TEST DRIVE ∞ May 2025

[thediadem]

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

⇅ Top

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

⇅ Top

©

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

Comments

finally crawls my way in late, rooftop

[frostfist]

[ After so long spent at the bottom of the ocean, Wriothesley decides it's time for a change of pace and heads to the roof of the dingy motel he's been temporarily staying at instead. He can't claim to be a particular fan of heights but it's always good to try new things.

Except it seems someone's already beat him to the punch. He pauses in the doorframe, one hand tucked into the pocket of his dark blue hoodie and the other still on the knob of the door. ]

And here I was worried you'd had enough of life in the city and was planning on ending it all.

[ A joke, said lightly. It's a common enough occurrence in film, but the guy on the roof casually propped against one wall seems too relaxed to be pondering anything quite so dire. That, and the rooftop here's like, what, only a couple stories tall? Not exactly the best choice unless he's looking to rack up even more medical debt.

He nods towards the street. ]

Anything interesting going on down there?

how very dare (I say, after I squandered my afternoon napping)

[tirejacked]

[He is, in fact, entirely too comfortable up here to look like much of a risk for a short walk and a long fall, but. Hey, you never know. If nothing else, the joke seems to land. Earns Wriothesley a sharp exhale and an appropriately amused glance back up from the ledge.]

Oh yeah? [Worried about little old him? He's touched. Ironic—] Were you gonna tell me life is worth living?

[Cute.

He could make a joke here about death only really slowing him down a little, but there's better things to do. For instance—oddly obliging, he gestures a little toward the ground, at a slightly-dilapidated looking establishment on the other side of the street. Another motel—if one even less impressive or comforting than the one they're standing on, if that's even possible. A small, fenced-in parking lot.]

Green pickup has been here three out of the last four nights around this time. Does a couple laps of the block first and leaves before sunup, so I don't think he wants to be seen. Either he's got reason to think he's being followed or he's seeing someone he shouldn't.

[Could be either. Welcome to the Panorama edition of Days of our Lives, Rizzo. You asked!]

[frostfist]

[ And, obligingly, the artist formerly known as Wriothesley and now known as Rizzo pulls away from his cozy spot by the door and closer to the ledge, peering down at the aforementioned green pickup.

With a shrug: ]

I could, but I doubt it'd mean much coming from a stranger.

[ Archons know he's given enough pep talks in his life, but usually only after an understanding of the person he's trying to pep up. Would he have given one if this seemingly easy-going stranger had been about to take a step off? Sure, because he does edge towards optimism eight days out of ten, but he's enough of a realist to know that the results would have been middling at best. So really, it's a good thing that they can chitchat about suspicious-looking vehicles instead of the beauty of life.

Anyway. Back to the truck. ]

He ever bring anything when he swings by?

[ How dramatic of a production are we talking here? ]

[tirejacked]

[I know, I know. He prefers "The Rizzler," but I just cannot.

Nosing on the neighbors is a much better use of their time, anyway. There is an objective answer to that question, but he's more interested in the fact that Wriothesley decided to ask it. Unfortunately, he was being pretty cooperative for like, three whole few sentences, there, so it's probably about time to change that.

He gives Wriothesley a bit more of his attention, shifting in his seat to get a better look at who he's dealing with. But rather than divulge the rest of his hard-earned gossip (and/or actual useful information, it's honestly still a tossup) to this absolute stranger right away—]

Why? Looking for something in particular?

[Gotta give a little to get a little, bud. But hey, maybe they can help each other out.]

[frostfist]

[ I DON'T PREFER ANY OF THEM SO THIS IS JUST FINE.

The shift, small though it is, doesn't go unnoticed. And why should it, when he's always operated in much the same way? Keeping his eyes and ears open and his mouth closed, carefully fishing for information while keeping his own cards close to his chest. The less anyone knows about him, the better. But about their surroundings? So long as it's not part of any plan, that's free game.

