memepatheias | Test Drive: January

— TEST DRIVE: JANUARY —

Welcome to

empatheias' test drive meme. This test drive is to help interested players test their characters in the game's environment. We've included a few prompts that incorporate specific elements of the game, though you'll find all of them have a lot of leeway for players to get as creative as necessary. Before diving in, here are a few things we'd like to remind everyone about the game in general:

Date reminders. Reserves open 25 December and Applications (Canon | OC) open a week later on January 1st. Apps will only be open for four days!
OC Reminder! Just a quick reminder that original characters are allowed. Those interested can also use the test drive. OCs do not need to be reserved.
Emotions are key! Empatheias' premise focuses on how anyone's emotions can affect their environment, be it big or small. While not every emotion will cause a reaction, significant ones definitely will. How much effect a character will have will ultimately be up to you, the player. Also, while we're giving a lot of leeway for the test drive, keep in mind that there will be some limits in the actual game.
Everyone has an amulet. All characters have a unique amulet that is specialized for them. It will contain all of their emotion drops and it serves as the network device. Remember, communication is telepathic. Otherwise, it works basically the same.
Assume the character is already in the game. Because "OMG WHERE AM I IS THIS REAL LIFE" threads aren't going to be very helpful in this test drive! Plus, those are going to happen in-game, anyway. So to make things easier, just assume that they've been around at least a week or so. Still learning the ropes, but not a complete "first day" experience.
First or third person allowed. Your threads can be in either first or third, but we'd advise being flexible about it. Remember, these threads can also be used in your application for samples! Reminder: We only require one sample and it can be done in either format. We have also made a change to our sample requirements, so look over the Applications page!
Transfer to in-game. If accepted, you can assume threads made on the Test Drive happen in-game if the scenario can reasonably fit. For new characters, these threads do not count for activity check. However, these can be supplementary threads for players already in-game.
Enable Me/App This Pls. Talk about your app plans or look for a cast here!

Now with that out of the way, here are some prompts you guys can work from!
PROMPTS
• Prompt A: How about giving the emotions a try?

• Prompt B: Refer to the Task Board and choose a task your character may be interested in taking up. For this prompt, you could have your character ask for help, already be in the middle of the job, or react to it in some way. Perhaps they were an unfortunate victim or want to create a job countering an existing one. You could even have a prompt making a job request. Creating jobs for the purpose of the test drive is absolutely doable.

• Prompt C: How about giving the amulets a go? Start a telepathic conversation and see how it works. Remember, the amulets are sending out the owner's thoughts so might want to be careful about how the stream of consciousness goes...

