TEST DRIVE :003

[onemind]

TEST DRIVE :003

     WELCOME to the test drive and thank you for your interest in Station 72! To allow players to experiment with game mechanics, flexibility and to account for the fact that our TDMs tend to span a number of months to make up for our low player turnover, we've put together a game-themes random scenario generator for you to play with. Mix and match prompts at will, pick your own broodmates, experiment with abilities and specializations, talk to each other and maybe make up some pre-established CR, and generally play around however you like.

This test drive is not game canon, so take this chance to go nuts! Current in game players are also welcome to make top levels here and aren't beholden to their in-game characterizations (so if it makes more sense to be a broodmates of a character test driving, feel free to do so for the sake of these threads).

For the full experience, we strongly encourage players to write up a short blurb about what their fellow characters might know about them either through shared time on the Station or through the Nest mental link. Handy links can be found at the bottom of this entry if you have any questions and APPLICATIONS are always open if you decide you'd like to jump into the game proper. If you're having trouble coming up with a symbiote ability for your character for use in either the TDM or for your application, we have an ability workshop post located HERE.

(Mix and match these prompts at will to create your own TDM scenario - there's no obligation to use something from every category. Feel free to make up anything that isn't covered in the prompt if it lends to your playing.)

     THE PLACE

1. STATION 72 consists of massive, alien sprawl. While large sections of the Station might be mistaken for a Station manufactured for use by humanoid beings - the hangar is relatively standard other than its massive size, the Life Support deck with its series of living quarters seems normal enough (if you ignore the part where none of the rooms have doors on them), and there's even a Jai Alai court -, beyond the most well trod paths the Station quickly cedes to the utterly bizarre. Corridors twist and loop back in on themselves, great verandas overlook massive empty rooms, ramps because stairs which lead to dead ends. It's easy to get lost if you don't have a destination in mind. Strangely enough, if you do know where you want to be, the Station's twisting paths will eventually get you there as long as you keep your goal firmly in mind. Knowing that is another thing entirely.

2. THE MELTED WORLD was once beautiful. Then again, maybe it's always been a toughened old rock, but at some point the planet called Ojan was glassed in the throes of a brutal war. The planet's entire surface has become a twisted, mirror-like substance by whatever super hot biological weapon was poured into it. The material isn't actually that horrible, consuming black; it perfectly reflects the empty, quiet space that surrounds Ojan: a foreboding testament to a war long forgotten. But what lies below the surface of the desolated world?

3. THE SCEPTRE is a fabulous building structure suspended from an asteroid in orbit around a planet. The Sceptre pierces down through the atmosphere of the planet below and over the course of the asteroid's orbit, The Sceptre has an opportunity to pass through every habitat and climate the world below it has to offer. The Sceptre is sleek and beautiful (or it is? Maybe it's fallen into disrepair and only ghosts remain) and its massive windows look out onto a varied, verdant world (or do they? What state is the planet below in, exactly? Has it been so thoroughly paved over that the atmosphere is the only place left to build?).

4. PENTARA PRIME is the ancient, meandering capital of the lush garden world of Pentara. Unlike most cities, it is a large, verdant sprawl, made up eighteen clustered centers - groups of low, elegant stone buildings, strung together by winding roads populated with quietly humming pods moving people from spoke to spoke. The capital is built around leisure, not production and there are far more gardens and orchards than there are buildings. The sun is heavy and low, and the air is still and buzzes with the sounds of fat-bodied insects. It’s so still, so calm. It seems empty and there is something unsettling in the quiet. --Or is it? Maybe it's bustling with energy, just as vibrant and delightful as it seems on the surface.

