Alright, the following is a dream I had which I thought the setting would be interesting for an rp setting. Please read through, as I fail and can't make a tl;dr version(and it took forever to type on my phone). Tell me if you would be interested in joining a group role play with the setting and quirks. I don't feel like working on this anymore until I see interest, so post away!
Enter a medieval world, very life like all around. However, memory serves it to be as a computer system rather than a reality. It wasn't like a game however, and was so life like that even death seemed to be real.
I found myself in a small kingdom of sorts, where the people seemed to welcome my presence even though I was different, and confused. I'd no clue how I'd gotten there, nor where I was at all. I still had on my clothes from the 21st century, and was armed with a large silver handgun that had been previously unloaded on something. The people took me to their castle stronghold to rest and recover. They left me alone, when two strangers came into the town. Two men, appearing to be around my age, possibly a couple years younger. Both were also wearing 21st century clothing, and were carrying automatic weaponry which my mind insists were "uzi" machine guns.
The first had long, black hair and was a bit thicker built than the other. He had dark tan skin, perhaps of native american or latin descent. He was wearing loose fitting, but not baggy jeans along with a black t-shirt bearing an indistiguishable logo. The second had short messy dirty-blonde hair, and more pale skin. He was simply wearing jeans and a shirt with an unmemorable, neutral color.
The two pulled out their futuristic weapons, and began wreaking havoc on the town, slaughtering everyone with the superior tech. None stood a chance. On the other hand, I figured their next step would be to make their way inside and finish off any survivors, so I quickly headed for the back exit to make a run for it before I could be noticed.
What I wasn't expecting is of course what happened next. Instead of entering the stronghold, they'd made their way around to the back and were casually sitting around in a couple of chairs, as though waiting for me. The blonde was aiming blankly about with his gun, pretending to shoot imaginary targets while the other played with a pocket knife. My heart jumped into my throat, and I froze.
My first thought was to appear harmless, but I was wielding the useless handgun currently. The larger one began to approach me, knife in hand while the blonde continued playing with his weapon, merely smirking. He told me to place the gun on the ground slowly, and step away from it. Knowing it would do me no good at the moment, I did as he asked though shakily so. He beckoned to me, and so I slowly walked to him. I was terrified but knew they had range weapons that could shoot me down in a heartbeat if I should attempt to run. As I approached, I caught the glimmer of the knife blade as the man turned it in hand.
When I got close, he swiftly swung at me, attempting to plunge the knife into my chest. My hands flew up instinctively, grabbing his wrist to try and fight him off. Unfortunately, I was much smaller and he easily knocked me to the ground, using his weight to inch the knife closer to my flesh. I pleaded, offering everything I could think of as I tried to resist his power. I could feel the blade against my skin, the pressure slowly increasing against it. It began to become painful, and I managed to kick him back, earning me a second wind. This time though, he went for my neck. The jugular vein.
Somehow I managed to push him off me by twisting his wrist, or kicking or something. Instantly I pushed forward in the offense, turning his hand so the blade faced him instead. He resisted only momentarily before grinning and allowing the knife to plunge into his chest. I quickly let go of the knife out of shock, backing off a step while he pulled the knife out, moving it toward the center of his chest and impaling himself again. I ran forward, grabbing his wrist as he again relocated the blade, this time at his own throat. I resisted, trying to stop the self mutilation for some reason, though I'm unsure why.
I blacked out. Next thing I know, I'm waking up at an open pub in another town. I had no clue what happened, or how I got there. I was still wearing my same clothes, and was again equipped with the empty handgun. I saw many familiar faces mixed among the crowd, but it didn't seem they recognized me at all. It was like they too had been "trapped" here in this bizarre world, but had become more one with the setting than myself. I recognized then that it was not my world, and this is also when my brain processed it as a "computer simulation program" rather than an actual world. Once I came to this conclusion, the two men from earlier could then be compared to computer "hackers", breaking into the system and bypassing the laws of the world.
It seemed the handgun was a sign of what I was, along with a sign of what I would excel at. The people of the new town dubbed me a ranger, and gave me a long bow as my "weapon of choice". As far as what I was, I seemed to also be one of the "Hackers" as I now call them. The signs were obvious looking back. The 21st century clothing, the silver handgun, and my memories of reality. It was the only thing that made sense, though I wasn't sure if the others remembered their previous live as well.
Next introduced were very ominous people wearing long black, hooded robes along with skull masks. The first thing that came to mind to call them were "Wizards", though they were more like pyrotechnicians and chemists in reality. They used strange orbs as their weapons and tools for deploying whatever they'd created. The people feared them, and even the Hackers seemed to fear them. They would toss an orb into a crowded room and cause chaos and panic. I can't recall what the orbs did in my dream, but I know it couldn't have been good based on reactions. Other than a mass war scene where I was inexplicably out of ammunition, this is the end of my dream.
Conclusions that can be drawn from the dream:
* People who enter "The System" do not recall their former lives, or the outside world. Instead, The System creates a false memory and knowledge within the individuals, most likely based on some algorithmic theory or blah blah, technical babble. The people become a part of the setting, in a sense.
* Hackers seem to retain their clothes from the outside world, along with their personalities. They seem to be "above" many of the rules and physics of the world in The System. They are also generally equipped with at least 1 20-21st century weapon from what I can tell. The weapon seems to have some link and relation to the individual, using myself with the handgun/long bow as an example. It's unknown if the Hackers retain their outside knowledge and memories aside from their weapon, though it seems somewhat safe to assume they do, along with gaining knowledge through The System.
* When I entered, a fluke happened. I didn't remember the events leading up to me being part of The System, nor did I know anything about the world aside from text books and movies I'd previously seen or read. I remembered my life , and the outside world with absolutely no recollection of The System's world.
* The "Wizards" may be programmers, or staff of The System there to monitor population and eliminate Hackers. This is pure speculation at best, and was an after thought well after I'd woken up. They also might just be corrupt, infected, or rogue programs like viruses for all I know.