Matt sat, waiting for the download to finish. He considered reviewing some of the beta tester footage that had been released. But he had already pored over all of the available content and had already made his decisions. Well, most of them, but the ones left were dependant on what options they had kept or added since they had closed the beta four weeks ago.
The game was Livia. The largest world ever created having a landmass 100 million square miles larger than the surface of the Earth. That's not including the various underwater areas either. A paradise from before the industrial revolution. None of the skyscrapers and dirty air that had become ubiquitous on Earth. Livia was filled with life and magic straight out of fairytales. But, and perhaps most importantly for Matt, it also had a real money transfer system. Meaning you can transfer real-world money into in-game currency and back out. Conversion rates would vary based on how strong your in-game nationalities' currency compared to the rest of the in-game economy. Making the choice of where you lived in the game very important.
The world was enormous and had been divided up into hundreds of Kingdoms, both large and small. There were benefits and drawbacks to every size. Of course, if you picked a powerful kingdom, there would be plenty of quests and other activities to pursue. But also a lot more competition for the limited resources available to that area.
He began researching the various kingdoms while he waited. A ping announced the install was finished, and his neural interface started a countdown for full immersion. Shifted from where he had been sitting on the couch to a more comfortable spot lying down, he mentally commanded the neural link to bypass the countdown, and he was in.
The world was dark, a thin line began approaching from the distance, only discernible because it was the only light in the blackness. The line approached, and it resolved itself into a single word, "Livia" in a multitude of colors. They shifted and expanded, allowing him a top-down view of the entire world of Livia, which was in the shape of an Alderson disk. The sun in the center much smaller than any real star could be but still able to provide all the energy needed for the surface of the disc. While the disk itself spun in a clockwise rotation.
Above a central landmass, three black airships appeared, they were somewhere between a blimp and an old galleon. Their hulls were festooned with bladders to provided lift while three masts proudly boasted red and black sails. The term 'windrunner' came to his mind, and he knew the game was telling him what the ships were called. The foremost windrunner banked away from him, exposing its broadside cannons, which discharged a mass of magic and physical projectiles directly over his head. Instinctively ducking away from the bombardment, he turned to look at what their target.
A dragon, brilliant red in the sunset, was caught full-on with the bombardment. Electrical magic crackled over its muscles, its wings stiffening and causing it to lose altitude. Then the physical projectiles hit it, tearing gaping holes in its wings. Still, the dragon pushed on, it's wings flapping slowly as it tried to regain its momentum. It crashed into the ship. Its claws carving deep furrows in the side of the vessel and popping a number of the bladders. The ship drifted, no longer able to maintain its course, in front of another of the windrunners. The black sails shifted, and the second wind runner carved through the air away from its doomed companion. Exposing its own broadside, which unleashed another bombardment of hell on the ship and dragon alike.
The dragon screamed in rage and pain, shaking the air around Matt as the entire scene shrunk down until it disappeared over a central landmass, which was now labeled, Middar.
The circle of the disk rotated counterclockwise and took Matt along with it, another scene appearing as it shifted to another continent. More black windrunners surged forward thousands of metal clad marines hanging from ropes ready to rapidly disembark. While two armies fought on the ground below. Bursts of light lanced up from the land of the 'defending' force, singeing a hole most of the way through the windrunner and breaking the foremost mast. The ship responded in kind, it's broadside raining death down on the troops below even as it lost altitude.
Matt watched as the windrunner splintered into the ground, the marines disembarking even among the chaos of the crash. Bright flashes of light from handheld devices similar to a gun struck the metal armor. Bouncing off and creating a ricochet of light that bored holes into any non-reflective surfaces it hit. Behind enemy lines, the Marines fought to return to the front but were stopped by a shield of blue energy that appeared in the middle of the two armies rising as far as the eye could see. The defending troops around the windrunner's marines all began shouting for joy. Even as Matt zoomed up and away, the blue wall was still visible and blocking off almost an entire continent, which was now labeled, Thel'kan.
Other sections of the world played, and Matt realized he was being shown the recent history of Livia. The black windrunners were often featured. He came to recognize the flag--a green, white and black version of the Union Jack--that they were flying as the symbol of Pinnoc, the dominant power in much of the world. Although they were shown losing almost as often as they were shown winning. Matt's understanding was that they were a power on the decline. Especially after the recent loss of the two full legions as they tried to cross the Spines of Aktrosha, a mountain range on a continent named Gogland. The Windrunners that had been transporting it disappeared into the mist, leaving that section of the mountains shrouded in mystery.
