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.
no subject
"My mare is not as heavy as a steed," she argues, brightening. Warming to the disagreement, "She was clearly bred for jumping, so she couldn't be."
Duh.
"But I wouldn't expect a ferry-worker to know that from a single glance." For all Vega knows, this is the first time the poor girl has ever seen a show mare. "Now you do."
no subject
Wait.
"I'm not a ferry-worker," is clearly the more important thing she needs to be yelling.
no subject
She looks her up and down. "I just assumed it, after you decided to make this your business."
no subject
"It's my business because you're making me late for work with your bitching." She gestures wildly, beyond the ferry, in the vague direction of the Gallows. "You can explain to the commander."
no subject
"No," she says, lip curling when she looks back at Clarisse, "Confrère, you will explain to the Commander why we're both late; you can use me as an excuse."
Now she has no choice but to help.
no subject
"Wait, so you're helping me now?"
Why we're both late, the woman said. "Do you work for Riftwatch?"
no subject
Whether or not she works for them will remain to be seen. "This is my first visit. Will you escort me?"
no subject
She isn't sure how she keeps running into these people and having to be the one who brings them in, but apparently that's her thing now. Anyway, she'll do it, but only because she's already going that way. Besides, it makes her look good. (Well, maybe. In this instance she's not sure how welcome the addition she's bringing is going to be.)
"Yeah, I guess."
no subject
Turning back to Clarisse, she holds out the back of her hand expectantly to her. "Lady Vega Arany. Pleasure to meet you."
no subject
Turning back to Vega, she looks at the offered hand. Is she supposed to kiss it? Because she's not fucking doing that. After several awkward seconds, she reaches out and gives Vega's hand an abrupt little shake, mostly to get her to put it away.
"Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares, god of war." She hasn't pulled that one out in a while, but this situation seems like it calls for a little flair.
no subject
"Stop that." She yanks it away, eyeing Clarisse with renewed interest, a touch of disbelief. Clearing her throat, turning her head away to look instead at her mare, she says, "I have never heard of Ares."
Clicking her tongue calls Sweet Lavender down the pier to them both.
no subject
"You wouldn't have," she says. "I'm a rifter."
A god's a god, though. She's going to be leaning on this as much as she possibly can.
no subject
Impenetrable in more ways than one.
Looping Sweet Lavender's reigns around her fist, she says, "Are you coming?" as if Clarisse has been the one holding everybody else up this entire time.
no subject
"You don't know what a rifter is?" Clarisse asks as she does her best to look like she's not following Vega onto the ferry but walking alongside her. She is following, though. She can't push the horse out of the way (or, she could try, but she isn't going to do that; it's not Sweet Lavender's fault her owner is a bitch).
"I thought everybody did." Genuinely. This is rocking her world view a little.
no subject
"I'm sure I will be told once I arrive; unless you'd like to explain it to me now?"
There's a boat ride ahead of them, so. The horse doesn't seem to have an issue boarding the ferry, is placid and easy-going as Vega steers her briskly on, bringing her toward the middle of the vessel.
no subject
She's just messing with her. Mostly, anyway. There's a small part of Clarisse wondering if she's not right in thinking that if Vega doesn't know what a rifter is, maybe she shouldn't be telling her.
A very small part, though. Like 10% or something. And it's obvious from the look on her face, the smug little smile tugging at the corner of her mouth, that the other 90% is just Clarisse being a dick.
no subject
Rude.
She watches Clarisse lean against the railing, slouching, betraying her sloppy posture. That somebody her own age would act like this in public is a mystery to her.
no subject
"A rifter," she says when she feels like she can talk without laughing, "is someone from another world who got pulled into Thedas through a rift in the Veil."
She lifts a hand and gestures in the direction of the Gallows as the island rises up in the distance. "There are a lot of us." Well... several. Whatever.
no subject
She's never heard of this before. It's so annoying when people know other things she doesn't, but overwhelming curiousity overpowers her irritation in a heartbeat. She draws a little closer to Clarisse suddenly.
no subject
"On the other side of the sky, I guess. Somehow." That's where she fell out, right? It sounds stupid, though, like she's trying to write a poem or some shit. And then you add in the weird shit about the Veil and the fact that she was dreaming, and—
She shakes her head and reaches out to put a hand on the horse's neck. "Anyway, it's called Earth. And there are gods there, and my father is one of them."
no subject
"Might as well have named it 'Dirt'," she comments under her breath, still looking up, attention snapping sharply back onto Clarisse the moment she mentions gods. Her father, a god. She feels strange suddenly, a mixture of awe and unease. A lick of jealousy making her press her lips tightly together and breathe harder.
She understands, now. "So you're important."
no subject
Clarisse finally diverts her attention from the spot where she's scratching little circles into the horse's neck. She isn't sure she likes the way Vega is looking at her.
"I'm here," she says. It's kind of a non-answer, a fake, but it gets the salient point across. Here with no dad-god, pulling guard duty and sleeping in a bedroll in the dirt like everyone else when they're out on missions.
"Well, you're a lady. That makes you important too, right?" Somewhere. To some family.
no subject
Both asking this and being kind to her horse prompt her to be honest. "Not as important as I'd like to be."
She skims her hand down the horse's back. "But all this will change that."
no subject
Clarisse is wondering what Vega's plan is, here. She's only known the girl for ten minutes but she has a feeling that whatever it is, it's crazy and probably not going to work. But, look, if some rich girl with a horse wants to bluster her way into Riftwatch and then immediately fail out when she can't handle it, well, that's not for Clarisse to try and prevent.
"How?"