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newcombers2024-05-23 02:01 am
newcomod) wrote in newcombers2024-05-23 02:01 am
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May 2024 Test Drive Meme: The First of Many to Come
We will officially be opening our game June 1st at 12:01 AM EST.
Reserves will open on May 28th at 12:01 AM EST.
Applications will open on the 1st at 12:01 AM EST.
Applications will close on the 5th at 11:59 PM EST.
Please follow our Plurk
Our memes are open to current and prospective players alike.
All Test Drive memes are game canon and serve as a lead-up to the following month's event. The first prompt in each TDM will always coincide with the disastrous circumstances of Penumbra's collision.
This disaster will leave unique supplies or conditions for the following month until the reset in time occurs and a new collision invokes new circumstances.
Most characters upon initial arrival may suffer mild amnesia, fatigue, and diminished powers. Memories, energy, and powers will eventually return. Per player choice, this can be quickly or slowly.
You can use your TDM threads for writing samples on your application.
If you are applying for a new character, you can choose to keep your TDM threads canon to your character or not.
Even if our current players do not engage with the TDM, we strongly recommend they read each TDM to be aware of how Penumbra strikes Newcomb every month. We encourage characters to react to this via network or log posts in the community spaces.
Image Descriptions from left to right: First image is a red train pictured along raised tracks set against pine trees in sunlight, second image is a gif of a train explosion as people flee from the destruction, third image is of a dark sky with orange lightning.
Prompt
Once upon a time, Newcomb had its very own train station that was used by students and staff alike. Most students would arrive at campus via the train and supplies were often shipped in through the train. This very train station used to be located by Fitch End and was one of the first out-of-campus locations to be destroyed by Penumbra. This month, it seems as if the reset has brought the train back. For a moment, anyway. One may awaken from a deep slumber in one of the passenger cars, groggy and nearly jetlagged. You will be surrounded by other characters waking up, just as disoriented and confused as you are.
The train ride itself isn't so bad though. The scenery beyond the windows is filled with gorgeous sprawling woods, already tinged with the golds and reds of autumn. The smell of pine and old leather fills the train and you will find your backpack in a cubby just above your head or on the seat beside you.
There is no way to exit the train at this point, no matter how one might try. What is the point anyway? Just sit back and enjoy the ride. Something is soothing about a train ride, after all. You may even feel tempted to fall back asleep. Maybe things will make more sense when you wake up again.
You won't have peace for long. The train jolts violently as if being struck by something, and after, everything descends into chaos. Cars begin to slam together, some smashing upward, shattering glass and doors, crushing seats. Explosions burst from the front of the train, and as it pivots onto campus, it scorches the ground.
Cars break apart, sliding into their destruction here and there against buildings or trees. It feels as though it happens both slowly and rapidly, defying time itself, the sound of a ticking clock somehow overwhelming the symphony of metal scraping against metal.
Oil from the train catches fire across campus grounds. While the buildings are fireproof and resilient, the rest of the campus is not and neither are some characters who may be wandering about perchance. As the disaster comes to a screeching halt, characters will have to help each other from the wreckage and help put out the fires.
The train will remain on campus for June. It can be broken apart for metal parts and explored for small, sentimental items or important weapons that belong to a character. The train will vanish in the blink of an eye as midnight hits on the 31st. The Penumbric siren alerts the campus of the reset and the incoming meteor and its potential new disaster.
You will have to brace yourself for what happens next.
Note on Penumbric Collision Prompts: Characters do not need to arrive in this prompt. You may opt-out entirely by having your character fall through the sky or wake up incredibly disoriented randomly on campus. Arrival to Newcomb should be somewhat physically and/or mentally draining or damaging. Even characters resistant to pain or injury will be temporarily vulnerable to the arrival.
Image Descriptions from left to right: First image is a shadowy humanoid with a black and gray smudge effect concealing the face, second image is a pair of hands covered in a black goopy substance, third image has several clear vials containing a smoky, goopy black substance.
