Welcome to Ryslig's test drive meme! If you're considering apping here, this is where you can try your characters out in the game's setting. A few things to note:
You can only app ONE character per round so choose wisely.
We now have a Quick Game Facts that simplifies the basic information about the game. Good if you want to see what the game is at a glance!
Lots of people have asked good questions on the FAQ, so do take a look.
The reserve date has been announced (it was changed to the 30th to allow a maximum number of people compared to a Friday).
Test drive meme threads can be used for your roleplay sample!
NEW! Players with characters already in the game can earn up to a maximum of 3 coins by replying to potential character threads! You will need to have your normal 20 comment AC in the game. You cannot use this to go over the bonus 10 coins per month total, but you can use it if you are missing some threads to reach that coin total. Same rules as normal bonuses apply.
Sample scenarios:
SCENARIO ONE: So you've just arrived, fresh out of the hospital, and already the natives are trying to get on your good side. Offers of food, shelter and other luxuries in return for hoping you don't eat them. They even have some helpful pamphlets to share with you. "How To Deal With Changes", "Alternatives to Human Flesh", "What to Expect When You're Expecting (to turn into a monster)" are all great pamphlets. There's even some detailing certain monsters, and the changes they go through.
Among these however, are some... not so helpful ones. "Bunnyipyips And You", "Axe Thief Axehounds," and "So you're becoming a Fur Bearing Trout" among others.
SCENARIO TWO: You've become hopelessly lost in Lager Woods. Paths don't seem to lead where you remember them leading, and you feel as if you're going around in circles. Childlike giggling can be heard from no direction in particular. Suddenly, you stumble upon another character, who seems to be just as lost as you! Perhaps you can find a way out together. Or maybe they want you for lunch...
SCENARIO THREE: You've heard about the fog, but you've never seen it before. Now, the mist surrounds you. Barely able to see before you, you need to get home - and fast. It's far too dangerous in this situation.
SCENARIO FOUR: The time has come and you've found yourself becoming a monster. Is the change instant, or gradual? Are you familiar enough with monsters to know what's happening, or is it a complete shock? NOTE: Feel free to pick any monster type for this prompt, but note that you may not get the same one in game.
"Well, I see they have a solid concept of correct blame placement."
He didn't even try to hide the sarcasm. This was starting to sound like some sort of cliche horror movie. And as much as he enjoyed watching those, they weren't exactly his model for rational behavior.
"But the...sensationalism is why I was hoping to meet someone who's already undergone their changes. A firsthand account is always preferable to a secondhand one...or possibly even thirdhand, given the locals' behavior."
He shifts with an uncomfortable quiet rumble. "The Fog God's idea of a 'backlash' was sending anyone who'd volunteered for the 'cure' attempt berserk; not many thought to get clear of the camp before they lost control." It wasn't completely insane logic to think of them as dangerous...
But he wasn't exactly wrong about the blame placement.
And he much preferred sorting out what was going on now to rehashing that, particularly when there were still some healing chemical burns and mottled dark scars forming on his wings and back. "That's why some of us come every time new groups wash up. You have about a month before the changes start, but the sooner there's warning, the easier some of it is to deal with."
As uncomfortable as it made Kain, it was interesting news to David. Some force, likely on par with the Children of Oberon, was actively opposing attempts to find a cure. That would be an important detail to keep in mind.
"And I take it interacting with the locals will be even more difficult once that happens. Is there any way of predicting what a given person will become?"
He made an uncertain noise, waggling a hand uncertainly. "It depends. Bavan, the bigger city inland, is less afraid of us even after recent events - there's some there that are still fascinated by it."
Which is an understatement that probably should've been a warning, since "less afraid" could go the way of hostility, or the way of fetishizing and annoying levels of attention. "What people become is unpredictable - sometimes it seems to follow personality or existing affinities, sometimes it doesn't seem to make much sense at all. I'd had a close relationship with dragons in my world, but I've seen others where it seemed random."
"I can see why some would be fascinated. This infection seems to cause some truly remarkable changes. I might have to pay a visit. If nothing else, a larger city might have better accommodations and technology."
