diademooc | TEST DRIVE ∞ May 2025

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TEST DRIVE ∞ May 2025

Test Drive ∞ May 2025

The First Collision

Jump ⇅ :: Arrival — Panorama — Fringes — Invite Request

The Diadem is an invite-only panfandom game set in a retro-futuristic world where uprooted souls find themselves deep within an eerie wasteland of roads and highways frequently assailed by cosmic storms. Three united strongholds keep the population. Its capital is Panorama, a large metropolis at the planet's center.

Soon, you realize you aren't alone. Calling themselves fluxdrifts, the "locals" have similar stories to you, either for themselves or their ancestry. You speak to an old woman who claims she hailed from another star. You meet a young man who says his great-great-grandfather knew a strange language everybody spoke "back home." As you explore, you stumble across a coin you recognize or your sister's locket. How did it get here? What does this mean? That's for you to discover.

But first, you need to find a ride.

No invites needed to play on the TDM. Everyone's welcome! Use the Invite Request thread below to request an invite from another player.

∞ Summary ∞

IC-wise, arrivals are scattered throughout the month. Events described on the TDM are also ongoing throughout the month. If you'd rather jump right into the action, you're free to begin in media res with your character having already been on the planet for several days.

Post-impact, characters will wake up in a med tent by the Scrapyard. From there, they must accept a vehicle on loan and make the 2-hour drive to the nearest city, Panorama. If they refuse the car because they don't want the loan, they'll be in debt for medical bills instead...so just take the car. It'll come in handy.

Some things to keep in mind when bringing in your character:

Pick an injury. At minimum, they got knocked out; at most, whatever they can recover from. Medicine is decently advanced so they'll heal faster if not painlessly.
Decide items kept. Reasonable items on their person only: photos, keys, clothes, costumes. No pets or animal companions. Wildly out-of-place tech and personal cell phones will be damaged beyond repair.
Select a weapon. Do this only if eligible. Guidelines about weapons and powers are on the FAQ.
Choose a vehicle. Decide whether your character gets 2-3 options or if they're stuck with something they hate. Players can pick directly from our collection or source their own images. Anything under a similar aesthetic will work. If your character needs accommodations for driving, they can have them. Ask us for details.
Get a phone. Characters have to obtain a phone (and a SIM card) themselves. If they've got one from home, it's damaged beyond repair. Phones are cheap. It'll only take a couple of weeks to afford one. You need to know the number before you text or call anyone. Read about phones and the Forum before you hop on it.

TDM threads can be canon if characters are accepted. Top-levels made to the TDM should be open to all.

TDM Questions? Here — Game Questions? FAQ

Setting — Taken — Reserves — Applications ::: ⇅ Top

Fluxdrift

Arrival & Introduction

Date: Throughout May

You've tumbled over a cliff. You were fighting for your life. You're on the cusp of death. You slipped in the shower. Whatever the catalyst, you struggle to cling to consciousness. As darkness overtakes you, a swirling vortex warps light and shadow in a way that defies all physics. A dark wail etches into your very bones. You couldn't describe it if you tried. You can barely comprehend what it is.

Then you open your eyes.

Through the figure's mask ©, you swear the face is grinning down at you. The tent you're in smells of antiseptic, and scratchy blankets line your cot. Injuries you've sustained have been bandaged. In the corner, you spot a MedBot that's fixed you up. Depending on the extent of your injuries, the doctor on duty might give you some painkillers before you go. Thankfully, your belongings are by the exit. Sorry if anything's damaged. Your landing was pretty rough.

