empatheias_ooc | TEST DRIVE: DECEMBER

Entry tags:

!mod,
*test drive

TEST DRIVE: DECEMBER

— TEST DRIVE: DECEMBER—

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 Thursday, November 24 and Applications (Canon | OC) open Thursday, December 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 Boreas Harvest Festival is in full swing, but like its previous iterations, things aren’t exactly going as smoothly as they should.

Bouncing bounties. It seems the locals’ anticipation is affecting their products and grange displays—watch out for any excitable fruits and vegetables that might be jumping around! Or maybe you could help catch them and return them to their displays.
Giant pumpkin vines. Some children wanted a really big pumpkin and hoped and danced with all their might, but that led to not only making a huge pumpkin that's now rolling all over the field, but huge vines as well. But they're mischievous things, aiming not to hurt but just pull pranks, like drag people down or hold them up upside-down.
Smells like feet. It seems some people are rushing to ripen their products to their peak—which seems to be pushing them into overripe and even plain-out rotten territory. Not to mention the fact that if the larger vegetables are moved even slightly, they’ll explode and get slimy, gross veggie guts on everyone who’s around…

• Prompt E: A few intrepid jewelers are interested in the jaded water that can be found in the jungle below, so take a trip to the surface with your fellow Otherworlders while the excursion still has funds and check it out! Just be careful; the area’s rife with negativity and bad mojo, among other things…

Plants vs. Everything Else. The vines hanging around are ready to catch on people’s arms and legs, stopping them from continuing ahead… or from going home. This land seems to be mighty possessive after so long of being abandoned and doesn’t want anyone to leave, not again. There’s flowers and giant pitcher plants that’ll do the same thing too, with the latter definitely being more dangerous, seeing as they’re big enough to catch a whole human.
Pools of jade. After a few right turns, there’ll be a wide area of pools waterfalling into each other… or they would be, if they were moving. There’s shards from them scattered near the banks; picking them up will trigger a thought of something you’re jealous of, and if you turn around, chances are the jaded pools are going to be showing glimpses of that, too. If you’re pulled into them, the jade’ll start creeping up on you, so watch out and find something (or someone) to appreciate!

• Prompt F: Stuffed animals have always been popular around the island, especially since they usually respond and move to emotions. The dunamis users of Shaarnath and the perfomancy artists of Theastai would like to combine all three elements to put on a special "puppet" show. But they need volunteers and those willing to learn.

Make those furry butts wiggle! One of the greatest challenges is making the stuffed animals dance in a way that doesn't make them look like creepy possessed dolls. Perfomancy artists will suggest channeling fun, positive emotions and perhaps even try dancing yourself. It's more likely the stuff animal will mimic the movement.
Test of flight. There are a few bird plushies that are to fly around the stage. This can be more difficult to achieve and requires great concentration and a free spirit type personality to succeed. The loftier the hopes and dreamy thoughts one has, the higher they will go. But heavy thoughts will just keep the birds grounded.
Not the stuffing! On a less emotionally driven side, these little plushies will get worn from use. They may even limp and seem as if in pain. A bit of new stuffing, needlework, and perhaps a little kiss on the nose will make it feel better! ...And maybe make you look a little weird, but tender loving care, right?

• Prompt G: Make your own! It could include thumbtacks and/or bowling balls.

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

[Nahyuta nods, relaxing a little when no more flames emerge.] The locals warn that this is a place controlled by envy. I could not help but overhear your conversation... and it appears to me that what the pools were trying to show you is something you deny.

[The delivery of his explanation is very calm and measured. Nahyuta is used to giving sermons, even if the subject matter this time is less religious in nature.]

In this place, the more your emotions control you, the more they affect your surroundings. [He looks down at the jade slowly spreading up her ankle.] However, if you accept the harmful emotions you feel instead of burying them, and try to nurture positive feelings, they will have no power over you.

Envy. What do I have to be envious of? The live in the shadow of the Burning Legion, complacent that it may not return, that they may have the power to defeat it if it does; they are blinder than I am if they think that way.

[But the old her aches for that sense of familiarity, of family, and the demon hunter traces the tattoos on her arms idly. Nahyuta reminds her of an old friend, a night elf she'd long abandoned, who dreamed of being a priest despite the order being restricted to woman. It does well to calm her a little, enough to shake her head and pick at the jade at her ankles as she crouches.]

