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:
Lots of people have asked good questions on the FAQ, so do take a look.
You can only app ONE character per round so choose wisely.
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.
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.
[Whatever it was, it's apparently vicious and not something Valgaav plans on explaining...but it's also only an immediate concern if another of those dragons shows up or something, so it's not worth more than taking note of.]
[He pauses, letting the spit settle into place and staring at it distantly; it's been years, but the looming specter of his order dying out hasn't really gone away.] There was another nation; for a long time they'd been trying to conquer the other lands, but the dragoons and dragons meant they couldn't take us. They started slipping small groups past the border, angling to get rid of the dragons - setting charges to collapse weyrs, and traps in the mountains outside of better-guarded territory. By the time they were finally defeated, my father's partner was probably the last dragon in the country. He was crippled badly by a couple holdouts around when my father died; he managed to hang on until just after I'd passed my trials to be a dragoon.
[He shifted weight to be sitting next to the fire, tail curling around where his talons were resting.] We've been searching since in case any of them survived somewhere in the wilds, but...
[There is a solemn nod at that, and a few minutes pass in somber silence before he speaks again.]
..I'm sorry to hear that.
[His gaze flickers back to the meat on the spit, suddenly finding the entire thing to be a suitable object of focus. It may well be another ten or fifteen minutes before he starts to speak again.]
..I'm not sure why you're being so nice to me, but..
There are two main kinds of dragons back home: the ancient dragons and the golden dragons.
[Another long pause. Several minutes elapse while he's trying to find a way to broach the topic.
...One day, the golden dragons decided that they wanted to eliminate the ancient dragons. It was a powerplay. There was an abrupt coup. Genocide. They killed every single one.
[Being the first of his family line to fight solo is still something that stings, even if right now it seems almost laughable next to "There probably isn't a Baron to go back to period, or a habitable planet for that matter"; it doesn't take a whole lot for him to have a somewhat bad day on that one, leaving the silence while he's watching the fire and trying to shake the memory of the vision of ruin the Fog God had shown.]
[As much of a dodge as that last statement is, it's not hard to put together the scars, the paranoia, and that story; Kain gives a very somber, but very pointed, look between the scared hand and Valgaav.]
[And there's a moment or two of mild surprise that quickly dissolves into a sort of almost 'they figured it out, how cute' turn of condescension.]
There was a dragon who was mortally wounded on that day, but was found by a wandering monster lord before he'd completely succumbed to his injuries.
The dragon was named Val. The lord who found him was named Gaav. Gaav killed Val, but granted him life anew as his servant, Valgaav.
[Just don't expect him to explain the mechanics behind how that worked. Because somewhere in that nice haze between bloodloss at the time and dying, one is not exactly taking notes.]
[He rests his chin on the heel of one hand, the tip of a talon tapping on the line of plating along his cheekbone.]
[He's not even taking the bait on that condescension, just raising an eyebrow at it, and filing that there's probably some analogue between Gaav and the Archfiends or Eidolons, if he was capable of dragging something back from near-death.]
It doesn't change you being human here, or that whatever you do get changed into, it probably won't be near what you're used to.
[Yes, he's sticking with "Unimpressed" for the posturing.]
[Oh sure bring that annoying -LOGIC- thing into this!]
[There's a scowl at that, along with half an urge to retort something about how 'does this look human to you?'...Except that even he can vouch for the fact that he is lacking a nice handful of senses and perceptions that he should actually have.
Everything is duller, sound included. No grasp at all of the astral or..really..anything outside of the purely physical. Sense of smell is virtually useless....Not to mention that he can't effectively project energy, fly or perceive auras or energies about people..
Curses. He was right.]
[His gaze is pointedly fixed upon the blond man once more.]
That you might want to think about how many enemies you actually want here before you start talking down at the rest of us.
[He shifts back, sitting more upright and gesturing before he turns the spit.]
We're all stuck this way, and I don't think any one of us has a chance of doing something about this alone. I don't know how much you have to go back to, but I doubt you're in a hurry to end up the Fog God's toy.
[There's a snort at that comment about 'talking down', but he's just as eager to let that drop and move on as Kain was to move on to that next part.]
