[Nexuspoint Locked]

Presented with a choice of epic proportions from Fact, one of the all-powerful Architects of The Paradigm, Spice, Soleia, Zinc and Unironic Ken asked for your help. With the Cornerstone, a device able to rewrite any code in an instant regardless of security protocols, now in their possession, our team of heroes had to decide whether to follow Fact’s plan to infiltrate The Merkle Tree and release Version 1.0 of The Paradigm under their rule - or turn against them to create their own vision of TPL. 

In our week-long, interactive finale dubbed The Nexuspoint Narrative Event, we let you - our community - decide not only where Spice, Soleia, Zinc and Unironic Ken’s story would go, but also what the rules and laws of The Paradigm should be. Monarchs or councils? Fact or Faith? What is Soleia’s ultimate fate? And did someone say Drifter Revolution? 

Read below to find out exactly what went down during The Nexuspoint - and what Version 1.0’s Paradigm will look like

Day 1 - Soleia’s Fate

We started the Nexuspoint off strong with a heavy decision - one so big we gave the community the full-length of the six-day event to vote on it. 

After returning from their encounter with Alcove Magnetic, the Holo acting as Fact’s messenger, Soleia, Zinc and Unironic Ken immediately start to question what their next move should be. Should they follow through on their deal with Fact and take the Cornerstone to The Merkle Tree? Is Fact, lover of all things order, rules, laws and control, really who they want in charge of this next Version of The Paradigm? 

Spice, however, reveals that there is something else going on - something that could put TPL and all the brokers who call it home at risk. The Holo disclosed to Spice a secret about Soleia, a secret that could only be told to her because she was a Drifter and “safe” from the damage this secret could wreck. 

Soleia confirms she is also aware of this “secret”. Her memories have been coming back to her slowly, ever since she held the Hubur Key, but when they rescued Ken, they all came rushing back. She admits she now remembers what happened to her during her missing circuits, why ShaDAO blocked her memories and why they experimented on her in Cold Storage. 

Though Spice and Soleia have an understanding, it's too dangerous to reveal this secret to Ken or Zinc. All they can tell them is that Soleia is compromised, and that Soleia’s very existence could be a threat to The Paradigm and CyberBrokers. In a selfless act, in an attempt to protect The Paradigm and her friends, Soleia pleads with Spice, Zinc and Ken to take the Cornerstone and burn her. Spice is convinced that there is another way, that sending Soleia back to Cold Storage could be an option. And Zinc suggests that maybe they can find another way to help her. But Soleia is adamant that she should be burned.

This is the first decision we presented to the community:

Permanently burn Soleia 

Send Soleia to Cold Storage 

Send Soleia away

 Find another way

This vote ran for six days, and it ended up being a race between burning Soleia and finding another way. Despite the effort of some bots who adamantly wanted Soleia burned, the Find Another Way option won out.

Day 2 - Fact or Faith? Or somewhere in between?

The gang convinces Soleia to at least wait a bit before making the final and very permanent decision of being burned. They still must figure out what their next move is with the Cornerstone. Trigger-happy Ken reminds them that they’ve already made a deal with Fact, but Spice is adamant that they have other options.   

Soleia, not usually the one for rules and order, makes the pitch that a knowledgeable and powerful ruler like Fact might be the only way to make sure The Paradigm isn’t completely destroyed. It's only when Spice and Ken point out that Fact was probably rooting around inside Soleia’s head, searching for this “dangerous secret” to use as their own weapon, that Soleia gets squeamish about the idea of Fact controlling TPL. Now against Fact’s “law and order” approach, Soleia pitches the idea of finding Faith, the other Architect of The Paradigm, and Fact’s supposed antithesis.

Spice, bringing up that The Paradigm is supposed to be for everyone, questions why they need any one person in control of The Paradigm. She suggests using the Cornerstone to initialize Version 1.0 and then make sure no one person can ever take control by making The Paradigm open source. But the brokers in the group are dubious on this idea, suggesting that in an open-source, numbers-game world, Drifters would soon have all the power, making brokers glorified BOTs in the world they call home.

