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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.
ii
demands of work and navigating a world so alien to her own have drained her social battery. She’s got a collection of books in her arms on physics, and is clad in workers overalls and boots that certainly aren’t of Thedas manufacture.
She was heading to a table, but stopped short when she saw the book float. The abruptness is not discrete, and even less so given the gasp of delighted surprise. At least she glances around sheepishly for being so loud in a library. )
I’m sorry. I’m still not used to magic.
no subject
She turns and finds a woman - dressed in overalls? Boots? An atire that altogether looks Not Local, and Hermione's heart leaps again in curiosity and hope. ]
Ah, no - it's fine. I probably shouldn't be using it this casually, but it's a bit of a relief that the minor magic spells still work.
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( She’s tall, with waist-length hair that’s an odd contrast to the practicality of everything else about her, and to Hermione her accent might be reminiscent of Northern Europe. Abella offers her hand to shake, before she hesitates. )
Is shaking hands a friendly thing, in your world?
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( She grins, relieved to have found some common ground, and takes a quick moment to set down her stack of books. From a guess, her new acquaintance could be the same age as Marina, give or take a year or two. It seems so cruel for young people to be thrust into such circumstances, but... perhaps Hermione had, like her, escaped something terrible.
Perhaps she's projecting because she's worried about her young friend. )
I got here a month or so ago, and put my foot in my mouth as soon as I got to the Gallows. If you want tips on ways to make a better first impression than I did, I'm happy to help.
( It's playful self-awareness, making fun of herself in the same breath as offering to help as much because she's barely been here longer than Hermione, as for lightheartedness. Pretending to be an expert in anything here would be absurd. )
no subject
Now she notices that Abella is holding onto books as well, and mentioned physics, and smiles. ] How about we don't talk about how capacious for fitting our foot our mouths are, and we talk about something else instead. You mentioned physics, can I ask what you remember from your...world?
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( Abella exhales a sympathetic breath of laughter, and gently nudges Hermione. )
Don't beat yourself up about it. A lot of the people here are good, even if a lot of them don't seem nice, at first. ( Gwenaëlle. ) Being willing to listen and having self-awareness goes a long way.
( But Hermione had wanted to move on, and having shared that aspect of her own experience, Abella is happy to go with it. She sits on one of the desks, leaning back on her hand, head tilted as she thinks.
Sharing everything about her experiences just before being here doesn't seem...
well, maybe it would be relevant. The older woman still knocks the thought aside because, frankly, she doesn't want to put that on a kid. )
It was October, 1942. A huge war that consumed many nations just ended, the Second Great War, although the circumstances are... suspicious. There's fears about it not really being over. I grew up thinking there was no magic, and a couple of days before I got here, I found out that was very wrong.
( That glossed over things. ) How about you?
no subject
(Mind you, she can still be thrown in a jailcell for being mouthy and opinionated, and it won't be the first time.)
But, she would like to believe she is capable of growth. ]
May, 1998 in England. Although, of latest, some undetermined month in a strange world named Akhuras. There have been people here who've tried to tell me that neither of them are real, because I got here through the Fade, so I must be a dream, but - that's twenty-two years of very real, very details dreaming.
[ A pause, because one date specifically niggles at her memory. Abella's, in fact. ] World War Two didn't end in - [ Shit. She slams her mouth shut. ] Oh no, I'm from your future. Maybe same, maybe parrallel.
no subject
England?
( The way she says it suggests the word is unfamiliar. ) In my world, I think... I think your accent is like those from the kingdom of Rondon. Is... England doesn't sound like the name of a city.
( Unless Rondon is renamed in the future? Perhaps because of the war going on longer, like Hermione says?
