As they opened the gate I quickly entered the city. There was a map near the gates to orient newcomers to the city. Epic City was a raised circle on a large hill. There are four quadrants based on the cardinal directions. The northern quadrant was were the keep was. The mayor of the city governed from there. Beyond that was a stairwell that led to the temple Where Lance Quaid and the Order of Lancelot was housed. The western quadrant was where the demihumans lived. The eastern quadrant was where the slums and the red light district were. The southern district Was where the well off citizens lived. There were churches and the main markets. Even the guilds had there offices there. The center was for the courts and other administrative buildings like the bank and prison. If I could have my pick I would of course want to live with and join the Order of Lancelot in the northern district. I would probably be living in the western quadrant though. I sighed and moved on.
While the programmers were not discriminatory to any race, they wanted to create a real and dynamic experience. This meant that some NPCs were extremely bigoted towards other races. The two guards to the city were a fine example of that. I wish I was warned about that by either the developers or Suzie. Epic City, being looked at closely by Lance Quaid, could not implement any nasty polices as it would effect players who had demihuman avatars. However, I could see that certain NPCs did not take kindly to me. Some looked disgusted and others had a malicious glint in their eye. Most ignored me and went on with their day. I was still dirty, so I went to the western quadrant. This was were the amount of demihumans began to increase dramatically. Lamias, driders, centaurs, harpies and beastkin were all milling about. It was a sight I never thought I'd see. Some were players and others were NPC's.
The first thing I did was pay for an inn with a bathouse. All players had a starting amount. The dev logs said that those in the first week would be granted a bonus of 5000 lin. Lin, copper and gold were the currency of Ether. A lin was a silver coin. 1 gold was 100 lin. 1 lin was 100 copper. After the first week the starting amount would be 100 lin. Epic City's shops were based on the economy of the non combatant NPCs. For example, while 100 lin did not feel like much compared to 5100, a night in the fanciest inn with a full course dinner was 5 lin. Even if you just wanted to explore city life and join a trade, you would be able to make a nice living. I decided to get in the bath quickly. I washed my fur with a long bristle brush and made sure I was clean. I waded in the water and let my body soak in the warmth. I sighed as my muscles relaxed. I looked around and saw the other patrons enjoying it as well.
It was time to look for Suzie. I climbed out the pool and shook my body to get the water off me. A lizardkin bathwench came to me with a towel. "Allow me to wipe you down, valued customer" she said. I nodded and she gave me a smile. She began wiping the fur on my flank with the towel. She made small talk with me as she worked and stroked my ego. I couldn't help but blush when she moved back to my hindquarters. "Your stripes are so pretty you could spend hours counting them" she said. It made me feel good. "Thank you, ma'am" I replied. She giggled and said "You know, we have a special service for Yieldless like yourself". "Yieldless"' was what all the players were referred as by the NPCs . It was supposed to be a term of endearment or wonder. The slur they used for the players was "Master". It was because the more domineering plays acted like they owned the whole world and did whatever they pleased.
