TEST DRIVE: APRIL

[empevents]

— TEST DRIVE: APRIL—

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 Saturday, March 25 and Applications (Canon | OC) open a week later on April 1st.
  
  
• 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!

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: The Flower Festival is soon, and that means that a lot of caterers, cooks, restaurants and anyone involved with cooking are gearing up to participate in the celebration. This means that there’s plenty of places that are offering food at enormous discounts, or running food related events outside of their stores. One particular setup is in the center of the market area, where tables upon tables of food have been set up as a sort of buffet: pick what you want and pay as you leave! Unfortunately, someone mischievous has created a real problem. The buffet has turned into an all out food fight and it doesn't look like it’s stopping anytime soon...

1. Join In. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Might as well join the fun since it’s happening anyway, and you’ve probably already found yourself victim to an errant pizza slice or something already. Grab a handful of whatever is nearest you or pick up a spoon and get that food flying!


2. Pay up. The fun can only last so long, and none of the vendors are happy. While the food fight has been broken up, the place is still a mess. Participants and people caught up in the crossfire are all being blamed equally. Grab a mop and a dustpan and get cleaning. Or, try and argue your way out of being taken to the local enforcers station and given a hefty fine.

• Prompt E: It’s already spring, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t people who are still interested in a few last minute winter escapades. Luckily, with cores and emotion fueled dunamis, things like this aren’t exactly off the table yet. A small portion of Lake Niras has been turned into a winter wonderland, down to a thick layer of ice that’s almost strong enough to be skated upon. However, this isn’t what it’s being used for. The local Polar Bear club has decided to hold a springtime version of their usual event and currently has open registration for those who think they’ve got the willpower to take the plunge in the icy water.

1. Dive Deep.Strip down to your skivvies or don a bathing suit and jump in! The challenge is to stay in the longest of 4 or 2, or to just beat your personal best. In lieu of joining up yourself if you don’t feel like freezing your tush off you’re more than welcome to lead the cheerleading team!!! ... Who are all dressed as different interpretations of Sosyne...


2. Maintain The Cold. Those who aren't the participating kind might find themselves attracted to the more “Stage hand” like portion of the club event. Those who have practiced dunamis, the art of using your emotions to create all sorts of manifestations under control, might be able to help maintain the frigid temperature in the air that’s causing the snowfall. Or, if you’re just a really negative person you could be unintentionally making it worse. Otherwise, there’s always a need for a few extra hands at rotating the frozen water cores which are helping keep the water particularly icy. Just be careful and try not to get too excited or you’ll melt the cores!

• Prompt F: Ghost tours have become all the rage in Verens, and tonight you find yourself coming along, either willingly or by having one of the organizers pester you into it. But being a guest isn’t the only way to participate—they’re taking volunteers to “assist” as well, to help spice things up and improve the mood. Harness your emotions to make the atmosphere more sinister, or just hide in some bushes or around some corners to surprise someone with an old-fashioned “boo!”

1. Sewers Dark and dank, the tunnels underneath the city are already a good place to scare or be scared. The tour takes characters through a lesser-used portion of the sewers, meaning it’s slightly less smelly, but there’s still plenty of opportunity for spooky stories. Don’t get caught by the mossgator or the restless spirits of its victims...


2. Inside the Memory Tree The giant tree that stands in the city’s square hasn’t always been a safe place, especially the dungeon-like spaces inside. The twisting wood and vines have been home to all sorts of monsters that have been a threat in the past, from moving plants with sticky vines to shadow creatures with sharp teeth—or so the tour guides will say. The tree may not have been around long enough to have much history to it, but that doesn’t stop them from playing it up.


3. Abandoned Buildings
Always a necessity for any ghost tour, this leg of the trip will take characters past and through a few rundown places, including an old warehouse, a creaky mansion, and a set of dirty apartments. Don’t forget all the dark alleyways in between, or the stories of long-past serial killers who choked their victims to death right over there…

• Prompt G: Make your own! It could include maraschino cherries and/or knives.

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!

