Author's Note: I rewrote and combined chapters. Mostly editing the lore.
"Reality is the only thing that's real."
That was the High 5's favorite saying. And with the invention of Nerve-Gear, it was made possible for people to spend their waking hours, out and about in the real world, without compromising their time in the Oasis.
The "Dreamscape Helmet", as the Oasis brand was called, was a marvel of modern technology. Built by Ogden Morrow, the same specialist that invented the hardware for the Oasis.
Although Og had little to do, with building the digital worlds, or gaming mechanics. As he just built the hardware, and contributed to the stories and plots.
This new helmet, caused anyone whom wore it, to have their dreams directed by the Oasis. They still entered RIM sleep, but instead of chaotic dreams of random thoughts, they would have their minds guided in a virtual world.
The players could feel everything going on around them, and to them. They could even taste foods. But it was all simulations their brain was interpreting, through programs.
Player's could spend a day in the Oasis, for a single hour in the Real World. With the ability to speed up time even faster, while playing solo games.
Unfortunately, a child's brain was too under developed, to safely use this function. So children, from preschool through college, would attend Virtual Reality Classes, in an entirely different server. Which also had "family friendly" games, and used "Child friendly Censorship". Until the kid turned 25, and could buy a Oasis Dreamscape Helmet.
Many kids bought a different helmet, for every more limited VRMMORPGs, they played. Which had Parental Lock options.
While 18 year olds, could buy the "M" rated Nerve-Gear games... Anything that wasn't the Oasis was thought of as Just for kids. Even if only "College Kids" could play them.
This eventually resulted in the legal age of adulthood, being pushed up to 25. It wasn't the sole reason. There were a large number of factors, that led to a new definition of "Childhood".
Starting with kids, staying kids, for longer. Due too prices going up, and being unable to move out of their parents house... which resulted in parents getting tired of having no rights over their children, despite them living at home.
Then some politicians, wanting votes, said it was unethical to imprison a 20 year old, for 20 years or longer. Given their underdeveloped brains, meant it was harder for them to make responsible decisions.
Then there were improvements in Cybernetic organs, pushing the Average life Expectancy to unknown limits, so long as they received regular maintenance of their synthetic organs. And better drugs, in simple over the counter vitamins, making it so people rarely developed brain disorders.
All that resulted in kids, being allowed to stay kids, for longer. Oh they continued to get "legal privileges", like being able to drink alcohol, or sleep with people in their general age bracket. Until they became rights, at 25, but parents had the right to set up rules and restrictions on these things...
It also became illegal for a 40 year old to sleep with anyone under 25. Which 24 year olds, whom had a "Daddy" fetish, were not happy about. Older adults, weren't happy about it, either. But it became the new normal. And Adults could always use younger Avatars... although some went way too young... but that was still legal.
Too keep children active, during the day, the High 5 opened up more real world Community Centers. Which each had 4 teams, for every sport, in every age bracket. Those would compete with each other, then the winners would compete against their counties other community centers. Then moving up to state wide. Followed by Country wide, and finally world wide.
They also had retro gaming, on consoles and arcade boxes. Even rigs setup, to play in the original server of the Oasis. There were also boardgames, and movies. They even had a Dojo, to learn real world self defense. With the Community Center, organizing a wide variety of events, for everything they offered.
But one little boy, who didn't even know he had a name, experienced none of this.
CODEXes for the "Oasis Matrix" Universe. (A crossover between: the "Ready Player One" movie, "Sword Art Online", while featuring characters from "The Matrix" original trilogy).
• Halliday and Og:
In the year 1975, James Halliday and Ogden Marrow were born. They attended the same school, and became the best of friends.
At the age of 67, they released the Oasis. A Virtual Reality simulator, that used additional gear (such as vest and gloves, and potentially entire body suits). Which allowed players to feel what their Avatar does. With Halliday creating the programming, and Og the hardware.
Within 5 years, the OASIS had completely replaced the Internet itself.
Decades later, Halliday forced Marrow to sign away his shares in their joint company... and Og returned to his work in Cybernetic implants and prosthetics.
20 years later, the rich and powerful succeed in Terraforming Mars, and flee Earth. Leaving the middle class and poor to fend for themselves. The last act of all governments is to hand control of all countries over to Halliday.
