(001) Welcome to Starfall

A text bubble popped into existence before Electa.

<Welcome, [Player 498440]>

She looked up and inhaled sharply. It was amazing, it was as if she was floating in the midst of a nebula. The colors made up an almost aurora with galaxies within reach of her finger tips.

She carefully reached out to touch one with her index finger.

<World 297 Chosen. Do you wish to Enter World 297?>

"A-ah, no, thank you," she quickly retracted her hand. It must be a server choice. Good to know but first things first after all. "Commands?"

<Starfall is designed to answer the Player's questions and requests in conversation format. Specific commands can be found either under MENU : COMMANDS : INDEX.>

"Menu," she stated. Her eyes widened in shock, slightly intimidated by the enormity of the thing.

<Does wish to begin a tutorial? Tutorials can be requested to start and quit at any time for any function within Starfall.>

"...no, thank you," Electa cleared her throat awkwardly, "Uh, name change?"

<Understood. Which name do you wish to change?>

Electa furrowed her eyebrows. "Pardon?"

<[Player 498440] currently can change USERNAME : [Player 498440], LEADERBOARD-NAME : [Player 498440], NICKNAME : [Player 498440], and SYSTEM-AI-NAME : [AI 498440].>

Electa thought for a moment before nodding, "Username change to Electra. Leaderboard name change to Electra. Nickname change to... Ellie. System AI name change to Starfall."

<Name changes received. Names changed are now : USERNAME : [Electra], LEADERBOARD-NAME : [Electra], NICKNAME : [Ellie], and SYSTEM-AI-NAME : [Starfall]. Names can be changed at any time. Note that Usernames are non-repeatable and if abandoned may not be available in the future.>

"Alright, um, how about character design?"

<Would [Ellie] like to enter CHARACTER DESIGN?>

"Yes, please," Electa couldn't help the little clap and bouncing on the balls of her feet. A strange action considering there wasn't much of a floor beneath her, but this was always one of her favorite parts about new games; and if she acted a little childish in the face of it, who was to judge her?

<SLOT 1, SLOT 2, SLOT 3, and SLOT 4 are available for Avatars. Further SLOTS can be purchased, obtained in quest rewards, obtained in tournaments, or unlocked upon character leveling to LV 100.>

"Ooh," she murmured to herself. There was quite a bit of versatility to this. It encouraged players to be involved with the game and not simply spam their account with low leveled avatars. This was something of a downfall in past games that let the players make as many pseudonyms as they pleased.

Naturally one of them would be her usual mage with lightning affinity, or whatever the equivalent was. The other three called for some exploring. "Let's customize slot 1."

<SLOT 1 selected.>

Before her stood a semi-transparent genderless humanoid like mannequin. The faces always kind of creeped her out... or the lack of face. There was something off-putting about avatars before you molded them.

It was a familiar process of creating "Electra the Lightning Goddess". A bit of concentration to create familiar features of her own face in her youth, silver eyes, a sleek white ponytail that sparked... familiar.

Maybe it was strange to have a form almost more familiar than her actual body, but in a way it wasn't surprising. That body didn't change or age, it didn't scar or break... there was a fondness she held for it.

She gently tweaked the avatar with the manual slider bars. There was only so much the brain could conjure on a dime without working through creating something slowly. It made for better avatars, in her opinion, when the player put a little more time into it. It also showed in the details when someone didn't. People tended to forget how teeth worked or that a tongue is attached to the throat, she saw some weird things from noob or rushing players.

Electa in particular had a difficult time with her nose. She didn't mind the shape of her own, in fact she quite liked the high bridge. But she rarely saw her profile and so when tasked with imagining what it was supposed to look like, it always came out a bit... odd.

She took a step back from her creation with a sigh. "Well, I think that's about it as far as I'll take it. Hm, should I fiddle with iris pattern?"

<Progress saved. Analyzing avatar structure... Race default set to [Human]. Would you like to change set race?>

"Hm, maybe?"

<Races with closest set physical qualities include: Human, Celestial, Fae, Vampire, Half-High Elf, Dryad, Selkie, and Banshee. You may choose mentioned races or specify one you have in mind, note however that choosing vastly different races then the current appearance of the avatar may result in changes to it's form to qualify for specified race. These changes can be undone and the race set back to default.>

"I feel like I should be offended by the banshee one, but I guess I can see the similarities..."

<Race set to Banshee. Confirm?>

"Uh, no no. What about like, a witch or mage? A Valkyrie?"

<Witch, Mage, and Valkyrie are all under class types. Would you like a list of races by stat that would excel on these classes?>

Electa pinched her nose, "that would ideal, yes. Though, maybe also ones with minimal changes to my avatar's appearance?"

<Ideal race for [Witch] would be [Dryad]. Races that would do well include : Hag, Fae, Nymph, Human, Gnome, Elf, High Elf, Dark Elf, Fairy...

The list went on... and on... and on.... finally Electa had to cut in. "How about we stick to top five?"

<Understood. Highest performance for [Witch] are Dryad, Hag, Fae, High Elf, and Fairy. Highest performance for [Mage Unspecified] are High Elf->

"Lightning affinity, sorcery, please..."

<Highest performance for [Sorcerer : Natural Forces : Storm : Energy] are Dökkálfar, Kitsune, Harpy, Siren, and Pookha.>

'Man, you can be just about anything in this game.'

<Highest performance for [Valkyrie] are Æsir, Ljósálfar,Vanir, Half-Elf, and Human.>

"Huh, well..." She trailed off, thinking over the options. It was kind of a difficult choice since she wasn't sure which would work best for her as a far as classes went. Valkyrie was probably off the table since it was less of a sorceress's position. She wanted to fry her enemies, dang it.

<Based on [Avatar 1]'s current appearance and your preferred skill. Dökkálfar would be optimal with minimal visual changes.>

"What is that?" she asked.

<A dark elf of nordic origin.>

"Could I see what I'd look like as one?" she asked, turning her focus to her avatar.

<Of course.>

The face got sharper and body sinewy. The ears pointed and lengthened. Contrary to what she expected with a dark elf, the skin's shade didn't change overly much. The hues turned a bit more on the blue side and saturation weakened.

It was difficult to describe but for all it's similarities with "elves" or the classic idea of what a high elf would be it was decidedly not. In some respects it could almost be considered beautiful, but there was something not quite.... "It's dangerous looking."

<Indeed. While Dökkálfar are traditionally also known as Svartálfar, Starfall has elected to distinguish elven types further to accommodate differing ideas of what an elf is.>

"What does a... what does the other one look like?"

The avatar again changed into something rather... grotesque.

"...change it back."

<Svartálfar have the disadvantage of turning to stone in light, but have the advantage of being able to see in almost complete darkness.>

"Yeah, I could tell."

<Dark elves, while the literal translation of Dökkálfar, have been defined as separate to accommodate other RPG created ideas of such. Dökkálfar, as far as Starfell is concerned, are fairer on the eyes and don't turn to stone. They have better night vision but cannot see in complete darkness. Ideal for chaotic types, trickery, and magic.->

"Yeah that's all I needed to hear, it looks like I'll murderer you in your sleep so I'm going to go with it."

<Race set to Dökkálfar. Confirm?>

"Confirm!"

<Would you like to proceed to the game now or resume Character Design?>

"Proceed to game!"

<Would you like to Enter World 297 or choose a different World?>

"Enter," oh she was so excited.

<Entering World 297... 3, 2, 1.>

The world around Electa shifted and rippled. She gasped.

<Welcome to Starfall, Ellie.>

"Happy to be here..." she murmured.