Test Drive - 001

[ateratmods]

TEST DRIVE 001

Welcome to Aterat!

Here is our first ever Test Drive Meme! There are a lot of areas of the city to explore, so please have a look around! In case you need a little help getting started, I've included a few prompts below, or feel free to start your own! Exploration and player initiative are the names of the game here!

NOTE: While you do need an invite to apply to the game, you do NOT need one to tag or top level on the Test Drive!

Helpful Links to Get Started

Arrival & General Information | Locations & Bestiary | Residences & Housing Info | Rules & FAQ (ask questions here!)

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A. Welcome to the Jungle

The URBAN jungle, that is. You have just arrived and received a strange satchel from a tiny, strange little man and are left more or less to your own devices (more information on what to expect upon arrival can be found here)! Follow directions to the north and check out the housing, or maybe have a look around the Historium, see what you can waste your meager starter coin on in the Market District, or maybe just meet the neighbors.


B. We've Got Fun and Games

At least there's entertainment. In various parts of the city, there are street performers, slight of hand tricksters, and probably a game or two of poker in one tavern or another (there are several to be found, after all). Start up a game of darts, or just sit broodily in a corner and watch the others coming and going.


C. You can have anything you want but you better not take it for free

The Harbor District is a rough joint. There are pickpockets, swindlers, but also hardworking folk and more than a few buildings that seem to be locked. It sure would be a shame if someone were to go about performing some casual Breaking & Entering...you know, as long as you don't get caught. There are guards around, though not nearly as many here as in the other districts. It's almost as though they like to avoid the place. People talk about wererats in the shadows at night and it's not unheard of for the unaware to go missing when they're traveling around here after dark...


D. What's that smell?

As if being carted off to what looks like a city out of a video game weren't bad enough, there's an entire district to the northeast that seems to be walled off, warded, and in all ways inaccessible. According to the sign, it's the cemetery...and boy does it smell.


E. Speaking Crystal

You could always take a look at the instructions that came with your crystal and see who else is listening. Remember, though, these devices are Voice Only and cannot be filtered. If you speak, anyone with a crystal can and will hear you. Now, whether or not they choose to respond is another thing entirely.

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If you have any questions at all about setting or what is or isn't acceptable, please submit it on the FAQ!

If you would like to explore any aspect of the setting more indepth, please PM the mod account OR comment here! All comments are screened!

» N A V I G A T I O N

Comments

[eaglesonofnone]

His eyes narrowed for all his hood's shadow hid them - or so he thought. He quickly glanced to the other man's hands and saw all ten fingers. Not a fellow Assassin, then. Yet he'd climbed here.

But Altaïr said nothing to that. Instead he answered, "The view is useful."

[skyward_eyes]

Not all men who kill other men by contract lose fingers to do so. Such a narrow world view could get someone hurt. And sometimes people in high places just like high places.

"Perhaps. But I've learned that maps of places are not always useful, even from here. I've seen cities whose roads change with each passing hour, leaving you always lost. Or perhaps maybe it was a deliberate attack on their mind. Though I suppose I shouldn't presume this place to be the same."

[eaglesonofnone]

Roads that change? Perhaps between villages but not within cities. This man was either delusional or lying - easy to dismiss, either way. His jaw flexed and he stepped up to the edge, looking out over the city to take in the lay of the land. Maybe this man didn't think a map would be useful. So far as Altaïr could tell, he'd already been wrong once. He'd be wrong again.

"Do as pleases you."

[skyward_eyes]

"Maybe this world isn't like the last one, so you don't have to believe me. But we literally just got kidnapped through magic portals. You're going to be that dismissive of weird shit?"

Boring. Nida doesn't even bother to move so Altair can take his look. What a punk.

[eaglesonofnone]

"Until evidence is presented to me, I have no reason to believe delusions." A simple answer, really, and one he gave without any inflection of emotion. To him, it was fact. The portal - that appeared to be true, and he would have to think on it at length. But a doorway is one thing. A doorway can be bricked over or opened wide. It can be moved from one house to another. Entire streets moving? Without intent or disaster, it was surely impossible.

[skyward_eyes]

"Delusions. Wow, someone's judgmental," Nida muses, before holding a hand out before him. Soon light is rising over his hand and when he thrusts it forth from him winds rush around both of them before, for a brief moment, a tornado forms in the air before them. Nida holds the spell for only a few seconds to minimize possible damage, before letting it fade away.

"Magic. It's real. In some worlds."

[eaglesonofnone]

Immediately, Altaïr's eagle-yellow eyes narrowed beneath his hood, watching the effects happen, watching the dust in the air and how it swirled. He even took a few steps back, ever cautious of his balance. "How is that possible."

Not a statement, this time. No, now, it was a demand.

[skyward_eyes]

Oh yes, he's got the attention of the stranger now. Those eyes on him are so... weird. Strangely familiar. But he doesn't bother to comment on it. It's something silly. Something stupid. Instead he waves his hand, the light already gone from it, and then shrugs.

