TEST DRIVE: JUNE

[simpathis]

— TEST DRIVE: JUNE —

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 Monday, May 25th and Applications open Monday, June 1st.
  
  
• 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.
  
  
• IMPORTANT! We have 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? The following emotions will have more effect than usual: hope, despair, fear, and bravery.

• 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.

• 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 latest entry in the hot 'Forgefires' series is about to come out, and lines in front of bookstores are blocking the streets! How will you get to your destination when your path is full of frenzied cosplayers who don't dare move lest they lose their spot in line? You might want to be careful, too—some fans are getting into heated arguments about their favorite characters so things might start literally flying if left unchecked!

• Prompt E: Things have been getting a little gloomy lately, so a group of youths have designed the first ever Verens Rock-Paper-Scissors Tournament. Somehow you've won through the lower ranks, and are now a finalist. The state of the city is riding on you (or so they claim), so face your opponent and somehow manage to make this farce exciting enough to lift the moods of the spectators (mostly kids). Just be careful. If you do poorly, you might find a tomato or two thrown at you.

• Prompt F: Welcome to FEAR FACTOR! An exciting new brand of entertainment where contestants participate in various challenges that touch home to the most innate fears humans share. Lying in a pit of creepy crawlies; climb up high, precarious structures; go one-on-one with wild animals—can you handle it? Are you brave enough to go for the 1 million sylv prize? Or will fear cripple you and leave you with nothing!? Only one way to find out! Oh, and one more thing—your emotions will definitely effect everything, so if you're climbing up that rusty, half broken steel tower and it starts shaking, that's probably because you're scared out of your wits. Don't let it crumble!

• Prompt G: Make your own! It could include giant cheese wheels and/or bucket of nails.

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

[unpleasantries]

[THERE IS A BIRD IN TROUBLE. THIS CAN'T BE ALLOWED TO GO ON.

Without a second's delay, Satori steps in, and her piercing glare and decidedly negative demeanor discourage crowding in this particular area almost immediately. The air grows chilly and a little damp, but as soon as she's satisfied with the lack of people around, it lightens up a little.

...It's still an oppressive and gloomy atmosphere, but not as much as it was a few moments ago.]

Are you alright?

[fatecrash]

[Alright in the grand scheme of things, but still kind of woozy. To be honest, Anghel isn't entirely sure what just happened, except that it sure got cold around here all of a sudden. He shivers involuntarily, clutching his manila folder a bit tighter and fluffing up his chest.] Aah, the Vanguard of Heaven retreats... Am I to be bound in the chains of my sin for another thousand years?

[unpleasantries]

[She has no idea what any of that means, but she has a weird-ass bird as a pet back home, so she's pretty sure she can deal with this one too.]

Well, a thousand years seems excessive. I don't think it'll be for that long. Probably.

...Were you trying to get into that store over there?

[Satori points at the bookstore, still swarming with cosplayers. She'd wanted to pick up some books herself, but it wasn't worth it with this many humans around...if the bird needs to get inside, though, she's not one to refuse an animal in need, even if it's a really strange one.]

[fatecrash]

[Anghel perks up immediately, the vanishing crowd forgotten for now.] Yes! Behold...!

[Improbably gripping his folder with his wingtips, he brandishes it like a sword. It's probably sharp enough to give someone a paper cut, at least; he's had to look after his stationery since arriving here, darn it.]

In this Lost Sea of the Damned, the threads of Fate are wont to tangle and sink from mortal sight. I must deliver the prophecy of old to its rightful disciples, lest all be swept away in the calamitous tide.

[Which explains everything.]

[unpleasantries]

[Okay, never mind, this bird is definitely way weirder than Okuu.]

...Uh. So you're trying to bring those papers inside. Right?

[Wait, is that right?? A prophecy seems important but why would he be taking it to a bookstore...]

[fatecrash]

[Tucking the folder under his wing again, he nods solemnly, or at least as solemnly as it's possible to look while still fluffing most of your feathers out so far you look like a ball with a head. It's the chill that bothers him more than the sudden humidity, definitely.] Indeed. I seek the Servants of God who may have graced these grounds in ages past. Within this Crimson Breast sleeps a epic tragedy that yearns for the cleansing flames of Purgatory, that it may atone for its sins and take wing once more in the light of the Celestial Sphere.

[Self-publishing is all well and good, but it's not the only route possible, you know?]

[unpleasantries]

[Somehow, Satori gets the feeling that this bird's mind would be just as inscrutable as what he's saying.

She'll just ignore most of it. That will work, probably.]

In that case, I could escort you inside. The humans here might not step on you so much if you're with someone the same size as everyone else. Your mission sounds...pretty important to you, so...

[Normally she wouldn't exert even half this much effort, but she does have a bit of a soft spot for cute, fluffy birds.]

[fatecrash]

Fate attends it at all sides, Wise Diviner of the Speared Tree! [Like a true entrepreneur, or so he imagines, Anghel leaps on that glimmer of potential interest almost literally. In a flurry of movement, he whips out the first page of sample artwork from inside his folder and waves it as close to the stranger's face as he can get, hopping up and down for good measure.] In these are laid out the tale that shall transcend time and space to purge demonic blight from this land!

[Even if he was standing still, it would be difficult to immediately figure out what exactly he was trying to show her. It could be a bunch of somewhat scribbly-looking humanoid figures gruesomely melting into a jagged, fiery landscape, or it could just be a case of amateurish line art. But hey, if nothing else, this much scribbling must have taken him a while.]

[unpleasantries]

[Ah, by "prophecy" he meant his art. She's still not 100% sure what all the metaphors mean, but she thinks she's beginning to get it.]

Did you draw that yourself? You're very talented.

[She instinctively reaches out to pet Anghel's head. This is how she deals with idiot birds.]