He leans back a little, resting the bulk of his weight on his heels. His hands stay where they are, tucked into the pockets of his jacket. ]

Just looking to pass the time. [ Which is pretty weak as far as excuses go so— ] And to see if there's anything about this place I should keep in mind. I'm new around here, so.... [ A shrug. ] I figure the more I pick up the better, unless I'm looking to get mugged in a back alley.

[tirejacked]

[FINE....I'll behave, but only because I missed you.

It's a weak excuse, sure, but the rest really does track. Not that nosiness isn't its own reward, honestly. But give a little, get a little. Hard to say if it's some sense of common ground, or some sense of curiosity, or some sense of commiseration—being new in town, getting a feel for the city, carefully fishing for information while playing ones cards close to the chest—but he seems to accept that answer well enough.

He spreads his hands out in front of him. Palm-up, as if to project an air of harmlessness. (He is not. But, y'know.)]

What about getting mugged on the top of a shitty motel?

[It's not a threat, really. There's not enough intent there for it to ring that way, and he hasn't moved from his relaxed sprawl against the wall. Just wondering. You don't seem worried about that!]

[frostfist]

[ Haha, very funny.

Actually, he probably should take this seriously - and he is, the set of his shoulders casual but not completely relaxed, his gaze still alert despite the polite smile that plays on his face. He's survived too many incidents not to retain a healthy dose of wariness for anything unfamiliar. At the same time, living in a constant state of flight or fight is exhausting too. If possible, he'd like to maintain a little optimism in the capability of humankind to trend towards good. ]

Then it'd be my loss, wouldn't it? [ With a spread of his hands. ] Though fair warning, I don't exactly have anything on me worth stealing.

[ Except his Vision, but it's not like the guy could use it anyway even if he wanted. At best, it might net him a few extra joolies at a nondiscriminatory pawnshop. ]

If it's extra cash you need, I do know a few places that are hiring.

[tirejacked]

[Optimism in the capibilities of humanity toward good...whats that like. He leans his elbows against his knees before it becomes too weird that their mannerisms here have gotten a little similar.

And, magnanimously—]

Sounds like you need it more than me.

[He's generous that way. He's at least got a few things worth pawning on him. Unlike his friend here, apparently. But, y'know, he's willing to keep on in this vein. So.]

You come here recruiting?

[The giving out free samples, or the overnight shifts? Neither really play to his skillsets or his availability. (His nights are usually pretty busy, y'know.)]

[frostfist]

[ finally comes back here a week later with the proper framing for this thread...ie. jason as a 40 year old looking 20 year old and wriothesley as a 20 year old looking 30-something year old

What that really means is that Wriothesley really should have been giving Jason more shit, but let's say that the newness of their situation leaves him acting a bit more cautious than usual. That, and maybe Jason really does look 40 after all he's been through. Either way: ]

Why, you interested? [ Apparenty none of it's enough to completely curb the joking tone to his voice. ] I'd be happy to tell you more if you are.

[ Ah, the excitement of being a produce clerk....though apparently he can't even fake enthusiasm for that for too long before he's sighing. ]

More seriously, if you already have better options I'd stick with them. Though I can't really complain. The hours are good enough, and the pay's passable. And it leaves me with enough brainpower left to do a little exploring afterwards instead of crash immediately on my couch.

[ And that's what really matters to him in all of this. ]

[tirejacked]

[horrific, thanks. the real crosscanon experience. thanks for reminding me I need to make fun of rizzo's stupid fake cat ears I guess.

Anyway, that sounds awful. His customer service chops would leave a lot to be desired, it's probably for the best for everyone if he declines that very generous offer. He doesn't even make a show of pretending to consider it.]

Thanks, but no thanks. Think I can manage to get by.

[He sounds pretty unworried about it. Definitely wouldn't be the first time he's had to scrape by on nothing. And he's a hell of a lot more prepared for it this time than when he was a kid.

Interesting, though, that Wriothesley mentions that last bit.]

City life isn't doing it for you?

[frostfist]

[ imagine if i didn't take 50 years to tag, that would be nice ]