Ink Raindrops

Overview:

The Fall of Man has begun.  Morris Erdemann, once a student of medicine blossoming into a gifted doctor, finds her entire future shattered when the Bane arrive on Earth.  However, her gifts are much needed in the fight to save the future of mankind.  These three standalone journal-style entries are based on the now-defunct NCSoft MMORPG Tabula Rasa, and will not be continued over time.  They serve as a memory of a great game, and of a franchise devoted to actively encouraging fan writers to do their worst.

Rating:

This story is rated yellow, for infrequent mild language, alcohol use, and some frightening imagery involving the destruction of Earth.  The titles reference some religious subjects, and God is mentioned once, but only as a reference.

Spoiler-Free Author’s Notes:

When I started playing Tabula Rasa, I was sick of most other MMORPGs, and I wanted to try something different.  When I heard about a game supposedly combining elements of first-person shooters with an MMORPG, I was very, very curious.  Wanting to be more popular with parties, I chose a healer character, called a Specialist.  Shortly thereafter, I experienced my first epic battle at the Landing Zone.  This was one of the first attempts at creating content in MMOs that players can just jump into and out of at will, and it also was designed to make the world feel dangerous and “at war” like the creators intended.  Players could band together to defeat the enemies, or not, as they chose.  Successful defenses offered rewards, of course, so most people tried until they got tired of the constant rushing back and forth to defend it.  It was my first experience with other people (sadly, it was pretty much also my last) and it was FANTASTIC.  You’ve never lived until you’ve come upon a bunch of players dying their butts off, and changed the flow of the entire situation with a single heal.  It was exhilarating.

The very same night, I wrote “Here There Be Angels” and submitted it to TR’s fanfiction collector.  It was accepted and I got to bask in the glory of having my work on a big MMO site alongside several other very talented players/writers.  I wrote the other two entries on my own, withholding submission just because I felt they were too long.  My original intent was to continue writing these and keep a blog of my own, which was also encouraged by NCSoft, but the game began to dwindle further and further in regard to population.  As much as I loved the gameplay and story, the real draw of any MMO for me is the people, and it wasn’t long before I gave up and moved on.  Later, of course, I found out they had cancelled the game.

I’m still very sorry for the loss, and I still think it could have been something great, if only they’d found a way to work around their people problem!  If nothing else, I am sorry for the loss of such an interesting story.  I hope something can be done to salvage it, perhaps, in the future, but I’m not holding my breath.  I guess it’ll go down in history as being one of those games that will live on in the hearts and minds of those few people who made it what it was – right alongside The Matrix Online, but that’s another story…