AU Idea- Mutated Alternia

Really? I thought they all lived relatively far away from other trolls. I know they interact face-to-face sometimes, which is why they weren't all super surprised to see what each other looked like, but... well, it's kind of a cultural thing? If you and the rest of the world grow up traveling long distances to see each other, it becomes natural. Less of a pain. But it does make talking online much more of a thing, I would think. So living relatively far away form others fo their kind seems reasonable, especially when you factor in the whole "only a small percentage of the population is actually on the planet" thing? Part of my assumption there comes from when they stated in the comic that, after the wriggler hunger games, trolls would be selected by a lusus and then wander off somewhere to build a hive. That image seems to imply that they live sort of far away from each other.
But, well...
Can't argue with that! Perhaps it's a matter of how far troll and lusus end up traveling from their hatching place... it would make sense that hives are more condensed closer to where trolls were initially hatched, and that more low-blooded and "weak" trolls would live there, and "strong" trolls would end up going further (hence Vriska and Equius?)
I'm going off-topic now, though. The point is, you are correct uvu

No no no! You aren't stupid, and it's all good. No worries. I was mostly clarifying things; a lot of that was my fault. Other stuff was stupid minor details that don't actually matter that much/light suggestions.

Your supposedly tangential idea makes a lot of sense! And don't worry about being off-topic. I'm always getting off topic, you see. I just kind of start typing and go wherever the words take me! Yeah...

I have a couple ideas regarding the chemical and how it affected the minds of Alternian trolls. Because the minds would have had to be a target of the bombs' creators. Most of the psychically gifted trolls of Alternia seem to be lowbloods, after all. It couldn't have gone unnoticed.

So the chemical may have had the tendency to push psychic abilities into overdrive, driving surviving trolls insane and burning them out; psionics like Sollux would have been especially affected by a feature like this. It's like mind honey, but worse. Voices would become unbearably amplified. Trolls like Tavros would have been overwhelmed by confusion as their view of other minds became distorted, maybe? In any case, I imagine psychic overload could have pushed many a troll over the edge. That's what could have wrecked Terezi's hive, even, if you want to stick with that. The initial chaos in rural areas (where lowbloods tend to reside) could have easily destroyed a hive (perhaps a troll lower on the hemospectrum had wandered in his/her delirium to the mostly deserted area, trying to avoid doing too much harm while going absolutely nuts).

But the chemical wouldn't have stopped at psychic abilities. It probably would have tried to addle the more "common" brain and possibly tweaked whatever it is that allowed Terezi to connect to her lusus, driving her to hear unfamiliar voices in the place where she'd been used to hearing her lusus (that would be emotionally troubling, too). And the possible destruction of her hive could have resulted in Terezi injuring her eyes again, and the eerie new greenness results from the strange nature of the insane psychic fire or whatever.

Deep connections with lusus were most likely exploited in general, warping them in order to confuse and break any trolls resilient enough to survive the physical damage done by the more important aspects of the gas--the ones intended to kill.

Over time, the initial madness would have become hatred, as was stated before! But this hatred doesn't have to be pure insanity; some of the trolls' minds has been left alone, and I'd think that this part of them would be feeling extremely angry and resentful, leading them to struggle to control themselves only to have the anger rise up, fueled by both madness and remaining sanity, et cetera, et cetera. I think? Maybe? What do you think?

As much as I talk, I don't actually know what it is I'm going on about. I mean. It's hardly for me to say!

Oh no I am most definitely stupid don't worry :3
Here are some corrections:

-Another major reason she wasn't affected much was because her lusus managed to protect her
-This killed her lusus
-The death of her lusus caused Terezi to start hearing voices because of the telepathic connection they shared (ME described it better :P )
-Her hive didn't crumble but she would have been hit by another bomb if she had stayed much longer
- I also like ME's idea of her meeting Aradia but then splitting up. They could have split up because of Terezi's mental problems or because the reminder of their past lives being to much to handle
-The eyes aren't green. I have no idea what I was thinking and even though ME did a great job justifying the ridiculousness it still is just that, ridiculousness.

WOOO MY SICK MIND IS BAD AT THOUGHTS! I'M READY FOR THE CORRECTIONS TO MY CORRECTION TO BE MADE!

May I just start this off by saying I love you.

