Test Drive Meme #1

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Test Drive Info

⇝ Test Drive Memes usually take place in a virtual reality simulation occurring in characters' minds that tests them for 'fitness' before they enter the setting officially. However, for the first TDM, it will be set in the real world and centered around the arrival of the first crop of extra-universal "recruits."
⇝ Test Drive Meme threads may be considered game canon so long as all parties agree to it.
⇝ Test Drive Meme threads do count for Activity Check.

Welcome to the Broken World.

You can't even remember how you got here.

All you know is that one moment you were in a world you were used to, comfortable in. It might have been a regular day or the most important day of your life, in the middle of a meal or brushing your teeth or the battle to save the world or the moment of your death. Whoever took you didn't seem to care what you were doing when you were taken, and now that you're here, they still don't seem to care.

You wake up after what seems like the blink of an eye, nauseous and dizzy but otherwise unscathed, possessions taken away, barefoot and dressed only in a set of plain grey clothing, like the most bland uniform ever imagined, in an empty room with empty walls and one single door with a small barred window and a single number printed just above it. The door is locked and cannot be broken by any means, you can feel your connection with any superhuman powers you had severed, leaving them just out of reach - you can feel them there, tingling at your fingertips or in the back of your brain, but you just can't get to them. There is no one to greet you or explain what's happening. You start to lose track of time, the only sound the distant ticking of what sounds like a massive clock.

Just when things seem hopeless, when you feel like you're about to go mad, there's the sound of a commotion outside your door. The sounds of a battle, or perhaps an infiltration gone just slightly wrong. Either way, when the door opens, there is a figure there with a hand outstretched.

"Welcome to the Broken World. Come on, we'll explain everything just as soon as we get you and the others out of here."

i. The Rescue

The moment of peace and freedom doesn't last for long.

Even while you're still disoriented from everything that's happened in the past few hours, the person who's just freed you pushes a gun into your hands. If you're familiar with guns, it's simple enough to use, with a recognizable safety and trigger, a magazine of bullets attached to the bottom. If you're not familiar with guns, well...the person who just rescued you will give you a minute-long introduction to it. Press this button, click this hammer back, pull the trigger to shoot. Nothing fancy, but enough that you won't hurt yourself or anyone else you're not supposed to be hurting. Probably.

After being handed the gun, the person rescuing you looks at you not unkindly and gestures for you to follow, leads you through a maze of concrete corridors to the entrance of the building. There, you'll find something of a small warzone, a battle in progress though almost completed, in the parking and courtyard area between several small, squat concrete buildings. There, huddled in the safety of the building's entryway, the person who just rescued you will point across the courtyard toward an encroaching patch of jungle and quickly explain the situation - you've been brought to this place by the Sylphid, long-standing enemies who will "eat your soul" and replace you if they catch you, and the person rescuing you is part of a resistance army intending to overthrow them. You're to make your way across the courtyard and into the jungle, where you'll find someone named Brycen, a blue-skinned man who will get you out of here even as the battle rages on.

The courtyard is mainly open, with a few benches and trees that can be used as cover, and there is a small group of Sylphid - the enemy, the people who took you and are now shooting at you, but who look like average everyday people - who are taking potshots at whoever crosses the courtyard even as they engage with the rebels. You'll be provided with suppressive fire from those same rebels while you cross the courtyard, but other than that, you're on your own unless you want to take the run with whoever else just got rescued.

ii. Race Through The Jungle

Once you make your way across the courtyard and into the jungle, you'll find Brycen waiting for you about a 10 minute walk in. The moment he sees you, he gestures you over and leads you a few feet further into the underbrush where there are a few All-Terain Vehicles parked in a small clearing. Shooting you a little grin, Brycen spreads his arms to present the vehicles, then heads over to the closest one. What follows is a quick explanation of how to use the ATV, a small hovercraft that can seat two. Brycen points out another ATV that is driven by a member of the resistance, and tells you that this person will guide you to the Witches Camp, where you'll be living from now on. But it's on you to pilot the ATV from here to there.

Well, you and your new friend.

See, there are half as many ATVs as there are people, and each one does seat two. Brycen gestures at the nearest extra-universal arrival and tells both of you to hop on. Now, you're both bound for the Witches Camp together, for better or worse. It's a long walk, so don't piss off your pilot!

