ximiliugh | FEBRUARY TDM.

Entry tags:

! test drive

FEBRUARY TDM.

● ● ● T D M . 0 5

// PART I. rude awakening  

… What are you willing to do to erase your regret from existence?

The words ring in your ears as in the darkness of your dream, an ocean-deep blue glow hovers in front of you. Transfixed, you reach out to it... only to hear a different voice, a distant echo of cruel laughter, and with a sudden certainty you know — whatever you’ve just agreed to has changed everything forever.

It is to this laughter that you wake, and as it fades and your heart slows into something resembling a normal tempo, you notice something you should have noticed immediately: you are not in your bed.

1.0 White walls, clinical yet clean, sparsely-furnished rooms. You may wake in one of three rooms: a room with only one bed, a room with two beds, or a room with four beds. Those waking up in rooms with more than one bed notice that they are very much not alone. Perhaps the other occupants of the room are still sleeping, dreaming the same dream as you just did, or a regular one after returning to the station just barely a week ago … or perhaps you wake to the other person in the room watching you.

What you do is entirely up to you: yell in surprise when you wake to someone staring at you? Or maybe you’ll try to sneak away before anyone notices you...

2.0 Those with life-threatening injuries find themselves awakening in the infirmary, in a regular hospital bed. Most of their injuries have been treated, and any lingering illnesses or conditions will have designated medicine bottles on the table next to the bed.

White curtains surround the bed on both sides, giving an illusion of privacy. But is that a rustling sound you hear? Some footsteps? Perhaps you’re not the only one in need of some medical attention... or you've attracted the attention of those with experience in medical aid, and they rush to your bedside, surprised about this sudden new patient.

It is not just for your injuries that you may want some company, but also for leaving the infirmary — you can’t stay there forever, after all, and will have to make your way through the hallways of the station to the living quarters, and claim a room and a bed there.

Once you’re up, you may notice there’s something in your ear: an earpiece that, when you become aware of it, quickly runs you through the instructions for how to use the network, a recorded message by a female voice that explains exactly why you’re here… and leaves you with a map of the station.

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// PART II. such a lovely place  

So what else is there to do but to explore? Best get to know what is now your new home.

3.0 When trying to decide where yo go, you may find your way to the armory, where you can try to work the machine there to make yourself a weapon — perhaps to replace one that didn’t come with you to the station… or maybe you want to be prepared for the future. The recently-returned team members will surely recommend having a functional weapon with you.

And speaking of weapons: to put it to good use, head to the training room, where the entire purpose is to provide you with a space to spar and train to your heart’s content!

4.0 After you’ve exhausted yourself training, it’s time to grab a bite. For that, you should head to the kitchen, which is equipped with all the basic appliances you might need, and ingredients for most regular dishes... and large amounts of chocolate. Weird.

5.0 A welcome reprieve to the cold, dark space that surrounds the characters can be found in the sunlight room. A skillful illusion surrounds anyone who steps inside the room: you can hear the trilling of birds, feel a light breeze caress your skin as you walk through a grass field. It seems that the illusion reflects the season — the leaves have fallen, a layer of white covers the ground, and the air is crisp and clean. If you follow the path, it leads to where a bridge rises over a brook that has now iced over — but maybe don't try your luck walking on it, as the ice may crack underneath your feet and you'll find yourself plunging into the freezing water.

Regardless of whether you like the wintery atmosphere, it is easy to forget you are in space at all. Perhaps that gives you comfort, or just makes you miss the real nature all the more.

6.0 If you’d rather choose tinkering over nature, the lab is guaranteed to provide you with some entertainment. Glass vials and jars of chemicals sit on shelves in a surprisingly beautiful display of colour on one side of the room, while the other side of the room contains stacks of boxes containing assorted equipment: cords, bolts, panels, buttons, gears, gadgets, gizmos, and thingamabobs. The downside is that the parts available seem to have no apparent method to their sorting. So get digging, and you may just find exactly what you need to make what you’ve always wanted to make!

