Deer Country Mod (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
reddosmod) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
countryclub2021-11-19 02:06 am
reddosmod) wrote in countryclub2021-11-19 02:06 am
Entry tags:
November 2021 Test Drive Meme
NOVEMBER 2021 TDM
NOT SO STANDARD ARRIVAL
FROZEN RELICS
THE THINGS THEY CARRIED
CODING
Another month, another test drive meme! Our test drive memes are open to anyone interested - regardless of whether or not you join our game!
All Test Drive Memes are game canon. Players can choose to keep their TDM threads canon or not. TDM threads can be used for AC and can be used as your writing sample for your application.
Our TDMs serve as a way to build into the actual lore and worldbuilding of Deer Country and we strongly encourage everyone to enjoy and participate! Current players are always welcome to pull prompts from the TDM to reference on the Network or bring into logs as well as tag out to new characters top-leveling on the TDM itself.
Characters will always be able to actively die during TDMs as this is an extremely dangerous world. You can still have this be game canon! Check out how character death in Deer Country works here.
If you have any questions about the TDM, please ask down below!
IMAGE DESCRIPTORS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE
Prompt One
[Image One: Perfect dog curled up in falling snow, tilting head to side.]
[Image Two: Dead man floating in water with signs of hypothermia.]
Prompt Two
[Image One: Frozen ship wreck.]
[Image Two: Frozen staircase.]
Prompt Three
[Image One: Bloody tentacles attacking soldiers.]
[Image Two: Tentacles coming out of astronaut suit.]
All Test Drive Memes are game canon. Players can choose to keep their TDM threads canon or not. TDM threads can be used for AC and can be used as your writing sample for your application.
Our TDMs serve as a way to build into the actual lore and worldbuilding of Deer Country and we strongly encourage everyone to enjoy and participate! Current players are always welcome to pull prompts from the TDM to reference on the Network or bring into logs as well as tag out to new characters top-leveling on the TDM itself.
Characters will always be able to actively die during TDMs as this is an extremely dangerous world. You can still have this be game canon! Check out how character death in Deer Country works here.
If you have any questions about the TDM, please ask down below!
Prompt One
[Image One: Perfect dog curled up in falling snow, tilting head to side.]
[Image Two: Dead man floating in water with signs of hypothermia.]
Prompt Two
[Image One: Frozen ship wreck.]
[Image Two: Frozen staircase.]
Prompt Three
[Image One: Bloody tentacles attacking soldiers.]
[Image Two: Tentacles coming out of astronaut suit.]
WHEN: November - December
WHERE: The Farther Shores/The Boardwalk
CONTENT WARNINGS: Drowning, freezing to death, trapped under ice, hypothermia, frost bite.
WHERE: The Farther Shores/The Boardwalk
CONTENT WARNINGS: Drowning, freezing to death, trapped under ice, hypothermia, frost bite.
Washing up on the Farther Shores towards the end of November and the beginning of December isn't the best experience. Normally there are some Sleepers who can show up without a hitch, but as winter nears, the waters begin to freeze and it gets increasingly dangerous to arrive on the Farther Shores. Many Sleepers wind up trapped under ice. Wakers must especially be diligent this month to make sure they don't lose valuable Sleepers. Drowning and freezing to death is extremely probable. If you're lucky, you might be able to break through the ice to shriek for help. Let's just hope someone's around to hear you!
Most of the Boardwalk has been converted to save the Sleepers that do make it. Tents have been put up and inside are mattresses stuffed with hay and blankets made from wool and furs. Contained coal and wood fires keep the tents cozy, but it might take a while before you get feeling back into your toes. If you have warmblood or coldblood you will not have nearly as bad of a time with all of this. Some coldblood Sleepers might not even notice the cold! Might be good to put them on the frontlines for helping people out.
Another oddity this month is that most Sleepers seem to arrive at night rather than the typical daytime arrivals. Maybe it's because daytime hours are much shorter in December...But maybe it's something else too. This has led to Wakers making search parties to try and find Sleepers in the pitch-black night. It's a precarious situation and all hands on deck are strongly encouraged.
The Dog Keeper has come out to help the efforts. His dogs can be seen running frantically around the beach to help find people buried under ice and to help break through the ice to get them to safety. Dogs are available to help Sleepers swim to the Farther Shores, and they are also available to help Sleepers warm up by cuddling up afterward. There isn't much food to offer at this time, but you can still expect to be greeted with some hot soup. It might leave you hungry, but it definitely seems to help warm you up!