Or overturn the ATV or crash it, because the path from the clearing to the Witches Camp is rough, without many trails or paths that have been carved out of the underbrush, something the revolutionaries have done to avoid being tracked back to their home. The ride will be bumpy, hover-vehicle or not, with a lot of swerving to avoid obstacles and dodging to avoid branches. Hopefully, you won't have a run-in with any of the local jungle wildlife, which can range from small, relatively harmless animals to lizards the size of small dinosaurs and wild cats.

It's a wild ride, but eventually you make it to the Witches Camp, a sprawling maze of low-to-the-ground buildings and markets interspersed with jungle for cover, and the rebel leading you keeps doing so until you pull up in front of Central Command. This building is one of the nicer ones in the area, and houses the Witch herself as well as the seat of the revolution. This is where all of the rebel plans are made and where new arrivals are put up.

iii. Welcome Home

Once you enter Central Command, you'll find that they've prepared space for you. First, you'll be led to the residential area of the large building and given the keycard to your new apartment, a small furnished studio apartment with a main living/sleeping area, a desk, kitchenette, bathroom with shower stall, and a walk-in closet for storage. Once you've been oriented to your new apartment, you'll be taken to pick your network device from an array of devices ranging from ultra-modern tablets that can fold into the shape of a phone to an equivalent of regular modern-day cell phones to magical tablets or books that can be interacted with by characters unfamiliar with technology. They'll also offer to alter your own phone or device to access the network, if you prefer that.

After that, you will be guided to one of the big board rooms in the Central Command, where you'll find a large spread of food on the table, ready to be dug into - all the staff at Central Command have brought food from home to share with the new arrivals. You'll also find notebooks and pens to take notes, because this is the official orientation, and you'll come out of it having learned pretty much everything about the rebellion, the Sylphid, how the rebellion originated and most importantly, how you got here and how you can go home.

This is where the rebels point out that helping them is helping yourself, because the only way to send you home is to commandeer the device that brought you here in the first place, and the only way to do that is to overthrow the Sylphid overlords.

After this presentation, no matter how accepting or skeptical you are, you'll be given a small stipend and set free to explore the city, linger around and chat over the potluck leftovers, go back to your apartment, make a network entry to meet other people, or whatever else you'd like to do. Want some new clothes? They can direct you to the markets. Looking to start learning magic? They can direct you to the Mage's Sector where you can find a teacher. Looking to dance your cares away in the wake of this terrible upheaval? They can direct you to a club in The Electric Heart that sells cocktails that'll erase all your pain for the evening.

Go wild. The Witches Camp is your new home. What will you make of it?

iv. Network

Once you've settled into your apartment in the evening, you're free to browse the internet and intranet on your new network device. Care to make an entry and meet the others in your same situation?

NAVIGATION

Comments

[bandit_of_ryloth]

"We have some of their teachings, but so few survived. There are padawans who made it, but after so many decades..."

She shook her head.

"So much was lost, but we're piecing back together what we can."

[tech_nically]

Tech nods solemnly. "We tried to save one, but after seeing his troops kill his master, he did not trust us. I do not know what became of him, but perhaps we were at least able to give him a chance."

The Order had received a crippling blow meant to wipe them out. "You must be doing something right to have such numbers already," he observes. "It's a relief to know that the Jedi still continue on in some way."

[bandit_of_ryloth]

She's beginning to like Tech quite a bit. The clones who had tried.

"Simple math, really. Of the original twelve, ten are still alive - a few more came from outside of that, like my master, who was self-taught. So that was...thirteen, in the end, maybe? Each of them trains one more, that's twenty-six...if each of them trains one..."

She smiles.

"It can grow quickly. It's less...top-down from before? We all learn from each other."

[tech_nically]

Put in that perspective, it makes much sense than thinking that one person had gleaned new trainees on their own. This thing clouding up his thinking processes is quite annoying. "Ah, of course." Tech nods.

It's a grounding conversation and he can't help but be curious. Even with time a major factor between them, and for all that there's a lot to be figured out of this place and the circumstances surrounding their being here, this subject is something he can easily digest and willingly focuses on in the interim. "That seems like an ideal course. Learning is probably quicker that way. Are there still ranks?"

[bandit_of_ryloth]

[OOC: Welp, the interactions here are so great, I tossed another Jedi into application instead. :P So if Tech comes, too, he'll find someone from the same universe...just a few thousand years back. :P ]

"Yes, but also no," she replied, with a grin. "We still have masters, and trainees - but it's not as formal as it was. We train who we can find, so we don't start with children, either - and we don't discourage attachments, either. We've learned from the old Order's mistakes."

