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TDM: January
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aefenglom's test drive! All threads can be considered game canon, should you choose to do so; regardless of if you pick specific threads to remain canon to the game, the prompts and test drive itself will be. This will be touched on later in-game, so it's fairly important to note! Aside from that, here are some quick reminders:• Reserves Open Today! If you're interested in securing a spot, put one in! We accept applications without reserves too, of course. Reserves will expire three days before the end of the application period, on the 28th.With that taken care of...
• Applications Open The 24th! These will last until the end of the month, the 31st, with the intro log going up on February 1st. The application page can be found here. As a reminder, this will be our last uncapped application round!
• If you have any questions about the game or the world, please refer to the FAQ page; if you still have questions, feel free to ask them! For questions specific to the test drive, please ask them on the appropriate thread.
• For the purposes of the test drive, your character will have access to all magics taught by the Coven if they're a Witch, and as much of their shifted form as you'd like if they're a Monster. Feel free to play around and experiment with each!
• Test drive threads can be used as samples for your applications!
You feel like you're floating. Around you, colors and sounds and smells swirl as if trapped in a whirlpool, vibrancy and hue ever shifting. The more you watch them, the less solid they are; they only become clear out of the corner of your eye. The area around you begins to feel more solid as well, until your feet are on the ground, the wind brushes playfully against your face -
and you know one thing, and one thing alone: this is a dream, and an incredibly realistic one at that.
The Prehistoric Wilde
Thick summer heat hangs heavy over the uninfected landscape like a damp blanket, smothering. The jungle around you is thick and wet, full of the sounds of chittering animals and the high-pitched drone of insects. The flora and fauna are like nothing you've ever seen before, large and alien in colors and shapes, though they bear no signs of the Cwyld. Flowers the size of a man's head and brightly colored in rainbow hues curl their tendrils invitingly, and giant mosquitoes buzz through the air seeking a meal. You can barely see the glow of the twin moons through the thick canopy above. There are no signs of civilization - at least, not the civilization most will be used to; only the distant sound of the river, compelling you to follow its winding path. But will you go forward, or will you go back?
 Rumble in the Jungle Making headway through the jungle at night is a chore. The foliage grows thick and the humid heat is oppressive for even those who enjoy the warmth. There are no clear paths here, no easy way through. The canopy of the ancient trees far, far over your head is just as dense, but the faintest moonlight filters through the holes left by the huge leaves in stippling patterns across the musty forest floor. 'Large' seems to be the theme - lining whatever path you pick your way through, there are pitcher plants massive enough to swallow a grown man, with small animals and giant insects being digested down inside the sticky liquid that fills them. The flowers are as big as a man's head, and come in a rainbow of colors, their venomous tendrils curling toward signs of life. The trunks of some of the trees are as thick as houses, and shade the ground beneath them with leaves like umbrellas. The hand-sized mosquitoes thrive in the sticky heat and if not killed first, can make off with a full pint of blood from an unsuspecting person. At some point in your journey, the ground begins to rumble beneath your feet. The farther you go, the longer you walk, the more signs of life become visible: thick, winding trails of crushed foliage, huge, animalistic footprints in the mud. Luckily, to this world, you are small and insignificant, and may escape the notice of the local Monsters - the massive, prehistoric ancestors of today's Monsters. They seem like giants, colossal Titanoboa Nagas with hollow fangs like swords, towering Fauns with the lower halves of mammoths, sabertooth Turnskins, pterodactyl Harpies with leathery wings. Even the parts of them that resemble humans (and they have far fewer human-like parts than their modern counterparts) are larger than any actual human being. They operate primarily on instinct, made even stronger by the full moons above, and perceive the strange new creatures as threats - or food. Sticking to the river seems safest - at least until you run into megalodon Merrow, singing an alien, but alluring, song to draw in prey, or the apex predator of this prehistoric world - Dragons, bigger and scalier than the ones Mirrorbound may know, stopped to drink at the river. All other Monsters flee from the huge reptiles, lest they become food themselves. Luckily you can defend yourself with your new abilities, or your neat changes - you're small, but not totally helpless. Interesting to note... while all other Monster types are represented, there are no Fae or Chimeras in the Wilde here, and the Vampires are more like huge bat-monsters that traverse the jungle on all fours than humanoid bloodsuckers. |