"You're really going to make me use the word again, aren't you? Magic. Specifically paramagic. It means I'm bonded with an elemental spirit, and she allows me to tap into the natural flow of magic and channel it. So believe me when I say there are very weird worlds out there. Myself? I'm from a planet known as Hyne."

[eaglesonofnone]

Other planets. Other worlds? He wouldn't have believed it just hours ago, he thought. Now, he had to wonder.

His brows drew down. He didn't like this revelation. That magic could exist. He didn't like the thought that there was something that could grant such an advantage to some but not others. (Or perhaps, he thought with a touch of bitterness aimed inward, he didn't like that it was an advantage that he didn't have.)

"There is no magic where I come from."

[skyward_eyes]

There is a wealth of experience out there that people haven't had, and this bit Nida doesn't mind sharing.

"I don't know if I should say I'm sorry for that, or that I'm glad. Often magic leads to problems back home," Nida admits, smirking at his strange, shifty companion. "It can be nice. I've missed the power for a while now. My magic is tied to a spirit, but the last two worlds that kidnapped me... they stole her away."

He can feel it, the warmth, like laughter, echoing through his blood and mind as Siren comforted him with her presence.

[eaglesonofnone]

"Two worlds that kidnapped you." It could happen repeatedly? The thought was unsettling to say the least - and he didn't like the sound of it. Once was enough, and that once was barely beginning. That it could happen again...

Would he even go back this time?

His jaw flexed. There were too may questions and not enough answers - though he wasn't sure if there ever could be enough answers for him.

[skyward_eyes]

"Yes. This will make three. Somewhere between the two in livability and technology," Nida muses. He misses home. He also... still isn't certain he's alive there. Makes life interesting.

"This one hasn't tried to kill me yet. And it has somewhat passable heights to climb, even if the company is evasive and so cruel as to hide his face."

[eaglesonofnone]

His eyes narrowed under the hood. "I do not remove my hood lightly," he said. "But I will tell you my name. Altaïr." And that was as much, just then, as he wanted to disclose. It wasn't as if his family name meant anything here, but better he be known as simply Altaïr just yet.

[skyward_eyes]

The name tickles at Nida's mind in the strangest way, and his face contorts at it. Familiar, but unknown. His eyes turn to Altair and he studies the hood, but clearly... after a moment he fails to find what he wants and sighs.

"And here I thought a man like you had to be some degree of light to get up here. But be stubborn if you like. I'm Nida, in case you're wondering. Nida Nomura."

[eaglesonofnone]

The name was an unfamiliar one. The cadence like no other he'd heard. And his features - they spoke of the far east. Even if they'd been in the Levant, this Nida would have been a long way from home.

Now, it seemed both of them were equally far.

"Nida," he repeated, turning the syllables over, but even so, his accent turned the 'd' less hard, naming him 'Neetha' instead of the more expected pronounciation.

[skyward_eyes]

It's not the right way to say it, but Nida dismisses it. Let the man say it how he wants. Actually... He grins to himself.

"Now now, when you say it like that I can't help but wonder what other ways you'll say it."

[eaglesonofnone]

Perhaps his eyes couldn't be seen, but he did tilt his head as he gave Nidha a doubtful look. "How else would I say it."

[skyward_eyes]

He smiles as he looks at the other. "Oh truly, you can't imagine it?"

[eaglesonofnone]

Altaïr shook his head once. "No."

Though his tone was blunt, it wasn't rude and it wasn't angry. There may have been some audible confusion, but it wasn't anything that demanded answers. How else should he say the name? Perhaps his pronunciation was off, but he didn't much mind if it was.

[skyward_eyes]

Really? Oh dear. Nida shakes his head.

"Straight men. Truly a waste. I mean, yes, I can't see your face, but for you to be up here, I know you have to have an amazing body."

[eaglesonofnone]

"My body is the result of much training," he answered, glancing down at himself with confusion. "But I don't understand what you mean by 'straight.'" His back was straight when he wasn't actively stalking a target. His limbs were straight due to much training and good healers. Weren't both good things?

[skyward_eyes]

Yep. This was a thing. Nida laughs and shakes his head. It has been a while since this happened.

"Straight. Men who are romantically and sexually interested in women. Straight as in the standard. As in not like me."

[eaglesonofnone]

He frowned, and at least that much was visible beneath his hood. "You are too open in speaking of such things," he half-snapped. "Such matters belong in private."

But beyond that, it made him wonder. His heart was still sore with the memory of Adha and her death. She had been a beacon of hope. A chance to get out from beneath the rule of the Order and to have a life that didn't involve Masyaf or the other Assassins. She had been a wonder. But what did that define, exactly?

Hm.

[skyward_eyes]

What? Hyne, what a silly thing to hear.

"You know, if things like that were only in private, then no person would ever know the pleasure in any way," Nida points out.

[eaglesonofnone]

"Perhaps for the better. Such things are distractions from greater purpose." And though his manner and words were curt, he privately wondered - or he did for just a moment before remembered pain made him put the thought aside. Adha...