EDIT: This first post can now be mostly ignored, unless you're just extremely curious. An entire story arc has come and gone since this one, so its events aren't really relevant anymore. Skip to the next post for information as it pertains to more current stuff.



Alright, bear with me in this, and understand that I'm going to totally skip over anything remotely specific. I'm barely going to be even mentioning character names. Instead, consider this the kind of broad, sweeping overview that a random individual in the RP world might have if he or she was following the news and current events.

Because I'm lazy, and because I want this to be as simple and digestible as possible, I'm going to deliver it in tried-and-true bullet points.



- The Beginning
The story began an unspecified period of time after the story of the official games. Things were peaceful for a while, no one had heard so much as a peep out of Eggman for months (some going so far as to presume him dead, even), and Sonic sightings were scarce.



- Two months ago
Strange phenomena was sighted around along the coastline near Central City. Earthquakes out at sea were followed by the appearance of a thick, impenetrable mist outside the harbor. Ships began to disappear, and people claimed sightings of a so-called sea monster.



- One and a half months ago
Angel Island falls into the sea. Again. The Master Emerald is missing; Knuckles the Echidna is unhappy. In other news, the sky is still blue, the Earth is still round, and golf is still boring.



- One month ago
A full scale assault was launched on Central City. An army of decrepit-looking, rusted old robots of Eggman's design crawled out of the ocean and began wreaking havoc in the city nightly, leaving at the first sign of light. They were virtually indestructible, somehow able to reassemble themselves and continue shambling through almost any damage dealt. People claimed to see the "ghost" of Eggman in the harbor, and the ridiculous rumor began that he had returned from the grave to terrorize the populace.

Naturally, this was just a part of another kooky Eggman plot. There were "ghosts" involved—Odd, ectoplasmic specters not unlike those seen around Pumpkin Hill and other various ruins—but they were being utilized deliberately by Eggman to power and control his army of machines. The "sea monster" witnessed by many proved to be a large warship, which Miles "Tails" Prower had the misfortune of encountering.



The source of the mist and earthquakes proved to be a volcanic island that had formed offshore. Containing a fully-realized industrial city of robotics factories, chemical plants, and other such typical Eggman fare, it was a full-fledged fortress, and (a very alive) Eggman's new base of operations.

A fairly sizable number of people, ranging from military personnel to would-be do-gooders (both original characters and official) ended up on the island, and much sooner than Eggman would have preferred. Not yet fully prepared to deal with guests, he issued a threat: The complete destruction of the United Federation, if its government did not comply with his demands for surrender. He claimed to have topped all of his prior schemes by somehow managing to amass a combined source of energy the likes of which the world had never seen before: The Master Emerald, all seven Chaos Emeralds, and all seven Sol Emeralds.

He then retreated to the heart of the island, a geode-like chamber beneath the magma-filled depths. The geode was made of an unusual crystal, no doubt linked in some way to the Chaos Emeralds' power. Its bizarre energies were usable to create dimensional instability, not unlike "hyperspace" or Chaos Control. It was through this portal technology that Eggman had succeded in locating and successfully obtaining both sets of Emeralds, as well as the Master Emerald, with incredible suddenness and no opposition. For once, he didn't seem to be bluffing, or making any major mistakes; he had everything. And, perhaps just to raise the bar that much higher, he used the Master Emerald and the geode chamber's energies together to combine the emeralds into one deadly, unstable set, which he then (perhaps thoughtlessly) dubbed the "Chaosol Emeralds."

Fortunately, his ego got the better of him, as it always does. Rather than remaining safe in his virtually impenetrable fortress, he practically invited his invading enemies in, with the intent to test one of the new emerald's powers in combat. It ultimately turned out that the whole scheme was a pretty dumb idea, to put it lightly, and that the combined Chaos and Sol emerald was so unstable that it was all but entirely unusable. The weapons that it was supposed to power outright exploded, and Eggman narrowly avoided losing his mustache in the ensuing fire.

The crystal cavern, which had already suffered tremendous damage from Eggman's own mining operations, soon began to show signs of collapsing. Faced with a multitude of enemies right in his own (proverbial) living room, and not much in the way of a backup plan, he sent the remaining emeralds through the portal to scattered, undisclosed locations, then escaped, himself.