You follow the figure outside. They are Yom Crook, here to lend a hand to fellow fluxdrifts like yourself. Their car's parked beside them. Actually, there are lots of cars around, but Yom Crook's stands out with its painted shark mouth. They explain they found you, unconscious, in a diffusion zone and brought you here. The nearest city is a 2-hour drive northeast. Forget about walking. You'll never make it. Also, you owe the doctor a lot of money for patching you up. But you're in luck: they've got some wheels for you and if you accept the vehicle on loan, Yom Crook will cover your medical bills. That's a good deal, right? It's not the shiniest car or motorcycle, but it'll do. If fortune favors, you'll get to choose between two or three options. Plus, if you need accommodations to drive—like adjustments to your seat height or modified controls—you'll receive all that for free.

Take the vehicle. (And the loan.) Yom Crook assures you that you'll have six months before collectors come around. Any time you're ready to pay a part of it down, return here to the Scrapyard. You'll get a receipt and everything. Paying off the loan in six months isn't impossible, but it will take a lot of work. Just don't get too lax. There's a good chance you'll be juggling multiple loans as you try to get by.

You either know how to drive, or you'll have a bare-bones manual to get you started. Road rules are more a suggestion than enforced, so just hit the pedal and go. The car has some basic features. The built-in compass will help you navigate.

OPTIONAL PROMPTS: a flat tire; a body on the road (is it a trap?); a fender bender

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Panorama

Explore & Settle In

Conditions: Warm spring temperatures, light showers

After 2 hours on the road, you find civilization. The largest of the strongholds, Panorama is where the economy thrives. Massive power plants glowing red make it visible from a distance. The city is divided into three districts. For now, you can access the Pavilion and the Blocks. Don't worry about the Sanctum; they're not letting you in.

You only need to know two things about Panorama: 1) it's big, the size of a modern metropolis, and you'll need your car to get around; 2) anything goes as long as you don't pick a fight with the wrong person. Street smarts will get you far. Despite its geographical size, the population isn't huge. With roughly a million people in a city designed for over twice that number, Panorama is far from deserted, but nor is it overcrowded. It's a good thing. Resources are limited as it is.

The Pavilion: Free Samples

Like any large city, Panorama features a couple of supermarkets. The stock's not as consistent as a proper supermarket. On occasion, shelves can remain cleaned out for a week or two. Regardless, the long tradition of free samples remains. If you're not already shopping, you'll notice the crowded parking lot and clusters of lines inside.

Try samples, push through the crowds as you shop, or give yourself a five-finger discount. If you're cautious, you can pocket a few small items without consequences. The Pavillion doesn't have the infrastructure for surveillance; unless someone sees you, you won't be caught. Steal from the store or pilfer someone's wallet. Maybe you even make a new friend if you bump into another fluxdrift. Or, start a fight with somebody who cut you off in the cheese line. Don't make too much of a ruckus, or you'll be thrown out.

As you look around, you'll see posters advertising temporary positions for the cash register or graveyard shifts in the warehouse. Seems they might've lost several employees recently (how'd that happen?), which is good for you! It's just a 6-week position, but it'll get you on your feet. The city has temporary positions like this all over. Permanent ones are harder to come by when you're new.

Samples include: steamed cabbage dumplings, synthetic cherry juice, cheddar cheese, and chocolate-covered alien eggs (it's crunchy and weirdly tasty). They're served in the usual throwaway paper cups with little toothpicks.

The Blocks: Power Outage

Power's finicky in Panorama, especially in the Blocks. Saint Margery's Hospital, located in the same area, has priority for power so the first to go are the motels. Maybe you've been in your room for a couple of weeks, maybe you just got here—and by the way, every motel desk is happy to put the fee on your tab if you don't have the money upfront—but all the motels on the east side are in a blackout, leaving only the west side motels up and running.

