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

[cryptsleeper]

They're old and experienced enough that it is a trial to stop them. The general themes of their plans? Remarkably consistent.

[Eternal night is so...basic. Not that Alucard has the vocabulary to express that exact thought, but it is the bluntest of truths.

The dagger being sheathed is progress. So Alucard takes the moment to lean himself against the wall, letting it take some of his weight.]

No. And don't call me The Alucard, the name doesn't work like that. It is simply a name given to me by my countrymen that has stuck.

[longtooth]

[ Old and experienced. Yes, that's true. Strahd has been around long enough that he's been able to sink his claws into every corner of Barovia, to rob the land of all of its magic and bounty and make it his own. The gems, for instance. He is the land.

But there have still been ways to get an edge on him. People they've recruited, ancient items they've found which still hold some sway over Strahd. Fern simply doesn't know if it will be enough, and now... will she ever get the chance to find out?

The fact that the dhampir relaxes slightly after she sheathes her weapon rather than immediately lunging is another point in his favor. Fern doesn't move any closer for now, though she realizes it's a strange thing to keep up a conversation in this unlit hallway. It suits her for now, though, and they seem to be in a corner dark and quiet enough that no one else has come over to investigate. ]

Which would you prefer I call you, then?

[ Was the name given out of kindness or malice? To honor him, or malign him? ]

[cryptsleeper]

Alucard is perfectly acceptable.

[He pauses, realizing how dark the hallway actually is. The dhampir casts a wary eye around, his attention eventually returning to Fern.]

You have good night vision, I take it?

[longtooth]

[ Alucard it is, then. Perhaps "Adrian" is only reserved for close friends.

Fern blinks at the question, not entirely sure what spurred it on other than — right, the blackout. ]

Yes. I'm a shifter, if you're familiar. We can see well in the dark.

[ And then she finally realizes that yes, she should probably give her name as well. Strange, that she's now introducing herself to someone she'd been fully ready to stab just minutes earlier, but sometimes that's how it goes. ]

My name is Fern.

[cryptsleeper]

Perhaps not with the specific term and biological circumstances, but broadly I can make some inferences.

[He can't assume a were-anything and it feels inappropriate to do so. So instead he extends a gloved hand to shake, if Fern is so inclined.]

Thank you for not stabbing me out of instinct, Fern.

[longtooth]

[ Somehow it seems worse for him to make inferences, as he says. Fern would rather he simply understand what she is rather than having to guess at it. Especially given that he's already explained his nature as a dhampir to her.

She'll get to it when there's a good moment to do so. For now, she shrugs when he thanks her. It had been a close thing, but her naturally keeping her distance had saved him a stab to the ribs (unlike her earlier encounter with that metal creature who rudely suspended her in the air for her trouble). ]

I have yet to meet a vampire I didn't have a need to stab. [ To give her actions some context. ] Strahd and his brides are likely similar to the ones you mentioned before. [ There's a pause as she peruses him, before she adds: ] You said you're three hundred. Have you dealt with many vampires in that time?

[cryptsleeper]

[Oh, it's a vampire and a number of people he turned in some kind of a situation? That tracks. And that is coming from Alucard who is no stranger to having multiple partners.

He braces his forearms on the little banister overlooking the lower level of the...whatever this place is, he can't recall the word, and exhales. This is a sign of trust, or at least certainty that if Fern stabs him, he can counter it easily.]

Many, yes. Most quiet and living their undead lives, quite a few with grander plans that demand they be stopped. Siding with humanity tends to make me unpopular among my father's people.

[longtooth]

[ The way that he turns away from her to look out is a small sign of trust that Fern picks up on. She's put her dagger away by now, so there's not too much to worry about there. Instead, she also moves to the banister, still maintaining a safe amount of space between them. A good ten feet, at least.

He came out here because he thought there were ghosts. That doesn't seem to be the case, at least. For now, it's just the two of them in the quiet of the night. ]

And you've always sided with humanity? [ Is that because his father was also a so-called "good" vampire? Fern finds it hard to believe, but she also only has Barovia as her point of reference. ] Vampires are... fairly new to me, but they haven't exactly made a good impression.

[ And she isn't one to easily judge someone simply for what they are, but Strahd and his followers have given her every reason to do so. ]

[cryptsleeper]

I have. Even against my father.

[Alucard shrugs lightly.]

Humans usually can take care of the problems caused by their own kind. The undead, as I am sure you've experienced, have advantages that make it much harder, riskier, and deadlier. I'm sturdier than most.

[There's a more important point to be made though.]

I don't need to do it often.

[longtooth]

[ Well. He answers the question she hadn't wanted to ask. Family troubles are simply a matter of life, and she won't pry any further on that point, suspecting it might be a tender spot. ]

Yes, I've experienced that firsthand. [ She heaves out a sigh with her response, shaking her head as she remembers the many different encounters she and the others had endured. The vampirespawn in the coffin-maker's shop makes the top of the list, to say nothing of those hags.

They've yet to take on a vampire at full strength, but it's only a matter of time. They had been on the way, until all this. ]

I'm glad it's not a common thing for you, at least. [ The situation in Barovia might be a special case, she's realizing. Strahd and his own little fiefdom.

There's a pause, and then she glances over once more. ] A shifter can partially transform into something more bestial. There are different types, but in my case, the beast is a wolf. It's usually in short bursts, generally in the middle of battle.

[ Or if she's under a lot of pressure and stress and she loses control, but that's a rare thing. ]

[cryptsleeper]

[He's pleased enough to not have to explain the nuances of his father and the massive outpouring of grief that happened upon his mother's murder. Alucard instead takes the chance to shift the subject entirely.]]

Ah, fascinating. I've seen something similar before - transformations in a fight, I mean - but it usually isn't mentioned so casually.

[He doesn't want to press for further details though, and as such, the dhampir is happy to leave the topic be.]

I think I may try to find some food that doesn't come from a machine, now that I'm out here.

[longtooth]

[ Casually? It's a part of what Fern is, so she doesn't see much reason to hide it. Especially not from someone who's already told her the ins and outs of being a dhampir.

Thankfully, Alucard leaves it at that, not forcing her to explain any further. The mention of food does cause her to raise an eyebrow, though shockingly, her next words come out in a more lighthearted tone. Almost as if she's making... a joke? ]

Food that isn't blood, I assume.

[ Even then, there's a part of her that wonders if she should track him in secret to see if he was lying to her, but she doesn't think that's necessary. Most vampires wouldn't bother to hide their nature, after all. They would boast of it. Alucard... is different. ]

I'll be heading back to my room, then. Things seem quiet enough out here — I may as well get some rest.

[ On a proper mattress, rather than in the back seat of Adrian's car. ]