There was a murmur of agreement around the table.
“Hmmm,” said the King. “You may be right. This new law does undermine the level system that rightfully benefits our upper class – which is ironic, given the circumstances in which the law was imposed – but what do you propose we do to fix this problem?”
It was at this point that Caesar894, dressed as his Roman namesake, stood up. “I have an idea,” suggested the King’s right-hand man.
“Speak it,” replied the King.
“Well, it occurs to me that, within the walls of our city, we have almost no remaining fertile land. The forest beyond the city limits on all sides will not make good farmland. If we are to keep this city up to the standard we are used to, we must take multiple actions. First, we must not give away any more of this fertile land. Second, we must force the lower-level citizens of this city to leave. As Sir Charlemagne pointed out, they are likely to steal from us if we die or, even more likely, rise against us and murder us in our sleep just to take our supplies!
“The lower-level citizens of this city outnumber us two to one,” Caesar continued, “and if they should ever realize this, we would have a serious problem on our hands. We must force them to move from the city. If they do that, this city will have more land to be taken by those who deserve it.
“The Adorian Village can take on most of the outcasts, and there must be a fertile tract of land out there somewhere beyond the Ender Desert, even if our cartographers haven’t mapped it yet. Some of the refugees can settle there. One thing remains certain, however: the lower-levels must go.”
As Caesar894 finished his speech, the council members clapped their blocky hands in approval. The King stood up.
“Very well,” the King said. “The law proposed shall state the following: ‘All citizens of Element City with a level under that of fifteen are required to leave the city within one week of today’s date. After that date, all players under level fifteen found in the city shall be killed and their houses destroyed.’ Those in favour of this law?”
Ten geometrically shaped hands rose into the air.
These ten players on the Minecraft server Elementia had no idea what they had just done. They had no idea just how the people would react to this law. And they had no idea at all what this simple action would do to their way of life, to their citizens’ lives, and to the game of Minecraft itself. Still the King continued.
“Motion carried,” the King announced. “The law shall be put into place at the next Proclamation Day. It is time for the elite of this city to take back the kingdom!”
At that very moment, as the council cheered the King, a new player called Stan2012 appeared on Spawnpoint Hill.
It was dark in the Great Wood. Visibility between the tall trees surrounding the flowery hill was limited; who knew what was lurking in the shadows? The stars were still out, but the white square that was the sun had begun to peek over the horizon, giving the starry sky a faint pink-and-orange glow. The haunting howl of an Enderman pierced the peaceful dawn. It was this striking scene of the Minecraft server Elementia that met a new player who had appeared on Spawnpoint Hill.
This player was clearly new; he held nothing in his rectangular hand and was gazing in wonder at the infinite cubes of dirt, grass and oak wood that composed the meadow hill and forest that surrounded him now. He had dark brown hair, a turquoise shirt and blue trousers, the standard look for a Minecraft player who had not yet changed his skin or appearance. This player had never played Minecraft before. Unbeknown to him, he couldn’t have picked a worse time to join this server. His name was Stan2012.
Wow, Stan thought as he gazed around at the dimly lit morning. This is awesome! Everything’s made out of cubes! The dirt on the ground, the trees, even the leaves! And look at that stream over there. Even the water is perfect cubes! You can pick up these … blocks, and build stuff out of them? But there are blocks everywhere! Awesome! Oh, wow!
Stan looked around. The place where he was standing had clearly seen other players before, though he saw none now. He was surrounded by pixilated torches sticking up out of the ground, and there were signs and what looked like chests. One of the signs told him not to steal any of the torches, and another told him that he was standing on Spawnpoint Hill, where all new players entered the server. But it was one particular sign, which was located next to a chest, that caught his attention. It read: “If you have never played before, take a book from the chest.”
Stan walked over to the chest and opened it. It was sectioned off into compartments. One was full of loaves of bread, another was filled with what appeared to be swords constructed out of wood and yet another held books. Stan took one of these books and walked down the hill with it. He sat down on the bank of the nearby stream, dangled his feet in the water, and was about to begin reading when he heard a shout from behind him.
“Hey, wait up!”
Silhouetted against the brightening blue sky was a figure that appeared to be another player. As he walked down the blocky hill, Stan could see that this player was wearing a simple white tunic and white trousers and dark brown boots. He looked like someone who might make his home in the desert. The player reached the foot of the grass-block slope and stood over Stan.
“Hi,” he said. “My name’s KingCharles_XIV, but you can just call me Charlie. I’ve never played this game before and I have no clue what to do. Could you help me?”
“Maybe. My name’s Stan2012, but you can call me Stan,” Stan replied. “I’ve never played before either; I just heard that it was a fun game, and that this server is a great place to learn to play. The sign up there said that this book would tell us how to play.” He held up the book.
“Well then, let’s read it,” said Charlie. He sat down next to Stan and looked on as Stan read aloud.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Minecraft, new player. This is a very fun game with no particular goal. You can see that the world around you is made out of blocks. You can destroy these blocks СКАЧАТЬ