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TDM: Mega Throwback Edition!
✖ TEST DRIVE MEME
Ⅰ. ARRIVAL
You can read all about your character's arrival in the game lore.
The island you find yourself on is a tropical paradise. The hair is heavy and humid, and a thick flowering jungle encroaches on the white sandy beach. As far as mysterious islands go, it could be a lot worse! Maybe there’s a bar with some Mai Tais set up here somewhere…
Just a little one - it’s about the size of a small dog, running along on its hind legs. Aww, he’s kinda cute if you ignore the sharp teeth and claws! Lucky for you it’s busy chasing something else and soon darts back into the bush unless you do something to grab its attention.
Listen closely and you’ll find that sometimes you can hear sounds that are distinctly mechanical. Whatever this place is, it at least sounds like it’s inhabited by something possessing intelligence. You could definitely go and find out. Just be careful!
Or maybe you think, hey, I’ve seen this movie, I’m staying on the beach! You could, but unless you’re good at diving for fish you might have a hard time finding food.
Ⅱ. CRETACEOUS PARK
CW: Dinosaurs! Violence, possibly against dinosaurs!
The jungle is thick and it takes a lot of effort to move through it. You’ll have to crawl under vines, climb over felled trees, and just generally pay a lot of attention to your surroundings. This is the sort of situation where having someone with you certainly makes things easier. Occasionally you will hear animals calling, and you’re bound to see some of them eventually. Maybe you’ll luck out and spot a herbivore like one of the armoured dinosaurs, just chewing on plants and not likely to attack you unless you piss it off. Maybe you spot something about your size with a decidedly less vegetarian diet and you have to decide between hiding or trying to scare it off.
Eventually in your wanderings you come across an unusual sight: a dirt road. It cuts its way through the trees and ferns, and to the south you can hear what is probably a familiar sound: engines. And shouting.
It’s getting closer.
Suddenly there are cars and motorcycles rushing down the road toward you - try not to get hit! One of the cars slows and a guy with a ragged blonde beard hangs out and tells you to get in the back. At close to the same time a truck slows and another guy tells you to climb aboard and grab a gun.
Why would you need a gun? The answer presents itself almost immediately: big daddy T-Rex is stomping its way down the road towards you.
You can escape with the first car, or pitch in and try to shoot the dinosaur with the second. Or you could try and prevent them from hurting the animal entirely, or just run off into the jungle by yourself. Better decide quickly, though. That T-Rex looks hungry.
Ⅲ. SETTLEMENT
CW: Kidnapping.
Whether you throw in with the humans or maybe stumble upon it by accident, you wind up at their encampment . It’s definitely the safest place to be - there are high walls around a series of small buildings mostly cobbled together from wood and tin. But there’s cots, and food. Outside the perimeter wall are tripwires and very basic motion sensors that will alert the settlement if any sizable animals are prowling around.
You’re informed that mostly the dinosaurs leave the camp alone - too much effort for not enough food.
While you’ll be welcomed the first night, as soon as morning rolls around it will be made abundantly clear that you’re going to be expected to pull your weight. Pitch in with the cooking or cleaning, or if you have some mechanical skill you can help fix up some of the rattling vehicles parked around.
From what you can gather, this is just one of a few different settlements on the island. Some of the others have small farms, and if you can drive you will be asked if you’d mind running over a delivery to one of these.
Agree, and you’ll be handed the keys to what sure looks like a 1970s era Cadillac. The mulleted gentleman who has asked this favour of you hands you a piece of paper upon which a small map is drawn, along with written directions. A note at the bottom reads, “don’t look in the tunk.” You think he means ‘trunk.’
“Package is in the trunk,” this gentleman confirms. “Don’t open it, sunlight’ll mess it all up.”
With that he sends you on your merry way. Best to take along a buddy for safety!
Partway through your journey you will come to realise that whatever is in the trunk is making a banging noise. You can ignore it and keep driving, passing the keys off to the people at the farming settlement, or you can pull over and investigate.
