((OOC: The RP is currently tied between three people, but I may be willing to let in one or two more, depending on who they are, how they RP and how reliable and mature they prove themselves to be.<br/><br/>OOC thread - http://bluemoonroleplaying.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=15684 ))<br/><br/>2998 A.D.<br/><br/>The planet Earth's population has widdled down from 10 billion in the year 2250 down to a few million at the doorstep of the 31st century. Approximately 500 years ago, scientists discovered what was thought to be another planet on the cusp of of our Solar System, approximately 1.5 times the size of Pluto.<br/><br/>An American Satellite was launched, equipped with a newly developed Solar Sail technology and arrived at the 'planet' just shy of 5 years later. Once it had made contact, all visual contact with the heavenly body was lost. All scientists were baffled, and it seemed that communication with the Satellite had become impossible. There was no explanation and it had become a headline making story for several months until finally, as with all great mysteries and tragedies, it petered out.<br/><br/>Aside from the occasional scientific speculation, there was little discussion about the details of that day until 2 months later. There was a rash of strange changes in the tide, across the world. Some scientists suggested that the Moon had been struck by an unseen asteroid, most likely one with an Iron core, that increased the size and weight of the orbiting satellite. But as the world soon discovered, it was something quite different.<br/><br/>The attack was barely registered before it hit. Every major power plant on the planet, every major city, struck all at once. America, Japan, The U.K., Germany, all the most densely populated countries, rendered powerless, both figuratively and literally. In a matter of hours, Earth was in the midst of a global black out. Any power source larger than a gas powered generator seemingly crushed, any town larger then a few hundred bombed from orbit. Not with explosives, but with biological weapons.<br/><br/>Xenomorphs crashed to Earth and shredded with a single minded purpose, to cripple the planet. Amidst the chaos, a massive payload was dropped from a barely visible ship above the cloud of smoke and ash. It was the size of a small mountain, but was visible for less then a minute before it tore it's way into the crust of the planet. The invasion had begun and Earth had already lost.<br/><br/>Hundreds of years had gone by and the planet's population had continued to thin. At first there was a resistance, surviving military and political heads trying to mass rag tag bands of soldiers and citizens to fight the invading horde, but all that did was provide an easier target for the extraterrestrial creatures. They were wiped out en mass. And so began the era of Scavengers.<br/><br/>Humans rarely stayed in groups larger then a dozen or so, and if they did, they were constantly on the move. Fuel was more precious then anything else on the planet, save for food and clean water. Most of the Earth's soil was arid and salted, seemingly in massive amounts, and most of the planet's wildlife had died out, either from the lack of plant life, or the swarms of deadly predators the invaders had let lose upon the surface. Pockets regions exist for those willing to fight to survive, but were either mobile, or in areas where the majority of the Aliens could not reach them.<br/><br/>Those areas were either Arctic, Oceanic, Air-born or, most dangerous of all, subterranean. Scavengers do nothing other than try to survive, hunting food, water, technology and, most of all, fuel. An engine in this era can run much father on a much smaller amount of diesel then ever possible in centuries passed. Fuel has become both a blessing and a curse, though, as anyone who seems to gather up too much technology, particularly technology that runs heavily on electricity or heat, attracts the attention of the invading hordes much quicker then anyone else.<br/><br/>Because of these, any many other factors, survival has become a tricky balancing game. Being with others often means having to share what little you have, which is something many people are not willing to do. A Scavengers life is one that is either lonely, dangerous or a mix of both. But it's the only life that's left.