Welcome to Character Creation

The character creation notification blinked bright and blue. As I pondered how I wanted to approach the type of character I want, I decided the best course of action would be to study what I can change from the very beginning. After all character creation can often dictate the way you play for the rest of the game depending on what customization is available.

Who are you?

Hmm it's addressing me? A game mechanic perhaps.

"A name...." I breathed.

My character name would dictate how others view me. Of course a simple name like "John" could have any number of connotations in the gameworld or Twoen I should say. Then you could look at any other name with an "XXX" in front or behind it and instantly they're written off as an inexperienced, naiive 13 year old. Of course i've come across this very same problem a multitude of times. Simply choosing one of my old ones won't work. As an unspoken rule similar to never taking the urinal directly beside a pissing man when there are clearly many empty, my brothers and I never and I mean NEVER choose the same name twice. The reason being it's no fun when I know exactly who Derjar or Nojas is in game. As an added rule we alter our appearances ever so slightly, just enough to not be recognizable by the other two at a glance. However I've already picked out a name beforehand in order to get a head start.

"Cobb" I said. It's a spin on my dad's name.

Welcome to Twoen Cobb.

What are you?

Ok this is actually pretty cool. Suspiciously the dialogue isn't what I expected of a typical VRMMORPG and it's surprising that I find the way the blue boxes address me to be especially cool. I note the strangeness and move on. I haven't become the near best at every game I've ever played to be beffuddled by strange blue boxes. Note the strangeness, not a threat, probably some game feature.

What followed was a huge list of races. It spanned down from something called a "Aaaaaol". It seemed I was on page one of "A" races. I focused on the "Aaaaaol".

Aaaaaol

  The Aaaaaol are an elusive and playful people, they are known to reside in Tree Caves in the Great Forest however they are nomadic and move between the trees. Other than Tree Cave settlements their other hideouts are unknown and well hidden. Their average height is the same as Humans but the range in which they come varies as high as the shortest of the Tyou to as short as the Gnomes. Sleek bodies are complimented by transparent feathers and taut muscles. Cat-like eyes watch everything you do with friendly humour or deadly intent. Their natural inclination is to be friends with whoever can catch them. Though that may seem like an evolutionary failure it is made up for in their unparalled reaction time and quick speed. With intelligence to match their speed it is impossible to catch one and thus no one has called an Aaaaaol a friend in a long time.

"Holy Jesus Christ! This fucking detail what the hell?!" I yelled.

What stood in front of me was an Aaaaaol of human height and he looked a lot like me. A character mirror. Cool beans. I walked up to my Aaaaaol self and brought our forearms together. Even at this distance I could barely make out the outline of transparent feathers. I flicked my eyes to my Aaaaaol self's. Cat-like and without a doubt it seemed like I was being examined with mirth. This was especially disconcerting because I knew for a fact I wasn't making any sort of expression similar to that. I wrote it off as a feature of the race and humans perception of their cat-like eyes. I waved mirror Cobb and he dispersed into grey mist. I decided to look up the Tyou. I went to the search bar on the list located at the top and typed in "Tyou".

Tyou

A race of enormous people that live only in the harshest environs. They can be found in the coldest colds and hottest hots. The shortest of these people ever recorded was 9 meters tall. It's not uncommon for a Tyou to lend a helping hand to travelers crossing the Light Freeze or the deserts of Ari. Their muscles and bones are far more evolved than in any other humanoid race able to support a body of 2 tons or more. However the morality between the Tyou differ as much as Humans. Where one can protect the "little people" for free. One may destroy whole caravans on a whim eating the "little people" as they go. Hulking figures can often be seen in the hazy heat of Ari or the the heavy blizzards of the Light Freeze. Those are the Tyou.

"Amazing. There must be thousands of cultures waiting to be discovered in Twoen!" I exclaimed as I browsed through the races.

With this level of detail for each race? I counted hundreds! Hundreds! On the first page of the first letter! Jesus Christ with that kind of detail what does the governing A.I. of this game packing? Does this mean that a population for each of these races exist in the game? Is it possible for the A.I. to manage something so complex? How often do these cultures intermingle? Are they isolated or united? Impossible this level of detail piques my interest yet at the same time I make sure to keep my expectations low.

