Chapter 2: Sui Generis
Half a year of training got Kris quite a way already. One would not he looks like an athlete but atleast like a well-trained person. After changing up his eating habits a bit from an 'I don't care what i eat' attitude to a well defined plan and then starting excercises everything went as planned.
After a few weeks of starting the training regime he also starts to attend some courses of martial arts and medieval martial arts. Those also involves practicing with a sword and some hand to hand combat methods. And everything he does is always done with full concentration to get most out of his efforts.
Of course there is still a long way to go but even the trainers were confused at the beginning about the effort Kris puts into it. This also involves analizing other people's sparring and the strategies and attack patterns they use in these. Although its quite different from his usual analizing habits in MMORPG fights but after half a year it seems that he is slowly getting the hang of it.
After a few months he also started a notebook about in-game theories et cetera. Due to the lack of information there is not much content in it yet but he got the general organizations down already.
Sui Generis
World:
World's History:
Countries/Towns/Governments:
Dungeons(?):
Monsters:
Items:
Currency:
Races(?):
Race Theories:
Races:
Hidden Races(?):
Magic:
Mana(?) Theories:
Elements(?):
Types of mages(?):
Stats:
Stat Theories:
Stats:
Hidden stats(?):
Skills:
Skills:
Traits:(?)
Skill theories:
Classes:
Class Theories:
Classes:
Hidden Classes(?):
Jobs(?):
Job Theories:
Jobs:
Hidden Jobs(?):
There were already many idea's that contain most of Kris' already proven theories when he played games in his youth but as Sui Generis may be based on a complettely different system it is not worth the time to put those ideas down in the notebook yet.
[1 year later/Kris]
For students this year a complettely new study path will be available. VR mechanics and informatics. One of the students to start this is Kris and it will start in a few months after the summer is over.
After 1 year a general plan on how to go on after starting to play formed in Kris mind. First priority is finding a library and learn as much as he can about topics like history, concepts of magic and maybe how stats work and the main styles people fight with. For those he also wants to find trainers in the start to get more time to learn how to fight besides his time spent outside of the game.
As the main developers of everything VR related Kris also followed every interview of Prion technologies. In preperation of Sui Generis they released the so called 'Cap', a capsule that enables people to dive into Virtual Reality.
Besides information gathering and learning how to fight in general Kris also started to take lessons on how to meditate properly. The purpose in doing this is to be able to 'feel one's body' and energies in the game so that he can effectifely use mana and magic without a system help. The existence of such a system help or atleast less complicated magic where one can only use the spells you buy is one of the theories that he is about 90 % sure will exist in the game.
But even though he is doing all these things there is still the period of free time and that time is used to work and get some money. Although the money is not needed at all Kris wants to get all the things, Sui Generis and the 'Cap' through his own effort. His parents left a huge account as Kris heritage but he just does not use that money, it does not feel right for him to do so.
Just in a few hours today Sui Generis is gonna be released. The capsule already arrived a few days prior and is propperly installed and initiated with his body.
On the TV there is a grand interview with Prion technologies founder Zork Dropp and the first time since they announced Sui Generis more than just a few snippets of informations are given now that the game is about to launch.
At the beginning of the interview a trailer that catches everyones attention is on the screen.
The viewpoint is high in the sky and one can see the whole continent. While slowly zooming in a soft female voice starts their monologue.
'Once upon a time the whole continent of Acros was inhabited by the 'Antics'. Worshipping the 7 greater gods also known as the 'Great Seven' was as usual as sleeping. Some people though seemed to favour one of the Great Seven and started to worship only them.'
Some scenes flash through the screen with people looking similar to humans with the difference of a paler skintone and being a bit bigger living their normal lives. And scenes of 7 different cults starting in different places all over Acros.
'After hundreds of years 7 different religions were all thats left of the original religion. Those antagonized each other with the end result of an all out war between those. The reason that one race should only have 1 God was their main motivation and they thought they were the only true religion while no other should be allowed to exist.
The order of events after that are not known to the world but after the war ended the Antics seemed to have vanished.'
Hundreds of years of the great war and many complettely burned out areas feel like a flashlight to the viewers. Glimpses of great magic can be seen all around but nothing exact. At the end a ruined continent is the result. After nearly a minute of silence and views of desolate landscapes the voice starts again.
