TDM #1

[glencolans]

TEST DRIVE MEME #1

Welcome to Glencola Reef's first Test Drive Meme! This is a place where anyone interested in applying a character - or just curious to see how their characters might interact with the setting and others in the game - can mingle with one another. General prompts are provided below for inspiration.

TDM GUIDELINES

• Please read the rules before posting to the TDM. These still apply here and will be enforced, up to and including deleting tags/toplevels and prebanning.
• Posts from a TDM are required to apply. At least three tags across any number of threads within a TDM, posted within the last 6 months, must be provided in every application.
• TDM threads can be used for AC. Note that new characters only need to check in for their first AC cycle, but established characters can use TDM tags for their AC.
• TDMs are not considered game canon by default. This is mostly for logistics reasons - due to how characters travel on the map, it's unlikely that non-network threads that take place here will actually happen in-game. However, I won't stop anyone from working out how to make parts of threads game canon if they really want to.
• New TDMs will be posted every three months. Keep checking back into the current TDM for new toplevels!

I. ARRIVAL

You awaken on a tropical island beach, soaking wet, powerless, and without any idea how you got here. Were you carrying something important, or wearing powerful armor? How unfortunate - it looks like only the most basic clothes, items in your pockets, and simple weapons managed to make the trip with you. Are you even physically the same as you remember? If you had superhuman abilities tied to your physiology, you might be stuck in a completely different body that lacks your usual senses. You might've been whisked away from a tense battle or a near-death experience and wake up delirious, or even injured.

Thankfully, against overwhelming odds, you're not the only one to wake up on this particular stretch of beach. You and your companion have a lot of puzzling out to do.

II. NETWORK

Even if you weren't lucky enough to wake up near someone else, at least you've arrived with a military-grade radio transceiver gripped tightly in your hand (or mouth, or other vaguely opposable appendage of choice). The clunky walkie-talkie will start buzzing and crackling for every public message that starts coming your way. Answering them back is as easy as pressing the "talk" button on the side of the device and either speaking into the receiver, or using the keypad to type into the message box that appears on the screen, then pressing the button again to send. A list of ongoing conversations with responses that are less than 24 hours old can be found by scrolling through the menu, identified by the callsigns that are participating in them. It seems that you've been assigned a callsign, too - it shows up in the top right side of the screen, format AB123C. The letters and numbers picked are...probably random.

This is your easiest avenue to communicating, or coordinating with, or complaining at the other people stuck on this island; how you decide to use this tool is up to you.

III. EXPLORING

For a place that appears, by all signs, to be an equatorial island in the middle of a tropical ocean, the local environments are surprisingly diverse. Beaches range from idyllic white sand to storm-swept pebble crags to cliffs with waterfalls cascading off the edges; the interior forests can be thinned from sandy soil or dense jungles full of prickly underbrush and with towering canopies; and the central mountain peaks, perilous enough to climb on their own, terminate in ravines and sinkholes that are hidden by thick foliage until you already have one foot over the edge.

The animals that make their homes here are equally as varied, and sometimes just as dangerous. The standard Earth fare of tropical fish swim right up to most shores, especially where reefs have grown, and a multitude of seafaring and jungle birds make their homes in ocean-facing cliffs and trees. Any one of these creatures would make for an easy snack. But you're not the only opportunistic hunters here; sharks prowl the waters, big cats stalk the jungles, and feral boars raid any camps that smell enticing. And that's just the stuff that looks like it came from modern Earth. Your improvised fishing rod might have captured a trilobite, or maybe that deer you were stalking has rounded on you with a set of alien mandibles full of sharp teeth. Or maybe, among the plants and animals completely foreign to you, you've stumbled across one that's strangely familiar to your home and no one else's.

There's a lot to figure out about this place. At least, in this instance, you aren't doing it alone.

NAVIGATION

Comments

[vestments]

I wouldn't call it the pinnacle, ( but touche. ) Does the politician have a name?

[royallyunappreciated]

Ah! Forgive me, Mr. Knight. Izunia. Ardyn Izunia. At your most humble service.

[And curious to see if that name raises any alarm bells.]

[vestments]

( fortunately (question mark) for ardyn, it means precisely nothing to marc. ) You're very trusting for a politician, Ardyn.

Where on the beach?

[royallyunappreciated]

It's always better to extend a hand to shake over a fist to punch first, wouldn't you say?

I seem to be on the southern end of our tropical paradise, in any case. It's been ever so long since I've taken a holiday. I'd have packed different clothes if I'd known where I'd be coming, though. And a tent, I think. It's been a very long time since I went camping.

[vestments]

In my line of work? No. ( that is to say: he can and he will, but as a habit? a rule of thumb? eh. ) But given our respective positions, that's probably not a surprise.

I was lucky enough to arrive dressed in white.

[royallyunappreciated]

[Lucky fiend. Possibly a stylish one, too. Although, the white could be furs for all Ardyn knows, really.]

What was your position, precisely? You mentioned your experience was 'weird.'

[vestments]

I'm a priest. ( uttered in the manner of a person who fully expects their remark to answer any and all questions, despite the fact that it

absolutely does not.

(sorry, ardyn.) )

[royallyunappreciated]

[No one is around, so Ardyn makes a face at that. His tone remains exactly as it had been, though. A priest. Of course there would be someone like that in this place. Bahamut's idea of a joke, no doubt.]

Ah! Should it be... Father Knight, then? Or- oh, I do apologize. Religion isn't quite what it once was in the Empire. Some other moniker, perhaps?

[vestments]

Mr. Knight. High priest of Khonshu. ( a breath of a pause, a concession of sorts, then— ) Moon Knight, if you'd prefer. Most don't.

[royallyunappreciated]

[There's an extended pause as Ardyn lifts a brow at the radio.]

Mister it is! I don't believe I've ever heard of Khonshu, though. I'd love to hear about... them? Her? Him? ... It?

[Another name for one of the Astrals? A different deity all together? But who would anyone worship apart from the Six?]

[vestments]

( vaguely in the background, ardyn may be able to hear the sound of (trudging) footsteps in sand. there's an inhale of breath and what's likely a scoff on the exhale — not directed at ardyn, per se, but rather the entire concept of khonshu. )

Ancient Egyptian god of the moon. He's the embracer, the pathfinder, the healer. The protector of those that travel at night. ( a beat and a brief burst of static. ) Khonshu is the god of vengeance. ( and, if one were to ask marc's honest opinion, a fucking miserable bastard.

but that's (currently) neither here nor there. )

[royallyunappreciated]

[... What year is it? It sounds like some sort of cult sprung up around Ardyn's rule during the ever-lasting night. He hadn't thought anything like that would happen, but also, what is an Egyptian? He's not surprised his name would be scrubbed from existence again, but this is just confusing.]

Ah, well... I hope you're not feeling particularly vengeful, Mr. Knight? I think I might want to change locations, if you are! [His chuckle is short and affected.]

[vestments]

Have you done anything I should be feeling vengeful about, Ardyn?

[royallyunappreciated]

My dear boy, can a man say he's lived without some regrets? I can't say I'm perfect, but I don't think I've done anything you'd particularly take umbrage with. But politicians being what we are... Well. I'll be on my best behavior here!