When you are ready, you may begin. You can being in anyway possible and include any faction or idea into the RP's universe. It'll be better in the long run.
Everything was in place for Alice. She had spent years looking for her family's fortunes and belongs. All she needed was a ship. Not just any ship, a military one. One with sonar powerful enough to reach deep enough in the pacific depths. With the chaos of the new world war, papers of naval warships coming out of dry-docks were constantly being lost. Or stolen. And she was lucky enough to have a couple appear in her hands. "Captain Vivian Favela" of the United States Navy was just a facade. A mask she wore to gain a warship. The ship, the U.S.S. Drake, a simple destroyer and its crew were a means to end. The ship would be taken out to sea before picking her own crew off shore, who would violently replace the on board crew. All will be done without the Navy knowing and the ship will continue as normal, as if nothing ever happened before a major incident occurs. Flawless, she thought to herself as the ship left the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. She was up on the bridge, disguised as a captain of the navy. A wolf in sheep's clothing. The ship steamed out, bound towards the Pacific and disaster.
Edward Grayson, known and feared to his enemies and allies alike as "The Chess master." An absolute genius with flawless ability in strategy and tactics, all battles under his command resulted in one-sided victories almost every time with minimal losses and depending on the situation, no losses at all. Outclassing even the most brilliant of commanders dozens of times over, he was easily known to be one of the best commanders of all time. He could unite the entire world if he desired, and that was exactly what he aimed to do. Although he preferred peaceful measures such as diplomacy, he would obviously respond with violence if the situation occurred. Grayson had been shunned and persecuted by the world's more powerful nations, such as the United States, most of Europe, Australia and even China. Treated like garbage and unhappy with the war around him, he set to create a new world after an encounter with a man with long silver hair and milky blue eyes. Currently inside of the Middle-East, his first objective was to bring together that entire area of the world and unite it first, bring freedom back to a people who have been at war for decades against the bullying Western powers. If he could bring peace back there, then he could do it anywhere.
As ship was far enough out, they came across a large fishing boat that was seemingly broken down at sea. "Bring them in. Let's try to help them out." Alice said as she began making her way down to the stern of ship. A small contingent of several armed sailors followed after her. when they reached the open stern end of the ship, the two ships were parallel next to each other, close enough for the fishing boat crew climb across. Alice pulled out her Markov, checking the chamber of it. One of the sailors noticed and leaned over. "I don't think that's standard issue." She looked over at him. "No, it's not." she said calmly before unloading several rounds into his body and the sailor behind him before grabbing and using him as a shield. The rest of the small squad opened fire on the human shield before the other crew managed climb aboard and gun them down. "Machete." she peacefully commanded as one of her crew tossed over the sheathed blade. The takeover was quick and brutal but unknown beyond the halls of the ship. As the crew was replaced with her own, she quickly donned her regular apparel and took to the captain's quarters. The bodies were dumped overboard and the ship continued onward, "following" orders.
Edward found himself inside Iraq, which had been under brutal civil-war since the outbreak of a third world war. Edward wore his stand attire, a single long brown trench coat over his normal military bottoms over his shirtless muscular body. At least five different 'major' factions fought for control for the country and at least 250,000 people have already died in this violence. Edward would have to spend some time studying these factions, two of them being Islamic extremists before he could bring peace to the region.
As Alice was reading in the captain's quarters, a crewmate rushed up her, frantic. "Ma'm! The United States Navy is issuing orders to us! They want us to move!" She looked up from her book, her face placid. "Then listen to them. We can't let them know this isn't exactly the Navy's ship." "They want us to move to the Persian Golf to support ground forces. Away from the Pacific, Ma'am." She stopped, her face showing modest surprise before thinking. "Fine, move us with there and inform the crew. I don't want to have slack but don't make a heroic effort over it. We don't need to be caught because of awards."
A group of people were sitting in a partially destroyed Mosque, the building being used as a pillar of faith and shelter in this dark time. Baghdad has seen plenty of misfortunes throughout the previous decades, all of whom had been experiencing a period of trouble. All of the people in the mosque were poor, dirty and were wearing nothing but torn and weathered clothing. “What are we to do? We don’t want to leave our homeland” One older man spoke in Arabic. “I fear that this war would turn brothers and sisters against each other. We have no food or water and we might wither and die within the next few days. We have lost trust in our leaders ability to unite this world, who could we trust? Edward stood at the door, his coat seemingly swaying dramatically in the wind. There was a powerful charismatic force behind this man, eyes that seemed to say ‘I get stuff done’. He filled the definition of a king in every sense of the word, a man whom they could follow to the ends of the earth. He had a smile upon his face and spoke in fluent Arabic. “Place your trust in me, and together we can bring peace to a world at war.” All of the people in the mosque looked at each other, sceptical of the Caucasian man before them until a very elderly man with a long beard stood up and looked at him, tears running down his eyes. All the people in the Mosque soon stood up and looked before him. Edward had just gained his first followers for himself, and for the new god. -------------------------------------- A man with long silver hair and blue eyes waited until the middle of the night to appear before Alice who would rested in her quaters. He appeared in a white sleeveless duster and looked before her, a smile on his face. His name was Kitaru, and he wanted to start an Age of Wonders. If Alice agreed to join him, she would be granted power beyond her dreams.
