Ted the Trader hooked the headset over his head and guided the contact lens over his pupil until the lens was under his eyelids, reminding him not to fall asleep in the console. Sleep just meant the Community was taxing your computer for processing power to create its money.
Ted wasn't the only trader in the Community, but Ted was the only trader that owned a currency. He didn't have to fight monsters to expand his wealth, not if he stayed active. He smiled a little as he explored today's freshly created landscape that hadn't felt the ripples of the purposely chaotic frontlines. No other trader or merchant had ever seen this sight, hundreds of regions spread out.
"Activate Grace Period for: Gary, Tyler, Owhere, Holly, Repeat, and BillyE for 12 hours and one minute." Ted marked this Heartwood Grove as a mercantile outpost and created a map for them. Scout simulation computers are very expensive to build and maintain for the average player and took up valuable space on the servers. His team was smart enough to know how important this was and to be discreet on forums and in conversation, maybe not Gary but he was a solo farmer.
He wasn't very far from the current edge of the Simulation. There are rules against checking region details without visiting, but Ted wasn't concerned about rules doing this project. If Owhere's team could follow his roadmap, they would have a Frontline encampment away from the Community. Consistent high quality supplies equipment was worth risking a lot more than a Blue strike and some money.
The new source of wealth couldn't be revealed until Ted's currency was stable enough to survive the Community's yearly audit, a server check to see if the expansion of the server match the economic layers. A six person outpost that exists beyond what anyone could explore would add more backing to the Commerce Guild Coin. Fiat money was proven worthless quite a while ago and Simulation currencies had to be backed by server resources or it couldn't be used at all.
"Trade Encounter." Ted appeared close to the frontlines where six people were waiting for Ted to inturrupt the server reward. Ted was carrying a map and the previously agreed upon supplies for the 12 hours and counting. "Owhere, is everyone at level 9? Don't claim any rewards over level 9 or my guide rewards won't help you." The stress was getting to him just a little.
"Half of us are still level 8. Can't we get an escort part of the way there? Fighting out here without a territory weapon isn't really working for us. Any time we try to fight the raid waves we have to run away." Which explained the lower levels and Ted was thrilled to hear their mobility would be good until they start using stealth to complete the region locks. "Do you have any solutions Ted?"
"There's a Grace Period active. You have 12 hours and... no seconds. Activate Bargain." All deals would be subsidized at half price, regardless of other discounts or market price limits. A territory skill. "Our initial dialogue is over?" Ted the Trader had a signature dialogue of a Trader skill, the lilting question voice that could trick you into looking at more expensive items.
And they really should be leaving with the map, it really made the trip just possible enough for Owhere to make this project work. Owhere the Druid king could map a biome structure faster than Ted could've, if Ted hadn't become the Trader. A pity his Player technically didn't exist here, but he ate that cake willingly every single day he signed in. His other setups were less unique.
"A special offer is available to anyone who needs a weapon mould or data restoration potions, one hour only! Specialties!" Ted made his way around, customizing the available stock of his store for each person Owhere decided to bring along. It was a good time to be Merchant King of the Community. Soon Ted would be selling the future if the simulation saw value in this data blip.
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A Server has to stay healthy as the Community attempts to expand. Expansions routinely failed until a man named Ben Owhere asked if a Heartwood Grove could survive in the Wilderness.
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"Activate Good Luck and Farewell." The terrain around him zoomed towards Ted the Trader when he vanished. All of their server loads lightened when the Trader's skill activated, a game mechanic that encouraged trading between players on the frontline. Ted had managed to get one himself without relying on the Simulation. Luck. Ted the Greedy didn't cheat but he was unique.
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The recent imbalance between the Community and the Simulation was made possible by Ted's Community-legal monopoly. He traded across the entire Wilderness in a way no one ever could, running circles around the entire server and made profit without danger or challenge. It was nothing rare on the Frontline or the Redland, but stupid to do outside of major clan territories.