I have sacrificed everything for them -- I have given so much to protect them, to keep them safe, and they turn their back on me. They look upon me with scorn, as if I am an outsider, and fear that I am more demon than kaldorei now. [Her laugh's short and has an edge of hysteria, watching the pool again, though she sounds more irritated than grieving.] Am I really allowed to envy what I abandoned for a greater cause in the first place?

Your feelings are your own, and no one can claim you are disallowed from feeling them.

[Kaldorei, Burning Legion... The words mean nothing to Nahyuta, but he can understand the general sentiment. That she gave up everything, presumably becoming what she is now, in order to keep them safe. He simply listens -- sympathetically, yes, but not pitying.]

You envy that they live simpler lives than yours, while you carry burdens greater than they can ever imagine. You envy that they are part of something you can no longer hope to be. Am I correct?

[He tucks his hands behind his back as he watches her. He's trying not to make assumptions, but instead, summarising what he thinks she's trying to say.]

[Hit the nail on the head there, Nahyuta, and Alararinna nods brusquely as she traces the scene.]

I once proudly lived the way they do, but I couldn't return even if I had the choice. There is no use in wanting for it anymore.

[... That feeling of belonging somewhere, on the other hand. That is something she can't be rid of. As an Illidari, as someone who follows the cause that Illidan began, that is where she belongs -- cast aside with the others, under the same banner as they, but she's still wracked with longing for her friends. They'd all been misfits together. If she could only see them again...

The fond thoughts she keeps to herself seem to help with the jade a little, though, and she brushes a hand over the flecking as if to be sure.]

You remind me of the Pandaren, monk. They say the same things you do, about accepting negativity rather than burying it, though I don't know why. [Alararinna grins, teeth bared.] Afraid I was imprisoned until recently. What else do you have to say? My ears are yours.

Edited 2016-11-19 21:44 (UTC)

[Nahyuta lived most of his life an outcast, but she seems to have had it worse than him, in a way. He was too young to remember life before that, so it became the norm. There was little to yearn for if he had no attachment to the places and people he was shunned from. Either way, he can understand the sentiment, of not belonging simply for being who he was.

Watching the jade recede a little is an encouraging sign that she's taking his words to heart, so he continues.]

If you do not understand such ideas, I will explain them. [He moves to sit on rock next to the pool, careful not to touch anything or to gaze into it. Instead, he keeps his attention on Alararinna, and continues.]

Imagine your emotions as a flame inside you. A fire on its own is not a bad thing; it simply exists, just as our thoughts and feelings do. However, that flame needs to be maintained. If it grows too large, it will burn out of control and injure you. If you turn your back on those unpleasant feelings because they burn to the touch, rather than acknowledging them and easing them back into moderation, the flames will only continue to eat away at you unseen, growing larger and hotter until they consume you.

However, if you gaze at the fire, and take care to maintain it, it will not do harm.

[He falls silent, hoping she's following his explanation.]

[Explained like that, it's easy; it's the same as the demon's soul she's more or less bonded with now, keeping an eye on it to make sure its fel energies didn't control her the way it wanted to, blocking out and disputing the hissed words and taunts it throws her way on a daily basis.

... And seeing as thinking of her old friends worked wonders as a start, maybe that's the key. She can't have those things anymore. They're the world she wants to protect, but she no longer belongs with them, but it's because of them that she's become what she has, because her love and guilt was so strengthened by the Burning Legion and all that came with it, and it isn't anything she regrets in the least. They may never fully understand (them, or the rest of the ones she called her people), but that doesn't matter. It matters enough that she's able to protect them as well as she wants to.]

That is something I have been practicing for some years now, monk.

[She's envious that they're able to live without the knowledge of how deafening the Burning Legion is, how many worlds they've destroyed and how they plan to do the same to Azeroth. She's envious that they all have some place to belong, just as she had and does now in a new way (though it still feels oddly lonely in that regard, too). But Alararinna loves her people, loves her misfit family more than anything else, and they are worth the sacrifice she's made to protect them. To protect her world. If it weren't for them she would have never realized how powerless they all were to stop what felt like the inevitable, and yet it's that impossibility she stands so proudly in defiance against.

The jade breaks off in pieces, small at first, but as she wields the metaphorical flame they come off in bigger ones until she's freed. Alararinna stretches her ankles out and steps away from the jade pools, walking a few feet from it before turning back to Nahyuta; in her footfalls are the beginning of grass and flowers, though she doesn't seem to notice as she inclines her head.]

