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Fade Rift Mods ([personal profile] faderifting) wrote in [community profile] allthisshitisweird2019-10-26 03:53 pm
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TEST DRIVE MEME!

TEST DRIVE MEME

While in some alternate, tidier timeline, the War against the Elder One ended years ago, you're not in that timeline. It's 9:45, and there's a war raging in northern Orlais, where the Chantry, aided by the Inquisition, marshalling Orlais and the faithful of Southern Thedas into a new Exalted March against the army of demon-bound Wardens, Red Templars, Venatori loyalists, and darkspawn Corypheus has amassed over the last four years. Rifts are still scattered across the continent, periodically spitting out strangers from strange worlds with green-glowing anchors embedded in their hands. There's no Herald of Andraste to save Thedas. Someone else is going to have to do it.

You're part of (or allied with, recently hired by, imprisoned by, etc.) a new organization that's an offshoot of the Inquisition, dubbed Riftwatch, that consists mainly of the otherworldly new arrivals, rebels and Wardens, and other people who want to prevent the apocalypse without necessarily marching under the Chantry's banner to do it. Their headquarters is an island fortress called the Gallows—formerly a Circle of Magi, more formerly a prison for slaves, but its new occupants have done a good job removing the more grotesque reminders of that past and making the place livable.

Maybe you're here because you want to help. Maybe you need the money (though there isn't much of it). Maybe you acquired an anchor and sticking around is the only way to prevent your hand from falling off. Maybe you've been sent by the Chantry or some other entity to keep an eye on everyone—they're rumored to be a lot of weirdos and troublemakers. Or maybe you're a new rifter and just going where the nice people with swords tell you that you need to go.


I. KIRKWALL: Even when enormous evil darkspawn are trying to take over the known world and you and your colleagues might be the only ones who can truly stop him, you can't work all the time. And when you aren't working, Kirkwall is there for you with its dingy Lowtown taverns, its flashy Hightown establishments, its market stalls and street musicians and cellars hosting gamblers. (Or maybe you can work all the time, and you're in the city to do some official shopping, try to spy on a suspicious character, or show a potential financial backer a good time.)

II. THE WOUNDED COAST: Southeast of Kirkwall, the Wounded Coast stretches alongside the Waking Sea—named, perhaps, for the way its twisting paths, steep hills, and jagged cliffs dropping down into a churning, watery graveyard of rotting ships make the place look like what would be left behind if someone drug a blunt sword over the flesh of the world, or perhaps for the likelihood that anyone passing through it will end up with wounds. The hills and caves provide convenient cover for bandits and slavers preying on travelers, the wind whips up storms with little notice, and the sometimes when the sand stirs it's not a crab, but a possessed skeleton—or worse.

III. THE WESTERN FRONT: Riftwatch is no longer part of the Inquisition or directly engaged in the war that it, the Chantry's faithful Exalted Marchers, and Orlais are fighting against an invading Tevinter and Ander force in northern Orlais. But frequently enough, Riftwatch's business—delivering helpful intelligence, spending quality time with prisoners of war that might have information, assisting soldiers with a rift they've found too close to their camps, or passing through on the way somewhere else—requires spending time in camps. After a year, with the weather turning cold and a dragon occasionally hurtling overhead to breathe a few bursts of chaos onto the army in its sleep, morale is middling at best. But there's space around the campfires if you need it.

IV. SEND A MESSAGE: Each member of Riftwatch (or rifter, or ally) is assigned a blue crystal, small enough to wear around the neck, that can transmit voice messages, as well as an enchanted book tied to that crystal that can be used to exchange written messages. They're secure enough to discuss the war, if you'd like to get down to business, but loosely controlled enough to ask a question or play a game with only a few rolled eyes from people who hate fun.

