prismaticrap | ▶ TDM .011

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You awaken amidst the darkness with only a faint light to greet you. Your body is hemmed in by shards of crystals, gently sparkling and possibly pricking your skin. The surrounding landscape is dyed in the pinks and purples of the dusk filled with crystals protruding from the ground, some as large as a skyscraper. After an hour or two of wandering through the crystal wilderness, a group of people find you worse for wear. They are the gallant Moon Knights from the planet of Prismatica. Because of the strange phenomena during the past months when scientists observed the sudden appearance of rainbow crystals in the sky, the government has been feverishly combing through the moon for more Moonblessed to be rescued. You’ll eventually be brought into Iris’s moon government center.

You all may have your usual inquiries — Where are we? Who are you? What's going on? — and the Prismals are almost too eager to answer. They tell you about their world and about the first appearance of the Moonblessed as the medical staff give you an examination to make sure you’re not carrying any viruses or biological hazards. If you react violently, you may be restrained and nerfed with a specialized neurotransmitting gun that releases a numbing agent through the top of your spine. Once the examinations are over, you’re informed that you will be provided accommodations on their planet during your stay. You will then be escorted to the docks, and led onto a large transport vessel that makes frequent trips back and forth between the Iris moon and the planet. Faces onboard vary from both old and new Moonblessed as well as the local Prismals.

The next destination: Prismatica.

▶ There and Back Again
Iris Moon, Government Center (Arrival) and Planet Prismatica, City of Lunatia | top

Welcome to Prismatica’s hub, Lunatia, the city of your dreams! A bustling metropolis lush with bright lights, vibrant colors, luxuriant plant life, and all the conveniences of technology absent from your own world… It seems like paradise to all the uninitiated. After a quick tour of the city, new arrivals can find themselves getting cozy in their new homes.

A Settle in your new home at Level 2 to find new roommates and say hello to your neighbors! City officials will give you directions to the designated districts across Level 2 and instruct you to pick out a unit. Each apartment complex has a different aesthetic, some may look cozy, some stylish, and some bizarre. The free accommodations have a basic living space that can only fit two or three people at most in one unit.

Starter Chromaspace furnishings are provided which can be controlled with the touch of a built-in panel. Examples are color-changing curtains, transforming sofa beds, cabinets turning into tables, etc. Customizing your apartment or moving out will have to wait until you earn more chroma. Until then, why don’t you check out your new neighborhood or explore the city levels? Maybe your new roommates or neighbors can give you a “hand” with allowance for dinner.

B As a Remooning gift from the Lunar Scientia Headquarters, the dedicated team from the Amphoria Room has released their latest perfected technology: Amphoria Pods. These VR Pods, which can fit up to four people at a time, have been set up in the gaming hub within Level 1’s PrismaPlace. They allow users to upload sceneries of their world in order to create a realistic holographic landscape of their homes that others can access and play around with, granting everyone the means to relive past memories with their loved ones as well as interact with the bestiary of other worlds. The pods also use the same technology that enhanced the popular virtual game, League Match Action Online (LmaO), which means you’re liable to feel the chill of cold environments, the burning heat from boiling water, the hard slap of your ex-lover, or the biting sting of a stray wasp. All who use the Amphoria Pods for the first time this year will also receive a small amount of Chroma in case things get too real.

▶ God Save Us from the Queen
Level 1, PrismaPlace and Level 2, Greatmoon Groves | top

The first month of the year is packed with two of the most important winter events this season: Queen Elara’s birthday and the League Match Action Online (LmaO) PVP semi-finals. It just so happens that the Queen of Lunatia is also a huge LmaO fan. Coincidence? Definitely not! LmaO players and royal family fans alike can meet her at PrismaPlace, where she will be appearing in cosplay of her favorite hero, Ah-Kari, while holding a body pillow of Commander GareBear. You, too, can get an autograph or selfie with the birthday girl if you’re willing to fall in line! Her bodyguards will also be in LmaO cosplay, keeping the crowd under control during the long wait.

