* "I Think I Get It..." *

"I think I get it," you respond, but then have questions, "but what's the difference between a Citizen and a Subject?" You ask, starting on your list of questions.

"Citizens are people like you and me and their descendants. We're not native to this world and we don't quite mesh with its normal ways of working. The Subjects are the locals, some people call them 'Villagers' or 'Testificates' though I don't know why. Subjects are not as intelligent as Citizens, and can't learn to speak like a citizen, though they have their own primitive language. Subjects do a lot of the manual labor of the city, farming, building, running the shops. Citizens do almost everything else. We fight off the monsters, we enter the danger zones such as the Nether and The End, we mine or harvest the blocks the Subjects USE in construction, We serve in the Guard and we keep the economy vibrant by buying things from the subjects shops and manufacturing the products that they sell. Though Subjects are not as smart as Citizens don't think that their contributions to the city are not valid, nor that you can treat them badly because they are a little slow. Subjects were here before we were and without them, we all would starve. Also, though there are very few Subjects that are able to rise to Blue Clearance or higher, they can and DO happen, and more to the point, since Subjects are inherently peaceful, hard-working, and non-threatening, they almost all reach Green clearance without any trouble."

As Jim has been talking you've passed through the giant obsidian gatehouse and into the city proper. This North Central District is very built up, with towers hundreds of feet high, The streets appear to be paved with Cobblestone and no space appears to be given for grass or any such greenery. The area is a crazy quilt of architectural styles and environments, but what you do notice is that most of the people here are wearing red sashes over leather armor.

"I see, that's what I thought," You say, and move on to your next question. "How do you get enough leather to provide all this armor? Leather is super hard to get in Minecraft..."

"Oh, you're from one of those worlds," Jim says knowingly.

"Huh?" You ask, and Jim Starts to explain.

"Look, this place, these people, this universe, we aren't a 'video game'. We existed before your world invented computers and long before 'Minecraft' was even an idea. We've been living here for longer than you've been alive, and Gods willing the city will be here long after both of us are dead." He Explains,

"I'm only 30, but my mom and dad say that there are ruins further out in the world which appear to be thousands of years old, and they've found areas where groups of Subjects have been living for centuries. Not only that but our world doesn't follow the constraints of whatever 'video game' people think they are in: if you tan the hide of a cow you can make about seven helmets from it or four pairs of boots, You also can make two or three pairs of leather pants. It takes a full hide to make a chest plate but that's not such a big deal, to fully equip a new Citizen only takes an average of two-point-one cow's worth of leather, and we don't always use cowhide, there's also pigs, horses, and sometimes sheep. Yes, we have to devote a lot of resources to keeping new citizens properly equipped, but that's just part of the city's economy." He explains.

You have finally arrived at the 'dormitory' to which you will be assigned, and Jim hands you over to a woman with a Green sash whose name plate reads [Gilda 'Fireball' Brisk].

"Another Noob for you Gilda, must get back to my watch," and with that he turns and heads back the way you came...