GameEpic of Stories

[Maharg67]

Foolish, arrogant Terran humans of our world have used an ancient alien artifact, exotic human-alien hybrid science technologies, along with specialised advanced human technologies, to create a realm based on the super vertual reality gameworld of Tamerial. The official name is Super Tamriel but mostly it is called just Tamriel.

 

Humans enter, exist in Super Tamriel as various types of Virtual Player Characters, VPCs, being Alpha, Beta or Gamma. Alpha spend longer and gain more bonuses and so forth with the Gamma being budget priced players. Alpha are least common and Gamma are most common.

 

There are Virtual Corporate Characters who serve the Virtual Visions Coporation who legally own and run Super Tamriel.

 

There are government Virtual Government Characters who keep check on what is going on in Super Tamriel.

 

There are Virtual Tresspass Characters who are illegally in Super Tamriel.

 

There are the massive number, and types, of Non Player Characters generated by Super Tamriel itself.

 

Details of others will be added in future with no spoilers, hopefully.

 

At first everything seems to be going fine as humans escape from a dying home world to find adventure or just a peaceful holiday in Super Tamriel. Then things start to go odd thanks partly to Terran human foolishness but also thanks to factors outside of Terran understanding and control.

 

Super Tamriel is very much like Tamriel despite some changes. The cities, factions, individuals etc. of Tamriel are part of my stories from the Imperial City to the Emperor to the Mages Guild, goblins and everything else.

 

Any changes, additions, are carefully thought out to fit as much as possible such as a Merchants Guild, Mage-Artisans who specialise in making magical devices, hobgoblins who are more powerful versions of goblins, wands for mages who do not want to use staves, and a division between Imperial Cyrodilins, Royal Cyrodilins and Common Cyrodilins.

 

Other changes are more exotic such as relatively small number of magically driven machines of all kinds, soulstones being largely replaced by charge-crystals, large teleportation gateways between major cities for special transportation needs, at least three new Mer peoples, a surviving Ayleid Kingdom semiautonomous to the Empire, the addition of some items of Terran kind such as coffee and the Wayzones where Terrans enter Super Tamriel but which is hidden, closed, to NPCs.

Edited November 30, 2013 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

One 1:1(1)

 

From the concealed observation port, Aaron could see the distant city of Bruma that was a Royal City with its own countess and lesser royal dynasty. It was a very large castle-city with great thick, steeply sloping walls ingrained with powerful magical wards and other protections. The steeply sloping walls could have burning oil flow down their sides or even rolling explosive balls to wipe out ranks of the enemy. No siege for centuries but the royals refused to allow the outer walls to be demolished or city areas to grow up outside of the walls. With growing whispers of troubles arising in other parts of Tamriel, the countess was becoming even more determined not to allow such changes to be made and many folks were supporting her, including VIPs of the Empire.

 

Aaron was at the edges of the North Cyrodiil Wayzone but was both hidden, and sealed off from, anybody in Tamriel proper. He wore the green-brown splashwork jumpsuit, black webbing and black slipboots of a member of the government paramilitary force that was assigned to serve in Super Tamriel. The force had yet to gain a permanent name yet, so new was it. Of course he would not wear such gear if he went into Super Tamriel proper, especially not the heavy semiautomatic pistol holstered at his side or the wristcomputer on his left wrist.

 

Aaron had yet to enter Super Tamriel proper and the same could be said of his comrades. His feelings were mixed on doing so. He preferred to deal with 'real reality' other than the supposed 'real virtual reality' of that amazing realm. Aaron was one of many people who believed that it had been extremely unwise for humans to create Super Tamriel. They would have been much better off creating a far more Earth like realm, being one that had no such thing as magic, or monsters, in it.

 

In a couple of hours a road convoy of horse drawn vehicles would carry Virtual Player Characters to Bruma. Most would be Gammas who would spend only a few days in Bruma before they returned with hopefully happy holiday memories.

 

The prices to go into Super Tamriel were so high that many people were demanding price cuts so more Terrans could enter the realm. For once Aaron found himself on the side of the corporation for it was expensive to have people enter or leave the NexusMatrix, as it was now being called. It was also expensive to keep up security, safety and other factors to keep Super Tamriel running smoothly. If more Terrans went into Super Tamriel the task of stability and safety would become much harder.

 

Yet he also supported the idea of lotteries for the poorer people, of Terra, to give them a greater chance to have a trip to Super Tamriels; that way more of the visitors would be of lesser economic status for they would have reserved spaces in the visitor lists. The lottery earnings would pay their way.

