Note: Bold: System information, Italics: Pov character's inner thoughts.
The place has many names, the Lost Kingdom, the Wyrm Empire, the Grimlands. To an outside observer, it was like an alien world, an uninhabited land without movement or sound. They would be mostly right no plants or animals, blood red pools of ichor, impassable spires of crystal but to say it's uninhabited would be a mistake. This place has one type of inhabitant, in greater number and variety than anywhere else in the world. Grimm. This was their domain, Salem's Domain.
Humans describe them as mindless but, like many of their widely held beliefs, this is not entirely accurate. Grimm are they gather, they hunt, they fight, they kill for one purpose. Grow.
Gimm gain power from negative energy. The domain was almost drenched in negativity, primed for the creation of Grimm… but not the growth. Despite the truly massive amount of negativity, there are also countless Grimm attempting to absorb it. Most Grimm spend less than half a year in Salem's Domain before they find their way to the other lands. Which raises a singular question…
"Why are you still here?" asked a woman with bone white skin and a long black dress. She stared down from her tower at the desolation below. At the far edge of her vision were the ruins of the lost kingdom with hundreds of black birds circling overhead. Her gaze was firmly planted on one member of the identical flock.
This singular nevermore had come to her notice about a year after she had spawned it. She understood that the Grimm take their time, leaving only when the felt the pull of the outer world. This juvenile simply hopped around the ruins. Although it had certainly absorbed enough negativity to grow it… hadn't. Perhaps it was simply careful, understanding how dangerous it is in the outside world and wishing to prepare. With that thought in her head, she moved on to greater plans.
About a year later, the nevermore was still there. Five separate broods of Grimm had been birthed and left but this singular nevermore was still combing the ruins. She wondered if this Grimm had some sort defect. It was still only about the size of a normal raven, maybe it was incapable of growing. Such a pitiable existence, she considered simply killing it in order to end its continued failure. After some thought, she decided against doing so. It wasn't causing any issues, wasn't in the way, it was just there.
This was the fifth year, and the woman was livid. Unrelated events had driven her to find a momentary distraction. Every other of her children followed its goal nicely, go to the outside world, sow discord, and continue until death. But this one, simply moved from ruin to ruin and hop around on the ground. That also vexed her, it spent most of its time on the ground. A nevermore, the undisputed master of the sky, had spent five years on land. She had never considered any of her Grimm as failures, even those that left and died immediately had just fallen below her hopes. However, this nevermore had run out her patience. This would be its last day. She was about to act on her urge when she felt a strange shift.
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Due to accumulated negativity exceeding the maximum threshold, a random boon has been constructed
Cosmic Game: You have become a piece in a game beyond your comprehension.
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Due to your time observing the world around you, you have constructed a boon.
Boon: Basic Sentience: You have spent your life gathering information with no comprehension. You have gained a basic understanding of yourself and the world around you.
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Due to your insatiable thirst for answers, you have constructed a new boon
Boon: First Step on the Never Ending Path: You have gained an innate understanding of language.
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Due to your constant collection of trinkets and knick-knacks, you have constructed a new boon
Boon: Magpie Nest: You have access to an extradimensional space to hold one cubic meter or smaller. The number of objects you can store is equal to your Psyche.
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What? Voice talk. What mean?
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As a game piece, you have the ability to actively choose how to advance by spending accrued negativity.
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Not understand. Explain.
No answer. The voice remained silent much to questioners annoyance.
What me? Please…
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Nameless, Juvenile Nevermore, Age: 5 years, Level 1
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Vitality: 12 = [(lv + 2) x Endurance]
?= 0 = [ 0 (lv + 2) x Psyche]
Negativity: 3 / 150
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Fighting: 3
Agility: 10
Strength: 4
Endurance: 4
Reason: 3
Intuition: 4
Psyche: 2
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Boons
Fatal Feathers, Negative Requiem, Cosmic Game, Basic Sentience, First Step on the Never Ending Path, Magpie Nest
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Titles
None
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"I can tell you." The woman in black stands, staring at small Nevermore. "You are a Grimm, a very interesting Grimm."
Who?
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Salem, Timeless Grimm Queen, Age ?, Level:?
Title: Sole Queen of the Grim
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"My name is Salem, Queen of Grimm. I am the one who birthed you, your mother if you will." She walked up to the small crow, locking eyes with it. "Tell me, young one, why have you stayed here so long. Haven't you felt the pull of the outside? The urge to grow?"
Yes. Stuff here. Want to see. Want to understand. No leave. Too big, no small spots. No grow.
"You are a strange little one. I've been watching you. Most Grimm leave my domain in their first few months, you've stayed five years. Most Grimm take half a century to gain awareness, you took half a decade." She chuckled softly, her anger had been replaced by something she hadn't felt in a long time. Curiosity. "You say you want to 'know', know what?"
Yes. Want to know what to know.
"You don't know… what you want to know?" Salem sat on a stone next to the bird. "How much do you know?"
Know know little.
"Poor sweet child. That is a very wise answer…" she placed her pale hand on the nevermore and gently rubbed its back. "... making a very unwise mistake."
The Nevermore cocked it's head to the side in confusion.
Not understand. Wise but not. Be one mean not other. Explain. Want wise.
