The sensations of the VRMMO pod faded, as well as the ever-present aches and pains of his body, as he sunk down into the virtual environment and let slip the surly bonds of earth. With a rumble of drums, and then a fanfare of trumpets a montage started playing, taking in his whole field of view in a way no television or even VR headset would ever be able to.

First there was a view of an earth-like planet, slowly rotating in the vastness of space, lit by a reddish sun. And slowly, almost imperceptibly, the view started to close in and lock onto a large continent in the green water of the seas. As the view moved closer it seemed to grow and grow until the whole continent could not even be seen anymore and signs of life were beginning to become evident.

The all-encompassing view fell down further, focusing on a large walled city, strings swelling and orchestral tunes playing inspiringly. Large buildings passed by on either side as the view got down to street level and it started moving through what looked like the city’s main thoroughfare. The streets were full of a myriad of fantasy races, adventurers, scholars, nobles and merchants. Washerwoman, blind beggars and orphans also filled the streets and it was obvious this was a living, breathing world and not just a MMO fantasy. The sound was cacophonous, an array of languages, growls, yells and the general clatter of everyday life.

The view lifted back up off the street level and took off up into the air and out over the countryside, through fields and forests, villages and ruins, and out into mountains and then deserts. Mike could feel the excitement rising within himself, an anticipation that he had never felt before.

It truly is like living in another world. The immersion is going to be insane! The only question is how will people bring themselves to leave it? I don’t think I will. Far better than watching the paint peel off the walls and waiting for death.

The view pulled back up into the sky, zooming out until the continent took up the whole field of vision once more, and with a thunderous crash the game’s logo was superimposed.

After a few moments the view faded to black once more, and when the lights were once again raised, Mike was in a VR lobby. The room itself was nothing to speak of, off-white plastic everywhere, and view screens hanging on the walls. Clearly a place to load the game and other Out Of Character actions to take place.

Mike looked around the room for a few seconds, but there wasn’t anything to really do so he prepared himself to wait for whatever came next. An indeterminate time later a short, wizened man appeared in the Lobby. He had a bald head, long white beard, and saffron robes that hung on him as if he hadn’t taken them off in centuries.

“Sorry for the delay, but there are so many of you trying to enter the world at the moment, and only so much of me to go around.” The old man had a put-upon smile on his face, a face which was clearly not used to smiling overly much. Mike felt himself try to return the polite grin, but he was sure his seemed as fake as the old man’s.

“I am LAW, the Overgod of this world. It is my duty to greet all new Travelers and make sure they understand the rules before entering Koral. Are you ready to hear the word of LAW?”

“Um, sure, I guess. When do I make my character?”

An exasperated sound escaped the tightly pinched lips of the bearded wonder, despite an obvious effort. “After. After we go over the rules. Also, questions will be answered after. Shall we proceed?”

Mike just nodded his acquiescence.

“Very well, first of all if you proceed beyond this point you are legally absolving K.O.R.A.L. Games of any liability, real or imagined, that might result from prolonged exposure to deep-immersion VRMMO experiences, as well as any trauma psychological or physical resulting from said exposure.” The Overgod raised a bushy white brow interrogatorily.

“Yes, I agree.” Maybe not the wisest choice to be so cavalier, but with my health problems I don’t think there is much chance of “longterm” problems having a chance to really pan out.

“The rules for Travelers are very simple. There are no rules. At least not imposed by the developers of this game. You may act as you wish, but consequences are real as well. If your character dies in the game, barring the use of very rare resurrection magic, you will be returned to this room to create a new character from scratch. It is possible to retire a character under certain conditions, creating a legacy for the next heir of your line, but this requires significant resources. If such becomes a possibility for your character you will receive an in-game notification.”

Mike considered this, far more hardcore than the MMOs of the old days where you could respawn infinitely, potentially only losing some experience points or items, or even nothing but time in some games that he had always thought of as not very challenging. In a way though, it was one of the more exciting aspects for him. It gave him some skin in the game, a reason to play as his character and act with some thought and care.

“The people of Koral are very wary of Travelers do to the events of 48 years ago.” The old man squinted at him and his natural frown deepened a little. “Something which you may know something about. For your own safety, always act according to the cultural packet that your receive for your chosen race and area.”

Mike grimaced a little, remembering the bloodbath that had been Alpha. The devs had talked in some interviews about how the AIs that ran the npcs in the game had developed a paranoia about players, who they called Travelers. It had been an exhilarating time, and his first chance at playing a “villain”, or rather just someone out for themselves, rather than his usual paladin type. Of course, they had all been playing template characters with no background, and no future. It would be different once he was his new character, the one he planned to go all the way with.