Queen Elara

Good day to you all! This may come as a surprise to our guests the Moonblessed, but I am a normal person despite my exalted position. Please do not think of me today as Queen Elara. Instead... my name is Ah-Kari, sorceress of the crystal! With my soul fan blades, through the darkness, I shall slice all who dare hurt my commander in twain!

But when she is not meeting and greeting...

Queen Elara

My comrades, we're going to make history today. We're going for a new record. Perhaps the highest kill counts or the fastest clear for this map — it matters not. We’ve practiced day and night for this tournament, so let us show everyone that we’re not to be taken lightly! Also, the livestream is going in the royal archive, so make your successors proud!!

... she will be furiously grinding her character and training her skills in LmaO in the hopes of qualifying for the finals. Spectators will see her bring her own team full of hapless palace attendants who are there to either serve as her practice match partners or provide support to the one-woman army that is Queen Elara.

PrismaPlace is packed with giant crowds, many of them also in cosplay. While the semi-finals are taking place, new and old LmaO players alike can participate in the game’s current campaign: players who form teams get an improved chance of spawning unique monsters as well as winning rare items and skins in those prized lootboxes! Teams can also try to clear the event’s story together, featuring an aerial battle fought on griffin-back, which is heavily inspired by the popular Lunatian epic, The Battle of Abraxas, a colorful and complex story about the conflict between two families fighting over the fictional land of griffins, Abraxas.

A Progression in the event requires acquiring a griffin mount and getting it ready for battle. You can lure a wild one to yourself with a special veggie pie on a fishing pole. Should the griffin reject the lure, your character will be caught in a wind gaol and can only break out with the help of other players. Should you succeed, raising the griffin is a tedious task that involves players training alongside their respective griffins, running laps with them, taking them to hunt monsters, and feeding them properly. Depending on their diet, the food you give them will affect the color of its plumage and their battle stats.

Or you can skip the hard work and simply moonlace with your teammates through all the progression bars and required materials to save time. Once finished, you’ll be able to battle one another through the thunderous aerial domain of Abraxas. Clearing the event will net you an event-exclusive skin inspired by the royal family’s shining celestial robes and a weapon skin of a body pillow with your favorite character, so do your best!

B In celebration of Queen Elara’s birthday, the office of the royal household is hosting a modest tea party in the Greatmoon Groves. Swiffy bots that are normally programmed to remind visitors to keep the groves clean are now playing a birthday jingle on repeat. For people who prefer to be away from the blinding neon lights and the thumping techno music of PrismaPlace, this is the ideal escape. Unlimited tea and cookies are being served!

The tea is a soft-colored lilac concoction made from Ehrysian tea leaves that are known to cause a huge spike of alertness and is popular to Moon Knights and office workers with long night shifts as well as gamers for those all-night grinding sessions. The assorted cookies have either Ah-Kari or Commander GareBear printed on them. In case it isn't obvious yet, both are the birthday girl’s favorite LmaO characters.

Any Moonblessed looking for extra income is welcome to be royal attendants for the day; the hours are paid by Demichroma. They must be properly dressed up as maids or butlers (outfits provided by the royal household) as they serve tables.

▶ Say Cheese
Level 3, Caihong | top

Meanwhile, Caihong is in the midst of Remooning festivities in celebration of the new year, and merriment usually lasts a fortnight, filled with fireworks in the sky. Upon entering the district, beautiful Prismals with rat ears and tails greet you with a Happy Remooning and eagerly tug you along to join in.

Those welcomed will receive a pack of multi-colored sparklers, mooncakes topped with cheese, and a glowing drink called Champagne Supernova, poured in a thin glass in your hand. If you are over eighteen, the rat Prismals will ask if you prefer your drink with a kick. If you say yes, then they will add flavorful ice that causes extreme intoxication and might leave you to be susceptible to all levels of suggestion. Saying no (or if you’re under 18) will simply leave it as a sweet drink.

A One of the party games being played by the locals is called Lucky Tail, which is basically pinning the tail on the holographic rat stand-in — with a twist, it must be played with a partner! Another participant will blindfold you, spin you around, then push you forward. The stand-in is located at the end of unsteady elevated platforms forming a maze, filled to the brim with distracting objects underneath. They’re long, they’re thick, and they’re vibrating furiously in an attempt to knock you off the platforms.

