Academy City's Dark Side

«I hope I’m not wasting my breath here, but I guess this is what is happening anyway. I’m quite sure that my words will only hit a solid wall of naivety leading them to lose any of their use. But whatever, I’m in a talkative mood right now.»

«You are probably not aware of it, but Academy City is not the nice and jolly place you think it is. Well you’re most likely thinking that I’m trying to warn you about these thugs that keep luring on the streets at night; a heavy misconception from your side.
Be aware, this city is by far one of the most dangerous places in this world, not due to some puny idiots that enjoy mugging people every now and then or Espers abusing their powers, but due to the real darkness, Academy City’s Dark Side.»

«Basically just like any other city on this planet, Academy City has some kind of underworld. However I wouldn’t say that this underworld is the usual crime and mafia word you’d see in movies or video games. It is by far darker than any of those depictions.
Inhuman Experiments. Crazy weaponry. Cruel Assassinations. No Respect towards human life. The strife to bring science onto a new level. Those things are the core of our underworld, the source of all evil. Even on the many battlefields around the world you wouldn’t find as much tragedy as within this city’s walls. So smack off all of the naïve conceptions that may have been building up inside that head of yours.»

►  The Basic Framework
«First of all, learn to understand that the Dark Side isn’t a single organisation, but a large collection of various groups and people that only have one desire: The highest stage of science, Level 6 or whatever other insanity. And none of those that exhibit said desire would ever care for anything standing in their way.
One could say that the Dark Side is the very core of Academy City, its one and only true face. Yet said true face is not known to the public and kept hidden at all cost, meaning that only those involved with it are to ever find out about its existence.
The border however is thin, as the darkness is still deeply rooted into our society. You can pretty much say that any important personality is involved in one way or the other. Let’s take the 12 members of the Board of Directors, the famous scientists of the Kihara family or the Board Chairman Aleister, all of them are not only deeply involved but rather the driving factor behind all of it.»

«All in all you can imagine the Dark Side as some gigantic food chain, with the high ranked VIPs at the top and everyone else at the bottom. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from, within this world your life is worth less than an ant’s. Students, teachers, researchers, Level 5s, whoever those are that wander in this realm, everyone is expendable. Even the rare kind that has somehow managed to gain themselves some influence or a member of the Board of Directors are not an exception.
So whenever someone would be dumb enough to disturb the darkness’ workings or cease to be of any use, that person or group would be annihilated immediately.»

«In the end there is no way to fight it. Anti-Skill and Judgement, this city’s law, are nothing but pawns the Board can easily remove whenever they see need for it.
And forget about the outside, like the world police or international courts. Information will never leave this city. Even if it would, it’s not like any other nation would wish to stand up against Academy City anyway.»

►  The Darkness’ People
«There are no people choosing to go down this path simply because they think it is cool. Everyone has their own miserable reasons for doing so. Be it because they were somehow black mailed by the higher ups, have gotten a free pass offer to escape prison, are mentally damaged survivors of some fucked up experiment they had been forced into in their early childhood, have something they wish to protect more than anything else or simply because they are so twisted that they’d do better in an asylum.
Whatever the reason and whatever the method, those that end up in this world are not good people. Don’t get me wrong: Not all of them are evil either. The Dark Side simply doesn’t offer any place for concepts like morals or benevolence. So simply rid yourself of anything that makes you human and accept all the madness you’re about to experience, otherwise you are sure to break.  
Oh and don’t ever play the hero. Most heroes don’t even get enough time to start their idiotic attempts of changing this world; the darkness doesn’t know any mercy. Or do you think it’s normal for children to be drawn into the abyss?»

►  The Experience
«Imagine a world where there is no such a thing as human rights, laws or believe. Everyone is simply working for their own benefits and the top is ruling over the bottom. You’ll get pushed around by the ones at the top like some piece in a chess game, sent out to handle all kinds of tasks or missions, killing, slaughtering, sacrificing your own body for some experiment or whatever dirty job the top would need you for. You’ll see human trafficking, full blown street wars with children fighting as the soldiers, mass slaughter, newly invented torture methods and much more you wouldn’t ever wish to admit it exists. I can ensure you, this is not an overstatement.
Listen: You’re better off killing yourself if you’re too weak for handling all this. I wouldn’t recommend going for the punishment you’d receive from someone else.»