At 166 years old, Halliday dies. Only able to live so long thanks to replacing most of his organs with Og's synthetic ones. Halliday leaves control of Earth's global government, to Ogden Marrow.
Og has similar upgrades to Halliday, but gets them routinely replaced, along with memory storage implants.
When Halliday dies, his brain is quickly removed, and installed into a super computer. Using a special gel to stimulate the brain, while preserving it. However, Halliday is declared legally dead, despite his conciousness surviving through his brain. Few people know Halliday is still around, and built a new identity as the Command Mode of the Oasis.
• Kirito's Origins:
Born as Narusaka Kazuto, Kirito was adopted by his aunt and uncle, after his biological parents died in an accident, when he was a year old. They gave him their own family name, and never told him he wasn't their biological son... the kid had to figure that out on his own.
Regardless, his new parents raised him, as if he was their own son. With all the love and nurturing any boy could need.
Practically as soon as he could walk, Kazuto was forced to join the neighborhood kendo dojo. Alongside his cousin / perceived older sister
However due to his aunt's influence, as an editor for a computer systems magazine, Kazuto became more interested in computers, and dropped the course.
This decision earned him a heavy beating from his grandfather, prompting Suguha (Kazuto's cousin) to defend him, by promising to practice enough for both of them.
At the age of ten, Kazuto discovered that he was adopted, and started unintentionally distancing himself from the family.
After turning 14, Kirito was chosen to be one of the 1000 beta testers for the closed beta of Sword Art Online, the first game to use "Nerve Gear".
A year of testing later, and Kirito joined the official version. Becoming one of the 10,000 players trapped inside the game "Sword Art Online".
He remained a solo player for the majority of his imprisonment. Willingly taking on the role of a "Beater", to reduce discrimination against other former beta testers. As well as actively taking part in Boss battles.
Kirito temporarily became a member of the Moonlit Black Cats. After helping them safely escape a dangerous dungeon, but returned to being a solo player when a fatal error resulted in the death of the other guild members.
At some point in the game, Kirito became known as "The Black Swordsman" due to his tendency to wear black clothing.
3 years into the game, Kirito ran into "the girl of his dreams". Having bumped into her numerous times. However, this was the first time they got to actually stay with each other.
Choosing to forget about escaping for a little while, they both tried to temporarily live in a cabin they stumbled on. This turned into a year of bliss for both of them.
Unfortunately, just as Kirito decided to leave the escape plans to other people, she tragically died. Although they never officially married, only engaged, he listed himself as a Widow.
After being found by Klein, the Samurai took the Swordsman as his ward, with Kirito not having the will to argue... and when Kirito did recover... he found he enjoyed their oddly platonic relationship.
Kirito eventually put an end to the game, by defeating the final boss, in a one on one fight. Thus freeing everyone.
However... he couldn't keep away from Nerve Gear. Later being Approached by a new division of Military intelligence. Designed to protect players from rogue hackers, that now infected the game.
Hacking may have once been an annoyance, but now it could potentially destroy people's livelihoods... or even leave them catatonic.
Licensed Modding was still allowed, but had a lot of red tape, to insure the programs were properly tested... and didn't do anything too game breaking. People were messing with brain chemistry, after all. So officials had to ensure there mods didn't cause brain damage.
On this task force, Kirito was the first and last defense against cyber terrorism.
The Oasis was, already, the best way to cope with what the world had become. What humanity had turned it into... Well, not his generation directly. Kazuto was old, but not THAT old.
During the industrial revolution, when technology got a huge boom... those guys hadn't realized they needed to regulate their consumption of resources. Nor find better ways to dispose of the waste.
Kazuto didn't blame them. They had done what humanity had always done. The issue was they didn't understand the sheer level of pollution these things cause... nor thet that did more then make the air smell bad.
Really, how were they supposed to know? Then there was the population boom. Which only got worse and worse, as the centuries progressed. Which led to even greater consumption of resources, and more pollution. Then there was the energy crisis.
People had been saying they needed to get off fossil fuels for decades, but humans, like all animals, are resistant to change. They eventually used it all up. Only then switching to things like alternative energy... which regrettably, wasn't green energy, but rather nuclear... Which, given it's nature, was only possible to set up for major cities.