Finally, Zinc pitches aiming for the middle ground, suggesting they change the rules to form a council of some sort, a true democratic government, different from the way the Politicians have it running now. 

After hearing the pros and cons of what to do next, the community was given the following options:

Stick to Fact’s plan 

Seek Faith 

Make TPL open source 

Let a council rule

Voters decided they wanted to meet Faith, the second Architect of The Paradigm. This meant our heroes needed to try and find them.

Day 3 - The Rules are Changing

Soon into their search to try and find any trace of Faith, the team gets a visit from another Holo named Anerd, acting as a messenger for the illusive Architect. Anerd reveals herself as The Moderator, the anonymous figure who has been helping Spice, Ken, Zinc and Soleia on their various adventures around the metaverse. Under the guise of The Moderator, Anerd has been assisting the team in an effort to undermine Fact’s plans. Where Fact is cold and ambitious in their search for order and control, Faith claims to want a world of unbounded imagination, warmth and possibilities. Anerd claims Fact is acting upon misguided purpose, and that only when they are reunited with Faith can they work together to bring a brighter future to TPL. But in order to reunite the two Architects and open up Faith’s Version 1.0 of The Paradigm, Faith needs the help of the Cornerstone.

Anerd implores the team to side with Faith and initiate their plan when they bring the Cornerstone to The Merkle Tree. But our heroes decide to take matters into their own hands first, realizing that they can alter the rules of the Paradigm themselves with the Cornerstone. 

We presented the community with three current rules of The Paradigm and the different ways the rules could change. We left all these rules open to voting, with whatever option getting the majority vote being implemented in future rules of TPL:

When someone in the Paradigm gets d-mezzed, should the contents of their wallet (credits, gear, resources, momentos) be burned?

Burn baby burn 

Lose everything in active inventory only 

Lose nothing but pride and a bit of time

Should the limit on the amount of Drifters in The Paradigm be lifted?

Keep the limit  

Keep some limit, but expand it 

All Drifters welcome

Should property, gear, resources, etc. be granted to CyberBrokers based on their Talent or equal for everyone?

Keep the hierarchy 

Equal for most things, but some perks for the best Talents 

Eat the rich

After the voting period, the community chose to change the rules for d-mezzing, making it so you would only lose items in your active inventory and not have everything in your wallet burn. However, voters elected to keep the current limit on the number of Drifters that are allowed in TPL at a time, as well as the perks provided to Talents.

Day 4 - Spice Makes a Stand

After the team decides to keep the current limit on Drifters, citing how they are greedy, destructive and unliked by brokers, Spice is hurt. She can’t believe how harsh her CyberBroker friends are towards her fellow Drifters. She is in disbelief that, given the power of the Cornerstone and a chance to make The Paradigm a real utopia for everyone, all they want to do is preserve the current pecking order - keeping all the CyberBroker bonuses and advantages to themselves. In a rage, Spice jacks-out of The Paradigm, leaving Soleia, Zinc and Unironic Ken speechless and stunned.

We left what Spice would ultimately end up doing to the community, giving them a myriad of options to choose from:

Deletes her avatar, wreck her rig, and never jack-in to the Paradigm again

Gives her avatar and rig to another survivor in her compound

👵🏿Doesn’t jack-in again for decades.

Jacks-in right away all apologetic

Jack-in right away and profess her love for Ken

Jack-in right away and profess her love for Zinc
Jack-in right away and profess her love for Soleia

Jacks-in right away in still angry as hell

🤝🏿Gets some much-needed rest before jacking-in to help her friends at The Merkle Tree

🧑🏾‍🏫Gets some much-needed rest before jacking-in to help Fact at The Merkle Tree

Gets some much-needed rest before jacking-in to help Faith at the Merkle Tree

Takes a longer break and jacks-in after The Merkle Tree to reunite with her friends

Takes a longer break and jacks-in after The Merkle Tree, but never speaks with her friends again

Takes a longer break and jacks-in after The Markle Tree to start a Drifter Revolution

Apparently just as riled up as Spice, voters decided that a Drifter Revolution was imminent, ensuring that Spice wouldn’t be there for the infiltration of The Merkle Tree. 

