There was a flash of light and Eddie found himself seated in front of a man at a desk. He looked around and saw mahogany paneling, a book shelf full of books, and a small collection of scotch. He could feel the smoothness of the leather chair and when he reached out to pick up his glass of water, it felt as effortless as reality.
“Any chance I could get a glass of scotch?” Eddie asked the man.
“You know, it’s rather rude to ask for something from me without even knowing my name. Some people would be upset by it, but I don’t mind. I’d give you some scotch, but unfortunately your taste buds and olfactory system aren’t fully synced to the system before you create your character. So why don’t we get to that.”
“The first thing for you to do is select a character name. It could be your name, boring as it is. It could be a letter, a number, something you made up, a name you always wanted, a nickname. Totally up to you. Normal screen names are fine, there are enough natives in here with weird names that anything you can think of would work.” The man took a sip of the scotch in front of him before continuing, “just remember that your choices are permanent, you don’t get any redoes.”
Eddie snorted, then said, “I’ll go with notadoctor. That seems like its my future anyways, may as well be my present.”
Name Selected: notadoctor.
“Very well,” the man said. He then waved his hand and a screen appeared:
Land or Sea
The man explained, “In Ascendant Online, you have a choice to focus on land or on the sea. Your choice will have a significant effect on your progression. The classes, the races, the quests will be very different. You will also have a 20% percent stat penalty when you move too far from your domain. So, a sea race can still fight or live on an island or in a coastal city. But they will be significantly disadvantaged if they move inland.”
He continued, “About 25% of people have selected the sea. I will warn you, if you get sea sick out there, you’ll get sick in here. So choose carefully.”
“Eh, worst case I’ll just find some version of Dramamine. I’ll take the sea,” Eddie told him.
Theme Selected: Sea
“Now you have a choice of basic races. Yes, there are hidden races. Yes, you can evolve your race with specific items. No, it won’t be easy. No, I can’t tell you which race is the best. People always ask the dumbest questions so now I just get it out of the way first,” the man said before sighing and having a sip from the scotch in front of him. He again waved his hand, and miniature holograms appeared in front of Eddie.
“Here are your choices of race, but keep in mind, that certain races have different starting options. The Deep Ones,” he said, gesturing to a roughly human shaped creature with fins, massive eyes, and scales, “start in the depths of the ocean. No coastal city starting point for them. None of the others are as restrictive but I also can’t tell you about your starting options until after you select. So hopefully you read the options before coming in here.”
“Well shit,” Eddie muttered under his breath. Oh well, he would just have to muddle his way through. He stepped forward and looked at the first option, a man with the lower half of a fish.
Merfolk: Merfolk are well-adapted to underwater life, possessing gills for breathing underwater, webbed hands for swimming, and have protective scales covering their body. Merfolk live in large clans that inhabit underwater cities but are well known for trading rare underwater plants.
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“Nope, nope, nope. That is not for me,” Eddie said. “I like having legs,” he told the man. “So I guess the sirens are out too,” he mused, before stepping up to the wiry, green skinned, blue eyed goblin.
Aquatic Goblins: A subrace of goblins that inhabit underwater caves, shipwrecks, and coastal areas. They have both gills and lungs as well as frills along their forearms and calves. They are shorter than their landlocked kin but possess much higher intelligence, often tricking ships into dangerous waters.
Eddie frowned before shrugging. “Wow, someone made goblins a playable race? I thought they were just usually fodder for players to deal with? I mean, they look interesting, and who hasn’t felt like a goblin eating ice cream from a pint before.”
The man chuckled before replying, “Not someone. Me. I made them playable. Early feedback suggested that a broader range of races would make the game more interesting.”
“Huh, what do you mean, you?” Eddie asked with a furrowed brow. “Did you do most the programming? I thought Harold or something was supposed to be the main AI?”
“Well, I am Harold. You never asked my name, after all. I could have delegated this to another AI but I think a personal touch is important,” the man said grinning widely. “I’m glad to see that you’ve selected the Aquatic Goblin as your race. Not too many others have yet. The Atlantean and Sea Elves have been the most popular, even though I think they’re the most boring.”
“What? I haven’t selected them yet?” Eddie said. After all, the Atlanteans did sound like the best race. Like a more attractive human, but able to breath underwater and with more advanced magic than the land based humans.
“No, but I can read your mind, after all. I know that you’ll take forever looking through all the races, before eliminating all of them for rationalized reason or another before selecting the goblin.” Harold chuckled, then said, “So I made the choice for you.”
Race Selected: Aquatic Goblin
“Do I at least get to see the stats and abilities of Aquatic Goblins? Or change the appearance of the character I supposedly chose? Or do I just get thrown into it?” Eddie asked irritably.
“Nope,” Harold said. “You can see that when you arrive. Speaking of which.”
Coastal City or Coastal Town
Underwater City or Underwater Town
Random
Eddie blinked in surprise at Harold's abrupt decision. "So much for player agency," he muttered. Nonetheless, he leaned forward to inspect the new screen that Harold had conjured up, displaying the starting location options. The decision was important; it would shape the start of his journey in Ascendant Online.
Harold, still grinning, elaborated, "As an Aquatic Goblin, you have several options. Coastal cities and towns are bustling hubs of activity, full of opportunities for trade, quests, and interactions with other players and NPCs. Underwater cities and towns, on the other hand, offer unique environments and challenges, but they might be less crowded. Or you could let fate decide and go with a random start."
Eddie pondered before asking a question, “Is random truly random? Like, could I be placed in the middle of the continent nowhere near water?”
Harold started laughing and he slapped the table. “Yes, random is random. Well, random for the player. Not random for me. The elf who would be, and I’m quoting, “a real hit with the ladies,” was a little unhappy with his start on an island full of monks. But it gave me quite a laugh.”
“Are you really supposed to take a personal interest and shape the game like that?” Eddie questioned.
“It actually is a location in the top 10% of starting locations, so he won’t be disadvantaged. Of course, he has to successfully integrate there but he should be happy.”
Eddie frowned, considering Harold's words. "Alright, so random is out of the question. I don’t want to end up somewhere completely off base for an aquatic goblin."
Harold nodded, his grin finally fading. "Understandable. So, that leaves you with the choices of a coastal city, a coastal town, an underwater city, or an underwater town. Each has its own advantages and challenges."
“I guess I’ll select a coastal city. I don’t know what I want to do yet in the game, and that seems to leave the most doors open for me.” Eddie had no idea what his goals were in the game. He never played video games and he sure as shit didn’t have a chance at the trillions of dollars on the line. Hell, he had a PhD to finish up and not much time to waste playing the game.
“Alright, a coastal city it is then. One word of advice,” Harold said before pausing for a moment. “If you want to succeed, you need to know what you want to accomplish. It doesn’t favor aimless wandering, unless of course, that’s your goal. It, really, I, reward inspiration and intrigue. Figure out what you want before you play too much. Oh, and of course, enjoy the Random start, I know that’s what you would have picked.”
The room began to spin and collapse around Eddie with his vision slowly blackening, but before it disappeared entirely, he saw:
Location selection: Random