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my oath shall be sped;
WHO? Everybody!
WHAT? The January TDM.
WHEN? The mythic dimension of Vorspiel.
ANYTHING ELSE? Violence, as always. Please warn in subject lines for anything beyond physical violence, and move to a personal journal if things go beyond PG-13.
WHAT? The January TDM.
WHEN? The mythic dimension of Vorspiel.
ANYTHING ELSE? Violence, as always. Please warn in subject lines for anything beyond physical violence, and move to a personal journal if things go beyond PG-13.
JANUARY TEST DRIVE MEME;
Vorspiel; a land of song.
arrival for new recruits
You wake up in a patch of verdant forest, with the birds chirping all around you. You're not in a clearing; your body lies between the trees. Near you, a frail woman with tired eyes rocks back and forth. You have none of your clothing, just black military-issued underwear, and none of your previous possessions beyond the one you chose (if you remember choosing) to bring with you.
When the tired woman notices you've come to, she speaks in a tongue you won't recognize, but somehow understand, in tilting tones that somehow always rhyme. Tired and sorrowful though she is, if you have questions as to what's going on, she'll answer: you are a member of COST, a paramilitary organization of time travelers fighting against the Regency, a tyrannous kingdom of the future who are trying to stamp out freedom and individuality in the name of peace.
She will provide you with the clothing necessary to fit in, and show you how to use your BCE implant to look up information on this dimension and its social and political mores. She won't let you leave until you're properly dressed to fit in, but once you are, she'll wish you luck. She thinks you'll need it.
And, she says as you depart, if you see the Gods, spit on them. They will do you no favors here.
ARRIVAL FOR VETERANS
While on BASE, you'll receive a message on your BCE.
URGENT MISSION: VORSPIEL UNDER MAJOR ATTACK. ALL POSSIBLE VOLUNTEERS NEEDED TO PROVIDE AID.Selecting 'Y' will instantly teleport you to Vorspiel. Or maybe you're not the volunteering type, but your BCE glitches and signs you up anyway. Them's the breaks.
ACCEPT: Y / N ?
When you appear in Vorspiel, you'll find yourself in that same forest with the same woman who is ushering new recruits. She will give you clothes and wish you luck-- though luck, she says, is something true heroes have in short supply.
VORSPIEL
Regardless of how you got here, your BCE will have a short rundown of the situation once you arrive.
Vorspiel is a mythical, magical dimension rich in rare and precious resources. During the course of the war, it's been fought over by both sides. The Regency has recently allied with the leader of the misty country of Nibelheim to issue what is known as a Time Break; a sort of spell only possible in ancient dimensions such as these. Essentially, linear time has been destroyed in this dimension. Everything is happening at once, simultaneously and perpetually, a never ending cycle of lives and deaths and battles. While Vorspiel is a vast dimension, its borders have become warped; it is possible to walk from one country to another across the sea in a matter of moments, by accident. While the BCE is trying to send people to Nibelheim, it's entirely possible it misses the mark completely, or sends them to several places before they reach Nibelheim.
This chaos is meant to be a punishment: bow down before the Regency, or nothing will ever be the same again.
There is good news, though. Vorspiel is a dimension of inherent magic; singing or humming or whistling certain magical tunes will have an inherent effect upon one's surroundings. The BCE lists all the spells, though it notes that some have varying results (AKA go wild, guys, have fun), and the ones named after people will do little unless the person in question is present (a statistical unlikelihood).
As you enter different parts of Vorspiel, the BCE will sometimes give you different assignments, prompting you to take this action or that. If you have any questions about how this setting works, feel free to ask!
THE RHEINAs a final note: This will not be the main mission for January. This TDM is meant as a one-off to dump characters into a setting they don't have to read a ton of infopages for, while still getting a sense of what Agoge could be (and as always, this TDM is game canon).
You come upon a giant river with clear and beautiful water. The sun shines down upon it in yellow light, and wherever the light touches it, gold floats to the surface of the water. The BCE will prompt you to fetch as much of this gold as you can-- it is an extremely powerful magical resource, rheingold-- but it will not warn you about the Rheinmaidens.
The rheinmaidens are mermaids, essentially, and at first, they are very friendly and gentle, singing nonsense songs and welcoming you to their home. But as soon as you begin to make any moves toward the gold, they will curse you, dive for you with surprising speed, and attempt to drown you. They will be vicious, and their natural element is water. You're in their territory, taking their things, as far as they are concerned. They have every right to kill you.
Killing the rhienmaidens will work... for a minute or so. And then they will rise again. Wounds will undo themselves-- whether they're inflicted by the rheinmaidens or you. Drowning doesn't seem permanent either-- you're pulled under, and all air escapes you, death befalls you... and then you wake up a moment later, standing on the shore.
