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Fade Rift Mods ([personal profile] faderifting) wrote in [community profile] allthisshitisweird2021-10-02 11:29 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 9:47, and the war continues. An enemy force partially occupies Orlais and has decimated several Marcher Cities, while the Chantry, aided by the Inquisition, has marshaled 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. 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 newer organization that's an offshoot of the Inquisition, dubbed Riftwatch, that consists mainly of these 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. Their goal is to do what the Chantry can't or won't do, to go more directly after Corypheus and the dark magic he employs, and to keep the Veil from coming apart entirely.

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 killing you. 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. THE SIEGE OF STARKHAVEN: North of Kirkwall, Corypheus' forces have occupied Hasmal, laid waste to Tantervale, and has now besieging the city of Starkhaven. An army of Marchers led by Sebastian Vael has returned from the Exalted March to press against the Tevinter force, but Riftwatch's aid is still needed. With the assistance of Riftwatch's griffons, you might be doing aerial surveillance of the enemy force or swooping into the city to provide supplies and news to the people holding the walls, then bringing news and valuables back out to deliver to the Marcher force outside. Or you could be engaging directly by harassing enemy camps from the air or dealing with mages the Marchers are less equipped to face.

II. THE WAKING SEA: When Riftwatch isn't traveling by air (or magic mirror), it frequently travels by sea, courtesy of allied pirate ships. So welcome aboard. The sea is choppy and frequently violent—violent storms, violent enemy ships, or both at once—and the crew may not have much patience for incompetence, so either make yourself useful above or try not to get sick below.

III. 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.)

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.

solmate: (shadow&boneS01E01-01166)

[personal profile] solmate 2023-04-06 04:15 am (UTC)(link)
It's unfair to pepper Alina with so many words when her brain has just been roused from sleep, her mind lagging to keep up with Wysteria's pilfering and the justification that lulls Alina into an agreeing nod. Yes, of course she doesn't need that one, yes of course she can have it in a few days unless it's...

"Which one is that?" Alina leans forward, trying to read the lettering on the spine, squinting to get a look past the glinting metal in the low light of the library. "If it's the one on nautical maps, I need that one. And the one on plant identification. Oh, and the essays on the Chantry too."

It doesn't look like the anthology of poems, but she can have that one. That one was more for fun anyway.
heirring: ([033])

[personal profile] heirring 2023-04-06 04:56 pm (UTC)(link)
"There are all manner of nautical map books here, I'm certain. And if there are none, you might only confer with Vice Admiral Rivain or perhaps the Forces Commander. I'm certain they would be delighted to share with you. Meanwhile, this book has a very specific chart of a nearby inlet in it which I need to copy down for the purposes of— for purposes," she settles on, deciding all at once to be marginally more covert. This is, after all, a most secret project. Or at the very least is a matter which only a few people strictly Need To Know.

Anyway, this explanation is clearly sufficient. Hence why Wysteria is already moving to take a step backward with the telegraphed intent of scurrying hastily away. It is, maybe, just slightly possible that she occasionally is aware of the effect that talking very quickly all at once at a person has, and that she would like to make her escape before the concussed quality wears fully off her victim.
solmate: (qiosj)

[personal profile] solmate 2023-04-13 03:14 am (UTC)(link)
"Wait. No hey—,"

Alina stands up. Or at least she attempts to. The action is made more difficult by the fact that her leg is still partially asleep, pins and needles tingling across her thigh from her nap on the hard sitting surface of the library chair (really these places should be designed with unfortunate patrons who fall asleep here).

She stumbles towards Wysteria, making a grab for the book back, a fully mature move definitely not spurred on just because Alina had it first and is annoyed at the prospect of her (completely borrowed things) being temporarily used by someone else.
heirring: ([120])

[personal profile] heirring 2023-04-15 04:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Had she a second hand to properly dissuade the opposing fumble with, Alina might find herself with nothing more than a fistful of air and the breeze of flapping skirts Wysteria decisively whirled off and hurried away off through the library stacks. As it is—

Well, the book doesn't quite slip from between Wysteria's metal prosthetic and her side, but it is absolutely drawn to some awkward angle that forces her to use her focus to go to reasserting her grip rather than spinning and dashing off. Ergo: the chartbook, and then both with a grip on either end of it and Wysteria squawking some unintelligible sound of objection.

Excuse you.