It was a true shame his personal biologist wasn't here. He was curious, not just about ways to reverse the transformations, but also about the details of the infection itself.
"Is it possible that there's actually multiple strains? A slight correlation between personality or history and the species you become isn't outside the realm of coincidence."
"Bavan definitely has that. There's a lab doing research on this; if I'd heard right, one of us is in charge of it." He had never really gone to investigate, mostly because he knew he was useless for it; all he could offer that sort of effort was some hazy layman's terms bits of things he'd learned by osmosis about magic in his world.
Kain wrinkled his nose with a thoughtful rumble, mulling that over. "Possible. Though, the way the Fog God's taken credit and exerted influence, different versions of the power seems overcomplicated."
That term again. He'd already been getting the impression that their condition was deliberately inflicted, but that seemed to all but confirm it.
"What can you tell me about the Fog God? I'm afraid all I know at the moment is what the locals are willing to immediately share."
It was a little bit frustrating not having the money to convince people to be a little more helpful, he had to admit. But the lab, at least, seemed promising. He would definitely have to visit...maybe he could find someone there with more of a grounding in biology than he had.
He's trying not to, but there's still a very low, quiet growl, some smoke, and a moment where translucent nictating membranes flicker across his eyes while he thinks of his first response and discards it because a string of expletives isn't very helpful to anyone.
"Well, their stories about her being something that causes, and is drawn to, conflict and bloodshed certainly seem accurate. She caused the transformations in the hopes of getting pawns to fight for her against another god; she's gotten in people's heads before, tried to get us fighting one another, and is responsible for the cravings, trying to turn us against the locals."
Some faint growling sounds aside, it's a remarkably even delivery for the amount of simmering hatred he's sitting on there.
So, this so-called infection really was a deliberate infliction. He had to wonder, what did the Fog God think would cause the monsters to help her? Stigmatization by the locals, perhaps? But that would be a gamble, risking her would-be pawns turning on her as they apparently had. She would have been better off letting them think their condition was accidental.
"Then she's the one we have to deal with in some way if we'd rather not start thinking the locals smell like dinner."
"If only it were that easy." He waved with one clawed hand, between himself and the town. "The first problem is that it's not like she keeps an open lair; there's a number of us that have been working on looking for clues, but there can be weeks or months between meddling, and once any entrance is found, we also need to know what we're doing in there. Gods don't work on our scale of time, and are not easy to truly kill." Granting that Kain's part of recon is mostly some aerial maps, because intel really...isn't his specialty...and he's working from what of his own experience with Eidolons seems comparable or was confirmed useful here.
"There's more than one way to skin a god. Killing isn't always the only way to deal with an enemy."
It was such a waste, after all. Not that he was opposed to letting it seem like he had moral objections to murder as the first resort. It was messy and inelegant...and besides, it would be far more to his advantage if the majority of the people here thought he was a good person.
"Of course, I'd need to know more about her motives to know what options have the best chance of working..."
He inclined his head thoughtfully on that one. "Hypothetically some sort of binding is possible. The Fourth God was restrained when we first arrived, but not in a way that prevented him from acting much - and that was broken to prevent the Fog God from killing him." It's a solution he's uneasy about; putting anything too powerful in a box tended to just mean an angrier powerful thing when it finally broke free. "With what he know at current, she wants her full power back, domination of this area, and possibly revenge against the gods the locals pray to. A month ago I would have said that those gods might help, but..."
The expression of wounded distaste is hard to mask, and the rumbling growl and twitch of one of his scarred-up and still-healing wing-claws is even harder.
His eyebrow raised at the mention of a fourth god. That was new. It was starting to look like it'd take quite a while to get all of the details the locals had neglected to mention, or simply didn't know.
"But some sort of recent event made it evident they don't plan on helping, I assume?"
Not that he was entirely surprised. His experience with godlike entities was that they tended to have their own agendas.