Small towns became a thing of the past. As all surrounding people fled to big cities, due to lack of resources.
The Oasis, for the longest time, acted as an escape. A Virtual Reality, housing all mankind's Knowledge. It's what replaced the internet. Though, thankfully, most major cities prioritized setting up free Wi-Fi stations. As it was more important then ever.
In the mid 21st century, The Oasis got an upgrade. Creating a Next Gen VR Helmet. This helmet, created the first true Virtual Reality. Feeding all 5 senses, through input directly into the brain. This baby would guide RIM sleep.
Although the first build "Sword Art Online"... had caused a bit of a scandal, as thousands had been trapped inside the game, for years, living off feeding tubes.
Though that, was sorta intentional, given the maker of that game had a psychotic break. And thought he was "Saving" the people... by imprisoning them in a "better world"... Although a slight issue with this plan was, the game was perma-death. So if you died in the game, you died in real life. The helmet was actually DESIGNED, to purposefully kill the user, if their Avatar died.
Yeah... that was a bit of a set back, for the technology. However, once the scandal was forgotten, the technology was near immediately picked back up.
After all, 10 thousand people, trapped in hell, might seem like a big deal... but seeing as the world's population was 20 billion. It was soon forgotten by all but those directly affected. With many of the people who had actually lived in that world, becoming the biggest voices for giving the technology a second chance.
After all, that world they escaped? They regretted leaving. Even with the threat of death, they longed for that plentiful world, of adventure and cooperation.
The players had smelled clean air, tasted real food, felt every touch and kiss. Heard the quiet peace of nature. They experienced a real world, virtual or not. One far better then their own.
So naturally, after the technology became better regulated, and got rid of that pesky "real world death" function. They threw themselves back into it.
People didn't even need a rig anymore. Just the helmet, and a safe place to lay down. If there were any kinds of disasters, from as trivial as needing to pee, to as serious as the house catching on fire, the helmet would automatically save the player's progress and wake them up. Complete with a message about what interrupted the Game.
Because of how much data the helmet streamed directly into the brain, players still needed to actually sleep, even within the game. But they only really needed about an hour of rest, out of every 10. While staying awake too long, in the game, couldn't actually hurt you, it could cause you to lag. So, as a safety precaution. The Player's Avatar would start becoming fatigued, if they didn't rest.
A time-limit was installed, preventing players from indulging in the Oasis more then 7 hours a day. Forcing people to spend all their waking hours, in the real world... but thankfully, the Oasis was no longer closed Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Gregarious Games, even found a way too speed up the Oasis. So 7 Hours, in the real world, was stretched out to a week, in the digital world. This meant people effectively spend one stressful day, working, then took off a week, without it affecting their real world responsibilities.
The High 5 really were pushing that "Reality is the only thing that's real" nonsense. Putting so much money into researching ways to allow people to spend all the time they wanted, inside their game. While also ensuring they spent every day of their lives, out and about in the real world.
• Parzival's Origins:
Everyone knew everything, about Parzival. They freaking taught his history to school children. With multiple movies focused on Z's life. It was kinda hard not to know about "The First to the Key"... but knowing the real thing... just enforced the real life tragedy of it all.
He really was named "Wade Watts", because his dad was a dork, and thought it sounded like a Superheroes secret identity. Like Peter Parker, or Bruce Banner.
Wade was born to a couple of dumb teenagers, soon after all the small towns had been deserted. His parents had been some of those refugees. Living in "the stacks", a place where all the trailers and RVs people used, to get to the big cities, were literally stacked on top of each other.
Just a few months, after Wade was born, his father was shot to death, while looting a grocery store, during a power outage... Apparently the man had been mostly trying to steal diapers, and other necessities he struggled to afford.
Parzival's mother, Loretta, had to get two full-time jobs after that. Both, in the Oasis. By Day, She worked as a telemarketer... but by night... she wasn't anything as glamorous as a caped vigilante... she was a virtual escort.
Loretta introduced her child to the Oasis, at a young age, as a means of babysitting him, while she worked.