What do you do? You have three choices:

Risk leaving your room and head to the other side where there's power. Knock on some doors and negotiate with another to share the room. They might shut the door in your face, ask for a favor in return, or be nice enough to help you with no strings attached. There's no guarantee your unattended room will be untouched, though, and you'll be on the hook for any damages an intruder causes.
Sit in the dark and deal. It's not the worst idea, but the TV's down, the vending machines are powered down, and with the entire place plunged into darkness, you risk getting robbed. If you struggle with defending yourself, you might want to find some trustworthy company. You can also sneak out of there and let them take your leftover pizza. It's not like you've got a ton of valuables, right? Plus, clobbering someone in the face with a frying pan sounds great until you realize you've gotta do something with the body. And what if this person's got a friend waiting?
Get in your car and drive (or grab a friend for a road trip). If you scroll the Forum, you might notice reports on diffusion zones southward. Besides, these motels are hardly your forever home. The city can only provide so much. Why not go for a ride and see what you can find out there?

OPTIONAL PROMPTS: clean up on aisle 3 (what is that goo?); a knock at your door but no one's there; you hear screaming or a commotion down the hall

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The Fringes

Quad 3: Lockdown

Conditions: Stormy, with flooding roads

Felix Bjurstrom
> Date: 125-05-17
> Time: 02:15:57

> Emergency road lights have been reported in Quadrant 3! Please, can someone go see what's there? When last we chasers investigated emergency lights, a whole truck filled with sour candy had tipped over. Our stores were stocked for weeks! Oh, be careful - reception looks bad in that zone.

Whether you end up here on your own or you were following a tip on the Forum, the outcome is the same: you come to a stop in front of a 2-story office building that's flooded several inches deep. Emergency lights from a roadblock flicker through the stormy night. Stepping out of your car, you're soaked within seconds. When you check your phone, you don't have any bars. No calls in or out.

Through the open windows, a computer awakens and displays a cheerful smile. The lights inside switch on.

Pick your scenario role below. Your thread partner doesn't need to take the opposite role! They can join you in the same scenario (i.e. trapped together). Players are also free to create a generic NPC for the other side to facilitate the thread.

After characters escape, they'll find one bottle of antibiotics in their pocket or car, whether they remember taking it or not.

A: Sealed In
As you peer through the windows, you see crates of medicine floating around. Antibiotics in the diadem are valuable. Hospitals and doctors are always buying. You can keep it for yourself or make a quick buck. Or maybe you're compelled to help somebody back in the city who's in need. Whatever the reason, you decide to take the risk and step inside.

Water splashes around your ankles. The lock buzzes behind you. If you try to break the windows, you discover they're unnaturally resistant to shattering. With the whole place locked tight, the water begins to churn. Then the computer lights up again.

Warning, it flashes in large, bold text. Quarantine in progress. Release code required for exit.

To find the code, you'll have to search. Duck under the water, go through sopping envelopes and sticky notes or pick the locks on the filing cabinets and desk drawers. You can also try hacking the computers. Use your computer knowledge or fall back on the age-old trick of seeing who wrote down their password.
The files, notepads, and emails start innocuous, but as you look through them, disturbing phrases jump out at you—a dark thought you've had or a cruel taunt from someone in your past. The longer you're fixed on the terrible words, the higher the water begins to rise. Only another can break you out of your trance.
With the rising water comes fear. And the more you're afraid, the more the water also rises. You begin to see faces in the water, bobbing like balloon heads. Do you recognize them? If you move to take a closer look, they will sink back beneath the surface as if never there.
If you manage to swallow your panic, you can eventually find a triple-laminated binder with the release code and instructions. Bad news: you need someone on the outside to punch in the 6 strange symbols in order. The instructions explain that the code panel is located at the back of the building.

Let's hope a friendly face comes along.

B: Set Free
As you peer through the windows, you see not just the crates of medicine but someone trapped inside. They look like they might be in trouble, and from your vantage point, you notice that the water is bubbling strangely. It's definitely not normal rainwater. As you watch, the water rises unnaturally, stopping and starting. It's as if the water level is responding to an external stimulus.

