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Worldbuilding
They are referred to as "predators". They come from underground, and they live in mountains, caves, jungles, and other difficult terrain. Now they are swarming over human-controlled territory. They are humanoid and similar to humans in size, strength, and intelligence. They are of a different species and cannot interbreed with humans. Their appearance is not important in a text-based game.
There are different types of predators: you will not face their non-combatant types, since they are far from the front-lines, and even in their strongholds, they will not be fighting you.
Of their combatants, there are 3 classes: champions, elites, and normal predators. Players start to fight normal predators from level 10 onwards, elites from level 20 onwards, and champions are best fought at level 25, and probably with friends in tow...
- Goblins: the weakest variety. You start off fighting only these.
- Shadows: sneaky, fast types.
- Spirits: they use magic.
- Trolls: armoured and powerful.
Predators tend to live in temperate or tropical areas. For this reason, they are strongest in the south and west. We start off north of the capital, where a great victory was won when humans poured from the cold north to reinforce our troops.
The starting zone is the site of a great victory (that's why it is called Fort Victory). A new character's task will not be glamorous: just picking off stragglers, and finally destroying a fledgling enemy stronghold.
The highest level players will challenge the enemy strongholds in the west, and on an offshore mountainous island to the east.
Before the current world, there used to exist fantastically-technologically-advanced humans. No one knows where they went, but the present-day humans cannot replicate the technology. However, they inherit the biological engineering that made them super-strong, and capable of connecting to the computing system that runs the world.
This is a form of magic which can "override" the human body's normal functions.
- Regenerate health.
- Hibernate at will.
- Gain exceptional strength for a short period.
This magic is the form of magic most frequently dabbled in by physical-fighter types.
Human brains have a CPU running alongside them, which they can intuitively use. This is why they can communicate with each other over any distance.
System magicians are able to understand and write programs on this CPU, and thus gain some (information-based) powers.
Examples:
- Instantaneous reflexes by using the CPU's fast computation in tandem with their own reflexes.
- See long or hear distances by instructing the nano-machines at a given location to form a lens and transmit the stream into their CPU-brain.
- Read the immediate intentions of an enemy who does not block his thoughts.
The ever-present nanomachines embedded in the world can perform lots of tasks. Present humans are aware of a few, such as energy transference.
Examples:
- Channel heat into a location from another.
- Remove heat from a location into another.
- Couple the above abilities with creative items, e.g. water for freezing, volatiles for burning.
- Emit electromagnetic waves (visible light, infra-red, etc.) in some direction.
- Channel electricity along a route.
Magicians are not viewed with hatred. They serve important roles in society. For example, banks can synchronize their accounts across cities with their help.
Anyone can train in magic. It is not the case that only those "born" with the power can exercise it. However, it is such a difficult craft that few people choose to do it: somewhat like how few people are mechanical engineers, even though anyone can theoretically learn to be one.
Because of telepathy, magicians can be trained at remote locations, not only in some central "magic school". However, many of them choose to congregate in the capital city to exchange knowledge and pleasantries.
It is a large region that stretches from the cold north to the humid jungle south. On the east is a long coastline. Two major rivers cross the land. Mountains border the west. The only realistic entrance into this region by land is from the northern tundra.
Humans reinforce the realm from the north and from the ports. Predators attack from the western mountains and from the southern jungles.
There is an extremely grand capital somewhere in the middle, in between the two major rivers.
For simplicity's sake, I use a vaguely similar geography as the actual world. This game is set vaguely in what is today known as East Asia. The capital is vaguely where Xian (the city) is. The predators are attacking from where Tibet, Yunnan, Nepal, Bhutan are, i.e. the mountain ranges near the Himalayans, and also from the jungled areas where Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia are.
The other parts of the world are largely overrun by predators, with some areas holding out. Cold northern areas hold out better than the temperate and tropical areas, since predators appear to prefer to live in warmer places. However, colder areas do not grow as much food, so this realm is a sort of "last stand" for humanity, before humanity must retreat to very cold regions to survive.
Refugees and warriors pour in from other parts of the world, either through the north through where Mongolia and Siberia are, or through the ports. They are the reason why the coastlines and the north are the safest parts, where the predators have been beaten back.
I make no assumptions about the race, culture, or language of the people of this world. If players prefer, they can imagine themselves to be of particular appearances, cultures, etc.