Test Drive Meme 007

[voidtreckermods]

Welcome to our Test Drive Meme! Here is the place to see how your character might fit the setting, grab some samples and start having fun!

1. Post with your character. I’ve written out some prompts but feel free to make up your own, you have a whole train to play with!

2. Assume they have been around long enough for threads to jump right into the action!

3. Have much fun!

Happy testing!

Void Trecking

The thing about being on a train hurtling through void space is there’s not much to see. Outside the window lies an endless void of kaleidoscope colours shifting and swirling. It’s probably best not to stare at it too long. Do so and you might start to imagine order in it. Shapes, places, even figures. But your eyes shift... Back to chaos. Probably best you do something else other than stare out the window. Or convince your fellow passengers that void watching leads to headaches!

Board Games

The game carriage is full of games. Every board game imaginable from silly party games to serious strategy games that last for hours. There are a disproportionate amount of games about trains.

Grab some friends, grab a game and some beanbags and get playing! Dive into a world of deck building or play a silly card game. A great way to alleviate boredom.

Happy Holidays

You have arrived in a place which might remind you of Victoria London if Victoria London had floating palaces and was ruled by wizards.

Their rule is strict and any kind of Winter celebration is banned. You have been called by a group of rebels to help with an underground celebration.

Team One

Distraction. Be out in the city, keep watch. If the guards get anywhere near the secret entrances distract them. Perhaps by being a lost tourist. Perhaps by causing mayhem. Make sure the organisers and party goers can arrive without a hitch.

Team Two

A party is not complete without food. The party is being held underground and there isn't much in the way of kitchens and do help bake in people's houses and smuggle the food across the city. Careful of guards.

Team Three

The venue needs decorating and the presents need wrapped. It might be an underground bunker but everyone is determined to make it the best festival ever, despite the risks. Help make it happen!

Party

Of course after all that hard work there is time to celebrate before you must board the train once more.

Eat drink and be merry!

Comments

[puzzlingly]

I prefer not knowing what future awaits, I guess that's the beauty of living. 「 Hmm, this got a little too philosophical a little too fast.

The young Pharaoh, for as much as he was trying to keep his emotions in check and not give any them away, widens his eyes at the revelation, at first maybe with something akin fear, but it quickly changes into something else, there is the shine of admiration before he veils his emotions under a cheeky smirk. 」

Heh... If what you say is true, you're basically what everyone aim to be. 「 Or is only him? Not quite but he's probably speaking for himself than his whole people. 」 You're a very interesting person, Curufin. Though, you speak of this... contraption as if it was alive and had chosen you. Do you believe in such?

[so_dark_a_road]

That seems a sensible philosophy. Let life remain always a surprise, and then beauty, too, comes as a surprise and a profound delight.

[ The danger of talking to Elves is that the conversation can turn philosophical or downright mystical in a hurry! Curufin grins in response to Atem's emotion-concealing smirk. ]

You aim to be one who can choose material existence or spirit-existence, at will? [ Interesting, whether that ambition is personal or cultural. ] Thank you. I think you are an interesting person as well. And as for the VoidTrecker, it behaves as though it were a living entity. It may well be such. It may also be that the invisible authorities that speak through it are actually separate beings. But as for the choosing, yes, I think it chose me. I think it chooses everyone, including you, for a purpose.

[puzzlingly]

Heh... there is some wisdom in your words, I can grant you that. 「 It's a little confusing, how someone so seemingly young as Curufin seems to be filled with life lessons. 」

In a way... yes. Reaching a higher plane of existence is what we strive for during our lives. To reach our gods, to walk next to them, to have them acknowledge our good deeds in life... 「 That's what he was taught, maybe that way he can meet his father again, see him in the eyes without shame. 」 And you, Curufin, have your gods revealed to you yet? Or do you consider this adventure as another trial with this entity as your judge?

[so_dark_a_road]

[ And of course, Curufin only looks young. He's actually 2800 years old. ]

A higher plane of existence? That means to go where your gods live, and perhaps to dwell among them? It is a little different in my world, partly because the land of the gods is where my story starts, and the story of my family. We lived in Aman, which was that land. I was born there. But most of us left to go to Middle-earth, and few actually returned alive, because of the many wars we fought against our great Enemy, who was also the enemy of the gods and of all who loved the earth.

Our relationship with our gods is complex, and not all of us regard them as the ultimate authorities on right and wrong. I never returned to Aman because I did not want to be judged. When I died, I refused the summons of our death god and remained in Middle-earth as a disembodied spirit. In that form, I helped other Elves and many mortals to escape from the soldiers of the Enemy. But Elves have the capacity to re-embody themselves, though most don't know it. I figured it out, and I stayed in Middle-earth in hopes of taking up arms again and fighting in the current war and in whatever wars would follow. But then I was snatched out of my world and into a different one.

