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quaranmeme2017-06-19 09:05 pm
riverview: june test drive meme
riverview test drive memeWelcome to Riverview's test drive meme! Feel free to dip your toes in on the test drive meme to try out your character in the setting, play out a mission, and get samples for your application at the same time!
● Reserves are currently OPEN.
● Applications open on July 1st.
● Providing all parties are amenable, threads on the test drive meme can count as game canon, as the plot in the prompts presented is game canon.
● TDM threads do not count for Activity Check, but they do count for Activity Bonus Points, so long as all characters involved are accepted into the game.
● Threading on the TDM is intended for prospective new characters, so top-levels should only be posted by players of these characters. Since the events in the TDM are considered game canon, characters currently in the game are free to use the TDM prompts for logs and posts on the regular communities.
Feel free to use the prompts below or create your own scenario. The setting is built to be flexible, so feel free to make things up as you go.
information resources
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Whether you've just arrived in the city or you've been here a while, and you have a sensitivity to the spiritual, magical, multidimensional, or anything else outside the realm of everyday normal, you've probably noticed a distinct uptick in weird feelings, strange nightmares, or daymares - hallucinations of scary things that are lurking just behind you.
You're not the only one who's noticed it.
There are rumors going around that the psychological and spiritual disturbances are due to the emergence or re-emergence of a deity. Some people say that it's something new that's come through the portal with the sharp increase in new arrivals recently, and others say it's simply an ancient spiritual presence or some ancient incorporeal monster that's been somehow awakened. Gramarye, the top-tier magic research center in Riverview Quarantine, has been studying anyone who's felt this presence, and have recently confirmed that whatever it is, it's being fed by all the extra energies and prayers and thoughts as the city's population increases. The one thing everyone agrees on is that, if the expanding community is feeding the entity, then the entity has got to go! Teams are being assembled across the city to travel into the Abandoned City or the forests outside the walls and look for anything like an abandoned temple that can be destroyed or that contains a relic that can be broken or pacified by a ritual. You're looking for something that will solve the problem, or for other evidence of a way to solve it. The mission might be dangerous, though - there are the usual dangers of venturing out into the wilds, but this time, characters may also face booby traps, spectral or physical guardians, and if the entity itself gets awoken? Someone will have to kill it.
The mission is open to multiple teams, multiple deities can be named (both made up or from characters' various canons), and there can be multiple outcomes. If you complete the mission in a TDM thread, and all characters involved are apped and accepted, you can submit the completed mission thread to the exploration page once you are in the game!
The problems the city is having this month are not just ethereal - there's something a little more scientific stirring up trouble. Recently, a large research company in the Quarantine has been trying to develop a monster repellent to provide to explorers who are traveling outside the walls, in hopes of protecting them from attacks. Unfortunately, the containment unit used to store the repellent - which is still in its experimental stages, not even yet tested on animals, let alone people - completely failed, leaking the experimental repellent into the environment around the facility. This facility is close enough to the wall that the repellent has permeated the groundwater and soil in the area and leeched underneath the fences.
Even more unfortunately, the repellent seems to currently have an almost opposite effect on monsters than its intended purpose. It's attracted the attention of a large colony of carnivorous plants that has thrived just outside the wall for decades, living by attacking fellow monsters that are dumb enough to try the fence in that area. Now, instead of going for other monsters, the plants are drawn to the failed repellent and are climbing the walls in search of the source, craving more of it. Residents have been asked to both help clean up the tainted soil by the wall and to fight the carnivorous plants in that area.
The carnivorous plants are in the form of vines ranging from the thickness of a pinkie finger to nearly half a foot thick, that grow incredibly fast, writhing together to form thicker tendrils. The leaves are about a foot wide at their largest and have stingers around the edge that cause a painful rash, and the flowers are large and red or orange, capable of spitting thick globs of acid that can cause burns ranging from very serious (red) to moderate or mild (orange or yellow-orange). They can be defeated especially well with fire, extremely strong pesticides, and edged weapons - vines do not grow back once they've been cut.
