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allthisshitisweird2025-01-11 07:11 pm
faderifting) wrote in allthisshitisweird2025-01-11 07:11 pm
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TEST DRIVE 9:51
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 now 9:51, and the war continues, with Corypheus and his cult of Venatori openly ruling a Tevinter. An enemy force has decimated several Marcher Cities, while the Chantry and the Inquisition have marshaled Orlais and the faithful of Southern Thedas into an Exalted March against the army of demon-bound Wardens, Red Templars, Venatori loyalists, and darkspawn Corypheus has amassed and now begun to encroach on Tevinter territory. Rifts are still scattered across the continent, periodically spitting out strangers from strange worlds with green-glowing anchors embedded in their hands, and of late the Veil that separates the physical world from the Fade seems to be wearing thinner and thinner. There's no Herald of Andraste to save Thedas. Someone else is going to have to do it.
You're part of an organization, dubbed Riftwatch, that 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 in Kirkwall, on 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.
I. THE FREE MARCHES: Starkhaven remains under Tevinter control meaning traveling anywhere north of the mountains runs the risk of running into enemy raiding parties. Maybe you've been sent out to intercept before they find the unwary, or maybe you're just trying to pass through unnoticed to Markham or Ansburg when you run into trouble. Or maybe you're more in the thick of it: slipping your way into also-occupied Hasmal to gather intelligence, or helping an ally smuggle a shipment downriver past Tevinter patrols.
II. GATE SEARCH: Invading big chunks of the world is really just a side project for Corypheus; secretly his real goal involves finding and cracking open the Seven Gates of the Black City, mysterious ancient ritual sites that may let him physically enter the Fade—and he's already managed at least two. Maybe you're wading through the marshes of the Korcari Wilds or the sands of the Western Approach, racing a Venatori team to a rumored temple site that might hold a Gate, maybe you're infiltrating a black market auction in Wycome or Antiva City to try to prevent an enemy agent from acquiring an Old God artifact that could be used in a Gate-opening ritual, or maybe you're dodging traps and solving puzzles in an ancient ruin in search of such an artifact yourselves.
III. TATTERING VEIL: Across Thedas, the Veil that separates the Fade and the Crossroads from the real world (and from each other) is thinning. Riftwatch knows this is almost certainly caused by the Gates Corypheus and his Venatori followers have been opening, but the rest of Thedas just knows there are strange pockets appearing where you can take a turn that yesterday led into an alley in Minrathous and today opens on an island in the Crossroads, at least for a few yards before you step back into a gutter again. It might feel like a moment, but it could have lasted an hour. Or you might step into a grove of trees in the Planasene Forest and find yourself looking up at the Black City on the horizon of a Fade-green sky, with the tops of the trees hanging impossibly above your heads as if gravity has momentarily reversed, just in that spot.
IV. 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.) Attacks by Corypheus' forces have left the city scarred, with some streets still under reconstruction and a gash in the cliffs over Lowtown leaving parts of the mining tunnels occupied by the city's poorest citizens exposed (letting some rare light into Darktown). But it's Kirkwall. They've seen worse.
V. 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.
VI. 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.
NOTE | Hi! If you're new here, our test drive memes are semi-static; we post them yearly or so, and current players track for new top levels and link them on the game discord as they come in. So if you're arriving at this months after it was posted, yes, it is still in use! And if you're here with a Veilguard character or with a mind to play a native OC inspired by Veilguard lore, please refer to this post for notes on what may need to be adjusted to take into account Fade Rift's game history.
While in some alternate, tidier timeline, the War against the Elder One ended years ago, you're not in that timeline. It's now 9:51, and the war continues, with Corypheus and his cult of Venatori openly ruling a Tevinter. An enemy force has decimated several Marcher Cities, while the Chantry and the Inquisition have marshaled Orlais and the faithful of Southern Thedas into an Exalted March against the army of demon-bound Wardens, Red Templars, Venatori loyalists, and darkspawn Corypheus has amassed and now begun to encroach on Tevinter territory. Rifts are still scattered across the continent, periodically spitting out strangers from strange worlds with green-glowing anchors embedded in their hands, and of late the Veil that separates the physical world from the Fade seems to be wearing thinner and thinner. There's no Herald of Andraste to save Thedas. Someone else is going to have to do it.
You're part of an organization, dubbed Riftwatch, that 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 in Kirkwall, on 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.
I. THE FREE MARCHES: Starkhaven remains under Tevinter control meaning traveling anywhere north of the mountains runs the risk of running into enemy raiding parties. Maybe you've been sent out to intercept before they find the unwary, or maybe you're just trying to pass through unnoticed to Markham or Ansburg when you run into trouble. Or maybe you're more in the thick of it: slipping your way into also-occupied Hasmal to gather intelligence, or helping an ally smuggle a shipment downriver past Tevinter patrols.
