Billy Smith opened his eyes to bright light coming from his right hand side. He seemed to be lying on something soft and comfortable. When he looked down, he noticed it was dried grass that looked almost like straw. There was a notification obstructing a portion of his view:

Welcome to Humye

Welcome to Humye – you have successfully arrived at your destination on Humye. You must now select an appearance, and a name.

Please speak your name: _

Billy Smith looked down at his body – and noticed for the first time that he was no longer dressed as he was before he came to Humye. He was now wearing a short trousers and what appeared to be a t-shirt. Billy Smith thought about his name for a while. He knew that whatever name he selected now will probably be the name he will continue to have even when (he refused to think of it as “if” but rather “when”) he became a god of Tergia. On the one hand, keeping his name will allow him to keep a connection to his past. Then again, if he did become a god of Tergia, most of those he knew will be dead after only a few years, two hundred at the most, whereas he would still look like a young man – probably he would look much younger than he looked now. He made up his mind. He would be known from now on as Vahlia.

“Vahlia!” he said into the air. A new notification showed up on his screen:

Welcome to Humye Vahlia

Please select your appearance: _

Then there was a selection of creatures that looked like those in the vision that Jessy Peal had shown him – hundreds of varieties of looks. Some short, some tall, different skin hews, and an option that said: Customize. He selected that option. A new image came up. There was a picture of one of those creatures from the vision again. This time, though, it had a resemblance to his actual face. The label on the top said: Vahlia as Kopati.

                That must be the name of the species, then. They must be the kopati. He made a few changes, placed his height to about a meter and a half, and pressed the “accept” button. Immediately, his appearance changed. When he looked down, he noticed that even to himself, he now looked like a kopati. He had the long frame of a kopati – even if a little more muscular, he also noticed that he was now wearing the same seemingly transparent garment he noticed other kopati wearing in the vision Jessy Peal had shown him. On closer examination, he saw that the clothes weren’t transparent at all, they just had a similar coloring to his own color and so they appeared transparent. He also noticed right away that the colors to his skin changed slightly based on what he was feeling and the color of the garment changed to match. “It must be a protective adaptation,” he thought. “But I thought people who knew me were supposed to see me as a human?” he wondered. “Maybe that only applies to other people who know me, not myself,” he thought.

 For some time, he wondered about that. Why would other people who knew him when he was a human see him as himself whereas he would see himself as a kopati?  Could it be that the reasoning was to make sure he could be recognized by his old friends whereas he could more easily relate to those he was suppose to save? What was he now in actuality? Was he in an actual human body, or was that body replaced by a kopati body? As he recalled before coming to Humye, he felt as though he was dying in Jessy Peal’s apartment – what had really happened? Did he die there and was reborn here? Was that even possible? But wasn’t he human before he had made his customization?

Billy Smith stood up and looked around. He was in what appeared to be a cave – he looked in the direction of the light and saw a door-shaped opening. He walked through the opening into the light. He found himself in a wide circular chamber with a bright ball of light hanging on nothing in the center of the room. On the ground was a circular metallic wall about two feet high right underneath the bright ball of light. The silvery wall was enclosing an opening in the ground that was filled with some kind of liquid-like material.

Billy Smith walked towards the light. When he was about five meters from the bright ball of light, Jessy Peal appeared in front of him. “I see you arrived safely and have even chosen your appearance,” said Jessy Peal, “very good. Now we will give you the information you need, perform a quick tutorial, and you can begin your quest,” he said. “Before that, would you mind answering a few questions for me?” asked Billy Smith. “It depends on what they are,” answered Jessy Peal, “what’s on your mind?”

“First, I am assuming that I am now on Humye. Is that right?” asked Billy Smith. “Yes it is,” replied Jessy Peal.“You said before that people who knew me would see me as human – but when I look at myself, I see I look like one of those people you showed me – the kopati? Well, if I’m supposed to be recognized as human by other humans that know me, why do I see myself as kopati?” asked Billy Smith. “You kind of answered your own question there, although you might not realize it,” said Jessy Peal. “You will be seen by other humans who already knew you as human,” he continued, “have you noticed that you are no longer human?” he asked Billy Smith.

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Billy Smith looked down at his hands, legs, arms, and felt his face and touched his antennae on his head again. “I guess that answers a lot of my questions about whether I am in another body,” he thought. When he looked up, he saw that there was now a full-length mirror standing next to Jessy Peal. “Thank you,” he said. Then he went over to the mirror to look at himself.

What he saw there was a kopati that bore a small resemblance to what he looked like as human. He thought the resemblance was in the shape of his face, his eyes, and the structures of the bones in his kopati face.

So, Billy Smith concluded that what Jessy Peal was saying was that only humans who knew him before he came to Humye would see him as a human but anyone of any other race will only see him as kopati – including himself - since he was no longer human.“Whatever!” he thought, “does it really matter anymore? When I succeed I will be human again.”

“Is that all?” asked Jessy Peal, “can we continue now?” “Well, not quite,” replied Billy Smith. When he saw the exasperated expression on Jessy Peal’s face, he added quickly: “Please wait,” he said, putting both palms up in the universal “stop” sign, “I think you will believe this is important too”. Jessy Peal controlled his facial expressions and the frustrated look melted away from his face. “What is it, then?” he asked. “Well, before, you said that I can build anything I want, learn anything I can to save Humye, but I must remember to do it according to the traditions of the gods of Tergia,” said Billy Smith. “Yes I did,” replied Jessy Peal, “so?” “Well, only that I don’t know the traditions of the gods of Tergia,” Billy Smith said.