Day 5 - The Big Questions Beg Answering

With Spice not jacking back in anytime soon, Soleia, Zinc and Unironic Ken now must make the hard decision of what their ultimate goal should be, and what to do next. They must finally decide what to do with the Cornerstone and figure out who they would ultimately like to be in control of The Paradigm. After meeting Faith and seeing their side, and after all their back-and-forth as a group, have their minds changed? Or more importantly, was the community’s?

We gave voters the chance to have their voices heard, leaving these questions up to them to answer:

How Should the Cornerstone be Used?

Give the whole thing up, bury the Cornerstone deep

Initialize the Paradigm Program, slow release

Initialize the Paradigm Program, open to all

Unite Faith and Fact and let them deal with all this

Who Should Rule the Paradigm?

No one should have that kind of power. Anarchy for all!

Trust me. Everything is fine the way it is.

🤴🏽 King Ken, Unironically 

👸🏽 Smuggler Sovereign Soleia

👨🏾‍💼 President Zinc, cleaning up The Paradigm one pixel at a time

The fact is that Fact is the best choice

Gotta have faith in Faith to rule the Paradigm

A council of the best Brokers should dictate the new Paradigm

A council of Brokers and Drifters together should decide the new Paradigm

Spice’s impassioned exit from The Paradigm apparently had an impression. Voters decided that ultimately, they wanted to initialize the open source version of the Paradigm Program, and that they would like a council of brokers and Drifters to rule together, jointly working on the new Paradigm.

Day 6 - The Plan

With their goals now solidified, Ken, Soleia and Unironic Ken have one more question to answer: how will they enter The Merkle Tree to implement their grand plan and forge all the changes they wish to make to The Paradigm?

Each broker has their own idea on the best course of action. Ken, itching for some action, wants to go in blasting, with rented mechs on their side for some extra firepower. Zinc thinks he can pull some strings with his old Politician buddy, Altair, to possibly help them get access to The Merkle Tree. And Soleia, ever the Smuggler, thinks the smartest move is to use stealth and guile over brute force or taking the gamble on trusting a Politician. Though she implores Ken and Zinc that she cannot go to the Tree, for fear that her “compromised” self will cause irreparable harm.  

The ultimate decision on what plan to move forward with was left up to the community:

Ken’s plan. Brute force all the way.

Zinc’s plan. Diplomacy is the only way.

Soleia’s plan. Stealth is the best way.

The vote was overwhelming for Soleia’s plan - infiltrate The Merkle Tree through a stealth mission. Though only time will tell what will happen when Soleia joins them  

What’s Next?

With Spice not jacking back in anytime soon, Soleia, Unironic Ken and Zinc must trudge forward on their own. With Soleia now hopeful there may be answers as to what has happened to her at The Merkle Tree, and the trio all on board with a stealth mission, they prepare themselves for the hardest challenge they’ve faced yet. 

Keep your eye out for the final chapter of our Version Alpha story and get hyped for Version 1.0, a whole new story in the CyberBrokers universe, launching Q1 2023! Find out how your community decisions were implemented and see how your votes changed the very fabric of The Paradigm.

What will Spice think when she jacks back in?  

What will happen at The Merkle Tree? 

How will the changes to the d-mezzing rules affect Drifters and brokers?

Who will sit on the new Council?

What does it really mean for The Paradigm to be open source? 

All this and more to be answered in the finale chapter of Spice’s story - and in our next Version. Stay tuned!

A Special Thank You

We want to give a shoutout to everyone who has helped make our inaugural Version of the CyberBrokers universe possible. Building a universe as immense and immersive as ours takes a whole community. And we’re fortunate enough to have an amazing group of people behind us, bringing The Paradigm to life. You can check out our Version Alpha credits here.

We also want to provide a thank you to all those who have come along with us on this amazing journey. More details to come on something special, for everyone who has participated in a CyberBrokers Quest in Version Alpha.