The carnivorous plants aren't the only ones feeling the effects of the spilled experimental repellent. Recently, an intrepid team went on a mission after hearing rumors of a type of monster outside the walls that might be able to be tamed and used as valiant steeds. The team was successful and the possible steeds, which turned out to be Chocobos!
So far, the Chocobos have been comfortably in training, learning how to wear saddles and carry people, but once they get a whiff of the repellent in the air, or gotten a taste of it in their water, they kind of go a little off the wall. Or, over the fence, as the case may be. Highly energized and unwilling to listen, Chocobos who have been exposed to the repellent will get free of their pens and start stampeding around the city. Citizens, it's time to team up to tame the wild Chocobos! Let the wark games begin!
The local wildlife aren't the only ones affected by the experimental repellent spill. While at first they didn't think it had any effect on sentients, they're having to start reevaluating that particular theory, because residents are definitely feeling it. Whether they're inhaling it in a gust of wind that smells disturbingly of ozone, or sipping a glass filled from a tap in the area of the spill and tasting something like chlorine, it's getting into residents' systems.
Once ingested or inhaled, the repellent can have two effects on an affected character: an overaffectionate mood, or an anti-social mood. The effects can vary in type, swinging from affectionate to cranky and back again at the drop of a hat, and they can also vary in intensity and manifestation - it all depends on body chemistry, both within an affected character, and in the interactions between two characters. So whether or not your characters liked or disliked each other beforehand, maybe their chemistries are very compatible or not compatible at all, and feelings might be a little...out of the ordinary.
Affectionate moods can range anywhere from a casual 'I love you man' to romantic or even carnal ideation; anti-social ones can range from being nervous around crowds or other people to being outright aggressive with other people. The repellent does not remove inhibitions and characters are able to control themselves. Emotions might be heightened, but these effects should not be used to facilitate things that would normally be completely out of character. Please put content warnings in subject lines.
Whether your character is posting up a silly word game to distract people from the dangerous mission going on, trying to get hold of a friend, or putting out feelers for people to go out into the fray with, the network is going strong.
Alternately, an offer for a free app is popping up on new arrivals' devices - Friendr is a friend-finder and/or dating app. If characters choose to install it, they will fill out a short bio and parameters for what they're looking for, upload a snap of themselves, and then proceed to browse for matches. This is a typical swipe-left-or-right type app.
Friendr base code is by photosynthesis.
The code in the textbox is for the default color scheme, but the Friendr app has a wide variety of themes, so feel free to customize with colors and patterns as you see fit, but do not remove the credit line out of respect for the creator of the code.
Choose your own adventure and do something else in the setting!
Regene Regetta | Gundam 00
[Those who have met Tieria Erde need not adjust their set - they are, in fact, seeing a near-perfect duplicate of him trudge through the thick greenery outside the city, his shorter and much wavier hair plastered to his skin with the humidity, glasses long since deserted in a front pocket of his shirt because they kept blurring with fog and sweat. Not only was Regene not made for physical exertion like this, but the climate doesn't agree with him at all, not compared to the sterile cool of spaceships or the fresh coastal air near the Innovator home base.
He's mostly been spurred on to join one of the exploration teams by a blend of boredom and curiosity. Deities as he knows of them, through the vast knowledge offered by Veda, have historically been the creation of restless humans seeking explanation for things beyond their comprehension; if there are real ones here, he definitely wants to see the evidence for himself. Besides, he's always had such a craving to stick his nose into anything deemed secret or off-limits that he thinks it must be a trait of his particular DNA sequence, and this counts on many levels.
The mental stimulation has not proven enough to offset the physical discomfort so far, though, and Regene is dangerously close to wishing the others on his team luck and heading back toward the city when he notices something distinctly unnatural carved into the trunk of a tree beside him. His eyes flash a vivid gold shot through with bright, shifting veins of colour before dimming back to red as he huffs with frustration - he keeps doing that, even though he should've gotten used to Veda being well beyond his mental reach at this point.]
I may have something here. [Waving another member of his team over, he indicates the intricate pattern carved deep into the bark with a gesture.] It's not random enough to be naturally occurring; besides which, it's clearly meant to be seen. If there are others nearby, they could direct us to something more useful.