If you choose the second option, you’ll find that your ‘package’ is a person. Not a human one - this person has scales and huge, bulging eyes above small nostrils. They’re bound hand and foot and gagged, staring up at you with terror.
Well, jeez. Now what?
Ⅳ. REPTILIANS
Whether it’s because you’re led there, or because you find it by accident, you find yourself in a village - the houses are smooth stone, curving elegantly under sprawling vines and beautiful blooming flowers.
Upon your arrival several humanoid lizard people emerge from their homes and watch you, silent. One of them, stooped and wizened with age, moves to stand directly in front of you. When they speak, you realise that you can’t hear them with your ears; they communicate through telepathy.
You are welcome to stay in our village if you pass our Test of Bravery.
You’re half expecting that they’ll make you fight a velociraptor or something, but no - this village elder leads you and your companion both to the center of the village where there are several large flat stones ringed around one much larger stone. You’re both instructed to sit. More of the reptilian people approach, watching you.
Tell us a story of your bravery, the elder tells you.
You’ll have to dig into your memories to find a moment where you think you acted bravely, and then you’ll have to tell everyone assembled about it. You might be tempted to embellish a little bit, or to outright lie.
But if you do…
When either your story or your memory is finished, the village elder will look at you with their strange eyes and pronounce whether or not you’re allowed to stay.
Greetings, prospective Travelers! Welcome to the POLYMYTHOS test drive meme and thank you for your interest in our game! We invite you to use this TDM to explore but one of many, many islands within the Endless Isles; use it as an opportunity to introduce and familiarize yourself with the game, form connections with other characters, and just have some fun. (Perhaps while also getting some solid samples together for your application! Apps are always open!)
Use the prompts provided below as-is or feel free to write your own set within the environment detailed in each. You're even welcome to access the network via your character's ScryWatch. While there will be some inevitable changes, TDMs may count as game canon and some islands may be revisited in the future. Be mindful of your surroundings -- you never know how you and your fellow Travelers might affect this place in the long run.
You can read all about your character's arrival in the game lore.
The island you find yourself on is a tropical paradise. The hair is heavy and humid, and a thick flowering jungle encroaches on the white sandy beach. As far as mysterious islands go, it could be a lot worse! Maybe there’s a bar with some Mai Tais set up here somewhere…
Just a little one - it’s about the size of a small dog, running along on its hind legs. Aww, he’s kinda cute if you ignore the sharp teeth and claws! Lucky for you it’s busy chasing something else and soon darts back into the bush unless you do something to grab its attention.
Listen closely and you’ll find that sometimes you can hear sounds that are distinctly mechanical. Whatever this place is, it at least sounds like it’s inhabited by something possessing intelligence. You could definitely go and find out. Just be careful!
Or maybe you think, hey, I’ve seen this movie, I’m staying on the beach! You could, but unless you’re good at diving for fish you might have a hard time finding food.
Notes:
1. Please remember to mark threads appropriately with Content Warnings when necessary.
2. These prompts are a jumping off point - how they affect your character and their development is up to you.
3. The people on the island are normal humans unless otherwise indicated. The dinosaurs are animals and can be killed. I mean, good luck with that, but.
4. Have fun!
Ⅱ. CRETACEOUS PARK
CW: Dinosaurs! Violence, possibly against dinosaurs!
The jungle is thick and it takes a lot of effort to move through it. You’ll have to crawl under vines, climb over felled trees, and just generally pay a lot of attention to your surroundings. This is the sort of situation where having someone with you certainly makes things easier. Occasionally you will hear animals calling, and you’re bound to see some of them eventually. Maybe you’ll luck out and spot a herbivore like one of the armoured dinosaurs, just chewing on plants and not likely to attack you unless you piss it off. Maybe you spot something about your size with a decidedly less vegetarian diet and you have to decide between hiding or trying to scare it off. Eventually in your wanderings you come across an unusual sight: a dirt road. It cuts its way through the trees and ferns, and to the south you can hear what is probably a familiar sound: engines. And shouting.
It’s getting closer.
