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synodiporia_ooc2014-11-21 06:44 pm
powersthatbe) wrote in synodiporia_ooc2014-11-21 06:44 pm
Entry tags:
Test Drive #5.
Welcome to the Synodiporia Test Drive Meme! Below the cuts there are three new prompts, and here are the prompts from previous test-drives, which you’re still welcome to use in this post. When you comment, be sure you specify what prompt you want to play with, and please put up your own threadstarter - it makes for a much more friendly environment that a forest of bare toplevels! OCs are especially welcome!
Prompt #17 is set in an unknown location, probably Liminal Space, where Travelers have little except their imagination to guide them. Confusion is expected, but what would you do, if you were floating in the shadows of the night sky, surrounded by unseen strangers and animate constellations?
Prompt #18 is an example of a steampunk jaunt, either far in the game’s past or somewhere in its unknowable future. Improvising Infiltrator backstory and playing out diplomacy, intrigue, or mad science in the skies above the Takla Makan desert is greatly encouraged!
Prompt #19 is a popular Liminal Space the travelers have visited before, a look at the dream-logic and nonsensical whimsy Travelers are trapped in during their downtime - though it can also be a source of clues they desperately need, the only form of communication from the Trumps they ever get. What does it all mean? If anything.
Prompt #17: Starry Night
You are floating in a weightless, lightless space, slightly chill. In the distance, motes of light forming abstract shapes move, jerky, robotic perambulations as they circle, but the light is too dim to show anything but the phosphor-dots itself. Whenever you speak, stardust spills from your mouth, illuminating, for just a moment, the lower portion of the speaker’s face, and there are other twinkles of stardust in the distance, but the cool air feels thick, and the light does not travel far before dissipating. What do you do, here in the dark?
Prompt #18: A Zeppelin called Zeitgeist
You’re on the observation deck of a luxury zeppelin. It's a rocky ride, the craft being buffeted below by a swirling sandstorm, but perhaps of more interest to most inside are the furnishings. A steam-powered calliope plays music in the corner. The bar, an elegant contraption of brass and stained glass, is automated and coin-operated, a rube-goldbergian series of chutes and levers clicking and unlocking bottle and glass, pouring and mixing as the coins slide down through the mechanism and click the right counterweights into place. And scattered across the floor is a late gentleman of similar composition, six spiderlike telescoping arms connected to pneumatic pumps; his face a marble mask, but his tuxedo is torn and the arachno-mechanical marvel was apparently dismantled by repeated collisions with sharp objects.
Anyone who finds the scene familiar will remember that this airship, the Zeitgeist, is the Flying Cossacks' primary exploration craft, now taking one last tour over the Golden Khanate before being mothballed. A diplomatic voyage, it's been marked so far with a number of dangerous assassins striking at the envoys aboard... it's the summer of 1896, if you're an undercover agent of the Vatican (Vatican librarians being among the most fearsome and well-informed secret agents in the world); or 1314 if, like most of Europe, you're a Sufi and part of the Ummah Caliphate. Steam power rules the world, although clockwork is fast catching up. And you might be on some sort of mission yourself…
Prompt #19: The Bouncy Castle
Color is everywhere in Liminal Space. A giant moon-bounce castle dominates the landscape, surrounded by a ball-pit moat. The sky beyond is very obviously a matte painting and not a real sky; turning slowly above them, the sun and moon as tinted spotlights. Gummy fish jump and swim in the moat, and balloon animals wander the halls, gliding along the walls thanks to helium and friction.
There are a number of more remote locations - the dungeons, accessible down a slide in one corner. The gatehouse, which has floors which are entirely trampolines, with no pretense, nothing to mitigate the bounciness - and cushioned ceilings. The cistern, a dark little room in one corner which has its own deep, round pool of multicolored balls. These places, at least, are a little more private, for anyone looking for peace and quiet amidst the rainbow extravaganza.
Prompt #17 is set in an unknown location, probably Liminal Space, where Travelers have little except their imagination to guide them. Confusion is expected, but what would you do, if you were floating in the shadows of the night sky, surrounded by unseen strangers and animate constellations?