Most of the Boardwalk has been converted to save the Sleepers that do make it. Tents have been put up and inside are mattresses stuffed with hay and blankets made from wool and furs. Contained coal and wood fires keep the tents cozy, but it might take a while before you get feeling back into your toes. If you have warmblood or coldblood you will not have nearly as bad of a time with all of this. Some coldblood Sleepers might not even notice the cold! Might be good to put them on the frontlines for helping people out.
Another oddity this month is that most Sleepers seem to arrive at night rather than the typical daytime arrivals. Maybe it's because daytime hours are much shorter in December...But maybe it's something else too. This has led to Wakers making search parties to try and find Sleepers in the pitch-black night. It's a precarious situation and all hands on deck are strongly encouraged.
The Dog Keeper has come out to help the efforts. His dogs can be seen running frantically around the beach to help find people buried under ice and to help break through the ice to get them to safety. Dogs are available to help Sleepers swim to the Farther Shores, and they are also available to help Sleepers warm up by cuddling up afterward. There isn't much food to offer at this time, but you can still expect to be greeted with some hot soup. It might leave you hungry, but it definitely seems to help warm you up!
WHEN: End of November, early December
WHERE: Farther Shores/Pthumerian Ocean
CONTENT WARNINGS: Mutilated corpses, frozen bodies, possible frost bite/hypothermia, disaster-centric setting.
WHERE: Farther Shores/Pthumerian Ocean
CONTENT WARNINGS: Mutilated corpses, frozen bodies, possible frost bite/hypothermia, disaster-centric setting.
Sleepers aren't the only thing struggling in the Pthumerian Ocean this time of year. Boats come crushing in through the ice, frozen over completely by blistering winds. The ocean seems to be spitting up boats from times long past, leaving their skeletons strewn along the Farther Shores. Some are small boats, barely worth a second glance, but others are massive vessels, cutting intimidating shapes against the dark sky beyond.
Some Sleepers may even wake up in the water-submerged bowels of these boats, having to navigate a metallic graveyard. Other Sleepers might just have the sense to go and scavenge the boats for useful supplies and parts. Valuable metals can be extracted from the boats as well as other mechanical pieces - but not just that. Sleepers who explore thoroughly will discover small non-magical items from their home might be on the boats, floating in the water, or in random debris. Some boats are trader boats, having entire crates of sealed food goods like rare chocolates, fruits, and other food that is difficult to find this time of year.
You will want to thoroughly bundle up for this trip because it's much colder inside of the boats than it is outside. It's as if they have been transformed into giant freezers. Coldbloods may be able to provide their companions with steady warmth, even if their abilities are typically more ice-centric. It seems like coldbloods can manipulate the cold in these boats to be less intense. Some of the boats may have more grim discoveries: dead bodies, some skeletal, others still with the flesh intact and frozen over. It's never easy to discover the corpses of those who have tried to brave the ocean and failed.
It's easy to believe that what killed these people was the ocean or the cold...But the more bodies you discover, the more thoroughly you explore these shipwrecks, you begin to have a creeping feeling that these aren't ordinary crashes. These weren't natural causes. Some of the bodies look as if the chests had been ripped open while others, the faces have been completely distorted beyond recognition. There is an undeniable presence of something on these ships and you have a feeling whatever killed these people has now been brought to Trench...Great!
Some Sleepers may even wake up in the water-submerged bowels of these boats, having to navigate a metallic graveyard. Other Sleepers might just have the sense to go and scavenge the boats for useful supplies and parts. Valuable metals can be extracted from the boats as well as other mechanical pieces - but not just that. Sleepers who explore thoroughly will discover small non-magical items from their home might be on the boats, floating in the water, or in random debris. Some boats are trader boats, having entire crates of sealed food goods like rare chocolates, fruits, and other food that is difficult to find this time of year.
You will want to thoroughly bundle up for this trip because it's much colder inside of the boats than it is outside. It's as if they have been transformed into giant freezers. Coldbloods may be able to provide their companions with steady warmth, even if their abilities are typically more ice-centric. It seems like coldbloods can manipulate the cold in these boats to be less intense. Some of the boats may have more grim discoveries: dead bodies, some skeletal, others still with the flesh intact and frozen over. It's never easy to discover the corpses of those who have tried to brave the ocean and failed.
It's easy to believe that what killed these people was the ocean or the cold...But the more bodies you discover, the more thoroughly you explore these shipwrecks, you begin to have a creeping feeling that these aren't ordinary crashes. These weren't natural causes. Some of the bodies look as if the chests had been ripped open while others, the faces have been completely distorted beyond recognition. There is an undeniable presence of something on these ships and you have a feeling whatever killed these people has now been brought to Trench...Great!
