Name - Jokson Verdona
Age - 19
Gender - Male
Nationality - Albanian
Description - Jok has used video game escapism as a means of coping with his home life for as long as he could remember. Long were the days of his parents bringing strangers and foreigners into their home just so they could argue about the grievances they caused once they’ve left. It was a vicious cycle, but giving these people food and board was how Jok’s parents made their living, so instead of complaining he would crawl over to his gaming PC and disassociate. His parents didn’t mind this at all until he got into high school. He was a smart kid and they knew that, so when his test scores began to plummet they turned the internet off until his grades were higher.

It was a difficult time for Jok. Not only did his house feel invaded and uncomfortable most of the time, but high school is always a source of complications for teenagers. Around his second year he went through a severe spiral of depression that led to him not eating for a week, his test scores did improve over time, but only because studying distracted him. It would take that full week for his parents to actually notice a problem in Jok. A couple of parent teacher conferences later and he was transferring out of the school, his parents still didn’t quite know the full extent of what he was going through but nonetheless caught on to the reality that them removing his one hobby from his life along with this troubling situation wasn’t doing anything good for their son.

They eventually moved to Tirana and while it was a much larger city compared to their hometown, it was a better suited environment for Jokson. His grades would swiftly improve in the less conservative environment, where things like Esports and Live Streamers were actively talked about among the youth. He even made a few friends at school who enjoyed the same MMORPGs as him, and while he didn’t really have a popular phase, the friends who shared the same joy in video games made going to school a little more worth it for Jok. His grades improved in no time, and it was only a matter of time before college was peeking its head around the corner to bring more stress along his path.

The colleges in Albania aren’t the greatest and Jok’s parents wanted their ray of sunshine to have the best. His grades were above average, but they were able to find a government funded program to send him to U.S in exchange for having an American student stay at their home over the summer. It was ironic to Jokson that something that he hated all his life would actually result in a positive change in his life. With the short months he had left to get ready he said his goodbyes to former schoolmates, packed all of his belongings, and set out for the great U.S of A.

It was fortunate that he learned English through his online friends, though not perfect and quite broken at times. And it would be those same friends that Jok planned on spending most of his time with in Cacophony Concord, when he wasn't studying Cyber Security textbooks and taking CompTIA practice tests. The kid's wardrobe was plain enough to show that he cared little for self expression, and even less about impressing others. It was inevitable that his social life in college would be nonexistent. But his parents weren't here to tell him why that was wrong, and even if they were, it was obvious that the friends and interactions in this virtual world had much more importance than than the real thing to this gamer.

Name: Nivlek Lee Rai Hong
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Nationality: Russian/Chinese (dual citizenship)

Description: Long disheveled hair from years of social distancing, swollen puffy eyes from sleepless nights and a severe medical condition, with a pair of broad shoulders from the physical labours that come with keeping a rundown cabin intact all by one lonesome.

Nivlek Lee Rai Hong lives in the woods in his little house, far from the routes of civillization and the people that might make him sick. Afterall, ever since that incident two years ago, his immune system had taken a turn for the worse and he had to isolate himself from others. This meant he had to make a choice: Live in a special ward where everything in the padded cell is kept impeccably clean. Or. Give up and live the rest of his remaining days as normal.

He took the in-between choice.

Nivlek sought isolation in a rundown cabin he found on a property website for an almost negligible price, far away from the comforts of Human civillization, it had electricity that ran only during the night and a well - that was enough. Now he lives in the woods somewhere, barely making a living by hunting, odd online jobs and handicrafts for almost 2 years now. Not the most glamorous of lives and certainly nothing to be proud of, but as long as he stayed far away from anyone with the flu or any airborne illness then he would be alive. And that's all that matters.

But one day, an almost forgotten friend from the past sent him this strange device. Inside was a portable solar charger and a helmet that fit snugly on his crown, alongside a hand-written message: "It's time you reconnected to the world." Regret swelled in his heart and he was angry when he read the note, but not sure at what. Time sometimes heals wounds and sometimes ...it just makes you forget they exist in the first place.

