Launch Date

Lawrence Harding

“Well then, what’s all this about?” demanded General Gormorant as he strode into the atrium. “You’d better not be wasting my time, Bastian. There’s a war on.”

Bastian, for her part, was unruffled. She met his gaze with all the poise and confidence that her dark uniform designating her a senior member of the Sidhe Alliance Research Division demanded – and a smile. “I’m well aware of that, sir. What I have to show you might be vital for winning it.”

Gormarant raised an eyebrow. “What is it? Some kind of weapon?”

Bastian grinned. “Better. I’ve brought you an army.” She gestured flamboyantly towards the door. “If you’ll step this way, sir, I’ll explain everything.”

Behind the doors was a cavernous hangar. To Gormorant’s surprise, the centre was dominated by a gigantic crystal ball. Within it hung a vision of a rolling green field willed with stylised warriors wielding a variety of weapons – swords, spears, glaives and axes of every kind. Beneath it, row upon row of personal crystals were ranged from wall to wall, each with a faerie studiously hunched over it, dutifully inputting or manipulating information. Gormorant couldn’t see what they were doing at first, but as Bastian led him closer he realised that many of them had the same landscape on their monitors that the main screen showed, zoomed in on individual avatars.

“Are they playing a game?” he asked incredulously.

“Not quite.”

“The Council does not fund your operation for idle distractions,” snapped Gormorant. Bastian didn’t flinch.

“I had a feeling you’d react this way. Let me explain.” She began what was obviously a rehearsed speech. “Over the past few human years, they have developed a number of exciting technologies. The internet, allowing near-instant data transfer without the aid of scry-crystals. Games involving immersion in other worlds, often played over said internet, leading to an entire subculture of “gamers”, who are almost a guild as we would understand them. And most recently, what they call VR – virtual reality, where, by the application of headsets, the gamers experience their alternate realities as if they were really there.” She pointed at an operator on the other side of the aisle, who was wearing an unwieldy-looking pair of goggles. “Headsets much like that.”

“And this has what to do with the war, exactly?”

“Well, general, it has been a long tradition to employ champions from other realms to fight in our wars. So a group of us wondered if we might not make the process a little more efficient. By procuring some VR headsets and imbuing them with our own magical technologies, we have produced a means of drawing the player’s consciousness through the veil in the guise of a game involving a massive number of fellow players. We have had reasonable success with putative recruitment so far, as you can see if I do this…” She tapped on her tablet and approximately two thirds of the figures on the screen were lit by a turquoise aura.

“So, those are humans,” said Gormorant after a pause. Bastian nodded at him, approvingly.

“Yes. These are our test subjects. They believe they are helping us develop the game – beta-testing, they call it. But it’s more that we’re working out if they can function inside its parameters. And I’m happy to report that they do.”

Gormorant looked unconvinced. “So they aren’t actually physically here?” Bastian shook her head.

“Yes, and no. Their corporeal forms are back in their realm, plugged into our devices. They are here, as it were, in spirit, which is all we’ve ever really needed when securing human services. Once you have their minds and souls everything else follows.” She smirked. “The human will is a fascinating thing. Convince them well enough that they’re here and they will be.”

Gormorant stroked his lilac oiled beard thoughtfully. “And they are all here willingly? I find that hard to believe. In my experience it takes a lot to get even a single human to do what we want. Their desires are normally more… physical than this.”

Bastian’s smirk became a grin. “They are. That’s the beauty of it. They haven’t been brought here in exchange for anything. They are here because they want to be in of itself. They were promised adventure, comradeship, battle. And that’s what they have.” She spread her arms wide and looked up at the screen. “The days of tempting individual champions is over, general. This is the future.”

Gormorant frowned. “No. No, that can’t be right. They may be tempted to our world by adventure, but the crossing of the veil demands a payment. I can’t see what they’re getting out of this that fulfils the Contract.” His frown suddenly deepened. “Unless you’re seriously suggesting that we craft faerie gold for thousands upon thousands of humans? Do you know how labour intensive and expensive that would be? Even if we won the war the economy would be in ruins!”

Bastian turned back to him and shook her head. “I’ve got that covered too. Come and look at this.” She led him over to a console at the side of the room and tapped the operator on the shoulder. “Jenail, can you explain what this is to the general please?”

Jenail looked from Gormorant’s impressive array of medals to his scarred and scowling face, and coughed nervously. “Well, sir, you’ll see here we have an assortment of rewards which can be bought – a shop, if you will. The players will earn points through accruing kills, which can then be spent here.”

“What kind of rewards? Gold? Jewels?”

“Skins, they call them – ways to change the appearance of their avatars, the way they see themselves. Nicer-looking weapons. Weapons that they believe to be better – which in practice they are, since the imagination is so convinced by the reality they are in. All things that improve their enjoyment of fighting for us.”

Gormorant’s brow furrowed. “You mean these don’t exist outside the vision? The game?”

“Nope. They only have meaning inside the vision. Even better, they have no physical presence in either universe. They’re just data infused with magika.”

“Much easier to tap a few keys than craft a pot of ephemeral gold, wouldn’t you say?” Bastian added with a wink.

“So, let me check that I’ve got this right.” General Gormorant took a deep breath and began counting off on his fingers. “These humans are so spiritually and mentally in our world that they crossed the veil and made their own corporeal forms. They are here because they think they’re playing a game and that is excitement enough. The only payment they seem to care about is trinkets they can’t even keep outside the battlefield and which they need to keep killing to earn in the first place.”

“That about sums it up, sir, yes.”

Gormorant nodded thoughtfully. “Well, it feels odd to me but I’m a bluff old traditionalist. I still miss the days where a pipe and green knickerbockers was a perfectly good uniform. But if it wins us the war then that’s good enough for me.” He sucked at his teeth then seemed to come to a conclusion. “You’ll have my support with the Council. When can you have them in the field?”

“Within the day.”

Gormorant grinned. It was the first time Bastian had ever seen him smile. “Then let it be so.”

*

Across the Earth, thousands of emails pinged.

Hi guys! Thanks for all the support. We have exciting news! The beta-testing has ironed out all the kinks and we are ready to launch! Just follow the link for full access to Sword and Sidhe: Dynasty.

Build guilds! Recruit your friends! Loot plunder! Conquer realms! Win the war!

Get ready for the fight of your lives.

Author’s Note

Thanks to Maja Bäckvall for the tongue-in-cheek request on Twitter that led to this story.