Your partner must guide you by voice to successfully navigate through the maze! The game is rigged with various mechanisms, so stepping on specific platforms will activate a number of traps against you or your partner: machines that may tickle, drop colorful slime, or cause the platform to repetitively spin, and who knows what else?

Should you manage to get through the obstacle course and pin the tail successfully, you and your partner will win copious amounts of Demichroma, courtesy of Buwan from Buwan’s Stop.

B Another attraction is a fun magic glamour booth known for its face or body swap features. The booth staff, clad in their festive rat paraphernalia, will encourage you and your friends to take aesthetic shots using an illusion generator. The effects last an hour. Photographed images can be instantly uploaded and shared in Prismagram. New year, new you! Why not take the chance to celebrate this momentous occasion in a unique fashion? It’s all in good humor.

There are two buttons to press: (A) CUSTOM or (B) RANDOM. Pressing A will allow participants to customize their desired effects. Pressing B will cause the illusion magic to randomly rearrange participants in questionable positions, new outfits (or lack thereof), and you may even come out of the booth looking like your best friend or your worst rival. The possibilities are endless!

▶ Questions
If you have any questions regarding this test drive meme, please ask them in the Questions thread below.

▶ As a reminder, test drive memes are for new characters only. However, current players are more than welcome to use these prompts for their own posts in the IC communities, personal inboxes, catch-all posts, etc.!
▶ As our test drive memes are game canon, feel free to keep any threads that happen here as canon for your character should they be accepted.

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[ The words make Fish avert their eyes from Fjord, their shoulders sloping, and their eyes twinkling with a tinge of sadness. ]

I have everything I could ever want here. A career... friends... adoring fans... a home... and the freedom to be who I am. I also have someone I love deeply, who loves me in return.

I can't see myself returning to where I was nearly a year ago.

[ Somehow, in the back of their mind, they acknowledge how ethereal this all is. They could crystallize and disappear anytime. Their friends could. Their co-workers could. And though it hurts to think about it, Molly too. ]

[ Fjord's experience with other realms that aren't exactly located near Exandria (and it's a limited list, but one all the same including Happy Fun Balls and leviathans) is that they never last, for better or worse. That's how he decides on the spot with one look at Fish's hesitant expression, ]

You should come home with me and Molly, back to Wildemount. You wouldn't be cursed with all this moonblessing bullshit but really free, away from whoever or whatever is farming the Chroma here, and I could show you around the Menagerie Coast if you wanted to live closer to the sea.

That... that would be nice.

[ Fish's smile is warm, hesitant. But there's gratitude in those bright blue eyes that meet Fjord's. Gratitude for a promise of even just a place where they could belong somehow. ]

[ His voice is soft and low as he nods, discreetly glancing away. ]

You're ... very welcome.

[ What a load of fascinating dumplings they have left, wow. ]

Thank you, actually, for taking care of Molly. I ... can't imagine he arrived in a good way.

[ To put it delicately; being shanked straight through and all. ]

[ They shake their head at that. ]

We didn't meet when we first arrived. We met a little while after. And it was a while before we properly opened up to each other. But I do my best to be there for him through everything.

I see ...

[ That's a question for Molly then, how he arrived. How he dealt with it or if Fjord can assist in Molly continuing to.

He brightens up with some determination not to be an ungrateful recipient of his host's kindness, swigging back the last of his water. ]

I wonder, would it would be alright to ask you a little about yourself, Fish? You don't have to answer, of course.

Sure, go right ahead for it, Fjord.

[ Fish laces their fingers under their chin, elbows on the table and smiling contentedly as they await the question. ]

I'm very curious, being half-orc myself, about other people who come from different ... lineages. I, ah, [ curiosity gets the better of awkwardness now that he has the go-ahead and he leans forward too, lowering his voice so as not to possibly embarrass them, ] I can't help but notice you have far less aggressive features of the merfolk I've seen and more of a human softness about you, which is quite rare even for those who walk the land on Port Damali. Your colouring is quite striking, too! Are you a full-blooded mer?

