From Fan History Wiki

Introduction

International Rescue: The Next Phase (IR:TNP) is an alternate-universe, role-playing forum based on Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's Thunderbirds television show. It mixes the canon characters as non-player characters with original player characters.

The Maintainers

Tikatu is site webmistress and is responsible for coding main site pages. ArtisticRainey is resident technical expert and domain owner. She is responsible for maintaining the gallery and forum scripts. Hobbeth is moderator and archivist. Lillehafrue is also a moderator.

Policies

The site pages, forum and gallery are all open to the public for reading and viewing. Posting privileges are limited to registered members. Entry to the role-play itself is by application and approval only. A mirror/back-up forum is available at Yuku.com.

History

International Rescue: The Next Phase is an off-shoot of the FanFicForum role-play from the now-defunct MSN Group, Thunderbirds World. Several players, dissatisfied with the direction that the owner of Thunderbirds World was taking the role-play, decided to defect when the chapter in progress was completed. To that end, Tikatu created the MSN Group for IR:TNP in October, 2003.

However, when the owner of Thunderbirds World stepped out of the role-play entirely, a number of the dissatisfied players decided to remain and attempt a restart, bringing in new characters and retconning the backgrounds of existing characters. This clashed with those who wanted a clean break, starting over at the new site. A schism ensued, and the role-play at Thunderbirds World folded in May, 2004, with those who wished to moving over to International Rescue: The Next Phase. Play began a week after the original game folded. Thunderbirds World itself was deleted in late January, 2006.

During 2007, increasingly dissatisfied with the limitations of MSN Groups, the moderators of IR:TNP began looking for a way to create a website of their own. ArtisticRainey offered space on her domain, and found both a gallery and a forum script for their use. Tikatu, with help from ArtisticRainey, coded the main website pages. Play opened at the new site in July, 2007, but within the month, the forum proved to be unstable, and another script was needed. On August 1, play began again, now on a more stable forum.

After August, though many pertinent materials had been moved to the new site before it opened, Tikatu completed the job, and started deleting pages that were no longer needed at the old one. By the end of 2007, only the default “What’s New” page – with a link to the new site – and the custom “Our Story” webpage remained. The “Our Story” page contained links to each of the eleven completed chapters on the new forum. Not wanting the MSN Group to become the target of spammers, as many other inactive Thunderbirds groups had become, she deleted it completely at the end of April, 2008.

In mid-May, 2008, a server error made the forum at meianou.com inaccessible for a week. As a result, a mirror forum[1] was created at yuku.com.

Funding

ArtisticRainey pays for the domain name and space on the server. She also uses the domain for her artwork and for her Thunderbirds graphic novel, Iron Lady [2].

Size

The MSN Group had a registered membership of 55 before its deletion. Most members were either inactive or lurkers. The website currently has 13 registered members on the forum, and 10 players.

Site Timeline

On February 11, 2003, the FanFicForum at Thunderbirds World started.
On October 25, 2003, International Rescue: The Next Phase was created at MSN Groups.
On May 17, 2004, the FanFicForum role-play ended.
On May 24, 2004, play began on the IR:TNP MSN Group.
In early July, 2007, IR:TNP opened for play on ArtisticRainey’s domain.
In late July, 2007, the original forum script became unstable.
On August 1, 2007, a second, more stable forum went online.
On December 31, 2007, IR:TNP at MSN Groups became officially inactive.
On April 29, 2008, IR:TNP at MSN Groups was deleted by owner Tikatu.
On May 22, 2008, a mirror forum was created at yuku.com.

The Storyline

The year is 2068, three years after the start of International Rescue. Jeff Tracy, head International Rescue, realizes that the day to day operations of his elite rescue organization is taking a physical and emotional toll on the current staff - his five sons, his engineer, and the engineer's assistant. To help ease the burden, he begins to recruit new people, adding to his organization and expanding its scope. The new hires include a doctor, nurses, pilots, rescue specialists such as firefighters and forest rangers, aquanauts, astronauts, engineers, and mechanics. He also expands his network of agents, bringing in security experts to help keep his organization as secret and safe as possible. The behind-the-scenes support crew of International Rescue - namely his mother and his retainer - also gain assistance with the cooking and general household duties they share, and a counselor is now available to help deal with the emotional fall-out of the intense situations that the Tracys often find themselves in. These new recruits are handpicked, well-skilled in their particular fields, and eager to share in the adventure that is International Rescue.