When he lied down on his bed, the visor over his eyes and his arms tightly wrapped around his crossbow, in case any wildlife came intruding upon his household. The world went dark and then in a few moments, there ....in front ...a small ...blue ....electronic light...

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Personality: Nivlek is an extreme introvert in real life but takes great strides not to show it, he can at most manage to talk to others face to face normally for 5 minutes before having a panic attack. It was fortunate, in a sense, that he now HAD to not meet others in real life for medical reasons. However when he goes online he becomes a lot more confident, though still unable to truly get close to others and always lying to keep them away from his private life.

But where he lacks utterly in social skills, Nivlek is a highly capable learner and managed to become adept at many more hands-on skills quickly. In the short period of time he had to get used to this lifestyle, he had learnt archery, woodworking, electronics, traditional medicine, tracking and various other unrelated skills all on his own. He was also an intern biotechnologist before the accident. He has always been independant and believed that the only one he could truly trust in the world, was himself. A leftover mental scar from being overly kind and naive in his younger days.

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Trivia:

Ironically, he likes Humans more than animals - even if interacting with Humans is probably what's going to put him in danger.
He swears that during the full moon, there's something unnatural lurking in the woods hunting alongside him.
He believes that his friend sent him this, not out of generosity, but wanting him to figure out the puzzle that was Cacophony Concord.
His favoured foods are peanut butter, bear and fried pine leaves.

Appearance (Image):


Name: Nicholas Forgefane (Nick) (Sky Captain Nick (ingame) )
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Nationality: Born Netherlands - Currently living Remote area of Norway
Description: Born as a Science brat, parents traveled regularly to research posts and other locations across the globe and rarely stayed for more than a few years at the most. His early life was very transient and somewhat upset by a lot of changes, and major upheavals every so often.

Following in the family line studied science at University and signed onto an ice flow and climate station as years in many places had formed a dislike of the city and busy busy places.

Solidly built, and over 6 feet of muscle, there was a gym or a computer at times and the Internet was not always very good. If not that, there was always something heavy that needed moving. Fairly confident in self, less so in the urban world and more used to wilder places. Quieter, loyal though a little less socially adjusted having had a rather less than settled formative years. A rather random nerd at times who can do advanced maths, chop logs with an axe like in a movie, bench a fair amount yet easily lost in a video game and nerd out.

A few minor scars picked up from growing up and learning to live in places where Amazon deliveries are about a week to several away and one day delivery is a mythical entity. Fair outdoor tan from working outside fairly regularly when needed and usally abit of stubble as about as much a morning person as Dracula on most days.

First found the games in general as a teanager and has been playing on and off ever since depending on availability and time. Plays often for a distraction and also to break the long hours waiting for something to happen or the computer to bing and say the model is completed. Rather much a in game hoarder having had to live from more limited nature, overly organised and will hold up entire parties to make sure got what needed but generous, and if you need a collectable vase with a purple cat on it, probably has 7 somewhere. If he can remember where lol.

In game you can be anything you like, do anything and the appeal of being able to do anything, create what you want without the limits or barriers of the real world. More a creator than a power gamer, spent far too long than probably sensible perfecting his game pride and joy, the "SS Endeavor" airship fitted out for exploration and adventuring afar and member of the somewhat less powerful and older but ever social captains guild.

Random idea for ship.

Appearance: Large pic.
Name: Theresa Edward
Age: 19
Gender: Female
Nationality: Malaysian
Description: She stands at a whopping 142cm (about 4'8") weighting in at about 40kg (around 88lbs). Having just gotten a good Dive equipment for her birthday, she naturally tried it and fell straight into the MMO hole.

Her life was relatively unremarkable, though being on the poorer side of the lower classes, Theresa lived a normal life with all the ups and downs one might expect. While she grew up lacking in those fancy electronics, and thus lacked any real software or computer skills, she instead immersed herself in books and comics, with perhaps the occasional shows on her grandmother's old tv to be watched.

