Test Drive Meme #01: The First

[atlasmods]

WELCOME TO KHARAS It's gonna be a real scorcher. Welcome to The Atlas's first Test Drive Meme! If you're considering joining or want to dabble in the setting a little then you've come to the right place. This post should ideally give you a feel for what it's like to play in the game...especially since this is how we're kicking things off! What does that mean? Basically that this post is considered game-canon and any inter/actions here will lapse over into the game once it begins provided both parties agree to keep CR when they are accepted. TDM threads can be used for sample requirements on apps! Still interested? Reserves open on the 10th at 00:00 EST, and Applications open on the 12th at 00:00 EST. Both close on the 14th at 23:59 EST. Make sure you're familiar with both the setting and arrival conditions before posting...and have at it! THE DESERT PLANET. WAKING You wake in a valley, gasping for air to fill your aching lungs. There are spots in your eyes. The midday sun hangs in the sky and temperatures have peaked at 100°F | 38°C. Every inhale brings with it the sensations of heat and thirst. Luckily? The strange pod you've arrived in contains some food and water. Rations. Two, three days' worth if you can manage to stretch them. But aside from that there isn't much, in the pod or your immediate surroundings. The only signs of life are the weathered and rusted-looking stasis pods around you from which others emerge, gasping or choking for breath once their lids open. Beyond that there isn't a soul in sight, and since each pod only opens once interfaced with... Who opened yours? SCAVENGE After the heat and disorientation wear off things start to become more clear. You notice the bizarre mark both your suit and the pods bear, as well as the rusted paneling and long scratches that run along some of them. It looks as though something once tried to claw its way into the protective capsules. And somehow yours held out. Others, well... Not so much. Among the pods of those who've survived and continue to wake, are the remains of those whose occupants couldn't possibly have made it. The fronts have been crushed in, hulls torn apart, sporting what looks like critical damage to the wiring or pods' integrity. This damage wasn't caused by weathering or the passage of time. Something deliberately tore them apart in search of whatever...or whoever was inside. Whether or not it's reassuring that no bodies remain inside is up to you. Careful inspection will reveal these pods look almost the exact same age as the one your character woke from. How long ago were they broken? How long have you been asleep? The only thing you can do is keep searching for clues... Maybe you'll get lucky enough to uncover the remains of the occupant's own rations? Although whether they're still good or even edible for your species is something you'll have to find out for yourself. They look...well. Ancient. SIGNS OF LIFE When you venture further into the valley and away from your pod, there's finally something other than sand and devastation to be found. Although not numerous, scattered here and there are clusters of a coral-like structure. Most of its stems are hard and rock-like, but closer inspection shows tiny tendrils of plant-matter which poke their way out of its tubes and vents whenever shadows are cast. But the moment you approach it? All signs of activity vanish and it goes deathly still. If you happen to travel further out from the protection offered by the valley's walls you may just be lucky enough to spot possibly the only actually green blue piece of vegetation on the planet: a single bunch of shriveled leaves. While not terribly exciting, at least it doesn't curl up and disappear like the coral...right? But just in case, maybe you shouldn't disturb it. ECLIPSE Especially when it gets dark. As the merciless the heat of the day gives way to the solar eclipse, the planet begins to transform: the tendrils of the coral emerge fully and appear almost life-like in the way they sway and grab slowly at the air. But be careful! If threatened or grabbed these tendrils will sting their attacker and cause itchy red blotches to form. And when we say itchy, we mean really itchy. And remember those shriveled leaves? Turns out they're more active at this time of the day too. As soon as the surface temperature of the planet drops to tolerable levels the leaves of this plant unfold and knit themselves back together until they form a full stalk & bulb-like head, from which an oddly sweet smell emanates. If left alone long enough, eventually what looks like water will begin to drip from the bulb. If it senses touch, the head of this plant will rapidly unwind and snap around whatever's closest...before it attempts to suffocate you with its moist secretions. MIST OPPORTUNITY The other strange phenomenon which occurs as the eclipse hits full-swing is the gradual formation of saturated clouds of smoke. They appear in pockets which come and go without pattern or design. One moment the desert is bare, and the next it's begun to fill with enough smoke to make visibility so poor it's easy to get turned around and lost. Luckily it's non-toxic and doesn't carry any kind of scent, so breathing it isn't a problem but something very odd happens when characters try to activate or meddle with their communicators in it: White noise. Although the suits can't broadcast any sort of message aside from their beacons, for some reason as soon as characters enter the smoke white noise begins and can only be heard while they're surrounded by it. Is it a signal? Some sort of message? Or something darker altogether... WILDCARD And of course, characters are always free to come up with adventures of their own. Feel like scaling the valley walls? Digging through sand? Meddling with alien technology the likes you've never seen before? Your rationsThe sky's the limit in: The Atlas! ...And there you have it! This TDM will be live until game launch on the 17th so please have fun, be kind, and if you have any questions at all please head on over to our FAQ! We are currently looking for help with apps/plot write-ups, so if you're interested please hit us up.