'The gods witnessing this war realised that even if they recreated the Antics a similar situation could happen again and so they came to a resolution.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Each god made their own race using the Antics as a basic reference but changing them.
The result were 7 different races:
Humans: Neither good nor bad in anything humans are blessed with a strong will.
Elves: In harmony with the nature elves are blessed with a beautiful appearance and the ability to instinctly feal the nature's forces but are weak in termes of brute strength.
Dwarfes: With the aim to create the greatest weapons to fend of any enemies dwarfes are blessed with a huge physical strength but have a hard time to feel nature's forces.
Dersirs: Hidden in the depths of huge deserts they are masters of survival and concealment but are especially weak against the cold.
Rapiders: Traveling around the world with the aim to explore it they are resistant to extreme temperatures and have powerful legs on the cost of weaker arms.
Nordics: With a sturdy body which greatly reduces their speed to fight the cold they are the Nordics. They are the strongest race living in cold areas.
Keras: With a weak body strenght the Keras are very eager for knowlegde and have a better memory than other races.'
While mentioning the races those are blended in. For every race there is a male and a female example of how those look in the game.
'Furthermore the Great Seven made a deal that no matter who is praying to them the most all they will give them is guidance but no power to prevent another war about which god is the strongest.
With the consens of all gods little interventiones into the world are allowed which we call "Holy Wonders". One of those is about to happen... Will you be a part of it?'
And like this the seven different races are revealed and anticipation of everyone is rising to new heights. Kris though is already in thoughts about the decision of which race may be the best for him.
In the end he has some preferances but nothing settled as the informations are really sparse with only this one video hinting about some of the races abilities.
Afterwards nothing really important is revealed anymore and even the audience for the interview can feel the hype and anticipation of finally being able to play the first real VR game on the market.
After logging into the Cap and starting Sui Generis the first thing to notice is a beautiful garden with an equally beautiful lady approaching Kris.
"Welcome to Sui Generis. This world is called Acros. My name is Hera, goddess of the Human race and am gonna help you create your 'character' to become a part of Acros history."(Hera)
After taking his time to appreciate the goddess and the garden 7 different people appeared in front of him.
"These 7 people could be you. Depending on which race you chose your appearance will be one of these although slight changes are possible to make."(Hera)
"Are there certain advantages or disadvantages that the races have? And if yes is it possible for you to explain them to me please?"(Kris)
After some explanations of hera and Kris mentally noting down those this is what he came up with.
Race:
Races:
-Human: most common in Acros, no real advantages/disadvantages, strong willpower
(+) probably no discrimination against me, maybe new stat willpower?, probably same body as I have so maybe easier to move early on?
(-)Booooring, maybe weaker than other races later on?
(???)racial traits? Are there even any? Research calls later on! [Considered]
-Elves: kingdom in the forest and hidden settlements all around the world in forests, feal nature's forces, good-looking, good at traveling cross-country, rather weak strength, little bonus in magic
(+) seems to be good mage, maybe charisma or something? Good looks are always good!, racial trait in running on rough ground or in forests and maybe stronger in the nature?
(-) rather weak, elves are always discriminated... or captured as slaves, far away from other races probably
(???) racial traits seem to be there. I wonder if every race has some? Maybe Elves are strong in nature and weak in polluted etc. areas? Possible drawback. There has to be some balance drawback though... [Considered]
-Dwarfes: cities around mountains with mines nearby, possibly a hidden kingdom in those mountain, brilliant handworkd, strong bodies, little nature curse after destroying forests for ressources, hard to learn magic
(+) strong, possible bonused in handworking and all these things?,good armors and weapons around ,There is always good bear nearby! It has to be there or I won't call them dwarfes!
(-) problems with learning magic, that curse could be a huge problem, maybe even further away from any other races?
(???) No dwarfes for me, I wanna have atleast the chance to learn magic and and not such a drawback before the concept of magic was even discovered by me...
-Dersirs: live in deserts, adapted to hot places, great survival skills, weak against the cold
(+) survival skills from the beginning on, heat resistance
(-) maybe even further away from other races??? ok this game definitelly want to troll me so I stop with this... live in the desert, could be hard to get out, low cold resistances
(???) even though they seem interesting, what happens if anybody attacks me with ice magic? And will there be any libraries etc. In the desert? I don't wanna risk that.