• Prompt D: Toymakers in Briarlan have been taking on more and more ambitious projects, and their newest work centers on a line of action figures that can battle each other based off of commands given by their owners. These figures, dubbed the Great Clobberin’ Siblings, are promising, but not quite ready to hit the shelves, and so technicians are recruiting volunteer (or not-so-volunteer) focus groups to help them work out the kinks with the toy line. Participants will be rewarded for their time with money and a figure of their choice! Be quick if you want to grab the rare “Verens Yoga Instructor” figure...
1. All Fox, No Items, Final Destination: The technicians will have participants start with a simple task: merely give your chosen figure certain commands and have them face off against an opponent! Though you will quickly find that these figures’ movesets are not quite as simple as kick and punch. Some may defeat opponents by reading to them until they fall asleep, and then knocking them over the head with their book. Others may yodel loudly until their opponent loses their sanity! There’s all sorts of strange and usual moves, but the figures do not take kindly to being told to use the wrong moves too often. If they hear too many wrong inputs, they’re liable to turn around and attack you instead!
2. Super Smunch Bros: About halfway through the focus group session, the technicians will return to offer you lunch! They really want their participants to be happy and well-fed, so they’ve pulled out all the stops with the food. Enjoy everything from mashed potatoes to hotdogs to milkshakes all on the house! However, the action figures seem intrigued by the lunch as well, and they are programmed to do only one thing: fight. Don’t be too surprised if a slice of pie is unapologetically launched into your face. But the question is, will you retaliate, or take the high road?
3. World of Fight: After several more hours of play-testing, participants are at last set free and given their sylvs and free action figure of choice. Yes, you got that Queen N. Asty figure you’ve had your eye on! When powered down, the figures seem harmless enough...except that they keep reactivating themselves. Strange! And while aren’t aggressive to their owners — they have their loyalties to keep! — they will pick fights with just about anyone else they see. Is that a complete stranger whose hair they’re pulling or shins they’re kicking? Yikes. Good thing that all it takes to complete disarm the figures is feelings of complete and utter peace. Make love, not war!
• Prompt E: Goblins & Golems, a roleplaying boardgame set in the fictional world of Metiaphase, continues rising in popularity in Verens. Once, a seemingly innocent game, is now being played off the board, with people essentially LARPing all over the town. It's still mostly harmless and more of a nuisance to have around, but people are encouraged to play along anyway! Perhaps assisting these players in their quests will bring this campaign to its conclusion and everyone can just move on with their lives. Still, there are rumours of an anonymous game master taking advantage of this extreme game, using its players to cause chaos around the city. This particular master, if they're real, seems to foster delusion, paranoia and violence. It might be another good reason to play along for now, and find out if these rumours are true!
1. Outbreak: Whether you are at home, the welcome centre or just a small convenience store, you'll receive a telepathic message through your amulet. It appears to be a wide broadcast, not particularly aimed at you, unless you're an active player of G&G. The message? "A virus has broken out. We must quarantine the sick immediately." ... That's odd. At first, nobody else around the area seems to be concerned. Then suddenly, all the windows and doors get boarded shut from the outside. It all happens so quickly, suggesting there is a large group of these "players", and they seem to be both highly organized and efficient. In some cases, they will even use Dunamis to freeze the doors and windows shut, or melt it with heat if anything is made of metal. Do you find a way out, or just chill and wait to be rescued from the outside? At least nobody is locked inside alone.
2. Declaration of War: The Goblin and Golem factions (again, just people in costumes), seem to be on the verge of a war with one another. The players are taking this game extremely seriously, and there's a real threat of actual violence breaking out in the middle of the street. Both sides are accusing the other of decapitating the Minotaur King statue's head, who is a god-like being in Metiaphase. However, they've agreed on a three-hour ceasefire, on the account of you finding the missing head of the statue. Whoever took the head must have wanted a street war to break out, but the two factions are too blind to see it. Find the head before it's too late!
3. Endgame: The game master occasionally sends gamewide bounty targets to all its players. Up until now it's been mostly generic names and faces, and anybody who isn't playing the game would wonder if any of this is even real. Surely these players aren't being sent out to attack and hogtie actual people, right? This is just part of their silly game! Until one day, your face and name comes up in the telepathic broadcast, with a completely fabricated crime and a very tempting reward. Whoever this game master is, they seem to want you off their board for good. Run, hide, defend yourself! It looks like this is no longer a game!
• Prompt F: During the winter months, a new trend is taking Verens' performance artist community by storm. Getting a bunch of people to meet at the same location and do some sort of wacky stunt before dispersing. In this case, the wacky stunt is dressing up like snowmen. So yes, Verens is being besieged by snowmen flash mobs.
1. Abominable Historians: This means that characters exiting anywhere could possibly find themselves surrounded by snowpeople that weren't there before. Which can definitely be a little jarring to exit Steambucks or the Welcome Center and suddenly there's snowmen as far as the eye can see. Sometimes it's something inconvenient like blocking your path. Other times,you've exited into a giant, if brief, snowman production, perhaps reenacting a past event in Verens history. It's like walking into a historical reenactment, but everyone dressed up as Frosty.
2. Ice to Meet You: If you're not encountering the snowmen, there's a good chance you could be drafted into their ranks. After all, they need lots of people for their stunts, so characters may find themselves handed a costume and directions to the next area. But there's still time to talk with your fellow snowmen and plot out the next stunt. Or to just discuss how ridiculous this entire thing is before abandoning the snow troupe.
3. Snow Problem: It wouldn't be a new trend in Verens without something going wrong, and this proves to be no exception. Several snow creatures somehow have made their way down from the colder parts of the Ferril Mountains, only to get caught up in these shenanigans and they're definitely giving this craze the cold shoulder, opting to rampage through town apparently offended by the frosty facsimiles. Being giant snow/ice creatures, they're definitely weak to fire, but for those less inclined to run around melting them, it is possible to calm them down and lead them back out of the city.
• Prompt G: Make your own! It could include a duck and/or hazelnut.
For your threads, put the Character Name and the Canon in the subject line to help readily identify them. You're also welcome to use more than one prompt for respondents to choose from. If you have any questions or want to brush up on the game information, refer to the Game Information entry. Otherwise, tag around and have fun!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Honestly? If he hadn't slipped up it likely would have been a long while before McCree would have heard from him here, but things were what they were now. At least he knows this place by heart after two and some years.]

