(Y6, July 7th – November 17th)
Six years ago, an amateur archeologist, Arnoldo Fontana, discovered in Costa Rica an artifact, a Silvergate, allowing for instantaneous transfer between Earth and a parallel dimension. His friend Ramon Palacio called that destination Northworld. And on that world, they discovered more of those Silvergates, starting a near-exponential growth in the number of people capable of moving across worlds.
Everyone using Silvergate enters a phase called Setup where they acquire an Interface, giving them abilities and numerical statistics straight out of a role-playing game. And while the Interface, regenerations, and most of the skills obtained in Northworld remain unavailable on Earth, the physical and mental improvements obtained seem to remain somewhat applicable, making long-standing “Gaters” capable of superhuman feats in the normal world.
Long considered a hoax, the increasing number of Gaters has forced the various governments to realize that something significant happened, causing a wide range of reactions, mostly about trying to regulate or outright outlaw the practice of Silvergating. While places like Sweden simply require registration, the United States enacted the knee-jerk “Gater Act” making the use of Silvergates a felony punishable by a minimum of 10 years of prison following a series of high-profile cases of abuses, one of which is awaiting execution in Death Row in Georgia.
Three first-time Gaters find themselves arriving in a no-mans-land, seemingly the first ones to enter Northworld in that area. Jasper “Vantegaard” Hill, Erika “Birkathane” Haglund and Henry “Quandocor” Esteban quickly team up to explore the sector. They quickly discover an abandoned and partially ruined town centering around a wizard-style tower and establish their base of operation there.
Unbeknown to the other two, Quandocor is one of seven FBI agents dispatched by the ambitious office director of Atlanta and tasked with infiltrating as many American-based Gater organizations as possible to obtain identities and dismantle the networks that supply illegal Silvergates to Americans.
Meanwhile, Vantegaard is exploring the use – and possible abuse – of one of the strangest and rarest of skills to be obtained during Setup: Sense the Leylines. The skill seemingly allows him to selectively bypass the “lottery”, the general ability to pick new skills at random. Various configurations of the so-called Leylines allow him a choice between three specific skills, potentially opening up the ability to become one of the best Geomancers – users of Leyline-based magic – on Northworld.
They finally open up the wizard tower, which is full of various treasures. Using a freshly acquired skill, Vantegaard opens up the upper reaches of the tower, where a mysterious construct prowls its dedicated floor. The ultra-high-level construct appears non-functional and they’re able to loot the treasure chests at the top, obtaining multiple rare Skill Stones, precious items that allow people to bypass the “lottery”. They quickly agree to use some of these for their own progression, becoming “Archmages”, highly-respected users of three different areas of the Northworld-powered magic and will sell the rest once that becomes possible.
As more new Gaters spawn for their first time in the area and make their way to the burgeoning town of Fanduk, it quickly becomes apparent that something else affects skill choice, and every new arriving Gater obtains from Setup a special type of skill called a Meditation, vastly increasing Gaters’ abilities.
As they settle into their roles of founders and city council of Fanduk, the starter city is discovered by an expedition sponsored by the Cartographer’s Guild, to whom Vantegaard is indebted. The veterans are doing reconnaissance between two of the three clusters of spawn locations currently known. It is hoped that this will allow future safe travel between the separate sectors.
Quandocor sees this as a golden opportunity to join a major established Gate organization and finally progress in his undercover mission, rather than being stuck in an undeveloped and semi-deserted sector of Northworld. He’s joined in this by Birkathane, who wants to join up with her Swedish friends, whose headquarters is located in the Beta sector. Vantegaard quickly decides to remain with his friends and follow them to a main hub of civilization. Without high-level help, they might need to wait half a year or more to cross some of the most dangerous areas surrounding their sector.
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On the way to the Beta sector, the Cartographer’s expedition stumbles on a strange pyramid, which they explore. At the bottom, they find a gigantic stone globe showing the complete map of Northworld and its single massive continent covering more than 50% of the surface. Vantegaard activates a strange control console, and five holograms spring up, showing Arnoldo Fontana, the First Gater… and four alien humanoids. Not only that, but the globe also indicates the extent of the territories seemingly occupied by each of the five species that apparently share access to Northworld, potentially unaware of each other.
