faderifting: (Default)
Fade Rift Mods ([personal profile] faderifting) wrote in [community profile] allthisshitisweird2023-05-02 05:40 pm
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Test Drive!

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 9:49, 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.) an organization, dubbed Riftwatch, that split off from the Inquisition several years ago. Riftwatch consists 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.

NOTE: This is a static test drive! We post them once per year or so and continue to use them for a long time, so you're never late. Current players are encouraged to track new top-level comments.


I. THE FREE MARCHES: Hasmal, Tantervale, and most recently Starkhaven have all fallen to the Tevinter incursion, leaving Kirkwall the largest city-state in the Free Marches to remain unoccupied. For Riftwatch, that means the war is closer to home than ever, and traveling anywhere north of the mountains runs the risk of running into enemy scouting parties. Perhaps you've been sent out to find these scouts before they find the unwary, or perhaps you're just trying to pass through unnoticed to Antiva or Rivain when you run into trouble. Or maybe you're more in the thick of it: joining the Free Marches armies in harassing the occupying army as best they can from outside the city, or slipping your way into one of them to gather intelligence or meet with an ally.

II. THE WAKING SEA: When Riftwatch isn't traveling by griffon or magic mirror, it frequently travels by sea, courtesy of a small assortment 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 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.

grindset: (15390263)

crystal;

[personal profile] grindset 2023-10-19 03:55 am (UTC)(link)
[In contrast to Gwen's crisp reply, this speaker's off-world accent comes with a soft lilt of curiosity:]

What manner of mechanical parts?
ersatzknight: (Default)

Re: crystal;

[personal profile] ersatzknight 2023-10-19 04:08 am (UTC)(link)
Gunblade inner workings, they're not super fragile but... kinda important to having Hyperion in working order.
grindset: (15499873)

[personal profile] grindset 2023-10-19 04:14 am (UTC)(link)
Gunblade?

[—sounds exactly like he's pulled his head back, a little jerk of chin to neck.]
ersatzknight: (Default)

[personal profile] ersatzknight 2023-10-19 04:24 am (UTC)(link)
Gunblade.

They don't use ammunition, thank Hyne, the trigger and mechanisms cause the blade to vibrate.
grindset: (15390233)

[personal profile] grindset 2023-10-19 04:36 am (UTC)(link)
In that case, I can't help you.

[Could he direct this guy to someone who can help?

Yes. Yes he could.

He does not.]
ersatzknight: (Default)

[personal profile] ersatzknight 2023-10-19 04:57 am (UTC)(link)
Pity, and here I thought I'd found someone who wasn't the big boss in charge.
grindset: (15703444)

[personal profile] grindset 2023-10-19 05:12 am (UTC)(link)
You did. I simply cannot help you with your... gun-blade... and I highly doubt the big boss, as you call him, would have the time to see to it personally.
ersatzknight: (to quote squall...)

[personal profile] ersatzknight 2023-10-19 05:31 am (UTC)(link)
Nah nah, I get it. Gunblades are too complicated for most people to bother with spending the time on even back home. Nobody's got time for specialization, same song and dance no matter where you go.

I'll just figure it out myself.
grindset: (15390142)

[personal profile] grindset 2023-10-19 05:45 am (UTC)(link)
The mechanism's complexity is not the issue, here, I assure you—
ersatzknight: (to quote squall...)

I'm so sorry he's a dickhead on layer 1 ;_;

[personal profile] ersatzknight 2023-10-19 05:54 am (UTC)(link)
Oh please, sell me on whatever issue it is you're gonna tell me. Make it a good one and I might believe it.
grindset: (15499874)

we love those here

[personal profile] grindset 2023-10-19 06:10 am (UTC)(link)
The object in question—what is its purpose? How is it used?
ersatzknight: (Default)

he'll throw hands with god to defend people he's a jerk tho though so there's that

[personal profile] ersatzknight 2023-10-19 06:34 am (UTC)(link)
It's a weapon, used in combat to be less dead than the person or thing trying to kill you first.


[There's a shift in his tone, something rote and memorized for defending his choice for years.]

Originally invented in Galbadia for use against shell-armored monsters and rogue morbols, it fell out of favor quickly because it's hard to wield expertly and a pain in the ass to build especially compared to swords or other melee weapons. They're great at separating armor plates or single-strike attacks, especially if you can be fast with one.
grindset: (hour work is)

[personal profile] grindset 2023-10-19 04:09 pm (UTC)(link)
There—you've just described the issue perfectly.
ersatzknight: (Default)

[personal profile] ersatzknight 2023-10-19 04:36 pm (UTC)(link)
You can just say you don’t work on weapons. Weird when you’re landed in a war with demons and monsters, but that’s a ‘you’ choice.
grindset: (15390250)

[personal profile] grindset 2023-10-19 05:22 pm (UTC)(link)
It's very easy to say a weapon will only ever be used on a demon or a monster.
ersatzknight: (Default)

[personal profile] ersatzknight 2023-10-19 05:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Never said it would be. Said it’s for making sure I’m less dead than the people or things trying to kill me… or people I’m supposed to be keeping alive.

I can respect having that line though. Long as you stick to it and actually mean it.