empatheias_ooc | TEST DRIVE: FEBRUARY

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*test drive

TEST DRIVE: FEBRUARY

— TEST DRIVE: FEBRUARY—

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 Wednesday, January 25 and Applications (Canon | OC) open Wednesday, January 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: Over two years ago, the ill fated Red String of Fate toy made its debut. At the time it seemed like a solid idea, but as it turned out… it didn’t exactly work as advertised. People found themselves tied together with entirely incompatible people instead of the proclaimed “emotionally compatible” and to top it off, personal, influential and private telepathic communication came out drenched in sap and overly lovey-dovey overtones. It was, without a doubt, one of the company’s least successful product launches ever. And you would think that they would have learned. However, they decided to try again, and… well. It wasn’t exactly all that well thought out the second time around. But third time’s the charm, right? Wrong. Even if this time, it’s in the form of rings that will draw two people together in a “matched pair” rather than a string.

There’s not really anything wrong with believing in true love, but trying to formulate a product that can detect someone’s ideal mate is innately flawed. Which only means that no matter how many times the product is adjusted, it’s just not going to work. Those who wind up with the product shoved onto their fingers (by a sales rep or through actually purchasing the product) will find themselves, once again, pulled by an unseen force to the nearest person they are “compatible with”. Same height, same hair color, whatever. It’s not exactly discriminatory. …Unfortunately as poor a match as they may be, the two cannot be separated until they share a meaningful embrace. So settle in, you might be together for a while.

In certain pairs, normal conversation is often unintentionally made amorous, simply from inflection in voice, or perhaps a heightened affectionate emotion. Or, on the flip side, anger and aggression is increased ten fold, but it’s kind of 50-50 as to what effect will take place, all dependant on which hand they wear the ring. Left, romance, Right? Anger.

• Prompt E: The inexplicably cavernous sewers of Verens are no place for a sane individual, but here you are anyway—dropped there by some horrible emotional shift that made an entire section of street vanish and then reappear above your heads as if nothing had happened. You and the poor fool you’ve been dumped down here with need to find your way to the access tunnels and climb out, or perhaps go the other way and swim out through the Lake Niras outflow. Or just smash your way out, if you’re feeling destructive. But your own emotions will work against you, as you struggle against the terrible scent, the darkness, and the entirely-justified questioning of why your life has taken this horrible turn.

There’s something odd about the way the water and sewage is sloshing around your ankles, almost as if it’s rising. But wait, that can’t possibly be a pair of eyes you see under the oil slick surface… could it? You’ve heard rumors about all sorts of beasties down here but surely your mind is just playing tricks on you.

Remember that part about emotions turning against you? Maybe you’ve been trapped down here way too long with someone who’s just not living up to your expectations, or you’ve got something else on your minds—but the smell around you certainly seems to be growing thicker, the scent growing harder and harder to ignore. The water and grossness at your feet also seems to be growing thicker almost as though it’s curing like cement. The cause? Negative emotions. But are they yours or the person you’re stuck here with? Perhaps you should work through those post haste…

Escape! You’ve made it out, but not without a great amount of effort on both you and your partner’s parts. Did you manage to find a way out through the access tunnels? Or perhaps you really did travel through all that much to the Lake Niras outflow… whatever it is, You’re certainly stinky, and possibly tired and cranky too.

• Prompt F: Some bandits went and stole another airship, only this time the Enforcers are prepared with a few of their own. Join in for some intense air battles. Just don't make the ship explode—they'd like it back in one piece please. Unless you're actually on the bandit team, in which case you probably want to blow up the Enforcer ship.

What's an airship fight without some on deck action? Either the bandits are swinging over to the ship you're on, or maybe you're swinging over there. Whatever the case, it's a full on brawl. Just watch out—those bandits are well-armed with some interesting firearms and weapons. If hit, one of the following emotions will start to take over your senses: unquestionable rage, debilitating fear and panic, and sleepiness. Needless to say, these effects will hinder one's ability to fight.

Can you fly or are you okay with climbing up the full height of your airship? Then grab a few sleep and apathy grenades and throw them at the bandits. Just be careful not to accidentally hit your allies. Otherwise they will be the ones feeling sleepy and want to give up. Also watch out for flying nets and bullets. Those bandits will definitely try to bring you down.

While the enforcers are trying to maintain the integrity of the stolen ship, the bandits feel no such need to hold back and are freely unloading their weapons onto the Enforcer's ships, forcing them to defend themselves. Other than decapacitating the bandit behind the weapon, it's also possible to overload it with intense emotions. Explode it with rage or clog it with happy, loving flowers.

• Prompt G: Make your own! It could include bubblegum and/or toadstools.

