Fountellion in THE SPIRAL: Greenwise & the Nature of the Game

CHARACTERS YOU MAY MEET

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Greenwise: the Guardian at the Estuary

A key figure to Fountellion is its 'guardian', W. D. Greenwise, an elderly, Merlin-type mystic with special powers. If ever there was a wise guy – this is him: your personal tutor to the ways of Fountellion. A veritable fountain of tips and tricks and a walking encyclopedia of flora and fauna. But his true utility is his tuition; enabling the player to discover and unlock what is inside them.

He resembles the actor Anthony Hopkins and is a cross between unruffled Kane from Kung Fu and the more urgent, eccentric Gandalf, especially since time is against him in teaching players how to – effectively – begin to apply their new powers. Later, it might be said, he is more relaxed when he knows you. And you are less vulnerable.

Mostly he is elaborate AI or NPC (Non-Player Controlled) character, but it is believed that real Game Mages such as the Gatekeeper and even Fountellion founder Prof. Ben Fielding will 'inhabit' the character at important or random times.

He can be calm but also shifty and on edge, forever in tune with the 'voice of the fabric', the movements of its artificial life and forever scanning the skies for Stokermen, who seek to 'take' his new and veteran subjects.

He is aware that it will only take one player to affect the game deeply and its nature so he will treat each new arrival with consideration, respect and... hope. However, if they fail to heed his teachings he may 'impress' upon them a sense of gravity and urgency. Players will discover his reasons over time. If his attempts fail he will abandon such players to fend for themselves, and will not respond to summons, depending.

If any player chooses to attack Greenwise, there will be a fight and he may offer second chances to submit to his teachings. However, no player has been known to win against Greenwise. As a Guardian 'program' he may have extra, latent or hidden powers bestowed by his creators.

He renews his power from his territory: the estuary region where he is drawn frequently to meet new arrivals. He is less seen in other regions but may be summoned for short periods beyond it.

What else to say? This should be the start of a valuable friendship – or the end. You get points for not summoning him, but then you could die. Or worse: be taken. You decide. Does he like jokes? His students are not too sure. Don't mess with the cloak.

The Stokermen

Really? No. You don't ever want to meet or encounter these wraith-like figures, emanating from the heights of the far Tower. But... they will keep you on your toes. They are light in gravity and so drift airborne across the game-scape, using their stokers (long, stave-like instruments with a curved prong at the end) to navigate their bodies and to pick up, or spear, players (those ill-prepared for their ceaseless searches) expertly onto them. In this way they do serve a purpose – to ensure movement in players and to separate the active and focussed from the lost and unaware.

People say they are in fact the remnants of banished players, forced now to prey on the current, active ones. It is the only way they may return for another turn of the game. For, once every current player 'fails' (by getting themselves fished out of the island by these blinkered, blighted predators), then a single instance ends and the server will re-set. All players are then released from the tower – marked by a green band they must work to be free of in a new instance.

Casper Gunn

Few know the name attached to an early tester and researcher of the fabric (and Early Access player), he is said still to free-roam the island and is a figure who may know the most about gameplay, even more than is programmed into Greenwise. His contributions to development would have been significant, requiring close contact with the A-life coders and designers. He maintained to possess no knowledge of the 'completed' game however, and claimed not to be concerned about being 'left in the dark' or to have anything but amicable relations with the Division, stating that 'mystery' was always integral to his own particular project involvement and experience.

His statue has only recently been observed alongside fellow Fountellion Mages illuminated around the fountain, contributing to rumours he is no longer present on the island, in the First Instance.

[With thanks to pioneer and rising 'Beta Hero' star Dan Harvester...]