2. wark games
[Lucky Regene! He was just being taught how to ride a chocobo - because why not, he'd rather not be on his feet if he ever has to tackle those woods outside the city - when it caught a good beakful of the repellent on someone nearby and lost its fool mind.
After a good, long run through the city, during which Regene was only just able to keep seated rather than flying headlong into a building, his steed finally decides that it wants to make a true bid for freedom and decides it'll need to shed some excess weight first: namely, Regene's, which results in him being violently bucked off before the chocobo hightails it for freer pastures.
Regene just lies on his back for a long moment, staring up at the sky with 'why me?' exhaustion, before letting out a pained groan and speaking archly to the area at large:] If you don't mind, I could use a hand up here.
3. friendr
» Seeking: Excitement. Trouble. Failing that, friends.
» Preferences: Sapiosexual
» Interests: Research, space travel, quantum computing.
» Bio: Best looking and least insane of the Innovators, who live to ensure the best possible future for humankind. But you can just call me Regene.
1.
That's where the similarities between the two end, however.
She has personal experience with gods. She was brought to life, in part, by one, and acted as a pawn in its machinations for most of her existence. Her newly born child, additionally, could be considered a god by some.
And unlike Regene, The Doll seems to keep such information to herself. Not maliciously, but because she's seen what happens to humans who have seen and know too much. Such knowledge can be a curse.
Nevertheless, she joined this expedition. Not to obstruct it, but rather in the hopes of soothing any of the party who learn more than they're able to handle. ]
So you have, Good Hunter.
[Her voice is soft, and as she comments on Regene's observation, her lips don't move. ]
But why would it leave such a symbol to be found? Does it expect us to worship it, when we find it?
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Familiarity in the wrong context can be so much worse than a total mystery, he thinks, fingertips playing over the mark.]
That depends entirely on what it means. [Regene tends to speak with a lofty sort of distance in his voice, as though he's humoring his company and might be about to stop wasting his time.] This could be a "keep out" sign as easily as a trail marker. Or something more complex if we're dealing with an actual language rather than just a sigil. Whatever the case, as long as it means something, it'll also mean we might not be chasing our own tails after all.
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In any case, she listens to Regeneas he speaks. His lofty tone of superiority isn't something that bothers her, largely because she actually considers him to be superior to her.]
I see.
[She sort of doubts it's just a keep out sign. A Great One (or, at least, one powerful enough to be a threat) would have less mundane and more effective means of stopping those who might bother it.
It does bring forth another question, though.]
...who would have left such a symbol to be found? Do you suspect that it is already awake?
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Which do you think would be the worse answer for us: the deity itself, or a cult of its followers?
[There's no right answer in his mind, because both come with their own unique and equally severe problems, but her choice and the reasoning behind it will say a lot about what breeds unconditional trust in her mind and what breeds doubt. As it happens, that's of enough interest to Regene that he'll set aside their search for long enough to find out.
He's built for information gathering, yes, but he's also insatiably nosy when it comes to the inner workings of any mind unlike his own.]
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[Not exactly a straight answer, but it's the only one he's getting. She was built and shaped in part by a Great One - it makes sense that another might be able to reshape her.
And human psyches are fragile things. The rest of their search party could easily end up insane or enslaved to this entity if they are ill-prepared when they approach it. ]
At least if there is a cult, it may yet still slumber.
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You don't seem like the type, any more than I am. But that just leaves us to protect the rest, doesn't it? [With a sigh full of playful drama, he lets his hand fall from the tree trunk and casts a quick glance around for any other similar marks.] Nothing in this forest has spoken to us until now. Whatever it's saying, whoever's voice it may be using, there's something that wants to be heard.
[He arches a brow at the Doll, tilting his head and gesturing forward with one hand: shall we continue? the gesture asks, a bit saucily.]
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[She says simply. Honestly she doesn't think anyone in their group has the fortitude to take on the kind of a god, but she doesn't tell him as much. Rather, she just moves on to the topic at hand.]