It would take too long to tell all of my tale, but to answer your question, I don't believe that life events are usually trials sent to us by the gods. I think most of them are simply the chances of the world. And once we leave our own worlds, we deal with the chances of other worlds. However, I believe that what we do matters profoundly.

I don't think the VoidTrecker is empowered to be my judge, or anybody's judge. But I do believe there is a point to its actions, and that it does choose passengers it thinks may help with its goals. I think that for me, being on the VoidTrecker is a part of my search for a life that will have meaning.

[puzzlingly]

「 Atem listens to what Curufin has to say with some healthy respect, he's aware not everyone in the world worships his gods, even though accepting that would be considered blasphemy. 」

Ah—I see. Elves sound like some very complex individuals... 「 He's sure that in his world they could maybe be confused with some sort of deity. But he also cannot take everything for granted, for as much as the other seem to be rather friendly, Atem doesn't know him. 」

[so_dark_a_road]

[ Curufin thinks that every universe has its own gods, and each pantheon of gods has its own customs of worship and rule. ]

I suppose we Elves are complex. [ He laughs a little. ] But I thin that everybody is complex. You as well. But tell me, have your gods revealed themselves to you yet? Or are you still seeking them?

[puzzlingly]

Shouldn't you know that, since you claim you know me? 「 What is it that they talked about if not about that? 」

[so_dark_a_road]

Our attention was largely absorbed by the things we had to deal with in that world, the everyday matters and the extraordinary matters. We had very few conversations about the gods, yours or mine.

[puzzlingly]

Hmm, I see... I'm curious, what is it that you know about me, then?

[so_dark_a_road]

I know that you have a heart and an intellect, and that you have a playful side as well. Also, that you have integrity.

[puzzlingly]

「 Atem lets out a little chuckle. 」 I should rename you Curufin Silvertongue. 「 It's not quite the compliment, even if disguised as one. Flattery will get you nowhere, they say, and truly it... as true as his words might be, they only make Atem a little wary, he's saying a lot without being specific. He's good at concealing it, though. 」

[so_dark_a_road]

[ Curufin chuckles along with him. ] Maybe so. In my own world, I had a reputation that would warrant the name. [ And it does occur to him that what he said is not very specific. ] You are Pharaoh Atem, of a long dynasty in the ancient country of Egypt. It was a different universe than mine, so I don't know much about it. Middle-earth did have warm countries south of the ones I knew, but I never journeyed there during my lifetime, so I couldn't compare. You never did tell me much about your life. I caught a glimpse of it during that dream, but it was a short dream. You were sitting on your throne, surrounded by your councilors and your guards, dealing with affairs of state and judging those who were brought before you. There was some kind of mystery about your existence, because you were simultaneously that pharaoh and a very modern young man. You loved games and you were an expert player, and your slang was modern. But you never revealed the full story of your life to me.

[puzzlingly]

. . .

「 Ah... well that, is something he wasn't expecting, Atem's countenance changes gradually from surprise to something akin fear, it's not obvious, no, hidden behind a hardened stare, a studied one at best. It wasn't unusual that people, in general, knew more about him that he knew about them, but this is a little different, and yet, it is what he wanted to know, wasn't it? Without all that Curufin mentions, something as ridiculous as his throne, his priests, his guards, he feels naked and alone before the other man. They maybe didn't talk much about him, but he knows enough.

Atem goes silent for the moment, unknowing how to proceed. By now he would have good old Siamun whispering in his ear, suggesting all kinds of things to him. Or Seth, yelling at Curufin not to upset the Pharaoh, giving him some time to reflect on it. But here, he's alone, he needs to do this by himself. Did he saw it all in a dream, he says? He can actually believe that. 」

I still love games... 「 He concurs. 」 What... do you mean by modern? 「 Modernity, after all, depended on the perspective and the time in which one resides. 」

[so_dark_a_road]

[ Curufin meets that stare with compassion. Atem's fear is hidden, but the long pause tells the Elf that his words have had an effect, maybe one that Curufin didn't intend. He would never have wanted Atem to be appalled or worried or frightened by the knowledge a friend has of him. ]

The VoidTrecker certainly can provide games! And as for modern, well, that's a word I became familiar with in my last two worlds, both from reading in a library and from talking to others. People who are from Earth use the word to mean the present as opposed to the remote past, but it is a word that wasn't in use before the early seventeenth century. It generally refers to the time when scientific discoveries and indeed the concepts of science and technology came into the culture, and to the centuries following.

[ Curufin's gaze is still kindly. Whatever happens, he wishes Atem well, and he is glad to have met him here. ]