sixthiteration | Special Edition TDM

Special Edition Test Drive!

In April, Sixth Iteration will be making the transition from simulation to real life on a new, uninhabited planet. While the Observers have gone to great lengths to choose a suitable planet and terraform the area our intrepid characters live in, there will be a great deal of unpredictability and increased risk.

This TDM focuses on the NEW, POST-SIMULATOR environment, and is open to EVERYONE, whether your character is in the game or not — It's a chance for everybody to try out some of the new scenarios coming our way in April. (Yes, that means characters in the game can make top-levels!) Use one of the prompts below, or make one of your own.

There's ONLY ONE RULE, but it's important:

Your threads here should NOT be about your character's arrival on the planet. We want to save that for the actual event!

Environment Prompts

The Observers have terraformed the area approximately represented within the boundaries on this map, but outside of the sim, there are no canyon walls keeping characters inside... or native plants and animals outside. Perhaps you have adventured past the edges of the map, excited to have somewhere new to explore. Or maybe you've just gotten unlucky within the safer boundaries of the created habitat. Either way, you've come into contact with a native plant or animal, and your body's reaction isn't exactly normal:

Brown, skunk-like mammal, brown with cream-colored stripes and extremely bushy tail - Spray smells sweet but makes the target drowsy; Adult humans doze off for apx. 2 minutes, and wake up with libido increased 200% for apx. 5 hours.

Small, glassy green ant-like insect - A bite leaves a red welt about the size of a quarter and the sudden ability to lift 10x your body weight. The welt and strength gradually fade over 12 hours, leaving you loose limbed. People typically feel weak after, but that may simply be psychological.

Purplish seeds about the size of a walnut - They are protected by hard seed pods that are either bright green or brown depending on age. Opening the pods can be very difficult, but one of the native birds has a specialized hook beak to pop them open, so the seeds can sometimes be found already shucked. Eating one seed provides a sudden burst of energy for about 20 minutes that allows (among other things) running at speeds up to 60 MPH. The after effects can be brutal, though, particularly if your body isn't used to it, and can include vomiting, dizziness and exhaustion.

Texting Prompt

All characters will bit fitted with a smart watch-like device on their left wrist. They cannot remove the device no matter what they do to it. It looks similar in design to this. (The functions shown in that picture are not necessarily included.) Functions include automatic distress signal when danger is perceived as well manual SOS that send your location to all watch wearers, digital clock, and text messaging to all or select watch wearers.

- Texts may only be 140 characters long
- No video or voice, text only
- No usernames, everyone is listed by their name

Please list your CHARACTER NAME, CANON & PROMPT in your SUBJECT LINE, even if your character is already in the game.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Noah's ark is a story that survives well in the post-CBI world. His mother told it often enough that year on the ship; researchers echoed it in Utah; some far-flung settlements made it their mission statement. Preserve life through the cataclysm. Wait through the storms for the doves to come home.

The observers seem to at least make a token effort against inbreeding, one or two family units notwithstanding. Maybe they're here to show them how it's done.

If social engineering were the real purview of most Fireflies, they'd have won and held more zones. Owen's surmised this: there's a point where the rabbits stop foraging outward from the village, where the pines are just a little more blue than green, and he isn't sure they're the first population to be ushered two by two onto the soil. Given enough time, grass cracks asphalt; whatever can put down roots in this place, has.

And people don't exactly cover it like weeds.

It isn't his first time out of the recognizable trees; walk through an area enough times with a bow, animals start to move out of it. He tries to start where the ferns give way to plants with thicker leaves, heavier scents, stalking the perimeter until it seems all the more dangerous to cross. If they can keep the wildlife penned in naturally, exploration might stay a choice, rather than a necessity. Keeping low, his remaining fingers keep an arrow notched and ready, his good hand steadying the simple bow at a slight angle to the ground.

A deepening quiet of the space gives him pause, and a break in that quiet turns him; Owen points the arrow at a heavy rustle of leaves, sighting down its length to his target.

Finding another person in the brush doesn't quite have him lowering it.

Special Edition TDM

Owen Prichard | The Last of Us (OC) | Original prompt; hunting