TEST DRIVE ∞ May 2025

[thediadem]

Test Drive ∞ May 2025

The First Collision

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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

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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

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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.

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Comments

1a.

[recitations]

[ Here's the thing: she's got her pride as a medic, and there's something sterile and disconcerting about being treated by a glorified tin can that's rubbing at her nerves the wrong way. ( Or maybe she's just trying to stay distracted. ) Aria's had a lifetime of nosiness to develop a sense for when it's a good idea — and when it's not. She tries to be courteous about it, mostly. She's not so hypocritical that she would not give someone the breadth of space they need while insisting upon her own. Usually, mostly, whenever she can, to the best of her abilities. Et cetera.

But she's annoyed and honestly a little rattled from where-she's-been to where-she-is that the usual bets are off. She's gets up the moment she's able to, snatches her codex from the little table beside the cot, picks a direction and starts walking in it. It's how she ends up catching the last of — whatever the fuck is going on there. It's too grotesque to be a Sin Eater, but it's the first thought she has anyway. There's a small crowd of — humanoid, this time — staff members crowded around the thing. Whatever struggle it(?) puts up is neutralized quickly, and it's not long before they start filtering out, one by one.

She stays, though. Hard to say why. Courtesy and propriety dictate that she really should mind her own business. Instead — her shoulder's is leaning against the doorframe, her codex held loosely at her side. The free hand's trying to work at some knot on her neck on the opposite side, on-and-off. She's not doing much else except watching him, and once she eventually notices that he's awake— ]

You caused quite the commotion earlier. [ The polite thing to say would be hello, maybe. ]

The Horrors™

[elriche]

[ He tries to remember what happened last, as his vision ebbs in and out, as his body slowly shrinks down from a patchwork of monstrosities to something paler, smaller. Wings fold into his back, rows of teeth sheathe, antlers tuck into the fissures of his skull. Dozens of gleaming eyes close and revert back to those of a man, as he inhales and grasps for bearings.

What happened last was...

Nothing.

Nothing – the same as it's always been since he took on his sacred charge. The void, darkness, solitude. Silence.

Above him, a tarp whips in the wind. Tools clink on the tray next to the bed. Sunlight peeks in through the claw-shaped tears he ripped in the polyester minutes earlier. He winces, shades his eyes with a human hand.

No power should be able to abduct him from his prison. No power should be able to hold him, muzzle him, dull the edges of his senses so profoundly that he can't see past the room in front of him. No power should be able to hold him down to a bed, to produce a substance that can subdue him. Him.

Where the hell is he?

A voice speaks from the tent's entrance. He turns, lowers his hand from his face. Whatever he was before, he's now a gaunt, pale man, head bandaged and leaning on one arm as he sits up from the cot beneath him. ]

I know, I was there. [ He appraises the girl leaning against the makeshift doorframe – slight, greyish skin, reptilian features. Similar but not identical to a number of alien races he can think of off the top of his head. ] Are you here to tell me what the hell is going on? Because I think the other guys aren't coming back.

help why are his dark circles SO INTENSE

[recitations]

Were you? [ Really? Because usually when people are thrashing about and turning into a million horrific things at the same time, they're usually not there. Not in any way that matters.

Her eyes are still on him. They haven't really left him, sharp focus underneath the obnoxiously casual air she's putting on. There really is no reason for her to go and poke the ( eldritch ) bear, and she doesn't exactly have a ton of sympathy for the individuals who can't be assed to at least patch her up right. Yet, here she is.

She smiles. She wonders if he's going to be like the other new-comers that gave her second glances when they noticed her tail. ]

Because there are the 'other guys' who were holding you down — medical staff, by the way — and then the 'other guys' who appeared to be trying to get out. [ A beat, for the drama of it all. ] So if you were present, maybe you can start by clarifying which ones we're talking about.

because how else would you know he's EVIL jay

[elriche]

I don't really care, [ Stephen growls with an animal edge, ] so long as they've got some answers.

[ His eyes take another sweep of the tent – old, worn, patched-up from damage incurred even before he arrived here. He doesn't miss the robot in the corner with faint blood spatters on its surface, or the bottles nearby with familiar names of sedatives. If he were to wake up somewhere, injured and incapacitated, he'd expect it to be in a fractured rift, or the illusory pocket dimension of an extradimensional god. Not... some makeshift field medic tent in the middle of god-knows-where.

Then it hits him – the Eye.

He grits his teeth against the throbbing in his temples. He gestures his hand in an upward motion and floats up and out of the bed to land on his feet. He snaps his wrist outward and the dark clothes piled on a chair near the exit rise and fly toward him, shimmering for just a moment before reforming onto his body – except for the cloak draped over the chair's backrest.

He frowns at it for a moment, but has larger problems on his mind. Inwardly, he opens his third eye – his fourth, his fifth. He projects feelers through the air, between molecules and matter – tastes the flavor and integrity of the universe around him. They stretch through the edges of the tent and into the camp around it, searching for the Eye's distinctive signature, also intersecting with the girl in front of him–

He pauses. Refocuses on her. ]

You're... not from here.

i think he's just misunderstood :pensive:

[recitations]

[ Showy motherfucker.