A security system is also triggered and the expedition finds themselves facing high-level, high-powered metallic versions of the five Gater species trying to kill them. Surrounded and unable to leave, Quandocor, Birkathane, and Vantegaard barely manage to survive using one of the skills obtained from the tower, Mind over Matter, as the rest of the expedition is slaughtered by the metallic skeletons.
Stranded in the wilds, unable to recess safely, the trio slowly makes its way toward the border of the Beta sector, gaining levels as fast as possible until they manage to find a safe place to recess to Earth. They all individually report on their adventure before returning to Northworld to continue their trek.
While Birkathane’s friends find her one of the most heroic of their circle, Quandocor finds his boss totally unconvinced of the seriousness of his discovery. In his view, Henry Esteban has fallen into a scripted scenario for the RPG theme park that is Northworld, nothing more, as the idea of a stone pyramid guarded by metal skeletons with swords and polearms seems stupid for aliens advanced enough for creating Silvergates.
As for Vantegaard, the Cartographers’ Guild finds his report unbelievable. The Cartographer’s guild leader, Armangest, cannot imagine how level 50 newbies could escape a fight where 800-level veterans died. Unable to control his anger at the death of one of his best friends, he sees this as a cover-up for some nefarious secret endeavor and wants revenge for what he sees as the murder of the expedition. The idea of aliens he dismisses as the kind of fables you commonly find on the wackiest of the Silvergaters’ internet sites.
Arriving at Hilltop Samms in the Beta sector, the trio quickly finds themselves facing Inquisitor Karseerteal and his team, dispatched to arrest, drug, and torture them into confessing the “true” turn of events. They barely escape the Cartographers, rushing into the wilderness with merely the clothes on them.
Hounded by Kareseerteal and his comrades, they decide to seek refuge among Birkathane’s friends, the Valkyries guild. They find their way north toward the latter’s headquarters, guided by both Birkathane’s Absolute Compass and Quandocor’s Lay of the Land skills.
This is when Quandocor confesses to being an FBI agent. Seeing how his boss is reacting to the news of alien presence, he sees no other course of action than figuring out by himself if the aliens are or not a threat to the USA – and all of mankind. If that requires him to be considered a renegade by his colleagues, so be it. The other two feel betrayed by the secret, but come to realize that circumstances have changed.
The trio barely escapes the Inquisitorial team’s pursuit by joining up with the Valkyries, whose forces act as a deterrent to immediate violence. But the Inquisition has not given up and nobody seems to want to stand up to them, except for Birkathane’s friends.
Holed in the Valkyrie’s keep, Vantegaard finally decides to leverage the secret he obtained from his unique skill: Leylines can affect the “lottery”. Once you know what to look for, you can guarantee some specific skills or at least pick between three skills. He hopes that the knowledge of that hidden secret will persuade the Earthen Brethren, one of the big guilds of Northworld, to act as a neutral guarantee to allow them to prove their story to the Cartographers.
The Brethren accept to return the favor and act as mediators. Unfortunately, the Cartographers are not deterred and lay a trap around the Earthen Keep, ready to capture the trio. Unwilling to go to overt war with the Cartographers’ forces, the Brethren find themselves unable to provide further assistance.
Escorted with a pair of Valkyries, the trio decides that their last chance to prove themselves without being subjected to horrific alchemical treatments is to find the actual aliens seen in the Pyramid. The blue-skinned Deva are the closest ones, and they turn their expedition to the latter’s territory.
The first sign of aliens they find is a wrecked camp with four deceased Deva, six-fingered corpses, and exotic weapons whose Interface description is impossible to understand. The aliens have been killed by an Umbra Dominus, one of the most terrible creatures of Northworld, but the combined skills of Vantegaard and Birkathane allow the five humans to survive and defeat the enemy.
This is when the team discovers that the aliens’ Silvergates are functional – and possibly lead to the Devas’ homeworld. With those items, they set back toward the human Alpha sector, where they confront their Inquisition pursuers.
Facing proof that can’t be faked in the form of functional alien Silvergates, and anomalous descriptors, the Cartographers finally accept that the original story was true, as unconvincing as it was. And armed with the realization that First Contact might be coming, the various people involved begin to make preparations.