II. GATE SEARCH: Invading big chunks of the world is really just a side project for Corypheus; secretly his real goal involves finding and cracking open the Seven Gates of the Black City, mysterious ancient ritual sites that may let him physically enter the Fade—and he's already managed at least two. Maybe you're wading through the marshes of the Korcari Wilds or the sands of the Western Approach, racing a Venatori team to a rumored temple site that might hold a Gate, maybe you're infiltrating a black market auction in Wycome or Antiva City to try to prevent an enemy agent from acquiring an Old God artifact that could be used in a Gate-opening ritual, or maybe you're dodging traps and solving puzzles in an ancient ruin in search of such an artifact yourselves.
III. TATTERING VEIL: Across Thedas, the Veil that separates the Fade and the Crossroads from the real world (and from each other) is thinning. Riftwatch knows this is almost certainly caused by the Gates Corypheus and his Venatori followers have been opening, but the rest of Thedas just knows there are strange pockets appearing where you can take a turn that yesterday led into an alley in Minrathous and today opens on an island in the Crossroads, at least for a few yards before you step back into a gutter again. It might feel like a moment, but it could have lasted an hour. Or you might step into a grove of trees in the Planasene Forest and find yourself looking up at the Black City on the horizon of a Fade-green sky, with the tops of the trees hanging impossibly above your heads as if gravity has momentarily reversed, just in that spot.
IV. 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.) Attacks by Corypheus' forces have left the city scarred, with some streets still under reconstruction and a gash in the cliffs over Lowtown leaving parts of the mining tunnels occupied by the city's poorest citizens exposed (letting some rare light into Darktown). But it's Kirkwall. They've seen worse.
V. 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.
VI. 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.
NOTE | Hi! If you're new here, our test drive memes are semi-static; we post them yearly or so, and current players track for new top levels and link them on the game discord as they come in. So if you're arriving at this months after it was posted, yes, it is still in use! And if you're here with a Veilguard character or with a mind to play a native OC inspired by Veilguard lore, please refer to this post for notes on what may need to be adjusted to take into account Fade Rift's game history.
i.
But he does work with Riftwatch, if not strictly for them, and he hesitates. Dark eyes flicker to look across the water back to Kirkwall proper where a tall Chantry most pointedly doesn’t tower over the city anymore, and his mouth twists slightly. He’s not a Kirkwall native, but he’s made it a point of learning the city in which he now lives, its nooks and crannies and shortcuts and ugly history and, yes, the memorial garden the Inqusition had helped build.
“You’re about seven years late,” the stranger says, mild, “but I can take you there, yes.”
There’s a noticeable accent: something halfway between Tevene and Antivan, the blurring sound of someone who grew up near the border, perhaps.
no subject
But he was warned that Riftwatch accepts all types. Anyone invested in defeating Corypheus can join and be welcome, and Connor is here merely as a guest. He doesn't get to turn his nose up at the organization's recruiting practices.
(Not until he's returned to Madame de Fer and Montsimmard, at least.)
"Late?" he asks, quick enough to cover his momentary disquiet. His own accent is noticeably Fereldan, with just a hint of Orlesian flowering up his syllables—he's spent a lot of time there in the last few years, or else had an Orlesian close to him as a child, or both. "Have they torn down the memorial?"
no subject
It’s not proper criticism; there’s humour lurking in the corner of the man’s mouth, a rueful twist to his expression. But he gestures to the ferry and leads the way back onto it, boots crunching down the rocky shore. “I needed to go shopping at the market anyway, it’s not out of my way. Why would you come to the Gallows to ask for directions?”
His tone is light, affable. (And still prying for information.)
no subject
"There's been a bit going on in that decade," he says slowly, "I'm not sure if you noticed."
War does tend to get in the way of religious pilgrimage, unfortunately. Despite the dry judgment in the comment, it can't carry as much sting as he'd like it to—honestly, Connor doesn't really know why he's here, or why he decided to ask about the memorial first, before even introducing himself to Riftwatch's leaders, before getting a room or directions to an inn or a bath. He can't blame this man for questioning it when he's doing the same himself.
"I hadn't decided yet whether I was really going to go," he admits, and follows the Vint back onto the ferry. "But if you're going that direction anyway, maybe this is the Maker's will."
no subject
It sounds, on the surface, enough like mild agreement about the Maker. It’s a fairly short ride back on the ferry for them, salt-scented sea-breezes ruffling their hair, not a lot of people headed either way today — it’s a surprisingly cold spring morning — and the Vint doesn’t seem disposed to introduce himself, or to offer up more information than strictly necessary.
What he does say, though, to cut the silence as they step off again in Lowtown harbor: “Watch out for the urchins. They’d have taken a copper to show you the way, then probably still pick your pocket after.”
no subject
"Flames and pyre," he laughs with just a tinge, a smidgeon of hysteria, "Why not, why fucking not lose all the Enchanter's money on my first day in the city."
He barely even sounds angry; if anything, this is all very darkly hilarious.
no subject
“How much were you carrying?” the stranger asks. He’d been on the verge of finally introducing himself, and it had only been a genuine bit of advice for someone who looked like he maybe wasn’t familiar with a big city’s eccentricities.
But now the kid’s scampering off down the street with Connor’s money, bare feet running pell-mell down the dirty stones, and Cassian watches the small figure disappear around the corner. He shakes his head.
“Don’t tell me that was all your gold.”
You stitch it into hidden pockets and stash it in your boot, c’mon, this is beginner stuff —