Jessy Peal turned around and looked at Billy Smith. “How could you be a human, born and raised on Tergia and not know the traditions of the gods of Tergia?” he asked Billy Smith with a frown on his face, “We make it a point that the traditions are known by every Tergian. In fact, they are many of the components of the Tergian education system,” said Jessy Peal. “Well, yes. But what I have heard so far is really just rumor. I don’t know officially what they are. I don’t want to fail my quest because I did something I heard about as being part of the traditions only to find out later that it was not,” Billy Smith said.

“Very well, you make a good point,” said Jessy Peal, “I will give them to you very briefly, then. The main points of the traditions are based on principles first espoused on Old Earth Millennia ago – that the strong ought to support and protect the weak, that one should do onto others as one wants to be done to them, and finally the principle that is the basis for all judgment in Tergian law: Anyone violating the above principles and costing another or intending to cost another their lives or property forfeits their own rights to both life, property, and the expectation of just treatment. Of course, mercy is encouraged where it can be justified and where mercy will produce a benefit for the greater good. This is the traditions of the gods of Tergia in a nutshell. Do you understand?” asked Jessy Peal. “Yes I do,” replied Billy Smith. “Do you have any questions?” asked Jessy Peal, by now used to Billy Smith asking questions over almost every explanation. The truth is that he preferred that Billy Smith ask question than have the young man fail the quest. There was a lot riding on this quest, and he was hopeful that Billy Smith will succeed.

“Yes I have a few questions,” replied Billy Smith. “So, does that mean if I can show that someone intended to kill someone else, or rob them of their property that person no longer deserves to live or have any property?” he asked. “Yes,” replied Jessy Peal, “although you really don’t have to be able to show it at all. Everything you see, know, and think is recorded. It will be examined only when there is a question regarding a judgment you make and only information pertaining to that judgment will be examined. The rest remains strictly private. So, if there is sufficient information to convince you of something, it is usually enough, though you might be questioned if it is believed you didn’t investigate thoroughly.” said Jessy Peal. “I see. And if I cannot kill the person for whatever reason, I no longer have to treat them with any consideration for justice?” he asked again. “Precisely,” replied Jessy Peal. “Ok. I understand completely. Thank you for clarifying and thank you for your patience,” said Billy Smith. “You are quite welcome,” replied Jessy Peal.

 “Remember as you go through this entire process – including the candidacy, that you will have the powers of a judge, jury, and executioner. Whereas some may think that is too much power, you are being observed and you will be brought under harsh judgment if you are in violation of the traditions of the gods of Tergia,” Jessy Peal said.  

“Now, let me tell you a little bit about the MMORPG interface you will be using, send you on the quick tutorial, and then I will give you information that will be vital to your quest so that you can begin immediately.

                Just like all MMORPG, your abilities will depend on your primary statistics. There are a few basic stats that you start off with but as you advance, you will continue to discover new stats. In those MMORPG, there were usually limits to how many stats you can have. Since this is not an MMORPG and game balance and such things don’t matter, the amount of stats you will have will only be limited by your experience in with the interface. As long as you are a god of Tergia, you will have an opportunity to find new stats. So, the only real limits you will have will be those placed upon you by your inexperience and circumstances. Your basic stats and their levels will only be determined once you complete the tutorial. That includes your gear as well. Depending on how you do on the tutorial, you will gain abilities, stats, and gear. You may even pick up some skills – although that is unlikely.

You will also gain experience points. These will be what allow you to increase in your levels. After each level increase, you will gain seven ability points and three skill points. You can use ability points to increase a particular ability to a higher level. How much the ability increases depends on that ability. The ratio of ability points to ability level increase varies – you will have to discover what it is as you go along. Ability points and skill points are similar and can be converted at a ratio of 1:3 – one ability point will give three skill points.

Skill points are used to increase a particular skill you have learned to the next level. Skill and abilities are very similar; they vary slightly because depending on whether or not you are using mana, or stamina, with them. Usually it’s mana for ability and stamina for skills although there can be a bleed over from time to time – the exceptions that prove the rule.

Oh, right, mana. Mana is one of your basic stats. It is a measure of how much energy you have available to use on an ability. In reality, this truly measures energy stored within nanites in your body that can be channeled to perform a function, though you don’t absolutely need to know that.

You also have an inventory. The size depends on the strength stat. The greater your strength, the larger your inventory is. To open your inventory, just think “inventory” and you will get a mental image of your inventory. To equip things from inventory, simply imagine what you want to equip and think “equip”. To put something into inventory, just reverse the process and say “put into inventory” or something similar – the interface understands what you want and you really don’t need any words, just the intention will suffice.

 There are other basic stats, but you can read up on these on your own – just think about the stat and wonder what it is, or just think “basic stats” and you will get a list of them. That covers the quick run-down about your interface. Do you have any questions? Oh, yes, before you ask – all your stats currently have question marks. That’s because you haven’t completed the tutorial yet. When you complete it, the system will determine your base stats and those should change. Now you can ask any questions you wish,” said Jessy Peal. “I have played those old-style MMORPGs and I think I get the basic idea. Thank you,” replied Billy Smith.

“Very well, we will now begin the tutorial,” said Jessy Peal, as the entire scene changed again.