 

The strong, warm, female voice spoke deep in his mind.

 

NexusVoy: Have you considered the suggestion of secretly serving another faction that is far less corrupt, inefficient and foolish than the United Nations World Government that you now serve?

 

Aaron: I have considered it, as have Aasha and Aasta. As it is we must make more preperations to enter Super Tamriel proper.

 

His wristcomputer vibrated, reminding him that he had to go to the final briefing of the mission.

Edited November 30, 2013 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

One 1:2(2)

 

The observation post was part of an altered cave system as was the rest of the Wayzone . The walls, and ceiling, were covered with special plastic and the floors a layer of special concrete; some of the natural shape of the caves still showed through with the walls and ceiling.

 

Even as he went to turn away from the observation window, something sparkled in the corner of one eye and he turned back to see something odd in the area of land below the small mountain that contained the Northern Cyrodiil Wayzone . Some kind of flaming, smoking, thing had appeared in the forest that was between the mountain and an area of Commoner Cyrodilin farmlands along with a large commons town supporting those farmlands.

 

Even as he recognised what it was, he cursed softly to himself.

 

NexusVoy: Oblivion Gate! Such things were part of the original gameworld of Tamriel but were not supposed to be part of Super Tamriel's Quest Epic.

 

Aaron: It certainly should not be this close to any of the Wayzones. I wonder just what will come through it. Will it be Mehrune Dagon's daedra already invading Northern Cyrodiil. In the original Quest Epic they invaded Kvatch, firstly, in any big way by Mehrune Dagon's daedra. Is that a large Oblivion Gate?

 

NexusVoy: No, only a middle sized one but surrounded by three small Oblivion Gates. The locals are going to have difficulties against any such invasion. Nothing seems to have come out of the gateways but, as I have told you, our links with the MatrixNexus are weak at best and thus is our ability to tap into its observational network-systems.

 

NexusVoy was one of a cluster of exotic entities that had somehow been created by the process that also created the MatrixNexus and then Super Tamriel. They were struggling to find out the truth of their existence just as Aaron, and his people, were.

 

Aaron: I consider strongly that we will agree with a working alliance between our peoples.

Edited November 30, 2013 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

One 1:3(3)

 

The briefing session was largely a waste of time and effort in which a Vice Marshal postured a lot on stage and presented information, using a holographic projector, that was of no real value to the troopers. The one good bit of information to come forth was the name of the new unit that would be Special Encounter Assault Recon Force, or SEARF. SEARF was divided largely into Special Encounter Assault Recon Teams, or SEARTs along with other types of units that mostly did service support to the teams.

 

They were in a big altered cave chamber of a multiple purpose theatre. Most of the place was empty as it was big enough to easily hold the fifty or so SEARF people there. Most were clones, as Aaron was, in the same kind of jumpsuits. Handguns and knives were there, along with other smaller weapons but that was normal for briefings.

 

While the self important Vice Marshal prattled on with his flow charts and maps of Super Tamriel, the Force Marshal calmly waited for him to stop wasting time. After the Vice Marshal departed, the Force Marshal switched off the holographic projector and got to the point.

 

"SEARF is as ready as it can be to go into action with its first missions. SEART01 will investigate the three Oblivion Gates that have materialised when such should be impossible. SEART02 will create a hidden, secured, outpost in the same area and be ready to take on specialists into the outpost. If it is necessary, SEART02 will directly support SEART01." Force Marshal Sangri frowned hard. "High Command, Special Forces, has decided that only a small part of the SEARF will be committed to Super Tamriel operations to start with."

 

High Command, Special Forces or otherwise, was the United Nations World Defense Force High Command. It was the common opinion amongst many that the UNWDFHC was a mixture of incompetance, corruption and lack of any real power. The UNWDF was itself far smaller, weaker and less effective than the super-power military forces and corporate mercenary forces of the dying home world.

 

They were ready to go and the first two SEARTs would soon be heading out into Super Tamriel. Which was when the sirens began to scream through out the Wayzone . Something very unexpected, and bad, was happening for there was a major defense security breach taking place.

Edited November 30, 2013 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

One 1:4(4)

 

Armour piercing bullets shot across the big chamber, bouncing of heavily armoured vehicles parked there doing more damage to largely destroyed electric motor-carts and golfcars. Dead bodies of workers were scattered across the area, the attackers having murdered them. Cyborg mercenaries, corporate killer dogs, they wore no insigna so could have been sent by any of the BigFive transplanetary corporations.