Alice held the stranger at gunpoint as she woke up to find him. "Age of miracles? New world order? I don't know who you are or how you even got in here but you better start making sense before you're floating home with a few more holes."
"My name is Kitaru, and my sole purpose is to help humanity reach their truest potential. In order to do that, the entire planet would need to be unified. Many have tried and failed in the past, but I can perform this seemingly impossible task. If I ruled over humanity, miracles will occur." Kitaru started. "Of course, that is not what you are after from me. Your looking for a ship perhaps, one specific ship?"
Alice was already planning on a retort to the man's totalitarianism dream before hearing about the boat. She lowered her Markov carefully, keeping and eye on him. "Yes. I'm sure you know everything about it too at this point. Trying to bargain with me now?"
"Yes, I know everything. You happen to be a transcendent from your past life of a historical figure, meaning that you possess traits and talents that appeal to me. I'm not seeking to establish a dictatorship, the world will belong to humanity with me only acting as a supervisor. If you helped me, you would also be helping the human race. In return, I will grant your wish of finding the boat" Kitaru told the women nearby. "Do you accept"
Alice thought it over for a moment before deciding. "Fine. But I'm not doing this for humanity, I'm doing this for my family." She put her pistol and crossed her arms. "So, what historical figure did I transcend from? Edward Thatch? Nimitz?"
"You are transcendent of Artemisia I of Caria, a queen for millenniums past whom commanded her forces in viscous naval battles against the free Greek City States. A warrior queen with an historical affinity for water. Kitaru replied. "Other transendent individuals exist on Terra, one of whom has already been reborn in the Middle East that seeks nothing but to further improve the lives of mankind." Kitaru told the women nearby. "I shall not go behind thy word, your family shall be found again, and any deceased shall be resurrected and healed."
"No." she interjected. "I don't want my family to come back. I've done too much for them to see me like this." lice looked away and rested her head in the wall. "All I want is what's mine..." she sighed before looking back. "What do I need to do first?"
"Survive" Kitaru replied. "You are to survive the next coming days where the entire weight of the world would feel like it is to be on your shoulders. I would advise avoiding conflict whenever possible from now on. Of course, you are not alone. Another disciple of mine is currently in the Middle-East, you could head there if you wished." Kitaru then raised a finger and pressed his finger on the head of Alice, seemingly unlocking her potential in the process. Kitaru had the same smile on his face. "You are a child of the sea, and the sea shall now bow to your command. I shall see you again, Alice." And with that, Kitaru vanished in thin air.
Alice blinked as the man disappeared. Even with her calm expression, one could tell she was confused internally. She walked from out her quarters and went topside, looking out on to the Persian sea. She could see it was calm. She thought to herself before watching some ripples appear. Slowly, a large column start grow out of the water. It quickly lost form and sunk back into the sea as Alice turned away and went back inside. If there was another "transcendent" out there, they would have a few days to reach the ship before she departed. In the meantime, she remained near the aft most of the way, practicing her power.
During the last couple of days, Edward had roughly 1,000 active supporters and loyal followers whom were ready to take back Baghdad. Although outnumbered roughly five to one, Edward's strategic and tactical abilities allowed them to ultimately gain the advantage against their enemy. Using the old concept of Divide and Conquer, they attacked the smallest faction first before deciding to attack the larger factions fighting for control. The next tactic that followed during their attacks were tactic of bringing a large portion of one's own force to bear on small enemy units in sequence, rather than engaging the bulk of the enemy force all at once. This only exposed Edward's own units to a small risk, yet allows for the eventual destruction of an entire enemy force. By the end of the week, they held half of the city and seen an explosion in followers to around 40,000 civilian and military alike.
Alice could hear the reports of the American forces radio chatter about the events of Baghdad. Whether or not it was the other transcendent or not, she needed want to wait around for the orders of fire support but she couldn't just up and leave. It was quite the tragedy when a sudden massive undertow pulled most of the US fleet violently out of the Persian Gulf and back out into the Indian Ocean. Several ship were run aground or destroyed in the process, crippling the naval power in the area. U.S.S Drake on the other hand made it out safely and sailed off to Hong Kong for the time being.
Out of all of the forces that remained in Baghdad, two out of the five forces in the city had all but been either crushed or declared Baghdad a lost cause entirely and fled. Edward was going to put the finishing touches onto completely pushing all of these other forces out of the city and taking command of Baghdad in one single move. Considering the strength of the other forces and having the civilians on his side who wanted nothing but hope and peace, this uprising could last less than an hour. Taking the remainder of Iraq would be an effort as well, but it wouldn't be as hard as taking control of the city.
As the Drake was docked with the naval base in the Hong Kong, she was already sure she'd hear an ear-full from the commanding offices there, abandoning her post when the the incidental undertow flushed out the fleet. Surprisingly enough, the base was bare-boned on staff. Most of those who weren't good at filing or organizing has been sent off to frontlines else war. Though most of the 'crew' decided to take the streets for a night of debauchery and fun, Alice stayed behind, practicing her powers and studying up on Artemisia.
