The year is 2025 and the world as you know it is long gone, we as a human race still live on and we still thrive as a species with our numbers being roughly 2 billion. But those 5 billion people who aren’t with us were not so lucky, taken from this world during their initial appearance in December 21st 2012. That day is one for all to remember, the day the Thinners arrived in our world and ran rampant through our streets, through our homes and through our lives. We were unprepared for their arrival, their sickly bodies bring on peoples sympathy for them as if they were a dying puppy who needed our care. They played submissive for months, simply letting anyone take them in or finding shelters where ever they supplied them. They pulled most of the population off guard, playing innocent with us all; the few who were suspicious were not strong enough. Soon enough, the creatures had learned everything needed to make their move and as a single force they began to do terrible things to us.
The creatures seemed to have a sort of power over their victims, able to make them do whatever they wanted with the smallest guttural word. It took us a year to figure out that the creatures had an unknown property to them; they were able to take a creature’s true name and bend them to their will by learning it. They controlled us through our names! They made us kill others on a whim; they sent us off to our deaths with but a single word. We were completely helpless to stop them, they were able to be killed, and we could gun them down or gut them in the streets. But they just kept coming back; any we killed seemed to return the next day with a fierce hatred in their eyes, making their abilities even more frightening. The whole world was in chaos, everything crumbling around us as we were not about to stop them, millions of people gone so easily and millions more would die long before anyone would have any idea how to stop them.
But, someone eventually did, and fortunately for me it was my mentor in the Free Mason way of life. The order had congregated, going over anything they could that would help us fight the menace we were facing now. In that gathering, they had come to an understanding with what the creatures were, spiteful creatures from another universe, another place all together. We called them Thinners, they looked sickly and their thin appearance made them that much more deadly in how easily the deceived so many people. They had also decided to do something drastic, to take words and arcane symbols and try to create something that could affect these things. It was 2017 by the time they had gotten it right, worked out all the problems and mastered the techniques. By this time, 5 billion people had been murdered or forced into slavery by the Thinners. It was only a matter of time before they wiped the rest of us out, they acted then. I was only allowed to observe as they used their new words to combat the creatures, initially it didn’t seem to bother the Thinners at all, just amused them as they peeled back their gray, and cracked lips. But, things changed quickly as the first screamed and the screams escalated, I remember the gun fire then going off. The roar of people running into battle as they charged these monsters, and for the first time in nearly a decade we were able to put up a real fight. Their numbers meant nothing, their abilities meaning even less as we slaughtered them with minimal casualties. We pushed them back over a long year; it was October 16th 2018 when they had been pushed back into their own world. We celebrated that same night, feeling we had pushed them back forever. But we hadn’t anticipated that the ‘gateways’ they had created wouldn’t close once we pushed them back. They emerged during our celebration; they tore through our ranks, showing their intelligence by going after the unprepared word bearers. Even though we had been caught off guard, we pushed them back, words placed on the gateways that would warn us and could slow them down enough to be prepared.
The entire world was safe for now, but with the understanding that we hadn’t closed the gates, it became clear that we needed people who were willing to be guardians for these doorways. On that day, the Forgotten were born, everything they were was created as a precaution to prevent our world from falling into darkness once more. Members of the Forgotten were volunteers, the original ones gladly made the sacrifice for the rest of humanity. As a Forgotten, they are supposed to choose a new name, one that has nothing to do with their previous life or their families. Once that name is chosen, their minds are erased, their memories pulled out of their minds and hidden away from them. Their memories taken to protect their real name, if no one knows our name then the Thinners could never use it against us. Several attempts were made initially to get this to work, but it became clear that memories couldn’t just be removed from a mind and left to float on the wind. They needed to remain inside of a mind for the process to work correctly, this created the Name Bearers. The bearers are the only ones who remember who they are, their past is still clear to them, and the past of the others is placed within their mind. It also seemed to ease the apprehension at taking the leap, knowing that their memories were kept safe somewhere.
I was just an apprentice at the time, my mentor taking on the role of Name bearer and sending me off into the nearby town. I learned the words and I gained the strength to be able to help the other Forgotten, but my mentor did not live long after his induction. I had gotten to him in time to take on the memories, becoming the Name Bearer of the first chapter of Forgotten. I have done my best to maintain my role, but I am no leader, I try to avoid all of the attention to keep the Thinners confused. I let others lead, and simply offer my own advice, today was one of those days I took on the role of advisor. I’ll recant the tale of it before I start to forget the details.
