The Warring States of NPF - Archangels: Sign-up

My first RP didn't do too well and eventually died, but this time around I am taking what I've learned since then and applying it to this new and improved forum RP. I have the entire outline of my book completed, so I will be using its rough storyline as a foundation for Archangels: the RP.

First, some background.

In the year 2045 a nuclear war erupts in Asia and spreads to Europe. This occurs after years of tension between Japan and North Korea. Japan was the first that was subject to nuclear attack and suspects NK of being the aggressor. They invaded NK, at which point China joined the war and fought Japan back. Russia soon also joins the war and fights on Japan's side. China, Russia, and most of NATO exchange nuclear blows and the war ends in nearly 1 year, leaving most of the eastern hemisphere in ruins. The U.S. and almost half of NATO, however, wisely decided to sit this one out.

4 years later...(taken directly from my outline, edited for clarity)

It is the very advent of spaceflight and a new branch of the U.S. military has been created to deal with space weaponry and defense, known as Echelon. Their base of operations is known as SimCen. Enabling this speedy advancement in spaceflight and weaponry was the discovery of electronite.

It is a substance with properties similar to anti-matter, but more stable. Due to its ability to create more energy than any other substance on Earth, and its use in the creation of energy weapons (laser guns/cannons) and high-output engines used in spaceships, it has become magnitudes more valuable than oil and plutonium combined. Also, it can only be harnessed in small amounts at a time, but it can be extracted from any element, the amount being proportional to the mass of the element.

August 22, 2049

The prologue begins inside an orbiting research station where two scientists (Tyler Driscoll and John Baker) are playing a game of cards. Tyler asks John why he dresses so fancy for a job like this, maybe to impress him? John responds by saying he wants to look nice for the stars. The computer across the room starts printing out a sheet of paper. The two go to look at it and John says, “we did it.” They then glance at a tiny piece of glowing metal in the containment unit next to them.

On board the Absolution, Captain Trevor Carr is continuing attempts to make contact with SimCen (Simplicity Central Command, located in Simplicity, NM) to make a required hourly status report. The crew has now been without contact of the station for close to half an hour, a ridiculous amount of time for them not to respond. He tells everyone to try their cell and satellite phones and radios the Resolve, the Absolution’s sister ship, asking if they’ve made any progress. Katrina Cambridge, wife of head Captain Jim Cambridge, responds on the line that they haven’t been met with any success yet. Carr quirks that she’s moving up the ranks, now on radio duty, and begins talking about her husband. Then, one of the crew members receives a call on his cell phone from one of his buddies on the ground. All the man on the other line says is “they’re killing everyone, they’re killing everyone!” Then the line cuts off abruptly. The crew goes silent.

John Baker removes the seal to the containment unit and says “the specimen should be stable now.” He stands there staring at it as Tyler grabs something from his pocket. Baker jokes, “what terrible work we’re in.” Tyler responds, “You don’t know the half of it” and shoots John in the back of his head. Blood floats across the room and spatters against the window. He then opens the container, removes the metal, and places it in a jacket pocket. He goes to his sleeping quarters, opens what looks like a luggage bag and removes several small explosive mines.

One of the crew on the Absolution reports incoming contacts, approaching quickly from Earth. They appear to be friendly ships. Carr makes several attempts to make contact with them and fails. The same crewman reports that the main weapons on the incoming ships are being brought online. Carr orders defenses up, and orders “him” to the bridge.

Tyler returns to the original room and begins to place the mines. He then hits a switch and red lights on all of them turn on.

The crewman yells “weapons flaring, incoming missiles.” Carr orders them to evade and fire back. The fighters are ordered out of the bay. The battle known later only as “the August incident” begins.

Gabriel Robeson (an Echelon special ops soldier) arrives in the bridge in full uniform, including a special battle mask which covers his face, and is handed a disk by Carr. Carr tells him to get the disk off the ship safely and get it immediately to Jim Cambridge on the ground at SimCen, should he still be alive. Immediately after, a crewman yells that they’re being boarded. Gabe fights through the men boarding the ship and escapes alone with the disk in an escape pod.

Tyler leaves the station in an escape pod and detonates the mines. The station goes up in flames.

The Absolution begins tilting downward, visibly crippled. As the ship and the rest of the fleet hurtles to Earth, Carr takes one last glimpse out the window. The Resolve is destroyed in a brilliant explosion, taking Katrina with it.

Since this incident, the higher-ups in Echelon have always assumed that the revolt was caused by soldiers and crew who objected to the U.S. remaining neutral in the war. Details are still shady and unconfirmed. The splinter group that revolted and now only takes part in gorilla attacks on random targets in the U.S. from space has since become known as Red Sector. Although it seems their only purpose is to cause the U.S. mayhem and grief, their true objective remains unknown.

Now, on to our story:

The year is 2051, 2 years after the incident. Two boys are on a plane to check out the same college in California when their flight is redirected to New Mexico to make an emergency landing to wait out a storm.

This is where the rp begins. Now, I can make it work with people just making random characters, but I'd really like to attempt to stick to the story by having people choose set characters to play. Some of which would have backgrounds already picked out beforehand.

I'd like some opinions on the matter before starting the actual rp.

[Edit] Further information:
To clear some things up, this electronite substance is, as I said, now a major component in the making of laser and energy weapons and engines. It is stored in cold-storage chambers, similar to the cryo-storage that is just becoming available. Higher density electronite must be stored in special chambers which only Echelon captains are given the codes to (because they are only supposed to be used during emergency situations). No one knows exactly how much power the stuff could put out in the event it were used to make a bomb of some sort.

Also, the setting:
Simplicity Central Command resides in a scenic part of southeastern New Mexico, just southwest of the city of Simplicity. The base looks like one enormous parking lot, except for scattered hangars and command buildings. Simplicity itself is a bustling metropolis, with the buildings getting larger and more intricate as you approach the center of the city. The CirgaTech building at the center of the city dwarfs the other skyscrapers by comparison. CirgaTech is the richest company in America and possibly the world. It supplies almost all of the military's equipment, including weaponry, and has a huge research and development division dedicated to other miscellaneous projects. Due to its nature, the identity of the CEO of CTech is kept secret from the public for security reasons.

Technology:
In the novel, I leave details about the technological state of the world pretty sparsely, so feel free to add your own inventions along the way. Cars are still in use, albeit a bit more efficient and environment-friendly. A big majority of the guns in use still use metal bullets, lasers are really only reserved for ships.

I should have said this earlier, but most of the action will be taking place on Earth and not in space, although there will still be plenty of space action.