Prompt #18 is an example of a steampunk jaunt, either far in the game’s past or somewhere in its unknowable future. Improvising Infiltrator backstory and playing out diplomacy, intrigue, or mad science in the skies above the Takla Makan desert is greatly encouraged!
Prompt #19 is a popular Liminal Space the travelers have visited before, a look at the dream-logic and nonsensical whimsy Travelers are trapped in during their downtime - though it can also be a source of clues they desperately need, the only form of communication from the Trumps they ever get. What does it all mean? If anything.
Prompt #17: Starry Night
You are floating in a weightless, lightless space, slightly chill. In the distance, motes of light forming abstract shapes move, jerky, robotic perambulations as they circle, but the light is too dim to show anything but the phosphor-dots itself. Whenever you speak, stardust spills from your mouth, illuminating, for just a moment, the lower portion of the speaker’s face, and there are other twinkles of stardust in the distance, but the cool air feels thick, and the light does not travel far before dissipating. What do you do, here in the dark?
Prompt #18: A Zeppelin called Zeitgeist
You’re on the observation deck of a luxury zeppelin. It's a rocky ride, the craft being buffeted below by a swirling sandstorm, but perhaps of more interest to most inside are the furnishings. A steam-powered calliope plays music in the corner. The bar, an elegant contraption of brass and stained glass, is automated and coin-operated, a rube-goldbergian series of chutes and levers clicking and unlocking bottle and glass, pouring and mixing as the coins slide down through the mechanism and click the right counterweights into place. And scattered across the floor is a late gentleman of similar composition, six spiderlike telescoping arms connected to pneumatic pumps; his face a marble mask, but his tuxedo is torn and the arachno-mechanical marvel was apparently dismantled by repeated collisions with sharp objects.
Anyone who finds the scene familiar will remember that this airship, the Zeitgeist, is the Flying Cossacks' primary exploration craft, now taking one last tour over the Golden Khanate before being mothballed. A diplomatic voyage, it's been marked so far with a number of dangerous assassins striking at the envoys aboard... it's the summer of 1896, if you're an undercover agent of the Vatican (Vatican librarians being among the most fearsome and well-informed secret agents in the world); or 1314 if, like most of Europe, you're a Sufi and part of the Ummah Caliphate. Steam power rules the world, although clockwork is fast catching up. And you might be on some sort of mission yourself…
Prompt #19: The Bouncy Castle
Color is everywhere in Liminal Space. A giant moon-bounce castle dominates the landscape, surrounded by a ball-pit moat. The sky beyond is very obviously a matte painting and not a real sky; turning slowly above them, the sun and moon as tinted spotlights. Gummy fish jump and swim in the moat, and balloon animals wander the halls, gliding along the walls thanks to helium and friction.
There are a number of more remote locations - the dungeons, accessible down a slide in one corner. The gatehouse, which has floors which are entirely trampolines, with no pretense, nothing to mitigate the bounciness - and cushioned ceilings. The cistern, a dark little room in one corner which has its own deep, round pool of multicolored balls. These places, at least, are a little more private, for anyone looking for peace and quiet amidst the rainbow extravaganza.
no subject
[Now call him intrigued. Leonardo looks around at their surroundings to make sure no one is paying too much attention to them, then leans in, speaking quietly.]
Can you tell me about them? Your laws of magic, I mean. It seems that every magic system here is different in some way, though I am starting to wonder... there do appear to be a few common threads between them.
[With that done, he leans back into an upright sitting position, and smiles at the thought of another man like him.] I would have liked to meet him, then, if we have so much in common. Perhaps we might meet him, some day. Or I might find a book about him. Or perhaps he left behind some theories or notes I might read?
Do you think someone might know? [Leonardo's eyes light up again at the prospect of finally figuring out how the machine works.] I think I would like that very much. Shall we?
[He scoops up one of the drinks he's bought with his spare change, and motions for Harry to grab one of the two remaining.]
no subject
Mmmm... Soda....
So on the laws, there are seven. Don't use your magic to take a life, turn someone into something else, play with someone's mind or make them obey you. Bringing the dead back to life is a no no. Never play with the River of Time. And never seek power or knowledge from beyond the Outer Gates.
Mostly they're there to keep order and up and coming Warlocks from building armies to conquer the world.