Suddenly there are cars and motorcycles rushing down the road toward you - try not to get hit! One of the cars slows and a guy with a ragged blonde beard hangs out and tells you to get in the back. At close to the same time a truck slows and another guy tells you to climb aboard and grab a gun.
Why would you need a gun? The answer presents itself almost immediately: big daddy T-Rex is stomping its way down the road towards you.
You can escape with the first car, or pitch in and try to shoot the dinosaur with the second. Or you could try and prevent them from hurting the animal entirely, or just run off into the jungle by yourself. Better decide quickly, though. That T-Rex looks hungry.
Notes:
1. You determine your level of dino encounter! And what kind - nobody is going to get on your ass if you pick one from the Jurassic period instead of the Cretaceous. It’s a magic island for crying out loud.
Ⅲ. SETTLEMENT
CW: Kidnapping.
Whether you throw in with the humans or maybe stumble upon it by accident, you wind up at their encampment . It’s definitely the safest place to be - there are high walls around a series of small buildings mostly cobbled together from wood and tin. But there’s cots, and food. Outside the perimeter wall are tripwires and very basic motion sensors that will alert the settlement if any sizable animals are prowling around.
You’re informed that mostly the dinosaurs leave the camp alone - too much effort for not enough food.
While you’ll be welcomed the first night, as soon as morning rolls around it will be made abundantly clear that you’re going to be expected to pull your weight. Pitch in with the cooking or cleaning, or if you have some mechanical skill you can help fix up some of the rattling vehicles parked around.
From what you can gather, this is just one of a few different settlements on the island. Some of the others have small farms, and if you can drive you will be asked if you’d mind running over a delivery to one of these.
Agree, and you’ll be handed the keys to what sure looks like a 1970s era Cadillac. The mulleted gentleman who has asked this favour of you hands you a piece of paper upon which a small map is drawn, along with written directions. A note at the bottom reads, “don’t look in the tunk.” You think he means ‘trunk.’“Package is in the trunk,” this gentleman confirms. “Don’t open it, sunlight’ll mess it all up.”
With that he sends you on your merry way. Best to take along a buddy for safety!
Partway through your journey you will come to realise that whatever is in the trunk is making a banging noise. You can ignore it and keep driving, passing the keys off to the people at the farming settlement, or you can pull over and investigate.
If you choose the second option, you’ll find that your ‘package’ is a person. Not a human one - this person has scales and huge, bulging eyes above small nostrils. They’re bound hand and foot and gagged, staring up at you with terror.
Well, jeez. Now what?
Notes:
1. If you open the trunk and discover the Crazy Frog-esque figure within you can continue on to the settlement and deliver him as promised. If you choose the former, the people at both settlements will be angry and turn on you unless you can spin a very convincing lie about your prisoner escaping.
2. If you choose to free your froggy friend, they will indicate that you should follow them through the jungle to their home.
3. If you skip the delivery mission, you can still stay at the camp. It’s very bare bones, but there’s food and cots and bathrooms at least.
Ⅳ. REPTILIANS
Whether it’s because you’re led there, or because you find it by accident, you find yourself in a village - the houses are smooth stone, curving elegantly under sprawling vines and beautiful blooming flowers.
Upon your arrival several humanoid lizard people emerge from their homes and watch you, silent. One of them, stooped and wizened with age, moves to stand directly in front of you. When they speak, you realise that you can’t hear them with your ears; they communicate through telepathy.
You are welcome to stay in our village if you pass our Test of Bravery.
You’re half expecting that they’ll make you fight a velociraptor or something, but no - this village elder leads you and your companion both to the center of the village where there are several large flat stones ringed around one much larger stone. You’re both instructed to sit. More of the reptilian people approach, watching you.
Tell us a story of your bravery, the elder tells you.
You’ll have to dig into your memories to find a moment where you think you acted bravely, and then you’ll have to tell everyone assembled about it. You might be tempted to embellish a little bit, or to outright lie.
But if you do…
When either your story or your memory is finished, the village elder will look at you with their strange eyes and pronounce whether or not you’re allowed to stay.
