Information on The Walking Ghost Phase (WGP)

The Walking Ghost Phase

The Walking Ghost Phase is, in real life, a sub-final stage within “Extreme Exposure to Ionizing Radiation”. It is superseded by certain death. It usually lasts a few days or weeks.

In OUR universe it’s still the basic concept, but the period is prolonged. The symptoms are still the same: Apparent health. While the illusion of health may shock the person and the people witnessing it, inside the very person a variety of deadly and irreversible chemical changes are taking place. The Walking Ghost Phase (shortened to WGP) is a key concept within our story and your characters own story. It works not only as start-out RP, but also a pointer towards your characters general reputation. In this post I’ll elaborate on how it works, the post-WGP effects and the only way to cure yourself from it.

How it works/What it is

The WGP is, in our universe, a bit different than in real life. It’s within our home-made radioactivity scale:

Level 0 – Un-radiated, no danger. (No one is at this level)
Level 1 – Mild exposure, minimal nausea. (Most are at this level)
Level 2 – Exposure, nausea. (You become this once you enter yellow zones)
Level 3 – Significant Exposure, lethal. (After exposure to orange zones or worse)
Level 4 – Large Exposure, mutations (cancer), skin melting, lethal (After larger exposure to radioactivity)
Level 5 – “Pro-exposure”, coma, mutations (cancer), skin melting, 90% chance of death (Uncertain of the cause for this)
Level 6 - Pre-Ghost Phase (PGP), a phase only entered by the victims of the nuclear disaster due to the massive wave of radiation.
Level 7(!) – Extreme Exposure, WGP. (Victims of the nuclear disaster)

WGP provides the illusion of apparent health through a mixture of adrenaline and pain-neglecting hormones. This unites and actually convinces the brain that everything is OK. Imagine it as the government conducting propaganda to the public.

Now, the person experiencing WGP might seem a bit far out, and desperate, but it’s only completely normal. The person RPing a character in the WGP is ought to RP his character a bit more “boosted” in the ways of aggression and usual behavior. Was he only kind to everyone? Well, now he’s like Jesus. All the hormones and thoughts are strengthened and eventually reversed during the last hours. A bit more scientific explanation will be given later on.

Post-WGP Effects

What happens after the WGP is death. But, due to our self-invented cure then it’s possible to only be partly cured. This “half-cure” makes the person more primitive seeing as it forces areas of the brain to shut down. He’s not a “crazie” or anything, but he suffers loss of insight, concentration and whatnot. If a character reaches this stage, then it is crucial for others to give him the actual cure, bringing him back to normal. This post-WGP effect usually only lasts a few days, and therefore makes speed vital.

Another post-WGP effect is the development of the “human rabies”, which is a PGM (Primitive Genetic Mutation) and is explained in another thread.

A third post-WGP is certain death. It’s quite simple to understand, but the death is painful and usually accompanied by extreme diarrhea and no control over body fluids.

The Cure + How to get it

The first, and only, thing you should worry about once you get WGP is finding the cure. The only known cure works as a periodical vaccine (one year), and is kept by a variety of people. You, as an IC character, only know the following when it comes to the whereabouts of the cure:

• Some Scientist might have it
• The Militia might have it.
• It might not exist

While it does, obviously, exist you are not entirely sure as it has never actually been confirmed. This fabled Scientist is actually an in-game character, but his whereabouts are unknown by most. Feature characters might be able to help you. The Militia sure has it, otherwise they wouldn’t be there. Unfortunately, they have a habit of playing with you before giving it to you.
Other methods are, of course, robbing someone who may have the cure, hold a hostage in exchange for the cure, kill someone to get the cure, disrupt a caravan – Just about ANYTHING you can think of. Just be careful, as both the good and “bad” actions shape your character. They all have ups and downs. Also, you might be unlucky and not get the cure on the first try, leaving a bad spot on your character if there were witnesses. Not many would help a person who ruthlessly slaughtered a man in order to get the cure, but maybe they would be too afraid to do anything else? It’s important to remember that San Andreas is an unstable place, just like everywhere else.

IC actions = IC consequences.

This will be explained much better, and expanded, later on.

Thanks for reading!

Very in depth, explains a lot. Should be an interesting factor and will play well with the story.
By the way, if your character dies, would you just respawn or would you have to make a new character?

You will have to create a new character.
The WGP period is about a month or two IRL, so it's not just a one-day thing.