c3: Background Overview
After finalizing his bloodline, profession, and growth route, Xia Ze focused on the final element his starting location.
[Finally, you arrived?]
[Westeros / Essos / Sothoros]
Xia Ze raised an eyebrow at the options. Westeros and Essos made sense they were richly detailed in both the books and HBO series. But Sothoros?
That was basically a death sentence.
An uncharted, disease-ridden jungle continent south of Essos, Sothoros was known for deadly beasts, poisonous humidity, and thick mangrove swamps. Even Garth of Oldtown, one of the greatest explorers in known history, vanished without a trace there. If a player spawned there, Xia Ze thought, "You may as well spawn directly in Valyria on Doom Day."
After brief consideration, he selected Westeros the continent he was most familiar with through canon and lore. Its detailed world-building, regional conflicts, and known geography would provide him with a strategic edge early on.
Immediately, a new panel appeared:
[Choose Your Region]
The Crownlands, Riverlands, Stormlands, The Reach, The Vale, Dorne, Westerlands, The North, Iron Islands, Beyond the Wall
Xia Ze picked the Riverlands. It was central, well-connected, and often a hotspot for military movements, trade routes, and faction conflicts. From the Riverlands, he could reach the Westerlands, the Vale, or King's Landing in days especially useful in a game built around competition and survival.
But when he prepared to select a specific location, the system didn't open a city menu.
That surprised him.
It meant players couldn't choose their precise spawn point. Starting locations were randomized within the region.
Xia Ze quickly understood the implication pre-formed alliances would not land together. Allies could only attempt to rendezvous post-drop, likely risking exposure, travel hazards, and early combat.
He sighed. It wouldn't affect him much his own pre-arranged teammates had already withdrawn. But for others, it might delay coordination by several in-game days, assuming they survived long enough to reunite.
After one last check to confirm his choices, Xia Ze tapped OK.
[Please enter your name]
"Name?" Xia Ze muttered, then casually typed: [Ian].
[Please customize your character's image]
"Wait… you can create your own face?" he blinked in surprise as a 3D model appeared: a mercenary knight in travel-worn armor, holding a half-sword and sitting astride a brown gelding.
Xia Ze excitedly began adjusting the facial features.
After ten minutes of trial and error, however, he had to admit defeat. Every version he molded looked like a drunken bannerman from the Vale or one of those bug-eyed lowborns from Flea Bottom. Worse, one attempt resembled a malformed character from a horse-and-sword shovelware RPG.
Frustrated, he turned to the random generator.
Three minutes later, he settled on a sharp-featured, blond-haired Andal youth with a clean jawline, broad shoulders, and an honest face a stereotypical Westerosi protagonist. Good enough.
[Character generation complete]
A moment later, a detailed background summary appeared on-screen:
[Background Overview]
You bear the mixed blood of the First Men and the Andals. (Strength +2, unlocks language: Common Tongue)
Your father is a tenant farmer working rugged land near the Mountains of the Moon, and your mother serves as a maid in the hall of a minor Vale knight.
You were born in 281 AC, during the final days of King Aerys II Targaryen's reign the Mad King. As the firstborn son, you were named Ian.
That year, the Vale enjoyed an unusually warm late winter, a time the maesters would later call The False Spring. Elders took your birth as an omen of new beginnings. However, by year's end, snow returned in full force across Westeros. The False Spring had ended, and with it came rumors of rebellion brewing in the Stormlands and Dorne.
Your family remained unaware that the realm would soon descend into chaos—the Rebellion of Robert Baratheon was only a season away.
(Starting Capital: 200 silver stags)
When you were one year old, Jon Arryn, Lord of the Eyrie and Warden of the East, raised the banner of rebellion after King Aerys II Targaryen demanded he surrender his wards Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon for execution. Refusing to betray them, Jon declared open war against the crown, beginning what would later be known as Robert's Rebellion. Your father, like many smallfolk bound by feudal oaths, was summoned by the local knight to join the levies marching south. He never returned.
After the war, burdened by debts your father had incurred purchasing arms and armor, your mother was forced to sell your family's grain mill to settle accounts. With nowhere else to go, she brought you to the manor of the knight she had once served. Moved by your bright mind and manners, the knight's lady took a liking to you. She had you act as a tutor and play companion to her son, who was the same age as you.
(+1 Spirit; Gain skills: 'Basics of Etiquette', 'Basics of Common Tongue Reading and Writing')
At age 11, you and your young master were sent to serve as pages in the castle of a minor Vale count, a vassal of House Arryn. There, you were taught swordplay, horsemanship, and lance technique by the house's master-at-arms. You showed exceptional aptitude.
