36. Drama pt. 1
My dreams that night were of course turbulent and eventful, but I was adjusting to the process of recombining my various selves. They never lessened in intensity, but I grew more adept at enduring them. I awoke the next morning in my bed, aware that there was only one of me again, and the memories of the day before neatly sorted in my head.
It had been an eventful day. Aside from busting the Echoing Abyss as [Mage], I’d had a long meeting with an Earth lawyer, a productive day as [Lord], and gained multiple levels with [Duelist] and [Archer]. I was even getting close to the point where I would be able to level [Placeholder] to level seven. Unfortunately, I was also approaching the point where [Rebirth Resonance] would stop giving me two hundred percent experience.
I spent some time thinking about what I wanted to accomplish. In the end, I decided to spend the next several days pushing all five of my classes up to cusp of the level fifty limit, and I spent the time mostly grinding lairs anonymously as [Mage], [Acolyte], [Duelist] and [Archer]. My [Lord] self did his usual thing of ruling North Shire and Thorn March while gathering support for the ascendancy of Rain II.
I continued to keep an eye on guild chat, and my disillusionment continued to grow in regards to the majority of my guildmates. I had thought that I had been keeping my concerns to myself, however, so I was surprised when [Lord] received a message from Peafowlet as soon as she logged in.
Peafowlet
Hail, do you have a moment to talk?
Hail
Sure, Pea, what’s up?
Peafowlet
I wanted to apologize for how the others have been treating you since you got back. It’s, well, it’s inexcusable, but I wanted to explain a little bit.
Peafowlet
When you first joined the guild, we were able to filter which chats you had access to. That’s actually very normal when you’re dealing with juvenile accounts, which is what I guess your system considered yours to be at the time. Many guilds which allow both children and adult players to join will have a ‘child safe’ general chat and an adults only chat.
Peafowlet
We took it a step further, however. We created a guild chat that was just for you, and we filtered who was allowed to use that channel based on whether or not they agreed to follow the rules for interacting with you.
Hail
There were rules for interacting with me?
Peafowlet
Yes. Mostly things like ‘Don’t be rude to him,’ and ‘treat him like a person and not a chatbot.’ We set them up based on the original blue post regarding you. We were worried that Arc would pull you out of the guild if we started feeding you the wrong sort of information. I’m so sorry we never told you.
Hail
So even before I left, my friends were still talking about me like this?
Peafowlet
No. Not your friends. Hail, the people who are talking about you like you’re not a real person, they’re not your friends. They’re just guild members.
Peafowlet
But yes. I’m sorry. We thought we were sheltering you from them.
Hail
… Why did things change when I came back?
Peafowlet
Because when you were reinvited, we forgot to put the filters on your guild chat back in place. They were completely reset when you gquit, but we didn’t even think of that. We had no idea it was an issue until Tarisha messaged us last night.
Hail
So you’re just going to filter my chat again and pretend everything is fine?
Peafowlet
No. We’re honestly not certain how things will shake out, Hail, but now that you’re aware of the problem we’re not going to insult you like that. You’re not a little kid who needs sheltering anymore. We’re going to be holding an officer’s meeting once the others get online, and we’d like you to be there. In fact, we’ll be scheduling it around what is convenient for you, since we know how busy you are these days. What time works?
After setting up the meeting, I notified my other selves about what I had learned. After a bit of discussion, we decided to recombine for the meeting, so we returned to the lobby for an impromptu nap.
The meeting was held in the Guild Hall in Zhesa City. I attended as [Lord] Hail. Tarisha joined me at my invitation, after confirming with Pea that it wouldn’t be an issue. Daemon was there despite not being an officer in the guild anymore. The other attendees were Dimple, Peotre, and Ulasha, who was apparently the guild leader.
“I thought Klarisha owned the guild,” I said when she introduced herself. Her avatar was that of a dark-skinned woman with lots of jewelry and a flattering dress of silver and emerald.
“I am Klarisha, sweetie,” she said. “I tend to name change and skin change a lot. Don’t worry about it. I know who I am, and that’s all that’s really important.”
“Oh,” I said. “Yeah, I guess I can understand that.”
Daemon cleared his throat once everyone was there. “Hail, I’d like to start this meeting off with an official apology. I was the one who initially set up your chat the way that it was. This was in the early days, before we really appreciated how unique you were. I think I’ve already explained that when we first met, I was under a few preconceptions over how to treat a nascent AI. I was trying to help Arc achieve what I thought their goals were for your development, but I should have been more worried about helping you .”
I was quiet for a moment as I contemplated Daemon’s apology. “I think I understand. I mean, I wasn’t really paying attention to guild chat back then at all, but it would have been pretty upsetting if I glanced at it and saw jerks like WeedMilk and GhostGazer in the chatlog.”
Moderator
WeedMilk has been kicked from the guild
Moderator
GhostGazer has been kicked from the guild
I blinked in surprise as the notifications came up in the corner of my attention. “What?”
“They were on thin ice already,” Peotre explained.
“I didn’t want anyone to be kicked because of me,” I protested.
“This isn’t just about you, Hail,” Dimple said, smiling sadly. “It’s time for a spring cleaning.”
Moderator
Pixelpuppet has been kicked from the guild
Moderator
SyntheticScorn has been kicked from the guild
Moderator
Stonedheart has been kicked from the guild
Moderator
Taskhamster has been kicked from the guild
Moderator
HavocBlitz has been kicked from the guild
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Moderator
Fido has been kicked from the guild
Moderator
Norman has been kicked from the guild
Moderator
Cipher has been kicked from the guild
The list went on for some time as hundreds of players were removed. Many of them were the players that I’d repeatedly noticed talking about me like I was an object instead of a person. Others I didn’t know, or hadn’t seen talking at all. When the scrolling list finally completed, guild chat erupted into outrage. Dozens more players quit on their own, seemingly out of protest or in solidarity with their friends who had been removed.