She worries her lip with her teeth, brow furrowing a little. Maybe something else will be a little easier. )
Um, did you go to school to study the occult? A friend of mine went to the Vatican, so maybe... that's the same?
no subject
[ The idea of a school of witchcraft under the Papal Seat is kind of hilarious, but she shakes her head anyway. ] I did go to school to study magic, but not the Vatican - and we don't call it the occult. I think our worlds have similarities, but they are not the same - isn't that fascinating?
no subject
It is. I only know the Vatican supports those studies because of Marina. She's the first person I met who could do magic.
( After a moment of consideration, ) It's funny we both have a Vatican. It turns out the priests don't only worship Alll-Mer in our world, though. It's their connection to the Old Gods that grant some people magical gifts, apparently. I don't think I could have named one before talking with her.
( With a shrug. Go figure. )
no subject
Discuss. ]
Although mine worship a single deity, called God. I am sure they'd lose their minds faced with Archdemons and Rifts and the Fade...
no subject
( Said with a wry smile. Directing her focus towards the lighter points of their conversation is--
well, it's probably a coping mechanism. That would account for it being easier. )
What are the nineties like? It's not like I'm from your world, so you aren't ruining the surprise.
( With the similarities, though, it might be fun to think about. )
no subject
But hey! They're having a happy conversation right now. ] But it's a colourful time. More inclusive than its predecessors, more open to experimenting and research and discovery.
no subject
( She's baffled and intrigued, looking down at her overalls. Given that they're overalls, they are the very definition of "nothing special." Hermione could have seen something very similar in pictures of the wartime workfront; beige denim, marked with old stains that never managed to wash out.
Looking back to Hermione, Abella is doing her utmost to hold back a laugh. )
I'm on the cutting edge of fashion, so long as machine oil counts as "colourful."
( Comedic preen, incredible hairflip, etc. )
no subject
You're going to make me jealous I didn't keep my jeans. I'll miss them.
frantically googling when "jeans" came into popular usage
( A moment of pause, and she leans slightly closer, lowering her voice. )
What are 'jeans'?
this might be my favourite tag
Ah - they're denim trousers. Rougher, but more durable. Usually blue.
no subject
Do all trousers have different names based on the fabric?
( Quiet, pondering, before she shakes her head a little and dismisses the thought. Focus. )
All things considered, I should be less awed by denim as a fashion staple.
( She’s quietly conspiratorial as she says it. After all, they’re in another world. Priorities, Abella. )
no subject
Well, you won't find judgement from me for whatever it is that awes you. [ Here, she leans in and whispers conspiratorially: ] It's taking a lot of effort not to point at everything and ask 'what are those'.
no subject
( Abella taps one of her biceps. ) The rest of us have to make do the old-fashioned way. I had skinny arms when I got here, but all this reading...
( She sighs an overtly silly sigh, to underline the absurdity of the claim. Ah yes, it is the lifting of books that gave her arms that would make [insert analogue for Michaelangelo] weep, and not years of manual labour. It's one hundred percent true, Hermione. )
no subject
Not that, after some of the experiences she had in Akhuras she could be called beefed up, but at least she's...okay, so she's not taller.
Bottom line: she wishes that could be her. With the muscled arms. Sigh. ]
Ha - no, the floating them down into my hands is because I can't reach them on the top shelves.
[ Clears her throat, lets out a silly laugh. ] But, uhm - you are - I mean, if that's the result of research in Thedas, I have high hopes. Or should I say tall hopes?
somehow Hermione is the funniest person to have to deal with a 1940s attitude
I had the advantage of a few years of engineering and fixing heavy machinery. We’ll just need to make sure you have bigger piles of books - you’ll get there.
( Absent mindedly, she draws a battered cigarette pack from her pocket, and slides it open with her thumb. Blue and white packaging, the text more akin to the Cyrillic alphabet. Having manners, she offers the box to Hermione, first. )
If you have a fire spell, I would love a way to avoid running around trying to find a candle.
( Things she misses: matches )
oh my god
Outrage. ]
You're not going to smoke around the books, are you?
no subject
Is that a problem?
( A genuine question, brow slightly furrowed. )
People eat and drink when they read, ja?
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