INTRO (Back Cover Page)

It's 2069, pollution has reached an all time high, the level of the sea has risen and continues to rise, ice caps are melting, human populations are so high most cities cant support them all. On the bright side technology has advanced even faster than we thought it would, fully immersive virtual reality is common place and there are many different games that mankind escape too, ones where you feel everything your avatar does, in almost any genre you can think up.

But there is one game thats different, funded through crowd sourcing the initial "game" Second Skin was released. Instead of being like most games, it gives you a platform for creation with the right skills and computer AIs running algorithms to create your area you can make anything you want. The "game" released with a few basic areas for trade, social meets and some tutorials, the rest is up to the users to create.

The other Unique aspect of this game is that Users can play for free, money in-game can be accumlated and transfered to the real world at certain exchange rates, and real world money can be converted to in-game currency, you can also make items or areas and trade for game currency. This immediately caught the attention of major tech. and gaming corporations, with their advanced computers, staff, and algorithms they could make areas for just about anything.

Soon these Corporations added there own areas each company doing their own theme, the constant was in order to enter these much more sophisticated and complex areas with a higher quality gaming experience, you have to pay an hourly rate of in-game Currency, on top of that once in their areas everything would cost a premium amount, in order to win in their areas you had to invest Real Life currency into Game currency and pay them...

This started to make the gamers ruthless, instead of being a friendly creative and social game it started to become very sinister and brutal. Hardly any areas were free andonly for the sake of creation, play, and social.

Little did the gaming world know all that was about to change with one common, timid, and sweet girl in real life named Rose. She was on break and even so was studying for her college Exams in order to maintain her Scholarships. Since she was on break and was an avid gamer in her downtown time from studying she decided to try Second Skin. She had heard alot about it through other games, almost every gamer came here at some point but she had put it off as the corporation areas held no interest to her..

She was more excited at being able to do anything in the game as long as you could create it. So she gave it a try, she slipped on her skin-tight gaming suit, gloves and immersive helmet, and then steped into the immersive pod she built herself and closed the hatch. The pod filled with thick fluid which caused her to be submerged but float mid way in the fluid. The pod had built in jets to help simulate currents of wind or water, or high speeds, meanwhile most touches and feelings were expressed through the suit, gloves and helmet. She was very proud of her pod, calling on her high IQ and her late father's mentoring from when she was a girl, in order to make it.

Her Father had been a Technology Genius, and worked for THE top tech and gaming company "Orion". As she grew up he constantly nurtured her creativity and curiosity for Tech. Later on as head of R&D most of the things he worked on were hush-hush, however he got the company to allow his daughter to come with him occasionly by having her sign an NDA and him covering her liability incase of a problem caused by her. He showed her so many wonderful things, everyone working in his Dept. seemed happy working under him and treated her like their own daughter, each one teaching her abit about their speciality and she was immediately inspired by it all and her father. In her child mind her father was so smart, kind, loving and could do no wrong.

But one day there was a Lab "Accident" and her Father never came home.. The company even tried to blame her father for the accident and loss of research and equipment. Through having been there in the past she knew this was not the case, she had overheard her father asking for upgraded material to stabilize the project, but the company had refused it. Obviously it had been important as it was the first time she ever saw her father lose his temper, but the NDA she had signed kept her from revealing anything even after his death..

After the company took money from them to cover "damages" from her fathers "negligence", They were forced out of Her fathers family home, forced to sell everything and could only afford a Small 1 bedroom apartment in a poor and ghetto neighborhood. That first night her mother had been so scared she set upright cuddling her daughter all night long while listening intently to the loud noises and yelling from the other apartments.. In an instant her life had changed forever, she had only been 9 years old at the time, now over 10 years later she was used to their living circumstances.

As her conciousness slipped online her visual field was rushed with streaks of color speeding by, it was enough to make newbies sick until they got used to it, as a veteran it barely even effected her. Soon a simple selection screen of titles and moving images of each game filled the screen neatly lined and stretching out as far as one could see to the left and right. her right hand touched the virtual pad attached to her left wrist and typed in "Second Skin" Enter, immediately all the other titles vanished but one.

The video displayed for SS showed people creating surreal landscapes, and unimaginable creatures and items, a bright smile flashed on her avatar, which looked like her identically. She thought if the game was only similar to this by a half she would be in creativity heaven.

She was a short girl standing at only 5' 1 &1/2" ,yes the 1/2 matters. She had long waist length soft and silky mousy brown colored hair, that was normally in a long french braid to make it more manageable. Her complexion was a soft white with beautifully flushed cheeks and soft pinky-red lips making her look almost like a sweet doll. Her waist was not quite as thin as some of the other girls her age as her muscle mass was much higher, but she had beautifully sculpted curves in a perfect hourglass figure with wide hips and Breasts to match. Due to her height she didnt have endless legs but what she did have was beautifully sculpted muscular legs, like that of a dancer. Other than her curves everything about her was petite from her hands, feet, wrists, ankles, to her head, mouth and nose.

After thinking for a moment she touched the video displayed for the game and another rush of multi-colors streamed past her, and suddenly she was in the entrance to the game world of SS. A tall elegant and poised woman AI stood in the center of a grassy meadow, she had dragonfly like wings of shimmering clear, blues, greens,and purples and she wore an elegant medieval gown in dark puples and whites, with long flowing silver hair that shimmered in the sunlight. As she saw <Wild Rose> a brightness appeared in her light clear blue eyes, and her wings fluttered a few times rapidly.

She spoke cheerfully but eloquently her voice rich and smooth, first letting out a soft sigh of satisfaction " Ah.. a newcomer. Let me introduce myself I am the Artificial Intelligence npc Aya, my job is to welcome newcomers and guide them through the tutorial and introduce them to this world. Do you wish to proceed with the Tutorial?"