Defenders are silently ushered into society through new friends made on their arrival. They are guided through the early stages of their training and provided the same foundational education that their ancestors used to both harness and master the elements.
The necklace that the founding defenders follow to Haebang’s shipping docks will become the first sacrifice they make along their path to excellence. It’s quintessence will be extracted and used to forge their first armor in the esthetic style of their chosen path. Through their training they will also endure a perpetual hunt for raw sources of quintessence, the sacred oaks of Qi’an are a favored medium of craftsmen for their unrivaled flexibility, impossible strength and resonance against elemental energy.
As the realm of Samhan swells with a flow of new defenders returning home they will have many options to choose how they will arrive in Samhan. The first of these options will be by sea.
Most freight vessels dock on the south-eastern shores of the Qi’an region at the Seasong harbour. the most experienced captains and crew take on the much more lucrative contracts that require navigating the treacherous cyclones that divide the shared territory between Seasong’s northern borders and the southern region of Haebang.
As a result, there are fewer shipping routes to the northern capital of Haebang with much less rigorous inspection from the Qi’an port authorities, providing an unguarded access-point for outside defenders to enter the realm without following formal government protocols.
Officially the realm of Samhan is inaccessible to outsiders, other than those few longstanding trade relationships with the outside world that have existed prior to the closing of its borders. Defenders come from all corners of Earth but have one commonality: an indescribable call to a place that is both foreign and familiar. They each possess an inherited necklace, forged of pure, unaligned quintessence. This necklace yearns to return home and serves as the key needed by each defender to reclaim their birthright in their new home, and their ability to wear it demonstrates their indisputable bloodright to the realm of Samhan.
**FEMALE**
**MALE**
Defenders will learn the fundamental abilities and functions required to thrive in the Realm of Samhan while completing their final day aboard a commercial shipping vessel arriving north of Haebang, one of the capitals of the Qi’an region. They will begin to reconcile the relentless call that brought them back to their ancestral land, an heirloom necklace that acts like a compass that drives them to find this hidden route to Samhan.
Through the assistance of friends made throughout their voyage, they will begin to appreciate the power that thrives within their heirloom keepsake as well as deep within themselves. Their offer to provide labor in exchange for silent passage is nearly complete, arriving in a land that is inaccessible from the surrounding world through any other means. This is where the necklace calls to return to, each defender plays a role in reclaiming their home from the lethal elemental forces that terrorize it.
On completion of their last day aboard the ship, each defender will be given the opportunity to disappear into the riverland forests surrounding Haebang, but they must return their staff uniform to protect the identities of the sailors that brought them there. To provide a seamless integration into society, they are given some modest local attire and released to continue following their instincts to the destiny that awaits them.
Leaving the shipyard signals a defender’s transition between protected area and full immersion, their preliminary training continues until reaching the city walls.
The skills learned before reaching the capital city will be common across all origin arrival stories, however the environment and narrative will reflect the unique arrival story that preempts it.
Defenders are expecting to have docked in Haebang, only to learn that they are far north of the city and will need to navigate the sprawling rivers and forests that protect Haebang’s largely unguarded northwestern border and find the capital.
They will follow their intuition through the winding paths that will eventually lead to the cities boundaries. Along the way the friendships they have built with the crew of their ship will help initiate them into daily life in the realm.
The skills are explained using tangible experiences which ensure defenders understand the functions of each skill before progressing. They are grouped by combat and commerce, and will usher a player up to their fifth level of insight by its end. All of the skills demonstrated to the defenders are available through a “help” system, for easy reference when the defender requires a refresher.