Prologue: The Birth Of The Realm
In the twentieth century, man's innovation knew no bounds. Even though the time was marred by massive conflicts, mankind nonetheless achieved a plethora of accomplishments that only one generation ago would've been deemed impossible. Breakthrough after discovery after revelation, technology marched ever onward. Some at first fought the changes, protesting the machine's domination of industry, the automation of the mundane and the rise in bureaucracy it all created. These voices were few, however, as were those who were environmentally slanted. The population on the whole welcomed the changes with open arms.
Then, when the internet became mainstream, it revolutionized the world. Commerce, entertainment and communication all adapted to this new all-encompassing medium. First it was computers that connected to the internet. Then phones. Then watches updated their time online. Nearly every object that was electronic was designed to connect. The growth of the worldwide web defied even exponential modeling, anything and everything could be found online. Be it legal or illegal, it was available for download. Once again, some said the content was degrading social morality. Others accused the internet of rendering all copyright laws utterly ineffective. Even if these few voices had been billions, there was no stopping the internet. Burgeoned beyond all comprehension, it was a juggernaut bent only on expansion.
As the twenty-first century began a new kind of game became popular very rapidly. The usual "gamer" crowd were the first to flock to it. Soon enough, though, more and more people found themselves in front of computer displays. Drawn to the epic adventures, the unlimited potential, the fantasy escape. MMORPG, Massively Multiplayer Role-Playing Games, became all the rage. Thousands of users became millions. Millions reached over a billion as time progressed. Some achieved immense popularity, and others never saw the light of day. By this time anyone who had spoken out against the new technologies of man was either dead or playing their character on their favourite MMORPG. As the real world had embraced the internet, so too it embraced this genre. School classes were now held in games online. Businesses set up shop in virtual towns. Any outside observer would've been able to say that this behavior was madness, but society was too wrapped up in it to notice. It became commonplace, acceptable, the norm, to spend four or more hours in the game, for people of all ages, classes, races.
But this would not last forever. As computers reached their operational limits, and processors could not be built faster, technology plateaued. Year after year, the same computers were re-released. No improvement. No doubling of memory. Without shiny new graphics to keep the trend alive, users became disinterested. The love affair with the online reality had dulled. What had once amazed now bored. One by one, as users flocked away from the MMORPG, the games died. A fantasy reality without people to populate it will collapse quite quickly. Those who were loyal, those who loved the games, rallied to new ones as the ones they played fell. In time though even the most popular one (The World Mark 4) fell to ashes. The internet was abandoned as a popular tool, and was left largely unused by the masses who had moved on with their lives.
Humanity remained stagnant for sometime, their creative surge spent. Life was good, the countries of the world now on more equal footing, many major problems eliminated. The pace slowed, people were content, and not much varied from day to day. But a genius was soon to change this. Pandemonium breeds within the heart of stagnation, for change is always inevitable. A brilliant young student, Kevin Cameron, finally created something new, something brilliant. The world was about to take one giant leap forward.
What he created was a neural interface that was able to guide and impose limits on "dream" thoughts while people were still awake. The tyranny of the five waking senses over the mind was overthrown, and the mind was freed. With this device, you could be immersed in a fantasy realm that is viewed from first person and seems entirely real. These illusory sensations created jointly by the device and the mind supplant the five senses. What is real is undone, and what is unreal is made real. This discovery alone was significant, but not able to radically change the world alone, but...
Soon afterwards he created software that could link multiple people to the same surreal realm, and they were capable of interacting in real-time. Two people, from any distance, with no wires to connect them or radio signals bouncing through the air, said hello in a fantasy dreamscape. The two test users became twenty, as the limits of this technology were cautiously tested. Twenty immediately became a thousand. The simplicity of the device granted it sublime power, it was capable of the impossible.
Here was the something new that the complacent humanity had been subconsciously craving. While not quite totally new, to compare the paltry experiences offered by the past virtual realities to this reality would be a crime. A new kind of MMORPG expanded into the empty entertainment void. It could hardly be called a game in its' immensity, for soon over half the global population logged in daily. The game came in time to be known as "The Realm". The year is 2206, and The Realm has been up since 2174.