It wishes to be heard, I agree. We should be careful whether we choose to listen.
[She agrees that they have to move forward, though, and she walks along with him as he gestures ahead. ]
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Only Regene seems to possess the capacity for nuanced processes like critical thought and doubt - along with his twin, he'd wager, but he can't be sure of that just yet. Even if the Doll is nothing at all like himself or Innovators in general, he still thinks she's probably ahead of the game with the amount of self-awareness she's shown so far.]
There must be benevolent gods, surely. If they were all vengeful, why would anyone ever follow one? Where would the precedent have come from? [As he walks and talks, apparently just making idle conversation with his probing questions, he keeps scanning the area carefully.]
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friendr
something tells me there's plenty of trouble and excitement to go around, place like this.
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Can I assume you're the latter, given that you responded?
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Well, regardless, you still sound more than qualified. And as new here as I am, if only something tells you rather than experience, is that right?
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you got me. only just arrived yesterday. still getting my footing, sort of.
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That said, I'm just getting my footing as well, so obviously shaking up the foundations at this point would be a mistake for everyone involved.
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but what you're talking about sounds suspiciously more like "anarchy." and that's not always a good thing.
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All I would ask of others is that they keep an open mind with regard to those rules and those orders, because otherwise the act of following can become more important than the reasons behind it, and no one is in a position to notice if they start to change in subtle ways.
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Chocobos, ofc
At such speed and distance, it looked like Tieria on the bird’s back. It’s almost funny to imagine his comrade in such a situation. He really couldn’t see it happen, but… Humour fell away and concern moved in to take its place as the rider was thrown.
Upon getting closer, Lockon’s not so sure this was Tieria after all. Oh, sure, they may look the same, but there’s more of an edge to the expression and the style of the hair wasn’t what Tieria ever wore. Twins, maybe? Lockon knew a little something about the resentment twins can feel when they’re mistaken for each other, so he errs on the side of caution as he holds out a hand to help the rider up. ]
Are you hurt?
O F C
... again. For the second time in one day. With all the people in all the different worlds and universes who could possibly come here, what were the odds of this happening? There are certainly a lot of blessings to count about this situation, chief among them being that it's not Ribbons Almark and Hiling Care instead of the Dylandy brothers, but that does nothing to blunt his surprise.]
Nothing serious. Can you see a pair of rimless glasses anywhere nearby? [Playing "I can't see a thing without my glasses" when he doesn't actually need them is cheap, but it's all he can think of to explain his long, stunned stare. Thank goodness they were knocked off his face at all, because he needs the extra time looking for them will give him to think this through.]
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An unnatural glint about a meter away catches his eye. He’ll be surprised if such delicate glasses survived intact. ]
I think I see them. Don’t run off on me.
[ That last part’s friendly, a little teasing.
They are, in fact, the missing glasses, and still in once piece, though a little banged up. He holds them out to Regene with an apologetic look on his face. ]
The managed to survive.
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This, Regene thinks, is a more likely target for Tieria's devotion.]
I can still see slightly better through them, so it's not a total loss. [An easy but blatant lie, if Lockon noticed the lack of distortion through the lenses. Regardless, glasses back on his face, he offers Lockon a smile.] Thank you - and - we met earlier, didn't we?
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Lockon blinks at the question, canting his head before he shakes it to indicate the negative. ]
I don’t think so. I’m sure I’d remember if we had. You look a lot like someone I know.
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Someone with longer, sleek hair? A glare that really could kill?
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He nods once, an expectant sort of look in his eyes as if there’s a question hovering that he dare not ask. ]
You know him? I thought you were him at first. You could be brothers.
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[He honestly can't help sowing further seeds of curiosity with through my work since he knows damn well that it's the same work as Lockon's, but he does feel loyal enough to Tieria that he won't reveal anything without first knowing how much Tieria has already revealed. None of their secrets are his to share with someone who meant so much to his twin.]
Regene Regetta. [Brushing any last bits of gravel stuck to his hand off on the front of his pants, he finally offers a hand to Lockon.]
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