"This game won't keep my attention for a week." I sighed. "Just like every other game."

I knew the initial hype and im experiencing the symptoms right now. One of the reasons I don't check the forums of games I play is because I get dissapointed with the game everytime I check. This way when I actually get into the game everything is a surprise and it keeps my attention for at least a little while. It's sad really the things I do to milk every game of it's entertainment value. Still the number of races is simply astounding.

I browsed many races and read their little excerpts provided by the prompts for a good 10 minutes. At this point I had found the advanced search function which I played around with. There were many boxes of which I could tick and a search bar for specific keywords to be on the look out for. I ticked humanoid and looked through the hundreds of options trying to figure out what I wanted.

Derjar would definitely opt for a character that worked up close and personal. Nojas would go for something that could take out opponents without their knowledge. Of course a basic warrior and assassin would just limit them both. Likewise they knew something as simple as a Mage would only limit my potential. But classes were found in Twoen not in character creation and even then to think that only basic classes were available was naiive and stupid. There would be something for me as there would for both of them.

I ticked the "Magical" box, wanting something magically inclined. I also ticked "Physical Body" which is self explanatory. Among my 10 minutes browsing I came across various races that weren't physical. I had a headache the first time I tried to control a body that wasn't solid and so I vowed never again.

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Jjerg

  The Jjerg are often referred to as crystal people. Contrary to popular belief their crystal hair is soft to the touch. Their gem-like eyes are completely organic as is everything else about them. Their skin color can range from the bright color of gems to a normal beige. The founder of the current major Jjerg city established his house in a crystal cave as a joke. However many Jjerg liked the beauty of the place and moved in. A Jjerg can easily blend in with a Human populace save for those three things, even more so if their skin matches Humans. Their odd appearance has nothing to do with the earth or anything similar. An outsider would not know the true purpose of these qualities but elders have confirmed their knowledge of its purpose. Nonetheless these people have an innate gift with magic that though rarely awoken and with great effort when done, is blinding in its brilliance.

Kersooth

  The Kersooth were originally demon spawn from another dimension. When an invasion from a different dimension caught Twoen unguarded all the races banded together. The most annoying and numerous were the Kersoo, they were the small fry and least evolved of all the demonic things that ravaged Twoen. Many methods were devised to stop their advance. The small red people, had large horns, sharp and shockingly white teeth, and an habit of moving. When the greatest magical minds of the time reversed their demonic infliction, there were multiple accounts of perfect white smiles on soothed faces. The mass turning event was coined the Soothing. Hence the Kersooth whose bright red skin dulled to a passable brown. They retain innate talent with fire and shadow.

Agaun

  The Aguan are a lizard race born on the water. Adorning their heads are 1-3 horns crowning the forehead. The face alters into a noticable hard beak used to peck fish out of the water. Covering them are dull blue scales used to camoflauge in the deepest depths of the ocean. They are master wayfinders on the sea and no other race holds a candle to the lizard men of the water. Emotions are hard to read on the face of an Agaun but they are there. Their facial structure deviates from a Human's but they are capable of some facial movement reminiscent of human emotion. Years on the water develops a natural affinity for it ingrained into their DNA.

Human

  Humans have been gifted with the ability of endless potential. Nothing can hide their secrets from these inquisitve creatures for long. What they lack in physical prowess or magical affinity they make up for in an iron will and fiery determination found in almost all Humans. Their recent appearance was of no concern to many of the Elder Races. They were inspected for physicality and magic ability and finding none the Elder Races left them to their devices. What they did not expect was their unfathomable ingenuity and adaptablity. 

"Yeah that's right bitches. Don't underestimate human ingenuity!" I talked to no one in particular.

That being said choosing a human is boring. Don't get me wrong I do have racial pride but still why play a game if not to get away from reality? There were many more races but I didn't have the time to waste sitting here and carefully selecting our of hundreds of races. My brothers were probably already in the game!