The group of would-be heroes escaped through the portal, as well, and landed in Yellow Desert on South Island, with the spoils of the battle: A single "Chaosol" emerald.

Local authorities, led by Yellow Desert's Sheriff Jack, immediately attempted to apprehend the group. (Their portal had unfortunately brought along with it a large amount of lava and debris, which took out town square's quaint little park. Oops.) The misunderstanding was smoothed over to some degree, though, and some members of the group agreed to spend the night at the station, and explain the events that had occurred.

The next morning, Eggman showed up to recover his emerald. To make a long story short, the battle that followed virtually leveled half the town, and ended with the accidental destruction of the Chaosol Emerald. (The resulting nuclear blast of radiation and chaos energy destroyed the rest of the town.)



-Now, in Spring City
Weeks later, after finding that there seemed to be no harmful residual effects from the radiation, the last patients are deemed safe, and released from quarantine and hospitalization. Among victims of the blast were:

• UF Secretary of Defense, Rekk Rogerz, who has been the talk of the nation after his hands-on involvement in the Yellow Desert battle
• Miles "Tails" Prower, famed sidekick of Sonic the Hedgehog
• Sheffer Hawkins, the individual who was allegedly in possession of the emerald at the time of the attack
• Jacqueline Clarke, the young, but well-liked sheriff of Yellow Desert, better known as Sheriff Jack
• Wild Badge, a beloved and popular South Island vigilante regarded as a superhero by many
• "Rock" Lochert, the famous (or some would say infamous) former SIAF astronaut
• Toby Cotton, up-and-coming star of the XG racing circuit

Numerous others were involved in the conflict (And I don't mean to snub anyone by not listing your character here—I'm just listing the folks who might have ended up in the news!), but thankfully, most non-combatants managed to evacuate the area in the course of the battle, well before the explosion.



WHAT NOW?
Once more, no one is certain of Eggman's whereabouts, but very few are foolhardy enough to assume he's anything but alive and plotting like always. Many of the survivors of the conflict have decided to get personally involved; one band led by Sheriff Jack plans to seek out and find the emeralds, and hopefully Eggman in the process. They aren't the only ones, though—Countless people are involved this time, and not all of them with the best of intentions for the super-powerful gems.



And thus, our story, presented in the driest and must utterly un-entertaining way. Wish I could do a little better than this, but you have no idea what a horribadawful chore it is to write story summaries. Forgive me.

An entire storyline has come and gone since last time this thread updated. I can't help but feel it would be unnecessary to address all of it, especially since so much of the action happened in secret settings, and the general public wouldn't know all of the truth of what happened, anyway, and new RPers probably don't give a flip about knowing all the fiddly little details.

That said, here are some general "status updates" on various things. This is the kind of stuff the general public might know, and should hopefully build some sort of picture of what's been happening in our RP world in general.


The Chaos Emeralds
For once, the Chaos Emeralds are no longer at the center of what's going on. They have reverted to their normal state and mostly dropped off the radar. Some were last seen on Westside Island, some in the United Federation, and there's no telling whose possession they've fallen into, if anyone's. They aren't a big concern, though, because at least a couple aren't even on Earth at the moment, so getting the entire, mega-dangerous collection of seven is not an easy task at the moment.


G.U.N.
Faltering. A series of unfortunate events and ill-picked targets have actually left GUN forces destabilized. Their largest facilities have been destroyed, including their headquarters in the capital, and many troops and resources have been lost.

While a powerful military force, it has been shown time and time again that they did not have the resources to compete against unusual threats such as Dr. Eggman or superpowered non-human sapients. In a bid to become relevant in the ensuing battles around themselves, a research sect within GUN began unauthorized experiments to attempt to create what essentially amounted to human supersoldiers. The project was subsequently destroyed and exposed to the general public by a task force personally assembled by the SecDef.

GUN has been reeling ever since.




Dr. Eggman
Though misinformation was spread around that Dr. Eggman was dead, he was actually being held in custody by GUN. Try as they might, they couldn't get him to reliably work for them. Any time he was given access to even the most innocuous machine, he tried to make some elaborate and dangerous escape attempt out of it. Eventually, GUN simply locked him away.

