First Player Journal [By Mailleweaver]

I awoke to find myself in the bottom of a chasm with vague memories of my spirit wandering a new land, unable to interact at all but still subject to gravity and material resistance.

I was achingly hungry and immediately began to grow weaker from it. There was no sustenance at the bottom of this great rent in the earth so my first priority had to be to find a way out. I searched end to end for a way but there was none; all the walls were tall and sheer. Venting my frustration and helplessness, I started to punch the walls until one finally broke. This gave me an idea and I began to explore the chasm once again, but this time with an eye to its material rather than just its shape. I found a small deposit of gravel and scooped it all up. It looked like it might just be enough to reach the top if it were all stacked up. So I began to pile it up underneath me until I had none left. I was wrong; it didn't get me out, but close enough. I had reached a small pocket of soil just beneath the surface and was able to dig the rest of my way into the bright light of a nice,........ dull, rainy day.

I began to wander aimlessly -- as my spirit had the night before -- and nearly stumbled into the sight of the restless bones of some ancient archer that also wandered the pine forest I had emerged next to. Quickly I realized that just wandering would only get me into more trouble, so I ducked back the way I came and tuned in to my inner spirit. I found there a tenuous connection with the earth that drew me in the other direction, across to the other side of the deep chasm that had already tried to claim me.

After a short while I spotted a light up ahead and decided to investigate. I found there a small surface pool of lava and thought what a danger it would be to anything growing nearby, so I began looking around the immediate area to make sure that nothing was close enough to catch fire from the dangerous radiant heat of this liquid stone. In my search I found another pool, but this one of water rather than lava. Something about this spot told me that it was my home. There was something unusual about it.

These two contrasting pools were right at the junction of a desert and a grassy plain, and the trees... Oh, the trees! They were so out of place! They had the look of swamp trees but the closest water was no more than this one small pool. Had the desert claimed their home? I just had to help them.

I went from tree to tree, communing with them and learning their thoughts and relationships. The one that closest touched me was the one nearest the water. It enjoyed its position but wasn't content to just reap the benefits that fate had bestowed upon it. It also wanted to share the wealth of life-giving water with its brethren but had no way to do so. This was the one, this one was Me. Our spirits resonated with the same tune and so, were one. For life as long as we continued to support and protect each other, we would both thrive -- and so would our helpless brethren.

And hunger forgotten, our toil began...