"Once Holly gets the next kill can you activate the scout again Tyler." Owhere was checking the terrain changes and he'd pay Tyler back if Ted managed to get an accurate map. "Three regions east please." Owhere could only map beyond one region with his Simulation setup because it was built to generate specific details from the Simulation, the plantlife's ecosphere. Any detail your Simulation could provide could be requested for use. The Simulation couldn't check your personal data unless your computer connected to that layer of information. Community paranoia.
"Ted isn't going to screw us Owhere, don't burn out my system with your dumb paranoia." Tyler built good scouting computers for his friends in college and coached effective hunting methods at a local community center, mostly because they footed the electrical bill for access to a unique Simulation. This wasn't a passion project for Tyler and a new computer was outside his expenses this month, last month, and the last year. If the project worked, Ted would be paying real money.
The map item showed the druids a path to find a Heartwood tree and the six regions they were going to claim in a honey comb ring. Surrounding the middle region would let the entire forest survive the daily reset. If this project was stable and replicable this could be permanent for them. The Community thought it was impossible and unhealthy for servers but sometimes the server let the impossible survive, even to it's own disadvantage. It allowed the Pastures to exist last year.
"Just do it, we need documentation Tye. Is everyone following the distributions we talked about? I'm adjusting my endclass to Tidal Mage, less control and more distance." His endclass was set to Vine Caller, a character built around bonding to wild plants and would leave half his benefits up to his follower's semi-random distribution. Owhere decided against betting all of today's potential on the flip of a coin. Creating a challenge didn't mean shooting yourself in the foot.
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All players chose the endclass options they wanted to have at three landmark levels. The server hates when a player reimagines their class and would generalize your unique setup into a Class. A Warrior fought different enemies than Rangers or Mages in their encounters and your class's unique enemy selection often catered to strengths and challenged the weaknesses of each one.
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The Druid was a subclass of Mage that filled niche roles for large clans like the Illusionist could. It wasn't unusual for a druid to delete their old persona and started fresh with plenty of experience behind them and choose a class with a history of success. The 'Hero' classes were just the crowd favorite, the Simulation changed often enough that most classes could be a hero class.
The overwhelming strength that druids could harness didn't cross region borders and only, something that took weeks to build, if they claimed territory along the wilderness. Pasture regions existed for the people who didn't enjoy the daily combat and would funnel monsters out of one region and into another. Pasture regions couldn't be made on the frontline
New druid players were often impossible to advance upward in the Community and the entire catagory of Druid was now classified as a support or civilian class like a smith, Territory-Locking their entire experience for most players.
When the 6 druids discovered a Heartwood tree and claimed all 6 surrounding tiles, they would have a Wild Heartwood tree that would persist through the daily reset. The wild heartwood was a monsterous source of damage, regeneration, and battle control. If the heartwood tree's region was claimed the additional benefits would vanish when the simulation reset, but would still be a more powerful companion than Pine or Oak trees were. The tree did lack mobility, however.
Owhere's last action as Druid king was to praise the Simulation for recent territory changes and announce his full simulation wipe. The community loves that kind of humor. Now everything was in action it could be finished before the Community realizes he'd been sincere. A big maybe was the best they could get, but unless someone found them by accident Ted could warn them early.
"That's level nine, does your computer still scan Tyler?" Holly was pushed across the region by using her druidic ability: Sea of Life. She used it to train and tame wild plants into action, a twenty meter action. It wasn't a perfect ability and sometimes Holly wouldn't get experience or drops from her kills if she was working too quickly. The Simulation considers contribution as a binary.
"Either this place exists or it doesn't. I'm not scanning for you guys just because you don't want to buy a Matchbox, I can scout two regions ahead and I'll be with Owhere and Repeat." Tyler's main business was computer hardware and coaching Simulation owners how to not blow up the machines when the public demands a dragon. Tyler launched a server inquiry to scout the next two regions and Owhere threw all three into the trees with a sharp yank. Gary followed suit.