Earth - September 2017

Far before the world ended and the Eternal System’s protective [Veil] was set to drop for newly-integrated worlds, a young man named Markus Reeves believed his life was going downhill fast. He was born two years before the year two thousand AD and had grown up around video games with supportive parents who helped foster a competitive spirit within young Markus. That competitive spirit ignited a sense of purpose for him and soon forged a path into video game tournaments on the professional level at the age of thirteen. He had been even helped to found a new pro ESports group by his seventeenth birthday with a few of his fellow competitors, but not even that good fortune would last forever as tragedy would strike twice between his seventeenth and eighteenth birthdays.

The first tragedy occurred when his parents-out of concern for his quickly freefalling grades in school-decided to intervene by revoking permission for him to go to a big tournament that offered a two million dollar cash prize. This parental intervention-much to both Markus’ parents and his own detriment-was a dual edged sword as both parents had to quit their more lucrative jobs and subsist off of their child’s success in professional gaming circuits. None of the family members had any idea of how potentially damaging this act would become in the immediate future until that summer when their yearly trip had to be cancelled. It went even further downhill when young Markus had to be removed from his pro ESports group because he could no longer afford to keep up with their rise to fame due to the financial instability.

It brought the young Markus down low into depression and nearly snuffed his competitive spark, but this second tragedy cemented a stronger yet complimentary spark inside Markus’ soul which slowly stoked those dying embers back into an undying bonfire.

On the way back from the store with what little dwindling money was left, an accident occurred with three fatalities. Both his mother and father were slain alongside the offending driver which left young Markus the sole survivor though only just barely. None of the medics who tended to him understood how or why, but it seemed like there was some kind of guardian angel lingering over his shoulder preventing him from dying. Most called it a blessing that he survived, but not Markus since that “blessing” cost him his parents.

Their deaths left a permanent psychological scar on him that couldn’t be healed, but he didn’t know what would happen a year after his graduation and the anniversary of his parents’ demise. When he would be left leading entire nations against the Harbinger of Calamity and founding a New World…

{System Profile: Markus Reeves (Pre-Integration)}

Level: 1

Tier: Bronze

Health: 100/100

Energy (Mana): 0/0

Race: [Human]

[VIT: 50]

[STR: 10]

[AGI: 10]

[PER: 15]

[INT: 15]

[WIS: 10]

Titles: [Sole Survivor], [???]

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[Title: Sole Survivor]: (Passive) Awarded to the only surviving party in a fatal situation where all others are dead. +40 VIT

[Title: ???]: (Passive) Unknown effects.

[September 3rd, 2017 6:30 pm PST]

Ding!

Markus’ phone went off with a new notification and the light illuminated his dark apartment with a soft glow. The man himself groaned a bit as it woke him up from a dreamless slumber as his whole body felt strained beyond normal. None of the “big” games on the market that Markus could afford to purchase had enough of a massive following in order to spark his competitive spirit due to his previous experience being an ex-pro gamer, but that was only because Markus picked up a menial job as a gas station attendant on minimum wage (about 10-11$ an hour) so he could afford playing video games on the spare time manageable. Today was one of the two days he had off of his job and could spend time actually playing his games though he’d get bored of them if they weren’t set on the hardest difficulty possible.

Turning onto his right side, he grasped his cell phone and looked at the offending notification which disturbed his slumber. It was an email from the company “Reality Interactive” and rolling his eyes at the notification-thinking it was just another piece of spam about signing up for a free 14 day trial to a popular game-he decided to open it on a whim. The email read as follows:

Greetings to you, Mr. Markus Reeves!

We are cordially inviting you to become a participant in a new game developed exclusively for our newest Virtual Reality gaming rig which will be rolling out sometime next year. This new game-titled “Cruxborne Legends”-offers competitive multiplayer capabilities in a fantasy world where technology has regressed into an obscurity known to a select few and magic is highly prevalent. Should you accept our invitation, we will be offering you a full one-way trip ticket to our headquarters where all participants shall be gathered alongside our Founder Package. The “Founder Package” contains the following:

Perpetual Membership (Unlimited Membership Credits) 1x [Premier Character] 1x [Title: Founder Member] 1x [Eternal Coin Package] 10x [Vault Expansion Tokens] 2x [Mythical Skill Unlock] 1x [Legendary Skill Unlock] Choice of [Origin Perk] All Races Unlocked (including Eternal Races) 1x [Tier 6 Companion]

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This offer expires in 72 hours.

It then went off into the basic gist of Valtir-the name of the gameworld map-and how entire kingdoms are unprepared for a coming Calamity. There were even AI NPCs that had human-level intelligence and diverse cultures based on geography along with racial ones too.

Overall, it appeared like this new game was designed for gamers who understood hardcore difficulty along with generalized roleplay. Markus never tried out roleplay games considering he played games compatible for esports and they weren’t too popular unless they were all soccer or football which didn’t attract a lot of views on Twitch or YouTube. From the email alone, Markus understood that this game not only wasn’t just procedurally generated, but the AIs running the game always created new quests or adventures to keep players interested. Without really checking all of the legal stuff attached with the inviting email, Markus sent off signed consent forms for Cruxborne Legends.