Alexander Cherry

In Heroes Die, the players create an Actor, and lead him through one of his productions. Actors are usually solo efforts – they get their own titles. Sometimes there are “cross-over” productions, where Actors work together, but these are rare. The danger in being targeted as an Aktiri is greater when you’re amongst your own kind, and while death gets great ratings, long-lived Actors with extensive track records and histories bring in more money over the long run. Each production is a calculated risk.

Background

There are worlds apart from our own, where the laws of physics play out a different tune. Many of them cannot be visited – the way things work are simply too bizarre. But some can be visited, and in these places, sometimes things are different enough that what you could do, you can only call magic. One of these places even has mankind – a place called Overworld, it looks like heroic fantasy brought to life. The industrial revolution hasn’t reached Overworld; there is no overpopulation, little pollution, vast tracts of wilderness populated with strange and wonderful beasts. “Magic” in countless variation exists on every level, the worshipped gods are still active, and there is even nonhuman sapience distressingly similar to ‘elves’. It is truly a swords and sorcery place, perhaps the inspiration somehow for the earliest fantasy stories.

In the future, we have found Overworld (and gave it the name), and we know how to get there. Unfortunately, it cannot be colonized – if people stays too long, they finds themselves being pulled back ‘home’ to their original dimension, passing through hundreds of uninhabitable ones along the way. It is an unpleasant, painful experience nobody has survived. So what do we do with this place? Why do we care?

The Studio has an answer – entertainment. Bloody entertainment. “Actors” trained like secret agents in the languages and cultures of Overworld, are thrown across the dimensional void and given tasks called Adventures, Adventures which in turn are broadcast back through special cybernetic brain implants – all five senses recorded for the consumers to experience later, or for the right price, immediately. Actors are drilled in using weapons and magic – swords and sorcery.

The viewers get to feel the visceral thrill of adventuring – of having sorcery flow through their veins, of slicing someone with cold steel, perhaps even of dying. The producers get huge profits, sculpt huge storylines, and keep their position at the top. Actors get paid very well, and get the lion’s share of the fame, but in return risk their lives constantly – many Actors don’t get past their first few productions, dying unceremoniously in some foolhardy producer stunt or another.

As for the people of Overworld? Well, their lives are made more interesting, but not always in a good way. Stable governments and peace don’t make for good ratings – Actors, following producer orders, have done more to keep the political situation of Overworld chaotic than its natives ever have. Furthermore, in the early days, before they learned better, Actors were sloppy – now, the people of Overworld tell tales of the mysterious Aktiri, and keep an eye out for their activities. Not a few natives have fallen in Aktiri pogroms, much more than actual Actors. Either way, it’s great for ratings.