After determining his lineage, career, and growth route, Ethan set his sights on the last option the starting location.
[Finally, you arrived?]
[Westeros, Essos, Sothoros]
Looking at this option, Ethan couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth. He could understand Westeros and Essos, but what the hell was Sothoros doing there?
It was an uninhabited and poisonous place where even the greatest explorers couldn't survive.
If the player started there, wouldn't that be basically a coffin?
After thinking it over, Ethan clicked on Westeros mainly because the original book described this area in more detail. He believed he could develop better in the early stages with that knowledge reserve.
More details were soon displayed:
[The Kingdom: Riverlands, Stormlands, Reach, Vale, Dorne, Westerlands, Northland, Iron Islands, North of the Great Wall]
This time, Ethan chose the Riverlands, mainly because it was connected in all directions. No matter where a competition occurred, he could get there as quickly as possible.
However, just as Ethan was about to continue selecting a specific city, the system did not display the next option.
This surprised him, as it meant the player's specific starting point was randomized.
In this way, players who had agreed to form an alliance could not start in the same city. They would have to rush to their previously agreed meeting point after landing randomly.
Of course, this brought no advantage to Ethan, since the rendezvous would only take a few days.
After confirming one last time that all the selected information was correct, Ethan clicked the OK button.
[Please enter your name]
"Name?" Ethan repeated, then casually entered: [Ethan].
[Please formulate your image]
"Eh? I can make my own face?" Seeing the preview of a mercenary knight wearing armor, holding a half sword, and riding a tame horse on the screen, Ethan was stunned for a moment, then began trying to modify the knight's face.
After a while, Ethan discovered he really had no talent for face design. Every face he made was so ugly it looked like something out of a budget medieval RPG.
So he placed his hope in random generation. After three minutes of effort, he finally clicked on the image of a typical blond Andal youth with good looks.
[Character generation completed]
Soon, a complete background story was sent to him.
[Background Overview]:
You have the blood of both the First Men and the Andals.
(Strength +2, gain skill 'Common Language Speaking')
Your father is a farmer in the Vale, and your mother is a maid in the manor of a local wealthy knight.
In 281 AC (Note 1), you were born into this world as the eldest son in your family, and your father named you Ethan. It was an unusually warm late winter, as if spring had arrived early because of your birth. However, at the end of the year, the cold of winter suddenly returned to Westeros, and heavy snow fell everywhere. That year was called the False Spring.
(Starting capital +200 silver stags)
When you were one year old, Jon Arryn, Duke of the Eyrie and Lord of the Vale, raised a banner of rebellion and declared war on the Targaryen royal family. Your father was recruited by the local lords, took up arms, and went south but never returned.
After the war, to repay the debt your father incurred purchasing equipment, your mother had to sell the family mill. She then took you to the knight's manor, where she worked to support you. Your astuteness was appreciated by the knight's wife, who arranged for you to be a tutor for her son, who was the same age as you.
(Spirit +1, acquire skills 'Basics of Etiquette' and 'Basics of Common Language Reading and Writing')
At age 11, you and your young master were sent to the count's castle to begin learning swordsmanship, equestrianism, and jousting. Your performance was excellent.
(Strength +4, Agility +4, acquire skills 'Basics of Swordsmanship', 'Basics of Equestrianism', 'Basics of Cavalry')
Two years later, you defeated your young master in a joust and won the right to serve as a squire to a knight from the count's household.
(Strength +5, Agility +5, acquire skills 'Swordsmanship Beginner', 'Lance Beginner', 'Equestrian Skills Beginner')
At age 16, you shined in a campaign against the mountain clans of the Vale. Your master knighted you after the war. That night, you completed your vigil in the sept after anointing yourself with the Seven Holy Oils.
(Strength +10, Agility +10, acquired skills 'Intermediate Swordsmanship', 'Intermediate Lance', 'Intermediate Horsemanship')
Soon after, you married the daughter of the steward of a wealthy knight's manor. She wasn't beautiful, but you were deeply enchanted by her.
On your wedding night, however, your former young master, now drunk, barged into your house with four guards. Still bitter about being bested by you, he declared your bride his subject and demanded to exercise the lord's right of the first night.
But that tradition had been abolished during the reign of Jaehaerys I Targaryen, the fourth monarch of the dynasty, at the urging of Queen Alysanne.
You viewed his demand as provocation and humiliation. You called your attendants and friends for aid, and a fierce battle broke out.
After the chaos, you killed your former young master and his guards but your wife and companions also perished in the melee.
The battle caused a fire, and the manor where you had spent your entire childhood was quickly swallowed by flame. With no time to grieve, you gathered your belongings (a half sword with no heraldry, a worn suit of chain mail, a tame horse, and 200 silver stags) and fled the Vale overnight. You headed for the Riverlands, beginning your life as a mercenary knight.
[Ethan: Strength 21, Agility 19, Spirit 1
Skills: Basic Etiquette, Common Language Reading and Writing, Intermediate Swordsmanship, Intermediate Equestrianism, Intermediate Lance]
(Note: Reading and writing in a language supersedes speaking skills. Speaking skills only apply if you can speak but not read.)
"Reminder: The bodies used by players are all bionic constructs released into this world by the organizers. They appear out of thin air. The natives will have no memory of the player characters," AI Annie explained after confirming Ethan had read the info.
"But the system generates a plausible background story based on each player's custom selections. Players also gain related knowledge and memories to help them integrate into the world of A Song of Ice and Fire with their new identities."
"Pretty thoughtful," Ethan muttered. This system was clearly useful. Even players familiar with the books would lack knowledge of real life medieval details.
But this also presented a problem it made it harder for players to recognize one another. If the disguise was good enough, two players could sit together in a tavern, chatting and laughing, and still not realize the other was a player.
This directly contradicted what the receptionist had said that players would enter into fierce competition and even kill each other from the very beginning.
From a design standpoint, if the goal was to provoke PvP violence early on, why build a system that helped players hide?
That made no sense. Ethan quietly noted the inconsistency in the back of his mind.
"You've completed the character creation phase," Annie said. "Now you just need to click OK to begin travel. While you can't act until all players arrive, you can use this time to explore the game mechanics and auxiliary systems."
Ethan agreed. The organizers required players to understand the mechanics before beginning.
Using that prep time to study the system would ensure he wasted no time after the game officially started.
Thinking of this, Ethan no longer hesitated and clicked the OK button.
The instant he did, it felt as though he were melting. Sight, sound, and touch vanished one by one, and the world became blindingly white.
Note 1: AC (After Conquest) refers to the years following Aegon I Targaryen's coronation as the first king of Westeros. It is the standard calendar used in the Seven Kingdoms.