Prompt
A curious boxcar can be discovered among the wreckage of the train. This boxcar was carefully sealed off and kept at freezing temperatures. Inside were metal crates filled with test tubes and Petri dishes containing a mysterious black goo. During the fall, the boxcar's front end was ripped away. Between the raging fires from the crash and the exposure to higher temperatures, the vials and petri dishes thawed. Vials and Petri dishes began to break apart as the mysterious goo essentially "woke up" from its cryogenic state and escaped from the glass containers.
This mysterious goo seeks out living organisms and will subtly attach itself to character bodies. This can be as subtle as a dime-sized speck of mysterious goo behind a character's ear or consume half a character's body. The goo's attachment is painless. It has a tarlike odor and causes a strange prickling sensation the longer it remains attached to a character.
After some time, the goo will naturally slide off a character. Alternatively, a character can apply freezing water or ice to the goo and this will essentially "kill" the goo and slough it off in broken chunks.
While the goo is attached to characters, it will cause uncontrollable, unusual behavior. On a less severe end, symptoms may include disorientation, difficulty walking, slurred speech, confusion, and clinginess even to strangers. On a more extreme end, the goo may cause characters to act in ways contradictory to who they typically are: they may be prone to fits of violence, hysteria, flirtation, cruelty, or even for some, abundant kindness and outgoing friendliness.
The goo will automatically make characters want to interact with other characters whether positively or negatively. It uses these interactions as a way to migrate from one host to the next.
Image Descriptions from left to right: First image has a playing card and two white dice, second image has a text bubble that reads, "I'm not a Soft Gay I'm an Anger Gay. I love dogs and burning things." Third image shows a field of grass and wildflowers with a free-standing picture frame with torn canvas, the torn spot revealing a city scape image.
Prompt.
Who isn't familiar with the bizarre urge to overshare to total strangers online? It would appear that the mysterious goo has an intimate understanding of this instinct and intends to capitalize on it.In other words, the mysterious goo's influence is not limited to in-person interactions. Even characters unfamiliar with technology will have the burning desire to get out their new phone and create a public post to all Fermii users containing two truths and a lie about themselves.
These can range from embarrassing and silly to serious and incriminating. Characters will continue to feel an itch to respond transparently to those who correctly guess which is which. Even the most sophisticated and chronic liars cannot resist the force of the mysterious goo's presence.
The urge to overshare will ebb away the more truth is exposed.
Ironically, this may be a minor blessing to those unfamiliar with smartphone technology. It would seem that the mysterious goo has managed to assimilate the knowledge of how smartphones work and helpfully pass it into the mind of its host. However, the price of exposure might not be worth the shortcut to knowledge.
caught in a trainwreck some escape from reality
Okay, well, I haven't seen her for sure. I think I'd remember.
[ He doesn't think he's seen a lot of blue girls. For some reason, he has it in his mind that it's a rare skin color, but thinking back, he doesn't know why it is. He's really missing a lot of things in his memory. ]
no subject
[ He was not one who generally liked loud, he was always skittish and it had taken some getting used to for Jester, but after a time he would've died for her; would've died for all of his friends really, to protect them. ] So I think you would like her, I cannot imagine anyone not liking her.
[ And then he continued on. ] There is Cadeucus, he is a giant pink-haired Firbolg, he is rather difficult to describe however-- as you can imagine, I have a lot of colourful friends.
[ And then because he did not want this conversation to be all about him. ] Have you met anyone here that you recognize from your own world?
no subject
[ He's not even aware of what a Firbolg is, but he can sort of imagine one from the description, though he'd honestly have thought the lot of them would be tawny brown like deer.
Caleb asks another question, and Steve finds it difficult to answer. ]
Yes.
[ That much is true. ]
A few friends of mine are here, but, I'm having trouble putting my memories in order.
[ So he doesn't know if they're still his friends, or what happened. One appears to be quite annoyed with him, in any case. ]
no subject
But, alas. ]
It appears that everyone I've talked with has had issues with the after-effects of the crash; most of the magic users that I have encountered have found within themselves some sort of blockage, then there are people who have undergone vast personality issues. Then there is the injuries.
