Synopsis
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For centuries, most of the world was affected by the passions, paranoia, and insanity of man. Emotions drove people to do many things, not the least of which was killing other people. In an effort for World Peace, the United Nations decided to fund a mass research project on a drug known as “ExO”, which claimed to be capable of controlling the critical levels of emotions in creatures and narrow their emotional margins to more appropriate variables. In effect, people who took the drug would not be capable of excessive emotion – fear, anger, hatred, fury, sadness, happiness, passion and lust, all these emotions would be kept in control (along with all other definable emotions, as far as was known.
The reason this drug was so widely accepted by politician and public alike, was it’s supposed “Zero Side-Effects” and its ability to permit individuality and emotion, but keep matters in check. People would still be able to “feel” sad, angry, hurt or afraid, but they would not burst into tears, get into a shouting fight, become depressed or scream in terror. After a minor few years of testing, the drug was made available without prescription, and several nations even made dosing of ExO mandatory.
Of course, there was resistance. Many people did not wish for the drug – but they were quickly overshadowed by the number of people that accepted it ExO and welcomed its benefits, and conformity was impossible to avoid. Those countries that were not part of the UN were soon bought out, their poverty, industry or simply the quality of their living abolished as they welcomed in the wondrous abilities of ExO. Negotiations became much more simplistic – blood screening became mandatory to ensure that ExO was being taken, and RFID technology was advanced so that only those who took ExO could be admitted to certain buildings, events – even cities as time progressed, would close their streets to anyone that did not have the proper levels of ExO in their system.
Technology also turned towards the betterment of the quality of life. Special buildings were designed that could withstand tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and other natural disasters. Medical advances were pushed to incredible levels by the increased funding that came from what was once military spending, while war basically became a few pages in a history book. Life was, in many ways, better. Police forces became a sort of “Persuasion” force, carrying Emergency ExO injectors and defense batons. There was a near 0 crime rate, and most issues could be solved by simple conversation and negotiation. Prisons and Asylums were emptied as people were “cured” by the miracle that was ExO.
The old saying of “all good things must come to an end” was forgotten, until one day. Police forces all over the world suddenly began getting swarmed with calls – uprising of emotional outbursts, something happening to people that caused them to change. Nothing could have prepared anyone for what occurred. People changed into their most frequented emotion – fear, fury, depression, happiness, compassion, envy, excitement, sadness – emotions of all types were suddenly pouring out of people, shifting their forms, destroying them violently from the inside out. People became terrifying beasts, huge hulking creatures that had the sole purpose of destruction – people became frightening figures, stalking through the shadows, lashing out from the darkness and dragging innocents into their world. Cities froze in the terrible day, in the wake of the “True Awakening”.
Now, a few years have gone by. Most of the world has reverted to a sense of survivalist society. ExO is a thing of the past, feared more than the creatures it somehow created. No one knows what happened, all they know is they must survive and try to take back the world. Museum relics of weaponry and the like were put back into the service they were meant for, hoping to defend areas against the Awakened – the people that had been touched by the True Awakening and had changed to something else, something worse. Only a few of the cities that once were now stand, utopia amidst seas of ruins and wastes.
In middle Europe, testing has been done to see if individuals can harness the power of the Awakening. After many failed tests, a few subjects have emerged, showing an acceptance of testing and an ability to control the power of these emotions. Their skills now refined, they must step out into the world and make efforts to reunite the broken survivors and begin the slow process, of retaking the planet from The Awakened.