 

A small fighting mecha stomped into view, that is 'small for a mecha', and two miniguns began firing of hundreds of big caseless cartridges. A SEARF Trooper was fast to deal with the new threat, firing a pair of handlong missles into the combat-mecha's guts. The chunky, squat, metal humanoid exploded, falling backwards, the mercenary inside dying as it blew up.

 

The cyborg mercenaries were mind enslaved criminals, who existed in agony and aggression; killing them was not only justified, in the name of survival, but was merciful. They could not be salvaged, at least not by any means that SEARF knew of.

 

Aasha was in command of the clone super-soldiers in the big chamber, communicating with them in a secondary psychic fashion that none of them really understood. They had been given false memories of homes, of an academy back in realscape, but those were fragmenting and proving easily to be false; so where did they come from and why were they gaining special, exotic abilities?

 

The fighting went on with the cyborg mecenaries unable to surrender even if they had wanted to. The super-soldiers detested the conflict which was more like a massacre than a fair fight.

Edited November 30, 2013 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

One: 1.5(5)

 

The fighting ceased with the cyborg mercenaries controlling some 28% of the Wayzone including the Waygate that they had come through from the home world. It was deactivated, the Waygateway not being visible as a short 'energy tunnel', but was recharging rapidly. Then would come enemy reinforcements or so feared SEARF Command and others.

 

The United Nations Security Guardsmen at the zone had proven useless in the fight and had fortified their base, refusing to let anybody in as refugees and refusing to go out and fight. When they tried to surrender to the mercenaries, they had been massacred.

 

Volunteer militia proved to be useful allies but mostly doing secondary roles. They guarded areas, and people, to keep the secured zone functioning well for many of the zone peoples had gone crazy. To some degree this could be explained but beyond that it was a puzzle.

 

Aasta moved along a big monorail tunnel, the monotrain having ceased to run back and forth between stations, roughly towards the cyborg mercenary area. Yet it was not mercenaries that the SEART was seeking out but 'crazies', humans that had gone beserker insane with no apparently rational cause. Solid-state flurotubes flickered but then became bright again. The enemy were constantly trying to attack with computer network-systems viruses, worms and other such nasty software. So far they had failed for NexusVoy was secretly assisting SEARF and had infiltrated the AI-supercomputer network of network-systems.

 

A big rat darted past the platoon, being like those in Super Tamriel proper. The super-soldiers were so surprised, by the creature that should not have existed inside the zone, that they watched it go with out doing anything about it. Then they all felt rather foolish for not trying to capture it so as to gain some kind of explanation.

 

NexusVoy: I am sending you some rebuilt, upgraded, augmented roboremotes to assist you.

 

The captured enemy roboremotes now looked different and they were clearly better armoured, armed and otherwise equipped. They hovered now, moving quietly through the air, but had clever wheel systems that they could use if needed. They were also amphibious. Each of the thirteen devices carried extra equipment and supplies, along with special items, for the SEARF Troopers.

 

The platoon, of thirteen Troopers, kept moving but next time a rat came along they captured it with out hurting it and placed it in a armoured storage capsule where it slept deeply.

Edited November 30, 2013 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

One: 1.6(6)

 

Aaron, Aasta and Aasha met in the main command chamber along with Force Marshal Sangri and other Troopers. NexusVoy had been communicating with all of them since the SEARF Command had formed a secret agreement with NexusVoy and the entities behind it that it would not speak of in detail.

 

Aasta spoke, sitting at the big multiple purpose table as they all did, with a look of puzzlement on her face. "We scanned the fifteen giant rats that have been captured, so far. They are normal, though oversized for normal rats, and are clean showing no signs of having lived in sewer like conditions. They appear to be free of any infections, infestations or other dangerous micro-organisms or of any contaminations. Were they cloned?"

 

The mind voice came to all of them.

 

NexusVoy: The creation of Super Tamriel was flawed because it was done by humans who did not understand what they were doing using means that are not understood, often twisted, but there were other reasons also. There was corruption, the cutting of corners in a rush to get the Super Tamriel completed and basic stupidity. The project was rushed because there was a growing movement to halt it, a movement on Terra made up of wiser, concerned people but also of people who wanted to halt the Virtual Visions Corporation from making massive profits which they have been doing. Now they have failed, the movement has broken up into factions with very different agendas. The appearance of the giant rats, here in the zone where they are not supposed to be, is due to the madness, the mistakes, in creating Super Tamriel. The giant rats, here, are only defensive aggressive and will avoid conflict if they can.