Also, let me clarify some things before I start talking:
The chemical, as I conceived it, is intended to effectively break down the brain and heart through the blood. There are pigments in the blood that change the color of it, giving us the hemospectrum. (This links up to the brain, too, as is evident in the case of highbloods; they tend to be much less mentally stable than lowbloods.) Basically, the way it works is it is effectively "programmed" to infect everyone, but be "activated" only in trolls without blue blood pigments. This excludes the empress and heiress, though, so now we must factor in red. But because red is also present in lowbloods, you have to make sure they seek out yellow hues to the point of overpowering the red. This means that blue and plain red are safe, as well as every color in-between. Now we have an interesting position with tealbloods, as they have yellow pigment (green) as well as blue pigment. This makes them something of a wild card; the affect of the chemical on them can range in severity and time.
Once activated, the chemical should deprive the blood of oxygen, effectively suffocating the troll from the inside. Now we get to the interesting part.
Color is a wide range. It's not just a circle, but a sphere. There are so many different colors that it makes this sort of engineering near impossible, which is why we come to the varied effects of the chemical.
I suppose you're right in the idea that it could affect trolls in more ways than just the mindless hatred, as the main cause of the chemical is the deprivation of oxygen in the blood. I'll give you that one. Let's widen the range of mental effects, as this could definitely affect a brain in many ways, depending on how much oxygen is lost, how well the brain recovers, and what parts are affected before/if the body manages to fight it off. That makes sense.
The main affect though, I think, would be that all parts are targeted. The highbloods don't want angry violence-machines walking around with the intention of finding one of them to collect their heads; however, for the sake of the RP, let's say that they made a mistake in the process and left the emotional part of the brain largely untouched, while scraping away every other part, including the bit that controls what emotions one feels (I know, I know, Firefly.). So now we're left with balls of uncontrolled emotion. Now, they probably aren't looking for happy pale relationships with as many others as possible, but instead for a lot of revenge. They might attack each other, yes, but I think seadwellers, being visibly different and highblooded, would be their main target. It's plausible they would go after anyone wearing anything of a high color, too.
Okay, now mutants. Specifically Karkat.
For blood to have a mutation, it must also have a base color. Mutations change a gene linked to a certain phenotype, in this case, blood color. So Karkat probably still has some confusing genes in him that say he should be a lime blood (assuming the lime blood theory is correct), though he's really redblooded. So in this case, how does the chemical affect him? Again for the sake of the RP and my own personal plan for Karkat, let's say they get really frick-fracken confused. He has yellow, but he also has blue, and red. We'll say he's a wildcard, but still susceptible to the common fate of death and/or madness.

Yeah, I think I covered most of what i wanted to say. I'm not motivated enough to go back over this and check...
Sorry if none of that actually makes any sense. I'm tired and I should nap but I have a night class in like half an hour and bluh.
As it happens, it's actually Biology... What a perfect train of thought to be on.

Now I'm rambling again. I'll stop. yeah.

What say you about all of this? I am really, really open to suggestions and things. uvu

That sounds good! I like it. ovo

Do you guys want a summary of my plan for Karkat so we can plan some stuff for these guys?

Also shizksdrglsdrg ignore the thing about the heart I dropped that and didn't go back to delete it.

A Karkat plan would be an excellent thing to hear! 

Also, your ideas for the chemical were marvelous. That's all there is to say about that. Oh, right, and trolls sure are weird.

I would love to hear the plan :3 !

Thank you uvu So were your's!

And, alright. Gimmie a sec.

As Karkat lived in a neighborhood of lowblooded trolls, escape from the gas before it hit wasn't really an option. He was in the bullseye of a fairly large target. He did, however, manage to evacuate from the area quickly, taking with him only the clothes on his back and what would constitute perhaps one meager meal on his way out with a group of neighbors. They escaped into the nearby forest together and there they lived in mostly stunned silence, trying without much effort to fend off starvation, dehydration, and the madness of themselves and others. Because of the group's initial closeness to the epicenter of the bomb, they didn't last long. It was only a couple of weeks before Karkat was left alone again, unsure of how long he himself would last and if any of his other friends had as well.
Karkat managed to find shelter in an old hive near the water a month later, and by then he had lost his voice entirely. It had started that month earlier as an itching in his throat, but it soon became apparent that something had damaged his vocal chords beyond repair. It hurt to talk, to strain vocal chords so deprived of the oxygen they needed that they had shriveled and become useless. And it hurt even more to be deprived of his voice.
Karkat was alone, stripped of friends and any other kind of company, and now stripped of the voice that kept him occupied and distracted from his thoughts. Never mind the fact that his voice was the very thing that defined him in the eyes of everyone that knew him. Never mind that it was his only source of identity. His thoughts were worse, left to swirl and fester, and now he was well and truly alone with them.
First he grew skinny and frail, trapped in this cave by his own fear and lack of motivation to care for himself. Then he slowly began to venture out more often again, into the relative deserted wreckage, to forage for food in the wilderness and in nearby abandoned hives. After a sweep, he was hanging on with both hands and all ten fingers again, a solid grip on life and wellness and a will to bring himself all the way up.
Now, he has found his way past most of his self-loathing and anger, and found a way to cope with the ever-lasting silence and loneliness. His insecurities might never be gone, but he has found a way to live with them and depend on himself.

This is where I plan to start the RP. My idea so far is that the Condesce will come back to fetch the trolls who have reached adulthood, as well as send drones out to force the start of the next generation. I think having the yet un-activated bombs go off due to the pressure of her ships on the ground would be a good idea as well, and if so, Karkat will begin the process of his descent into madness. Slowly. And along with the deterioration of the bit that holds back and controls emotions will come the return of his insecurities and anger, though mostly with himself, instead of the highbloods.

Any ideas/suggestions?

I should have responded earlier. I apologize.

Anyway, that sounds great! Karkat without his voice is a fascinating concept. And it's interesting that you say he takes his identity from his voice. What makes you say that? 