“This is a complete waste of time Azriath, we should be doing our job.” The words being voiced hit the cold morning air in a hot cloud, drifting through the air before vanishing. The man holding his coat loosely as his expression seemed to get only harder with the slowly rising sun. Azriath stood on the edge looking out into the ruined town, only wearing his ballistic vest and cargo pants. His boots sinking into the soft ground as he shifted his weight ever so slightly, reaching up and pulling back his shoulder length hair and securing it into one tight ‘war tail’ as he called it.
“We can only do our job so well Talos, especially since our numbers are dwindling again. We need new recruits to start filling in the spaces, the Thinners won’t wait for us to be replenished.” There was only a grunt from the one known as Talos, his arms crossed as his scowl only seemed to deepen now that the clouds had swallowed up the sun once more and creating a dismal gray day. He spat to the side as he uncrossed his arms, watching Azriath turn to look his direction to look over the other. Seeing his dirtied clothes, his shoes were torn in some areas and his pea coat was missing several buttons, no longer closing effective enough to keep the warmth. A scar across his face showed an event that happened in his child hood, but he wouldn’t remember what it was. Azriath remembered it clearly, his burden making him the only one to remember as he rubbed his face, feeling the rough beard on his face. Feeling the patched under his chin that was bare of hair and the scraggly hair he had on his chin that covered it enough, something he was self conscious about in his youth.
Taking just a moment to the look at the tattoo covered hand, following the images that scaled his arms, covering them in ink work he wouldn’t have even dreamed of having for the sake of his career. But that life was long gone, the Thinners had made sure that everyone’s life was never the same. He rolled his shoulders and started walking, Talos following behind him as they walked back to the chapter house. The building was barely standing when they had first moved into it, but with time and effort they had managed to fix it up enough to make it habitable for them all. It was buzzing with life, several Forgotten moving around to do daily chores to keep everything running smoothly. Some were even cleaning weapons to make sure they would function when the inevitable attack came; Azriath bowed his head to Talos as he head off to his room. His own quarters nothing more than four walls, an old cot they had salvaged and a piece of wood he used as a door. The ceiling cracked above him, but the room was in better condition then some, he had simply gotten lucky with it. The chill morning air was getting to him now, grabbing his wool lined jacket and slipped it on. The wool was barely holding up these days, he would need to get someone to stitch it back together soon. Leaving his room he looked at all the faces of current members, knowing each of their stories with just a glance. All he could do was keep his mind focused, ready to speak his piece in the council meeting being held.
Welcome to Shadows of Ourselves, the world is all sorts of messed up and we are the first and last line of defense against one of the biggest enemies the entire world has ever seen. We are the only ones are truly capable of keeping, what’s left of our world, safe. Everything in the world is at its most base level, electricity is erratic and hardly reliable anymore, supplies aren’t plentiful but with a reduced population it’s not quite scare yet. We live in a decimated world, but we strive on. We are the Forgotten, and we will fight on until the end.
Sign-up
Name: (This is your true name, you may not remember it, but someone else does.)
Alias: (This is who you are now; you can put ANYTHING here for your new name. Nothing is too outlandish)
Gender:
Age:
Appearance:
Member Status: (Not everyone needs to be a veteran of the Forgotten, I would like to see some Veteran and some recruits.)
Talents: (None of us have any powers, this is still our world and we are all good at something. Whether it is marksmen or survivalist, maybe you’re a great farmer. Anything will do that helps us survive to do our job.)
Weapons: (The Forgotten do have a fair arsenal of weapons, which is your preferred for killing Thinners?)
Writing Snippet: (As your memory is gone, there is no need for a Bio. I would like to see here is a little bit of either your experience with Thinners before they were pushed back or maybe it’s just how you are when you are in the place we call home. Anything will do that just so we can understand your character a little bit.)
Alright folks, I hope you all enjoy the read and I am looking forward to seeing peoples sign-ups. I do encourage people to use themselves as the bases for their character, but you can be as original as you want. Happy creating all. I will also get a backstage up in a day or so, so be on the look out.