(+4 Strength, +4 Agility; Gain skills: 'Basics of Swordsmanship', 'Basics of Horsemanship', 'Basics of Cavalry')
At 13, you bested your lordling companion in a friendly joust, earning the right to become squire to a sworn knight of the count's household.
(+5 Strength, +5 Agility; Gain skills: 'Beginner Swordsmanship', 'Beginner Lance', 'Beginner Horsemanship')
At 16, during a border raid by the mountain clans of the Vale, you distinguished yourself by saving your knight's life in the field. After the campaign, your master dubbed you a knight under the light of the Seven. That night, you stood vigil in the sept, anointed by the Seven Holy Oils, taking your vows in solemn silence.
(+10 Strength, +10 Agility; Gain skills: 'Intermediate Swordsmanship', 'Intermediate Lance', 'Intermediate Horsemanship')
Soon after, you married the daughter of the steward at a neighboring manor. She was not conventionally beautiful, but you were smitten with her warmth and wit.
But your wedding night ended in tragedy.
Your former master—humiliated by his jousting defeat years prior stormed into your modest home, drunk and fuming, flanked by four guards. Spitting with contempt, he invoked "First Night", claiming that your bride, as his former servant, was owed to him by feudal right.
But this custom had long been outlawed in Westeros. King Jaehaerys I Targaryen, the Wise, had abolished it at the insistence of Queen Alysanne, who viewed it as a stain upon the realm's honor.
You saw his claim as a vile mockery a challenge to your dignity as a knight. You called your companions for aid, and steel was drawn.
In the brutal melee that followed, you killed your former master and his men but not without loss. Your bride and your loyal friends perished in the chaos.
Amid the blood and fire, the manor where you had grown up caught flame. With no time to mourn or bury the dead, you packed what little you could: a plain half-sword, a secondhand suit of mail stripped of heraldry, your tame courser, and 200 silver stags hidden in a chest. With no titles, no allies, and a death sentence surely looming over you, you fled the Vale under the cover of night and crossed into the Riverlands, beginning your life anew as a wandering hedge knight.
[Background Summary]
Ian
Strength: 21
Agility: 19
Spirit: 1
Skills:
– Basics of Etiquette
– Basics of Common Tongue Reading and Writing
– Intermediate Swordsmanship
– Intermediate Horsemanship
– Intermediate Lance
(Note: Reading and writing in a language automatically grants speaking ability. Speaking-only skills are only shown if reading is not acquired.)
A soft chime rang out. AI Annie reappeared.
"Reminder: all player avatars are bionic constructs dispatched into this world by the organizers. They manifest in the world suddenly, and no native of this world will retain memories of your prior existence."
As Xia Ze scanned the page, Annie continued:
"The system constructs a lore-consistent backstory based on your choices. As such, players begin with in-universe knowledge and memories tailored to their backgrounds. This assists players in integrating smoothly into Westeros as fully functioning denizens."
"Now that's what I call immersive." Xia Ze nodded in admiration. Even the most lore-obsessed fan would lack the lived-in understanding of medieval trade routes, feudal etiquette, and knightly customs that such synthetic memories offered.
But that raised a design contradiction.
With such thorough backstories and memory masking, it would be harder than ever to recognize other players. In a tavern or a tournament, two players could sit side by side, drink, laugh, and never realize the other wasn't native.
That clashed with what the receptionist said about "players killing each other right from the start."
If early-game PvP was the point, why design such deep camouflage mechanics?
Xia Ze mentally noted this inconsistency, recording it in the corner of his mind like a cautious bug-tester.
"Now that you've completed character creation, all that's left is confirmation," Annie said. "Once all players finish, you'll be transferred. In the meantime, you may review the auxiliary system and familiarize yourself with key mechanics."
That made sense. The organizers had strict rules requiring game mechanic orientation before deployment.
If he used this downtime well, he'd have a major advantage during those critical first hours after entry.
With that in mind, Xia Ze clicked "Confirm."
In the next instant, his world dissolved. Sight, sound, and touch melted away. All that remained was a vast, blinding whiteness, like snowfall over the mountains of the Vale.
---
Note 1:
AC (Aegon's Conquest) is the standard Westerosi calendar.
Year 1 AC began when Aegon I Targaryen, the Conqueror, was crowned in Oldtown after unifying six of the Seven Kingdoms under the Iron Throne.