Fade Rift Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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allthisshitisweird2023-05-02 05:40 pm
faderifting) wrote in allthisshitisweird2023-05-02 05:40 pm
Entry tags:
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.
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.
Gallows!
What ultimately betrays him is how he stops suddenly, turning to stare in clear recognition of a famous athlete that he never even conceived of seeing outside the Minrathous arena (from a fancy and prominent box, of course).
Benedict doesn’t realize he’s staring until it’s far too late to pretend he wasn’t.]
no subject
He doesn't think much of it until the stopping has turned to staring and the man has yet to move. Gannicus carefully raises his eyebrows and stares back.]
I don't suppose you're Flint.
[He doesn't think so, but he doesn't know what Flint looks like, so who the hell knows.]
no subject
no subject
He does not disappear into the crowd, because Gannicus only has eyes for this pretty boy who looks like he's seen a ghost.]
You know me.
[It's not exactly a question.]
no subject
He makes the rookie mistake of looking back over his shoulder and pretending at not hearing, or understanding, the statement as he gives a little shake of his head: he's just an innocent Riftwatch clerk, obviously. He continues to make for the door to the tower, at a decent clip but at least not running.]
no subject
No.
You know precisely who I am.
[He grabs this fool by the arm, then, but he's not going for violence.]
I did not know there were those of Kirkwall who frequented Minrathous Arena.
no subject
--I'm not, [he admits, shifting uncomfortably against the man's grip, though he doesn't try to pull away, not yet,] ...of Kirkwall.
no subject
And then.
He lets him go. Eases his hands back to his swords.]
Altus.
[He guesses. He guesses it from the way he holds his head, from the refinement of his accent, from the way he holds himself, and the fear on his face; Gannicus has spent more than enough time with the manner of man who would imagine himself good enough to own another.
And then his arms cross over his chest.]
no subject
If only he didn't remember this one so well, to feel such a thrill at seeing him up close, in striking distance. He never imagined he'd seem him again, least of all here.
He nods in the affirmative. There's no sense in lying.]
no subject
Open your mouth wider, boy, a cock would not yet fit.
[You look like a fish, fool.]
no subject
Excuse me? [he demands, fully incredulous.]
no subject
So.]
Your mouth gapes more than a fish.
[And that said.]
You spent your youth watching me on the sands. I have no shame for it. Do you?
[He speaks a strange and old-fashioned way; his master cultivated it in his slaves.]
no subject
...some, [he admits in a low voice. To think of that time in his life doesn't make him proud, per se.]
no subject
And so you came here.
[He will not (today) press on the particular notion that he should be embarrassed for having been party to violence done by enslaved men to other enslaved men, but you know.
That might be a conversation for another day.]
no subject
Sure, [he mumbles noncommittally, with a little shrug-- and then he tosses his hair, in his standard manner of trying to regain some poise, remind himself who he is.
Within reason.]
...and why did you? [Tentatively,] to find Flint?
no subject
I won my freedom on the sands, and so left to find-
[He spins his hand in the air. He doesn’t want to talk about what he is running from, and it’s none of this boy’s business anyway. Everyone in Tevinter knows that Gannicus won his freedom and how, although he assumes that this news didn’t get down to Kirkwall.
Anyway.]
I am light in hand of coin.
no subject
You want to join Riftwatch, [he clarifies, his eyebrows arching. How fortuitous: this is his job.]
no subject
He thinks, maybe, just.]
Does one need to join to find work?
no subject
[He sounds oddly more sure of himself, the proud little bureaucrat coming out with this revelation.]
If it’s just small-time jobs you’re looking for, I’m sure there’s mercenary work to be found in Lowtown.