"The locals pray to the Night and Day Gods. Priests of the Night God left a town on the eastern coast, requesting volunteers to test a possible cure for the transformations. It worked for a few days, then backfired." He shifted the wing back more comfortably folded; it was still stiff and painful - the reason he was walking and not flying. "Those who'd volunteered caught part of the backlash, and went berserk; most didn't manage to get away from the camp before losing control. The town took the priests' death as proof that we were nothing more than the Fog God's tools, and spent two months organizing to go across the peninsula in a mob, armed with binding spells and weapons that would strike weaknesses. They weren't aiming to kill, only capture and torment, with no discrimination for children or otherwise. From what one of them said, and some of what they had, the Night God was supporting this, giving them instructions." He shifted, curling one wing around so that the back of it was visible in front of him; the entire membrane was covered in black, mottled fresh splatter-scars, some of them still healing where the caustic chemicals had eaten all the way through. "They shoved everyone they'd taken into a pit, using acids to kill as slowly as possible. Most of us only escaped due to a fire that burned most of the town."
He shifted the wing back, although there was some care in the movement that spoke of aches and stiffness in still-healing muscles. "We haven't heard from anyone associated with the Day God, but at this point, I'd be wary."
For most of the explanation, David's expression was disapproving but level. But when Kain mentioned children being involved, his eyes narrowed into a dangerous glare. There were some depths even he wouldn't sink to, and hearing of children being rounded up reminded him painfully of Oberon's attempted abduction of Alex. There were many things he could forgive. But as a father, mistreatment of children wasn't one of them.
"It sounds like they got what was coming to them, at least."
"The humans, at least." He shifted his weight, folding his arms and tapping a claw against the scales on his forearm. "Parts of that pit couldn't have been made by human hands. I know I wasn't the only one trying to make sure the children of the village didn't burn, or pulling out those that had tried to help - but I don't trust the Night God to not still want to remove what the Fog God has marked."
And that bothered him some, mostly because if the Night God was willing to go that far, he doubted it would stay idle.
"Well, that's at least one bit of reassurance. It means we can probably assume that the Night God doesn't have the power to kill us directly."
Maybe not much reassurance, since it obviously had quite a bit of influence, but life was all about finding the little advantages and making them work. If the Night God couldn't just wave a hand and kill everyone, that meant there were limits to its power. If there were limits to its power, then it likely had weaknesses. It was just a matter of finding them, and exploiting them.
...It's a point he has to concede is right, giving a small nod, even if it's a very "small blessings" sort of bright side to things. "Most of the gods here do seem to use agents for most direct acts."
It was the entire reason the Fog God had brought them here, after all; he had a thoughtful pause, mulling over things he'd heard and found. "There are older stories of champions of the gods serving as proxies, as well. Most of them are little more clear than myths and parables." He may've first heard it from a young priest of the Night God, but it was before the cure attempt, and he'd found other mention of some of them.
"There's often more truth to myths than you might think."
He gave a vaguely knowing, vaguely cocky smile. Having met more figures of myth than he cared to count off the top of his head, he definitely wasn't one to discount legends as pure fiction.
"It seems we've found a weakness already. If they can't, or at the very least are reluctant to, act directly then interfering with their pawns might upset the entire game."
Kain meets that with an odd, almost sardonically amused snort, hand almost going to his left shoulder - just over the older, ragged, almost sharkbite-looking scar that goes down his torso; with what he'd been doing before he came here... "With some whisper-down-the-lane and bias from whoever wrote them down. The fragments I've heard would be bread crumbs, at best; Day and Night's champions could vanish into crowds more easily."
The bread crumb bits could be useful, maybe, and possibly this one would be better able to use them than he was at the moment - Kain was sharp enough to catch that he was clearly playing the information gathering end of the line through the conversation - but it wasn't substantial.
"With the two that want to lay claim to us, we do have the option of ensuring they don't have pawns that will give them a victory." He shifts weight with a faint, prickly smile and a tone of obvious implication; there are some plans already in motion, at least.
"Funny how truth and accuracy aren't always synonymous, isn't it?"
