Here's today's work. I spent a fair amount of time filling it out. Some of it probably isn't explained clearly, so you should point that out to me or explain a way of explaining it more clearly.
Once upon a time, in Melbourne...
Being:
The dominant species are humans. They grow until they are about 20, and then live for another 40 years, dying at the average age of 60. They used to live longer than this, but most of them have cut decades off their life expectancy by continuous binge drinking, reckless activity and general stupidity.
Movement:
Once upon a time, humans used to move around their environments by walking in a generally upright position. These days, due to poor health and physical and mental deficiencies, humans tend to move around by lurching unsteadily, or shuffling around short distances in a drunken manner.
Sometimes humans will run, but only when they are forced to out of something like fear, in which case their running will be over the top and highly dramatic.
Survival:
The body of humans are becoming more and more resilient as time goes on due to the constant abuse they put themselves through with alcohol, constant alcohol-fuelled brawls, and endless hangovers. Humans bodies are capable of surviving extreme degrees of dehydration, starvation, changes in temperature, physical damage (even when done to vital organs). Hospital visits are no longer a necessity for injured humans, as they tend to be getting more and more capable of just walking it off. Most humans can also eat pretty much anything, even the mould that grows on walls.
Making an effort to improve living conditions usually has a negative impact on one’s survivability because they actually have to get up and do work, which can lead to respiratory failure if done too suddenly or for too long.
Time:
In the environment that these humans live in (the apartment), time is not relative to the outside world, nor the neighbouring rooms in the apartment complex. Time only becomes relative when beings from different rooms interact with each other – during this interactive session, which may last from seconds to days, time is perceived exactly the same way for both parties.
When isolated from other people or rooms, time can expand and contract to unlimited lengths, while remaining “normal” for the subject inside this time zone. If outside observers could see into this area (say, the individual room), it would appear as if time was travelling much faster or slower – or perhaps not at all. But this never happens, because witnessing and observation is considered interaction in this world and then requires time expand or contract until it is perceived as the same for both parties observing the scene.
These dilations in time can explain why someone falling out of the 14th floor of the apartment complex at 12:05 pm may be witnessed falling past a window on the 13th floor at 12:10 pm, five minutes later. For the person actually falling, this would feel like seconds until he hit the ground. A person observing the scene without “interacting” (a practical impossibility) would see the person taking five minutes to reach the next window, let alone hit the ground.
Time and how it affects moving through Space:
Errors in time sometimes cause people to be trapped within the time pockets where time is functioning at the same level - this is done naturally by the universe to prevent conflicts with separate time zones, but means that all things in that time zone are trapped for a certain amount of time (until the conflict is resolved - usually just by allowing time to pass). When a person tries to leave a room that is in time-conflict with another area, they'll simply re-appear at the other end; usually through a different door. This is the universe simply making sure that everything stays safe and in its allocated time zones until the conflict or paradox is resolved. Unfortunately, if someone happens to be in a house that is burning down and wants to escape, they usually will run around and end up in the same area, unable to escape the danger and probably dying.
Transport:
Everyone is lazy and no one shuffles much further than their drive way or to the bus stop. If they have to travel further than that, their progress will be impeded by the need for constant rests. This is why most people own vehicles, which they drive everywhere they can fit them.
Landforms:
The outside world of Melbourne is now a large, polluted cityscape, plagued by thick smog that tends to blind and suffocate those who go outside for too long. It’s not uncommon for there to be acid rain, which only makes most old buildings more susceptible to deterioration, while newer buildings are galvanized to be resistant to acid rain with materials that, ironically, make the buildings look like they belong to a much cleaner, shinier world.
The insides of most apartments are just as polluted, and this is because most humans generally live in their own filth, with few that actually bother to bear some level of cleanliness. Moss growing through dirty air-conditioning units and networks spread airborne diseases that would be fatal, if humans weren’t so resistant to filth and infectious disease by now.
The walls of most buildings are rotten or cracked with the wallpaper falling off. Even the newer buildings that are resistant to the external environmental effects are rotting from the inside out because of its inhabitants.
Colours:
There is a lot of filth and bacterial growth, and the stench of filth and dilapidation fill the air. Most materials loose the vibrancy in their colour and fade to gray, before being tinged with green from the bacteria that grows everywhere. Nothing is clean anymore, nothing is smooth and shiny; everything stinks or garbage, sticks to your fingers like goo. When you walk you can hear the soles of your feet breaking away from the invisible layer of filth that latches onto you from the floor with every step.
Tools:
Although society has dissolved into a cesspool of filth and un-cleanliness, humans still have a mild sense of decency, and will wear clothes outside. Most of the time they are inside, though, where clothes aren’t as necessary.