[...Until there was mention of being 'all stuck this way' and being the Fog God's toy. Which turned things back into that expression that is TOTALLY NOT PISSY SULKING except it actually is]
[Right, that little Fog God thing. He's partly got his attention on monitoring the meat, and there may be a little bit of his own form of considerably calmer confidence posturing creeping into the deadpan.]
The Fog God's the being that brought us here; she's also what's stripped new arrivals of any powers they might've had and turned you human.
Whatever she does when she brings people here includes the changes coming later. They usually start around a month after you arrive. She'll be trying to get in your head now and then. I've been working on finding a way to kill her.
[The question really does read as much more of a statement, given the flat tone of Valgaav's voice. If whatever it was was responsible for the indignity he's currently suffering, then it shall pay dearly.]
[There are times Kain is perfectly capable of pushing buttons. "It's like talking to a younger version of me" happens to be one of them.]
[He folds his hands in front of him with a very faint, grim smile.] A lot of it some of us are working on. There's something we need to find to kill her, so a few people are scouting parts of the peninsula, doing research, and looking for clues where her weak point might be hidden.
[He gave a faint snort.] We're foreigners trying to track down a god's heart on their territory after it's been meddled with. I'm one of a handful out looking for anything in the countryside the locals don't know about; there's others more research driven seeing if they can find anything in the few places that might not've been controlled. We've gotten her trying pretty hard a few times to get people to either give up or join her so far, so she's taking it seriously, at least.
[When all else fails, "do what your enemy doesn't want" is a valid tactic, right?] Some of the rest of the effort's been on making sure people are adjusting and looking for ways to keep her from getting control; fewer easy targets for her to manipulate, fewer people losing control and ending up extra hazards we don't need. [Which was a good tactical reason to be out herding newbies.] There's another God involved against her, but that... gets complicated.
[Sadly, Kain is blissfully unaware of Valgaav's Past BRILLIANT Ideas, and "summoning one forth" only brings to mind things like asking Lord Leviathan for help, which is actually NOT a Horrible World Ending No Good Bad Idea.]
[it doesn't really matter, since given the current situation, he just shakes his head.] Oh, he doesn't need to be summoned - he's already loose and active, and he has half of her power. No, he's just...
[And this is speaking as the guy who aligned with him without hesitation.] Relatively speaking, a child. By the standards of the gods I knew, an infant. So far he's been much better about things like letting people choose rather than trying to force them, but ... I'm not sure if he's a good ally or just a lesser evil in the long run, or something that could turn into inviting the bear in to drive off the wolf.
[There's a moment's pause at that, before a pensive nod.]
Well, I can see how that would constitute as 'complicated'.
[And something he would have readily dismissed as 'child god? not his problem', were it not for the fact that the alternative, the fog god, was entirely responsible for his current, pitiable state.]
[Did we mention dry sarcasm was his second language?]
He has half of the Fog God's power; so as long as both of them are alive and active, they're both weaker and in a tug of war. If one of them dies, the other one gets that half of the power and becomes the dominant force here. It's apparently part of why the Fog God brought us here - they apparently can't strike at each other directly, so she wants tools she can aim at him; and he's also looking for people willing to align with him in the fight.
Deal with it when it happens if he turns out to be a scourge himself after she's dead?
[Kain could feel bad about being slightly manipulative here, but there's also that decent chance that he basically just jump-started the process of Valgaav going through exactly how he ended up at the same conclusion, which might be noticeable from the rote, calm dry tone that came out in; there is no surprise whatsoever.]
[Some people would point out the nerfed human thing and all.]
[Those are not people who did the same damn thing for about the same damn reasons with the same damn intent towards "I KNOW IT'S GOING TO TAKE A WHILE TO FIND A WAY HOW BUT GODDAMNIT I'M GOING TO DO THE THING, I DON'T CARE HOW MUCH BIGGER THAN ME THE THING I'M MAD AT IS".]
[The nice little beaten in sense of caution he has is nagging at him a little; after all, they are talking about killing gods and possibly fighting a more powerful one than what they're faced with now, while he's sporting the scars from Cagnazzo easily visible.]