«In case you’re thinking that there might actually be some way out, like some very smart deal or faking your own death: There probably isn’t. Once you are in, you will stay in forever. The one and only true way of escape would be death, that’s it. At least if they let you.»

«You probably still don’t get a thing, right? Simply try to remember to never be careless. Everyone is your enemy, everyone can come to kill you at any moment and it actually is likely to happen every now and then. So I suggest you better pay close attention to the world and people around you.
Even I am no exception; just look at that red point of light decorating your forehead.»

► The Factions
«Talking about trust and betrayal, there is actually something else you should know about: The really lucky ones get to join some sort of organisation or faction. Some for them are even working directly for the Board of Directors instead of some other VIP. Their names go like ITEM, GROUP or MEMBER; make sure to remember them, it’s likely that you will stumble over them at some point.
Usually those special groups are formed from four or more members with all of them being some kind of specialist or elite, meaning they are rather troublesome, well fearsome for you. Officially they are formed to follow some purpose within the Dark Side, like keeping the balance between the members of the Board of Directors, however most are often used for various mercenary tasks as well.
Even though they are working for the Directors or some other person pulling the strings, they don’t receive orders directly but via some faceless middleman, their liason. I think you figured that many in this world have some fetish for safety mechanisms.
Trust should still be an issue, though. No matter how much teamwork such a group might go through on an everyday basis, it is still not recommendable to trust anyone.»

«Besides becoming a proper member of such a group there is also the option of working for some underling organisation. That’s only grunt work, though. Mostly handled by useless minor criminals like Skill-Out or some unlucky losers that didn’t receive a proper place. I guess you wouldn’t have a problem with being pushed around like some slave?»

«Other than the expert groups there are also some armed ones, like Hound Dog. Those however are more like private armies, requiring one to have some sort of military background.»

«If you can’t bring yourself to enjoy any of those then there’s also the option of becoming a free lancer. Not prestigious at all, but that’s obvious. You’d get called in whenever someone with certain skills is needed. The payment would be low and the overall treatment by your co-workers wouldn’t make it any better. Basically the same as working for some underling organisation, only with a little more…independence?»


«Did you get anything of what I’ve been trying to tell you? Well, doesn’t matter. I already bothered myself with you for too long anyway, so be as kind as to leave now, would you? Go and try to enjoy that lax student life you have before it’s too late. Once within the darkness, there is no way for you to ever return, because even if you tried, all you’d do is drag those around you along with you straight into hell.»

«One final advice: Don’t ever stick your nose into things you are not supposed to. There is a reason as for why the darkness remains hidden.»

With this RP based in Academy City there is no avoiding the city’s infamous Dark Side. However as this part of the To Aru Verse is rather troublesome to deal with there is a certain set of rules that needs to be considered when intending to deal with it in any way.
Therefore whenever intending to either involve the Dark Side into plot plans or even considering to make a character walking in the darkness these rules should always be paid attention to.

► First of all, read the guide above. It contains a fair amount of necessary information.

► Please discuss any form of Dark Side involvement with the staff. The Dark Side is quite a delicate thing to deal with, so we wouldn’t want people to simply storm ahead.

► We wish for any Dark Side involvement to be reasonable and logical.

► Think twice before involving your characters into this part of the world. It isn’t anything like the happy joy after school club life many of you would imagine it to be. Getting involved in any way will put your character into constant danger, limiting the possibilities of normal slice of life RPing and involvement with normal uninvolved people.

► Always remember that not every character is cut out for this world. It’s a place where only the strong and heartless survive, not the ones that don’t even have the ability to pull a trigger.

► There is no such thing as the great awesome hero capable of taking on the whole of the city. Nor is there any kind of character that has some greater importance for the higher ups; all are equal.