The Game Finally Officially Starts!

"Dynasty Screens, Faction Screens."

"The amount of information you need to take in and process when you start Dynasties Online is enormous."

"From subordinate secret organisations like Sigismond Security Solutions to the enemies you created along the way…."

"All of this is listed as the game is no longer as simple or linear as completing this quest or that quest to get rewards and advance."

"For once the game officially starts, it becomes the ultimate sandbox for people to do or be whomever they want without judgement."

Reginald Coulan, creator and head of House Aurellion in dynasties online.

….

At 8 am sharp the next day, Reginald, who had specially gotten up half an hour earlier than the severs opening time, beleagueredly put on his headset despite his attempts to go to bed early, his eyes were red and filled with tiredness, but no matter how tired he still felt at forcing himself up at such an early time he was determined not to miss the time the servers opened making sure he had enough time to have breakfast.

After entering into James Larant's virtual world, Reginald quickly entered the game, seeing a list of system notifications all players and users of the virtual world would become intimately familiar with.

[Identity confirmed welcome back player Rising Pelican of Loyalty]

[Would you like to enter the game Dynasties Online?]

[Yes/No]

Quickly pressing, yes, he was transported into the game, but what greeted him when Reginald's character opened its eyes was not the clouds or heavenly atmosphere that accompanied a player during character creation but instead an endless darkness.

Reginald was confused, thinking that something had gone wrong, but when he tried to move, he put in too much effort, accidentally rolling over and falling out of his comfortable bed.

Crash!

The noise of Railius' now adult body hitting the wooden floor roughly woke up the other residents in this house, but before the young player could get his bearings, the wooden door to his relatively spacious room was barged open. A clean-shaven young man entered with a bright burning torch in one hand. A drawn sword in the other, looking around vigilantly for any possible intruders. Not far behind him were two armoured guards who began to search the house diligently, room by room, meticulously checking each corner for any sign of disturbance.

The illuminating light from the torch lit up the once dark room to reveal a spacious room, though not lavishly decorated, as most of the money that House Aurellion made was used to improve their strength and foundation in Nathia instead of being used for the young lord's comfort they didn't even have a mansion just a relatively well off house in the town not far from Leon's dojo.

The tension in the room could be cut through with a knife as killing intent flashed in the eyes of this new man, but seeing the young lord of Aurellion on the floor, the man's blue eyes, which were serious and sharp, ready for any kind of conflict, relaxed visibly, and the young man sighed seeing clearly what happened. He sheathed his sword while offering his hand for his friend and lord to take to help him out of his current embarrassing predicament.

"Thank you, Jordis."

Railius said even though Jordis was now a young man instead of a boy, the young player still recognised his eyes and felt a bit embarrassed by what happened, but the lord of Aurellion blamed the system because, unlike before, there was seemingly no system notification to introduce him to what happened over the time skip.

But even so, he was surprised at how fast someone reacted to something like this happening as it took only a few seconds for help to come, as some people may have relaxed their guard after so many years of living peacefully.

But with the number of enemies, Leon knew House Aurellion had, how could he not be on guard?

Who knew when a Chavarian noble or even the Chavarian emperor himself would send an assassin to kill his young lord, for he was the first person to escape from the wrath of the great ruler of the Chavarian Empire!

As far as the old ex-regent was concerned, it was a bloody miracle that no one had come to try to assassinate Railius over the 8 years of them being in the duchy as it seemed even the Duke of Detarnor couldn't link them to Sigismond Security Service and seeing how they just lived quietly the powerful duke forgot about them completely which was precisely what Railius wanted.

Even after being in Nathia for 8 years with no threats to Railius' life, the Grand Commander of the Pelican Guards, Leon Mantelon, had not relaxed his guard in the slightest, making sure to keep a close guard over Railius' safety as he was the last heir of House Aurellion alive keeping his son Jordis now 17 years old close by Railius to help keep an eye on his eccentric master.

A hundred men currently make up the Pelican Protectors, the personal guard of the lord of House Aurellion and his most trusted and skilled military asset of those who were originally in the Pelican Protectors from Lucius' days. Only 10 remained. The rest had either died protecting Lucius from Prince Flavius Crestier's ambush or during House Aurellion's escape from Chavaria protecting its various members.