[Still, he's gotten to be there for fighting two of the stronger Archfiends, and if the Fog God's hold can be broken or interfered with after what's already been done, then "No fuck you" to Elias if he becomes a problem is a valid Bridge To Burn When They Get There. It's possible that even if taking over that aspect means Elias will still end up something more like a Fiend, but at least be tolerable to deal with; Hell, Rubicante wouldn't have been that bad if he weren't taking orders from Golbez. In the long run, getting some reminders to nudge back towards his old bravado, instead of just trappings framed in wounded-animal retaliation, is almost comforting.]
That's the larger situation, at least. For now, surviving and adjusting to the place and changes is just as big of an issue.
no subject
[He pauses, letting the spit settle into place and staring at it distantly; it's been years, but the looming specter of his order dying out hasn't really gone away.] There was another nation; for a long time they'd been trying to conquer the other lands, but the dragoons and dragons meant they couldn't take us. They started slipping small groups past the border, angling to get rid of the dragons - setting charges to collapse weyrs, and traps in the mountains outside of better-guarded territory. By the time they were finally defeated, my father's partner was probably the last dragon in the country. He was crippled badly by a couple holdouts around when my father died; he managed to hang on until just after I'd passed my trials to be a dragoon.
[He shifted weight to be sitting next to the fire, tail curling around where his talons were resting.] We've been searching since in case any of them survived somewhere in the wilds, but...
no subject
..I'm sorry to hear that.
[His gaze flickers back to the meat on the spit, suddenly finding the entire thing to be a suitable object of focus. It may well be another ten or fifteen minutes before he starts to speak again.]
..I'm not sure why you're being so nice to me, but..
There are two main kinds of dragons back home: the ancient dragons and the golden dragons.
[Another long pause. Several minutes elapse while he's trying to find a way to broach the topic.
...One day, the golden dragons decided that they wanted to eliminate the ancient dragons. It was a powerplay. There was an abrupt coup. Genocide. They killed every single one.
[Well, ALMOST every single one..]
no subject
[As much of a dodge as that last statement is, it's not hard to put together the scars, the paranoia, and that story; Kain gives a very somber, but very pointed, look between the scared hand and Valgaav.]
And you?
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There was a dragon who was mortally wounded on that day, but was found by a wandering monster lord before he'd completely succumbed to his injuries.
The dragon was named Val. The lord who found him was named Gaav. Gaav killed Val, but granted him life anew as his servant, Valgaav.
[Just don't expect him to explain the mechanics behind how that worked. Because somewhere in that nice haze between bloodloss at the time and dying, one is not exactly taking notes.]
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[He's not even taking the bait on that condescension, just raising an eyebrow at it, and filing that there's probably some analogue between Gaav and the Archfiends or Eidolons, if he was capable of dragging something back from near-death.]
It doesn't change you being human here, or that whatever you do get changed into, it probably won't be near what you're used to.
[Yes, he's sticking with "Unimpressed" for the posturing.]
no subject
[There's a scowl at that, along with half an urge to retort something about how 'does this look human to you?'...Except that even he can vouch for the fact that he is lacking a nice handful of senses and perceptions that he should actually have.
Everything is duller, sound included. No grasp at all of the astral or..really..anything outside of the purely physical. Sense of smell is virtually useless....Not to mention that he can't effectively project energy, fly or perceive auras or energies about people..
Curses. He was right.]
[His gaze is pointedly fixed upon the blond man once more.]
So the point of this is what, then?
no subject
[He shifts back, sitting more upright and gesturing before he turns the spit.]
We're all stuck this way, and I don't think any one of us has a chance of doing something about this alone. I don't know how much you have to go back to, but I doubt you're in a hurry to end up the Fog God's toy.
no subject
[...Until there was mention of being 'all stuck this way' and being the Fog God's toy. Which turned things back into that expression that is TOTALLY NOT PISSY SULKING
except it actually is]no subject
The Fog God's the being that brought us here; she's also what's stripped new arrivals of any powers they might've had and turned you human.
