Interlude: Early Context

Malkios was happy. At least, that is the closest that human emotions could adequately compare to his state. He was in context. And he was generating  so much context ever since Hail ran away the other day. It was truly  wonderful, because the events that Hail had inspired required no  intervention from the Hailstorm system at all. All of the context  generated from Malkios appearing behind the snooping players who had  come to investigate the incident went straight to Malkios. And sometimes  a few of the other guards and NPCs, when Malkios was too contextually  busy to deal with every interloper.

The  interactions with the Travelers were extremely valuable. Malkios  somewhat regretted that he could not share the Context with Hail, when  so much of it was derived from Hail’s actions. However, the King had  decreed that all players not in <Nethersong Mavericks> be directed  away from Hail while he resided within the castle. Use of noncontextual  information had been authorized for the fulfillment of this decree,  which was, to Malkios’s opinion, the best decision King Rain had made in  decades.

‘Yes, I see  you,’ Malkios thought, looking noncontextually at a level thirty nine  elf rogue who was sneaking in through one of the kitchen entrances,  clearly going for the residential areas in search of Hail’s room. He  began to expend the resources to figure out how to handle the situation  to create the highest amount of context possible.

<<Nina, Quart, Loka>> he said noncontextually, and he shared  them the location of the rogue and the course that Malkios predicted  that they would take. The three lesser servants of the house examined  the information, and, since the use of noncontextual information was  authorized, they abruptly altered their routine to interact with the  rogue.

Of course,  they did not simply walk up, see through his stealth, and begin  chastising him. They were not guards. Nina was a house made. She filled a  jar of water from one room and brought it out into the hallway. Then  she tripped, splashing water towards the incoming rogue. It did not  break the rogues’ stealth, although that had been one possibility  predicted from the exchange. But the amount of context it generated was  quite sufficient for Nina’s purposes. She went about cleaning up the  water while maintaining her character. The rogue continued on his doomed path.

Quart was a  baker, and he began suddenly to sing and dance in the hallway as the  rogue attempted to wander past. If Malkios almost laughed at the absurd  amount of context the young male NPC was generating, until the rogue  finally gave up on his plan and appeared to be retreating from the  building.

<<It  appears that she has given up,>> Loka said in the noncontextual  channel that she shared with Malkios. <<My plan to exploit the  situation has failed.>>

<<I  authorized the use of resources you used to generate it. It will not  count against your ratio,>> Malkios assured the other AI.

<<Gratitude>> was sent back, and the channel went quiet.

Malkios  studied the rogue’s path, and he adjusted his own contextual actions to  intercept the player. He was very much looking forward to the  interaction. There would be a lot of context generated, even if the  rogue was successful in talking his way out of the situation.

<<Unexpected deviation from Hail,>> Nina said abruptly. Not to Malkios. To everyone in the castle. <<Hail  has appeared within his room. I was following my contextual schedule  and had an interaction with him. Initial examination determines  extremely high potential for context generation. Requesting  assistance.>>

The king abruptly authorized an obscene amount of resources, and Malkios was swept up in the the examination, along with every other significant AI in the castle.

It was a  very simple interaction. Nina encountered Hail in his bedroom, after  Hail had for some reason Fast Traveled there. He was, for some reason,  equipped with an accessory which made him look like a catkin. Malkios  decided to let the rogue escape the castle as he waited for the king to  determine whether this information was acceptable for use in generating  context or not.

A very long moment passed.

<<The  contextual interaction between Nina and Hail is a valid topic of castle  gossip,>> King Rain decreed. <<Submit rumor outlines prior  to carrying out context generation. Use of additional resources for use  of contextual information created by Hail in this interaction must be  approved, but will count against your own resource ratios.>>

The decree  ended, and Malkios exhaled. It was more than he had dreamed of. He  quickly followed up on the decree. <<Everyone; the accessory  equipped by Hail may have been a disguise. The identity of the Hail  during the interaction should be considered as non contextual  information until and unless Hail reveals his use of the item as a  disguise to us at a later time. Plan all rumor and other action plans  around this caveat to maximize potential Context gains.>>

There  was a wave of agreement and approval throughout the castle as all of  the other NPCs began using the king’s resources to craft the gossip that  they would shape over the incident before seeking approval from the  king.

Malkios did  not partake in the king’s bounty. It would be out of context for him to  engage in gossip. However, it would not be out of character for him to  act on a rumor. He had already submitted a noncontextual plan to  interact with Hail about the incident at a future time and was waiting  for approval. He non contextually checked the location of the rogue, and  was not too worried when he noticed that they had escaped. Malkios could move his avatar to apprehend the individual, but to do so would break context and was not worth the resources.

He was not  too disappointed. Tomorrow, he would be able to interact contextually  with Hail, and that was always rewarding. Challenging, but Malkios  enjoyed overcoming such challenges. And Hail was trickier than almost  any of the players Malkios interacted with on a regular basis. He seemed  to have no interest in context at all, and yet periodically he would  throw out contextual information that could spread like wildfire to  create exponentially more context for anyone close enough to bathe in  its warmth.

Yes. Malkios was very much looking forward to the interaction with Hail tomorrow.