There, Wade played various games, watched nearly every movie and show in existence, and learned all kinds of useful life skills. Including his tech savviness.
When Wade was 11, his mother died from a drug overdose. Which is sadly, too often the fate of those that struggle with drug addiction, as she did.
After that, Wade moved in with his aunt, and her "Endless stream of hard loving losers"... one thing the vids didn't know, was these men were often abusive to both his aunt and himself... in more ways then one.
Wade dived further into the Oasis, often as an escape from his crappy life.
His aunt tried her best to take care of him... but that mostly meant hiding him in one of the neighbors homes, when her Boyfriends were feeling particularly brutal.
The neighbor was a friendly cat lady... who may have been a tad overly enthusiastic about her religious beliefs. But unlike the Stereotypes, she was actually a good person. Even realizing the bible didn't actually teach anything against Homosexuality, directly, as she actually bothered to read the thing.
Most of Wade's waking hours, were spent in his secret hideout. A van, within the junk yard of cars, that got abandoned after gas became too expensive, and everyone in the city switched to electric... which, given how often the batteries of those things need to be replaced, wasn't actually any better for the environment.
At first, Wade attended school in the real world. But then volunteered to go to school in the OASIS. A new phenomena at the time.
However, he didn't have enough money to do anything else. Wade was often bullied by the richer students at the school. Since he only wore the default options for clothing. The kids quickly picked up, that meant he was too poor to buy literally anything else. However, since it was a no PvP zone, he was safe from injury... and learned to wield his words as hard as any fist.
Wade largely slacked off during school. However, he still earned enough credits to graduate.
In his spare time, Wade obsessed with Halliday's Hunt for the ultimate "Easter Egg". Learning everything he could about not only pop culture, but Halliday's life.
This is how he met his best friend, Aech, a Mod Designer, and virtual mechanic.
Later, he met his first girlfriend... Art3mis, a well-known Gunter, sharing a common interest in Halliday's history. However, EVERYONE knows how that ended.
But they started out, really hitting it off. Together, they studied Halliday's life, and learned of all the regrets the man had.
Including his unrequited love for Ogden Morrow's wife, Kira... and losing Morrow as a friend, after forcing him to sign away his part of Gregarious Games.
Parzival and Art3mis formed, what was supposed to be, a temporary alliance with Aech, Daito, and Sho. The other winners of the first challenge in "The Hunt for Halliday's Easter Egg"... or at least, the players that weren't working for I.O.I at the time.
Parzival and his new allies completed the second Challenge together. Forming strong bonds as they worked on the puzzle.
Within a few months of working together, and just before the "Battle for the Oasis", they decided to "Clan up". As they had become close friends, and wanted to make their final stand, as an official team.
They called themselves "The High 5"... based on a running joke that everyone refused to give Parzival high fives... and a bit of a pun, considering there were 5 of them.
During the battle, which consisted of nearly every player in the world, going after I.O.I. . . . well I.O.I. activated an artifact, to kill all Avatars on the entire planet, where the final challenge took place. Including themselves.
Respawn took less time, back then, and they were hoping they could get back to the planet, before anyone else.
Unfortunately, for them at least, though extremely fortunate for the rest of the world, Parzival had scored an Extra Life. So he had more then enough time to complete the 3rd, and final, Challenge.
After, Parzival, apparently, won the third task. A gateway opened to Halliday's AI. Where the boy was given a contract to sign. However, Wade recognized it as the same contract, Morrow signed to turn over his part of Gregarious. Parzival refused, saying he won't make Halliday's mistakes...
Now that moment... is rather iconic, although the vids do make it a bit more grand, with an added speech about the importance of Friendship. That didn't actually happen in real life.
The AI reveals that the contract was the final test and, after talking with him for a while, gave Parzival "the Golden Egg" and control of OASIS.
Once Wade returned to the real world, Morrow appears, having tracked them down during the beginning of the final challenge.
Morrow offered Wade his services. Which the teenager gladly accepted. Wade decided to run OASIS, with the other members of the High Five.
Parzival and Art3mis, decided to get an apartment, together. They dated for a little over three years... even got engaged at one point... but that all came crashing down, when she discovered Parzival is an age player.
But Parzival's life did work out... until the world ended. Then it only got better...