He escaped from imprisonment during a security breach at GUN's (now annihilated) Empire City facility. As far as anyone knows, he's on the loose again, though he hasn't started any mischief yet. Chances are he's working on something huge.


Space Colony ARK
Following an apparent accident during a huge media event hosted by Westside Island casino tycoon "Vince" featuring an XG race in outer space, the entirety of Space Colony ARK vanished from Earth orbit in a flash, taking with it many racers and audience members. Officials state only that investigations are underway.



Our RP story is primarily taking place aboard and around ARK right now (see threads from chapter 3b). The cast of characters is trying to figure out what's happening, cope with ARK's failing architecture, and eventually find a way home. Nearly any character could end up there if they were a participant or spectator in Vince's race, or otherwise had the reason and resources to be near ARK at the time of the disaster.

As always, if anyone has questions, feel free to make a topic and ask. We want to help new people get involved, but sometimes it's hard to just regurgitate an RP story, especially with all the various characters in play. Specific questions are easy to answer, though!

Some general, vague updates:

1. While Vince (a casino / entertainment tycoon on Westside Island) ran his big "Space Race" (with Geoff, Rodolf, and Juke in the racer lineup), Astrid's mission crew (Rock, Jam, Ace, Tau, Coop, and Tracer) went to Space Colony ARK, which vanished, taking everyone with it. (Chapter 3b—there's a lot of details about what happened to ARK, but given that it all happened in secret and not many characters in the RP will know about it, we're not going into it here.)

2. Sonic and all his friends vanished around that time, as well. (It is assumed Sonic Chronicles took place during this time)

3. With little to oppose him, Dr. Eggman, after escaping Jack and the Phoenix in the ending of Chapter 3a, finished his preparations and performed a full-scale world takeover at long last. I don't know if you've seen it yet, but this will explain a little about what life is like following the takeover.

4. The cast of the mystery arc (chapter 3a) probably returned to South Island just days before Eggman's takeover truly began. They had about a month off-screen of fighting him or suffering his crap between then and the beginning of chapter 4.

5. With the beginning of chapter 4, ARK reappeared, and with it, all the people from the space race and from Astrid's crew. The events that occurred during that time remain a mystery to the world at large.

6. Rock, having taken over as captain following Astrid's breakdown, talked to Eggman alongside Ace, Jam, and Tau. Rock agreed that they would join the Eggman Army and turn over the ships and all the survivors on board. Ace refused to go along with the plot and helped the other survivors escape, leaving Rock, Jam, and Tau, who have since remained a part of the Eggman Army.

7. Ace and Coop begin essentially leading their own small resistance force comprised of the crews of the ships, including Geoff, Rodolf, Juke, and others.

8. Sonic & crew's spacecraft reappeared on Day 2 of Chapter 4, and was promptly shot down somewhere over South Island.

9. Everyone's favoritest good-guy Seven (warning: sarcasm) makes his grand reappearance on Day 3, "rescuing" Ace & friends and "helping" them with a mission. (He is unashamedly dressed like Wesker and still thinks he is quite cool.) Seven nearly gets them all killed, but succeeds in destroying their objective.

10. You are now caught up.

Other details: Central City (in the UF) and Gigalopolis (just across the channel from it, on South Island, not far from Yellow Desert) have seen some of the worst of Eggman's development, full of refineries, factories, chemical plants, and pollution. Central City seems to be the center of his operation, while Gigalopolis is supplying it with materials harvested from South Island. Gigalopolis is where most of the action has happened thus far. Gigalopolis. Gosh, what an ugly word.

And with that, we have completed a rather crude, barebones story update. Sorry—no pretty John art this time. Just imagine a really awesome painting. Imagine... imagine... There you go.

This hasn't been updated in ages because story update threads are a pain in the butt. But here's something from another post a while back that may be helpful.



To put it in the tightest nutshell possible, Chapter 4 saw the rise and fall of the Eggman Empire. In a moment of weakness, where Sonic and friends were quite literally in another dimension for several months, Eggman took over the world, established a firm foothold, and basically conquered everything. However, with the end of chapter 4, the Eggman Empire has faltered and the world is on its way back to normal.