It left me stunned, looking at the officers in the room for an explanation. It was then that Ulasha decided to address the guild.
Ulasha - GL
The purge was my decision, everyone. It’s been coming for a while. I’m not going to explain or justify every factor that went into the decisions that were made on whether or not to kick someone, but you should know that we did not take it lightly. Let this also serve as warning that many of you remain on thin ice. Just because you survived this initial purge doesn’t mean you’re safe.
Hexshade
WTF, boss? You should at least tell us what they did to get kicked.
ObliviousDrone
Yeah, this is total BS. I’m out.
Moderator
ObliviousDrone has left the guild.
Moderator
Simon has left the guild
Lookatme
Y’all locked the guild bank too. Is that a permanent feature?
Ulasha - GL
No, that’s just to keep people from raiding it before rage quitting. We’ll set access back to what it was before in a few days once things have settled down.
Lookatme
Thought as much.
Moderator
Lookatme has left the guild
Sellamander
He totally just tried to raid the guild bank, didn’t he?
Potatoad
Yup. Good thing boss lady is a step ahead of him.
Ulasha - GL
Good news is that a lot of the people who were on thin ice are leaving on their own.
Gummytiger
There’s a lot of names to go through, but I don’t think I’m going to miss anyone we lost in the purge.
Hexshade
That’s not the point. This is completely unfair. Some of us have sunk serious resources into the guild. If we’re going to be removed on a whim, we at least deserve to know why.
Ulasha
I’m sorry. But if I told you why, it would sort of defeat the entire goal.
Hail
She did it because of me.
Ulasha - GL
No, I really didn’t Hail. How most of those assholes treated you in guild chat was a factor, but it wasn’t the only factor. Everyone, Hail was as surprised by the Purge as you all were. But since he’s broached the subject, you all should know that since he’s returned, Hail has been reading guild chat. All of guild chat, not just the channels we set up for him. And we have no plans on changing his settings back so that he can’t do that anymore.
Birdie
You all should know, moreover, that in a contest between you and Hail, Hail wins every time. He’s more important to the guild than any other member. How you’ve been treating him when you thought he was unaware of your actions was a significant factor in the purge. But, as Ulasha said, it wasn’t the only one. At least a third of the names on the list were kicked just for inactivity, after all.
Hexshade
...Okay, so I sort of get that. But we should have had some warning.
Ulasha
This is your warning, Hex. The kid gloves are coming off. Anyone who has a problem with that can /gquit right now.
Hexshade
I’ve sunk over ten thousand gold into this guild. I’m angry, and I don’t think it’s fair, but you won’t even let me reclaim my investment. I’m opening a ticket, I think this is against the TOS.
Peotre
Good luck with that, bro. Arc isn’t going to get involved in a little bit of guild drama.
Ulasha - GL
If you still feel this strongly about it in a few days, Hex, then we’ll reimburse you for your efforts once we open the bank up again.
The drama continued for some time after that. Eventually the initial lot of quitters died down, the flame war in guild chat continued unabated. I sat in a corner of the office where the guild leadership was meeting, but nobody was talking anymore. Everyone had their guild chat up and they were busy reading it.
“I don’t understand,” I said at last. “Why did you do that?”
Ulasha flicked her hair, her eyes focusing on me instead of the invisible text that had been scrolling in front of her. “I told you, I have my reasons.”
“I didn’t want anyone kicked because of me,” I protested.
“They weren’t following the rules, Hail,” she explained. “We just weren’t enforcing a lot of things. It hasn’t gotten a lot of attention, but almost a tenth of those purged were in debt to the guild and were showing no intention on paying us back. Another five percent were suspected spies. We might have kicked a few people who didn’t deserve it, but honestly, I’m not too worried about it. We were always a social guild before you joined, but that’s not really true anymore. Our core is still here, but we’re increasingly becoming something new, and I don’t know what the final shape of the guild is going to be. But I do know that I don’t care about the hangers-on and moochers and bandwagon jumpers who joined after we got famous. And neither should you.”
Daemon cleared his throat. “Hail, you should realize that
Peotre nodded. “I’m going to be pretty blunt, Hail. You’re the core of the guild now. When you left, we lost our purpose for a while and tried to return to being just a social guild, but it wasn’t the same. We probably would have fallen apart if you hadn’t returned when you did.”
“We weren’t at that point yet, but Peotre’s right,” Ulasha agreed. “Hail, if I have to choose between causing a bit of guild drama and making certain you’re treated with the respect you deserve, I’ll choose you every time.”
I studied her for a minute. “But I don’t even know you. Why are you going so far for me? Just because of my quests?”
She shrugged. “I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t a factor, Hail. But I’ve always been a proponent of AI rights. The more I learn about you, the more I want to support you. And that’s not going to change even if Arc takes away your quest giving abilities and turns you into a random shopkeeper or something. As long as you have the spark that makes you you , I’ll be in your corner.”
I looked around and saw a room full of supportive faces. I exhaled, and came to a decision. “So, you guys know those rumors about Hagi? That there’s another AI like me running around on the loose?”
The others perked up with interest.
“Do you know him?” Dimple asked.
“I suppose you could say that,” I chuckled. “So, a few days ago, Thomas visited me while I was in the lobby, and he gave me a new ability …”
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