Notes:
1. Whether or not you are allowed to stay is not based entirely on how brave you were - how you react to having to share (willingly or not) these stories also plays a part. For example, if you ran away from a fight but in the present you don’t try to justify it with bullshit reasons, you will still be invited to stay.
2. The Reptilian village is a blend of nature and advanced technology. Frankly, it’s a nicer place to stay than the human settlements. They have a lot more creature comforts, like nice deep baths and soft beds.
Greetings, prospective Travelers! Welcome to the POLYMYTHOS test drive meme and thank you for your interest in our game! We invite you to use this TDM to explore but one of many, many islands within the Endless Isles; use it as an opportunity to introduce and familiarize yourself with the game, form connections with other characters, and just have some fun. (Perhaps while also getting some solid samples together for your application! Apps are always open!)
Use the prompts provided below as-is or feel free to write your own set within the environment detailed in each. You're even welcome to access the network via your character's ScryWatch. While there will be some inevitable changes, TDMs may count as game canon and some islands may be revisited in the future. Be mindful of your surroundings -- you never know how you and your fellow Travelers might affect this place in the long run.
Mary Kelly | OC
[This isn't the sort of island Mary's prepared for. Her dress doesn't help with humid weather and her boots, already worn with a few small holes, fill with sand. There are questions, many of them revolving around why she was here, how she was expected to be redeem, and how exactly she was supposed to survive in this place.
Mary was used to rough living by now, but living on an island with little knowledge of foraging and hunting? She could well be fucked.
The appearance of the dinosaur makes her jump. She had imagined a large dog, but it seemed to be something...different and unnerving. Never having heard of or seen dinosaurs before, she's more than adrift. Whatever it was though, she was quick to get away. There were sounds coming from the jungle, so she'd go into the jungle as far from the noises as possible.
It helps to see another person darting in the same direction.]
Which way?
Reptilians (CW: Attempted lynching; violence against women)
[Mary won't think about the fact she's standing in front of a number of strange, reptile creatures. She had wandered into the village and at this point, she's willing to accept what must be a fever dream. Whatever it takes to have something to eat and some water.
But the need for a test of bravery is the last thing she expected.
Falling back on old habits, it was easier to be an elaborate storyteller than to purge her heart. Was it true? Was it a lie? Apparently it was the later, for at the same moment she was recounting a story about saving a small child from a runaway carriage, images played nearby.
Mary was deep in a crowd, people were crowding together, screaming and circling around a disturbing scene. A blind man with a cane and a knife was standing over a woman, her face slashed and bleeding. The name "Leather Apron" was being shrieked. Almost in an instant, someone had punched the man and grabbed him, wrapping a self made noose around his neck.
String him up! String up the murderer.
'He's blind', Mary in her memory murmured. 'How can he be Leather Apron?' Logic and reason in a scene of madness, but she did nothing. She stood to the back of the crowd, afraid to move, afraid to attract attention to herself. Could she have done something in this moment? Perhaps, but cowardice kept her riveted.]
...You're conjuring dreams now?
[Easier to deflect than face.]
Wildcard
[Feel free to add your own prompt. If you want to plot, go ahead and friend me at
Reptilians
Not long after the young woman currently sitting in the circle starts her story does a different one start to play like a movie above them. It's compelling, but what really draws Malcolm's attention is the phrase 'Leather Apron'.
The case of Jack The Ripper is one that all criminalists peruse at one time or another. Malcolm started studying it when he was about 15, when his interest in minds of criminals was starting to bloom. Since then, he's become very well-versed in the case, knowledgeable enough to know that Leather Apron was one of the killer's nicknames.
While the Reptilians are debating about what to do with the woman, Malcolm walks over to her. Her dress is that of lower to middle class Victorian London, so it's entirely possible that she could be from that time and place. ]
Quite a vivid dream.
no subject
Mary's careful not to reveal her frustration, but decided against the bright smile she would normally respond with. Better to remain rattled, but shift it to her advantage. Who wishes to be reminded of a bad nightmare? If it was one that was vivid enough, it should still turn the blood cold, even after time had passed.