All people carry wallets full of spare change, just in case they need to pay to get home if their intended form of transport fails – remember; nobody wants to walk anywhere.
Knowledge like how to operate vehicles and any other automatic devices that make life easier are essential; those who have to work manually risk dying from respiratory failure.
Most humans are armed with a mental tolerance that makes them immune to depression that might affect a normal human who is constantly exposed to the desolate environment and isolated lifestyle.
Class or caste:
A majority of Melbourne’s population are low-class and unemployed. They very much resemble troglodytes with simple, short-term aspiration and goals. They are only concerned with themselves and act in a very self-centred manner.
Middle and upper-class individuals do exist, but they are non-existent to the perception of the vast hordes of lower-class humans. Some claim that middle and upper-class people with jobs and a proper social structure do exist, perhaps outside of this city, but they are too few and nobody in the lower classes really has to attentions span or intelligence to “prove” the existence of higher social and economic classes.
Communication:
Humans usually communicate by yelling at each other, even when it is not necessary, or simply futile. They have grown up believing that the only way they’ll get any attention is by making as much noise as possible, and have well-trained vocal chords that can undergo hours upon hours worth of strain with minimal damage or need for recovery.
Most humans have access to payphones, but access is usually limited because someone has vandalized or defiled the payphones to the point where they cannot be used for communication anymore. Anyone with a phone in their house is considered lucky. Nobody carries mobiles phones – ever. Networking companies seem to have realised this, as foreigners who happen to accidentally stumble into this God-forsaken environment can never, ever get proper reception. These people usually die of disease within a week or so, and are never heard of again.
Government:
The nation that Melbourne lives in is a constitutional monarchy, where most people have to right to do whatever they want, as long as no one’s stealing anyone else’s money or killing anyone. The government also supports people with social security, meaning that nobody in Melbourne has to work, because the government pays for them. If anyone is working, they usually claim to be unemployed anyway, as they’re only doing it to get more money on top of what the Government gives them, which is illegal, but most humans in Melbourne can easily relocate if the police come after them to arrest them for fraud.
Built environment:
Melbourne is not an overpopulated nor underpopulated city, but as for the people who live there, none can be bothered to travel out of the smog and explore more suburban or rural areas that do exist, but are concealed by smog and thus thought to not exist.
Social fabric:
Most people tend to keep to themselves, with small friendships forming if they are permanent. Any large group of people gathering or “friendship” is always temporary, either because someone has turned up to someone else’s party pretending to be a friend for the free alcohol, or there’s some sort of riot or gang looking for things to break and people to beat up. These groups typical disband by the early hours of the next morning, and don’t reform in any recognisable way afterwards.
Mannerisms are non existent; to survive in this world, you have to be loud so that you’re heard and pushy so you don’t end up coming last. If you’re not loud and intimidating, people will simply not pay attention to you.
Belief system:
The only thing anyone believes in the is power of alcohol.
This world is God-forsaken one, where people are more animalistic than spiritual. They rely on themselves more than any form of religion to help them, and generally lack the brain function to appreciate any sense of belonging or completeness that a religious, God, or belief system might give them.
Most humans in this world simply won’t be able to comprehend the existence of something that they can’t see. Some are sometimes confused by the presence of wind and will occasionally stop for minutes to locate a visible source of the wind, especially if it is not a stormy or cloudy day.
Play:
Most of Melbourne’s inhabitants drink cheap alcohol for fun. Preferably whatever will get them the most wasted while paying the least amount of money. When alcohol isn’t available, people will tend to take up a hobby, like learning an instrument, but will never have to patience to follow through with it after a few days of trying on and off.
Life pattern / Family:
After being born and learning how to at least crawl, most humans are left to fend for themselves in their homes, usually surviving off insects and whatever’s been dropped on the floor, until they can walk and gain enough dexterity to steal things from their fridge, from shopping centres, strangers, or any real source of food or money to buy food. Once they are old enough to shout and complain loudly, their parents will pay attention to them again and give them enough bare essentials to stop them from whining. Most of the human’s childhood will be spent roaming the streets outside, but as they become adults that live alone, they will spend an increasingly large amount of time inside. When they are old enough, they apply for social security and move out as fast as possible, even if this means living on the streets for a while.
Eventually the emerging adult will form some sort of stable, parasitic lifestyle and spend a couple of decades planted in front of a cheap television set, eating whatever he can find, occasionally going shopping for bare essentials, and getting smashed off his face. Sometimes he will invite himself to social gatherings (basically a celebration of alcohol) and, if he is lucky, possibly attract a female mate through talk of how much alcohol he can drink, and how many fights he can win, which is a typical mating call for males. Sometimes this leads to an actual fight, but it is well worth if the male wins, because he then is entitled to the prize of the female he was chatting up who, by now, is usually too drunk to argue against sleeping with him anyway.