Time has been fundamentally broken. Nothing done here is permanent.
WALHALL
You stand outside a fortress bathed in rainbow light atop a glorious mountain. Around you, the air is cool and still, and the roof of the sky seems terribly close. No matter how far toward the fortress you run, you can never make it inside. And thundering footsteps are coming just around the mountain pass, coming for you.
Lumbering giants wander around the fortress, searching for something they mutter and murmur is theirs. If they see anyone around, they will attempt to carry them off, kidnapping them for unknown purposes. They do not seem interested in eating their catch; they seem more interested in kidnapping it. Still, they are dangerous, brutish and sloppy with their strength. It is best to avoid them if possible, hiding in the trees.
Or perhaps you'd rather fight these fifteen-foot monstrosities on your own?
Of course, if you kill them, they just... come back. Death cannot be permanent in a place where time has been caught in an endless loop.
NIBELHEIM
The misty country of Nibelheim is located within a network of caverns dug into the side of a great mountain. It's a foggy, polluted place that brings to mind a city on the brink of the industrial revolution, not unlike Victorian London, though Nibelheim is entirely underground. There is smoke and smog everywhere, and living conditions are generally poor. The rich class is one family, ruled by a Nibelung named Alberich. He has various objects of great power that keep him enslaving his fellow Nibelung, working constantly in factories of his making. He has allied with the Regency to achieve this goal, and the time break within his home dimension is due in large part to his planning and plotting.
Human visitors to Nibelheim aren't unheard of, due to trade, though they are in a minority. Nibelungs, for the record, look and feel and act completely human, but they are ultimately alien, averaging a foot shorter in height at least, having naturally sallow skin, large eyes, hairless regardless of gender, and long, nimble fingers. They are a race of people made to live underground, and it shows; most can see in the dark, and climb nearly any surface. They are famed as smiths and metalworkers. Most just want to make a living and feed their families, though Alberich's clan keeps them in line.
Your duty here, the BCE says, is to try and befriend these people, the average Nibelung, and spark some kind of revolt. There are Regency spies everywhere, however, so be careful; you cannot call for rebellion in an open voice on every street corner. No, it's better, safer, to be subtle about it. Win the trust of a local businessman, seek out influential Nibelungs and figure out their opinions. Be tactical, be clever, be quick.
And avoid Alberich and his family at any cost.
But if you can, try and save some of the Nibelungs. Due to Alberich's machinations, Nibelheim is the only part of Vorspiel that has been untouched by the time break, but that will only stay true for so long. If you can convince any Nibelungs to join COST, they will do so willingly; you'll just have to escort them to safe places in hidden back rooms within dingy bars and forgotten libraries, the places where COST cells have been fermenting under the nose of the Regency. Don't get caught, and be careful; save as many as you can.
AT THE BASE OF A GREAT TREE
A man lays dying. He looks very much like the woman who introduced you to this place. Regardless, he lies in a pool of his own blood, a stab wound through his heart. The time break keeps him from ever truly passing into the next life; as soon as he dies, his eyes open, and he begins the process of his last painful moments once again.
Each time, he begs you to avenge him and find his love (or sometimes his sister; he seems very confused), and if you ask him his name, he will only respond that he is, "the woeful one". And then he will die again, for the hundredth time.
In the trees, warriors watch, poised to attack. They see you communing with their enemy, and they wish to defeat you as well. These warriors care little for your protest; they are locked in an endless battle that they cannot free themselves from, and you have just joined it.
IN THE FOREST
There is a serpent, larger than anything you have ever seen, sitting at the mouth of a cave. It sits upon a hoard of gold that may be familiar to you. It may not, but the BCE will inform you of what it is: rheingold, an incredibly potent and valuable magical resource.
Regardless, the serpent will attack anyone that comes near it or its hoard, even by accident. It, too, is caught in an endless loop of battle long over, for it calls you boy and foolish young man regardless of who or what you are. It speaks in a deep and sonorous voice, and will not stop until its head is cut off. The creature is obnoxiously large and highly dangerous, and battle with it will be long and painful, not least because, like everything in this place where time has been so fundamentally broken, it is very bad at staying dead.
Be careful when you fight it -- if you accidentally get some of its blood in your mouth, you will be suddenly and temporarily able to understand the language of birds. Which is cool, but also, you know, distracting.
The birds will tell you to find the Valkyries, who will bring you great fame and glory. They will also tell you to run, for Fafnir does not die so easy.
AT THE END OF THE WORLD
You are at a funeral. A golden-haired woman stands upon an unlit pyre, standing next to the man who, she sings, is her dead husband. Her song is beautiful and loud and incomprehensible, and when the pyre is lit, the fire swallows her whole. But the burning doesn't stop there; it begins to destroy the assembled mourners, the forest around it, the castle, the very river burns. The fabric of the world crackles and sets to flame.