Perfect.
She touched her head, looking down at her feet, pulling up tears.]
When you read about something enough, it can haunt you even when you're asleep.
no subject
The papers must be very detailed. [ He gazes down at her for a moment. ] Are you from Whitechapel?
no subject
Instead, she smiled a winning smile, tipping her head so that he may get a better look at her beauty. Let that distract him enough to drop the subject.]
You ask a lot of questions for a man that has yet to tell me anything about himself.
no subject
What do you want to know?
[ He can give her some information, hopefully in exchange for answers about herself. It's not that he needs her whole life story, but the fact that her life might intersect with Jack the Ripper's is intriguing to him. ]
no subject
[It would at least buy her time to think of a proper response. Wales? Ireland? It may be too obvious. The blessing was there was no accent that might indicate her origin and grant her some reprieve. Scotland, maybe this time?]
If you wish to know of my life, you must share yours as well.
[It's not as if anything truly damning has been seen.]
no subject
[ Malcolm awaits her reaction to that. If she is indeed from a past version of the same world as he is, she should be familiar with New York.
He would sit down, but he doesn't want the Reptilians to think that he has accepted the bravery challenge. Malcolm still has to determine whether or not it's best for him to do that. ]
no subject
She makes one final decision before saying:]
Edinburgh.
no subject
So you moved to Whitechapel recently?
[ She doesn't sound like she's from Scotland. ]
no subject
[Back to the earlier lie, her safety net for now.]
It's horrific, isn't it?
no subject
The man called Leather Apron... he is sometimes called something else. Jack the Ripper.
no subject
[Everyone knew Pizer and his insanity. Little surprise people suspected him. When he was released there was a lot of backlash. She could remember the women muttering, fearing running into him again, likely more aggravated than before.]
It's only a nightmare. It's not worth thinking over.
no subject
[ Malcolm realizes that he is pushing her. Were this an interrogation and she a suspect, he would continue pushing. As that is not the situation, he'll back off a little bit. ]
What year was it for you back home? If you can believe it, I'm from 2020.
no subject
It would be released when she wanted and if she wished it.
She tried her best to school her face, doing her best not to appear surprised. There might be a glimmer of it. Given her clothing, it wasn't as if she could really hide when she was from (not that she knew that).
There was a grace period for her though. Something else to exaggerate for her protection.]
1898.
[A good 10 years more for her.]
no subject
[ Feeling weird about hovering above her like some sort of dark cloud, Malcolm sits down next to her. Hopefully the Reptilians won't take that as an indication that he wants to take the challenge.
She's about ten years off on the timeline, and he wonders if that's deliberate or if she was merely a younger woman when these events occurred. Mary seems genuinely shocked that Malcolm comes from such a late year. ]
If you haven't noticed yet, this is a very strange place. There are people here from all different times and different worlds.
no subject
[Though, to be fair, she had circled around this being madness or a dream. That barge ride had not made any of this easier. She might have assumed that she had descended to Hell and this was one of her torments for whatever sins they decided to make her pay for.
Different times though? She never really anticipated that, but she was unwilling to completely cede control in this.]
Have you met any from your future?
no subject
From my future? No. From the future? Yes. It's hard to tell if the general future will be my future or not... if that makes sense.
no subject
[It was hard to say what was happening at home, but she found she didn't care. There was nothing for her back there. Let time be changed, it could come out to her advantage.]
no subject
no subject
How long have you been here?
no subject
Malcolm. [ He offers her his hand to clasp. She probably won't shake it, as most ladies of her time do not, but he will grip hers if she allows him to. ]
no subject
Not that it would stop her from lying again.
The name is quick to pull and she doubts her friend would mind her borrowing the name.]
Amelia.
no subject
[ Malcolm supposes it could be worse, though he'd rather not think about that. An isle with reptilian creatures is bad enough. ]
no subject
[No reptiles though. She is hoping for that.]
Did you take part in their test?
(no subject)