Heterosexual activity commonly leads to conception, as nobody is educated about the use of proper contraceptives. Some may try obscure methods to prevent pregnancy, such as violence or extremely painful and impractical sex positions, but the most success these methods ever have is the very rare miscarriage.
After a while, the father and mother of this new child will either live to see their child leave, but they usually die a decade later, at the age of sixty. Sometimes they die before their children have left.
The bodies are disposed off in a large garbage disposal unit, as nobody can really be bothered having a proper burial and funeral, and there aren’t any people that would fund it or turn up for it anyway – if they’re even still alive for it.
Fashion:
People tend to wear whatever they can find, or whatever is cheapest. Because they are resilient to the weather and generally don’t spend that much time outside anyway, they can sometimes go without clothes at all. If alcohol is involved, and most of the time it is, people sometimes run around naked, but almost never when sober.
Personal:
Our main character in this story is Jamie, a twenty-year-old male who owns his own apartment and likes to drink alcohol. He thinks he can play guitar and will “make it big” with his two-piece band.
Appearance:
Jamie is a tall person, but is very thin because he drinks more than he would ever eat. He’ll spend most of his time wearing a band t-shirt of some sort, as he once took up guitar to pass the time and thought he’d better look the part before becoming an actual rock star, but never really bothered getting lessons or doing anything that might require effort in order to achieve this goal.
Jamie wears jeans and runners that are falling apart. His hair is very curly and has grown into an afro. It looks a bit weird shaped because he cuts his hair himself; nobody can be bothered actually getting a haircut, unless they can’t be bothered cutting their hair themselves. This mental conflict usually results in people just letting their hair grow for ages, until it literally annoys them into getting a haircut.
Social standing:
Although he likes to go out to parties uninvited, steal their alcohol and play guitar in front of a crowd that only appreciates it because they’re too drunk to tell what sounds good and what sounds bad.
His only permanent friend is a fat guy named Leon, who he has formed a two-piece band with. Leon plays bass, and is worse at it than Jamie is at guitar.
Aim in life:
Jamie aims to “make it big” in the musical world, his only problem is, he isn’t making any real effort at all to do this, and even worse, fails to realise this.
Place in the world:
Jamie is a typical resident in Melbourne. The only thing that makes him stand out compared to most other people in the area is his tallness, his spongy hair, and that he is never seen without his cheap, acoustic guitar.
Strength and weaknesses:
Jamie is nicer than most residents, and lets Leon stay at his place too much for his own good. This usually results in Leon drinking all of Jamie’s beer, which angers Jamie, but Jamie forgives Leon too easily for this, and the process continues perpetually.
Communication:
Like everyone else, Jamie communicates with people by yelling at them. His yell, however, is unique, as it always has this sense of urgency, hilarity, and insanity to it, rather than the pure aggression that most other voices have when shouting for whatever reason.
Sensory perception:
Due to the filthy, stinking environment that is his apartment, Jamie’s sense of smell and taste have been absolutely shut down (for his own benefit, really). Because he has no sense of taste, he can tolerate drinking metho, which is a common substitute for his alcohol that Leon keeps drinking. His sight is relatively clear. His sense of touch is somewhat numb from all the alcohol he consumes on a regular basis, which makes him immune to pain, but he is clumsier because of it – which is ironic, because his accidents usually result in more pain anyway.
His hearing is somewhat sharper, like most humans, as they sometimes will communicate over large distances by shouting. Because of his, Jamie has learned to make out shouted speech over long and short distances, regardless of how slurred or nonsensical it might seem.
Perception / Memory:
Like all humans in Melbourne, Jamie has a poor memory due to excessive alcohol consumption. A memory, however, is not that necessary. All basic means of survival are semi-instinctive anyway, and higher thought is basically not needed, thus memories are somewhat not important.
Unfortunately, this lack of reliable memory means that Jamie has trouble remembering social security numbers, and has to write it down somewhere where it is easily viewed. This could be a security risk, but most people he encounters aren’t smart enough to use his social security number to their advantage, or even realise that they can. If they do, however, they usually just can’t be bothered.
Jamie also has trouble remembering other important things, like not to let Leon over all the time because he will consume all the alcohol. This means that Jamie will regularly be out of alcohol.
Aside from writing down poorly written, misspelled notes and numbers, Jamie doesn’t use any other external means of storing information.