7.0 If it’s items you’re lacking, though, some time after your arrival, the earpiece alerts you to a new message.

// VIVECA.AI

Hi, everyone. I hope you've had time to rest, and those new here have got acclimated with the station. Those who’ve been here for longer know the deal, but to the new arrivals: we've got new supplies on the platform. Hopefully you’ll find useful things there. If you made any requests for items, before, you should find them in a separate pile.

Indeed, the platform near the personal quarters is still whirring with power, and new items form neat piles on it. There’s clothes, shoes, dishware, skincare, books… even a couple of CDs, and a few cute stuffed animals. So sort through what there is and grab what you want, before someone else does!

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// PART III. study aboard  

Eventually, you’ll find yourself at the doors of the the simulation room — it has been equipped with a new simulation to take you through possible mission-like scenarios so it’s best to prepare yourself and see what it has in store for you.

8.0 The doors slide shut behind you and the room goes dark. Small pinpricks of light will start to build on each other until you’re surrounded by grey skies overhead and grassy green lawns, a row of old stone columns lining your vision. It seems you’re in a courtyard of some kind, but that’s not all. Something tugs at the hem of your sleeve or nudges at your leg, a warm presence that feels comfortable and ultimately very familiar. They look up at you, or maybe they meet your eye-level, a creature that varies in size, shape, colour, and form depending on what reflects you best. This creature, known as a compalion is a physical manifestation of your spirit or soul and will stay by your side on this journey.

You can stay here and get to know your compalion, or you can take your new companion and explore the campus. Because, if you do move forward past the line of columns (a hallway it turns out), you’ll find that the small cluster of buildings forms an academic campus of some kind.

NOTE: Your compalion will adhere to the following rules.
a) They cannot go any further than a few yards away from their person; the further the distance, the more painful the separation will feel.
b) Your compalion will shift into one form throughout this simulation and can be any creature that best mirrors your personality.
c) They can be as small as a flea and as large as a small elephant; get creative!
d) Whether they speak to you in your native tongue is entirely up to you (some speak, some don’t)
e) Basically daemon rules apply.

9.0 While it might seem like fun to spend hours just exploring the old buildings with your compalion and any Orbers like you that you might bump into along the way, it’s important to remember that you have a goal to achieve: follow the clues and retrieve the orb. Your compalion might offer an idea or two for where to go, or it may just be voicing the thoughts in your head, but it’s not a bad thing to follow your heart (or your gut) as it were. You might find that the rooftops of the campus buildings are easily climbable to get a good vantage point of your location. (Just be careful not to slip and fall! The height from here is quite dangerous.) A clocktower stands proud in the distance among a cluster of other campus buildings, marking the time.

Inside, you might be led down dark stone halls and into a series of classrooms: including reading quarters, study rooms with old leather couches and warm carpets covering stone floors; lecture halls with stiff wooden seating and individual desks to match, a chalkboard with indiscernible scribbles half-wiped away; and a laboratory that deals with something a little less modern than you might be used to, or perhaps with its twisty vials and bubbling potions, it suits you perfectly. There is the large library filled from floor to ceiling with books beyond imagining.

If you look out from the tall arch-shaped window from a classroom, or if you’re outside and you tilt your head up to the sky, you might notice that the sky appears to be darkening further, growing heavy with what is inevitably an oncoming rainstorm. If you’re inside, it might be best to stay indoors; if you’re outside, perhaps it’s time to find some shelter. Or if you’re determined to find that orb outside, risk you and your compalion getting wet.

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N O T E: Additionally, there are three personal tasks provided to each character as they enter the simulation. In-game, each character will be given one task. For the purposes of the test drive, we’re leaving it to players to pick a task for their character and run with it.

A Team up with another Orber and their compalion to find the orb's location.

B Climb into the clocktower and ring the bell.

