test drive meme

[barrayarmods]

Playlists by tsarcasm:
Barrayar ⚔ Cetaganda ⚔ The Invasion

Have you read the FAQ?

The Village ⚔ The Barrayaran Camp ⚔ The Cetagandan Base ⚔ The Fight

You've been on Barrayar for a while now, and you're finally starting to adjust. Or maybe you're not. Maybe this is all still too much for you – the attacks, the constant raids, living in the middle of a war zone by no choice of your own. But if you want to live long enough to make it back home one day, you might as well do what you can to help the war effort. Besides, where else are you going to go?

The fierce Barrayaran winter rages even to the southern end of the continent, and it's been none too kind to Vorkosigan's District. Temperatures at sea level are well below freezing, and up in the mountains, it's even colder. Several inches of snow already blanket most of the mountains all the way down to the Cetagandan base, and the storm that's just started up is only bringing more down. Visibility is low in the flurries, wind swirling snow everywhere, and God help you if you get lost on your own out in the storm. Nights are cold, these days.

A recent attack on the Cetagandan base has left half their facilities damaged and in disarray. Raid parties snuck in by night, planting bombs in previously scouted locations for maximum effect. Damage to the base's water treatment plant and organic grow labs have considerably impacted the Cetagandans' food and water supply, and in the chaos caused by the explosions, the Barrayaran guerrillas raided their medbay and made off with a considerable bounty of medical supplies. One man's bane is another man's boon, and while the Cetagandans have reserve supplies to sustain them for now, some of the damage is extensive and the repairs will take time. But in the meantime, the Barrayarans have scored a precious victory as well as equally precious resources.



the village
The Riverfall villagers are used to the harsh winters of the Dendarii mountains, and though they don't have much themselves, they are happy to offer what they can in terms of cold-weather clothing and extra blankets to those allied with the guerrillas. Despite the cold, the hill children are going wild in the snow, and they may try to lure you into their play by sneakily pelting you with snowballs.

Cetagandan allies, however, may not be met so warmly, and at the first sight of ghem soldiers, any children out playing in the snow will be immediately ushered into their homes. Unaccompanied outsiders from the Cetagandan base might have an easier time talking to the hillfolk, but any attempt at digging information about the guerrillas out of them will get you stonewalled fast. A sneaky hill child or two may steal away from their home to approach one of the "bad guy" outsiders to sate their curiosity.



the barrayaran camp
Morale is higher than it has been in a while after their recent victory, and the guerrillas are in high spirits. And do they ever love their spirits – as night falls, most of the Barrayarans gathered around the campfires are enjoying the deceptively named, dangerously alcoholic moonshine they call maple mead. It might start out sweet, but it burns all the way down, and a few glasses of that stuff will tank even the heaviest Barrayaran soldier.

But the storm rages on despite their celebration, and preparations must be made. Clearing as much snow off the tents as possible will help ensure that no tents collapse overnight, the horses need to be tended to, and the officers are always running training drills. Food is in real supply now, but the guerrillas need help foraging and hunting nonetheless. And when night falls, you'll have to find a way to keep yourself warm – it's a good thing there are a cozy ten of you to a tent.



the cetagandan base
The Cetagandans outnumber their guerrilla enemies almost seventy-to-one, so their base has not been completely devastated, but it hardly looks to be the work of a few raiding parties. Nothing is beyond repair, but the water treatment plant has been taken offline, which means that all water is now locally sourced and must be treated by hand with purification tablets. No one in the base will starve, but fresh food is mostly unavailable until they get the grow labs back online, which means that meals are mostly comprised of ration bars and MREs. Morale isn't exactly at an all-time low, but none of the ghem officers seem to be in a good mood.

They won't hesitate to put you to work, either. They need all the engineers and laborers they can get for the grow labs and the treatment plant, and the medbay's inventory needs to be thoroughly audited before they can send a request for more supplies. But if you need a break, it's not too hard to slip away for a little quiet downtime. Some of the lower-ranked ghem ladies might let you participate in some more artistic activities, or maybe some of the enlisted soldiers who are a little more used to you by now might invite you into one of their Cetagandan games of strategy. Or, since the treatment plant only affected potable water, you could appreciate your comfortable surroundings and take a nice hot soak in the bathroom while everyone else is working.


the fight
PVP
You're in the midst of a skirmish with the other side -- maybe you signed up for the battle, maybe you just got caught up in the fight -- but at least it's easy to tell who's on what side. Only one side is wielding swords, and the other guns.