I chose Jjerg because its human-like yet not being so. Immediately a tan man about the age out 18 appeared in front of me. His gem hair was black like obsidian and his eyes were a shiny brown. His hair stood up by itself with no interference. I kept my weight and height the same, I added no muscle nor removed any fat, I changed the face however. I removed my dimples, made the jaw a tad sharper and I was pondering how I would change myself when I realized with this race I didnt really have to. I reverted my face to default and changed my skin to an emerald green and gave it a bit of transparency. If I stayed still I could see some muscles outlined in the legs and arms of my character mirror. Cool beans. With obsidian black hair and emerald green skin it didnt look as weird as I thought. Still something was missing. I looked into the eyes of mirror Cobb and realized I was looking at the problem, shiny brown eyes dont cut it. I replaced them with obsidian black eyes to match the hair. My god holy Jesus I looked fucking cool. Green and black made a good pair. I added some white sparkles in my eyes so it wouldn't look too creepy or unsettling to others. 

"What am I?" I asked. "I am a Jjerg" I said.

So you are. And so it is.

With a jolt I was sucked into my character. Everything seemed normal except I felt.... harder? I breathed easier and felt lighter yet denser. My hair also never fell in my face anymore and stayed a messy spiky. Attaining this look without gel? A miracle. Looking around my eyes felt normal I was still in the grey emptiness of character creation.

Challenge Start

As a new Player you are offered to enter the world of Twoen in unique and exciting ways. Every player is offered a Challenge Start when beginning the game. This is used to assimilate the character into the Twoen as opposed to simply appearing in a starting town. However these starts are not reccomended for beginner players or someone new to VRMMORPGs. If you succeed you will gain rewards based on the difficulty you complete. If not you will be punished accordingly based on difficulty. The higher the tier difficulty the better the rewards and harsher the punishment.

A way to skyrocket through the beginning levels of the game? Sign me up. I wouldn't put it past Derjar and Nojas to use this to their advantage either. Sure Twoen's got my attention the lore and worldbuilding apparent in JUST the character creation is astounding! But difficulty and realism? Probably not, hoping for that much from a single game is expecting too much. I've been looking for a game like that my whole life and because of that i'm very skilled. I could probably beat the highest tier difficulty myself. Speaking of which I swiped away the "Challenge Start" prompt.

Normal

  Random event is generated nearby a starting town or city. Complete the given quest to recieve rewards. Upon failure reputation with the town will be lowered and starting items and equipment will be denied.

Hard

  Random event is generated in an unprotected city. Complete the given quest to recieve rewards. Upon failure reputation with the unprotected city will be lowered, starting items and equipment will be denied, and a negative effect depending on the nature of the given quest.

Brutal

  Random event generated in unprotected, uncharted, monster territory. Complete the given quest to recieve rewards. No starting items or equipment. Upon failure map function and buddy system will be disabled for 1 year in game, heavy negative debuff for 1 year in game. Negative reputation to the three nearest starting towns. Become a natural enemy to all monsters in whatever zone you are spawned in for life.

Absolutely Insane

  Spawn in the heart of a monster lair in the middle of the Uncharted. Complete the given quest to recieve rewards. No starting items or equipment. No safe zones. Upon failure heavy permanent debuff to character, map function disabled until leaving the Uncharted, buddy system disabled until leaving the Uncharted. Achievement system disabled, Class Quests disabled, Race Quests disabled, etc until completion.

From what I gather there are starting towns or cities which are protected probably something similar to a newbie zone. Then there are towns or cites without those protections on them. Apparently choosing a Challenge Start will give you a random location to spawn to. I'm assuming that normally you choose your starting town and normally some starting items are given to you. 

Hmmm. Normally dying in the game brings you to a safe zone in which to revive. So although all the difficulties below "Absolutely Insane" are indeed difficult with enough time escape should be possible even in Brutal difficulty. The fact that "Absolutely Insane" has no safe zones likely means i'll be resurrecting among hostiles everytime I die. Although since I don't plan on dying so it shouldn't really be a problem. There is no other way if I don't take the risk and my brothers do then I'll be hopelessly behind. My brothers are complete monsters when it comes to VRMMORPGs they are as confident in their skills as I am in mine.We may seem normal. But when it comes to gaming we are all abso-fucking-lutely insane.

"Start" I said. With a stupid grin on my face.