Run from the flame all you like, but it always licks at your heels.
There is a trick, though, to saving your life. If one is truly unafraid of death, the fire cannot harm you, or anyone you touch. The BCE won't warn you of this; it doesn't know. But if you are unafraid, you can simply walk through the flames unharmed.
It will bring you to a wide field atop a mountain, where a woman lies sleeping. It's the same woman at the funeral, peaceful in sleep, unmoving, unsinged. She can be awoken by a kiss.
Of course, awakening her will begin the cycle again: the pyre, the fire, the fearlessness, the clearing. Over and over again, endlessly, until the BCE manages to pull you out.
This is the will of the Regency.
The main mission for January will be the Gallipoli campaign, as detailed here. Future missions for Agoge are always listed here months in advance.
no subject
[ Titan could be tamed or beaten, but these things seem to wake up even angrier after they've been slain. It's a rather unfortunate side effect of victory. Ignis is already working on getting out of the tree. The fact that Noctis is here at all provides both relief and concern— he can see to his safety if he's here, but then there's also the fact that they've both been brought here. But first, the Giants. ]
I will rendezvous with you at the bottom of the hill in a few moments. I'm fortunate these giants are neither fast nor intelligent.
i am so sorry this week ate me
[ Infallible Noctis logic. Infallible. ]
Fine but you better hurry then bc if you think I'm gonna sit around when I could be helping you out you're wrong.
same tbh rl is the worst
After a few minutes, Ignis steps out of a small thicket of trees at the foot of the hill. He looks disdainfully at his arms, covered to the elbow in Giant's blood. It hadn't been ideal, fighting giants with no armor, only a dagger, and navigating the tree canopy. But the plan worked. ]
Noct? [ Wary, at best. For all that the messages seemed to come from the Prince, he’s not certain he’s ready to trust them until he sees Noctis for himself. ]
somehow making those edits makes you seem even more ic
Ignis! [ He breaks into a short run, then, dagger immediately sheathed when it's clear that no giants are trailing after him. ] It's seriously you; I thought you were-- [ Noctis cuts himself off with a heavy swallow as he catches his breath, eyes wide as he stares up at him. ]
i felt shame for every single edit im sorry for me
Are you well? [ He nearly reaches to clasp Noct's shoulder, but makes a disapproving noise when he notes the blood drying on his hands, and drops it back to his side. ] I woke up in this place, though how I managed to arrive at all has yet to be determined. [ Even if there is some logical explanation, it doesn't change the suddenness of it. He doesn't trust it. ]
Have Gladio and Prompto arrived, then?
we will get through this... Together
No... no, just me. I was just starting to think that none of you guys were gonna' show. Did any of the COST agents tell you I was here? When they came to talk to you, I mean. [ He tries his best to be professional, for Ignis's sake, to run through the necessary questions even if there's a relieved smile tugging at his features and skewing that supposedly no-nonsense tone. ]
walk tol my smol sonion
It's all the more puzzling since, moments before he woke in this place, he'd been with Noct and the others. And yet the prince stands before him, seemingly well and unharmed. He'd not been able to protect him from whatever this place is, but to see him well enough brings some relief. ]
I don't recall joining this operation, but all information suggests that I joined willingly. How long have you been in this place?
he WILL make you cry when he's torn apart
[ A quiet dig at COST's inability to properly explain its procedures to new arrivals. No, he's not sorry. ] When I showed up it was... I guess a month or two ago now, but nobody's got a calendar or anything that I've seen. Time works weirdly out here. Even weirder wherever we are right now... This isn't the normal place we've been; COST has a ship too.
When I showed up we were in the middle of some kind of war on another planet, though.
im laughing so much
[ How could it be that Ignis feels as though he'd just been standing beside Noct just hours before he woke up in this place, and yet so much time has passed? Time works weirdly out here isn't a detailed enough explanation, but Ignis knows he'd do well to listen just now instead of question. ]
Travel across time and places... I would venture to say your assessment is correct, then. Though I fear weird isn't strong enough a word. I've been lead to believe I voluntarily joined this faction, though I have no recollection of it. I suspect that is also due to the strange twists of time?
[ Ignis, please. Aren't you so glad he's back, Noct? ]
no subject
[ So he says, but for a normally moody royal his tone is pretty light right about now. Yes, he is very glad that you're back, actually. ]
Maybe you should be the one questioning the higher-ups on my behalf.
no subject
[ Ignis occasionally looks over Noctis, as though expecting to turn up an injury or some other blight. Each time he reassures himself that the prince is whole. ]
I'd like to think we'd be permitted to return home if we chose to, since we merely volunteered for them. [ There's that whole journey thing back home that seems far more important than fighting giants and other daemons. ]