart failure. But studies find when trained at a young age, these pilots perform much better and typically survive far past their “prime” - typically considered to be between the 18 to 35 range, minus the years of training.

Mech warfare was something new to the colonies when the Royal Empire arrived. Sure, on Sentry we had loader frames and exosuits, but they were like sticks and stones compared to the massive battle engines of the Royal Armored Forces. We only survived the first two invasions because of recovered suits, reverse engineered and put into service for the good guys. Still, it wasn’t enough to survive nuclear fire from orbit.

It’s been ten years since I joined Cirrigal Risk Control, and in that time I’ve been all across this galaxy. I've fought with the best against the worst and vice versa, such is the life of a mercenary. Now, they're sending me and a handful of pilots out to Phalanx - the Empire's production center this side of Sol. They've turned their guns on the Empire and using the factories there to pump out an army. You'd hope they'd learned from what happened to Sentry, but no dice. Maybe this time the Royals won't turn the whole planet into a crater.

- - -


Hey everyone! I'm back with another space thing for my RPF friends. I've put a lot of work into this one and I've got some big plans, so I can't wait to see what you all think and see where this goes! First, a few things to remember.

1. Like I’ve done with a lot of my previous games, I love to give you a lot of freedom when it comes to creating your character and the lore around them, including stuff like - race, homeworld, technology, powers. So when it comes to creating a character, the only requirement I have is that they have a reason to join this mission - money, revenge, power, whatever. Also, this game is basically a soft-reboot of Nova and my other stuff, so if you wanna bring anything from those games, feel free!

2. The focus of the game is the fun characters we bring to the table and how we develop in a meaningful way, so interacting with others is an essential part of the game. Make sure you bring a character you find fun and special.

3. If you have a crazy idea for how you want the story to change for your character or something crazy you want to do, let me know! My favorite part about RPing is how the story is built by everyone.

4. This game is obviously anime-inspired, meaning that a lot of the characters and plot are going to be outlandish for the sake of fun and spectacle. The rule of cool is king here, don’t get hung up on the scientific details and just have fun!

5. Mecha are part of the game, but not the focus of the story. They’re here to make battles interesting and to give you the ability to go crazy with what kind of powers your character has in combat. I love seeing how far people go with these ideas - if you have a cool idea for what your mech does, just go for it! You basically have access to a robot super hero with any ability you think is cool.

6. Battles are going to be fast and flashy. For the most part, you can do whatever you like and kill any bad guys you’d like - unless they’re explicitly named as being like a mini-boss.

7. As you can tell with how much I wrote for this thread (don’t ask me how much I cut/rewrote) I’m really passionate about seeing this story play out with everyone. That being said, I don’t want to see it die because people fall behind or get bored waiting for other people, so I’ll be taking a note from Pirates - this game will go fast and if you fall behind I won’t slow things down to wait for you. If you do fall behind, you will have a chance to rejoin later, but I won’t risk the game dying waiting for you.

8. Most importantly, have fun! This is supposed to be a good time with friends.

Character Sheet
If you don’t want to follow this exact format, that’s fine - but these are some of the things I wanna know about you from the sheet.

Name: Go crazy.

Race: I haven’t put any aliens in the game yet, you can create whatever you want or just be human.

Gender: Pronouns and such.

Age: With advanced medical technology this can be pretty high.

Affiliation: Do you have a faction/group you belong to? If so, put it here.

Appearance: Please provide a picture or description or both! I’ll be using mostly anime-style characters but use whatever you’d like.

Personality: What is your character like to be around?

Skills/Powers: What are they good at and what can they do? This can go wild as long as you’re not too overpowered.

Biography: Who are they and where do they come from?


Mecha Sheet:

Callsign: What do we call you/your mech?

Specialty: What is your role on the battle-field?

Appearance: Same as above

Weapons/Tech: What powers/weapons do you carry into battle? This can be as crazy or down to earth as you like.

Origins: Where did you find your battle machine?

Character Theme: The most important piece! What is your character’s theme music if they were doing something cool?