how long ago was the "disaster" in the new world?

[rakue]

i have an idea for a characters' origin story but it requires an accident that happened in 2005- and i don't really want my character much older than mid thirties, with mid to late twenties being ideal. with my previous character i assumed the year was 20XX and that the disaster was about three years ago, progressing in real time. is there any real confirmation on what year it is/how long ago the electrical disaster was?

[ashen]

It's actually mentioned in the guide for TNW, right here : http://www.bearbonesrp.com/index.php/topic,10.0.html

but to quickly answer--it was 20 years ago in game time. The reason it's that far back is to help with limiting how much in the way of alternative electrical power such as batteries, would still be readily available. We wanted to make sure resources were limited and there had been some time for things to decay and for new ways of life to at least start. For a character to have been an adult before the blackout, they would have to be in their late 30s/40s +

[rakue]

i can't believe i missed that, thank you xD

20 years, really? :0 at that point civilization would have evolved past anarchy and would have likely reverted to natural energy methods, wouldn't it? i honestly don't think characters in their late teens/early twenties would be alive since they would have been super young when the incident happened, and those without survival abilities (babies, young children, the elderly) would have died from a combination of food scarcity from looting and raiding from other people- the dystopian "dog eat dog" mentality, you feel??

sorry if this seems rude/picky/etc, it's hard to be expressive on my phone cx

[ashen]

I can see your points but currently, after a switch was already made to how long ago the blackout was, because we came upon some issues with having it be more recent (mostly, the availability of items we weren't comfortable with existing in any great number such as firearms and electrical sources that could give a great advantage to some as well as being harder to regulate) another switch back would be painful for anyone who's already worked much on their character's history, as well as those who've already had to rework it since the first change.

As far as how things go and whether twenty years is altogether too long for it to still seem dystopic, I agree that it's quite likely that there are civilisations that are more in order and use natural resources for power. But I also think it's likely that there are some that aren't, and that there's very likely, because of how many people /did/ die due to looting and raiding and low survivability, areas that are not in great communication with anywhere else. In fact, communication would likely still be poor, and if anything, we'd probably have some version of the pony express.

So I mean basically--I think you have a point but I also think that the way things are in the new world, or at least in the section of it that we're currently able to roleplay (because there very likely are more advanced civs elsewhere) isn't completely implausible. Not everywhere is going to be full of scientists and people who want to all come together and form a larger, more ordered civ.

Flintlock stays where it is because of how many raids its dealt with and at this point, though the snowy climate helps them, its also working to keep them isolated.

Badlands probably fights off any attempt to settle them in a more reasonable way unless they got legitimately invaded.

And St. Peters, being a trading hub as it is, very well might have connections to larger civilizations but the people who live there aren't comfortable integrating back into that life.

Not to mention the practicality issues I mentioned.

But I'm really happy you brought this up, it doesn't seem rude at all!! any suggestions and that includes complaints if you think something was done poorly, are welcome, I promise; so long as you aren't cussing us out or something!!

[dame]

track - will probably add to this later

[rakue]

sorry about the late reply, work got in the way and i didn't want to type all of this on my phone xD

i honestly don't think the realistic availability of electrical items would be much of a problem about a year, considering real life history has proven the rampant problem of looters and hoarders in the face of danger? guns would be scare in only a month or so. twenty years seems a bit extreme in my opinion, but i can definitely see why my suggestions bring up concern because of wanting to avoid members finding "loopholes" for their characters to gain an advantage they shouldn't have. might i recommend an extended "infection" period of the virus that took everything out rather than a definitive date? so instead of the entire world spiraling into chaos over the period of one year, of which occurred twenty years ago, it would be stretched over a broad time period to allow for characters that have been without electricity for a long time and characters that lost electricity relatively recently?

for example maybe the first initial attack took out a handful of major cities around the world twenty years ago, shutting down major communications. while concerning, it was not yet considered a threat- which would allow characters of the same age group to have drastically different upbringings between "normal" and without electricity/fearful of electricity. within five years certain countries were already wiped of electricity, particularly those in african and asian regions with a few noted cases in south america and europe. ten years into the disaster approximately half of the world has lost it's power, while all other power sources are infected. countries with remaining power are afraid of supplying electricity to those without in fear of spreading the virus. by now means of travel are crippled, with aeronautical services all but a distant memory, cars no longer in use to preserve the fuel for generators, and the only remaining ships being sailboats and sailing ships. fifteen years and only distant rural communities are left with power as they burn through their last supply of what was left, before they too are deprived of what's left. this leaves a five year buffer for all remaining electrical equipment to be burned through before current day- the era without lights. this would also explain the loss of batteries and generators, since they would have still been used and hoarded.

just a thought, i guess? it would allow for the realism staff is searching for but also allow much more flexibility on character backstories- it's obviously a pretty loose frame for a plot, but hopefully the point still got across

[ashen]

I really appreciate you coming up with this, honesttly--something that has more flexibility but still works within the current timeframe, so it wouldn't have to mess with characters' histories unless they wanted to change them with their upbringing, etc. I think we could implement that but I will have to talk to the other staff about it, before I get back to you with a firm yes.

[Darky]

Tracking while I read, since one of my characters was created before the official time of the disaster was set and I have to keep track of this stuff for backstory reasons.

[rakue]

it was just an idea that came to mind last night as i was thinking up a response, and i figured it was also probably more realistic than the entire world going into darkness in just one year given the advancement of some societies we have. might i recommend still shortening the time span a bit, however? the desired effects wouldn't be affected at all, but it would make the popularly played age group of late teens to early thirties have more freedom to have a pre-established life before the disaster even began. condense the span of loss of electricity into 13 or 15 years instead of twenty so that younger characters would have had a chance at societal adulthood before disaster struck? just another thought nwn

[south]

this is being discussed with staff; i personally very much like this idea.