C Explain your best theory regarding your compalion’s manifestation to a fellow team member.

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F Y I

• TDM threads can be considered game canon so long as all parties involved agree to it.
• This TDM covers the month of February.
• TDM threads can be used as samples for apps. In fact, we encourage it!
• Reserves are currently open!
• Apps open February 24 and will remain open until February 28.
• For any questions regarding TDM, please direct them here. For questions about the game, please refer to the FAQ.

FOR SOME FUN:

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Sarah sits back, fingers curling around the handle of her cup. "Probably."

She knows bad has to come with the good. Every history is bound to have its dark period.

"Diana always wanted to learn about any history that didn't involve us." No matter how many times Sarah tried to tell her it was a lost cause or how many times Em tried to steer her the same direction more gently. "In the end, she found out it one had more to do with the other than she thought."

More than any of them thought, but that's another story entirely.

"Was there a part of it she tried to hide from?"

Moiraine's thinking more of a family history more than an origin or something like Manetheren's descendents. Though she also hid from her own family history. One bonus of being Aes Sedai.

She chuckles. "You could say that." To Sarah, Diana's refusal of her magic had been equal to denying her family history as well as her own identity.

"We're witches. Diana's parents died when she was young. She blamed magic."

Witches is at least a term Moiraine knows, though less a pleasant one. But if Sarah calls herself it she can assume it's different for her.

"It sounds like she didn't change that opinion." At least not for a while anyway. She doesn't ask if it was magic, not something so personal but she can understand the fear and blame.

"It isn't simple to find a different view on something when experience or history would tell you something else."

That's true enough, and Sarah has learned that herself. She's been through her own struggles and knows she could have been more understanding, but the softer emotions have never been easy for her to show and continuing in their ways has always been important to her.

"No. But I think she's made peace with it." As much as one can make peace with what had been done. "She found the people to help her realize there's freedom in accepting who you are."

"Her husband?"

Moiraine assumes given the happier sounding tones that Sarah had when previously mentioning Diana compared to this.

"There's someone I know that in a way has been forgotten, seen only as a title and what that means rather than who they are. It's no one's fault, it's the title, but it causes a lonely life." Even the people that knew them before seem to forget who they are and see only the title.

"Sometimes the more that there is it's easier to become lost. Sometimes you can keep all of those pieces together." Though in her home titles trumped all else it seemed.

She nods, even as she says, "Not what I would have preferred."

But the bitterness she used to have is gone. She's come to realize not all vampires (or daemons) are equal, and Matthew and some members of his family are more than acceptable.

In another time, she thinks something similar might have happened to Diana, to the twins. But not now, not with the family Diana has drawn around herself.

"I think she may have felt that way. She won't again." And after a pause. "I hope the person you know won't always."

"In this life or the next." It was their way, their belief and hope that even if it didn't happen now it would happen at some point. And it helped them to not be afraid.

"Each thing has a solution somewhere. Your niece, how we are here. Everything has an answer."

Sarah's own beliefs allow a similar measure of comfort, and she offers the ghost of a smile.

"You're very optimistic, Moiraine. Friends? Until those answers turn up."

There's the slightest of nods, a little warm smile forming.

"Having someone to share the answers with might help." Or to be confused at about how strange the world is.

"And you've left me curious."

She thinks they can expect more questions before they get those answers, and certainly more confusion. She'll be glad to have someone to share the experience.

"Likewise."

Her smile lingers for a moment before she has some of her tea. It's as the cup goes back down she asks--

"You mentioned being a witch. What does that mean for you?"

Sarah shrugs. "Different things for different people."

But there's no shame or fear. She'd sensed something about Moiraine and seen it at work. More like Diana's magic than her own, but who can say how these things translate between times and places.

"It's who I am, my community, my past." Of course she has an ordinary life, like anyone else, but being a witch is part of her identity. "I practice more traditional witchcraft. Spells, charms, potions."