Macbeth was certainly nothing like the man in Shakespeare's plays, not to mention remarkably more alive. Separating the fact from the embellishments was always the hard part, but it was all about observation. Observation and information gathering, something David didn't particularly see a need to be subtle about in this situation. They were all, ultimately, on the same side here, after all. Or so he hoped.
"Am I given to assume that a significant number have already taken steps toward that option?"
He raises a hand, going with that one; myths and legends are often fifth and sixth hand, at best, in most places, and here, well. "Some of the main keepers and tellers of such stories are priests - people with their own stake in the matter." Speaking directly to their gods only made it less likely they'd share anything too accurate outside of people with assurances of loyalty.
"A good number of us have. My own household is split on both sides, and I've watched others have verbal fencing matches about which side has better benefits. It's not quite the war they were hoping for." If the area had more human traffic he'd be more careful, but people had scattered away well; the increased skittishness after Rota had that benefit, and it wouldn't be the first time he'd erred on "less secrecy about it with new arrivals = less odds of something blowing up".
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graveyardsmash2015-05-23 05:28 pm
no subject
He didn't even try to hide the sarcasm. This was starting to sound like some sort of cliche horror movie. And as much as he enjoyed watching those, they weren't exactly his model for rational behavior.
"But the...sensationalism is why I was hoping to meet someone who's already undergone their changes. A firsthand account is always preferable to a secondhand one...or possibly even thirdhand, given the locals' behavior."
no subject
But he wasn't exactly wrong about the blame placement.
And he much preferred sorting out what was going on now to rehashing that, particularly when there were still some healing chemical burns and mottled dark scars forming on his wings and back. "That's why some of us come every time new groups wash up. You have about a month before the changes start, but the sooner there's warning, the easier some of it is to deal with."
no subject
"And I take it interacting with the locals will be even more difficult once that happens. Is there any way of predicting what a given person will become?"
no subject
Which is an understatement that probably should've been a warning, since "less afraid" could go the way of hostility, or the way of fetishizing and annoying levels of attention. "What people become is unpredictable - sometimes it seems to follow personality or existing affinities, sometimes it doesn't seem to make much sense at all. I'd had a close relationship with dragons in my world, but I've seen others where it seemed random."
no subject
It was a true shame his personal biologist wasn't here. He was curious, not just about ways to reverse the transformations, but also about the details of the infection itself.
"Is it possible that there's actually multiple strains? A slight correlation between personality or history and the species you become isn't outside the realm of coincidence."
no subject
Kain wrinkled his nose with a thoughtful rumble, mulling that over. "Possible. Though, the way the Fog God's taken credit and exerted influence, different versions of the power seems overcomplicated."
no subject
"What can you tell me about the Fog God? I'm afraid all I know at the moment is what the locals are willing to immediately share."
It was a little bit frustrating not having the money to convince people to be a little more helpful, he had to admit. But the lab, at least, seemed promising. He would definitely have to visit...maybe he could find someone there with more of a grounding in biology than he had.
no subject
"Well, their stories about her being something that causes, and is drawn to, conflict and bloodshed certainly seem accurate. She caused the transformations in the hopes of getting pawns to fight for her against another god; she's gotten in people's heads before, tried to get us fighting one another, and is responsible for the cravings, trying to turn us against the locals."
Some faint growling sounds aside, it's a remarkably even delivery for the amount of simmering hatred he's sitting on there.
no subject
"Then she's the one we have to deal with in some way if we'd rather not start thinking the locals smell like dinner."
no subject
"If only it were that easy." He waved with one clawed hand, between himself and the town. "The first problem is that it's not like she keeps an open lair; there's a number of us that have been working on looking for clues, but there can be weeks or months between meddling, and once any entrance is found, we also need to know what we're doing in there. Gods don't work on our scale of time, and are not easy to truly kill." Granting that Kain's part of recon is mostly some aerial maps, because intel really...isn't his specialty...and he's working from what of his own experience with Eidolons seems comparable or was confirmed useful here.
no subject
It was such a waste, after all. Not that he was opposed to letting it seem like he had moral objections to murder as the first resort. It was messy and inelegant...and besides, it would be far more to his advantage if the majority of the people here thought he was a good person.