G.U.N., which has been at the center of a lot of controversy and trouble in previous chapters, is trying to rebuild, while another new organization called Chimera is interfering with it. It's hard to tell who the good guys are at this point, because Chimera is purportedly responsible for stopping the empire and is currently helping rebuild, but it's also being very oppressive toward G.U.N. and has thus far been responsible for a ton of destruction and losses. Maybe there aren't any good guys at all anymore.

Now we have Chapter 5. The cast of characters here consists largely of those who were involved in fighting the Eggman Empire in the finale of chapter 4. Something happened, however, and they ended up stranded in Chun-nan, thousands of miles from their homes. They've been trying just to get home, but they're getting embroiled in yet more conflicts along the way. It's kind of a mini-story more than a full-fledged plotline, involving some kind of Chunese crime boss and a potentially-dangerous artifact he's after. It's still a mystery to most of the characters, though, so it's probably best I don't overexplain it here, either. Just suffice to say that everyone's in Sonic-world China, trying to get home, and running afoul the Sonic-world Triad.

Maybe later I'll start actually trying to type an update post every time we complete a thread.

... It's a nice thought, but I probably won't do it.

During the group's simple struggle to get back home from Chun-nan, they ran afoul an organized crime kingpin by the name of Li Fang, and bumbled into an ordeal centering on an artifact called the Norden Circle.

Here's the rundown in bullet form, because this story gets pretty gnarly on its own.

• The Norden Circle, an ancient mirror long kept as a treasure by the royalty of Cape Norden, was stolen by resistance fighters seeking to use its powers to try to stop the reign of Dr. Eggman.
• Word gets out that the mirror has been stolen. Many begin trying to recover it, while some go for it for personal gain.
• While transporting the mirror on a train through the snowy mountains of Chun-nan (Sonic-world Himalayas, in this case), the resistance fighters are attacked by a group of thugs (including Tracer and Archer) under the control of Chunese crime boss Li Fang.
• Coincidentally, this is the same train our main cast of original characters (including Ace, Geoff, and others) happened to be aboard. They tried to interfere with the train robbery, but were confused about who was on whose side; as a result, the resistance fighters took some friendly fire, were defeated, and the mirror was stolen.
• Eventually, the party makes it to the city. Some members need a little medical attention, so they check into the hospital. Here, for yet-to-be-revealed reasons, Li Fang's men return and abduct Ace.
• With help from Casey (and Casey's unknown contacts), the group tracks down Li Fang's hideout in an old subway station, abandoned since Eggman's takeover. They bust in, but the crooks are already on their way out the door, loading up their entire operation on a train. Li Fang and a mysterious associate escape with Ace.
• A huge chunk of Li Fang's operation, including the boss himself, heads to South Island. Our heroes pursue.
• Li Fang reveals the true function of the Norden Circle by using it to probe into Ace's mind. It is revealed that the mirror is capable of creating an alternate dimension of sorts, shaped, influenced, and connected to the mind of the individual it is used on. The mirror then acts as a gateway to this dimension, allowing any who enter to essentially explore the mind of the victim, and even influence him.
• Things go awry during Li Fang's visit to Ace's mind, and Ace breaks free from his trance and his restraints. After brutally assaulting (and presumably killing) Li Fang, he escapes. Reality is called into question, however, as not everything seems to have gone the way Ace thought it did.
• As of Chapter 6, the party now searches for Ace on South Island. There, they meet for the first time with Casey's "contact," an amateur (but now overburdened) GUN operative named Pax, and reunite with an old ally, Sheriff Jack. Together, they set out to get things done: To find Li Fang, and take care of business on all fronts—eventually even including Chimera or the remnants of the Eggman Empire.

As of this writing, former-sheriff Jack has dug up some tips from her connections, and now, the group is chasing down leads around Starlight City in a search for Ace.

In the background of all this, Eggmanland continues to function in the heart of Central City, and even spread its boundaries, while Chimera airships continue to ruthlessly contain G.U.N. forces to the United Federation and exert "peacekeeping" edicts on the world. Sonic and friends are somewhere in the mix, some of them presumably still duking it out with Eggman, but they haven't been seen in our story and probably won't be a whole lot unless the group decides to pursue the empire as a target.