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

[Hm, sounds like another space fairer like him and a few others here. He wonders if maybe he's from Leia or Poe's universe- or maybe even his own, even though he doesn't recognize the person speaking on the other end.]

That's not something anyone's been able to tell us. This is an entirely different universe all together from what I can tell. Even if it wasn't, the technology here isn't far enough along to be able to do that.

[He's pretty sure Pidge has tried by now, to no avail.]

Entirely different.

[Well, he's willing to accept that that's a possibility. There are theories about other dimensions, not that that's one of his fields of expertise.]

I'm curious, is there any known evidence to support this theory? If the technology here isn't sophisticated enough for us to determine our coordinates, a part of the universe we were unfamiliar with might seem like a different one.

[His tone remains calm as he's presented with Keith's response, but there's a great gravity accompanying it.]

I'm concerned about an existential threat.

[Yeah, this all takes some getting used to.]

Maybe nothing concrete, but I've met people from different versions of my home planet, where a lot of things were the same but ...some things happened differently. This place also acts like it exists outside of time. All of my friends are from different points in time but none of us remembering any of us going missing.

[And that's about all he can explain. He's not the science nerd like Pidge and Hunk. His words about a threat give him pause.]

Like what?

That may not be conclusive, but it's valid.

[He's heard similar things, but he doesn't necessarily know who or what to trust.]

I haven't found anyone I know here to make these comparisons with, so I've had mostly hearsay to rely on.

[Honestly, he could do without the presence of a large percentage of the people he knows—though there are some notable exceptions.

A highly militarized, highly advanced threat. It would make short work of a planet like this.

[Thace keeps his description brief. He doesn't think the details are relevant at this point.]

[Yeah, that's about how he feels. No proof but there's nothing to disprove it either. Thinking too hard about how this place works just gives you a head ache.]

That could change. You could also get sent home without warning, I've heard that happens too.

[Of course his description is awfully familiar. He wonders...]

Sounds familiar. We're fighting an empire back home that's been conquering for ten thousand years.

Yes, I understand that the situation could change at any moment.

[He doesn't comment on the "get sent home" part of Keith's statement, but there's a sudden heaviness to his already serious emotional tone, as if something is weighing his thoughts down.]

That does seem familiar. It's the nature of empires to conquer, but most don't last so long.

[He's familiar enough with that. He lives with Shiro after all.]

[Hm. That answer, though. Keith was giving some away to see if maybe they were from the same Universe maybe, but it seems like this guy was pretty cagey. He didn't deny anything though, so he wonders how much he should push.]

[He knows he was pretty damn cagey and ...er, volatile when he first got here after all. He swung a sword at anyone who looked at him.]

This one won't be lasting much longer. Hopefully your threat won't either.

[You know, if they're not the same threat.]

[Thace is used to being cagey, so it's almost second nature to him at this point. Openness, however, is foreign. After all, he doesn't know who this person is—even if this is a different universe. His wariness is almost palpable.

The age of the empire that Keith mentions is telling, but Thace stops short of mentioning the Galra Empire.]

I hope for the same. I've done what I can.

[And what else can he do?]

You don't think it's possible that such a threat could appear here—not even an empire like that?

[Potential ally, if he's not lying. If they're even from the same place. He notes that. To what he asks, there is some unease.]

There's not much I would call impossible these days. I think it's unlikely, but maybe not impossible. Best we can do is prepare and try to find a way out of here, which is what we've been doing.

[....Among other things, but its not like they have their lions. If Zarkon found his way in, he could only hope he'd be similarly depowered. A whole fleet couldn't just bust into this place, right?]

What about you? Do you think an empire like that could break through to another universe just to find us?

If it's not impossible, then I'll prepare.

[He's not sure what he can do with his current limited resources, but it's a goal. He prefers to have a goal.]

I think they would, if they could, but to my knowledge, the empire I'm familiar with doesn't have that technology.

[He was promoted to Commander, yes, but he doesn't fool himself that he'd learned all, or even most, of the empire's secrets. If Zarkon came here alone, he could probably dispatch him, but if there was an attack from above, if the fleet could somehow come here—but that does seem unlikely, if he can believe what he's heard.]

What kind of preparations have you been working on?

[It's not like being prepared was a bad thing. Keith pretty regularly wakes up thinking this is the day that the Galra show up, or this is the day they turn up back home. He's a lot more calm here than he was before, but he's never quite let himself get complacent. There's some relief there, but its faint.]

Let's hope you're right.

[A thoughtful pause.]

We don't have a lot of our resources or weapons here- [No castleship, no lions, no Voltron. Just a few of them with Bayards and a few sets of armor.] -but we've kept up training. You never know when things might change.