NAVIGATION

Comments

Commander Shepard | Mass Effect

[sheshotfirst]

Waking

Can’t breathe.

Her eyes were open, a desert world marred by black spots in front of them, but that wasn’t what Jane Shepard saw. Stars. She saw stars and the void of space, all around her, air leaking, getting thinner-

No. No. Focus. It was getting easier to breathe. This wasn’t then. The Normandy was far, far away. Not falling apart behind her. She’d been on Earth, not floating in space. She just had to breathe.

The hero of the galaxy can only stumble out of the stasis pod, knees hitting the ground hard as she folds in on herself, arms wrapped around her sides, and takes deep breaths. She shouldn’t be here. She shouldn’t be anywhere after what had happened with the Reapers. With the ‘child.’ But it wouldn’t be her first time back from the dead, and if she’d learned anything from the last round it was life didn’t wait for her to adjust before throwing the next disaster in her face.

Still, it’s a long minute before Shepard has her breathing under enough control to finally look up and around, searching for whoever woke her.

Scavenge

And now she knew how Javik must have felt, at least in part. Pods designed to protect rendered to shreds, possibly the only surviving member of the world she knew present. Based on the bits of food she’d found, there were races beyond what she was familiar with. She knew dextro-protein packs on sight, smell, and taste (on a dare) after years with Garrus and Tali. Many of these were something else.

So the facts: she was on a strange world, brought by unknown forces for unknown reasons (the ‘Atlas business was too vague to be a known), and something was hunting them. Simple enough to figure out the first thing to address on that list. She’d need weapons.

The pods were in poor shape, but the broken apart ones had some promise of at least providing a club or spear. If she could manage to ply a piece off.

“Hey, this might be a team job.”

Wildcard

[Pick a scenario and Shep will charge in!]

Waking

[klivian]

"I'm guess you feel about as good as this planet looks," Hobbie observes laconically. Sorting through the pods has been an interesting experience, if also horrendously depressing when he realizes just how many haven't made it. He crouches and offers a hand up to Shepard. Something about the woman screams military at him. Maybe it takes one to know one.

"Good news is that we're not dead yet. Don't suppose you know this place? Not even a little?"

[sheshotfirst]

She took the offered hand without hesitation, grip firm despite her lingering want to keep gasping for air. There were more people in danger than her here, she didn't have time to lose it right now. But his guess about a soldier is likely confirmed by the stance Shepard takes once standing, feet squarely planted and shoulders squared as she finally takes in him and the surrounding area.

"Thanks. But looks like we're in the same boat. This isn't exactly where I expected to be. Wherever this is."

[klivian]

Hell of a grip she's got there. Hobbie can appreciate that. He settles his hands on his hips and glances upward into the sky. He definitely doesn't recognize this planet, although it could be any number of empty dustballs that the Rebellion had hidden out on back when they'd been just the Rebellion. Hobbie pulls a face, looking a bit dour.