WHEN: During Bone Season
WHERE: Throughout Trench
CONTENT WARNINGS: Parasitic monsters, tentacle horror, crushing/bursting styles of death, a form of beasthood, mild auto-cannibalism/self-harm.
WHERE: Throughout Trench
CONTENT WARNINGS: Parasitic monsters, tentacle horror, crushing/bursting styles of death, a form of beasthood, mild auto-cannibalism/self-harm.
You notice specks of blood that seem to appear from nowhere among the snowdrifts. When you pay closer attention, you may see more blood dripping...up. It doesn't look like any Sleeper Blood you're familiar with but instead appears to be black-blue colored, reflecting like glass, bubbling up out of the ground. It makes a small, glass-shattering noise when it appears before it bubbles back into the ground. It leaves a rotten odor in its wake.
The moment you get too close to the blood, even a foot away, it will expand rapidly. Bloodied tentacles will grow out of the blood and start violently lashing around at whatever living creatures are nearby. These tentacles are powerful, impervious to any weapons not reinforced with Sleeper Blood. They will grab up people and break their bodies, throwing them through the air or tearing them apart, seeming to nourish from the bloodshed.
However, some people are less lucky than a swift death. Some of these tentacles may snap right into your chest, opening up some blood portal into your soul, where this Thing will consume you. On the outside, this looks like a rush of this black-blue blood rushing into a Sleeper and then nothing. You'll feel disoriented and strange at first but will become increasingly agitated, violent with those around you. You will start to gnaw at your fingers to shed your new temporarily altered blood. Eventually, you will begin to attack other Sleepers, able to summon these bloodied tentacles and destroy anything in your path.
But this is a parasitic monster you carry. It eats away your sanity until nothing is left, and then the tentacles will burst out of you, your body left to ruin. Parasitic monsters can be removed by Blood Ministers or by forcing vileblood into the infected's body. The vileblood seems to purge the parasite without killing the host body...As long as you don't use too much. Once the parasite has consumed the body, there is no saving the Sleeper except through death. These parasites can be tracked back to the boats where people can find streaks of the unusual black-blue blood throughout the boats. This blood can be contained and isolated by darkbloods and/or Architects.
The moment you get too close to the blood, even a foot away, it will expand rapidly. Bloodied tentacles will grow out of the blood and start violently lashing around at whatever living creatures are nearby. These tentacles are powerful, impervious to any weapons not reinforced with Sleeper Blood. They will grab up people and break their bodies, throwing them through the air or tearing them apart, seeming to nourish from the bloodshed.
However, some people are less lucky than a swift death. Some of these tentacles may snap right into your chest, opening up some blood portal into your soul, where this Thing will consume you. On the outside, this looks like a rush of this black-blue blood rushing into a Sleeper and then nothing. You'll feel disoriented and strange at first but will become increasingly agitated, violent with those around you. You will start to gnaw at your fingers to shed your new temporarily altered blood. Eventually, you will begin to attack other Sleepers, able to summon these bloodied tentacles and destroy anything in your path.
But this is a parasitic monster you carry. It eats away your sanity until nothing is left, and then the tentacles will burst out of you, your body left to ruin. Parasitic monsters can be removed by Blood Ministers or by forcing vileblood into the infected's body. The vileblood seems to purge the parasite without killing the host body...As long as you don't use too much. Once the parasite has consumed the body, there is no saving the Sleeper except through death. These parasites can be tracked back to the boats where people can find streaks of the unusual black-blue blood throughout the boats. This blood can be contained and isolated by darkbloods and/or Architects.
no subject
I had a comrade whose best companion was his dog. Even when he was under the worst of pressure, the worst of stress, she always came first for him. You'd never find a better pair of partners.
That particular hound was as good a warrior as the rest of us, of that I've no doubt.
[Bigby tips his chin up.]
You've arrived recently, with the others.
no subject
Yeah. I, uh. Got caught beneath the ice, but some people came and pulled me out.
[Even just the memory of the frigid water alone makes him shiver, relieved to be huddled in the warmth.]
Maybe this is a weird question, but were you with your friends before you...I guess, woke up here? I'm not really sure what the right word is for the whole "just suddenly being here" thing. For me it felt kind of like waking up from a dream.
[He pauses, reflecting.]
Maybe a nightmare.
no subject
[Eventually, he sits on the ground, legs folded and one lanky arm draped over his knee; the other remains pinned against his chest, tucked another chains. Always a precaution.]
I was finishing an expedition with my comrades. Just as we were arranging camp, that was when I found myself here. A form unknown to me, until I formed into as you see now.