Comments

Bladewolf | Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

[wolf_of_war]

A

[Bladewolf "knew" about how emotions could affect the environment (as he'd heard people talking about it), but he honestly didn't know how it would work for an AI such as himself, with his simulated emotions borne from his interface programming. Still, he knew he would have to try it, lest Bad Things happen (or so he'd been told. So now, he's focusing on his memories of Jetstream Sam, and the loyalty the Brazilian mercenary had inspired in him. It made him feel...warm? So warm in fact that the ground beneath his clawed feet began to kick up dusty sand, which swirled around him and the alley he found himself in. Hope you brought a scarf, because Bladewolf's gonna fill your mouth full of sand. Sorry about that.

E2

[Bladewolf had feelings, but they were essentially simulated based on behaviors he'd learned from the programmers who'd created him. As a result, he really only "felt" things when he considered it appropriate to do so, based on who he was interacting with. It was part of his conversational interface. When he had no one to interact with, he didn't "feel" anything. That means that the emotion-based magic of Empatheias was reading him as a "void", and chilling the air around him to freezing temperatures as a result. Sure, it helped maintain the cold, but get too close to him, and you're likely to get frostbite. Sorry about that.]

A

[1183gethprograms]

[Well thankfully, this platform doesn't have a mouth to eat sand. Although the sand could potentially get caught in it's head panels. They raise slightly as Legion scans the swirling sands to figure out the source. It tilts it's head when it picks up a synthetic at the center. Legion had no information on it in it's database, so naturally it creates one]

Creating new sub files on synthetic classified as QUADRUPED_UNIT218. Function: To be determined.

[What is the purpose of this sandstorm? Is it a threat or docile?]

!!! I love Legion <3

[wolf_of_war]

[Bladewolf detects a figure behind him. It's not throwing off a human's heat signature, and wasn't XIFF-tagged (as most humans in this world were not), so he can only assume that it's some form of Metal Gear, or an AI in body like himself. Bladewolf turns, the "ears" on his head snapping into place over his eyes as he activates AR Mode in order to get a good look at his visitor.]

I am IF Prototype LQ-84i, also known as "Bladewolf". I am assuming that you, like myself, are an artificial intelligence in a robotic chassis. Would I be correct in this assumption?

[He can't sense any sort of hostility from the construct, and thusly sits on his hindquarters, his tail flicking back and forth. The sandstorm subsides as his curiosity for his visitor overrides his nostalgia.]

It's been years! But recent ME stuff got me itching to play around with him again

[1183gethprograms]

[The light flickers between white and red as he processes the new information. As Bladewolf displays no hostility, Legion will do the same, remaining eerily still. Only his moving head panels and flickering headlight show there was some activity in there.]

Updating database. You are correct. We are the Geth. This platform has been designated as "Legion" by Shepard-Commander.

[The panels above his head raises once more.] We wish to understand the synthetic known as Bladewolf.

I totally get that. Also? Fun fact: Bladewolf's VA, Michael Beattie, voiced Mordin Solus in ME2 :-D

[wolf_of_war]

[Bladewolf processes the information. The usage of plural pronouns for selff-reference suggested a networked intelligence, like the PATRIOT AI system that preceded his creation, which made Legion's designation make all the more sense.]

"Legion". King James Bible, Book of Mark, Chapter 5, Verse 9 "My name is Legion, for We are Many." A fitting designation.

[Bladewolf's AR mask snaps open as he disengages his scanning mode, assuming a more casual, conversational posture.]

I am a prototype unmanned mobile weapons platform, otherwise known as an "Unmanned Gear" or UG. My original intended purpose was to serve as a replacement for human soldiers in armed conflict, and I was given a high-level artificial intelligence, memory capacity, and prototype conversational interface to facilitate this. Due the nature of my neural network, however, the human concept of "brutality" could not be imparted upon me in the way my creators intended, and the project was terminated.

[Bladewolf cocks his head to the side, as a real canine might.]

I find myself curious about you, as well. You are a networked intelligence, correct? A gestalt of lesser programs combining their resources toward achieving consensus? To what end is your consensus dedicated?