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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.
Sister Felicity | Native OC
The length of her sea journey has given Felicity ample time to acclimate to life on a boat: from Amaranthine to Highever to Kirkwall, it's weeks before she's set foot on dry land for longer than a day at a time. Her shardbearing hand, concealed for safety in a muffler of fennec fur, twinges in anticipation as she looks out over the ship's railing at Kirkwall's nearing harbor.
"It's ugly," she says softly to herself, though she may be overheard.
Kirkwall
The city is ugly, and Fliss will stand by that. She's small and quiet and unfamiliar with its streets, which she knows better than to think will bode well for someone of her stature, even dressed as she is in a Chantry cloak. Trying to make out any sort of Chantry spire in the visible rooftops from the harbor-- wait, isn't it here that it got destroyed by a mage?-- proves fruitless, leaving only one option:
"Excuse me," to a stranger, spoken in a thin-voiced Amaranthine dialect, "I'm looking for the Gallows. ...the island." A quick correction-- she does not want to see anyone hanged today.
Wildcard!!
[get at me]
waking sea;
The wave of a thick pinky high, toward cliffs shrouded in mist. Here and there, a fleeting glimpse of green. Of stone arches. Something a bit prettier than working harbor.
oh my delivery is here
Squinting, she cranes her neck in the direction he's pointed. "What is it?"
bad news about that
Peaceful and homey, for Surfacer tastes, Andrastian tastes. Vance crawled out from under his rock long enough to know the look of a Sister’s robes.
"Memorial for the Chantry that used to be up there. They'll show you around."
Whoever's meeting her here, in charge of new orders and destinations. There's got to be someone. Nothing big as the Chantry runs on vibes.
no subject
Her enthusiasm is genuine as she leans forward to see better, and one gets the impression this is the first thing she's enjoyed since setting foot on the ship.
"You know it, then? Kirkwall?"
no subject
He shrugs, allows:
"And vise versa." A gesture out to the Gallows, still searching for his firestriker, "That's them out there, in the old Circle."
kirkwall
"What for?" he asks curiously, pocketing his shopping list. Slung across his shoulder is a canvas bag of groceries; beneath it, a harness with a mace strapped to his back. By appearance, he seems to be a fighter of some sort.
"Only certain types seek the Gallows."
no subject
"I'm looking for Riftwatch," Felicity explains, and, noting the glimmer of green on his hand, slowly unfurls hers from the muff to show him.
no subject
"Looks like you're one of those types," he says, offering her a fleeting, lopsided smile and shrug -- very much in a what can you do? type of manner. Jayce cants his head toward the docks. "Name's Jayce. I'm heading back to the Gallows now. Want to tag along?"
no subject
"How long have you been with them?
no subject
A quick glance back to her; a boyish, mischievous grin. "Only one documented case of losing a hand, though."
no subject
"Truly?" she squeaks, "how?"
no subject
So he hopes, anyway. It's certainly how Wysteria had left.
"So," is punctuated with a sigh, as they come to a stop at the docks and Jayce sets down his pack to give his shoulder a break, "if you're not interested in joining Riftwatch for the foreseeable future, then you might have to make some tough decisions."
La mer
Despite that chastisement, though, his manner seems cheerful, almost approving. “Besides, if you’re not more specific with your criticism, they’ll never figure out how to improve it.”
no subject
"My apologies," she replies demurely, eyelashes fluttering as she casts her gaze to the ground, "I don't know how I would improve it."
no subject
no subject
"Yellow," she decides, after some thought, "it needs a Chantry."
no subject
“There are buildings where the Chant is sung. Though none of them are much to look at.”
no subject
"Is the Maker's glory so easily forgotten in Kirkwall?" she asks, quietly.
no subject
no subject
"Of course not," she admits, as if ashamed to have brought it up at all.
wildcard :)
The woman accosting Felicity as she steps through the streets of Kirkwall is distinctively out of place in a fine dress and tailored coat, well-heeled boots that lend her extra inches of height, hair piled slightly haphazardly atop her head and a few stray curls spilling loose. She links their arms together instantly, drawing Felicity to her side. "Years, I think, since I saw you last — play along."
This last bit comes in the form a sharp whisper and tightening up of her arm. Vega's voice rises comfortably again. "How are you?"
no subject
"I've never seen you in my life," she hisses primly, however continuing to walk alongside Vega, "and if you don't let me go at once, I'm going to scream."
no subject
Her ears feel hot. She adds, at the same volume, "Say again?"
Then hisses, "That man back there is following me."
And so shouldn't this stranger want to help her?