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Gankers

A gamer in the Sons of Sword Universe is playing through a great game of Champions of Battle.  Not willing to pay the outrageous price for an upgrade, she has gathered the ore to make the next piece of armor herself.  Now it’s time to return to the forge.  She’s about to get back into her ship when suddenly a lightning bolt comes out of nowhere killing her instantly.

By the time her body is retrieved, she has lost the ore and her shirt, literally.  All the stat increasing Hanja it contained now makes her mysterious assailant stronger or richer.  So, she has another difficult task to complete before she can continue her adventure.

Another gamer has just finished the final leg of an extensive quest chain with a secretive and hard to impress faction.  The prize for months of frustrating quests and searches is a rare treasure that only this faction can give.  He has burned many bridges with former allies in order to get this prize, steeling or ruining things they hold dear.

All of the trouble is well worth it.  This prize is as useful as it is rare.  It is not however all powerful.  This fact is easily proven.  Not five minutes after getting it, he is swarmed by an overwhelming horde of attackers.  They rip the prize from his Champion’s cold dead hands and roll dice to see who keeps it.  By the time his body is retrieved the attackers are nowhere to be found.  To get a similar prize, he has to start the whole process again with no access to his former allies.

These attacks are just a small portion of what is capable of those who have been named “gankers” in the game Champions of Battle.  A common occurrence in free roam games, they are a problem and a peril that is difficult to sort out.  They have been called bandits, cheaters, cowards, thieves, raiders, and many other colorful phrases.  To the enemies of the attacked, they could be called fortunate.  They have been hunted, hired, and are usually not trusted.  They are the reason that most low level players stay in cities with high level guards.

Who knows why they do what they do?  Perhaps in a gaming world a player can act out their craziest dreams without being punished.  The player can become an outlaw then sleep soundly at home.  Perhaps the player’s idea of fun is making sure that others don’t have fun.  Maybe the player is powerless in the real world and lash out in the world of fiction.  For any of these reasons, the result is the same.  Whenever a Champion steps out of the protected cities, they must be wary.

It is not an easy existence.  Gankers too live in fear in the Champions of Battle world.  They too must be careful.  With increasing reports of dishonorable activities, they have to be careful where they go.  They have few safe places to rest.  There is usually a bounty for their capture.  This bounty increases with every dishonorable thing they do.  This, “fun,” is encouraged to become less fun for the players.

With an increasing bounty, gankers have to take greater strides to stay hidden while carrying out their daily lives.  They have to look for more and more secure hideouts.  They have to search for special cities equally full of lawlessness to be relatively safe from bounty hunters.

When gankers are caught, painful strength reducing torture in a prison cell may await.  All of their acquired equipment and a great amount of their funds could be taken.  To be completely free from their captors, they must hope for rescue from their allies or the enemies of their captors.  Such help may or may not come depending on how securely the prison is hidden away.  Anyone that attempts to free a ganker and fails is placed in a similar condition.

Gankers are difficult to deal with because they have uses in Champions of Battle.  The Crisho race is a very small.  The average height is around five centimeters.  Even in a video game world, ill-equipped explorers should be wary.  Low level players are not supposed to wander far.  They are encouraged to play carefully and strategically or fail a task they may not be trusted with again.  Gankers create the necessary fear for other players to stay relatively safe until they are ready to venture out with all the proper equipment and tactics.

Gankers are used politically in game as well.  There are always warring and conniving factions.  Catching or hiring a known outlaw creates a winning situation.  They are used as free agents to attack or spy on foe or ally without revealing the true source of aggression.

The temptation to break, steal, or vandalize stuff is sometimes too powerful to resist, especially in video games.  However, Champions of Battle is a game where things are continually moving.  A Champion is still active even when their player is not playing.  It is possible for a Champion to commit a crime, only to be caught while its player is off-line.  Even if a player does a few dishonorable actions they must be careful.

Champions of Battle: The Very Best – Opportunity #14

Brisa took a deep breath and turned on the hologram window.  Even though the walls were solid, passengers could view the outside with the press of a button.  A hologram of the world on the other side of the hull appeared to Brisa.  One look was all it took to take away all her worries.  The sky was beautiful.  It looked real enough that she could forget she was in the shuttle.

Even with all its troubles, life was going well.  She was on a glorious adventure.  This was the life that she imagined having; the life she always wanted.  It was scary but that made it all the more exciting.

She was really going to a remote part of the world.  A place riddled with danger.  Her stay would be short, but at least she could say she’s been to West Drop.  If anything, she would have pictures to send to her friends.  And a story they would never believe.

Now that she had calmed down a bit, she could take in her surroundings.  She had flown in shuttles like these before but Duard had always insisted on flying the first class cabins.  The scene in economy class was clean, but economic.

