The year is 2057, and humanity has made great strides in artificial intelligence and virtual worlds. One of the latest, and greatest, successes in a massively multiplayer online game, known as Santerra. Unlike similar games in the past, this game was built using the latest in direct neural feedback technology, which allowed the player to<em>become</em>their character. The world was a high fantasy realm of magic and swordplay, considered to be both difficult, and highly rewarding. Thanks to the neural link, the game could run at incredible speeds; weeks, or even months pass ingame, while only hours tick by in the real world. It offers a nearly unrivaled experience... although not everything is as wholesome as the advertisements would lead you to believe.<br/><br/>Our story begins with a relatively new player to the game. In real life, she's a young, twenty-something woman named Callie Liddle, but in the game, she is the heroic and daring Syndella (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=985267). New to the game, but not to gaming, she's finally made her way through the 'tutorial' segment of the story, a long, mostly linear series of adventures, defending a small town against a gnollish horde. Up until now, the game has been fairly easy; the enemies have low health and poor tactics, death is punished with only a minor inconvenience, and NPC allies are frequent. Other players did, occasionally, appear, but, for the most part, the storyline was entirely single-player.<br/><br/>That all changed, at the start of her third session, playing the game, today. Defeating the gnollish warchief, saving the town, and reaching Level 4, she was finally freed of the linear tutorial, and given a quest to deliver a message to the capital. The approach to the city is suitably dramatic, as she rides over a hill, the city sweeping into view before her, the three rings of walls barely containing the sprawling city that bustles with life and energy. For the first time, she sees other players around in number; some of them barely equipped, obviously new arrivals like her, some sweeping past atop majestic mounts, or soaring overhead on griffons, their armor bejeweled and radiant.<br/><br/>Finally, she reaches the city gates, ready to bask in the hustle and bustle of a living, breathing, magical medieval ci--<br/><br/>"LF2M FOR WWC, NO RANGERS"<br/>"NEED ROGUE FOR TRG!"<br/>"Selling [+5 Mithral Full Plate of Speed], PST w/ offer"<br/>"Did somebody say [Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker]? I think I heard someone say [Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker]!"<br/>"STFU, noob."<br/><br/>Ahh, the wonders of life in a virtual world.