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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.
library;
Evidently. When he blinks up, still bleary from sleep, his face is lined with the edge of spine: A Revised Compendium of Proper Address Among Gentlefolk of the Southeast, Translated for the Benefit of Foreign-Born Traders, etcetera, etcetera.
(Decent reference. Better pillow.)
There's a delay, while he takes Aerich in - takes the ears in -
"Ah," Cedric is tired, or that’s the tallest elf he’s ever seen. Big Wells was, what, six even? Everyone's tall to a kid. "Can I help you, Messere?"
Re: library;
Also, he may be judging someone who is using the library for a nap rather than its intended purpose. He's not saying anything, but he has a look that indicates that he thinks Cedric should either be using the library or returning to his bed.
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It’s that list he’s trying to verify now: An inky sprawl of dukes and baronies, madames and dames, his and her graces. Names beside titles, the vowels running together soft. His own syllables slant harsher. Foreign.
"This’ll only do for Orlais." The Southeast, and Aerich as plain a stranger to it as Cedric. Apologetic, "I haven’t got ‘round to the others."
He reaches to grind the crust from his eyes, and thinks better of it. Something in Aerich’s folded expression reminds him better of a Chantry Brother than Rifter.
(Green light glimmers from the back of his own hand, faint in the late afternoon.)
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"S'pose not, if you asked them." Halfblood soldiers don't come court-standard. "I'm from Nevarra. Big country, bit east of here. But we're short on hands, so,"
A shrug. He blinks, curiousity finally washing past sleep: Given the whole of a world to learn, fancy titles are a choice to start on.
"Cedric," He offers, "What are you called back home, Messere?"
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It was a tricky matter. His own code of honor required some response to insult, not because of his own pride, but because it was an insult to his House and his Empire. And he suspected he was going to receive insults. While he would remain a citizen of the Empire, that had fewer obligations of honor. But he hadn't used his old alias since he was a young man, attempting to prove that his father's disgrace was false, when he wasn't yet the Duke of Arylle. He still considered the name 'Aerich' his, and he did not consider a lie-by-omission offense, but he was not practiced in intrigue.
On the third hand, if theories were to be believed, there was a version of himself who had never left his world, and he, not Aerich, would have the right to the title. Certainly he would be the one who could fulfill the obligations.
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"Your Grace," See? He knows that one. A smile (an icebreaker for the mad thing Aerich's just said). Because, "Reckon that'd be wise, going under something else."
What an odd thing it must have been, for Gwen to find herself dethroned. Stranger for it to come on you at once, as it must of spirits -
"Promise you wouldn't be the only one to shuck a title."
Ser means a deal less than Duke, even one of an imagined land; but they spend about as far around the Gallows.
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Riftwatch will, at any rate. Can't swear Kirkwall will be thrilled about an elf who's taken on airs.
"Phoenix Guard?"
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Duties, mission; respect or rank due.
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Aerich smiled. "I served with what would become my three closest friends as we happened to meet on the road, and were all considered unusual candidates when we presented ourselves to the Captain of the Guard."
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"Unusual?" Encouraging the story.
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He prompts. Seems half the battle of the Rifted is knowing what's worth holding on to, what'll pass for common ground. The more details they peel back now, the closer they come to something that resonates; to tie him to anyone here, instead of there,
(Military, nobility; used to an outsider's position. They can work with that. Money's always fucked off to Riftwatch. Had its share of officers, too.)
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Before his time. There'll be some use in it, though; the war's everywhere, the work is, too. A warrior's tradition hasn't kept Cedric from clerking.
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And Aerich had noted there were also plenty of people who found war as a useful political tool. Which he found distasteful.