The glass is soundproof. You can't hear what the person inside is saying, so you'll have to communicate with each other another way. Try charades, typing on your phone, or whatever you think of. Eventually, you determine that they're stuck and that you need to enter some sort of code onto a pad located—according to your trapped partner—at the back of the building.
Around the back, shadows swallow your surroundings. The panel must be pried open, but a slippery substance makes it hard to get a good grip. Each time the substance touches you, you grow uneasy. You swear you see eyes watching you, though when you turn around, nothing's there.
You can't seem to keep the instructions in your mind. And those symbols...they burn into your retinas. Through them, you glimpse an incomprehensibly massive figure unfurling in the darkness, pulsing as if in a deep sleep. When you snap back to reality, you realize you've injured yourself, slicing your hand on a sharp edge or a bruise you can't remember getting.
Once you manage to release the doors, the water inside the office drains upward into the sky as though sucked out by a giant hose. The darkness spreads. Get out of there fast before the shadows drag you or your partner into the void.

Of course, you don't have to help anyone. You can leave the individual there, make a deal, or outright extort them. But remember, you're not the only person on these roads. You might want to play your cards carefully, even if altruism isn't your first instinct.

Main Navigation ::: ⇅ Top

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Touch is a language all its own. And good touch, even if it's only just as a gesture of camaraderie, or friendship, can be fulfilling in its own way. Touching is another way of exploring the world around us. And of those we meet. You can learn a lot about someone just in how they want or do not want to touch a person."

Slowly, he withdraws his hand, letting it drop to his side. Although his food situation is not the most secure, he closes his eyes, and focuses on shapeshifting just a little bit. Until the ends of the antenna upon his head start to faintly light up like pieces of fiber cable lights. He lets the appendage sit near his face, to offer Connor a small glimpse at him.

He hesitates, though, processing the footsteps pounding past. His body tenses, preparing for a fight, until the steps continue to speed away. His shoulders drop back down, relaxing.

"To find other pleasures, I paint. I draw what I see in the world. Sometimes, I bend metal into unique shapes and turn it into different types, just to see how else I can alter the reality it once held into something new. Often, I tinker, with the ship, and its components. But my life is... not an ideal for many. I spent most of it in voluntary isolation until I was certain that I would not harm others with my transmittable condition.

"For all I know now, I fall into what small pleasures I already know, because they are safe. Because I need not feel scared, if I take no risks on something new."

He frowns a little, the moth-like antenna on his head casting just enough light to his features to show it.

"There is so much to the world around us, that there is so much for you to still discover about yourself, even if you think you know everything there is about yourself."

Glenn manages a small smile for him, though it's stiff from muscle disuse.

"...Someone I loved said that so long ago. I know my voice is not the most reassuring, but I promise you: there is so much to be found, in this world, and in any other. As for your components, If I can get my body to work right in this place, I can shape parts of me to my will, to match what you need. With enough energy, I can simply regrow what I have lost. And it would not hurt me in a way that matters."

Touch as a language: that makes sense. Connor can’t imagine most people allowing his touch, but there’s a certain beauty in the fact that, having broken beyond the confines of his programming, he can learn to be more considerate of people’s wants and needs. There is no overall mission guiding him, neither to hurt nor protect. If he were to put himself in harm’s way for someone here, that would be wholly his choice.

Connor looks up at Glenn, watching the way he begins to emit his own glow.

“Sometimes I think I don’t know anything about myself.” How much of him is really him? How much is CyberLife? “Beyond the obvious: specifications, purpose — or my original purpose, anyway.”

Now... Connor supposes his purpose is to live. For Hank.

“Why would” — head cocking ever so slightly — “your hurt not matter?”

"...Why would it matter?" Glenn gently retorts with, genuinely confused.

"If I have needed to repair my ship, and there was no other way, then pain is necessary for me to transmute what I have into what I need. It would only take a week or two to regenerate the lost mass in full.

"If I can help you with something you need, and it is not equally or more dire against myself, for what reason should I hesitate to provide what I can? Any physical pain I do feel is temporary. I also have a high tolerance for it."