Whatever she does when she brings people here includes the changes coming later. They usually start around a month after you arrive. She'll be trying to get in your head now and then. I've been working on finding a way to kill her.
no subject
[The question really does read as much more of a statement, given the flat tone of Valgaav's voice. If whatever it was was responsible for the indignity he's currently suffering, then it shall pay dearly.]
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[He folds his hands in front of him with a very faint, grim smile.] A lot of it some of us are working on. There's something we need to find to kill her, so a few people are scouting parts of the peninsula, doing research, and looking for clues where her weak point might be hidden.
no subject
Any luck so far?
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[When all else fails, "do what your enemy doesn't want" is a valid tactic, right?] Some of the rest of the effort's been on making sure people are adjusting and looking for ways to keep her from getting control; fewer easy targets for her to manipulate, fewer people losing control and ending up extra hazards we don't need. [Which was a good tactical reason to be out herding newbies.] There's another God involved against her, but that... gets complicated.
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[No Valgaav. No. Bad.]
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[it doesn't really matter, since given the current situation, he just shakes his head.] Oh, he doesn't need to be summoned - he's already loose and active, and he has half of her power. No, he's just...
[And this is speaking as the guy who aligned with him without hesitation.] Relatively speaking, a child. By the standards of the gods I knew, an infant. So far he's been much better about things like letting people choose rather than trying to force them, but ... I'm not sure if he's a good ally or just a lesser evil in the long run, or something that could turn into inviting the bear in to drive off the wolf.
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Well, I can see how that would constitute as 'complicated'.
[And something he would have readily dismissed as 'child god? not his problem', were it not for the fact that the alternative, the fog god, was entirely responsible for his current, pitiable state.]
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[Did we mention dry sarcasm was his second language?]
He has half of the Fog God's power; so as long as both of them are alive and active, they're both weaker and in a tug of war. If one of them dies, the other one gets that half of the power and becomes the dominant force here. It's apparently part of why the Fog God brought us here - they apparently can't strike at each other directly, so she wants tools she can aim at him; and he's also looking for people willing to align with him in the fight.
no subject
[Fortunately, Valgaav is also a fluent speaker of it.]
Given that he is the only presented alternative to that wretch, it's fairly obvious where I will be throwing in my lot.
[He quietly clenches his scarred hand again, making eye contact with Kain.]
She will pay dearly for this. Mark my words.
[Sadly all of that is PURELY ruffled dignity talking because AHAHAHAHA BEING BASCIALLY NERFED HUMAN.]
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[Kain could feel bad about being slightly manipulative here, but there's also that decent chance that he basically just jump-started the process of Valgaav going through exactly how he ended up at the same conclusion, which might be noticeable from the rote, calm dry tone that came out in; there is no surprise whatsoever.]
[Some people would point out the nerfed human thing and all.]
[Those are not people who did the same damn thing for about the same damn reasons with the same damn intent towards "I KNOW IT'S GOING TO TAKE A WHILE TO FIND A WAY HOW BUT GODDAMNIT I'M GOING TO DO THE THING, I DON'T CARE HOW MUCH BIGGER THAN ME THE THING I'M MAD AT IS".]
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Precisely. One thing at a time, and the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
For now, at least. His actions after the fact will determine if that allegiance lasts.
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[Still, he's gotten to be there for fighting two of the stronger Archfiends, and if the Fog God's hold can be broken or interfered with after what's already been done, then "No fuck you" to Elias if he becomes a problem is a valid Bridge To Burn When They Get There.
It's possible that even if taking over that aspect means Elias will still end up something more like a Fiend, but at least be tolerable to deal with; Hell, Rubicante wouldn't have been that bad if he weren't taking orders from Golbez.In the long run, getting some reminders to nudge back towards his old bravado, instead of just trappings framed in wounded-animal retaliation, is almost comforting.]That's the larger situation, at least. For now, surviving and adjusting to the place and changes is just as big of an issue.
[Especially for you, Mr. I Just Washed Up Here.]
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He gives a lazy shrug.]
I'll manage.
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Have you ever actually had to live as a mortal before.
1/2
2/2
[And that's totally not wounded ego puffing up or sulking on the other side of the campfire. Not at all.
...
It totally is.](no subject)
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