TDM#12

[vivalamods]

TEST DRIVE #11

The day begins as any other, you’re going about your day, living your life, when, without warning, you feel the world around you shift on its axis. You feel a great tear, welling from the depths of your soul as you are ripped from all you have known. If you’re lucky, you arrive in the wilderness of an unfamiliar world, where the language is foreign and the people are hostile. To make your escape, you must learn some language, flee, and occasionally fight, all to find your way off the floating isles you find yourself on and to the great ocean below, where rebel forces will welcome you.

If you’re unlucky, you materialize within a room full of armed guards and are quickly subdued with charged nets, stripped of your belongings, fitted with strange devices that suppress your powers and pressed into servitude. Your days are unimaginable pain and toil.

Fortunately, even in this world, there is still hope. For the denizens of this world have not given up. And it is for that dream of salvation that the Crimson Corsairs raise their flags and sail - for liberation. Perhaps you are one who has lived their entire life under the oppressive yoke of the Empire. Perhaps you have seen first hand your family and friends cut down by nobles hunting men for sport, or perhaps you have run afoul with the church and barely escaped with your life. No matter your origin, the Corsairs sail for you, for your freedom, for your life. And today, a taste of freedom will be won for all.


ARRIVAL/LIBERATION
The recent successes of the Corsairs have lead to a number of defections, and while the Empire intensifies its propaganda at home it has provided ample opportunity for Servants to escape from their captors and make their way to the Eternal Ocean, or members of the underclasses and oppressed to find their way down. The stream of new defectors has kept the Corsairs busy, but also helped them swell their ranks like never before.


STORM THE SHORES

The attack on the Fallen Isles must be swift and brutal. It will require a kind of warfare the Corsairs haven’t had too much experience with. Even some of their more major recent operations have been more of simple raids where they clear out a smaller Imperial presence or strike at a targeted location. This time, the Corsairs must attack a remote but fully functional Imperial outpost, along with the nobility that it supports, and eliminate all opposition.

Flotsam is abuzz with activity as they prepare for the attack, and the training is focused on siege warfare - how to use the ships to shell fortified encampments and how to carry out the assault. For anyone planning to take part in the assault, training is mandatory, and you will be spending a great deal of your month in these drills.


HOW TO FEED AND WATER YOUR RESEARCHERS

One of the issues with a major development project is that it can incite certain behaviors in researchers. Those who stand at the pinnacle of their fields are often prone to profound disregard for their own personal health when entrapped by a project of life-altering significance. And so it is that some Corsairs have been personally assigned to ensure the researchers are being properly fed, are taking breaks, are actually sleeping, and are bathed regularly. Despite what some joker suggested, one can’t simply flood the room with soapy water or digestible sludge at approved intervals and hope for the best. These researchers are, after all, only mortal, despite what their callous disregard for personal health might suggest.


DANGEROUS GAMES

The most skilled and able negotiators are to be deployed all over the Empire to aid in the effort. And that means that they’ll be rubbing shoulders with some of the most unsavory of the Empire’s seedy underbelly. And that, in turn, often means gambling. While any Corsair worth their salt can hold their liquor, the many poker halls, and even some underground Mahjong parlors that still persist within some Imperial circles despite the game having been banned for not according with cultural norms over three decades ago are full of the exact kinds of contacts the Corsairs need to make this operation work.

Across Flotsam and the Vault, the clink of chips and tiles can be heard as key negotiators train their wits and their gambling to a razor’s edge. They must be able to bluff, make conversation and, most importantly, cheat, in their own favor and in the favor of others, to ensure they are maintaining the right kind of connections.

All are welcome in these halls, but only the most dedicated sharks will be dispatched. Think you’re up to the task?


WILDCARD

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OOC
Welcome to the eleventh Test-Drive Meme for Viva La! All threads here may be considered canon once characters have entered the game. Threads here are eligible for use as a roleplay sample for applications, which will open on the 5th of June at midnight.
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