5. CHORIUS is not quite a planet. Not anymore. Once long ago it was, but over time it has changed - been stripped clean of every valuable mineral, every scrap of rare metal, and eventually even of atmosphere. The core has cooled perceptibly and now even its rotation period has slowed dramatically. Now it is a made up of shaped carbon and steel that bridge over the stripped surface of the planet, pulsing with energies, shielded from the harshness of the sun by a webbed dome that keeps the electric scented air from escaping into the space around it. Here nothing is wasted. Everything - everyone - is recycled and reconstituted into new forms. Every one of the cities changes daily, reformatted to meet new goals and new needs. It is a dead world filled with the living. But whether it is thriving or dying is hard to say - and what the newest change will bring with it is even more difficult to guess.

6. SPACE, THE FINAL FRONTIER. There's a lot of it in every direction.

     THE PEOPLE

1. THE OUTLANDERS consist of small bands of settlers and explorers who have quested out into the unknown, the remote, and the dessicated parts of this galaxy looking for either new opportunities or forgotten mysteries. They are mostly upright though only vaguely humanoid, remnants of a civilization driven from their own failing world, each group is bound only by their own codes and personal laws. They're traders and nomads, largely peaceful but wary of the harsh, dangerous environment and beings they've crossed paths with. Don't cross a deal with an Outlander - they'll make you regret it.

2. A VERITABLE MELTING POT, the beings of this metropolis are as vibrant and diverse as is imaginable. These are a people developed by a myriad of cultural influences, technological insights, overlapping interests and clashing societal norms shaken up and spit out into something that more or less works as long as there's a whole lot of bureaucracy to keep it in order. And boy is there a lot of that. Mind your p's and q's - someone might haul you in for questioning if you cause too much of an uproar.

3. A RUINED GHOST is all that remains of this ancient civilization. Once there were people here leading brilliant or lives, or quiet ones, but all that's left are their ruined structures, old half-functional consoles and signs of lives abruptly arrested. What destroyed these people is initially unclear, but their extinction appears to have been absolute. --Or was it?

4. THE COURT is elegant and beautiful and perfect. Every being is shrouded in delicate, gauzy fabrics layered so densely as to obscure their elongated squirming bodies from head to toe. Each step sounds like a bell ringing from the the small metal plates at the bottom of their soft slippers; every gloved finger glints with small golden threads. The queens sweep through their secret insect gardens and their royal technomancers walk the halls with the glitter of hologlyphs sparkling at their fingertips and in the wake of their sweeping robes.

5. THE GREAT MILITARY is larger even than it’s name suggests. Every member of their civilization plays some part in it, every person has a rank, every family an insignia. The structure is rigid and inflexible and all-encompassing, and it has made them into ferocious enemies. They have been at war for as long as they have been a people, and their battle will never end, because if it did, they would go with it. The harshness of their life is painted on the sharp planes of their grey faces, but there is an indomitability and a pride to them that is hidden by their stern, unchanging expressions.

6. SCUM ALWAYS LIVES at the edge of the universe. Beware the dark of the space and the seedier underbelly of cities or the shadows of forgotten planet - pirates make their living there and these are desperate times, friend.

     THE OBJECTIVE

1. GET UP from where you've fallen. Or get up from the nesting deck pod where you've just woken up on the Station. Or get up to Level 672 where there's a ship waiting for you. Or get up from the knee you've taken before this alien queen. Get up.

2. THE RESCUE might be saving a city from a disaster engineered by an enemy force, playing bodyguard for a government official, or liberating a rare artifact from a crumbling structure.

3. IT'S A RACE AGAINST TIME to collect the relic you've been sent to retrieve from the collapsing ruin. Or to make your way free of the military blockade. Or to make your escape from a crumbling world.

4. THE MASQUERADE is all a cover - for an assassination. For a heist. For a political coup.

5. INFILTRATE you know what you need. And you know who has it. With a little help you’ll be able to break into the place no one is supposed to go. You could sneak in… or smash in. Or maybe just talk your way past every little problem.

6. COME ON AND SLAM and welcome to the jam. It’s a ritual or maybe it’s just a pastime, but whichever it is there are rules and there is a goal. There’s probably even points. If you’re lucky, you just might score one. Avoid the spiky pits? Or maybe the thrown fruit. Or perhaps just the other team...