 

There was a buzzing and a 3Dflatscreen lit up with the face of a non-SEARF volunteer. She showed a mixture of puzzlement and pleasure as she reported that the surviving cyborg mercenaries had retreated back to Terra. But then she spoke on. "They stole what they could and sabotaged much else. The Waygate they went through seems to be sealed off, locked, from their side."

 

There were three Waygates in the Wayzone that led to parts of Terra and others had never made active since humans had arrived. One other led through the Wayzone Barrier to Super Tamriel proper.

 

The woman spoke some more, showing more puzzlement. "Things were stolen from a secret armoured vault that not many, here in the zone, seemed to know about. I suggest strongly that you come and take a look for yourself."

 

Was that the real reason the cyborg mercenaries had attacked, that is to steal from that secret vault?

Edited November 30, 2013 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

One 1.7(7)

 

The secret vault was amazing being very large a system of semi-enclosed chambers with armoured display cases and armoured doors leading into smaller vault chambers. It was not part of the Wayzone network of network-systems or in any of the official databanks, even the ones marked 'top secret'. NexusVoy had hacked into all of the official databanks and what 'she' had revealed was surprising enough but this place, and its remaining artifacts, was more so.

 

There were items that were illegal to take out of Super Tamriel proper and to take into any Wayzone let alone the home world of Terra. That is there were magical devices such as quasimedieval body armour, swords, a horseless carriage, a flying wingsled, a dwemer clockwork robotic humanoid, an elaborate clock, other weapons and even a self playing chess board table. Yet there were also captured Grey devices such as rayguns, a small reality-twister and a spacesuit being all of glistening, disturbing, bio-organic nature. Grey copied tech devices were there, of dubious nature, and also strange Grey-human hybrid devices. The last kind of items were advanced Terran laserguns, robots, biotech serums and others.

 

The artifacts taken appeared to be all from the Tamriellan magical section. This was of great concern because it should have been impossible to take such items into the Wayzone let alone into realscape.

 

NexusVoy: All of the Waygates are now locked down into semiactive mode. I do not know how this was done and who, or what, did this. We appear to be trapped here. Also all of the dead cyborg mercenaries have vanished. Again I have no real explantions.

 

Aasta: Are you sure that the escaped cyborg mercenaries really went back to Terra? What if they wanted the Tamriellan magical devices because they actually went to Super Tamriel proper.

 

It was an amazing idea but did make sense; the cyborg mercenaries could use the magical devices in Tamriel but what of their Terran scientific technologies from cybernetics to robots, advanced medicants and much else? Would they be transformed somehow or become useless or what?

 

NexusVoy: "They did not go through the Waygateway linking this Wayzone with Super Tamriel proper."

 

Aaron shrugged. "Could their disappearance have something to do with the mysterious appearance of Oblivion Gates close to the outer boundaries of this Wayzone?"

 

It was an interesting, and disturbing, idea.

Edited December 1, 2013 by Maharg67

[Robert55]

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :nuke:

[Maharg67]

One 1.8{8}

 

They found the semiactive Oblivion Gates, being one medium sized and three small sized, in a chamber that officially did not exist. It was close to the big Waygate Chambers but only accessible through large, once hidden, doors. There were signs that the cyborg mercenaries had departed in a hurry through the Oblivion Gates, most likely emerging in Cyrodiil proper but very close to the North Cyrodilin Wayzone.

 

Except that when they managed to get a view through the Oblivion Gates, through the actual Oblivion Gateways, they saw not the green forests of Northern Cyrodiil but the distorted, harsh, alien terrain of Mehrune Dagon's Deadlands. The Deadlands were his Oblivion Plain, his slowly dying home domain that was slowly being drowned in oceans of larva.

 

With some reluctance it was decided that SEART01 would go through the central, medium sized, Oblivion Gate while SEART02 would go through one of the smaller ones. They would then investigate the Deadlands while trying to join up with each other. They would be trying to track down the cyborg mercenaries not only to find out what they were up to but to discover just who they served, who had sent them to the Wayzone.

 

The problem was that the Oblivion Gates were only semiactive as if the escaping cyborg mercenaries had tried to lock them into a deactivated mode but had failed to do so. NexusVoy began trying to fully reactive the strange flaming gateways that gave off some smoke that was sucked away by a humming ventilation network-system.

Edited December 1, 2013 by Maharg67