 The Natives Going backward, away from the distant sounds of the sea and against the current of the river, leads you through dense jungle. How long have you traversed the landscape? Hours? Days? Time passes funny in dreams. Eventually the trees thin out, grow taller and less leafy, and the air becomes drier. Instead of loamy soil beneath your feet, you start to feel rocky, harder earth, and spot outcroppings of stone. The sun begins to rise, which makes it easier to spot people on the horizon, a little settlement coming to life in the morning, nestled where the river forks into two. They're much hardier than the familiar people of Aefenglom, sunburned and dressed in natural, rough fabrics. Their homes, if one can call them that, are shoddy little structures made of sticks and leaves and mud, pressed up against the sturdiness of the stone formations. And, when they spot strangers approaching their village, they scramble for their weapons - crude clubs, stone axes, even just large rocks snatched up off the ground. The translation magic works on them, thankfully. Their speech is halted and simple, but they get their point across. Tell them who you are, or they'll beat your brains in. Monsters might get their brains beat in anyway if they aren't careful, even though they're much smaller than the Monsters these humans are used to. And Witches? May the gods help you if you use magic in front of these terrified, unevolved people, lest they mistake you for a Fae (the word is whispered with fear and revulsion in their voices) and swarm you with simple iron tools. If you're an actual Fae, an obvious Fae? They'll whisk their children into their huts protectively and then run you right out of the village. Violently. The truly observant, or those who can see through illusions, among you may notice something strange, though. Some Fae actually seem to live among them, heavily cloaked in natural illusions, with the primitive humans none the wiser. There are just a few, but all of them look young, twelve or thirteen at the oldest, and they are all scared of their secret coming to light. Fae who get caught tend to be burned at the stake around here. |
 The Invaders Perhaps you chose to go forward, with the current and toward the distant sound of ocean waves, where the river pours into the sea. More long-time residents of Aefenglom may notice that the shoreline is familiarly-shaped, but wider, bigger, not yet worn down by thousands of years of erosion. There is no bustling Harbor, only the waves crashing on the rocks, small islands dotting the water near the shore. There is no Bright Wall - there is no city, even, only an expanse of beach transitioning gently into an idyllic grove dotted with gauzy, pointed tents, and a beautiful, gilded ship half sunk into the sandy earth. It seems safer than the jungle, at first - until you notice all the Fae. They're more insectoid than the ones many are familiar with, with big, glittering eyes and either bright, jewel-toned wings like dragonflies or butterflies, or delicate, leafy wings in greens and browns. They're also taller than modern, lesser Fae, though not by much, and they're thin and angular, standing on spindly limbs that barely seem able to hold them. Characters receive a warmer welcome here, by the band of true Fae that have made their camp in the grove, though the alien-looking beings have a tendency to treat them like toys, children, or both, cooing over their sizes and their magic. "Look at the little Monsters! Aren't they cute!" "We should make some of our own! And oh, the little humans have magic! Delightful!" It's hard to have a conversation with one - they're condescending at best, and at worst, flit off to another entertainment out of boredom while you're mid-sentence. And entertainments abound in their camp. They're served and tended to like emperors by collared humans - adults and young adults do the heavy labor, including pulling grand little chariots for transportation, though there are some highly-supervised human children running about fetching drinks and fanning their Fae masters with palm leaves. Farther out, a large, deep pit has been dug out of the earth, ringed by a waist-high barrier of logs, a few Fae gathering at the barrier and leaning over, talking in conversational, happy voices. Down below, Chimera gladiators fight for their amusement, while the Fae keep up running commentary, discussing each warrior's chances, new breeding prospects, interesting crossbreeds their fellows have come up with ("She's trying an Arachne and a Turnskin together, how delightful!"). Trying to disrupt the proceedings will only result in the Fae turning their magic on you - illusions and curses, nasty little tricks. Sit down, silly little ones! The fight is just getting good! Or maybe... Maybe they'll toss you into the pit to see what your chances are in battle. |
no subject
I'm afraid I have no idea where we are.
[ So he certainly doesn't have any concrete plans for rebellion. ]
I wasn't even somewhere slightly similar to this place. The sights here are the sort of thing you'd only see in stories where I'm from.
no subject
[ just an educated guess since akechi looks pretty human and all, and the name sounds like it could be japanese. ]
Because if that's the case, then yeah, that's what I thought too. But being in space showed me that a lot of those things aren't just fairytales after all.
[ aliens are real!! ]
Pretty crazy, right?
no subject
[ Lance's guess is on the mark. Akechi is definitely human, and even a mostly normal one. He's a little startled to hear that Lance also seems to be from earth, however.
Then again, he's also been to space - far enough out that this sort of sight isn't that odd to him. So who is Akechi to be skeptical of his weird webbed hands? Maybe other planets aren't the only weird things in the future. ]
But... you've been to space? The other solar systems?