-Rapiders: traveler, called "Explorers" cause they venture out into the unknown, resistances against extreme temperature differences, weak arms, strong legs
(+)strong legs? Roundhouse Kick as main weapon confirmed!, possibly nice fast travel per foot? Probably ice and fire resistances?
(-) what happens if i spawn somewhere in the unknown in a group of "Explorers"?, weak arms? Unheard of in other games, could prove to be a really hard drawback and most weapons will be weaker if used then
(???)this would be really interesting! Fighting with my legs as main weapon if i understand that right? I would have to change my training shedule then though... [Considered]
-Nordics: Live in cold places, strongest body among the 7 races, cold resistance, berserklike appearance
(+)sooo strong!, cold resistances, maybe some racial trait like berserk state?
(-) berserkers are soo mainstream, often not good with magic if main focus is on body, spawnpoint possibly in a cold town/city
(???)Nononononononono, spawning in a cold city? Not if I can prevent that! And still wanna go atleast hybrid class and not pure berserk
-Keras: weakest physique, eager to learn, very good memory
(+)no obvioud things but seems to be pretty good mage, good memory? I smell a racial trait!
(-) weakest physique, there's just not enough information ...
(???)A weak body can always be trained... atleast in some of the possible settings. This is really interesting, I would like to know what exactly the good memory means, and great drawbacks should indicate possible great advantages, right? [Considered]
With 4 different considered races there was something to think about before making the final decision. Playing a human is never a bad thing as you always have the choice to play everything you want although being the best in 1 category would be difficult if it is covered by one of the other races advantages.
As an elf playing in a way that involves magic seems to be great and the drawback of strength is not anything big for me as playing on more agility to have a character based on mobility no matter if its more focused on magic or not is my favourite.
Rapider is the biggest unknown in those races. There are great possibilities playing one but if it doesn't play out as good as Kris imagines it to be there would be huge problems. Some leg-based martial arts mixed with a high speed that is especially supported by those strong legs and concentrating on launching spells from the hands could be the way to play.
Finally the Keras. It is just too interesting not to consider playing one. The racial trait is rather vague but probably they are good with magic because they have a good working mind. But the thing that really intrigues him is that their weak physique seems like a too huge drawback without a similar advantage covering it.
With the aim to first focus on knowledge about the world and how it works playing a Kera could be the right decision. If there is really a way to improve his memory in game just by playing them then research about those things would definitely be easier.
In some scenario's of what the world could be like stats like strength etc that influence the body can be obtained through training so maybe the worst physique among those races is not as hard to counter as it seems.
So all in all it will be playing either a rapider or a kera.
"Can you please show me my Kera and Rapider versions?"(Kris)
Slowly the other races fade out of my vision and the only 2 bodies left before me are those two. The Kera as as expected a rather slim figure, my black hair and after some observation he seems to have 2 little horns as black as my hair on it.
The Rapider has a bit darker skin and all in all seems to be more welltrained if you could say that about 2 versions of the same person. His arms are similar to those of a Kera but the legs are definitely stronger as expected. Another aspect that catches ones attention is that instead of a normal feet like everybody else they have ones that are very similar to Humans with the addition of some kind of litte spike at the heels.
So Rapiders already gained a trait that supports their physique. But maybe playing with one would be hard because it will be hard to find fitting footwear in dungeons and it would be a complettely new style of fighting to learn, with a Kera he atleast has the little bit of martial arts learned so far. And those horns are kinda cool in Kris opinion.
"I will play a Kera."(Kris)
"Do you want to further change your appearance or stay as it is?"(Hera)
"I will start like this."(Kris)
"What name will you bestow upon your character?"(Hera)
"Kris"(Kris)
"With this your adventure in Sui Generis may start. Good luck and have a great adventure in Acros. May your travels be save."(Hera)
With this a darkness surrounds him again and a second later a new person is standing in one of the starting towns.
Status WindowName:KrisLevel:1Race:KeraGenderMaleClass-AlignmentNeutralTitles-Fame0Infamy0Heath:95/95Mana:125/125Stamina:111/111Satiety:100/100Strength:5Endurance:5Vitality:7Agility:11Wisdom:14Mind:13Intelligence:11Luck:10