[Harry moves to a door and opens it]
Now where do you think we could find someone to help us?
no subject
A lot of that makes sense. Though I am wondering if it is a law of the universe or a law of man... er... mage. Is it possible to affect someone's mind, for example? When we were in the magic kingdom of Dolorosa, curses were quite prevalent and easily cast by the... er... by powerful mages, and often made people forget themselves.
[He seems to be omitting some information there, but just what it was can't be determined unless Harry were to ask.
... wait a minute.]
Outer Gates? What are those, precisely?
[He glances around at the hallway they've found themselves in, with its many doors lining each side.]
There do seem to be a lot of doors... perhaps we should start with one and work our way around? [He motions in a clockwise direction down the hall and back up it.]
no subject
[He walks to the next door]
So, yes they are laws of man, just enforced by men that can bend reality. Or close to it.
no subject
[... because clearly since Neria and Harry are both wizards and both have spoken of Wardens, they must be from the same place.]
They may be meant for us. Liminal Space sometimes grants us things like beds to sleep in, and showers to bathe in, though that happens more on Jaunts than it does in true Liminal Space.
[This time, Leonardo steps in front of Harry, and knocks on the next door, waiting for any sounds of people inside first. It's only then that he opens the door.]
More sleeping quarters, it seems. So this council, you might say they are... perhaps the most powerful mages in your land?
[Getting severe
SkittlesIlluminated flashbacks, here.]no subject
[When no sound comes through, Harry pulls open the door only to have mops and brooms fall on him.]
Why don't they label these doors?!
no subject
[But then something dawns on Leonardo.]
Un momento, Harry, did you say... did you say seven billion?
[He's just going to gape for a little bit. Leonardo truly looks like he's in shock. But then Harry opens the door and... well, there goes that. Leonardo quickly goes about collecting them all and placing them back in the closet.]
Seven billion... how is that even possible?
no subject
[Harry scoops up the brooms and mops with Leo and chuckles at his look.]
Stars and Stones, Leo. You've been in this place how long, and that amazes you? Things like that happen to me on a daily basis.
no subject
[Oh dear, this is going to get awkward. Leonardo sighs softly.]
When we visited the kingdom of Dolorosa, some of us - the Travelers, that is - became those mages in the circle I described. Memories, abilities, thought and speech patterns... all of those were replaced with those of the eight Illuminated. None had more magical power than they did, though their power did come with a heavy price. Magic seems to at least have that in common across all of the systems I have heard about, in my limited studies.
[He hurriedly places the brooms back in the closet, and when all of them are accounted for, he closes the door.]
... Harry, where I come from, the biggest city I know of within a thousand miglia is Paris. It has, at the most, two hundred thousand people in it. It would take more than thirty thousand cities of that same size to equal seven billion! How is there enough space for anyone to breathe with that many people on the Earth?
no subject
[Harry stopped opening doors and looks at Leo.]
And what's this stuff about "Infiltrators?" What do you mean "change the way they think?"
no subject
[He visibly frowns at Harry's questions.]
Ah, so no one has told you. During Jaunts, there are two groups of Travelers: Investigators, who are sent into the worlds we visit as normal, with their own abilities and memories, just like you and I are currently... and then there are Infiltrators, who are sent into these worlds and have their abilities and memories erased. These are then replaced with memories and abilities of a person from the world we are visiting. They have the faces of our friends, but they believe they are from that world. And many of the Infiltrators recognize each other as having been a part of this world for a very long time as well.
For example, the Illuminated treated each other as family, almost. A very... strange sort of family. Some of them had been in the Kingdom of Dolorosa for at least fifteen years, by their memories.
no subject
I think I'm going to have words with whoever is in charge of this little game.
no subject
[He does notice the sudden chill, but doesn't directly equate it to Harry yet.]
I wish you luck, Harry. We have not been able to locate them yet, save for one... at least, I think so...
no subject
Leo, magically changing someone's mindset can destroy them. It can break them on a fundamental level. Not even the most powerful beings in my world can do it without harming the target.
[Harry notices Leo's discomfort and takes a deep breath to calm himself.]
I'm sorry, Leo. This is a sore subject for me.