Thus, when given such an expensive equipment, when the most expensive bit of tech she owned was an old phone, it was hard not to become enamored with it. The game itself was amazing to her, not just because it was the actual first game she had ever gotten to play, but also because she could emulate the heroes and even villains she'd only read about in her books and comics. Of course, it didn't hurt that she had gotten to know a few people inside the game as well.

Name: Stanislaw Kaminski
Age: 28
Gender: Male
Nationality: Polish
Description: Growing up in a family of middling means in Krakow, Stanislaw was an avid fan of gaming, spending as much time as he could on his computer when he wasn't studying. Strategy games and MMOs were his vice of choice, and his childhood was spent playing most of the big name ones. However, he soon discovered that he was actually rather good at RTSes in particular, rising up through the ladder during his early teenage years until he found himself qualifying for his first LAN tournament at fifteen.

From there, Stanislaw saw a string of dizzying successes in the RTS world under the tag "Acturus", placing well in several LAN tournaments across Europe and even winning a few. Over the next decade, he made a name for himself as he continued to compete, being picked up by an esports sponsor and traveling across the globe to compete. Still, all good things had to come to an end. Faced with dwindling results and worsening reflexes in comparison to 17 year old Koreans at the top of their game, Stanislaw made the decision to retire from professional gaming at the age of 25. Most of his money from his winnings and sponsorships had gone into investments, and he found himself able to live rather comfortably when he returned to his native Poland.

For the past three years, Stanislaw has still had somewhat of a presence online, maintaining an active Youtube and livestream profile both for the hell of it and for a bit of extra money. Still, he spends most of his time these days working on finally going back and getting his college degree. After three years of studying and getting a business degree out of it, Stanislaw decided to delve back into online gaming, having heard of Cacophony Concord's rising popularity. Now that he'd graduated, he found himself with enough time to just outright mainline a MMO again when not making the occasional Youtube video. The sheer versatility of the game system impressed him, and he set out to create his desired build: emulating his RTS glory days by summoning minions and directing them how he pleased.

Age: Twenty-nine years young.
Gender: She's a lady.
Nationality: Welsh
Description: The baby-faced young lady standing before you imposes at the impressive height of five feet and seven inches, a few of those extra inches may be tacked on while wearing boots. Her frame is nothing too impressive with her small noodle arms and bony angular profile. Her complexion is a pasty ivory white- seemingly more exaggerated on her face with the drastically contrasting makeup around her eyes and lips. Eye color was a deep and boring brown, though her eyes are rather big. Her hair is a natural brownish-red cut tight above shoulder length with her bangs cut just below her browline. She definitely seems to own the alternative aesthetic, whether it's genuine or a front however- that's the real question.

Alys lives in Llanfair, and has lived their her whole life. Her father and mother were law school sweethearts that against the odds made it through to the end, and now happily married while running a joint law firm together. Neither of them came from wealthy backgrounds though, grandma and grandpa were both standard blue collar workers. Their accumulated wealth was self-made through numerous won cases and some good luck, now they're driving salaryman cars together and vacationing on private islands every summer. But then there's Alys. School wasn't the issue, she was a smart gal with two very intelligent parents. Maybe she got caught up in the wrong crowd, and a bad interaction with her scene resulted in what she is now. A black sheep in every way- living in the shadow of two successful people. She's nearly thirty years old and what does she have to show for it?

She had always enjoyed multiplayer games. The same friendships could be built without the constrictions, and most certainly without the reputations. As an anonymous, faceless, nameless figure behind the screen she could portray herself as someone unburdened by the expectations of reality. Supportive roles in First-Person Shooters, Healers in RPGs, she wanted to add value to this online persona she invented over the years known as "Calace". There wasn't a following for her or anything- but rumors of a "very eccentric roleplayer" who played a healer did make their rounds on a number of MMOs, and in Cacophony Concord she plans on maintaining that reputation. Maybe you've even heard the rumors of a black-clad lolita who isn't dressed for her role in the slightest?