Even though the Pelican Protectors were the first military asset in the hands of the lord of House Aurellion, it is not odd for them to also be assigned to protect other vital members of the house, and as such, there were some assigned to protect Railius when he was appointed heir, but most of these courageous men died in the conflict between the Pelican Guards and the Chavarian Imperial Guard. In the end, only 30 out of 300 of the original men who accompanied Railius from the Chavarian capital survived! Of these, only 10 were part of the Pelican Protectors, with the others dying while faithfully fulfilling their duty.

Each member was a veteran of many battles or a talented youngster, able to take on multiple opponents at once and fiercely loyal to House Aurellion. At Railius' request, a few were gifted newcomers, those sons of former Pelican Guards who stayed loyal and decided to train to be Pelican Guards since young were added in as he felt like he could connect with them better and wanted trusted men to rely on that could serve him all the way to this first Characters death and potentially beyond because if he had a bunch of 30-year-old middle-aged men protecting him no matter how skilled they were in 20 years or so they would have to be replaced but those his age could accompany him for life it also would help these youngsters gain experience so they can eventually become the most feared existence on the battlefield.

It should be noted that compared to the usual new soldiers who entered a nation's service or in the service of one of the many nobles, the new Pelican Guards were remarkably different and far more deadly in combat. Even disregarding the fact that they were a unique unit, which made them a cut above the rest just by having soldiers go through training, these new Pelican Guards had the potential even to surpass the current ones, a prospect that would even the heart of a king as not even a nation's royal guard had too many members that were specially trained as usually they would not be taught from childhood but come from the army or trails that were held for all.

This is because the new Pelican Guards were not ex-soldiers or the usual nutritionally starved commoners, but instead, they were children who, since young, had been training hard in all sorts of skills like swordsmanship, insight and military strategy, giving them an extraordinary advantage over others. When he heard the request from Railius, Leon himself came out to provide them with the most gruelling training possible to prepare them to follow his lord to hell and back, not holding himself back like he had to as master of his dojo.

Who was likely to be a better soldier, a man who had been trained since 16-18 years old to become a soldier or one who had been preparing to become one since they were 10 years old, if not younger?

Of course, the 10-year-old had a better chance!

Why was it that the Spartans were so feared on the battlefield in Ancient Greece? It was not only because they saw dying as an honour and were willing to fight at times to the death but also because they had been trained to fight since they were young. The current new Pelican Guards could be said to be similar to them, though it would take another generation for one to say that some of the newer members were genuinely born and bred for war.

Since they were children, they had been trained to fight while others learnt pottery or farming or other skills while they were younger. The new Pelican Guard recruits were learning how to wield a sword or spear, how to read and other skills essential to making a well-rounded individual.

This would give them an extraordinary advantage on the battlefield compared to new recruits who were trained since adulthood and became soldiers for other reasons than these new recruits, which some could argue were bred for war and the battlefield.

"What time is it?"

Railius asked, opening his window to see that night's darkness coated the little town he was staying in though tiny orange specs of light shining like the starts that scattered the heavens could be seen from his second-story window as guards patrolled to keep public order and the taverns were filled with drunks who had come to relax after a hard day of work.

Just then, a dong sounded, denoting the changing of the hour.

"2 am, my lord. My father wishes us to meet him tomorrow at 8, so I recommend you get some sleep."

"Goodnight, my lord."

Jordis said after he got nods from the other 2 guards indicating that the house was safe. It seemed that their young lord truly did just fall out of his bed, but it always paid to be careful. Of course, they would never disclose this event as only real threats to Railius' life would be reported to Leon or other higher officials of the house for them to consider potential next moves.

Reginald did not immediately go to sleep. Instead, he opened up the menu and, seeing the new 'Dynasty Screen' option, touched it, and a wide crimson-gold backed screen appeared in front of him.