"Welcome to Livia, where you control the future. Do you know where you would like to join our story?" With a nod of his head, Drew pointed at the last location. Gogland. And the Alderson Disk expanded until that was all he could see. It was a large-ish continent, tapering on both sides towards the core while the rimward section expanded into an ice-encrusted mountain range that split the continent in two. The spinward half was filled with eight to nine hundred feet trees and was labeled, Quel de Mitgar. There was a gap of uncontrolled territory in the mountain range now marked as the Spine Of Aktrosha. To the trailing side was a stretch of forests, followed by a long plane that spread across thousands of miles before reaching the sea, which was labeled as the Alliance of Kiddesh. The entire trailing side was dotted with small pocket states labeled Pinnoc.
"You've chosen to start in Gogland. There are three main playable factions in the region. Quel de Mitgar, the Alliance of Kiddesh and Pinnoc." Around him three walls of text, one for each of the nations was visible. Quel de Mitgar was easy to ignore. They were a highly militaristic nation of elves that lived in cities high in the boughs of the redwood like Siccora trees that thrived on the spinward half of the continent. The Kiddeshans were also easy to discount, as they were nomadic hunter-gatherers. Which didn't align with how he wanted to play the game.
Which of course, left only Pinnoc. The flavor text described it as a strong empire dwindling in power. The childless High King grew old, and the various rulers of the core duchies each vied to be the next in line for the throne. Which confirmed what Matt had heard of the country. Pinnoc's population was so large that he could pick any of the playable races. But what really drew him was the idea of being a colonial pioneer in a mostly untamed wilderness. Even better if when King Tasdal died in a few years, the colonies in Gogland could gain independence, removing the heavy taxation most goods currently experienced.
"I'd like to be a...Pinnocian?" He realized he had no idea what to call someone from Pinnoc, but the AI of the game seemed to understand him, and it immediately shifted to character generation.
Around him were six pillars of light, and inside each were groupings individuals that all seemed to be roughly the same race, although some of them varied wildly. Directly in front of him stood the humans, just like those that dwelled on Earth. Going around the circle. Next to the humans were a group of short, hairless halflings called Eiran, a tall and slender race with pointed ears he recognized as elves but which the system labeled Quinthan. Next, a race of muscular green-skinned humanoids with wild eyes and tusks the game called Dragon Tribesmen but which could have easily been fantasy orcs. A group of dwarves labeled Cianese, and finally, a group of massive…well, dragon-men called Draks.
Having read enough about the anti-nonhuman sentiment of Pinnoc from the beta testers, he ignored the other races. Although the Draks were tempting, they didn't quite fit the role he wanted to play and had some severe disadvantages to compensate for their impressive physical characteristics. After selecting the human group, his perception zoomed forward and was again surrounded by about a dozen different pillars of light, each showing several humans with various labels underneath them. This time they all appeared to be origins or ethnicities. Ranging from half Quinthan or dragon tribe to Tua'tatian. After scanning over their descriptions to ensure they hadn't changed since the beta testers reported their attributes, he selected Pinnoican-Capital.
The Pinnocian-Capital subrace of humans gave him some mostly irrelevant bonuses and two important ones. One: a bonus to his starting wealth in the form of a king's writ, which allowed him to claim a portion of the new land as his own. And two: a bonus major affinity in any of the magical trees.
The next section of chargen was avatar appearance customization. Some of the beta testers had made some rather horrific avatars, but he had no interest in having to see something like that when he looked in a mirror.
Selecting the option that modeled his avatar after himself, he frowned, considering his options. He decided to add a few inches of height to bump the avatar up to 6'1" and changed his curly hair to straight while giving himself a military crew cut. It wasn't easy to find a barber in the frontier and had no desire to look like some of the players at the end of the beta who had let their hair grow wild. He then gave himself a bronzed skin tone, as he didn't really want to experience a virtual sunburn.
Finally, he was down to stat and skill distribution. The system for Livia was very open-ended. There were no classes, character growth was unfettered by any restrictions except for the affinity system. Which was broken down into two parts, elemental affinity and skill affinity.