V. WILDCARD: From the Gallows' library to the pirate islands off the coast, from Hightown's high-priced market stalls to the bloody frontlines of the war, Thedas is yours to explore.

cyberware: (6)

crystals

[personal profile] cyberware 2020-05-22 01:42 am (UTC)(link)
Illegal or not, really, is it ever a good idea to casually toss about something like magic? It's unpredictable and overwhelming to the untrained eye, which most are.
windyvoice: (5)

[personal profile] windyvoice 2020-05-22 01:46 am (UTC)(link)
Gotta learn somehow, right? It's like when babies try to touch fire or whatever for the first time.
cyberware: (181)

[personal profile] cyberware 2020-05-22 01:48 am (UTC)(link)
Regarding the general populace? I'd think not, that sounds like a recipe for swift regret. Some things are meant to be kept discrete.
windyvoice: (3)

[personal profile] windyvoice 2020-05-22 01:49 am (UTC)(link)
*That's* why you go out in the woods to do it. Like teenagers trying to summon a demon.
cyberware: (1)

[personal profile] cyberware 2020-05-22 01:50 am (UTC)(link)
[ tightly: ] Right.

Just what is it we're talking about, you trying to learn magic?
windyvoice: (Default)

[personal profile] windyvoice 2020-05-22 01:52 am (UTC)(link)
[ Horrible Teen Mode has been fully activated, but ]

I kinda got magic already. Like I don't really know how to use it, but I can do it.
cyberware: (4)

[personal profile] cyberware 2020-05-22 01:53 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, grand, that's certainly just what everyone wants to hear of their neighbor.

What can you do?
windyvoice: (4)

[personal profile] windyvoice 2020-05-22 01:54 am (UTC)(link)
I can turn into animals aaaaaaaaand control the wind.

Sort of.
cyberware: they burn hot as hell (those august nights)

[personal profile] cyberware 2020-05-22 01:55 am (UTC)(link)
I see. And are you seeking control, is that the point of this query?
windyvoice: (6)

[personal profile] windyvoice 2020-05-22 01:58 am (UTC)(link)
Sure, that works.
cyberware: (6)

[personal profile] cyberware 2020-05-22 02:00 am (UTC)(link)
Glad to hear it. As vague as control the wind is, that could grow to be rather problematic otherwise.
windyvoice: (4)

[personal profile] windyvoice 2020-05-22 02:01 am (UTC)(link)
Solid probably that I couldn't start like a hurricane or something. It's more like it's uuuuuh... kind of my breath? Except when it's not?
cyberware: they burn hot as hell (those august nights)

[personal profile] cyberware 2020-05-22 02:02 am (UTC)(link)
I'm certain you can explain it better than that if you really put your mind to it.
windyvoice: (2)

[personal profile] windyvoice 2020-05-22 02:03 am (UTC)(link)
Make sound, wind goes swoosh.
cyberware: begins to vaporize (my last chance to feel human)

[personal profile] cyberware 2020-05-22 02:05 am (UTC)(link)
No, now we've gone in the opposite direction, you see.
windyvoice: (Default)

[personal profile] windyvoice 2020-05-22 02:09 am (UTC)(link)
I dunno, dude, this is starting to sound like a You problem.
cyberware: (4)

[personal profile] cyberware 2020-05-22 02:11 am (UTC)(link)
How old are you?
cyberware: (where's my unhappy ending gone)

[personal profile] cyberware 2020-05-22 02:13 am (UTC)(link)
[ PRESSING X TO DOUBT ]

Elven? Dwarven?
cyberware: (6)

[personal profile] cyberware 2020-05-22 02:15 am (UTC)(link)
Unfortunately, dogs are terrible with magic. I'm certain you can't be taught, and should give up.
windyvoice: (10)

[personal profile] windyvoice 2020-05-22 02:17 am (UTC)(link)
I can't, it's in my blood. It's in my heart and soul.

I gotta make the wind go woosh.
cyberware: (1)

[personal profile] cyberware 2020-05-22 02:18 am (UTC)(link)
[ and he just. sighs. ]

What's the strongest wind you've ever created?
windyvoice: (12)

[personal profile] windyvoice 2020-05-22 02:20 am (UTC)(link)
I knocked over some dudes. I might have collapsed a tunnel too, but there was like other magic fight-y shit happening at the same time, so I'm like pretty sure that wasn't all me.
cyberware: (9)

[personal profile] cyberware 2020-05-22 02:27 am (UTC)(link)
[ ugh. that does sound like it could be dangerous. ugh!!! ]

What kind of training have you had so far?

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