"Now now. You do not gain wisdom from someone giving you the answer." She cooed as if speaking to a child. "Think back on what I said. Did I ever say that you were wise or not."
No… I not wise...but not not wise… sometime wise... sometime not…?
"Yes, you understand how little you know. The world is far bigger than you can imagine." She could tell the little birdie was hanging on her every word. She had been doing this for centuries, finding what an individual wants and directing them towards her own goal as a way to fulfill it. Although she had never needed to do so for a Grimm. Even the most intelligent of her kin are very… instinctual, finding negativity and feeding. In her very long life, she had never seen a Grimm who would not only, choose not to grow but also actively avoid negativity to serve another goal. "With such a large world… why are you staying here? The outside world has so much to offer."
... not know outside… know here… want know outside...not want go...not understand.
"I see." This perplexed the queen. This wasn't the survival tactic that grim employ. This was something foreign to the species. "Despite how much you want to go, you're scared of the unknown. A natural reaction really, the outside isn't like my domain. Grimm far older and stronger than you die by the dozen every day. At your level, you wouldn't last a night."
Scared...this scared? This safe but no new… outside, not safe but all new… want go but want live… leave no live...stay no learn...worse than not live…
"Again you show both wisdom and naivety. You are right to fear, it stems from your lack of strength. But the solution is so simple." This was her play, this Nevermore was clever, too clever to waste away in her borders. A piece this powerful shouldn't be staying in the back row. Especially when that piece would only get better over time. "You only need to gain more negativity and believe me, the outside world has more than you could ever gain here."
Get safe, need negativity. What negativity, where find?
"Don't worry, little one. You will know it when you feel it." Salem smiled, she had unleashed something this world had never seen. "Now go, learn and grow. Make me proud."
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You have earned a new title. Choose either Salem's Eyes or Trailblazer of Knowledge.
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… thank you… you Salem, who...who me…
"You child, are my new favorite. My most reliable eyes on the outside" Salem said as she rose to her feet. The Nevermore watched as she left, almost gliding towards the distant tower.
That not it...who me?... goodbye... mother… I not know what is...but do know that not you.
Without looking back, the young Nevermore took flight towards the coast.
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You have chosen the title, Trailblazer of Knowledge
+5 Reason, +5 Intuition, +3 Psyche
Boon: Severed Connections: You have cut all connections to your past, both seen and unseen.
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A.N. Chapter posted on 10/22/17
So... I love the Gamer... but a solid 70% of gamer fics are just rewriting The Gamer...If I wanted to reread the gamer... I'd just reread the gamer. That isn't true for all of the fics, just a large number of the ones I've read recently. This is a fic that's sort of been rattling around in my head for a while. It has a heavy influence from Kumo Desu Ga, Nani Ka, a gamer style story about a monster character. I don't know if anyone else is doing an intelligent Grimm story (if any of you know, link me please) but I thought that it'd be fun to combine that with the gamer... (is that the name of the whole video game stat trope or am I using it wrong?). Another influence will be... left un-named until after the Fall of Bacon... Beacon. Partly because it's irrelevant and partly because I am slightly ashamed...
The system I'm using is the FASERIP system from the old TSR Marvel Super Heroes Tabletop RPG. I've seen so many people use DnD stats... as an avid DnD player... I don't like those stats... I like the idea of Reason over Intelligence... Intelligence must be gained from outside, you don't suddenly learn division because your int increased. Reason, on the other hand, could possibly change and grow without any outside intervention. That's the same reason I DESPISE charisma... YOU have a number that says how OTHERS see YOU?! Granted it can be justified as you reading the situation and choosing your words accordingly... but everyone equates it to how pretty you are, while the original DnD book went out of its way to say that ISN'T what it is.
Fighting: determines hit probability in and defense against hand-to-hand attacks.
Agility: determines hit probability in and defense against ranged attacks, feats of agility vs. the environment, and similar acrobatics.
Strength: Determines damage inflicted by hand-to-hand attacks as well as the success of tasks such as grappling or the lifting and breaking of heavy objects.
Endurance: determines resistance to physical damage (e.g., poison, disease, death) it also determined how long a character can fight and how fast a character could move at top speed by exerting themselves.
Reason: determines the success of tasks relating to knowledge, puzzle-solving, and advanced technology.
Intuition: determines the success of tasks relating to awareness, perception, and instinct.
Psyche: determines the success of tasks relating to willpower, psionics, and magic.
Last point, It is REALLY hard to write a character without a name and gender pronoun... I fix this later but for the first 3 or four chapters... The Grimm, the nevermore, it... and by the way, why isn't the possessive it... i-t-apostrophe-s... LIKE EVERY OTHER POSSESSIVE PRONOUN! So when reviewing, if you could be a little gentler on that particular point... I'd really appreciate it. Most chapters will be 1.5 to 2 thousand words although a few I have written have ballooned up to 3 or 4 thousand. I have 4 or 5 chapters written and 1 I just started. I hope to update one a week... but I have a bad track record... Would appreciate all comments, questions, criticism, puppies, and winning lottery tickets any reader would like to give.
Also, babytalk will be going away after this chapter.
UPDATE: 11/26/17: Centered Game text and edited the AN to make it BOLD.