Into the Black

Into the Black is a role-play on the Gang of Five. It was GMed by Serris and ran from August 17, 2013 to Apr 23 2014, and can be read here.
==Synopsis==
The year is 2037, great leaps in computer science and biology have allowed the once impossible: the seamless fusion of flesh and machine. However, the utopia envisioned of such a world is not to be. Greed, crime, corruption and apathy have plagued the great urban landscapes that are the hallmark of this new world.
Despite this, many of the inhabitants try their best to live in this world. But there are some opposed to this new world. They call themselves "The Purifiers". A shadowy anti-technology group that seeks to make all augments and implants completely illegal. While most of their actions have been legal, if hateful, protests, some have taken this message further to heart and have engaged in vandalism, sabotage or even outright murder.
== List of RPs ==
There are five role-plays in the Into the Black canon. 
# Into the Black: The first role-play. The characters get embroiled in a police manhunt for Lily, an amnesiac woman who is slowly turning into some sort of monster. Further complications arise when the Purifiers get involved, as they wish to use Lily to unleash a 'pulse bomb' on the city that will kill anyone with cybernetic augments.
# Racing the Storm: The first sequel. The main characters are recruited by Vergil Speicher, a psionic gecko attempting to stop his archnemesis Kalis from using his fleet to take over the world. The team travels around the world searching for "waypoints"; mysterious locations that are somehow all connected as part of Kalis' plans. "Racing the Storm" started on April 29 2014 and was GMed by Pterano. 
# Around the Folf: A spinoff RP that follows Flora, the titular folf, who was written out of Racing the Storm when she was ejected from Kalis' flagship in a malfunctioning escape pod. Flora and several other survivors reach civilization after trekking across the Saharan desert, and she enrolls in a psionic research institute and goes on more lighthearted adventures with staff members and other test subjects. "Around the Folf" started on August 10 2015 and was GMed by nick22. 
# After the Storm: A sequel to Racing the Storm that follows Tony and Emilena, the only known survivors of Vergil's final battle with Kalis. Both have become rich and famous due to living through the world-saving fight, but find themselves pursued by a shadowy group after a secret agent injects Tony with a mysterious serum. "After the Storm" started on March 26 2019 and was GMed by Pterano. 
# Blanking the Slate: An "alternate timeline" RP that changes the ending to Into the Black and does not consider the other RPs canon. In this timeline, the Purifiers' pulse bomb successfully detonates, which drastically changes the fates of the characters. Several months later, the Purifiers kidnap the surviving main characters and blackmail them into helping them discover who is scapegoating them for a series of attacks targeting augmented civilians. "Blanking the Slate" was started on August 9 2015 and was co-GMed by Serris and bushwacked.
==Authors/Primary characters==
===Multiple RPs===
*Serris - Soren Almaya
*LettuceBacon&Tomato - Emilena Echo
*StarfallRaptor - Adrian Kibagami
*Nick22 - Marita Jones
*bushwacked - Axel Whent
*Pterano - Tony Stracci
===Into the Black===
*Rocky - Patrick Anderson
===Racing the Storm===
*yeswonderful - Kaien
===Blanking the Slate===
*f-22 "raptor" ace - Herschel 'Awe' Hammacher
==Connection to Darwin's Soldiers==
Despite sharing a GM and several players from the Darwin's Soldiers RPs, Into the Black is not considered a part of the Darwin's Soldiers canon. However, the primary antagonist is a government agent named Lupis Wing II, and Lupis Wing was one of Dragore's characters from Darwin's Soldiers (reboot). One of the main characters in Blanking the Slate is Nigel Bailey, stated to be the son of Keith Bailey (Furtopia reboot). These links, along with the repeated appearances of Pelvanida, set this role-play in the rebooted universe.
Darwin's Soldiers characters Axel and Kojuuro are named after characters from Into the Black. The police enemies (except Bob) from Gamer 2 use Emilena's sprite from the tie-in game Electra City.
==Other media==
The Into the Black universe has many stories, video games, and supplementary content written within its universe. All of it is cataloged here. The largest are three story cycles all written by LettuceBacon&Tomato:
# Officer Echo: A series of 11 stories starring Emilena as a police officer before the events of Into the Black. Emilena and Chief Broadstreet are the main characters. 
# The Hemlock Gang: A series of 9 stories following the drug running gang Emilena founded between Into the Black and Racing the Storm. The gang members (Emilena, Nairda, Flora, Foley, and Hal) are the main characters. 
# Echo Chambers: A series of 15 stories starring Flora as a test subject at Sartonic Labs, set during the events of Around the Folf. The main characters are Flora, her roommates (Marita, Rose, Marie), her fellow test subjects (Yurei, Sharal'tar) and her girlfriend, a Sartonic junior nurse named Emma.
Also of note is Electra City, a two-player pixel fighting game made by LettuceBacon&Tomato and including Emilena, Soren, Rio, Gilver, and Marita as playable characters.
==Trivia==
*Several other role-plays have been tied to the Into the Black universe. Emilena's parents are Emile and Lena Kibagami from Scorched Earth, and Lily North was LettuceBacon&Tomato's main character from a game of Psi*Run. Pterano's character Vergil Speicher is from a role-play on another forum, though he's declined to state which for spoiler reasons.
*A number of character sheets were posted in the discussion thread but never joined the role-play, either due to the author being banned from the Gang of Five or the chance not arising to include them. One of them, Hania Enapay, was posted by Belmont2500.
*lbt/cty lover is the only author from the first Darwin's Soldiers RP who does not post in any part of the Into the Black canon. f-22 posts in Blanking the Slate, Mirumoto_Kenjiro posts in Scorched Earth, and the other authors post in Into the Black and subsequent RPs.
*No characters from the Into the Black universe have appeared in Insane Cafe, though the character Cynder once used the name “Flora” as an alias, in homage to the titular character from Around the Folf.
**Rose, Emilena, and the city of Lanthae appear in the Insane Cafe tie-in story The Approaching Light.
==See also==
*Insane Cafe
*Gang of Five Holidays 2k13!!
*Ask the Characters, where many Into the Black characters have answered questions.
*Post count (Into the Black)
Category:Non-canon
Category:Real-world articles
Category:Franchises