There's no need to go into her family history. Somehow she doesn't think the Salem Witch Trials are going to mean anything to Moiraine.

"It sounds familiar."

Moiraine is slightly more hesitant to explain but only because she's not certain how to. People in her world know what channelling and Aes Sedai are even if they don't know how it feels or what it really means.

"I don't practice witchcraft. But I wonder if to you it would seem that way." And if Sarah's magic would seem like channelling to her.

"I'm what's known as an Aes Sedai. A channeller, someone that can touch and use the Source." Starting small before delving more.

The Source, channelling...there's nothing familiar in the terms, but the description.

"We might not call it witchcraft. Not all witches use spells. Some have more of an ability to call on it than others." And then there's higher magic, but she doesn't much want to talk about that right now. "Most still use spells and learn common potions, but they rely less on words."

"We have no spells, nothing with words. We create weaves, direct them based on how they are formed, specific combinations." And though they used the elements you had to be accurate in how you weaved, in the sequence they were put together if you wanted them to work. Or not be dangerous.

"Though healers across the world create their own potions of a kind, salves, healing agents." Poultices and medicines, though many healers were able to channel either without realising it or used their channelling to aide their craft.

"Weavers are rare among our kind." Because it's still too strange to say 'in our world.' "Even I didn't know of them until recently, but it sounds similar."

But weavers aren't ordinary witches either, responsible for creating all spells. It makes her wonder.

"Can you create these weaves to share with others?"

"The weaves we're taught are ones still known by history." So much of their knowledge was lost in the breaking of the world, so much that they could still use now. And it made them a lot weaker than they could be.

"Ones that each of us learn. There are areas some are more talented in than others, things that come simpler." And little tricks that each picked up on their own. Aes Sedai weren't often fond of sharing, each ajah even having their own secret weaves. She supposes those are shared in a way but nothing new is made. Or has been in a long time. The only thing would be how each channeller used her knowledge and skill.

"Not quite the same thing then, but I think I get the picture." Witches like Diana, Rebecca, Em...they had an affinity for natural magic. Sarah relies on spells, words that have been woven together with power, given strength by her own gift. Whatever magic Moiraine practices seems to live between the two, using more gestures than words but seeming more natural than spellcasting.

"Most witches have a certain talent. I have any number of spells, but I know a fair bit about healing."

"Your spells, the words that you say, are they different for each one?"

She wondered if anything might repeat, a theme or phrase, if intention changed anything or if it was just the words.

Out of everything that was different in this place learning about another power had her most curious.

"You're bound to find overlap somewhere, but none exactly the same." Though there are plenty of instances of different spells for doing the same thing. "Some are simple, easy to remember. We teach them to children when they're first learning. Others are more fanciful."

Now she has a better idea of how they came to be some of that makes a little more sense.

"Your children can use magic?"

She was more surprised than she sounded, keeping her voice leveler. That one was very different from what she knew -- those that had the potential never found out until later.

To Sarah's thinking, it's an odd question. Where she's from you're born a witch or you aren't.

"All witches can use magic. We try not to start teaching them until they're 12 or 13." When they can also teach them about control and responsibility. Toddlers and magic are a frightening combination.

"You can't always keep children with natural talent from using it younger."

"None of us ever know. We discover it accidentally, touching the Source without trying to."

It didn't run in families, there wasn't a way to predict it. The only other person in her family that could channel was her niece, though it was possible she didn't even know that.

"Teaching after that... is more complicated." Not the teaching aspect but how people got to it.

"That must be unsettling." Like mixing the unpredictability of being born a daemon with access to higher magics.

"How do you ever learn to use it?" As one of the older and more skilled in her community, she often helps those still learning. She wouldn't dream of sending them out in the world and hoping they figure it out on their own. "To us, witches are born to witches."

And apparently the occasional pair of daemons, but maybe now isn't the time for a lesson on other Creatures.

● ● ● T D M . 0 5

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