“You can be a force for good, a harbinger of doom, or a farmer. It’s all up to you. Enforce the law, break it, flee it, or ignore it. You will develop fame or infamy in the game due to your deeds. Most of the games systems are better experienced than explained, and you will be able to get help for new parts of the UI as they become available to you.”

Apparently the main game systems were so responsive they would rewrite themselves for each user to better suit them, learning as they were used what kind of information and help each new player needed.

“K.O.R.A.L. differs from traditional MMOs in that many of the tools offered to make life easier for Travelers are not available here. Here, immersion is king! There are no global chat channels, remote auction houses, or instant summon mounts. No fast travel, no overland map. In fact, you will not even be sure who is a player and who is a person of Koral, for the most part. There are no people with spectral sigils above their heads waiting to give you quests. As a Traveler, you make your own story.”

And with that, the old man disappeared, apparently no willing to wait to answer Mike’s questions. One of the lobby’s walls formed an archway and a red arrow appeared on the ground, flashing to indicate to go in. Mike chuckled to himself.

Alright, did not expect the AI personality to be so forceful. No way did they intend their greeter to be a sour, bitter old son of a bitch. It really actually might be hard to know who is a player and who is not, although I expect the outliers on the alignments spectrum will probably be good indicators for some people.

With a shrug he allowed himself to follow the red arrow of obviousness into the new archway, and into a chamber clearly designed for character design. As he entered the room his avatar of Mike Nelson faded away and there was now just an interface that took up his whole field of view. It contained all the options for making a new game avatar. Name, Race, Titles, Spawn, and an Overview section.

The name was east, “Kalamedra” appeared in the center of his view, hanging over a figure that was completely undefined at the moment. Been using that name for all my mage characters for years, might as well take it here. Least I will respond when someone calls my name. I think if I am going to avoid being killed here, it will be best to think of myself as Kalamedra instead of Mike. Less likely to reveal my origins that way. Next option to pick was what race to play. K.O.R.A.L. was much more of a sandbox game than many people realized, they didn’t have traditional classes, and leveling had less to do with one’s strength than the level of their skills did. That meant that picking a race who had advantages for the type of character you wanted to play was actually much more important than the cosmetics of it. That said, he was not going to live inside the body of a half-orc for who knows how long. Also, the community of people theory crafting on the internet before the game came out had made some startling observations about the longevity of game avatars.

Since one hour in the “real” world was a whole day in-game, it would be possible for someone playing a human or similarly short lived race to die from old age in game within 3 real world years. With the money the devs had put in this game, it was going to have to go 15 or 20 years to recoup a lot of those development investments. So being a human was fine for those players who wanted to make a dynasty and inheirit their wealth over and over, but Mike probably didn’t have nearly that many years left in him so he wanted to pick a race that would let him play the same character his whole K.O.R.A.L. career.

The game had quite a few racial options, but of those with the longest lifespans in the game, two really stood out. Dwarf and Elf. The choice there was easy, as Mike could not see himself being a short stumpy barrel-people for the whole of his game life. He indicated to the interface he wanted to see the elven sub-race options.

Elves ELVES are one of the oldest races in Koral. Their history is long and storied, and they love to tell you those stories in long drawn out tales. Blessed with physical graces, and a natural aptitude for magic they are often-times seen as aloof and wary of outsiders. They live to be exceedingly old by human standards, 350+ years. TRAITS: +4 DEX/-2 CON/+4 INT gained by all elven sub-races in addition to sub-race specific traits. * * * * * * * * HIGH ELVES are the true descendants of the ancient elven peoples on Koral. They call themselves the High Elves because they know in their hearts that all other elves are lesser. Master of the arcane arts, they taught humans of their wizardly arts millennia ago (and immediately regretted it). Mostly keeping to themselves in their tastefully discreet cities in the mountains, High Elven adventurers are rare but not unknown. TRAITS: +1 WIS/+1 CHA, Low Light Vision, Meditation * * * * * * * * DARK ELVES are pretty sure that they are the heirs of the ancient elves, in mind and body, of the ancient elves. Definitely not those dreadfully boring High Elves, for sure. Dark Elves are almost physically indistinguishable from High Elves, except that they have a slightly off-putting aura from millennia of living in cities in the benighted corners of Koral. Wherever there is a cursed swamp, hexed crater, or haunted cave system you will probably find a Dark Elf city. Being of the mind that they are the rightful masters of Koral, merely temporarily displaced, they are willing to do anything to accrue power. They are not often adventurers, but when they are they are generally notable. TRAITS: -2CHA, Darkvision, Hide, Intimidate, Sneak * * * * * * * * ELVES are the common elves of the woods, hills, and small towns of Koral. Elves are friendly with their human and other neighbors. They revere the High Elves and fear the Dark Elves but generally see the struggle between those two groups as something that they are better off not being involved in. They are often adventurers. TRAITS: +2 STR, Archery, Low Light Vision

From his experience with the Alpha he knew he wanted to play a morally grey character, maybe a thief of some kind. He couldn’t take a life of attending church services, better to spend his time in taverns and spots of ill-repute. He indicated to the interface to select the Dark Elf option. The figure under the name in the middle of the interface took on a male elven face and body of extremely average proportions, waiting to be adjusted.