[tech_nically]

"Mistakes..." Perhaps some were more obvious than others, but Tech only had as much of an understanding of how the Jedi operated as he was able to find available, aside from the limited times he and his squad had directly worked alongside them. He understands the ranks, had a general idea of their abilities, but practices and tradition were sometimes unclear between text and what he's observed.

"Not kept exclusive, then. The Jedi for all that they were renowned for their efforts in the war were effectively overlooked at its end. It's...unfortunate, but it's probably played out as the Emperor's hoped."

[bandit_of_ryloth]

"From what we know, Palpatine manipulated the galaxy for decades. He had powers no Sith Lord in thousands of years had possessed. The Jedi, thinking their ancient enemy long defeated, grew complacent. By all accounts he was...a terrible foe."

And one who had cheated death to return to ravage the galaxy more than once, unfortunately.

[tech_nically]

Eyes widen behind his goggles at that. "Palpatine is a Sith Lord? Well. That does put some things into perspective." As well as bring up so many more questions. There's only so much to be found about the Sith that it goes hand in hand with the Jedi belief that they no longer existed.

"Terrible foe seems an understatement. I'm not surprised that his machinations have gone on for so long. The fluidity in which things changed from the Republic into an Empire was startlingly quick and without opposition. If it wasn't so terrifying one might almost have to admire the amount of control over so many moving parts to pull it all off."

[bandit_of_ryloth]

"Surprise," she replied, a bit ruefully. "There's a lot we don't know, but that smoothness is part of the reason why - he was prepared to wipe out any potential trail that could be used to duplicate his success."

[tech_nically]

"I would think it better off that way, if only to make sure that no one with similar ambitions would rise to the challenge," Tech says with a frown. Things have quieted around them, the ground remaining even as the way opens up ahead of them. He can barely make out the shapes of something more solid than a treeline in the distance.

"...should I ask how long he remained in power before the Empire's fall?" he asks, breaking his uncharacteristic silence.

[bandit_of_ryloth]

"You're quite correct - so long as there is no evidence that future Sith can use to re-create some of his methods."

She doesn't mention the worst of it: that Palpatine had figured out a brute-force approach to surviving death; that they don't even know how many bodies he might have gone through before his first 'known' death. Theoretically, now, he's dead for good - but it's hard to know, for sure. And worse still - what it he left the method behind?

"Twenty-three years," she replies, when he asks. "It took a long while to get enough of a resistance movement together to seriously challenge the Empire."

[tech_nically]

Perhaps it's true that ignorance is bliss in such a case. The thought that Palpatine had found ways to transcend or avoid death is not something that comes to mind as Tech mulls on the number of years the Empire manages to exist for. A man who's spent long enough designing plans and manipulating an entire galaxy would not have his rule so easily disrupted.

Knowing that people were already working at trying to dismantle it in its early stages brings about a...strange feeling. Neither Republic nor Separatist territories were exempt under the rule of the Emperor, not from what Tech had seen, so to think that their efforts won't bring any immediate results is troubling. "I see," he says finally, not normally caught without something to say.

[bandit_of_ryloth]

She can't sense what he's feeling, not with an unknown thing in her head - but she can reach out, laying a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I wish I could give you better news for the immediate future."

[tech_nically]

"It's...a lot to think about. Having a timeframe puts things into perspective quite a bit, especially when we're at separate ends of it," Tech says with a sigh.

"I can't say I'm too surprised by the information, but knowing how quickly things have begun to fall into place, it only confirms that things will likely get much worse all too soon. Although I suppose there's nothing to be done for it here..." He's not even sure what his squad has decided to do. Laying low has proved not to be much of an option for them, but he's sure that Hunter's probably hoped they've all been written off as killed with Tipoca City's destruction. Less heat on them will make it easier to find their footing. All hypothetical now more than ever. He's not even sure if the rest of the squad has been brought here as well, a thought just as troubling.

[bandit_of_ryloth]

"There's just here," she replies, as they begin to close in on their destination.

"Try not to worry about back there. One way or another, those events will still take care of themselves. We, on the other hand, have to put one foot in front of the other."

[tech_nically]

It's not a grim expression on his face so much as one that understands the futility of overthinking anything from the places they've left. Tech nods.

"You're right," he replies, turning his gaze ahead. Like as they'll have more than enough to keep their attention on the present, in any case. Surviving certainly takes precedence. "One foot in front of the other."

Good place to end.

[bandit_of_ryloth]

She nodded, as their destination loomed.

"Only way to make it through the desert to the water," she replied, part of an old Twi'lek saying.