Elemental affinity consisted of four sliding bars. Earth and air, fire and water, light and darkness, and life and death. You selected your elemental affinities by picking a point on the bar. From the beta testers, he had learned that a balanced bar was generally speaking a bad idea. Since your ability to use skills and spells with any elements was dependant on having a minimum affinity. With a balanced bar, you would never be able to utilize anything more advanced than the mid-level abilities. Matt slid his elemental affinity bars to heavily favor earth, water, light, and life. He turned his attention to the other portion of the affinity bars.
Skill affinities didn't determine which skills you could acquire-that was just a matter of practice, or training-but it did determine how easy you could learn those skills, as well as how powerful they were. Two people with level 100 swordsmanship would have vastly different results if one had a major affinity while the other had no affinity or even a minor affinity.
As a human, he was able to select five major affinities and ten minor affinities. The Pinnoc-Capitol subrace let him choose an additional free major magical affinity. The skills affinity list was daunting, and there had been some reports of people gaining extra skill affinity points as they advanced through quests. There were four skill trees for each of the four basic categories of skills. Martial, Magical, Crafting, and Gathering. Each of the groups had sixteen root skills. These broad categories were further broken down into hundreds of individual skills. Many skills built upon each other. For example, if someone wanted to become an armorsmith, they would need to earn skill ranks in: metalworking, blacksmithing, leatherworking, and armor crafting. Only after reaching a minimum proficiency in those would they unlock Armorsmithing.
Major affinities placed in root trees would slowly trickle down. If you got to rank 100 in blades, you could pick any of its sub-skills, like swords, to also get a major affinity. Although the time it took to master a single skill meant that even the most dedicated beta testers had only gotten two linked affinity gains.
Because of the complexity of the skills system, there were a number of the typical presets, things like fighter, druid, cleric, and ranger, as well as dozens of the less typical ones like witchdoctor, magitechnican, necromancer, shaman and cavalier. Matt ignored all of those and instead focused on his plan. He put his major skill points into water, earth, and bonding magic as well as the husbandry skill. Those were the four most important ones. Next, he picked mana manipulation as he intended to be doing a lot of magic and wanted to have as much mana as he could.
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That left one last major skill and the ten minor skills. Frowning, Matt tapped his finger against his lower lip. "How much am I going to need to defend myself on the frontier?" He wondered aloud.
But was surprised when the AI responded, "That depends on how you want to live your life on Livia. From your selections, I assume you would like to become a Floramancer, is that correct?"
"Yes? Maybe, not sure what a Floramancer is, but I want to use magic to grow crops and farm." Matt responded while looking around for the source of the AI's voice, but it apparently did not have any representation in the interface currently.
Sensing his desire for something to talk to, a woman appeared next to him clad in a leafy green dress. Or at least he thought she was a human. As he looked closer, he realized that her hair was made of red maple leaves, and her skin had a tough, almost bark-like texture to it. "What sort of farm were you thinking of?" The plant lady spoke with the voice of the AI from before, and Matt frowned.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"There are many background options that would fit your desired playstyle. Do you want to farm with a collective? You could also farm with a mentor or cut your own path?" As the dryad spoke, three background options appeared in front of Matt.
Collective Farming
You are a member of a collective that pooled their resources together to purchase a more substantial portion of land. The members of the collective will each have individual responsibilities, which will allow for a more productive farm if properly managed.
Farming with a Mentor
You are assisting a more veteran farmer with their farm. They will teach you the ropes, and you will eventually inherit a portion of the farm when they have deemed you ready to farm on your own. During your training, you will receive a monthly allowance but no share of the profit.
Frontier Farmer
You have received a land grant from the king as an incentive to populate the western frontier. You will be on your own unless you decide to recruit more help on your farm. Your land will initially be completely undeveloped.
Matt started to open his mouth to say that he wanted the third option immediately. The dryad spoke first, "I know that you came here determined to do the third option, but I must warn you. That path is by far the most difficult and the least likely to end in success. The other two options are far more likely to be a rewarding experience for you."