System Notification YOU HAVE SELECTED “DARK ELF” AS YOUR RACE. SYSTEM HAS DETECTED THAT YOUR CURRENT BODY CONFORMS TO MALE SEX, DO YOU WISH TO KEEP THIS GENDER?

Some people might have been weirded out by this question, but Mike had always been comfortable with who he was. He didn’t have to prove his manhood by raging against anything that might suggest that he might like anything else. He had even played some female characters in tabletop games, but he didn’t have any desire to play one permanently, which is what he was choosing now. And I am certainly not going to be dancing naked on any mailboxes looking for handouts like used to be common in other MMOs.

He indicated to the interface that keeping the avatar male was fine, and moved immediately into starting to adjust the avatar. The first thing he did was change the avatar’s age. He had discovered through reading numerous interviews with game devs a lot of little bits of information that when put together were going to really inform his character creation process. One of the things that really stuck out was that attribute points, stats, were only gained through actually using those attributes in game either through a skill or just exercising. This effectively limited the amount of attributes you could have to the amount you could gain in a reasonable amount of time. People weren’t going to have infinite time to raise attributes in game, but it also meant that any extra amount you could get would put you well above the crowd.

The solution he had come up with was to start the character at the minimum age possible, 12. This meant that he would have more time to train his attributes before getting out of his prime. Since there was not an easy way for people to raise those stats like in other games, he thought he could exceed other adventurer’s by quite a bit, in the end, by sacrificing time at the beginning. Obviously he would have more limited options starting as a “kid” in the game, but since K.O.R.A.L. was much more about skill levels than character levels, he could get himself tricked out with attributes and skills by spending the first little part of the game being weaker than the average character would make an avatar.

Not to mention how fun it will be to go around as such a young adventurer, kicking ass and slitting throats. Although, I am sure that I will have a more difficult time having people respect me and my accomplishments in the game, at least until I age a little.

The avatar’s features looked much younger now, and he set the avatar to the minimum height for a Dark Elf, 4’ 6”, because the interface showed him that at 20 the avatar would be 5’ 2”. Since he wanted to be stealthy, and strength in K.O.R.A.L. wasn’t determined by size, he had no reason not to be small.

The figure hanging in mid-air spun around as Mike used spectral hands to rotate it to view it from all sides. It was a short, male Dark Elf with long silver hair, pale skin, and pointed ears. Mike was able to mold the shape of the face and features of his dark elf avatar to achieve the look he wanted. A youth with an insouciant set to his mouth, and a growing muscular frame that still appeared lithe. He adjusted the color of the eyes, making them a smoky grey color.

Satisfied with the appearance of his new body, he turned to the Titles section of the interface to view his starting options. K.O.R.A.L. didn’t use a traditional class system, but what it did have was titles. A title was a new game concept, unique to K.O.R.A.L. that basically tied a bunch of synergistic skills together and provided either access to them, or a bonus to leveling them. Bonuses were cumulative, but they were also not viewable by players so you just had to go with your gut. You could gain a title through training in the game, which then gave you a base level of training in all the skills attached to that title, and a bonus to them. Or the other way they worked is if you had skills you worked up to the necessary skill level the game would then grant you the title and the bonus. Apparently some guilds in the game such as particular Holy Orders or Mage Colleges required entrants to possess particular titles to qualify.

Apparently at character creation the options were restricted because the only options that he had access to were a generic Adventurer title, and a racial Dark Elf title. He carefully reviewed the options because you only got to pick one.

Adventurer You are driven to seek new frontiers, higher heights, deeper depths, and the answers to all life's questions. Along the way you learn some skills to help keep mind and body together. Archery (Beginner 1) Brawling (Beginner 1) Climbing (Beginner 1) Cooking (Beginner 1) Fishing (Beginner 1) Survival (Beginner 1) Swimming (Beginner 1) Dark Elf You are a scion of the ancient Dark Elf people. Like all your race, you are compelled to seek power wherever it can be found. Under a mountain, on top of a tower, in the depths of the sea, or the purse of your companion. Climbing (Beginner 1) Dagger (Beginner 1) Pickpocket (Beginner 1) Search (Beginner 1) Survival (Beginner 1) Trapspringing (Beginner 1)

The Adventurer title had a lot of good skills, actually more skills in total than the Dark Elf title. Mike was sure that a lot of players would see its value and pick it. He knew that they would come to regret it in the long run though, because all of the skills that weren’t available to other titles, like the Dark Elf one, were skills that were all easily acquired.