Which makes her a hypocrite, she knows, but she's definitely not this obnoxious. She walks on her own two feet and gets dressed with her own two hands. Whatever little bits of spell work she uses to make her life easier is just that — a convenience, as opposed to a necessity. But all of it, when done in front of someone else, becomes a descriptor for her. How she's perceived matters. Either this man doesn't give a shit about such things, or he's well aware of it and using it anyway.

So: showy motherfucker.

Still, she waits. Partially because the longer she stays the less she'd like to actually give away, partially because she's got none of his fancy many-eyes but she's trying to get a read on him anyway ( not a lot of obnoxious mage types, where she's from ). His attention's split, and her hand moves to rest on the spine of the codex at her side. Just in case.

Which becomes entirely unnecessary, but whatever. ] Neither are you. [ Pot, kettle. It's not entirely helpful but she's not in the mood to be helpful; she's trying to figure out if he's going to be dangerous. ] Any other astute observations you feel like making?

ishetho.jpg

[elriche]

Yeah, actually. [ He replies, terse and dry. He waves his hand again, wills his cloak to rise out of the chair and fly to his shoulders – minus its usual go-getter attitude, but he'll deal with that later. ] I'm missing something – an artifact, one of 'other guys' must've taken it. It'd be catastrophic in the wrong hands.

[ Ask him how he knows.

He glances at the girl. Yeah, definitely some kind of lizard... alien? Demihuman? He turns an invisible tendril to probe further into her aura as the rest of his consciousness expands to search for the Eye. He gets an almost – ugh, something like a painful feedback loop as he does so, the shrill whine of microphone out of concert hall speakers. He grimaces four eyes closed at the jarring resistance – like the air suffusing this place is made of something dense, anomalous, something heretofore unknown.

Where the hell–

And then he feels it. A surge of pure power, overwhelming in its intensity, a distilled point of pure magic in his sensory perception, a swirling palette of colors, whispered sounds, a force so dense it almost staggers him.

It's not the Stone.

Slowly, he closes the eyes on his forehead and cheek. He rests his full attention on the girl, which means he's looking almost directly down. ]

Who... are you?

what is villainy, anyway,

[recitations]

[ her having the Echo probably means that she can feel him trying to read her vibes / see his psychic eldritch shit BUUUUT i don't wanna think about the implications until we can lean into the most dramatic introduction possible when i app her next round, so...! for now—

She raises an eyebrow. ]

Where I'm from, most tend to ask 'what's your name'. I've found it's easier to get dates this way. [ With all the free time she definitely has, between saving the world and having a dense-as-fuck soul or whatever. The point still stands, though — she finally straightens out from the door frame, dusting the side of her coat.

He doesn't recognize her, that much is certain. Not that it means much in the grand scheme of things, considering the Warrior of Light isn't the most recognizable figure; just in title. But he doesn't look like he's from Etheirys, or any of its Shards. ( Surely, she'd know if he was. Surely. )

There's really only one way to find out, though. ] Aria Forzane. [ Still keeping the 'not the most helpful' theme she's got going on — but she's giving her name for her sake, not his. Her eyes watching his expression carefully for the moment he lets something slip, if he does at all. ] Who are you?

[elriche]

[ Normally Stephen would respect a level of sass from his interlocutors, but he's a little fucking perturbed at the moment. He narrows his eyes at the girl – Aria Forzane, not a name he's ever heard in his probing of the multiverse, although his experience is relatively short in the cosmic scheme of things. Maybe the Watcher would tell him this small lizard girl is an individual of great interest, but – he'll worry about what the hell to categorize her as once he's dealt with the situation at hand. ]

I'm Dr. Stephen Strange, Ms. Aria Forzane, [ he grates out, level, as he raises an arm to gesture at the presumed campground outside the tent. ] And unless you're going to help me with my extremely urgent retrieval of something that could undo this universe and everything in it, I'd suggest you get out of my way.

[recitations]

[ Wow sorry for being so fucking weird that he won't even banter with her!!!

In seriousness — it's fine. She knows how to read a room; call it a sixth sense or just experience, after no shortage of things going wrong in her presence. Her general unhelpful airs don't vanish, not just yet, but she does sober up a little. Just enough to narrow her eyes back at him, a tiny little tilt of her head as she tries to study him. He doesn't seem like the type to exaggerate; lie, maybe, but if he's lying about this it'll at least put her in the vicinity when he retrieves it.

Guess that settles that, then. ]

So I can watch as you tear this place apart looking for it, Dr. Stephen Strange? [ Not that she's particularly attached to whatever-the-fuck is going on here, but it's the principle of the matter. She pauses for dramatic effect, then: ] A man pocketed it while they were trying to hold you down. [ She's pretty sure that's what he's talking about; Yom Crook wasn't exactly subtle about the whole thing when his whole staff are in on it.

She steps out to the hallway. ] Shall we?