THE UNCHARTED REGIONS
The Divided Kingdom
Appeared in the middle of the screen in big, stylized letters. Then the title dissolved into dust and was blown away by a gust of wind, the music fell silent as the screen returned to black once more. Two small buttons appeared in the center of the screen, with the words CONTINUE and SKIP, just as the voice of a weary old man came from the speakers:
"Ah, welcome traveler, to our beautiful land. If this is your first time and you would like to hear the story of our land, then please continue. For those of you who have heard the tale before, you may choose to skip, what will your decision be?" Jon, since it was his first time playing, moved the mouse to the left button and clicked CONTINUE.
The button's then faded from view as the old man cleared his throat: "Alright, now then, this is a tale of how our land once was, before the... Event took place. Twenty years ago, our land, the Kingdom of Ziral was in a time of peace, its citizens were happy and carefree. Our ruler, the beautiful and just Queen Rewen, had just signed a peace treaty with our neighboring Kingdom, Adwarekor..."
Here the screen showed a panoramic view of a beautiful land, with many towns and cities. Then a portrait of a beautiful woman with long raven hair, sparkling blue eyes and golden skin appeared, blocking the view of the land.
"... The treaty was to keep hostilities between our two kingdoms from ever starting, and so, King Ocawien signed the treaty, joining our two Kingdom's as one. For two years, the peoples of the two lands lived in harmony... until disaster struck, in the form of Ocawien's son, Prince Oleliseth. Unlike his father, who ruled his kingdom with a kind, but firm hand, Oleliseth was greedy and rebellious. He never wanted to make an alliance with the Queen of Ziral, no, it was his belief that our land and his father's kingdom should be his, and his alone. It was on the night of midsummer's day, that while King Ocawien and Queen Rewen met one another at a formal gathering for the midsummers festival, Oleliseth and a small company of loyal men and creatures stormed our Queen's castle, in the city of Calibeth, killed his father's bodyguards and murdered his father in cold blood. Then while his soldiers ran rampant through the city streets, killing civilian and soldier alike, Oleliseth and his two captains, the Orc lord Aselind and the demoness Faleni, removed Rewen from her throne, threw her in the dungeon, and forced her daughter, Princess Lenna, to become his wife."
The screen then showed flashes of a battle, screams of people and creatures sounded from the speakers. Jon found himself gripping his desk so hard that his knuckles were white.
"For eighteen years Lord Oleliseth had ruled the lands of his father and our Queen, who he still holds captive in the dungeons below the castle. Terror and fear filled the lands as friend turned on friend and allies against allies, until, out of the darkness spawned by Oleliseth, came a glimmer of hope. It was not but a year after Oleliseth had taken over, that Lenna gave birth to his daughter, Aalethiel. Under the secret teachings from her mother, the young princess grew into wise and just young woman, as beautiful as her mother. Aalethiel, along with a band of loyal soldiers from both Ziral and Adwarekor, at the age of seventeen, rebelled against her father and took from him the southern lands of his kingdom and the lands nestled between the western border's of Ziral and the southern border's of Adwarekor, known as the Uncharted Regions, and she has ruled the southern lands since then."
The old man's voice sighed as the screen changed once more to show a room in a cottage with and old man sitting in a stuffed chair by a roaring fire, rolling up an old scroll in his hands. The man looked up at the screen and, to Jon it seemed that he was staring right at him, spoke once more:
"Well, there you are young traveler. That's the tale of how our once united kingdom's became divided, all because of the greed of one man. Now it is time for your story to mapped and laid out, now... it is time for your story, to begin. Oh, my! I almost forgot, we haven't even introduced ourselves yet, I... am called Barnabas the Historian, what's your name, young traveler?"
A box titled 'CREATE ACCOUNT' with places to put your name, username (which he typed in as Jon), age, birth date and email - it's an MMORPG, forgot to mention that - appeared on the screen. Jon entered his information and clicked the continue button. The box vanished and the screen showed Barnabas now holding a new scroll in his weathered hands, reading it and making little 'hmm-ing,' sounds. He then looked back up and nodded his head.
"It's a pleasure to know you my fine young friend. Now, what are you?"
Right after the old historian said that a new screen came up, this time it was an unrolled scroll, with the words 'CHARACTER CREATOR' at the top. In the middle of the scroll was a rotating figure of a male human, with all default settings. Around the spinning figure were selection boxes for Race, Gender, Stats, Type, and Skills; as well as a small selection of clothes, armor and weapons. After taking a while to think about his character, Jon began to create...
