A Guild Pulled from Another World

The year is 2374 and despite humanities many struggles they have successfully expanded to the great void beyond the constraints of the home world. Humans have mastered the art of leaving the Earth and with the new frontier before them–they expand forth claiming infinity for themselves. This age of exploration has not come freely; many even now lose their lives in search of something more. Though humans are no strangers to death in its infinite forms. The new empire of man was built with war and signed with blood.

Before humans were able to conquer god and lay claim to his kingdom in the stars, they were on a knifes edge where destruction seemed all but guaranteed. Everything that humanity became is all because of one fateful day in 2072 when humanity reaching its breaking point of resources entered into a war over resources. Known in the history books as the Third World War, desperation led to the collapse of social order.

The Ultron Americas Territory, known at the time as the United States, was seen as the worlds greatest superpower. The nation faced its first war on its own soil by a foreign nation since its founding. The country proved that it could not be conquered by traditional means, but the cracks rooted deep in its foundation began to spread. It would not be an invasion that would bring the great country to its knees, no, it was the bubbling of years of internal strife between political parties and racial tensions that sent them into disarray and later that very year, civil war.

The world was sent spiraling as the United States collapsed leaving a huge vacuum of power that other nations tried to fill. All while smaller nations were left to fend for themselves even though due to worldwide scarcity, they could barely provide basic necessities. The world entered into a new era where economic collapse, overpopulation, ecological destruction, and a seemingly unending war spelled a grim future.

In 2083 the European Union collapsed amid continuous skirmishes against Russia. China would expand its borders through the Taiwan Strait absorbing Taiwan, conquering North and South Korea, and setting its eyes on Japan and the United States now severely weakened, facing internal strife and known as the United Confederation.

That same year French company Ultron Incorporated began its production of military hardware. The tech produced in the country quickly cemented it as the worlds largest arms dealer. In 2102 the CEO would declare France and Spain a military state and unveiled an automated army which would subject both countries in a matter of hours. Ultron would unleash a backdoor virus into all of the military hardware it had produced, crippling world powers who had become reliant on the technology. For the first time in human history every country found itself at the mercy of a corporation.

Ultron Incorporated was quick to capitalize on its new position as the worlds greatest superpower. Ultron would create a mechanized army and with them forcibly unified all of Europe before spreading to Asia and Africa. They instituted trade, exchange and unified all banking to one economy. They weren in the business of creating an empire, they were creating a new world order.

However, there is no change that comes without growing pain and this was no exception. War bloodied every country, continent and stained even the ocean and sky. Humanity fought the change as they often do, and wars raged for 74 years before all countries were one under the unstoppable hand of the Ultron Corporation.

After the world was conquered the Ultron laid claim to the throne of God. Ambition and necessity had thrown man into the stars with the creation of the orbital elevators. Now that man was unified under Ultron nothing seemed out of reach. Man colonized the Moon, Mars, Venus, the asteroid belt and even reached Titan. Humanity reached a new height and with it came a new renaissance. Ultron Inc. grew into the Interplanetary Trade Alliance and humanity was allowed to grow so long as they knew to whom they bow the knee.

Now that humanity is far divorced from its once bloody and sorted history, people once again turn to advance art in all its forms. When in a new age of technological advancement where all things seemed to work like magic, so too did video games evolve. One videogame company sought to push the boundaries of human innovation and exceeded the mark in spades.

It started with the creation of Sensory Augmentation which allows those with the implant to directly place their minds into a digital space. The first version was called Sensory Augmentation Grade-1 which was created over 100 years ago and looked like a helmet and only allowed a person to control a computer interface with the mind.

Currently grade-5 is the newest version, and it is a chip that is implanted directly into the nervous system though the cervical spine between the second and third vertebrae. A nodule is placed on the back of the neck and with a tattoo-like ring graphed around the neck. Additional implants in the hands and feet are optional mods that allow for more accurate tracking and dexterity in the digital space.

Those with grade-5 can create an avatar and enjoy sight, sound, touch and taste as if they were actually in a virtual world. While the technology had many uses, gaming companies would be the ones that pushed the tech to the limits. Sensory Augmentation mods were made that allowed people to play more and more realistic games and experience completely fictitious worlds. The demand led to the creation of the Sensory Console which looked more like a chair that connected directly into the Sensory Augmentation and allowed for more data transfer to be possible making games even more realistic to the player.

In 2360 the Mars based mega-corporation HyronTec Inc. developed the Hyperspaces Telecommunications Network known colloquially as HTN. The network creates low intensity wormholes which can transport electronic signals instantaneously to any HTN receiver in the Solar System. This means that there is no delay in communication. Someone on Titan can communicate with someone on Venus in real time. The application of instantaneous communication between celestial bodies hundreds or thousands of light seconds apart was thought to be science fiction made real.

In 2365 Tharsis09 Interactive, a large Martian video game developer, announced their newest title Deicide. At the time the game was met with a less than lukewarm reception. However, when it was announced that the game would be the first to take advantage of the HTN system, meaning that billions of people would be able to play the game on the same persistent server in real time, excitement exploded. Following several delays Deicide finally released on September 14th, 2367, to an explosive launch which outsold any sensory game in history.

As advertised the game utilized the HTN system allowing billions of players to experience the same world at the same time for the first time in history. Deicide is a Sensory Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game known as a **MORPG for short. The game is set in a fantasy world which took its inspiration from real world fables, myths and religions to create an immersive experience. Deicide is divided into two realms, the first is the realm of mortals known as Tonantzin and the second is the celestial world named Enthroned. Both of the worlds are approximately 75 percent the size of Earth with dynamic landscapes and fully interactive towns and cities.

The game allows for customization never before seen in any other **MORPG. There are two major playstyles someone could choose. Someone could be the traditional combat-oriented adventurers or non-combat cyberlife simulation both of which allowed for someone to fully immerse themselves into the game. The game boasted that nearly all creatures in the game were playable in one form or another. While the total number of playable races was never released, a new player had access to thirty-three and could unlock others through gameplay and meeting certain in-game requirements.

Players could choose between three major factions. The first are the torans which are the mortal races from Tonantzin. The toran included humans, elves, centaurs, lamia, vampires, lycanthropes and countless more. The second are the immortal celestials from Enthroned which included angels, demons, shinigami genies, ryu and hundreds more. Lastly were the undead from Tonantzin which are beings that were given unlife by dark magics. It is approximated that there are over 3000 playable and customizable races that a player could potentially unlock.

Since its release the game has had four major updates which added new events and changed the name of the game. First was Deicide which was the base game. Deicide: Kings and Men, which added the non-combat classes and the ability for players to become rulers in the various cities around the map. Deicide: Rise of Undeath, which added the undead races as playable. Finally, Deicide: No Gods No Kings which increased the level cap from 100 to 150 and has an event tied to Enthroned.