[ He tries to not sound too interested, but he's pretty interested. That's so cool...! ]
no subject
[ he appreciates akechi's interest! it's honestly a nice break from worrying about the people here; it's been a long day, so he's more than happy to chat about space while there's time to. ]
Man...there's so much earth hasn't seen yet.
[ he looks down at his hands. he sounds nostalgic. when he glances at his fingers though, he realizes how that must look to someone from earth, so he quickly kinda just...puts his hands behind his back. ]
D-Don't mind the hands, by the way! They've been like that since I got here. I'm one hundred-percent human, promise!
no subject
Webbed fingers are hardly the strangest thing I've seen since arriving. I'm not surprised they're a new addition.
[ There's even that weird magic he has access to but hasn't really tinkered with. ]
We've achieved space travel in my time, and there's constant talks of a mission to Mars. Nothing even close to what you're describing, though.
no subject
Whoa, whoa, hold up. Are you saying you're from the past or something?
[ is this some weird time paradox? goodness, the things his brain likes to come up with, assuming this is a dream... he still sounds suspicious, though. ]
Cuz we discovered Mars a loooong time ago. Not too long ago we were sending people to Pluto! ... Well, Kerberos, which is a satellite of Pluto, but you get the idea.
no subject
[ He sounds a little humored as he speaks, like he's already well aware of the answer. He realizes he should be more bothered, but a time paradox is downright normal compared to some of the things he's seen so far. ]
A manned mission that far out is still purely in the realm of science fiction, for us. Voyager I and New Horizons only recently passed Pluto.
no subject
[ he does sound pretty surprised about it, too. he's never experienced a time paradox before, though he should probably expect it, being a space explorer and whatnot. he hasn't even experienced alternate realities before, either -- but that'll come in time. right now he's more amazed that he's meeting (dreaming of?) someone from that far away. ]
I remember learning about this in history class. I don't remember the details, but those names ring a bell -- so I guess this means...hi from the future?
[ weird. ]
no subject
[ Isn't he hilarious? ]
I'd say such a low-tech place must be especially jarring for you, but I can't only imagine all the different places you've traveled.
no subject
Nah, I've been to other places like this before. It's --
[ before he can finish, though, a fae being escorted out of the tent giggles as she walks past the two of them. she stops in front of them and turns around, a human child fanning her under the hot sun. ]
"Would you like to join us? Our tent is heading to the pit for more entertainment. I'm sure the two of you would enjoy it very much, so what do you say?"
[ lance blinks at the fae, and then turns to look at akechi. ] ...Uh, do you know what's at the pit?
no subject
There's only one way to find out. We might learn something helpful.
[ He'd rather leave no stone unturned, but he also doesn't fancy the idea of guilelessly following this Fae who knows where. Better to have company that, if not trustworthy, at least isn't definitely untrustworthy. ]
no subject
[ lance is doing his best to tell himself this is all just a dream, now, because he doesn't feel good about this. but! it's all just a dream, right? so he won't actually get hurt, should anything happen.
probably.
he'll look back towards akechi and gesture his head towards the fae. let's go. there's a little bit of a walk to get there, though. ]
Just be ready to fight for your life if things get ugly.
no subject
[ Still, it's reassuring to hear that. Any sort of explorer should be able to handle themselves in a dicey situation, but the confirmation that Lance is at least a little combat-minded comes as a reassurance.
Akechi falls mostly silent as they walk, responding when spoken to but otherwise keeping an eye on their surroundings and making no effort to pull ahead of or fall behind Lance. Fortunately, their Fae escort no longer seems interested in teasing, speaking to, or otherwise acknowledging them, which makes the walk a little more palatable.
The crowd thins as they leave in the main Fae encampment, only to grow thicker again as they draw closer to their destination. Shouts and excited cheers from the Fae start to become louder and more distinct, and after catching a few pieces of commentary Akechi drifts a little closer to Lance. ]
I don't think we're about to walk into a very pleasant scene.
no subject
when they do get closer to the pit, lance's brow furrows. this isn't good, and akechi's right. ]
Nope. I don't think so either.
[ and once they finally get there, lance can see two chimera standing in the pit. they look miserable, worn and beaten, and lance's expression drops. ]
Not good. Not good at all.
no subject
Well, I don't suppose we should have expected much else.
[ He passes a glance to their Fae escort. She seems to have forgotten them, but... well, while Akechi might not know much about these things, or even about fae folklore from his world, he's not sure if wants to test what effect declining her 'kindness' will have on her temper. So while he tries to think of a way to excuse themselves, he doesn't think it's safe to seem totally disinterested. Still addressing Lance, he adds: ]
I don't recall seeing any creatures like those two in the forest...