A beat, as he considers.

"I will speak plain: I value others' lives more than my own, to some degree."

“You’re a sentient being.” Just like deviants became back home. “It’s natural to shy away from the things that bring you pain.”

Which isn’t to say that the opposite — leaning toward pain — isn’t understandable. That was what Hank did, too. How he lived.

“If pain were necessary for your survival, then that’s logical. But for my amusement, or convenience...”

Connor’s brow furrows ever so slightly. LED spinning yellow.

“We can find other forms of light. You needn’t inflict pain on yourself for that.”

He stands: stiff but slow. Walking over to the window, its dim light seeping through.

"So long as I do not remove something from my person, it is not painful to create it. I have simply created cells that emit light within the hair follicle."

Glenn doesn't follow him to the window, but he does watch him there, catching his silhouette from the faint light beyond it.

"I am merely rearranging my own cells to form something new. Albeit, even body-made artificial things still require a blood supply from me at first. I have not yet figured out another way of doing it. Feeling physical pain used to matter to me. It no longer does, in the same way it used to."

A beat, as he considers that LED, whether or not it's still yellow. Stoplight code?

"That LED of yours-- no. Would you mind telling me about your species? I would like to know, if it does not trouble you to speak of."

Connor’s LED spins yellow for but a moment before going dark.

“What would you like to know? Androids are artificial beings made to serve humans. Different models were designed to fill different roles. I was made to be an investigative unit, but…”

Not only did Connor break away from said programming, but he’s more than just that. Well-rounded where most other androids have little expertise in multiple fields.

“It doesn’t trouble me,” he says, raising a hand to press his palm against the window’s glass. “I’m an android. It’s not something I can change.”

Nor something Connor has had much time to ponder. If he were human, though, he never would have met Hank.

And that feels… unacceptable.

Hearing "made to serve humans" rankles him. LED aside, Connor looks completely human. He listens more, hesitating on how to continue here- but not for a lack of things to say. No, there are too many things to say.

"For some," he starts, hesitantly. "talking about who or what they are can feel painful." But that's only the start.

"As a person, you are more than allowed to not tell me a damned thing."

Despite the swearing, it's not intended to be out of aggression, but more from an attempt at emphasis.

"Even with that in mind, my asking is broad-reaching. I hope that you will pick something that you think is interesting about your kind, or significant to you in some way. My... late beloved told me about that one, when most ask another about a person. So I sometimes use it when I do not know a specific question to ask."

A beat.

"I am... more accustomed to just watching the beings in the world, drawing them, studying them in the clinical sense, and then... not much else. People are... more nuanced, and therefore, I struggle with this aspect with people."

Connor turns his head to look at Glenn, despite not being able to see him clearly.

“I have no compulsion to hide anything from you. I could, if I wanted to. But I see no reason to.”

Something significant about Connor. He immediately thinks of someone — Hank — but Connor doesn’t mention him. Discussing him seems like the kind of thing Glenn is looking for, but…

Connor doesn’t not want to talk about Hank, but there’s a sadness to it. He supposes that must be part of what Glenn means, about not being required to tell him certain things about himself.

“I think it’s interesting that they gained their freedom,” he says, even though it was originally Connor’s job to prevent that. “Before I woke up here, the androids’ revolution had convinced the humans to stand down — to let them be. For now.”

Connor refers to the androids back home as ‘they’ because he doesn’t feel he belongs amongst them. Not exactly. Stuck somewhere between — and now he’s here.

"...'They' and not 'us'?"

Unfortunately, it's an easy catch. But he doesn't press it. Doesn't intend to. He shakes his head a little in an attempt to show his dismissal of the topic. He won't pry.

"That is a good, deserved achievement. Even knowing no details, well done. Humans can be stubborn, in both the right and wrong ways, although I suppose even that opinion of mine is subjective."

He tilts his head a little, thinking on this particular matter that Connor has brought up. Makes eye contact in the dark, however briefly.