"Definitely in the same category. Lost, confused, and wondering where they put my X-Wing. Along with everything else..."

He shades his eyes with a hand, trying to get a better look at the horizon. No smoke, no signs of civilization. That's more than a touch depressing.

"Wish they would've put a map in those pods. Doesn't look like there's any sort of civilization for miles..." He pauses and shrugs, "Then again, there could be some sort of spaceport on the other side of the valley and we'd never even know it."

[sheshotfirst]

'X-wing' doesn't ring a bell, but Shepard's well aware of how many 1-3 person ships come out without her knowledge. Until she's suddenly asked to drive them, that is, an exercise her crew mates never seem to enjoy as much as she did. But she longed for even a Mako right now, anything to make this trip over the desert waste easier.

Shepard mimicked the man's posture, scanning the area around them. And coming more or less to the same conclusion.

"Spotted any higher ground? We need a better idea of what we're facing."

[klivian]

"Well, there's a ridge either side of us, but it's pretty forbidding, at least from this angle," Hobbie says, squinting into the dust, "Don't know how good you are at rock-climbing, but most of mine's been done in the gym, with a harness."

Meaning he's not likely to want to go scurrying up sheer cliffs anytime soon.

"I'd kill for any sign of life, really. We're going to need water soon."

scavenging

[shootsstraight]

He might not be a genius, but it didn't exactly take one to figure out that he needed food, water, shelter and a big stick to deal with whatever is shredding stasis pods and making off with the people inside them. With the first two reasonably well accounted for thanks to the rats packs and scavenging through the mangled pods, that means it's time to tackle number three and four on the list.

Stars, what he wouldn't give for a blaster right now. Hell, he'd even take a little slugthrower over prying strips of durasteel from the exterior plating of the ruined pods. Might as well wish for a transport ship and a stiff drink, while you're at it, he thinks while he makes his away across the rocky salt flat to where the woman - a stranger as much as anyone - is working to free a likely component from the stasis pod.

"Here, if you can open that gap I might be able to get some leverage." There's a thin flat stone in his hand - not exactly ideal for pry work, but if they can get it wedged between the two layers as a block it might be useful yet.

[sheshotfirst]

Shepard glanced over her shoulder, a small, slightly wry smile forming as she took in the man and his 'gear.' Sharp objects and rocks. Wouldn't the Turian Councillor have a laugh at the primitive humans right now. Now there was a face she never figured she'd miss. Blame it on the heat.

"Got it."

She obliged, switching her position so she could keep it pried up a couple inches and give the man room to work. It was awkward, but far from the worst position she'd held in her military career. He could take his time to get a good angle.

"Don't tell me: recently woke up, no idea how you got here?"

[shootsstraight]

There's not exactly much working room, but Wedge throws his leg over the exterior frame of the stasis pod - stands half in the sand and half in the upturned, shredded pod - and leans in under the angle of her arm to work the little rock into the shred of space she's opened up.

"Pretty much exactly that." She must be military of some kind - already this is easily the most natural conversation he's had and they're all but standing on top of another, fiddling with a rock. Please don't be an Imp; it's been a long day already, he thinks, then the rock grinds into the space between the metal strip and the stasis chamber's frame. He makes a small sound of triumph, then straightens to peer around them.

"Great. Now we just need another, bigger rock." Still straddling the frame of the stasis pod, he offers her his hand. "I'm Wedge, by the way."

[sheshotfirst]

"Easy to remember."

Wedge, the man wedging rocks into things. And her ability to keep that second bit on the inside was why she was, every now and then, able to be taken seriously as a commander.

"Shepard," she paused for half a moment as she took his hand, "Alliance Navy. Let's get that rock before whatever came by here makes a return visit."

She really, really wanted her club/spear before that happened. Hand to hand combat was all well and good, but she held no illusion concerning how her fists would hold up against whatever had opened those pods. She took the half step down into the sand, scanning for any other new arrivals before heading forward.

