Shifter RP; semi-adv to adv lit

[Keepers of the Zoo]

'Who are we to say what can and cannot be done? In this,
the new age of mankind, things that couldn't have been
done years ago are being done. Here, in the very mother
country itself, our scientists have done the impossible twice.
First they found a cure for the common cold! And today, I
come forth you tell that we have messed with DNA itself!
Our scientists have succeeded in creating the shifter; a new
branch between humans and animals.'
- Dr. Volker Ingram

The chords of chaos are beaten into the souls of many, as they transform into their new selves. Trampled and torn, they fight to the top of the ladder, only to be crushed again as new trials and tribulations block their paths.

These few outcasts were exiled to an island off the southern coast of England, to an old prison converted into a tourist fort. The area, cold and desolate, remains a prison for them, with concrete buildings and a lack of foliage around the epicenter of the island. A sparse field and forest line the coast, which drops countless feet to the ruthless ocean below, rocky outcroppings awash in rabid, foaming sea. Not many species of wild animals roam here.

The outcasts on the island fortress, ranging from ages thirteen to twenty-five, are pitted against each other physically and mentally, as relentless, abusive guards and maliciously curious scientists control their lives. Chemical experimentation, forced breeding, and hunting games are only the beginning for our beloved characters.

For they can shift their shape, their DNA coding warped due to faulty vaccine trials on a number of children. Trying to cure the common cold, a group of London research scientists created a vaccination they thought could cure the disease, and tested it on a number of children, believing the spot-free results they had developed from earlier animal trials… One generation of cold-free children. They waited, with no more trial, for the results.

Unfortunately, the vaccination reacted differently with the children, warping the disease, which then wreaked havoc on their genes, transforming them into animalistic shifters. Some completed the transition, being able to change at will. Others were trapped in an animal body, sentient but helpless. And still there were some who became “stuck”, balanced toward a side of man or animal, maintaining animalistic characteristics (or human, if the transformation made them mostly animal). These beings, along with the sentient animals, were instantly taken for experimentation to the Zoo.

For females, the vaccine split into parts, assembling along the hypothalamus, on the pineal gland, waiting for the correct "light sequence" from the vaccine's DNA. After this message was encoded, the vaccination's animal DNA was released, bonding to the human brain and body with relative quickness. This usually results in a one-animal shifter.

For males, the disease attached itself to the actual coding of their DNA, sometimes not activating at all. As a result, there are significantly less male shifters than females, unless there is forced activation involved. Activation in males generally results in a genetic coding changing, or a gene being "switched on", not unlike a degenerative genetic disease. After activation, males became more prone to multiple animal shifts, due to the genetic mutation involved, rather than just hormonal shifts. Males have also been documented (in very rare cases) shifting into more than one animal.

The military, upon discovery of the off mutation, shipped the generation of children to the Zoo, ordering for mass production of the so-called vaccination. The scientists, overcome by greed and less-inclined to guilt, obeyed, working for years to generate new, specific shots of DNA, specifically designed for military warfare. Children were again tested on, four years after the original vaccination was released. These children became shifters, but less animalistic in their transformed bodies, more inclined to follow commands by a higher authority. Shifters became less frequent with the updated vaccinations, the “stickyness” of the mutation more random and rare. The government continued to order improvements, even experimenting with cross-breeding through the original generation, trying to determine the genes with which the mutation was encoded, and whether it could be hereditary.

The last vaccination attempt showed little results, with the smallest amount of shifters per dosed recorded. The government has ordered a halt on developmental processes, and all attention has switched to the Zoo, where the children are raised to become, and eventually, produce warriors.

| ~ * ~ |

Our story begins in the concrete prison, referred to as “The Zoo” by the Shifters, due to menagerie of shifters within. Factions have grown, two larger gangs spreading over the Zoo like a virus, pushing for freedom from the scientists and military guards posted. The leaders, Sed of the Ainmhithe Daor and Paex of the Blaidd Anifail

[/b], work separately to build against the scientists and guards, not to make an escape back into the real world, but to control the island, and get their own lives back.[/blockquote][/blockquote][/center][/size]

ENTER

Wren, active admin, plays Sed Ferguson, Wren Meadows, Wilson Lennox, and Lukas Aleksashkin. Please PM her at admin with questions/comments