6. EXPLORE and uncover the secrets this place have to offer. There’s a mystery here if you know where to find it. And all you have to do is look.

7. DON'T DIE is easy to say and hard to do when you're under the guns of an armada. Or when you're trying to outwit spies. Or when the ground is literally crumbling under your feet.


     INSPIRATION

NAVIGATION • PREMISE • FAQ • RULES • GLOSSARY • APPLICATIONS • SYMBIOTIC SKILLS • ABILITY POINTS

( CODE BY WHAMBAM )

Comments

myfanwy thomas | the checquy files

[deskjob]

[ myfanwy thomas already has the ability to manipulate organic matter (human bodies, for example, so she can make anyone stab themselves, shut down pain receptors, tc), so i'm playing with the idea of giving her something like (low-level) empathy to complement it. any mindlink with her will probably come with a sense of a blank slate, few memories, but a sense of determination. ]

I. THE STATION

[ myfanwy may not remember anything of her (thomas') life but what thomas had told her in the letters, but she's pretty sure that while it featured the supernatural, it hadn't featured aliens. still, it doesn't seem like much of a stretch, all things considered. if there are people with weird abilities like hers, if vampires are real, why shouldn't aliens be?

she hadn't expected to end up in space, but her life hasn't ever gone the way she'd expected. she doesn't have a basis for expectations, does she? so there's that.

to recap: she's in space. there are aliens. everything is weird, which is really quite normal. she is also very, very lost. this corridor looks loopy, and she's not sure she hasn't walked it before, but she's also not sure that she has, and she's definitely sure that she has no idea which direction she should be going. ]

Uhm. [ there doesn't seem to be anyone around, but that doesn't ever mean no one is, or that no one can hear her, does it? ] A little help here? [ after a moment, she adds - ] Please.

II. INFILTRATE

[ even before myfanwy had woken up after thomas has closed her eyes, the same person and not, a stranger in this body, she's been learning. she's learned how to fake being a rook of the checquy. she's learned how to use her (thomas') ability, and better than thomas ever had. she's come to understand the structure of the checquy, she's uncovered the plot against thomas and found the traitor within the ancient organisation thomas had held in such high regard. she's done things thomas would never have dreamt of doing and the bureaucratic things thomas prided herself in doing well.

she's never done undercover work.

there's a steady stream of don't fuck up, don't fuck this up, don't fuck up going through her mind, but she's still holding her head up high and putting one foot in front of the other. it's not as easy as it seems in these high heels and this dress, it really isn't.

hopefully this won't end the same way the last time she'd worn a dangerous dress had, with treason and stabbing. myfanwy glances at her partner for the evening. oh, i really hope you have more experience with this kind of thing, she thinks, and maybe that's something her partner overhears, or maybe it isn't. maybe it was meant to be heard. ]

infiltration;

[raw]

( Shit. )

[ Elliot glances across at her, probably the first time he's even looked at her since the assignation, since he's not really an eye contact kind of guy. He explains that deadpan curse: ]

( I was just thinking the same thing about you. )

[ Because he's feeling out of place in the James Bond tuxedo and shiny shoes, even if he looks pretty good in them. Give him a black hoodie any day of the week. More importantly, his experience with this shit is limited to strictly social engineering, usually as part of a hack, and even then his cover story was usually better tailored to fit his introverted, difficult personality. Social media millionaire, eccentric agoraphobe, that kind of thing. ]

( This is my first infiltration mission. Sorry, I guess. )

[deskjob]

[ okay. okay, that's odd and it still takes some getting used to, but it's definitely a convenient way of communicating. myfanwy's gotten used to having powers she would have thought impossible once before, she can do it again without making a fool of herself. ]

( I can handle this. ) [ she thinks very deliberately, projecting more confidence than the series of don't fuck up would indicate is genuine. she can handle this, though. she has to, if he's as inexperienced as she is.

technically, this isn't her first infiltration mission, is it? technically, she infiltrated the organisation her former self worked in and impersonated her former self. if she'd managed that, surely this will be easy. (no, she doesn't actually believe that.) ]