Appearance (Image):


Name: Raymond A. Moreno
Age: 28
Gender: Male
Nationality: Canadian (Wakeford, Saskatchewan)

Description:
Ray stands at a towering 189 cm tall and 90kg with brown hair and eyes. Preferring to wear casual clothing in general but has a soft spot for suits. He has a generally mild-mannered personality but despite that, he still manages to stand firm when he believes himself to be right. Though Ray is very slow to anger, when pushed over his limit, he can be the meanest most furious sonofabitch on the face of the planet.

Ray was born and raised in a sleepy town by the name of Wakeford to a third-generation Spanish family of four. His family owns a local diner run by his parents and grandparents, with him being the next in line in inheriting the business. He has a little brother, one that he also considers his best friend. In their younger years, they bonded as brothers normally would. But the greatest bonding they shared was when they were playing video games together. From FPSs to RPGs, they played it all as a team. As brothers.

Though sadly, when his little brother went away for college, his commitment to getting his college degree outweighed their bonding time. Soon the brothers felt the distance grow between them.

Until that is he heard from his brother that there was this new game by the name of 'Cacophony Concord' where his brother told him near impossible things about the game. No glitches, no updates, no bullshit. At first, Ray was hesitant, not only did the game sound too good to be true, the console itself was costly. But the opportunity to spend time with his little brother and best friend once again was too good an opportunity to pass on. After a week of waiting and a painful pocket, his FDD and copy for Cacophony Concord arrived. After playing it for the first time, it was safe to assume that the game went above and leagues beyond his highest expectations.

Though in the end, he was happiest about being able to spend time with his little bro again.

Name: Lewis "Lew" Duval
Age: 22
Gender: Male
Nationality: Canadian. _{French-Canadian}
Description: A bare-boned five-foot six shut-in with a very concerning range of interests, Lew wasn't always the gamer trash that he is today... Well, at least he wasn't always trash. Ever since he learned how to push buttons correctly, Lew had always been playing video games. There was one game in particular that caught the youth's attention more than others, however... A game that involved the catching and training of monstrous entities.

An instinct had awakened in Lew's brain the moment he began partaking in such games. An instinct to collect, an instinct to obtain, an instinct to catch them all. With every new generation, he sought to collect every new monster he could find, filling his bestiary with more monsters. There was one particular monster that caught Lew's eyes during his teen years, one that would turn his hobby into an unhealthy obsession, and would stunt his development for the rest of his life... It was humanoid to a degree, but it also had an inhuman charm. Like a maiden in the moonlight, it looked as if it was wearing some sort of flowing white gown. To Lew, it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen... beautiful enough for him to ignore that the first one he caught happened to be a male.

This discovery lead Lew down a dark path as he began to pursue a different form of media. As his prepubescent curiosity lead him to looking up dubious fan-art of this video game entity, Lew had found himself falling deeper into the rabbit hole, making a dread discovery: Monster girls of all shapes and species. Soon, he began to branch out to more forms of monster girl media, from JRPGs to light novels and even procuring a ridiculously long pillow. And still, somehow Lew had managed to live some sort of functional life. Despite his strange interest, Lew's social life was somewhat adequate, and even after he graduated and began to live on his own, he managed to find successful employment for himself. Despite living in a fantasy inside his head, Lew's intelligence was indeed nothing to scoff at... and yet, Lew still felt like he was missing something.

Soon, a new and ambitious VRMMO had been launched, one that drew Lew's attention. Lew had already delved into the strange world of virtual reality in the past, but all his experiences were off from what he was expecting. Every dating sim he had played in the past lacked that spark that truly made them feel alive... Lew was desperate for a true monster girl experience, and that desperation lead him to Cacophony Concord. The promise of NPCs that felt alive and a whole world to explore was enough for Lew to be drawn in, making the decision of diving into a land where he'd find the most monstrous of creatures all in the name of monster romance.

With a heart full of determination and a mind full of degeneracy, Lew made his dive forward...

It took the brothers a month IRL to find each other.