"Of course, I'd need to know more about her motives to know what options have the best chance of working..."
no subject
The expression of wounded distaste is hard to mask, and the rumbling growl and twitch of one of his scarred-up and still-healing wing-claws is even harder.
no subject
"But some sort of recent event made it evident they don't plan on helping, I assume?"
Not that he was entirely surprised. His experience with godlike entities was that they tended to have their own agendas.
no subject
"The locals pray to the Night and Day Gods. Priests of the Night God left a town on the eastern coast, requesting volunteers to test a possible cure for the transformations. It worked for a few days, then backfired." He shifted the wing back more comfortably folded; it was still stiff and painful - the reason he was walking and not flying. "Those who'd volunteered caught part of the backlash, and went berserk; most didn't manage to get away from the camp before losing control. The town took the priests' death as proof that we were nothing more than the Fog God's tools, and spent two months organizing to go across the peninsula in a mob, armed with binding spells and weapons that would strike weaknesses. They weren't aiming to kill, only capture and torment, with no discrimination for children or otherwise. From what one of them said, and some of what they had, the Night God was supporting this, giving them instructions." He shifted, curling one wing around so that the back of it was visible in front of him; the entire membrane was covered in black, mottled fresh splatter-scars, some of them still healing where the caustic chemicals had eaten all the way through. "They shoved everyone they'd taken into a pit, using acids to kill as slowly as possible. Most of us only escaped due to a fire that burned most of the town."
He shifted the wing back, although there was some care in the movement that spoke of aches and stiffness in still-healing muscles. "We haven't heard from anyone associated with the Day God, but at this point, I'd be wary."
no subject
"It sounds like they got what was coming to them, at least."
no subject
And that bothered him some, mostly because if the Night God was willing to go that far, he doubted it would stay idle.
no subject
Maybe not much reassurance, since it obviously had quite a bit of influence, but life was all about finding the little advantages and making them work. If the Night God couldn't just wave a hand and kill everyone, that meant there were limits to its power. If there were limits to its power, then it likely had weaknesses. It was just a matter of finding them, and exploiting them.
no subject
It was the entire reason the Fog God had brought them here, after all; he had a thoughtful pause, mulling over things he'd heard and found. "There are older stories of champions of the gods serving as proxies, as well. Most of them are little more clear than myths and parables." He may've first heard it from a young priest of the Night God, but it was before the cure attempt, and he'd found other mention of some of them.
no subject
He gave a vaguely knowing, vaguely cocky smile. Having met more figures of myth than he cared to count off the top of his head, he definitely wasn't one to discount legends as pure fiction.
"It seems we've found a weakness already. If they can't, or at the very least are reluctant to, act directly then interfering with their pawns might upset the entire game."
no subject
The bread crumb bits could be useful, maybe, and possibly this one would be better able to use them than he was at the moment - Kain was sharp enough to catch that he was clearly playing the information gathering end of the line through the conversation - but it wasn't substantial.
"With the two that want to lay claim to us, we do have the option of ensuring they don't have pawns that will give them a victory." He shifts weight with a faint, prickly smile and a tone of obvious implication; there are some plans already in motion, at least.
no subject
Macbeth was certainly nothing like the man in Shakespeare's plays, not to mention remarkably more alive. Separating the fact from the embellishments was always the hard part, but it was all about observation. Observation and information gathering, something David didn't particularly see a need to be subtle about in this situation. They were all, ultimately, on the same side here, after all. Or so he hoped.
"Am I given to assume that a significant number have already taken steps toward that option?"
no subject
"A good number of us have. My own household is split on both sides, and I've watched others have verbal fencing matches about which side has better benefits. It's not quite the war they were hoping for." If the area had more human traffic he'd be more careful, but people had scattered away well; the increased skittishness after Rota had that benefit, and it wouldn't be the first time he'd erred on "less secrecy about it with new arrivals = less odds of something blowing up".