modblob: (Default)
Mods ([personal profile] modblob) wrote in [community profile] redmarsshit2019-12-24 10:36 pm

test drive meme: december 2019

Redshift: Welcome to the v͖͕̺̲̘̱̜͎o̴̦̣̠̦̘̹͞i̯̖d̛̪̬͈̱̦̝͍̕.

▶ Click here to read what characters will experience when arriving in Anchor.

▶ All TDM threads can be considered game canon, and current players are welcome to either top-level on the TDM so prospective players can tag them, or use the prompts for logs or network posts on the communities. All threads on the TDM can be used for Activity Check.

a. santapocalypse.

As the suns set over the unforgiving landscape around Anchor, a bright light flares in the sky, streaking low and fast across the horizon, throwing off flares of green, white, and red.

The impact...is not explosive. Just another flare of light, and then smoke to mark where the object went down. Whatever it was, it didn't come from the redshift. It came from within the planet's atmosphere, such as it is, and landed barely a few steps outside the city.

Characters who choose to investigate will find something strange at the bottom of the pillar of smoke. They'll find a small ship, one that seems to have been cobbled together with pieces of a dozen different ships from a dozen different universes. The cockpit is busted wide open, a red jacket caught on a piece of glass, with no other sign of the pilot. Except for, y'know, the red ringing the broken glass, but we'll just ignore that, shall we?

Scattered all around the vehicle, some of them scorched on the outside but otherwise unharmed, are boxes, boxes, boxes. None are bigger than a shoebox, and all wrapped beautifully with bows on top. Characters who start opening them will find box after box containing nonsense items that might be valuable to someone, but maybe not anyone here. But if they open enough, eventually they'll find something inside that could only be intended for them, it’s so specific, odd, or precious. Any other box they open after that will be empty.

Those that dare enter will find the ship appears larger on the inside. And it also seems to be mostly made of hallways. Hallways that lead nowhere, hallways that, from time to time, are filled with an ominous...jingling.

The source of that jingling is the reindire.

Twisted, monstrous creatures with talons in place of hooves, they will hunt whoever enters the ship through its halls and even back across the wasteland should characters attempt to run. Most of them can be calmed, even tamed. Eaten, if hunting for venison is your character's jam (have at, SSSSs).

Only one cannot be reasoned with, or easily defeated.

The largest of all the reindire, one with fangs and wings and a lust for blood. And a big red nose that shoots lasers. You wouldn't want it following you back to Anchor, would you? Best to defeat it out in the sands, where it can't do any real harm.


b. keep calm & carry on.

As characters have worked on improving the city, they've knocked a few loose screws back into place and rewired a few polarities that needed reversing and now, a new area has opened up. It announces itself with a loud screech as the bulkheads that kept it blocked off open up. The new space is huge, at first seemingly empty.

This space does what the VR rooms can't. It reads minds.

It won't show scenes from home, no, but it will create a facsimile of a place that your character would find most relaxing. And this isn't the simple visual experience of the VR rooms. This is full-sensory immersion. Characters will see, yes, but also be able to touch, smell, even taste what's on the air in their surroundings. If there is fruit, they can pick and eat it - it won't satisfy them, but they'll be able to taste what's there. If there's water, they'll be able to swim it in, and will even feel wet until they climb back onto the shore or out of the pool.

Some lucky souls will even get Anchor's therapy AI chiming in to their scenes, with suggestions like, "Talk to your anxiety the way you would to a friend. Ask it where it comes from, see what it’s doing for you, and redirect it into healthy self-expression." Or, "Have you tried yoga?" or, occasionally, "I think you really really need a nap."

The focus of the room is to help characters relax. Those rolling blackouts that have been happening around Anchor ever since the room opened up? They’re probably nothing to worry about. Right?


c. the network.

Need to get hold of someone, call for help, ask the city at large a question? Need to ask a friend to back you up on the reindire hunt? Maybe you need to hold your sat phone up to whatever crazy thing you're seeing and send out a recording to double-check if your eyes are deceiving you and what you're looking at is real?

Whatever the reason, the network is going strong, so feel free to include a post to it in your top-levels.



mustact: (→58)

[personal profile] mustact 2020-02-13 03:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Hearing that the room can't replicate people makes Ratonhnhaké:ton feel a little better. As much as he misses so many people, he wouldn't want to see them like this, when he knows they aren't real.

Although this makes him wonder if what the Apple showed him was at all true, or if it truly did somehow capture the spirit of his mother perfectly.

"I wonder what makes it hesitate to try. Perhaps it has been instructed not to."

He assumes this has to do with computers, and from what he knows about that, he's aware they usually need to be told what to do.
arcadedragon: (Swipe)

[personal profile] arcadedragon 2020-02-19 11:12 pm (UTC)(link)
"Maybe whatever programmed it knows we would not want such things. It would be obvious that they are simply copies, not the true people we wish to speak to." He's never encountered a simulation room before, but that makes sense with what he knows about how machines are made. With the exception of himself, it's generally easy to tell the difference between man and robot, and many do not want to be conversing with the later attempting to portray the former.

"Or it doesn't have the capability to do so. Maybe it's a complexity beyond it?"
mustact: (→17)

[personal profile] mustact 2020-02-21 01:24 pm (UTC)(link)
"Maybe."

The ground shifts into a fairly steep slope down towards the small road leading into the valley. At the other side of that road, where the ground shifts back upwards to form a mountain, a reindeer stag is busy grazing. Ratonhnhaké:ton is surprised to see any life at all after what Genji said, but he supposes an animal that he has no relation to would be simple enough to replicate.

He slows to a stop, and for a moment it seems like the stag hasn't noticed them. Then it abruptly lifts its head, looking right at them.
arcadedragon: (Standing)

[personal profile] arcadedragon 2020-02-24 04:59 am (UTC)(link)
Genji freezes, eyes on the stag. It's different than the reindire that had been roaming the halls and causing mayhem. This one looks like how he'd expect them to on Earth, an animal grazing in the peacefulness of the mountain.

"I've not tried to interact with anything, I wonder if it will feel real?" Not that he thinks he'd be able to get close enough to touch it, and he wouldn't attack it unless it tried to attack them first, but he's curious about how precise this simulation can be.

"Maybe it will know we won't hurt it. You cannot eat a simulation." Though he does sound a little unsure, just how advanced is this room?
mustact: (→05)

[personal profile] mustact 2020-02-29 05:51 pm (UTC)(link)
"Perhaps you could, but I doubt it would be very filling."

The stag does seem to see them as a threat, as it roars briefly in warning before it turns to run away. Ratonhnhaké:ton smiles slightly, because he hasn't seen a sight like this for months, and it's only somewhat sad that it's not real.
arcadedragon: (Hooded)

[personal profile] arcadedragon 2020-03-01 08:14 pm (UTC)(link)
"I don't think I'd want to. What would we be eating?" He shudders a bit, that's getting into some deep theoretical territory of how simulations work and he really doesn't want to think about it. Because it's not real, so they wouldn't actually be eating anything. But the experiences are real - and what does that mean... And around and around that thought process goes.

"Go enjoy it while it's here. I will leave you to it." He turns to leave, hoping that by thinking about the exit it will manifest itself.