Her compartment was cozy.  There was just enough room for an opposing couch and a small walkway in between.  The couch and cushions were cheap.  One of them was discolored; the other was obviously brand new.

There was not a great deal to entertain the passengers besides the advertisements that displayed overhead if the passengers allowed them.  Between advertisements, brief bits of the news would show.  The Mech War still raged on but the new clans were making headway.  Hopefully, they would defeat the machines and bring peace to that area.  It all was too far away for her to give relevant concern.  The holograms changed back to commercials.  Some of them were quite funny but they were still commercials.

The set up in economy class seemed designed to push a passenger out to mingle with the other passengers.  They were to walk out and buy stuff in the shuttle shop and eat in the food court.  It was exactly the opposite of first class where the servers brought everything to the passengers.

There was the lingering urge to obey the commercials and go out to buy things.  Her will and her mission kept her in her seat.  The burning freezing discomfort in her chest reminded her of what would happen if she was caught.  It was too expensive.

She instead decided to keep her mind occupied by researching on her handheld.  She had this one chance to learn what she could about West Drop.

In her readings, West Drop was much more dangerous than she thought.  Reports of violence and lawlessness abounded.  If she was going to be there even for a short time, she would need to be very careful and stay away from the taverns.

There was a knock on her cabin door.

Opening the door Brisa sees a familiar looking lady.  She was only a small amount taller than Brisa which still made her really short. Her perfect skin was green with small tan spots that grew more defined down her neck.  She wore an ordinary red t-shirt, blue jeans, and red sneakers with white highlights.  Brisa couldn’t shake the feeling that she really should recognize this lady, but the memory eluded her.  She could have been someone in economy class that Brisa passed while boarding the shuttle?

“Excuse me,” she starts with a soft voice, “are you Brisa Gan?”

How did she know that?  “Um, yes,” Brisa said as calmly as she could muster.

“My name is Catlin, may I please come in,” she says with a very polite bow.

Brisa paused for a bit, but how could such a polite young lady cause any harm.  “Why sure,” Brisa said happily.  She bowed and opened the way for Catlin to enter the cabin.  This trip was getting even better.  Conversation and meeting a new person would really help the time go by.

#1 – Opportunity #13 – Opportunity #15

 

Sons of Sword: Tales of Glory – Lost and Found #10

Manna stayed in the booth for a time and finished his food.  It was a lot easier to forget about the winter chill from inside the tavern.  He needed the rest, and not just physical rest.  In silence, he didn’t have to pretend that he was someone else.  Besides, he still had a good fifteen minutes left in his lunch break.

He looked around at the decor.  Trophies of lizard skins lined the wall.  Televisions played the sports channel highlights of the games that played over the past week.  There were street signs and awards of past great moments of the tavern’s history.  The awards were too far away for Manna to read, but obviously meant something to the tavern owners.

The server asked if he wanted any of Guy’s untouched dishes.  The food looked delicious but Manna refused.  He knew what kind of money paid for Guy’s lifestyle.  The food and the clothes was just another way Guy tried to get him into the gang.  It didn’t work.  He would not become jealous of Guy’s stuff.  Whatever the ends, Manna would not participate in those means.  He had fallen for it once, never again.

Manna would prefer not to steal to survive, but that was life.  No matter the excuses he gave himself, he knew it was wrong.  He’d prefer to have a legit life.  He had tried to keep a legit life, but times were hard.

His side business created the need to go to certain lengths to stay protected.  He covered his tracks well but someday a crazy, determined, upset victim would find him.  He looked over his shoulder secretly from time to time just to be safe.  This life wasn’t for him, but what else could he do.

Things were different for Guy.  He started realizing how much money he could make.  Little by little things got out of hand.  He eventually fell in love with the money and started taking more and more risks to find more.  His gang got into all kinds of things.  Smuggling, gambling, bank heists; nothing seemed to be passed them.

And now, who knows what Guy has gotten into?  Manna preferred not to know.  That way, if someone asks about the plans he can honestly be ignorant.

He finished his carrots and celery, paid his portion of the bill, and headed out to go back to work.  Stepping outside, he was immediately thankful he was wearing thermals under his thick robe.  The chill wind thought nothing of his discomfort.

The walk to the bakery was short.  The sky was clear and the air was oh so very cold.  He could see the mighty apple trees in the distance through the buildings.  New comers to the area would be confused about the clear sky and the cold winds.  To Manna, it was ordinary.

As a safety measure, he took note of all the faces he saw on the walk back to the bakery.  Most of the people recognizing him were friendly.  He greeted them with kind words.  He looked for unfriendly faces.  Seeing none, he headed into the bakery.

#1 – Lost and Found #9 – Lost and Found #11