[Well. he kept up his training. He knows Shiro has too, but the others...well.]

I'll hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

[That's usually what he does. Like Keith, he can't see the harm in being prepared. Even if a threat arrives that isn't Galra, preparations would still be useful. The only harm would be in not keeping yourself at the ready. Especially in an odd situation like this.]

Admirable. Despite my similar circumstances, I intend to do the same.

[He does have his blade with him, but how useful would that be in the event of an attack from the fleet? Not that he won't use every weapon at his disposal, regardless.]

My name is Thace.

[There's a wariness that comes with this transmission. He doesn't know what he expects that makes him wary—to have his name recognized? He's not sure how likely that is, but he doesn't intend to hide himself behind a false name. He doesn't include his rank—whatever rank he once had, he's lost it in every way conceivable. But it never meant anything in the first place.]

[He likes the cut of this guys' jib. With any luck their preparation won't have to amount to anything until they all leave here. He can sense that wariness through the transmission and it's familiar. It's a lot like how he was starting out here. He doesn't call attention to it and keeps his own words back pretty neutral. However there is certainly not recognition in them.]

Keith. Best of luck to you.

Keith?

[As far as Thace is concerned, that's an unusual name. It's not common in the Galra Empire, that's certain. Thace is generally good at controlling his emotions, but where Keith transmits no recognition, his own is apparent.

Not that that makes him much less cautious, since Keith didn't recognize his name.]

And the name of the empire you've been fighting?

[That does make him pause. Did this guy know him? Maybe he's heard of Voltron- their Universes did sound vaguely similar so it's not like he'd rule it out. He frowns for a moment, debating giving himself away, but from what he could tell. If he WAS from the same universe, he sounded like an ally.]

[It's also not like he hasn't talked about the Galra empire before, anyway.]

The Galra Empire.

You're one of the paladins, then.

[He'd had very strong suspicions, and this confirms them.]

You have my support, and my aid, should you want it.

[Because he's not entirely sure if Keith would want it. If he doesn't know who he is, he'd have no reason to trust him.]

[!]

[The surprise is very obvious when Thace pegs him as a Paladin. Not too many people knew Voltron was back- and even fewer new the Paladins by their names, so for him to make that connection based on his name alone throws him off.]

[Of course, it's nice to see an ally. He suspected as much from earlier in the conversation but it's still good to know they've got someone here fighting for the cause just in case shit really did go south. However-]

That's right. Have we met?

[His displacement in time comes to mind. He wonders if this is someone they've met further down the line.]

Edited 2017-02-01 22:54 (UTC)

Yes, we've met, Keith.

[There's a complicated knot of emotions from Thace—still that wariness and heaviness, but also a flash of something lighter and more hopeful. Still, he's fairly good at controlling his emotions in most situations, and the outburst is fleeting.]

I take it you have no recollection of it.

[He's really not sure how this is going to turn out, but in spite of his misgivings, he does have something he wants to say.]

But I'm grateful to you for your assistance.

[Ah, he feels kind of guilty about that, and for a moment that shows.]

Sorry. Like I said before, sometimes people show up from different points in time. It sounds like you're further ahead than me.

[Which was too bad. Now he wants to know more about the circumstances and who this guy was.]

But I'm glad to hear we could help you. And it's good to know we've got an ally here if something happens.

[Thace is quick to counter the feeling of guilt with a surge of confidence.]

Don't apologize to me. It's not necessary. Judging by your explanation, it's no fault of yours.

[If the discrepancy causes conflict, he'll just have to deal with that. Judging by Keith's ignorance of him, he assumes he must not yet have made contact with the Blade of Marmora. They would have given the paladins his name quickly enough, as their contact in high command.]

On the contrary, I owe you a great debt. You can always depend upon me.

[His mission would have failed, his sacrifice have been for nothing, if not for Keith—to say nothing of the other paladins' efforts. Not that he's aware of the ultimate outcome of the strike. He can only hope they were successful.]

[It feels kind of weird to be told all this when he has no memories of it. Whatever they did, it must have been a pretty big deal. Maybe they helped liberate his planet or something.]

[He does knock the guilt off though, thanks to that bout of confidence. Instead he seems pretty proud that he was able to do so much for this guy.]

I'm a Paladin, that's what I'm here for. If you ever need help again, just give us a call. We're uh.... we're all here.

[Which might not be very comforting seeing as it means they're NOT back home but. He figured he ought to know the situation.]

[Continued here!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

TEST DRIVE: FEBRUARY

SCREE also C for now he has not yet been canon updated

HELLO. also I have no idea what I'm doing!

HI and thats the beauty of TDM

yes, this is very true

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