Waking from a nightmare... yes, that is an appropriate way to describe it for me as well. It is only a shame to know you hold that sentiment yourself.
no subject
So that happened to you, too. Waking up...not the way you're supposed to be.
[He pauses, then looks down at the dog he's petting, and then lowers his voice to speak without looking up.]
Just act natural, like we're talking about something else. Is someone here making you wear those? The chains.
no subject
[He pauses a moment, then struggles to not look sheepish. Hiding his feral instincts is something he constantly works at, but the rest... well, they crack through from time to time, after all.]
No, this is-- it's a personal decision, and a necessary one. No one here would declare me to be bound, thankfully.
It is a precaution, due to my nature.
[He considers how to explain this, then something clicks.]
Many here say my condition is similar to a werewolf, if those exist where you are from. They do not for me, but it seems a common enough matter to suggest if you are familiar. Perhaps easier than really explaining all of it.
no subject
[Although now this gets even more curious with every passing moment. First everybody turns into squid-like creatures helpless in a body of water upon arrival, and now he's meeting people who say they can morph?
He probably ought to be suspicious of all this. That would be the smart thing to do. That would be his responsibility, somehow, even though through his fog of memories he's still not entirely sure why.]
So you don't think of it as an asset. Being able to — to turn into something else.
no subject
[The not-quite-question makes him pause. For a moment, Bigby's eyes are drawn toward the ground, his brows knitted.
When he says it, this young man is not afraid. He is curious. It's not the first time, but perhaps this man is not so unfamiliar to transformations. It would not be the first time, and for others before Bigby was nothing but empathetic.]
The struggle with mine is that it is no tamed beast. It is a terrible predator inside of me, all of its instincts wretched. I battle with this thing inside of me at every breath we draw.
It has its uses. But it is also a burden, for all of its rotten yearnings. The transformation alone is not the worst of it -- it is its nature.
no subject
[He says, sort of vaguely, like he's half-remembering something. But that feels right, doesn't it? Not the terrible oppressive horror of being smothered by something else (why does he know that, too?), but of being...accompanied. Borrowing a different form, but riding along inside it with the instincts of something that already knows what to do.
Tiger, he finds himself thinking all of a sudden. Powerful, calm, unafraid.]
Is that the only thing you can turn into? Just that?
no subject
[Slowly, he wonders truly if this young man does have his own demons, but he opts to not force it out of him despite his own curiosity. It is something to be shared when one is ready, and Bigby knows he's had decades to confront what he is, whether he likes it or not.]
The one and only. Light, if I had more, I would go truly mad, no doubt.
no subject
That's not a tiger he's describing. That's not a morph.
But to make the right connection, Jake would have to remember his cousin Rachel, and the way she loved war, and what that same war turned him into, and so it's probably for the best that it's all still hidden beneath a fog of recollection for him right now.]
...Sorry. I know that probably doesn't help anything, but. Sorry you're...you know. Dealing with that.
[He pets the dog in front of him another minute, then moves his hand away from the fur and extends it to the seated man instead, as if to shake his unburdened hand.]
I'm Jake.
no subject
Bigby.
And apologies are not necessary, even if it is appreciated. I have lived with this for many years. Many more will come, most likely.
no subject
[No, actually, he'd said there weren't werewolves where he came from, didn't he? Well. Hm. Whoops.]
Uh. Well, um. I don't know if I can do anything about that. But I guess if you ever need to like...let it out? And have someone there to make sure it doesn't hurt anything. I...I can probably do that.
[He pauses, brow furrowing. Why did he just do that, he wonders? Why volunteer to fix a problem, even in some small way, that's none of his business? Like fixing problems is his job. Like it's just habitual to see one and take it apart.]
no subject
[The reference completely goes over his head.]
Are you certain about your offer? It is a terrible thing, and far from weak.
[And although he can only infer so much, Jake still does look like a boy still to him. What could he do to help mitigate that sort of thing?]
no subject
[He shrugs, petting the dog again, and considers something before sinking his fingers deep, deep into its fur.
After a moment, the wagging of the dog's tail settles into a sort of lethargic calm, ears drooping slightly as it settles beneath his hand.]
Have you ever seen a tiger?
no subject
[Holding it back is like plugging up a volcano. It builds and builds, until it will one day burst. That's just the fact of the matter.
He watches Jake return some attention the dog. It gives a warmth to Bigby's heart.
The question catches him off guard, then he gives an airy, uncertain laugh.]
Only in art. The closest I'd ever really seen one was... well, a comrade of mine knew them well. She'd describe them in detail. Let us say the art I had seen did not seem to match her description, so I only have a mind's eye of it.
Er, if I may, why do you ask...?