[ Well, this is pretty interesting. When Fjord draws in closer to Fish, he'll notice that they don't seem to possess scales. Or they don't appear on their skin in a traditional way. Their skin has a strange, rubbery smoothness to it-- more similar to a dolphin. And yet, it's iridescent: violet in low light, but reflects pink. The texture of their hair is very soft, somehow reminiscent of seaweed as well. ]

I am. There are various mer tribes on my continent. Mine in particular has this kind of coloring. They say though that my family in particular drew its lineage from sea elves, some generations ago. But I've never seen proof of it.

[ He chins a hand, unabashedly looking them over with a faintly wistful smile. ]

Sea Elves. I've never met one, just ... well, elves on the sea. [ Ahem, banishing his sudden frown at the memory of Avantika, his expression lifts again. ] I hope it's not too forward of me to say, but you're a sight lovelier than the merfolk around the Coast.

My... Mister Fjord, are you flirting?

[ Fish’s tone is scandalized and they give a mock gasp, but obviously just teasing. ]

But knowing how other tribes are like, I’m not at all that surprised, darling.

[ He snorts, shaking his head with a smile. Yes, this is a seduction. Absolutely. ]

What are they like? Would you mind telling me?

[ It's not everyday you meet an incredibly charismatic half-orc. But he's not the only one with a high Charisma score. Fish is charmed, though. ]

Many of them, especially those that dwell in the sea, are more aggressive in their aquatic features, as you put it. I had a childhood friend in another surface-dwelling tribe... I'd come along on the trading boats to see him. The coloration of his tribe was very different from ours: more like a dull orange-brown, but lovely green eyes. The shape of their ear fins were different, too. A little more like a lion fish, if you've ever seen one. Then there were others that were blues... greens... sometimes with streaks of red like the shade I sport.

Edited (oops html) 2020-01-23 01:33 (UTC)

[ Fjord is fascinated, having only glimpsed the merfolk of the Menagerie Coast from afar (usually after Vandran would clip his ear and warn him to avoid looking at anything at sea with half a fish attached to it). He was always curious up until the party's encounter with Dashilla, after which the intrigue wore off fast. Fish themself is unlike the blank-eyed merfolk he's seen along the coast; they always looked more aquatic with two legs randomly attached, not nearly so much of an all-around pretty picture. ]

Thank you for telling me all that. Also, if I may ask, is that your real name, or ... ?

It’s just a nickname.

[ they chuckle, shaking their head. ]

I was the only merfolk in the tavern and my stage name made some people feel awkward, so they started calling me “Fish”, and it stuck.

Do you like it?

[ Just in case no one ever asked them that. ]

Mm... It's more of a thing I grew to like than something I really love.

[ Fish looks wistfully across the table at Fjord, prodding at another dumpling they were planning to eat. ]

It was a strange nickname at first, but as I grew more distant from who I used to be, it felt more... natural, I guess. And there's no gender attached to it either. People are free to assume whatever they want with it.

That seems as good a reason as any to keep a name.

[ Names don't have to be complicated, he learned that at an early age when he was given the worst they could think of at the orphanage. A throwaway stone. ]

Just curious, sorry.

That's alright.

[ Fish smiles, sipping the tea offered to them to finish their meal. They were feeling very satisfied now. ]

Are you interested in touring more of this level or doing more with the festival with me?

Sure, I'll stay out with you if you want to take a look around.

[ He's been fed and watered, snagging one dumpling for the road as he rises, altogether a lot less woebegone with a full belly. ]

Is there anywhere you'd like to hit first?

Well! There's quite a lot to see and do! And I'd be glad to tell you more about Lunatia while we're at it!

[ All bright and happy, Fish pays the bill without a problem, cheerfully even pecks their fan-- the chef-- on the cheek before heading out with Fjord. There's much to see and do at this festival, but Fish was certainly more the type to wander around without a particular plan in mind. ]

((ooc: feel free to let me know if you'd just like the scene to fade out!))

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