You have my gratitude for your assistance... Nahyuta, you called yourself? I am Alararinna.

[Nahyuta watches her progress with patience. Outwardly, his expression hardly changes, save for his lips curving into a small, serene smile. However, that soft glow around him brightens in response to her freedom. He rises from his seat, and to her question, he nods.]

Alararinna... [He repeats it, to ensure he memorises the pronounciation.] I am glad to have been of service in some small way. Ultimately, however, you should be thanking yourself. [She figured things out for herself, after all. He simply gave her the tools to do so.]

You must forgive me for the ignorance of my question, but are you a dark elf?

[He mistook her for a demon entirely at first, but under those attributes, he can surely see similarities to the elf he has met here already. He is glad he followed the Holy Mother's teachings in extending compassion towards her in that way, else he might never have seen past her fearsome exterior.]

A... dark elf?

[That's a rather new way to describe her, she suppose, though her skin color must give him reason to pair the two words together. Binding a demon to one's self does tend to darken coloration, along with other side effects like her horns and scaly skin extending elbows-down.]

No. I am one of the kaldorei, a night elf. [It's a fancy way to say dark elf don't be fooled.] You are a human. What is your Holy Mother like?

[Night elves traditionally don't care for outsider stuff since they don't last long life-wise and therefore aren't half as wise as they are, but Alararinna was in a band of misfits. She's still curious about things like that, changed as she is.]

[He'll make a mental note to ask Lioriley about the differences between dark elves and night elves later. They seem close enough, but apparently the distinction is important.]

The Holy Mother is the revered Founder of my homeland, Khura'in. She was a spirit medium of great power, wisdom and compassion, and passed down the teachings that would be known as Khura'inism. Since then and to this day, her direct descendants of royal lineage continue to both rule the kingdom and practice the sacred art of spirit channelling.

[The summary comes easily enough; much like his sermons, he's used to having to explain his faith to strangers, both in his own world and in this one.]

[Alararinna nods, looking around at their surroundings before taking a seat herself, back straight and knees touching the ground. She's still alert, but learning and sharing her own knowledge is something she hasn't been able to do in quite a while; it's nice, and she isn't above indulging in it a little.]

My people look to a similar goddess for guidance: Elune, the Mother Moon. She was the one who kept Azeroth at peace for tens of thousands of years, allowing all of life to grow and learn, while soothing conflict with her song. It is to her we owe our creation, our lives, and we serve to protect her as she has us.

[She pauses for a moment, looking up at the sky. Despite it being day, all Alararinna can think of is how different the moons are here, though she feels Elune still.]

Elune's love shines on every living creature, no matter the path they have chosen. Even as changed as I am now, there is no doubt in my mind that she understands why I have done what I have, though my people refuse to understand it themselves.

[Factual as fact can be.]

It must be a great solace, to have a goddess who is understanding and forgiving of you, even if your people are not.

[He puts his hands together reverentially, offering Elune a silent prayer. Nahyuta wouldn't presume to worship a deity other than the Holy Mother, but he can still show them gratitude for their kindness.]

Khura'inism, too, teaches that every life has value. Even those who lead lives of sin, whether out of necessity or otherwise, can still receive salvation. Guiding lost souls such as they is one of my own roles within my faith.

[... Elune and that Holy Mother really would get along. They may as well be one and the same, much like what she's heard from the Tauren and their take on the world's history. Elune's light can span many worlds for all she knows; if the demons could manage that, then why not her goddess as well?]

It does not sound as if they are much different, then, though I am far beyond any salvation your Holy Mother could offer. Before I became what I am, I served proudly as one of her champions -- a Sentinel. Our duties were to hunt what was necessary and to keep any conflict at the edges of our territory.

[It feels so long ago, her days of training towards that small dream of protecting all of the kaldorei as one of the sisterhood. It may as well be long ago now. Her smile's a touch fond, grass sprouting around her again.]

Though I'll admit, monks are not something I'm knowledgeable about. I have met some in my travels, though you do not look half as... plump as they proudly show themselves to be. Do you know how to fight?

... Plump?

[That earns raised eyebrows. Certainly, he'd heard the stereotypes, but given monks in practice are more often associated with asceticism and self-denial, he finds it a hard mental image to swallow.]

I can defend myself against assailants, but I am no fighter. The Holy Mother forbids it. While she was on the mortal plane, it was her sister, Lady Kee'ra, who fought to protect the kingdom from assailants.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

TEST DRIVE: DECEMBER

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject