undyingcourt | Test Drive Meme

DEC TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to the Undying Court Test Drive Meme! This post will allow players to test drive their AU characters in the setting, as well as meet fresh faces or even connect with those they have preexisting CR with. As with anything involved in the setting, this post will likely contain: violence, enthrallment, torture, and sexual content.

Regarding continuity, all TDM threads can be taken as in-game canon if desired. Please keep in mind that the game proper will begin in mid December, in the Winter Season, so Students/Novices should create their prompts under the assumption that the TDM takes place during the season prior to the one they will be apping as. This means that students planning to app as first season novices will be visiting Castle Courtsheart prior to their Beginning. In other words, if you plan to app a student as a second season, the TDM will take place during their first, and so on.

Feel free to brush up on the Premise, Vampire Powers, and head over to the FAQ/Game Info page if you have any questions!

Make sure you are aware of the Rules when posting your top-level. (Content warnings are always welcome!)
Please format your Top-level in this format: Character Name (AU Name if different) | Canon | Teacher/Student | Court
As a reminder, a Test Drive sample is required in order to app.
If you have any questions specific to the TDM, ask them in the Questions thread below!

Top-Level Directory:

Chat with NPC: Revar
Ace Attorney - Apollo Justice (Student)
Alice in the Country of Hearts - Alice Liddell (Student)
Attack On Titan - Erwin Smith (Teacher)
Baldur's Gate 3 - Astarion (Teacher)
Baldur's Gate 3 - Halsin (Teacher)
Baldur's Gate 3 - Raphael (Teacher)
Batman - Bruce Wayne (Teacher)
Bridgerton (Netflix) - Anthony Bridgerton (Student)
Castlevania - Soma Cruz (Student)
Castlevania: Nocturne - Maria Renard (Student)
Cosmo Warrior Zero - Harlock (Student)
Critical Role - Percy DeRolo (Teacher)
Daria - Daria Morgendorffer (Teacher)
Devil Summoner - Raidou Kuzunoha XIV (Student)
Dragon Age - Fenris (Teacher)
D&D: Honor Amongst Thieves - Edgin Darvis (Teacher)
D&D: Honor Amongst Thieves - Xenk Yendar (Teacher)
Ensemble STars!! - Mayoi Ayase (Student)
Fate/Zero - Kariya Matou (Kariya Makiri) (Student)
FE: Three Houses - Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd (Student)
FE: Three Houses - Hilda Goneril (Student)
FE: Three Houses - Lorenz Hellman Gloucester (Student)
FE: Three Houses - Marianne von Edmund (Student)
FE: Three Houses - Sylvain Gautier (Student)
Final Fantasy XIV - Estinien Varlineau (Teacher)
Frozen - Prince Hans (Student)
Genshin Impact - Diluc Ragnvindr (Teacher)
Genshin Impact - Tighnari (Teacher)
Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name - Conrad Achenleck (Teacher)
Hannibal (NBC) - Will Graham (Teacher)
Jujutsu Kaisen - Gojo Satoru (Teacher)
Jujutsu Kaisen - Toji Zen'in (Teacher)
Lucifer (Netflix) - Lucifer Morningstar (Teacher)
MCU - Loki Laufeyson (Teacher)
Original - Aurinn Laurentius (Student)
Original - Bellatrix Bakhar (Student)
Original - Christine Delacroix (Teacher)
Original - Hanako 'Rosalina' Nurumi (Teacher)
Original - Jisu (Eden Woods) (Student)
Original - Karma D'Auvergn (Teacher)
Our Flag Means Death - Edward Teach (Teacher)
Our Flag Means Death - Izzy Hands (Student)
Persona 3 Portable - Kotone Shiomi (Student)
Persona 5 R - Goro Akechi (Student)
Persona 5 - Haru Okumura (Student)
Persona 5 - Ren Amamiya (Student)
Pride and Prejudice - Elizabeth Bennet (Student)
Return to Labrynth - Sarah Williams (Teacher)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - Snow White (Student)
Stargate: Atlantis - John Sheppard (Teacher)
Star Trek: AOS - James T. Kirk (Student)
Star Wars - Darth Vader (Teacher)
Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order - Trilla Suduri (Student)
The Adventure Zone: Balance - Kravitz (Teacher)
The Adventure Zone: Balance - Lydia (Teacher)
The Adventure Zone: Graduation - Fitzroy Maplecourt (Student)

NEW ARRIVALS

New arrivals will be starting their first season in the winter, but they're welcomed to the castle early, under the watchful eyes of the Silver Court. Upon arrival, they will be shown to a room by a human whose eyes glow softly from within, with vacant smiles. Thralls. There, the human thralls will draw them a bath and bring them new clothes to wear to their first meeting. These are rich, expensive things made of high quality fabric. Whether it's a silk dress and a heavy velvet cowl, or a fine pants and a vest made from a brocade, the servants will provide. The new initiate's old clothes will be burned after, in a symbol of the life they are leaving behind. If they are hungry, they will be provided food. If they need anything at all, they need only ask their new servants.

Later that night they are taken to a grand hall, with high arched ceilings and candles burning in chandeliers. There are figures painted overhead, beautiful and entwined. Some have their eyes are colored to match the courts, others are gracefully placed in their death, with blood dripping from necks and wrists.

Balconies line the hall behind a forest of pillars, and vampires all watch as the group walk through (some more hungrily than others).

"Welcome to your first undying season, initiates," a pale, silver-haired vampire calls. They have silver eyes are clad in silver robes, but command the attention of everyone in attendance. They have a beauty that seems neither male nor female. They are standing at the center of a wide semi-circle of other vampires, "As the Silver Court's acting voice at this end of the Autumn season, allow me to introduce you to the Houses that will be your new homes."

The vampire, Revar, gives the newcomers an overview of all of the courts—Blue, Red, Gold, Silver, and Black—and then invites those already claimed by their Courts to join the vampires who will be their Makers.

Revar offers the Foundlings who are left a gentle, knowing smile, and then allows them to be chosen. They are like the last sheep left at the auction, and the vampires who take them may not be the enthused about it. Nevertheless, Revar waits patiently until all have found a maker.

Now that they are paired up it is expected—indeed, required—that the initiate drink from their maker. That is their Beginning. Only once they have truly begun can they can be considered novices.

AUTUMN NOX

Silver Court is in season and for the Autumn Nox it holds a large symposium, inviting all the best vampire minds from around lands nearby and far. The whole castle is abuzz with new activity. The stables are packed full of horses, carriages litter the grounds, but somehow the castle has enough rooms to house all the new arrivals.

Novices will find that some of these vampires have not seen a human-novice in a very, very long time. These vampires might see the human-novices more like specimens, curious about their every move. They won't bite, but novices may find themselves observed as they wander the castle and its grounds.

The symposium itself is open to anyone at the castle. Scholars can present on any topic at all. Novices will find that these range from the incredibly mundane (you've always wanted to attend a history of bottom-feeding river fish, haven't you?) to the truly fascinating (new insights into how vampire hearts work) to the downright strange (the symposium has a range of lectures very close to dawn about the sharing of vampire...fluids). Seasoned novices with their own Autumn classes to attend are expected to keep up with their studies, but some teachers may let them out of a session to attend the lectures and workshops of the symposium.

The Silver Court vampires are incredibly busy between running the symposium and trying to help the new novices get settled in. They may need some volunteers to lend a hand with setting up rooms or helping scholars find their way around. In fact, volunteers might find themselves leading scholars down to the second kitchen for a bite to eat, a strong reminder that even these demure learners are still monsters who must drink blood.

PUMPKINS-GONE-WILD

The symposium isn't all that the autumn season brings. The Silver Court’s talents are on display in other ways—sometimes not in ways another had particularly hoped. An overly zealous youngblood in the Silver Court tried to grow a few extra pumpkins for the occasion and ended up with a few too many! The pumpkin vines break out of the green house and start sprouting pumpkins everywhere. These are no ordinary pumpkins, they will sprout and grow and become fully formed in the course of a night. Better keep an eye out for those vines or else your room might become full of pumpkins! Luckily, the pumpkins aren’t rotting any time soon (they’ll last until winter, or so the Silver Court vampires are saying), but it can be pretty inconvenient for them to grow everywhere. Start cutting those vines to pieces, and hope they don’t try to entangle you in the process.

LIBRARY CLEAN-UP

Meanwhile, with all the scholars in town are making a mess of the library, much to the Silver Court vampire’s dismay. Books are being checked out and not checked back in, passed around from scholar to scholar. You might find those lost books just about anywhere. Who was reading in a tree? Anyone who collects the books and returns them to the library is sure to get a little bit of favor with the librarians, and it’s never a bad thing to have a bit of an in with a Court. If you’re worried about failing Silver Court, it’s time to get searching! Although how you’re going to convince a 300 year old vampire that time is not fake and that deadlines are real (and in fact were two days ago) is anyone’s guess.

UNETHICAL EXPRIMENTS

[CW: Torture, experiments]

Those who venture towards the basement might hear something a little different than normal. The thralls who spend their time down there are normally quiet, commanded to keep silent and pleasant for the vampires they serve. But with the arrival of the new scholars comes disquieting, inhuman screams from the darker reaches of the basement. Novices trying to catch a glimpse will be chased away, but teachers might be invited to watch as these vampires experiment on one another, all in the name of science. What’s a little torture, when you’re undying?

Thanks for joining us for our first TDM! For any questions regarding the TDM prompts, please comment in the thread below. For general game questions, please check the FAQ/Game Info. Remember that the game proper will begin mid December, in the Winter Season, so Students/Novices should create their prompts under the assumption that the TDM takes place during the season prior to the one they will be apping as.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Christine walks over at a fast clip and cuts the vines that the novice is trying to leave behind. ]

Indeed. These are no ordinary pumpkins.

[ With a sigh, she looks back the way she came. ]

I've assigned a few thralls to follow after me to put up the pieces, but I'm not surprised they've lagged behind with the sheer amount out here. The growth cycle is so accelerated that yes, they may have time to re-root themselves.

The vines do grow a bit too fast for the thralls. They've been getting a bit tripped up. Honestly...

[ She doesn't admit that she may have been part of the brainstorming session for the one responsible. Mostly because she mentioned practical ways to improve growth, and not the bizarre methods a higher seasoned student would have the knowledge to think of. ]

They've grown into other buildings as well. I've had to stop cutting them down because it started to dull my knife.

[ It's more clear that her hands are stained from cutting plants for a good length of time, simply because she calls attention to it by pulling out said knife to show the current wear. It's a well-used and maintained dagger (one meant for concealment and quick attacks, and not the utility knife she made it sound like,) that definitely needed a good clean and sharpening session. You could only wipe residue off on a sleeve or back of the skirt so many times. ]

Hmm.

[ Christine eyes the knife with a slight look of disapproval. ]

You could have one of the thralls track down a whetstone for you, but I would suggest a new knife whose blade is meant for such tasks.

[ Another vine slithers its way towards their path and Christine stomps a foot down on it to hold it in place before cutting it. ]

Such a waste. I rejoice in nature's growth, but this meddling has caused it to become an invasive species.

It's okay. I've grown used to using this for everything. Plus, on the second day I already got a whetstone.

[ It's a bit of a handicap, but at this point, Eden had long adapted. When she said 'everything', that likely wasn't an exaggeration. ]

Even with cutting most the vines down, there'll still be a good harvest when the pumpkins mature. It's only a waste if everything ends up being set to rot. Even then, it's a lot of information for the student to keep in mind for next time, and after the growth has eased up, it'll be good for composting.

[ So many bright sides to look at this situation with. ]

If the growth eases up. There is no telling how long this will last. Such a thing must be studied.

[ Christine is neither a beacon of positivity nor a negative force. She is simply a realist. ]

I am not sure what consequences there will be for the students. That's beyond a youngblood such as myself, but I would hope that they do, in fact, take a great deal away from this situation.

We'll know when they start to bear fruit.

[ Being a realist is clearly welcome around Eden. She can agree and think on it positively on her own. Plus, she was right; regardless, this had to be studied in some fashion. ]

I don't think there's any way that they don't take a lot from this. I just hope they take whatever happens in stride and keep fine tuning their research and experiments. Maybe we'll get giant pineberries in the spring.

Preferably the experiments happen outside of the communal greenhouse.

[ She's still a little bit salty about it starting in the place she considers her haven. ]

I'm not against advancements, of course. There is always more to learn.

Those should be easy to start outside, regardless of growth rate.

[ She's not the most familiar with the soil around here yet. She knew that it was started in the greenhouse as a suggestion by someone, perhaps another teacher(?), due to concerns with how easily pumpkins get hit with mold. It didn't seem like the most helpful thing to add right now, so that thought was kept to herself as Eden instead pressed her lips against one another for a moment.

When they get to the prolific set of vines that Eden had spoken of, there's a metal bucket with a good amount of clippings (though of various sizes as some were carefully cut from those caught in it,) so that the cuttings couldn't attach to anything with its remaining 'vigor.' If this was Eden's work, the dulling of her knife probably happened recently. ]

It's thinned up quite a bit. Some have been continuing on into other buildings.

Yes, this area certainly isn't the worst of it.

[ The metal bucket has her approval. In fact, she was at a bit of a loss as to how to collect these pieces and get them all outside to burn since the thralls have lagged behind. ]

I should see if perhaps we can get our hands on metal wash tubs as well to put the clippings in. Anything to clean up the castle faster.

[ She's actually going over to look into the bucket to check and make sure they fully stopped. Nothing to latch to, no nutrients to reach for, safe one another. She even sticks a hand into the bucket to nudge the cuttings to make sure they didn't latch to each other. ]

If it's about speed, maybe both the wash tubs and buckets? The latter are easier to carry around, but the tubs will give places to safely empty them for the time. That and for longer sections of vines collected. Though I'd section those to be safe...

[ Nothing with these mangled bits, but the growth was so aggressive. ]

Any of it would be welcome to help dispose of all this.

[ Eden's idea of the vines being used as compost wasn't bad, but without knowing how long it will try taking root, it's for the best if they're all burned. ]

I think I hear a thrall. One moment.

[ She walks back along the path and speaks with one that has managed to keep up. It wears a blank expression and says nothing before it turns and goes to fulfill Christine's order for wash tubs and buckets. Then she returns. ]

There; we should have what need soon. In the meantime, let's start disassembling all this.

I'll come back after sharpening my knife to work on it more.

[ Anything more that was about to be said was interrupted with a soft gurgle and whine sound that had Eden covering her stomach with a hand. That was the one thing about the novice life; the increased appetites, and she had worked up a normal one. It wasn't going to be an excuse out of helping, which is why the teen added with a somewhat sheepish smile; ]

I can do that while eating an apple.

Test Drive Meme - New Blood

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