Scavenge

[partcompany]

Rhys walks over closer to give the broken pod an extremely dubious look. He's a pretty slender guy, and he hasn't had a lot of success in any of his past attempts to move heavy metal debris, even with his robot arm. Even with his robot arm functioning properly, which he's not entirely sure it is right now.

But that's not going to stop him from giving it a try.

"Uh... sure, yeah. I'll just grab... the thing, and you can grab the... other thing?"

[sheshotfirst]

Shepard gave a soft snort as she turned to look at the 'volunteer.' Even with the strange prosthetic, everything about the man screamed civilian. Ruled out a targeted strike on their raid against the Reapers, but opened a whole additional world of questions in its place. Ones that could get slightly more attention once weapons and shelter were secure.

"Any good with tech?"

[partcompany]

The snort makes Rhys want to save face a little. Sure, he has no idea where he is, who she is, where those pods came from, or what destroyed them. He may not be a buff badass like this woman clearly is. But that doesn't mean he's not in control of the situation.

"Um, yeah. I'm great with tech, that's pretty much what I do. That and thinking on my feet. 'Thing,' that's a technical term, you see, the layman's term would be 'sticky-outy bit of weird alien metal rended apart by forces unknown.'"

Nice, Rhys. That's real convincing.

"Ripping apart large pieces of metal, though, that's not exactly my forte. Generally I have robots to do that. ..Well. At least one robot."

[sheshotfirst]

"Thank goodness we've got your expertise."

It's dry, but he gets a small smile back. Humor was good. Humor kept people from making rash, angry decisions. Or curling up into a ball and crying.

"Any idea what species put these things together? Doesn't look like any Alliance tech I know."

Or Turian or Quarian, the list went on. But he was, so far in her experience on this world, the tech expert of Who The Hell Knew prime. So let him give the full analysis, if he could.

[dateme]

"What did you have in mind?" Because unlike the more survival-inclined members of their unlucky fold, Inui's brain is more concerned with shade and water than the long-term. His greatest concern back home was whether or not he was going to blackmail a classmate he caught cross-dressing.

Surviving an alien planet's desert leaves him a bit out of sorts.

[sheshotfirst]

"Know how to pull when I say so?"

Keep it simple, and they may just all survive. Sure, they may go flying back a little, but at the end of the day she'll still have a club. And possibly someone to defend with it.

[dateme]

"Can do☆" Pulling is an easy job! Much better than traversing the desert or trying to kill the flesh-eating plant a ways over. Or finding himself in servitude to a psychopathic Princess.

[sheshotfirst]

Shepard spares him a half smile as she falls back into position, sliding her hands down to the bits of metal closest to where it's joined with the pod so she has the harder duty and greater chance of slicing her hand open. Last thing she needs is some kid bleeding in the desert on her conscious just now.

"Grab on up there, then on the count of three."

waking

[zerkalos]

It's empty eye sockets set in blackened dead skin that stares back at her. But they do a marvellous job of looking, where he's rocked back on his haunches where he seems to be watching her quite intently in fact. Isn't he helpful, waiting to see if she's okay?

Or not, in truth, he goes through the bodies to find a spark of life rattling around in unused bones. He'd rather be hoping she wasn't going to wake, truth be told. Take out her femur, snap it apart and writing old words upon it. Make himself strong upon the life-current of others. Waits to see and speak until - perhaps she had been injured. It would be no matter to wait until she did. End it quick if she was in pain. Be gracious about it.

But she wakes, gasps, crawls her way back to the land of the living, and that's that. Whatever his intentions however, they are hidden by his corpse of a face. The ash that falls from him which - doesn't not just seem charred bits of bodies, but it still smells like something burning. Mercifully, it's been enough time that he has found other dead bodies, even if the bones weren't serviceable, their suits were cut up to wrap around the lower part of his face.

"Easy. It can be startling to wake, at first."

