I've written so much of this stuff, and more is coming, that I thought I should organise it properly to let people read it in the correct order.
I'll use this thread to post links to the other individual stories in their reading order.
First, the origin story of how Yancy came to The Server and decided to set up MPY Kuudere Detective Agency.
Yancy Arrives in The Server
A science-fiction fairy tale
Yancy lived in Tokyo, where he worked in the branch office of a big British publishing company. How he came to move from the
UK and begin a new life in Japan is another story.
Like most people Yancy spent practically all of his time in baseline reality. He only occasionally used servers.
Yancy had been a member in a small server for a while. It had only a few members, who chatted occasionally and sent each pictures. Basically it was a quiet place to rest your brain for a few minutes a day when you got tired of real life.
One day a member there recommended The Server. It was the only one important enough to be capitalised. It had a proper name which no-one used. The Server sounded pretty exciting. Yancy decided to take a look.
He applied for membership and got his credentials. He set up a profile and wrote an introduction.
Yancy read the membership rules carefully. They boiled down to, “say what you like because diversity is important, but you must listen to people as well, and be excellent to one another.” Yancy thought that was a fine idea if it could be kept going. That would depend on the socialisation of the members, and the ability of the Mods.
Yancy was a forum Mod himself in a previous life. It was a wargame forum filled with competitive, aggressive young men. Consequently he believed there had to be an ultimate authority to stop things turning into the Lord of the Flies.
The ultimate authority in The Server was Mistress Kou, backed up by her crew of Mods. They mostly hung out in the Mod Channel at the north of The Server. All the administration and government functions were clustered there, and it was surrounded by a security wall. It could have looked ominous, but it was nicely landscaped and planted.
Just outside the firewall were Pink Home and Blue Home, the two main residential channels. Most members lived there, and spent their time socialising.
Many other channels, such as the Scarlet Cathedral, Creative, Waifu_HQ, the Casino, and Trades, with different purposes, architecture and populations, lay further south, east and west. He would explore them at his leisure.
When you moved away from the main core the channels near the edges naturally became ill-defined and plastic, awaiting future development.
Yancy read about the various bots who ran a lot of daily functions, and the programming commands, but it got tedious. One of Yancy’s flaws was that although he was good at detail, it bored him, so he tended to skip it. This led to a few mistakes later on, and some missed opportunities. Instead of concentrating, Yancy set out to explore on foot.
He walked about the channels. He observed the architecture and the other members. He listened until he felt he could understand the local slang. Then he started to join in some conversations, apologising in advance for his n00bish solecisms.
He didn’t know anyone, and they didn’t know him. It could have been awkward, but the members were friendly and talkative, open to newcomers.
Yancy tried hard to adopt the buzz of the channels without giving up his own individuality. His education as a linguist helped.
Yancy started to feel at home. He liked The Server. He found a small 1LDK to stay in, and moved some of his stuff across from Tokyo. He learned about Affinities, and the network of Waifus and Husbandos.These ties showed bonds of friendship, allegiance, and in some cases, love.
Yancy wanted to be part of it. He wandered the channels, not knowing quite how to achieve this goal. He hoped to find someone who could show him the way.
One day, a member called Onecornchippy came across Yancy wandering coquettishly in Pink Home. She stopped to take a look at him.
Onecornchippy thought Yancy looked like a n00b. But a n00b with potential.
Yancy looked at Onecornchippy. He thought she looked worried, like she wanted some help and support.
Yancy didn't know it, but he was looking at a Princess in disguise. A Princess with a Problem.
© 2019 Yancy08620163 | 8J3U37
aka Starship Captain 88