Moonlight shines on an ashen pale covered grassland. The light reflecting off the ground shines so brightly that it touches every nook and cranny of the visible world. Far off in one direction, a lake frozen by ice gleams. In another direction, pine trees cluttered together attempt to form some sort of collected shadow of darkness but fail to do so. And the final direction, which shapes the third triangular point in the area, rolling hills stumble and briefly fall before rising to the clouds as crystal-like mountains.

In the center of the landscape, a warm yellow flame glows steadfast on the plain. It is a giant building, alike a tavern or inn, but above the cobblestone foundations it contains doors, windows, and rooms each warmed by a hearth. The mighty hall belongs to a guild, a group of player characters officially organized by the world into a permanent group of comrades which each of them theoretically swearing an oath to be a part of. Its name…” Chocolate Milk Kittens.”

Every player is capable of creating or joining a Party. Parties exist as a temporary collection of Players and Non-Playable Characters (NPCs), they are the smallest type of formation. A Group, confusingly, is similar to a Party. But they are larger, more complex, and can be more permanent compared to a mere Party. Finally, there are also Guilds or Clans which cannot be made by a single person or joined very easily. Guilds or Clans are even more complex than Groups and are capable of operating game-implemented organizations, or simply used as a permanent hub for players. The difference between Guilds and Clans lays in the administration of the formation, clans are more decentralized while Guilds are often led by a single leader called the guild master.

Parties come and go as they please in the game world, many Groups exist for a longer period of time before disbanding or altering to fit whatever goal players have in mind. And Guilds are expensive to form and sometimes to even maintain for various reasons, however, within the world of Guilds there is still a wide variety of them and amount. Chocolate Milk Kittens is not obscure in the Server, but the Guild is not well known either.

The Server is called Isilia. It is one of the largest Servers amongst the 10 currently active servers in the game “Divine Mortality”. Each Server is different from another in various ways including the size of the Player population. And each Server contains a unique game-world separate from another, which means every Player character and every NPC only exists in that game-world, also known as the “Overworld”. The existence of Divine Mortality is a miracle for multiple ways. The functionality of networking across the globe, with many minor sub servers acting as support pillars, allows titanic amounts of Players inside a single Server to interact with one another fairly smoothly is one such miracle.

And in Isilia’s overworld there are countless individuals, with countless individuals there are many guilds, and with many guilds there are frequent conflicts.

The front door of the Chocolate Milk Kittens guildhall was swung open. An individual slowly paced themselves forward, inching farther away from the guildhall's warm indoor interior and out into the cold outside. Behind that individual, was another. He also slowly motioned himself while paying good attention to the person he was following. He listened with little care about the topic being ranted by the person in front of him but out of respect, because soon enough, the ranter will be abandoned.

“The greatest disappointment of our modern age is the insufficient amount of communication we have with one another. Of course, the irony is that our modern age is also a time where the ability for a common person to easily message someone else from anywhere else in the globe is highly unprecedented! Despite the fact there are still many geographical challenges and language differences and even mentality differences which continue to pose a difficulty for communication. Yet, tools to solve those issues are plentiful, and if they are not the ease to create those tools or find other solutions without the fear of dangerous repercussions still allow us to easily and efficiently communicate with one another. But that is exactly the problem…to sum it up once more…the problem is that we, the normal people, do not utilize these amazing technologies enough. Far from enough! Despicably inadequately! We are no where near the desired efficiently to where the average adult person is utilizing new methods and technologies to express their voice, their concerns, and themselves... The world is dominated by the powerful, and it so happens these powerful people are often greedy and power hungry individuals as well. Who accomplish their desires, quests, and goals via their evil deeds. Yet, who suffers? We do! The common people, the masses! Why must we continue to bicker and fight amongst one another for minor incidents, instead of cooperating with one another? How much longer will we wait before realizing that, with shared cooperation tied by trust, we can craft an alternate path for ourselves? We do not even need to climb the ladders which the evildoers have done but build our own ladders. Humanity is a social experiment, and power is the usage of other people…so…with enough cooperation, the power rests in the common people. Only, if we can utilize these mass communication technologies properly for our own benefit! And that is why I propose for our guild to- umm, why am I outside?”

Sayooshi’s rant was finally cut ‘short’. The chubby Elf player character called Sayoshi was gradually lifted by a small cloud created by Wind magic by another player character, a slim shaped hairy dwarf called Kafeorkoko.

“And that is why you have been kicked from our guild. Sorry Sayoshi, rule 7. “Too much politics results in a warning, second time a severe warning, and the third time with a kick.”

“Huh?! Since when did someone create that rule?”

“Since before you’ve even joined…sigh…look, you’ve probably noticed this, but half the guild has become way too annoyed with you and the guild master reluctantly agreed.”

“Annoyed? Why-I-I…I certainly haven’t been talking about politics too much, have I?”

“You just were?”

“That? Oh, come on, that’s barely political. It’s more like…y’know, philosophy. I want the guild to finally do something amazing!”

“Well…I couldn’t say whether that was too political or not Sayoshi, but I think you should find another guild to hang with. I feel really bad since you’re actually a pretty strong player, and not to mention you’ve practically saved me in the Copper dungeon, but rules are rules.”

“Jeez, this is the fifth time I’ve been kicked from a guild or group…awe…but the way you’re putting it I can’t help being mad at you.”

“Well, you shouldn’t, it wasn’t my choice to begin with.”

“Fine…so, what should I do next? I haven’t heard of an existing “philosophy” themed guild out there, and even if there were I certainly wouldn’t want to join.”

“I don’t really want to hear that from you, since you’re also the most oddly philosophical person I have met on any game. Not that I’ve heard any of your philosophies anyways…”

“Well, those are my personal philosophies, I make them up.”

“That makes sense. Anyways, you’re right I wouldn’t want anyone to accidentally join a “philosophy” guild because that guild would probably just be some sort of cult in disguise...yup I can envision that happening to you, be careful. This game is full of all sorts of strange people after all…”

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking about too-hey, why do I get the feeling your eyes in real life are judgmentally staring at me?”

“It doesn’t take much for someone to judge you anyways.”

“Sigh, yeah yeah. I hear you. I’ll get going now and find another guild to get kicked from. Close the door quickly so you don’t let too much cold air into the Guild Hall.”

With an audible chuckle and a /smile character emote, “Alright you weirdo, off you go then. You’re delusional if you are seriously worried about “cold air” in a video game. I don’t need to say this, but there are no temperature mechanics in game…

By the way, if you want to do something amazing in the game then why don’t you already interact with Player governments and world events (like many people like you do) rather than forcing your desires unto an aesthetic social guild called “Chocolate Milk Kittens”?”

With that, the chubby Elf in a woolly tunic casually marched off into the wilderness of a winter wonderland away from the warm Guild Hall. Sayoshi waved his character’s hands with a goodbye without turning around to face his short-term friend he met and interacted with at the guild.

Huh… Kafeorkoko might actually believe I am capable of doing something amazing in Divine Mortality. Maybe it’s not the real world, but if someone believes I can make an actual change...even inside of a Massively Online Adventure Game…then I shouldn’t give up this time either. A massive adventure? Then I really should now go find a new guild that’s for me, or maybe create my own this time? Or…I should find him again and ask for his help?