INFO.

[dispensed]

29. 6'2". leader of the hollows. mute.

world › evolut setting › post-apocalyptic continent location › a desert terrain bordering a mountain range of forests and woodlands timeline › 20 PDE (post-deformis era), 20 years since the outbreak world info > ▪ 1 PDE: a virus coined the deformis strand begins to wipe out majority of the world population, but certain people are found to be immune to it. they are shuffled off into six different facilities with other healthy non-immunes (primarily family) in hopes of finding a cure and ensuring the future of the human race. ▪ immunes who have come across an infected individual (or who were exposed to the virus in some way, shape or form) start to develop magical abilities. ▪ upon further analysis, the remaining scientists of the main compound, alpha, soon discovers that the virus forces encoded DNA into a current host's existing strands of DNA, which is why the ones who are compatible with the new sequence (aka the immunes) "evolve" and the ones who don't (aka the non-immunes) "degrade" — and then there are the others who fall into neither categories, twisted anomalies that shouldn't exist. ▪ 14 PDE: the facilities have all lost contact with each other. survivors in compound alpha have had no need to step outside. they are completely self-sustainable. the five leaders of the compound have decided it is time to start planning reintegration into the external world, first by conducting tests to see if the virus is still an existing threat and then locating survivors from other facilities to bring back to the main base. they plan to choose two small groups of immunes and begin training them to carry out this expedition. ▪ the first few reconnaissance missions outside of safety perimeters proved deadly. none of the scouts they sent out returned. finally, in 15 PDE, a survivor made it back announcing that they weren't alone. compound alpha learned of the hollows for the first time, a community of misfits that should have died years ago. somehow, they had survived and they were carrying the deformis contagion within them. they were immediately deemed a high risk threat and escalating tensions between the two factions began to rise rapidly. ▪ 17 PDE: the expedition begins. both groups of immunes head in separate directions, one towards the northwest and the other to the southeast. on the homefront, compound alpha and the hollows have been entrenched in a bloody territorial battle. neither side is willing to budge and hatred between the two factions have grown irreparably. the hollows have proven to be a formidable threat, not only as carriers of the deformis strand but also possessors of a corrupted form of magic. if the powers of the immunes can be relegated to something akin to light magic, then the hollows are surely wielders of dark. ▪ 19 PDE: compound alpha has lost contact with both expedition groups for over a year now. a cold war subsides between them and the hollows, fragile at best. they hope to send out a small team of immunes the following year to find out what happened to the groups. but a month preceding the end of another year, a small band of survivors from the northwest group made it back. unfortunately, unbeknownst to them, they were not alone when they returned. ▪ they're called deforms, beings corrupted by the deformis strand to the point where they can no longer be considered living things. they're grotesque abominations that have been mutated into swirls of dark masses. unlike the hollows, they no longer look human nor do they have conscious awareness. they attack anything that moves and turns them into their likeness whether they be human or animal. they have no magical abilities but they are fast and deadly. ▪ 20 PDE: it has been a month since the northeast group brought back with them the deforms and thus a new war begins. what will they do? pace kearney > ▪ goes primarily by p.k. most of his crew knows his name is pace, but no one knows his last name is kearney. there is probably a good reason for that. ▪ after he was infected with the virus, his throat was forcefully slit by an immune who'd told him it was a "mercy killing". luckily, he was saved by a medic who'd found him in time to stop the bleeding. his vocal cords, however, never recovered from the injury. he still has the scar to show it. ▪ he, along with millions of others, were left to die as the immunes and their families were escorted safely to facilities across the continent. by this point, he had no one left in his life, except for the ones abandoned alongside him. ▪ inexplicably, he not only survived the virus but he made a full recovery. he remains a carrier of the disease, yet he no longer suffers from the symptoms. as a result of this sudden turnabout, he began to locate, gather and tend to other infected individuals. although most didn't survive, some did and they found a way to thrive in an abandoned society together. ▪ he became the leader of the hollows — a name in reference to the shared hollowness of their features. all hollows have a paleness to their complexions and dark circles beneath their eyes, disregarding the state of their health. they are all carriers of the deformis strand and they're all able to use a twisted form of magic. like immunes, specialties and power discrepancies do exist. some are naturally more talented than others, but practice makes perfect (as the adage goes). ▪ even though p.k. is the only one in his crew who can't speak, the hollows primarily communicate via a sign language that they've created for themselves. when he does need to be heard, his second-in-command becomes his interpreter or his "voice". he has an unwavering hate for compounders, yet the introduction of the deforms has pushed him into reevaluating his current position against them (despite the fact that this debacle is also their fault).