[ it was his own way of attempting to sooth, that perhaps the lack of trust may be something that is brought on by the chaos held within this realm? ]
no subject
There's gotta be a way to stop it. The only thing I've been able to find is that we can talk to this AI named Cassandra - but she's not really that forthcoming.
[ Surely more could be explained about the situation, but, she's also not that kind of AI he supposes. He has the distinct memory of them being a little more useful in general. ]
no subject
[ The confusion in Caleb's eyes nearly mirrored Steve's own. He was unfamiliar with that term. Automation yes, there had been quite a bit from the part of Exandria with which he had been pulled but, well.. AI did not sound very, promising. ]
Dare I ask what AI is? It is a new term for me, so I appreciate your patience in explaining it, that is if you can.
[ Because Caleb was aware that not everyone had all the answers; the best to hope for was answers here and there from a variety of people-- to which he'd have to piecemeal together. ]
no subject
[ He doesn't really understand the concept either, he's really just parroting things at this point. But there are so many holes in his memory right now that he holds onto anything he knows for a fact, and tries to build off of it.
Why does he know what AI is? Why doesn't Caleb? Maybe Caleb can help fill in some of Steve's gaps. ]
no subject
Aeor.
Automation. ]
Alright, so I think that I recently encountered something like that, though from what I noted, it was more like the psyche of individuals downloaded into a core mainframe, though I am still attempting to figure out how that is precisely possible.
[ That is the extent of his knowledge though. ] Then, to the library it is-- where we will comb the stacks then? [ A solid plan, much could be found in books nad maybe they could glean the manner of world that they had landed themselves within ]
no subject
[ Especially if the AI is not going to be terribly forthcoming. Steve starts walking towards one direction. ]
It's not a big campus, library's this way. There's more specialized books in each of the department buildings, though, but I don't know where to start.
no subject
Not the book, he has at least three copies of that. But this--
Also? He does not carry a watch on him because quite simply put, he does not need it. ]
Did you find a pocketwatch on your person, upon coming here?
no subject
[ He digs into his pocket for it, withdrawing it. It's on a fob that's visible on the outside of his waistcoat though, so he assumes that he came with it. Somehow. In the same vein that he doesn't remember buying these clothes, he doesn't remember purchasing this watch. ]
Do you need to look at it?
[ Maybe Caleb can enlighten him! ]
no subject
The points were bright and vibrant, finished to reflect the light. ]
So, I have an ability where I am able to know the exact time without the need of a watch, which is why it struck me as a bit odd that I have a pocketwatch.. [ He clicks his open to real hands that are telling a sort of time, he doesn't know if it's the real time though, because his keen mind is waiting for the space-time continuum to re-align. ] I cannot know if it's the correct time because that ability is a bit ah, futzed.
no subject
[ He does wonder, indeed, why Caleb would have a pocketwatch if he already has that power, however: ]
I don't think normally I wear waistcoats.
[ He blinks, as he thinks about it, and then says: ]
Maybe you wear it as jewelry.
[ Steve himself has his fob dangling on a chain attached to his waistcoat, which looks like another little star at the end of a chain. Stars, apparently a theme with him. ]
no subject
[ He gestures toward the watch though, with a raise of his brow. ] It would be interesting to see if there are more of them scattered about.
[ Perhaps a well placed, 'what is the time' may have them instinctively reaching for a pocket watch? Might have to put that to the test. But this is a discussion for when they finally located lodgings and procured food ]
no subject
Watches? I think probably so, this place feels a lot more analog than where I'm from.
[ Which he's having a hard time remembering in clear detail, but he also assumes that it was somewhere more in the future, because he has a clear idea of that. ]
ooc: we can handwave them peeking around if you want, this is getting to a good close I think
[ Perhaps then they could together get situated, figure out the rhyme and reason; lodgings and food, and anything else that could come by surprise. ] Together because, have I've learned-- there's strength in numbers, ja.