[hider=Ari] [b]“A hero, a brave, a villain, a monster. Shopkeepers and artisans, poets and machinists. Vagrants and kings. Cacophony Concord offers the freedom to be what you wish.”[/b] Minerva readjusted their glasses. [b]“If what you desire is adventure, then take it in your own hands.” [/b] [/hider][hider=Calace] As Calace spoke, static crackled at the bottom of the User Experience screen. There were numbers first, then hieroglyphs, flowing and overwriting each other. A slight buzz passed in the back of her brain, before the symbols turned into letters. [i][Speech Assist: 100% Rough – 100% Refined][/i] The massive owl hooted. [/hider][hider=Amulak] Minerva peered at Amulak briefly, before a warmth emerged around the brooding, edgy man’s throat. A crackle of static, and the Character Creation screen was altered, two new functions above Voice Pitching. [i][Accent Select: None[sub]v[/sub]] [Accent Strength: 0% - 500%][/i] [b]“This determines your default. With concentration, you can reduce Accent Strength in-game.”[/b] [/hider][hider=Red Lightning] [b]“Mind and body are separate when logged into Cacophony Concord. The sensations you feel here are not reflected to your physical body. As all VRMMOs do.”[/b] Minerva took a step off to the side. [b]“Global time dilation is 3 to 1. Higher AGI will increase personal time dilation, limitlessly.”[/b] Minerva took a step off to the side. [b]“You won’t.”[/b] [/hider][hider=Maria] Minerva tilted their head to the side as Maria embraced them, arms unable to wrap around his rotund frame. For a moment, they stayed still, before one of their wings raised up to rest on the red-headed woman’s head. [b]“You’re we-”[/b] A burst of static, a flicker of light. ‘ERROR’ dotted her frame, before she disappeared, dissolving into vestigial data around Minerva. The owl looked on, then shuffled away, disappearing from this space to greet the next. [/hider] With character creation completed and user experience selected, Minerva presents you with one final option, perhaps the only option that had no input in. You all decided upon Horogi, after all, whether you were outvoted or were ambivalent. Though it’d be pretty funny if you picked another nation and then sent your friends on a wild goose chase to search for you, that’d get old fast enough, and you’d be the one who was screwed. After all, Cacophony Concord’s death penalty was a nasty one, and its infamously lethal difficulty had social media influencers all over the globe calling it ‘the Animal Crossing of VRMMOs’. So Horogi it was. Minerva bowed their head one more time. [b]“Through trial and tribulation, may you find what it is you seek.”[/b] [i][indent].[sub]investigate[/sub] .[sub]duplicate[/sub] .[sub]activate[/sub][/indent] [/i]You open your eyes, and find that you are standing. [hr] The City-State of Nyu-Taro was as lively as always. Though ostensibly meant to be a neutral ground for new players to acclimate to their situation safely, its position as a neutral ground also meant that buddies who aligned with different clans could, within the walls of the city, chat and party and start shit with each other, all without earning any demerits with their own clans. Nation-wide rankings could also be seen here, and Nyu-Taro’s fighting pits were almost always open, both for associations, businesses, and aristocratic families to settle their disputes through ‘non-lethal’ mortal combat, as well as for those who simply wanted to show off their strength for some cash. The Rinkan Annihilation Tournament had just recently concluded, and the feverish excitement that it had stoked up was still present. Many people, NPCs and PCs alike, were still basking in the afterglow of the gloriously badass finals. Paper lanterns, adorned with the fighters’ faces, were strung up and laced between tiled roofs. Business-minded merchants were hawking wares of embarrassing, but novel quality, while the members of the Ryoku-Jo clan took it upon themselves to parade through Nyu-Taro’s wide streets. It was a fighter aligned with them, the Flamebringer Princess, who won first place in that bloody affair, and the hoisting of their banners, the beating of their drums, ensured that no one else forgot that either. Through it all, adventurers of all shapes and sizes pushed through the teeming crowds, in search of monsters to slay and quests to take. Some would rush for the Goldspun Fields to strike down on the universally prolific mob monster in Cacophony Concord: goblins. Others would go farther, perhaps exploring the length of the Pearl Bloom River in search of kappas and other water-bound creatures. There was the Thunder Split Grove too, of course; for those confident and competent, they could test their skill against the oni tribes lingering within that lightning-struck forest. For those who have respawned, however, and for those who have just appeared for the first time, what they would first see would be one of Horogi’s many Keystones. The size of a three-story building, the Keystone was a boulder wrapped in braided rope and plastered with pulsating talismans, both a tool for resetting one’s level and swapping one’s available classes, as well as point in which they could establish their respawn location. It was there, in the very center of Nyu-Taro, on a bright and festive day, that nine new players manifested… …and immediately encountered some problems.