(Oh, and you know who would be an interesting character to have here? Feferi. The heir to the Alternian empire. Well, actually, all characters are interesting. But that's just what happened to pop into my head while I was reading your post.)

No, don't worry about it! uvu

I say this because the thought of Karkat is usually accompanied by the thought of loud, volatile, capitalized text. He's loud and grumpy, and a lot of the characters notice this about him before they notice anything first (just like Kankri's defining feature is how much he talks, and the Sufferer's was that he talked when no one else would. It seems to be a common trait among the Vantases). Meenah even goes so far as to dub him "Shouty". And as Karkat cares about his friends more than anything else, and along with that their opinions of him (my suspected reason for the fact that he hides his blood color), I expect he would see this view more than any others, and probably reduce himself to it as well. Which means it would essentially become his identity; at least, in his eyes. But that's all that matters, right? How he sees himself, because it's that which determines how the loss of his voice will affect him.

I definitely agree there, Feferi would be really interesting to have ovo I actually did this AU originally as an EriKar thing, and it was a good dynamic, having a seadweller and a mutant as the "main characters". It adds a lot of interest with the two wildly different points of view, and I expect Feferi would make that even more extreme.

I might join in this later, but I'll have to sit on it
(( Will be using yellow blood OC, click him at the bottom for character sheet ))

Sounds awesome!

More people (possibly)! Splendid.

Feferi's an interesting case in that, unlike Eridan, she has never wanted (or said she wanted) to wipe out all landdwellers. She genuinely likes people, and, well, look at Beforus. She'd probably be an emotional wreck despite her blood caste. And she's kind of important in Alternian society. And you can't forget the Condesce is supposed to be coming back.

She'd have a lot of potential in this AU, I think. I'm tempted to volunteer to play her along with Aradia here, but I think I'll just hang back for now. Someone else might decide they want to grab her, or something. I dunno. (But I have IDEAS now oh my gosh so cooooooool I love ideas wait that's actually kind of weird ignore me please.)

That's true. uvu She would be really interesting to have... ahhh I just love having a lot of diversity in this stuff it makes things so interesting.

If you'd like to switch you can do that too ??? I dunno man whatever you wanna do. I'm not going to cramp yo vibes ya pickin up what I'm layin down home skillet

I could double up on characters, if that's something you're okay with. Buuut I don't really know. Feferi would be cool to have. Mayhaps another might happen upon this AU and decide to take her in? That'd be good, too.

Feferi would be interesting to have in this :3 I might take her but I am not sure I am up to playing two characters at the same time :(

Hmm. Okay. I did some more thinking and decided I would like to snag Feferi if nobody else wanted to and doubling up on characters is going to be a thing! But I'm not going to take anything from anyone. So I'll just put that out there. You interested, then, GnomeCat? Anyone interested? No one wants to join the party? (And yes, I maintain that this is a party. If y'all are having trouble with envisioning as much, close your eyes and imagine some balloons just, like, floating around. Give yourself an imaginary party hat. There. Mood established. Correct festivity level has been reached.)

The party is your's. Have the Fef. uvu

Once again I have neglected to respond, letting this poor topic get buried under... other topics? I'm not feeling the figurative language today.

Anyway, the Fef is mine in this AU! Splendid. Now, as a seadweller of the highest caste, she obviously can't have been affected by the gas. On the other hand, I imagine that the plan had disturbed her from the start. She probably tried pleading with the highbloods, but for some reason this didn't work. It's likely that they viewed her as immature despite their evident fanaticism towards the hemospectrum. Additionally, she's a little too passive in nature, and she was trying to avoid confrontation.

Feferi was hoping for a change of heart the entire time, though, and was devastated when the plan was enacted. The fact that the bombs didn't work as well as intended relieved her, but the impact on Alternia was still massive, and Feferi still felt as if a failure, as far as future empresses go. She had wanted to make Alternia a peaceful, supportive society, but all she'd done was waffle around and allow such horrors to occur. The Vast Glub would've been a kinder fate for the planet, at this rate. And it was all her fault. And she couldn't do anything. At least, that's what she thought. So she's spent the last few sweeps holed up in her palace, trying to lose herself in caring for Gl'bgolyb (who thankfully has been pretty cooperative for an eldritch sea monster) and sustaining herself. While feeling incredibly guilty. Because she still feels as if she could have done something, as if none of this would have happened if she hadn't been so passive. The recent news of the Condesce's ships has startled her, though, and she's trying to figure out what to do. Her current state of mind has her half wanting to go round up survivors and do something (but what? Start over? Rebuild a better society?) and the other half wanting to just run and hide from her fellow royalty. She's got the sinking feeling that whatever she does is going to end terribly, though; she's been becoming more and more pessimistic as of late, as a result of the stress she's placed herself under.

Yeah, those were just some ideas. Your thoughts, everyone?

Oh. Can I join?

That sounds fantastic, Epi! Actually I really like the idea of Fef trying to round people up to do something, it soundslike a great start for the plot and roleplay. <:

And sleepless cartoonist, of course you can uvu any ideas for who you'd like to play?

Regarding canons? Well, I only have Calliope and Caliborn in regards to canons, so I would only be able to play OCs.