[sheshotfirst]

Husk. With her hands already at her sides, it's easy for her to slide down towards where a gun should be- and find nothing. Nothing at all. This discovery and the adrenaline shot through her body all happen before she's able to process beyond the sight and smell. To acknowledge the abomination is talking.

So Shepard is standing and backed several feet away before she replies. Instinct is a hard thing to fight.

"You're talking."

[zerkalos]

He mercifully doesn't move - she's safe from being chased. He just makes a point of turning his face up towards her and he comes with an awareness, there are no eyes, not anymore, but there is a decided feeling that he is looking from those empty sockets. Peering, perhaps, curious at her extreme reaction.

Or perfectly reasonable, considering.

The ash falls from him as his hands absently move. To look more human, perhaps, though it only sends the ash from his burned skin. "I am. I can do a lot more besides. But it will not bring harm to you."

At least, not if he doesn't see a reason to. But he carries on after. Thick and deep, his voice rumbles out of his barely connected jaw. The thin stretches of skin that seem to just hold him in place. "I am Zhukov, Hero of Tyvia."

[sheshotfirst]

Breathe. Just breathe. She can do that, especially from a guarded position. For some reason her bionics seem just out of reach, harder than they should, but she can get there if need. If the...the whatever proves to be less than civilized.

"Never heard of Tyvia. Why don't you tell me."

woops i lied WAKING UP

[agglomerate]

"Waking up" in a pod had been entirely nonsensical-- it was clearly designed with organics in mind, and given that Legion was quite the exact opposite of organic, why were there provisions? Was it standard? There had been obvious signs of a life support system... Scanning it proved less than useful. Aside from the provisions and the damaged pods leaving behind more questions than answers, everything around Legion was going against the very grain of everything that could pulled from memory banks. What could have possibly happened? How much time had passed? There was rust, and whatever had either tried to get at the occupants of some of the other pods, or had succeeded, was long gone. There were no traces of even so much as skin flakes left behind. No signs of life in spite of the fact that the pods pointed towards someone anticipating otherwise.

All that was left was the heat, some plants (only of passing interest to Legion currently-- they weren't a priority right now), and the remaining in-tact pods.

A short period on standby mode to do some system maintenance and scanning the valley for any form of life aside from the plants that didn't fit anything in Legion's data-banks, and the final decision was made: scan the pods. One by one, interfacing with them until Legion finally did get something. A pod that had life support systems online. Nothing on who was occupying it, however. So, perhaps that resolves at least one thing for Shepard.

Considering the fact that when she looked up? Legion was leaning down to offer a hand to help her stand up.

"Shepard-Commander." An acknowledgement. All of Legion's scans came back positive: this was indeed Shepard. "You are the last organic lifeform I anticipated to find."

That 'I' statement? Not a mistake. The last thing Legion remembers? Shepard, Tali, and in that very moment, just before saying its goodbyes (of a sort), self-actualization.

PRECIOUS AI CHILD

[sheshotfirst]

"Maybe I am dead."

Legion. If there ever was a Geth that would make it into the afterlife, it would be this Geth. Or maybe she was still stuck in the strange half-world of the Reaper creators, proving something she felt no need to prove. Though that half-life hadn't felt so damn hot, nor involved so much hunger and thirst. Or...damn it all.

She gave her head a sharp shake and reached out a hand towards him, resting one on his upper arm to help stabilize her as she stood up.

"I didn't think it would hurt this much."

please take care of this most precious child shepard mommy

[agglomerate]

"You are surprised." Not exactly a statement. That's its assumption: Shepard-Commander is surprised to be alive. Then again, given the situation? It's pretty surprised that functioning is still possible for anything here. "I would have anticipated for Shepard-Commander to know the difference between alive and dead, by now."

Just look at the pods, after all.

Legion lets go once Shepard's stabilized, but doesn't take sensors off of her, the plates around that one camera shifting a little. The "expression" was almost thoughtful in a way. Quite literally barely a second of hesitation, and then:

"Do you remember me?"

Just in the off chance that she might not. Long term stasis could do that to memories for organics.