It was another one of those bits of knowledge he had picked up before getting in to game. You could learn skills from other players, or npcs, or simply learn them yourself. If you did something for long enough in game you could acquire the skill. Want to learn cooking? Just try your best to make a meal using whatever ingredients you could scrape up and you could acquire the basic beginner level of the skill. Many players would either think they needed a trainer to learn skills, or not be willing to put in a little extra time to acquire it the hard way.

Whereas that Dark Elf title has a few skills I would not like to try and get the hard way. Pickpocket and Trapspringing seem like things that you really want to start with a minimum amount of skill in. No sense getting your face vaporized on the first trap you ever find.

After making triple sure he was not missing anything he moved on to choosing his spawn point. The game tried to steer him towards a city of his race, thinking that starting amongst your own people would be the easiest way to begin. For most people that would be true, and even for Mike that might be the case if he didn’t already have one aim in mind in-game.

He put the Spawn selection in manual override and started searching for the name of a village from two years ago. It was not available as a Spawn point, but he did find a small town about a hundred miles away from the spot he sought. Just going to have to get there the long way.

He went to the Overview section then and checked over his Name, Race, Title, and Spawn point. Everything was as he had set it, but when you were making irrevocable choices it was always good to check again, and again if need be. There was one section left in the Overview that drew his attention strongly.

Founder Rewards You believed in this world when it was only a figment of its creator’s minds. And you put your money where your mouth is. Now it is time to reap the rewards. LIFETIME SUBSCRIPTION As one of the first thousand backers of K.O.R.A.L. you received the special stretch goal of a Lifetime Subscription. Unlimited characters, and no fees to play the game as long as it runs. LUCKY You know that it’s better to be lucky than to be good. You were 1 of 1000 to back to receive 20 in your Luck stat. You probably won’t win the Agelastan Lottery but all those small details that trip people up seem to always go your way. SPATIAL RING Magic is alive and well in Koral and the ring on your finger is proof of that. Items in the ring weigh 10% of their real weight, and no matter how bulky or unwieldy they fit within. The ring can never be lost or stolen, but it can be pickpocketed with the right skills, or robbed from your still cooling corpse. So, be wary of thieves! SERVANT OF THE (PLOT) GODS You backed the project to receive 1 or 5 plot items. The item will be deposited in your spatial ring when you spawn. It can be examined to receive instructions on how it must be used to receive the benefit of being the first one to bring something new into Koral!

Everything was as it should be. Mike had pledged far more than he really could when the project had been announced, and had chosen to go for things he thought could really give his character a leg up. In the end, the pod purchase (and upkeep) and crowd-funding pledges had cost him his house, but he thought it was worth it.

Everything hurts too much to enjoy the old shack anyways. Couldn’t keep it up when I couldn’t even get out of bed some days. I have nothing to go back to except an even worse end of life situation, so Koral is about to really become my home. For better or worse, this is how it ends. Better to end with a bang than a whimper, right?

Finally he was ready for his avatar to be created, and let the interface know. In a few moments he had the weird sensation that he was far closer to the ground than he had been in a long time. His point of view had changed, but also his body felt new, pain free, and ready to roll.

He thought the word Status and overlaid on his vision were his particulars. An improbably advantage over npcs, the status window allowed him to track everything going on with his character. It was something to be ruthlessly exploited.

Kalamedra LEVEL 0 XP 0/1000 PLAYED 0 hrs AGE 12 RACE Dark Elf LOG IN 14:20 03/19/43 SEX Male FAME/INFAMY 0 ALIGNMENT 0 * * * * * * * * HEALTH 10 MANA 0 STAMINA 64 STR 10 DEX 14 CON 8 INT 14 ESS 10 CHA 8 LCK 20 * * * * * * * * GOLD 0 SILVER 0 COPPER 0 BOOSTS 0 BELIEF 0 * * * * * * * * LANGUAGE Common GUILD None CITIZENSHIP None FAITH None LIEGE None PKILL 0 TITLES Dark Elf

Then just to be sure he also thought Skills and up popped another menu.

Skills CLIMBING: BEGINNER 1 DAGGER: BEGINNER 1 DARKVISION: BEGINNER 1 HIDE: BEGINNER 1 INTIMIDATE: BEGINNER 1 PICKPOCKET: BEGINNER 1 SEARCH: BEGINNER 1 SNEAK: BEGINNER 1 SURVIVAL: BEGINNER 1 TRAPSPR: BEGINNER 1

With a pleased smile on his new elven lips, he finally acknowledged the system message hanging over him.

System Notification ARE YOU READY TO ENTER KORAL?

With a laugh and a rueful shrug he answered, “Why the fuck not?”