“Where to begin? Well, perhaps it would first behoove me to give a disclaimer regarding my knowledge of this game. I hold knowledge pertaining to the version of this game created by human beings. From what I have seen, the Game Master has made many changes independently with no human oversight. For example, the written language used by the Shards was created entirely by GM. It is probable that at least some of my information has been rendered obsolete by the actions of GM. With that in mind, I will try to paint a picture of the basic framework of Ferrum that GM most likely did not alter.
“Ferrum Online was created with a basic progression system built in. Based on my cursory investigation of the game’s menu, the Game Master has not significantly changed this system. Like all MMOs, Ferrum Online has leveling system where you gain 'experience' in order to 'level up.' Every time you level up, you can add one point to your attributes. The most important aspect of leveling up, however, is the acquisition of 'Talents.' A Revenant may have up to six Talents, and each one makes the Revenant significantly more powerful.
“Examples of Talents include such things as Mind Control, Future Sight, and Super Strength. Naturally, many of these Talents are synergistic with each other, and many of these combinations could not possibly be foreseen by any human. Also, about half of the Talents hold little-to-no combat utility. For example, I have taken the Talent called Reverse Engineer. With this skill, I gain full knowledge of any item once I disassemble it. 'Full knowledge' in this context means that I can build that object from memory as long as I have the necessary tools.
“Progression is also achieved through the utilization of the magic system. This type of progression is not unique to the Revenants. The Shards can similarly utilize the magic system, though their mana limit does not increase through use unlike Revenants. Broadly, there are two magic systems: Eastern and Western. As you can imagine, there were heavy Japanese and Chinese influences throughout the development of Ferrum. Far Caster is a Japanese company. In universe, Western magic is called Hermetic Magic, and Eastern magic is called Battle Aura. Both types of magic use mana, but Battle Aura is generally used as a supplement to martial skills.
“Battle Aura is conceptually simpler than Hermetic Magic, so I will describe that first. Basically, Battle Aura allows you to focus mana and use it to strengthen your body. If you strengthen your skin, you can deflect swords and bullets. If you strengthen your muscles, you can perform superhuman feats. Though, we can’t do that right now because of how low our mana is. We can increase our mana cap by regularly using mana or through a myriad of other strengthening methods.
“Hermetic Magic is the more traditional form of magic. Broadly speaking, the simplest form of magic is elemental magic. We will only have access to elemental magic for the foreseeable future. The sorcerers of this city use invocation magic, wherein they derive their power from a contract. Sometimes they make contracts with individual supernatural entities, but more frequently they will sublease their power from the master contract between the Archduke and the local deity of Osiris.
“Alchemy is a system we will be able to utilize once we acquire the materials. Alchemy pertains to the creation and use of magic items or potions. As you can imagine, magic items will become imperative to this game in the coming months.
“So, that’s basically an overview of the game systems that can be utilized by the players. Next, I will go into the types of enemies we will probably run into. You have already seen, and killed, your fair share of troop-level Deluvians. They are generally split into, as Ashcroft has colorfully called them, Orcs and Goblins. Orcs are immune to conventional weaponry, and Goblins wield guns. Threatening on their own, insurmountable in large groups.
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“Now, here’s the thing. The types of Deluvians that are attacking us right now should be mid-game enemies. The invincibility of the Orcs comes from a Talent called Profane Invincibility. Anything with the Profane quality is weak to anything with the Holy quality, which is why our blood can injure them. You were supposed to have access to Holy weapons and bullets before you ran into enemies with Profane Invincibility. I hypothesize that the Game Master is secretly heightening the difficulty for us because of the high number of skilled players. GM knows that there are a dozen players here who essentially played Ninth Oasis as a full-time job. He also knows that I’m here.
“Any creature with the Profane quality should be rendered a mindless killing machine, but I recently saw on the BloodNet that Ashcroft fought and killed a Profane Orc that was capable of speech. I believe there is a ritual that allows for a creature to gain the Profane quality without going insane, but the specifics of the ritual are so niche that I never learned them. An Orc Captain, as Ashcroft described it, should be an end-game enemy.
“Regarding the final bosses we will likely have to face, we planned for every server to have a series of raid bosses called the Thirteen Dark Apostles. I don’t know the specifics of how these Dark Apostles will be implemented, but I do know that GM will most certainly adhere to the basic concept of thirteen Apostles for each server.
“I should speak last on the general political climate of Ferrum. Most places in the world are still monarchies, though they have generally modern cultures. These monarchies still exist due to the master contracts signed by the heads of major noble houses and the fact that Ferrum isn’t entirely modern as we understand it. As you may have noticed, the technology of this world is not the same as the real world. This is due to fear of the God of Machines. Advancements in gun technology basically doesn’t exist outside of the Machine Cult, and development in communication technologies stagnated at rotary phones because of fear that the God of Machines would use such technologies against the Nurites. This also means that computers do exist, but there is no Internet. The Book of Nur specifically warns that the development of computing machines that can connect with each other will result in the end of the world. Ironic, I know. Beyond that, technology is about the same. They have airplanes, hand grenades, and modern medicine.
“The City of Osiris specifically is ruled by the Mandelbrot Dynasty. The current head of the Dynasty of Archduke Edwin Mandelbrot III. According to some of the other developers I knew, Edwin is the kind of ‘good leader’ you’d expect to see in Lord of the Rings. He’s virtuous, but he’s also aware of the nature of the political position he occupies. Edwin is willing to commit certain evil acts for the greater good of his people. The conflict surrounding Duke Edwin will likely arise due to his brother, Eadric Mandelbrot, and his sister, Edith Mandelbrot. Both of these siblings will kill Edwin and take his spot as the Archduke of Osiris if given the opportunity. Edwin has not yet sired an heir because of a curse put on him by his sister. Breaking the curse is supposed to be one of the final quests in Osiris.
“Duke Edwin has a contract with a Primordial Fire Elemental, which takes the form of a giant green dragon. In the right circumstances, he can summon the Red Dragon. This would result in hundreds, if not thousands of player deaths. It must not happen. Edwin can summon the Red Dragon if he stands in the crypt below his palace and sacrifices one of his family members by burning them to death. He can do this with gasoline or fire magic.
“Even without summoning the Green Dragon, Duke Edwin is a dangerous opponent. His fire magic is powerful enough to kill a Revenant instantaneously, and he can cast with his voice alone. Even if you bind his hands, he can still cast magic. And, last thing regarding the Duke, if he dies, his power will be inherited by his sister first and then his brother.
“That’s basically it. I could go much further in depth on any of these topics, but I think I have sufficiently explained the topics that have an immediate effect on us. I will of course be willing to explain more as the issues come up. If you have any questions, I would be willing to answer them now.”