( Worst case scenario, we can always just run, right? )

[ not without the information they came here to find on ... but still. it's a comforting thought of sorts. ]

[raw]

[ Maybe it's false confidence she's projecting, but Elliot buys in. Allows it to resonate along her words and wash over him, bolster his own confidence relievingly. Sure. They have instructions. They have backup, if it should really come to that. Elliot's smart, this chick knows what she's doing, they've got this. ]

( Right. Though, you might have to take your shoes off first. )

[ He doesn't actually visibly smile, but there's a little warm flicker of amusement that acts like a smiley emoji at the end of that sentence. ]

( And we've got the whole Nest to play Q if we need it. )

[ It might be a little long-range, but the mental link is such a boon on every mission, making communication and covert planning easy, helping everyone share tips based on their expertise. He knows she's knew to that side of it — from her startlement at being telepathically communicated with, if nothing else — and he remembers what it was like before he learned to trust that power.

(As much as Elliot trusts anything.) ]

( So what do I call you? )

[deskjob]

[ myfanwy doesn't glance down at her shoes, mostly because she knows they're hidden by the length of her dress, but also because she doesn't need to look down to remember just how high they are. (even with the heels, she's still small. it's ridiculous, frankly, but then, this is the body she's inherited and there's really nothing to be done about it. at any rate, it's quite capable a body, so that's nice.) ]

( You're right. I don't think I could run in these. At least not very fast. )

[ for a moment, myfanwy lets herself miss ingrid, her more-than-capable secretary who'd taken, unasked, to carrying trainers in her purse for myfanwy. ]

( I'm Myfanwy. ) [ she pronounces it in a way that rhymes with tiffany. a moment later, she thinks about whether she should have given an alias, and then remembers that they're linked telepathically. with a mental shrug, she adds: ] ( Rook Myfanwy Thomas. ) [ rook being not a name but a position. a title, if you will. ]

i!

[modality]

( Hi. )

[ There's still nobody around. David hears her, though — sort of. Feels is more accurate, a sharp thread of confusion, distinctly not his and also, a bit more weirdly, distinctly polite. He squints down the sprawling white hallway he's stuck in, half expecting someone to show up. They don't.

Reaching out with thoughts probably isn't most people's first instinct. But he's got the luxury of having been there, done that, so after a cautious beat he gives it another go. ]

( Can you hear me? )

[deskjob]

[ that's odd. that's very, very odd. fortunately, odd is something that is very much not odd at all to myfanwy because ever since she opened her eyes and made the choice not to run, she's been surrounded by the odd.

so she closes her eyes, not sure whether that's necessary or even helpful but finding that it comes instinctively, and thinks back. ]

( Hello. )

[modality]

[ Something's different. He's had voices in his head, and he's even had conversations with another telepath in his head, but this time it feels like there are very solid strings attached.

Emotional strings. There's a distinct sense of another presence that goes with her voice, like her thoughts and emotions are carving out their own space in his head. ]

( Are you a telepath? )

[ Totally logical question, all things considered. ]

[deskjob]

( No. )

[ that question, at leat, is easily answered. she can do a great many things, but reading someone's mind or pushing thoughts like this is not amongst her abilities. ]

( Are you? ) [ fair's fair. ]

[modality]

[ Yeah, okay. Fair enough. His hesitation's more of a 'huh' than anything wary. ]

( Yes. )

[ He doesn't know what the rules are. He does know that most people aren't great at projecting their thoughts into other people's heads, though. ]

( But to be completely fair, I don't think we'd be having this conversation if you weren't at least a little telepathic. )

[deskjob]

( I'm not the least bit telepathic. ) [ there have been tests. on the old myfanwy thomas rather than the one that woke up later, this her, but — while her powers have grown stronger since because she's not terrified of using them, telepathy is firmly not on the list of things she's capable of.

which means - ] ( I think it's something about this place. )

[ that, and her willingness to accept the strange at face value, these days. ]