Matt paused, considering. He had been preparing to be a frontier farmer since he first heard about Gogland. The untamed wilderness described by the beta testers was everything he wanted in a game. But the warning worried him. This was basically the game telling him that he was picking an advanced option, and he probably wouldn't be successful at it. A lot was riding on his ability to make a living playing Livia, it would mean making a living while doing something he actually enjoyed.
Would he enjoy working on a collective? He had never been fond of group projects in school. There was always that one kid who ended up doing all the work while everyone else screwed around. That had always ended up being him growing up, and he didn't really like the idea of having to carry the dead weight. But, on the other hand, if he got hard-working people, it would allow them to specialize and create a built-in party for other content he might want to play. Also, it'd be useful to repel any attackers if there multiple people.
"How many people would be in the collective?" Matt asked the dryad.
"There are no other Unbound currently attempting to join a collective farm. The number would be determined by location, but somewhere between ten and twenty individuals is usually recommended." The dryad answered. Unbound was the game's term for the players. Which meant he would be saddled with a bunch of Non-Player Characters or NPCs if he chose the collective farm. That would mean they were more likely to do their share of the work, but he wouldn't have the built-in group that was the main draw of the collective.
He wished he would have pushed Dave a little harder into playing as a farmer. His friend was dead set on becoming an adventurer, saying the sale of loot was bound to be much better than any profits from farming. With a sigh, he dismissed Dave from his thoughts for now and focused on the second option.
"If I choose the mentor, how long would it take for me to have my own farm, and what would my salary be?"
"That depends on you, but four or five months at least. As for the salary, it would be enough for you to keep yourself fed and clothed, but not much beyond that." Matt shook his head, there was no way he could afford to go months without making a profit in the game. Option two was out, which really only left the third option.
"I'm going to pick Frontier farmer, but I'm curious. Does the bonus land stack with my king's writ?" Matt asked, and the dryad smiled at him nodding her head.
"I felt like you would, but I wanted to make sure you at least considered the other options. As for your question, they do indeed stack, and you will receive a double portion of land," She turned her head and gestured. "If you are going to pick that option, this is what I suggest you do with your affinities."
She pointed at the floating lines that represented Matt's choices, and they all shifted a little. His elemental affinities had stayed somewhat the same still strong in water and earth, but light and dark had balanced out, and life and death had swapped. His skill affinities, on the other hand, had changed quite a bit. Keeping the major affinity with water, earth, and bonding magic, as well as husbandry, but beginning herbalism and assault magic had joined the list. For minor affinities, the dryad had selected: physical fitness, death magic, imbue magic, mana manipulation, alchemy, leatherworking, condensing, ranching, skinning, and processing.
"I mean I guess I understand most of those, why should I do death magic instead of life?" Matt asked.
"You will be alone in the wilderness, you will need a way to keep yourself safe. Death magic is by far the most potent type of attack spells, there are also many useful death spells for a budding farmer."
"Okay. What about all the crafting stuff?"
"You will need to be self-reliant to survive in the wilderness. Being able to produce your own clothing and shelter will greatly increase your comfort and safety. Alchemy will allow you to work longer and recover from any injuries you sustain. That is the same reason I suggest mana manipulation and physical fitness. These are skills that will allow you to work harder and longer than you normally would be able to. Additionally, all but the last two of these skills will allow you to produce sellable goods to supplement your income while your crops grow."
Matt tapped his finger against his lower lip as he considered the dryad's advice. "Okay, your reasoning is sound, and you know this world better than me. If you think that's what is going to make me the most successful, I'll do it." He glanced over at the dryad, "What is your name anyway?"
The dryad smiled at him again, "I am Livia. It is a pleasure to meet you, Cycle Mage. By what name will you be known in Livia?"
Matt paused, thinking, "Call me, Kastigan. Or just Kas for short."
Livia nodded, "Well, Kas, you're almost ready to start your journey. You just need to pick some starting equipment."
Kas nodded his head, "What would you recommend?"
"I'll put together a kit for you." And Livia waved her hand, and he was suddenly surrounded by various racks of leather clothing. "Just say when you've picked an item, and it will move on to the next set on the list. I'll also put together a bag with the kits and tools you'll need that don't need you to pick a style."