The screen had Aurellion in large golden letters emblazoned at the top of the screen just below his house sigel of a golden pelican feeding its young while the screen itself was a translucent crimson showing the golden pelican of House Aurellion at its centre. It seemed that each player's Dynasty Screen would be in the colours of their house, with the system assigning an appropriate colour for the text of the information shown.

The Dynasty screen would look different for each dynasty, and the system would even try to use the colours of the dynasty to help decorate the dynasty screen as much as possible, even down to the text colour.

….

Dynasty Name: Aurellion

Current Dynasty Leader: Railius Aurellion

Dynasty Members: 1

Allies:

Mantelon Dynasty

Thornsworth Dynasty

Dynasty Inheritable Quests: (Usually related to a dynasties factions)

The Free Brothers Request. (Dormant)

House Aurellion's Lost Heirlooms.

The Stigma of a Traitor.

Dynasty Secrets: (please note only the secrets your character knows about will be listed here):

The Exiled House Aurellion.

A Young Lords Plan.

Sigismond Security Solutions True Master.

Dynasty Titles:

Lord of House Aurellion:

Description: Your dynasty is the traditional and rightful leader of House Aurellion, which was established by Lucius Aurellion when he became a baron in the Chavarian Empire.

Effect: Makes you the leader of the 'House Aurellion' faction, giving you their power and resources. By extension, this makes your dynasty responsible for all movements of this faction and all organisations, allies, and enemies related to it.

Faction Affiliations:

House Aurellion

Family Tree:

Inheritable Dynasty Traits:

Fallen Noble.

Renowned Fallen Martial Noble.

Sworn Martial Dynasty.

Accused Traitor.

Secret Allies:

House Gallomour

Unique Dynasty Units:

The Pelican Guard.

Unique Inheritable Grantable Dynasty Traits:

A Dynastic Oath of Loyalty.

….

After looking at his Dynasty Screen, Railius' eyes squinted in confusion as he asked the omnipresent friend system a question in a low voice so that no one in the game would think that he was a crazy man talking to an invisible entity.

"Friend System, where is all the information on the military and economy of my noble house?"

Railius asked.

"It's in the faction screen."

The friend system mechanical voice said in his head as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Why would it be there instead of in the dynasty screen?"

Railius asked for, as far as he was concerned, the faction 'House Aurellion' and the dynasty Aurellion were the same thing.

"There is a difference between a dynasty's power and a faction's power. Even if they are often one and the same as the faction House Aurellion will likely be destroyed the moment the dynasty Aurellion is extinct."

"For example, your Pelican Guards and the people that serve your house, even Sigismond Security Solutions, are technically part of the faction House Aurellions power, not the Aurellion's dynasties power."

"You are playing semantics with me here. If I die and my dynasty gets destroyed, won't the faction disappear!"

Railius complained, shouting at the system in his mind instead of in the game as he did not want to wake up his protectors a second time.

"Yes and no, as there are times when the power of a dynasty needs to be different from the power of a faction, which is why it is in differing screens as only members of your bloodline get affected by your inheritable dynasty traits but where will be quests traits and power that mainly come from your faction, not your dynasty."

"Admittedly, in your case, there is no difference between your dynasty of Aurellion and the faction House Aurellion, but not everyone or thing works that way."

After getting an explanation from the friend system and knowing that he had no power to change the administrative AI's mind, Railius decided to open up the Faction Sheet.

The faction screen was different; it was far more standardised than the Dynasty one, but he could still see the Aurellion crest in the background, indicating the dynasty the leader belonged to. In Dynasties Online, factions are what gamers would consider guilds in regular MMOs, but in this game, AI can join factions as well as players.

….

Faction Name: House Aurellion.

Leader: Railius Aurellion.

Faction Foundations:

Basic Education System.

Basic Intelligence Network (based in the Kingdom of Nathia)

Pelican Guard Training System and manual.

Basic Martial Arts training.

Secret Subordinate Factions:

Sigismond Security Solutions.

Secret Allies:

House Gallomour.

Enemies:

Chavarian Empire

Military Strength (Please note faction leader can also call upon the military strength of subordinate factions, both secret and public):

500 Pelican Guards.

100 Pelican Protectors

Financial Assets:

5000 gold