The Characters

Canon Characters

Canon characters are used as NPCs (non-player characters). If a canon character was missing some part of their biography, such as a name or birthdate, they were given one for the purpose of the role play. These will be indicated in italics. IR:TNP also uses the birth order of the Tracy brothers as espoused by John Marriot and the same birthdates, with allowances for the 2068 setting.

Jeff Tracy - Patriarch of the Tracy clan; CEO of Tracy Industries; Head of International Rescue
Scott Tracy - Pilot, Thunderbird One; Field commander
Virgil Tracy - Pilot, Thunderbird Two
John Tracy - Space Monitor, Thunderbird Five; Astronaut Pilot, Thunderbird Three
Gordon Tracy - Aquanaut, Thunderbird Four
Alan Tracy - Astronaut Pilot, Thunderbird Three; Space Monitor, Thunderbird Five
Grandma Ruth Tracy - Mother to Jeff; Grandmother to Tracy children; cook; housekeeper; gadfly
Brains (John Charles Grayson, alias Hiram Hackenbacker) - Head Engineer, Tracy Industries and International Rescue
Tin-Tin Kyrano - Brains's assistant; Engineer for International Rescue
Tuan Kyrano - Retainer to Jeff Tracy; cook; gardener; housekeeper
Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward - International Rescue's chief London agent
Aloysius Parker - Lady Penelope's butler and chauffeur

Original Characters

All original characters are PCs (player characters). Limited use of other players' characters is allowed, as long as the PCs are not put into life changing circumstances and approval of the character's player is sought. Some players have multiple characters. Collaboration between players is encouraged.

Abbott, Will - Mechanic
Crenshaw, Aaron - teenaged son of Lanakila and Vincent Crenshaw
Crenshaw, Lanakila - wife of Vincent Crenshaw; Mother of Aaron and Lea
Crenshaw, Lea - young daughter of Lana and Vincent Crenshaw
Crenshaw, Vincent - Aquanaut on Thunderbird Four, husband of Lanakila Crenshaw, father of Aaron and Lea Crenshaw
Collins, Elise - Jeff Tracy's personal pilot; Pilot, Thunderbirds One and Two
Fernandez, Izarra - Tracy family dentist; International Rescue Agent
Finch, Jenny - Tracy family cook and housekeeper
Hanson, Anna - Tracy family/International Rescue counselor
Jackson, Nicole - Tracy family nurse; pilot/medic on Thunderbird Seven
Kelly, Dominic - Tracy family nurse; pilot/medic on Thunderbird Seven
Kelly, Joshua - young son of Dominic Kelly
Kishi, Cassandra - Firefighter, rescue specialist for International Rescue
Matumbo, Lena - Head of Information Technologies department, Tracy Industries USA; International Rescue agent
Morel, Luke - Forest ranger, rescue specialist for International Rescue; owner/handler of rescue dog, Rommel
Parkhurst, Lisa - Mother to Dianne Tracy; grandmother to Tracy children; cook; housekeeper; hair stylist; masseuse
Spencer, Callie - Biochemist; HAZMAT specialist; Astronaut Pilot, Thunderbird Three; Space monitor, Thunderbird Five
Tracy, Alex - pre-teen son of Dianne Tracy; adopted son of Jeff Tracy
Tracy, Cherie - teenaged daughter of Dianne Tracy; adopted daughter of Jeff Tracy
Tracy, Dianne - grown daughter of Lisa Parkhurst; mother to Alex, Cherie, and Tyler; Jeff Tracy's second wife; Tracy family physician; Chief Medical Officer of International Rescue; Pilot, Thunderbird Seven
Tracy, Tyler - young son of Dianne Tracy, adopted son of Jeff Tracy

Former Player Characters

Former PCs are not played by current players, but may be mentioned in passing.

Jordan, Christopher - Pilot, Thunderbird One
Kennedy, Heather - Pilot, Thunderbird One
McCain, Brandon - Aquanaut, Thunderbird Four
Williamson, Katy-Jane - Mechanic

Villains

Villians are also NPCs, but are used sparingly.

Gaat, Belah, aka The Hood (The Hood is a canon character)
Hightower, Desdemona - Information Technologies head, Stellar Innovations, Ltd.; Member, Hightower Cartel; sister to Giles and Jacques
Hightower, Giles - Head of Security, Stellar Innovations, Ltd.; Member, Hightower Cartel; youngest brother to Desdemona and Jacques
Hightower, Jacques - Head of Stellar Innovations, Lts,; Head, Hightower Cartel, older brother to Desdemona and Giles