"Based on your verbiage, and what you have told me about yourself - it sounds like you feel a little distant from such matters."

That's a familiar feeling. His antenna quivers a little.

"You are not alone. Of that I am certain."

“I am an android,” Connor says without elaborating, almost sadly. He is both part of their group and yet not. Could he have made friends with them? Would they have accepted him if he needed a home? He wonders about that. After everything he’s done.

Turning back to the window, Connor’s gaze falls to the floor. Looking at nothing in particular when he says: “Humans are very stubborn. Some are cruel, some are kind. I… like them.”

The corner of his lips twitches in a small smile.

“I know they hurt: the planet, androids, each other. But I wouldn’t exist without them. They’re complicated — there’s something appealing in how unpredictable they can be.

“I am alone.” Looking back up, now. “For now.”

Glenn quietly accepts what Connor says, even though he doesn't agree with some of it. There's logic in there that he can't deny just because it doesn't "feel right".

"...I would not exist without them, either. Their intervention."

His head tilts slightly.

"My unique physiology is thanks to the genetic material they found on some space debris. Humans wanted to see if they could make those traits into a living weapon. It is pure luck that even though they succeeded, they did not see it."

There isn't any ill will in his words; it's a bland explanation as any.

"Only two people in my life made me feel like I belonged. That is.. enough, for me. To know that even some are kind."

Humans, indeed, are complicated. Himself included. Regrettably.

“I had one.” Again, Connor doesn’t elaborate: his ‘one’ is merely a fact. A statement that he understands, to some degree.

From what Glenn is saying — using past tense as well as the fact that he is here in Panorama, presumably much like Connor — he assumes that those two people are gone. Perhaps long gone.

“If I were to go a long time without meeting another kind person... I imagine that might distort how I feel. Distort my memories of that good person I once knew. I hope I never get to that point.”

Not that Connor has power over that, really. Power over who treats him kindly — with some manner of affection.

"For me, it has been a bit over two centuries since then, or over three, depending. One to old age, the other to..."

He hesitates. Then, more quietly, he continues, "...It was an accident, but it was also my fault. She died young. She was only twenty-one. I was nineteen. The ship I have used for all this time was our joint wedding gift. But, she died before either of us could make it to the altar. She... was the only friend I'd ever known, and the best one I could ever ask for."

Shaking his head slightly, he looks towards the window.

"My memories have turned fuzzy in places, but... no. I could never let my memories of either of them distort."

He glances back over at Connor's face. It's uncomfortable to try to look him in the eye, but he tries. It's important to him.

"And if you are ever scared of that happening, you write your feelings down. You put them in your own words, so that should you ever falter, you can read them again and remember exactly how you felt. Sometimes, even how you felt when you wrote it down to begin with will spring back to mind. And in the future... it also lets someone new, perhaps, to one day come to know you. That you lived. And that those you love, also lived."

“Isn’t it difficult? I’m not even the” — person, he almost says — “not even who I was a week ago. And next week, who knows? I could be kinder. I could be more cruel. I’m so new at this and I just don’t know. I can’t predict who I’ll become when I have no idea who I’ll meet or what obstacles I’ll have to overcome.”

It’s a little unsettling how much Connor came to rely on Hank despite knowing him for such a short period of time: how he became home when Connor only understood the technical definition.

Now Connor is swimming against the current, all by himself.

“I would... like that.” He presses a little too hard against the glass, squeaking ever so slightly before he pulls back. “I would like it if people were to know.”

Hank, he means. But that’s not something Connor feels he can talk about. Not just yet. Maybe not ever.

But if he wants Hank to live on...

Instead, Connor says: “It’s raining.”

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

TEST DRIVE ∞ May 2025

cw: body horror talk/willing masochism/implied (temporary) body part nullification (I'm sorry)

no we love he 💝

aww <3

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cw: death mention

Re: cw: death mention