But then you come across someone who doesn't look like they're either -- not one of the rugged Barrayarans or the face-painted Cetagandans, but an outsider, an exotic like you. They must be. So do you fight?

RECON
Maybe you're not on the front lines, but there's plenty more to winning the war than just fighting. You're partnered with another outsider on recon; the ground is cold, and you try not to let your shoes crunch too loudly on snow as you scout, scanning for patrols or supply lines.

Or maybe you're with the Cetagandans, hiking it thorugh the mountains with one of your fellow exotics in an attempt to locate the enemy camp. Except it's damned cold, and there's hidden ice everywhere, and everything is starting to really look the same.

--

Feel free to write prompts for your character on either side -- you don't have to choose just one for the TDM! Just label it clearly so folks know. GO WILD, MY FRIENDS

Comments

[oldvor]

Piotr's eyebrows raise in palpable surprise. "Quite the crowded galaxy you've got there," he remarks with a nod of concession that more or less amounts to shit, son. "Sounds like a hell of a bureaucratic headache."

Also, aliens. Piotr gives a surprisingly soldierlike shrug and finishes teasing the mats out of the sorrel mare's mane. "Well, mankind's been colonizing the Nexus for near on a millennium now. If your salarians or turians or what have you existed here, I think we've have found them by now. But all things considered, it sounds like both our planets have had similar experiences with meeting the wider galactic society. Don't think you've got a monopoly on aliens, either." Piotr grunts out a scoff. "The Cetagandans might've started out human, but after all that genetic tampering? I'd say it's a stretch."

[standsentinel]

"It got simpler when the Reaper invasion began," is a dry answer that contains a multitude of questions that Kaidan doesn't answer except to reflect that there's "Nothing quite like an existential threat to get everyone marching in the same direction... eventually. But you'd know that pretty well, I'm guessing," he concludes, with an acknowledging nod of his own. One doesn't have to be around Barrayarans for long to get a sense that the various Counts make cats look herdable.

Piotr's reflections on the Cetagandans and their tinkering earn him a thoughtful look, and while Kaidan continues to spread the clean straw in the stall next door, there's something measuring in the attention he's paying his new commanding officer. "So, where do you draw the line on genetic engineering, sir? I should let you know that I've had some myself, like every other Alliance soldier." His tone is respectful, no challenge intended, but it's clearly not ashamed for it either -- his mods are what they are, as he is what he is.

[oldvor]

As progressive as Piotr is for his time, that's really relatively speaking -- for a society that just went from horseback to spaceflight in a single generation, some pills are a little too big to swallow all at once. Piotr purses his lips at Kaidan.

"Yes, that seems to be the fashion among galactics, too," he mutters, giving the mare a pat on her back as he sidles out of the stall. "I find it a touch unnatural for my tastes, and if you ask around camp, you'll get the same answer, save for my wife, belike. If you ask me, tampering with a perfectly natural and mundane biological process as childbirth is wholly unnecessary."

[standsentinel]

Kaidan pauses as Piotr does, but the answer seems to satisfy him, for he gives a small nod that contains more than simple agreement: there's a bit of approval as well. With figures like Admirals Anderson and Hackett to be measured against, General Count Vorkosigan has a high bar to reach in terms of Kaidan's sense of a good commanding officer, but he's certainly accruing points as time passes. (A certain Commander Shepard is unique, complicated, and really not a fair comparison for anyone's leadership style.)

"Glad to know where you stand, sir," he comments honestly, before a faintly crooked smile ventures out at the mention of Piotr's wife in this context. "Although I've made it a policy to not have opinions about childbirth anywhere near the sex that's doing the, uh, child-birthing. There are some fields of fire that are just too hot."

[oldvor]

That earns of a huff of dry laughter from Piotr. "Smart man. It's a woman's business." As is the traditional infanticide on babies with some kind of visible mutation. Fucking Barrayarans, man. "Not that I've yet to father an heir, so I can't claim any firsthand knowledge on the matter."