Test Drive Meme 026

[voidtreckermods]

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

1. Post with your character, including their name and series in the subject. We’ve written out some prompts but feel free to make up your own, you have a whole train to play with!

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

3. Have lots of fun.

Happy testing!

Stand Back

The long-awaited laboratory carriage is a place of many delights. And by delights, we mean 'unsafe thaumo-scientific practices'. Whether the chemistry stores, the machine shop and its welding station, the magitech benches sat right next to the physics research area... or the panic showers.

A strange, earthy smell is coming from the biology room. Green smoke is curling under the door of chemistry. The machine shop is eerily quiet, and within a metre of the physics room, things appear to be levitating. At least one of the showers is running, but who knows which room the erstwhile scientist came from? Dare ye investigate?

Autobiography

The library carriage is normally a place of quiet, two storeys of shelves and comfy seating. The shelves are normally a little empty, filled only with what the Voidtreckers have bought themselves... but today, every shelf is filled.

Some books are normal - that one novel you'd been thinking of last week, or the tome of old family recipes you wistfully mentioned to your friend. The lower shelves are replete with activity books for small children, covering topics such as anatomy (for kids! non-human kids, mostly!), holiday activities for familiar and unfamiliar national holidays, and an unnerving number of sticker books that bodes ill for the walls of the train.

Others are larger, gilt or bound in strange covers. Like this one, coloured in a familiar hue, its spine reading only your name.

Fools' Gold

The Voidtrecker Express has landed on the world of Pamsar. More specifically, it has stopped, floating and untraceable, above the mountains holding the castle and surrounding town of the Pale Marquess's march.

It would have landed, but the forests and gardens of the march have petrified. Trees are sweeping spikes and clusters of sharp, smooth jade. Gemstone flowers dot the meadows and twine up walls and around window frames. Mosses have taken on the rough texture of granite. Beautiful as it is, it threatens the march's survival.

Team One

What were cultivated fields of grain are now rows upon rows of pure gold. Blinding, shimmering in the morning light coming over the mountains, but useless for the people of the Pale March. Panic is spreading. This team is tasked with protecting the granaries and food stores from panicked citizens.

Team Two

When pressed, many people appear to know the source of their misfortune. Living at the frontier, the people of their march have grown envious of the palaces and styles of the inner kingdom, and their prayers the last year have been for wealth and prosperity above all else. A wandering deity granted these wishes, to the peoples' regret. This team is to locate the deity's temple in the outlands, and convince them to reverse the blessing. Or else find another of the outsider gods to repair the damage.

Team Three

The forests across the march are now gorgeous, sharped prison bars for the people and creatures that live within them. This team must ingress into the jade woodlands, and rescue those trapped within. For some, a discovery is made: living blood shed on the petrified plants slowly dispels the effect.

Comments

[thesnarkitect]

Eldibus's words is shocking, though he is restrained in admitting so. Of all the ones in their order, his will was the most unbending; the most unshakable. The thought of him performing menial tasks for the sake of these so called 'teams' was ludicrous.

Emet-Selch had to let out a slow, joyless laugh. "I was not aware that domestic duties would serve to bring about the next ardor. That is, unless you intend to use poison or conceal a bomb to start an international conflict. This is the sort of minutia that you would accuse me of overemphasizing."

And should Elidibus find himself busy answering his question, Emet-Selch would attempt to reach down and pry the other book open to get a better look at its contents. What do we have here?

Spoilers for FFXIV Shadowbringers Within!

[wewillwewill]

"If one were to consider this train and its passengers might be capable of reaching our Star, it would stand to reason that having them look favorably on our existence would benefit our goal." Think of the logistical nightmare of straightening out any 'fixes' Voidtreckers messing around on the Source might entail. The train and its occupants are a power. One capable of plucking even the Unsundered from their lot and adding them to its roster of talent. It should be little wonder why Elidibus might be concerned.

"If it does not, then our time here serves as a time to reflect and gain knowledge. And having no guarantee I would be joined by my brethren, I adapted." He.... adapted, is it? Well no matter, he's moving on.

"Still it is interesting you bring up our great task here of all places. This train offers many opportunities to indulge in a small respite. I would have thought that much would be welcome to you, Emet-Selch."

But any further remarks on the matter are stilled as his fellow Unsundered swipes the coveted book from his grasp. Without masks and robes, emotional tells are easier to see. A subtle darkening to otherwise calm features suggests a shift in mood. The corners of his mouth turn down and there are signs that his jaw tightens. He remains silent while Emet-Selch peruses the contents of this so-called autobiography.

How much is in there? Is it but fragments of the Ascian's life just like his tattered memories? Are there gaps between text? Countless pages empty of knowledge? Or is it all painstakingly collected in order of recollection, cutting off sharply where the finer details fail?

Either way, the ending would be more concise and detailed. A collection of events unfolding when Elidibus personally took to the field against the Warrior of Light. And a finale to those events.

But one that was not without a certain betrayal punctuated by a flippant wave of farewell.

Well, it really depends on where Emet-Selch opened the book and read.

"If you are done," Elidibus quietly offers after a few minutes, "I would like you to return the book to my care." His expression is nothing more than the carefully polite mask of a diplomat now. The tightly clenched fist of the hand which once held the book is the only indication that his emotions are anything but calm.