Kas nodded his head and began trying on various items. Each of the items had the exact same stats a modest boost to defense but looked different to allow him to select something that fit his own aesthetic. Finding a pair of fringed leather pants and a jacket he liked that made him look a lot like an early 19th-century mountain man. He then picked up a couple of daggers that appeared in various sheaths around his body as he selected them. A sturdy pair of boots came next they were surprisingly comfortable. He supposed the game had made some considerations for comfort over realism. He slipped a dagger into a concealed sheath in the boots raising his total number of knives to three.
The jacket, boots, and pants all came with appropriate, if somewhat boring, underclothes and socks. Attire selected, Matt's next choice was a bit surprising to him. Wands. He had seen a few of the beta testers using a wand but had no idea what they had been using them for. "Wands?" He asked, and Livia answered from behind his shoulder.
"Yes, since a good portion of your magic is going to be performed out of combat, a wand will help focus and amplify it. I wouldn't recommend using it in combat until you get more accustomed to it, as that can cause miscasts. I've put out wands that will work best with earth and water magic. They will also work with the minor death magic spells you learn to help your farm. As well as the light and dark ones but won't give anywhere near the power boost you will get from your earth and water ones."
Nodding in understanding, Kas turned back to the table of wands, picking them up and giving them a shake before analyzing them to look at their stats.
Item Name: Beech Wand (Agate)
Combat Prerequisite: 10 skill ranks of Channel Wand
Description: A wand made of beech wood with an agate inset at one end. Greatly amplifies water and earth magic channeled through the wand. Moderately amplifies all other types of magic.
Item Name: Cherry Wand (Topaz)
Combat Prerequisite: 15 skill ranks of Channel Wand
Description: A wand made of cherry wood, with a topaz inset at one end. Greatly amplifies water and earth magic channeled through the wand. Moderately amplifies all other types of magic.
Item Name: Holly Wand (Aquamarine)
Combat Prerequisite: 20 skill ranks of Channel Wand
Description: A wand made of holly wood, with an aquamarine inset at one end. Greatly amplifies water and earth magic channeled through the wand. Moderately amplifies all other types of magic.
There were other variations, but the main difference was how high of a channel wand skill was required to use them in combat; either ten, fifteen, or twenty ranks. Kas decided that it didn't seem to matter much and picked the Holly and Aquamarine wand. Assuming that the higher-level channel wand meant it would be more potent, and less likely to need to be replaced.
He slid the wand into a pocket he discovered along his right thigh and turned around, realizing that there wasn't anything left for him to select. A large backpack sat next to his feet, a saw, ax, and bedroll visibly attached to it, and he leaned down to pick it up, wincing slightly at the weight.
"Well, it seems you're ready to go. Any last questions?" Livia asked as soon as he had the bag situated.
"This doesn't seem like it's big enough for everything that I need. What about seeds?"
"The bag, like most in Livia, is capable of carrying more than you are accustomed to. I've included a few seeds that will be in high demand and fetch a good price when you sell them, you'll find better types to grow as you explore Livia."
Kas nodded his head as Livia spoke, glad that the game was sacrificing some realism in of favor convenience. "Hm, well, any advice for me?"
Livia smiled, "So few of you Unbound ask me that, you all seem so eager to start your adventuring." She paused for a moment, scanning Kas up and down. "I think you'll do just fine. You've selected an unusual path, but I look forward to watching your exploits." She reached forward to kiss Kas on either cheek. "Just be yourself and work hard."
Blessing of Livia acquired, for the next week, all experience gained will be doubled. You took the time to ask Livia her opinion, and she has blessed you for your consideration. Remember, Livia is not just a game; it is a living world whose future you can help write.
"Good luck Kastigan."
And with that, his perception was flying through the air. Zooming across Gogland until he stopped just before the oppressive mountain range he had seen in the introduction before. He looked down and saw an expansive forest stretching from the foot of the mountains trailward back towards the Ocean. At the base of the mountains, standing tall above the forest around him, was a mesa. Easily a mile across, with some buildings built upon its upper face. A merchant windrunner-designated as such by its colorful sails and hull-was docking at scaffolding near the center of the mesa.
Kas zoomed towards the windrunner, he seemed to slow down a bit before landing on the deck of the ship. The sounds of people rushing to gather their belongings after the six month trip from Pinnoc to Gogland nearly talking over the shouts of the Captain who called out from the poopdeck, "Welcome to Tallrock! Now get off my ship!"