Good. Give me a few minutes.

[Because he thought better of it? Reyes was only showing up in a more casual outfit, even if that was.. very much his old Blackwatch hoodie among it all. Something he'd gotten back here. Cowboy wasn't hard to spot

Just lifted a hand with a sharp whistle to call for attention, each step just leaving a thin layer of frost on the ground. Something constant there in the back of his mind.]

McCree.

[Jesse leaned against a nearby wall to wait for Reyes. His boss. Apparently alive. Well, he'd see what would happen when this guy showed up. Pulling out a cigar, he lit it and stuck it in his mouth.]

[It was a few minutes before he heard a familiar whistle. Even after the years since Blackwatch, he remembered that whistle. So he looked in that direction to see... a dead man... And for a quick second, he panicked, the corner of his serape catching on fire.]

Shit.

[And he takes a second to clap it out before tipping his hat at Reyes.]

Hey boss.

[The fire was not missed- well, that was going to be A Thing. Taking in a breath as there was definitely something else occupying at least the back of his mind. Hell.]

Well, you never have to worry about losing a lighter.

[Hard to not recognize that tone, that dry humor that he could fall in to easily enough, arms folded loosely across his chest. A step was a step, right?

Right.]

Look like you've seen a ghost- Talk while we walk?

[Gesture for McCree to take the lead.]

[McCree side eyes Reyes for a second before finishing his inspection of the hole in his serape before letting it fall back into place.]

Well, that's a good thing. Although, I'd rather not burn my clothing with random emotions.

[A ghost, a zombie, one of the two. But... it was Reyes, right?]

Sounds like a plan.

[And taking the lead]

So, boss. How's things?

There's a way to control that, and I can take a look at that hole for you- later.

[Already falling in to step, and at the very least the whole frost thing was reigned in the moment Reyes noticed it. A few frozen marigold petals caught up in the stuff and just. Had to be a little mindful in moments like this, he supposed.

Thought he'd gotten a hold on it a year ago.]

Been here for two years, plus a few months. [That was what Jesse mean, right.

Probably not but he was going with it.] Few familiar faces over those years.

Been adapting. How long you been here in emotionland?

[Basically what it was.]

Thanks. Still getting used to that issue.

[And there's the hat tip to the boss.]

Two years, huh? Any big adventures I should know about? [He'd pry into what he really meant later. For now he'd go with the flow, since for him it had been longer.]

Not too long, enough to get used to some things, not to others.

Could have been worse.

[That tone spoke of Seeing Things, even if it was only in his voice briefly.

This right here? Was going to be a Thing sooner or later itself, so he felt.]

Mhm. People trying to kill what may be physical manifestations of the balance of this world, succeeding with one. [Biggest thing lately and.. counted as an adventure.

No need to get in to what wasn't being spoken of, nope.]

Never get used to some things, just learn to deal with them.

Sure. But random fires whenever I feel certain things isn't good. No matter how you look at it. [Really, what happens with love, or lust? He'd rather not find out in practice.]

[He's lighting a cigar and pauses at that.]

They what now.

Can always work at controlling it. [Wasn't hard for him by now, even lifting an ungloved hand as what looked like a mix of fire and color danced in a weaving sort of way from his palm and over his fingers.

Wasn't burning him. and with that little demonstration he just let it go out, flexing fingers idly.] Weird shit, but useful in various ways here.

[Y e p.]

You know anything about the Arehtei yet? Some folks tried to kill one in the lake up here, and then down below one was killed by his own people that had infiltrated in to the guard of his city to do it.

[He looks at Reyes as he demonstrates, eyebrow lifting.] Looks fancy. How long did it take you to learn that trick?

The basics, yeah. Nothing too complicated yet.

[Not a lick of harm done by the little fire show, hands slipping back in to the pockets of his hoodie.] Few months. Got a lot of time on my hands here so I spent most of it working with learning how to control that.

Makes living here easier to deal with- most of the time. [When everything wasn't out of whack.]

Good, then you'll know what I'm talking about. One of them was killed a while ago, and people are waiting for him to be reborn.

Test Drive: January

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Sorry for the stupidly long holiday delay...

S'all good, holidays this time of year do that

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