The Paradigm Lost

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When we last left Spice, she had just finished her grueling work day. Her job was to maintain the solar panels outside of her compound on the frozen tundra that was now Earth. Surrounded by frigid winds and bitter cold, her only solace in this new world was deep in the virtual bowels of her TPL headgear and vest. It's in the electric pink and purple glows of a neon-colored Metaverse where her friend, Ken, had eagerly awaited her return. Where he will always have to eagerly await her return because he's a CyberBroker, one of the inhabitants of the Metaverse, forever locked inside because of an accident in the early days of building TPL. No one knows if or when the CyberBrokers will be freed, but what Spice does know is that the Metaverse never disappoints in delivering adventure.

Spice and Unironic Ken had learned about a DAO proposal to shift much of the day-to-day maintenance to be run by AI instead of CyberBrokers. Drifters (the majority population of The Paradigm Lost who log in for a few hours each day, drifting in and out of the Metaverse) would not be much affected, but if an AI ran TPL, it might calculate that the energy preserving the bodies of a mere 10,001 CyberBrokers would be better used in some other way. While CyberBrokers can safely dematerialize in TPL, if the plug gets pulled on their physical bodies, they'll d-mez forever.

While chasing down a group of coin thieves at the top of Moss Falls, Spice decided she'd like to spend a little more leisure time with the Zinc, the Clean-up Crew Broker. Unironic Ken wasn't quite sure what he thought about the whole thing and turned a bit sour on the whole thing. Spice brought Zinc down with her to watch the Mech Pilot Olympics where she made an interesting discovery – Zinc had no real memories of his mother. From there, she started on a simple quest, aided by a group of friends, to dig a little deeper into the reasons why and maybe dig up a memory or two for him.

After tracking down surveillance data on Zinc's mother in a long-forgotten part of TPL, a pair of Demons attacked Spice for reasons unknown. With the aid of a Nun, she was able to narrowly escape back to the safety of Unironic Ken's apartment. But when she and Ken reviewed the hard-won biometric data that cost Spice her mech, Judgment, they discovered that both Zinc and Ken’s bios indicated the impossible. Both of their mothers were somehow Asherah. This led Spice to a shattering realization. Asherah is the program from which all brokers get their source code making CyberBrokers actually AI. Confused and upset at their discovery, Spice abruptly logged out of TPL, leaving behind an equally distraught Ken in his own existential crisis.

Spice and Ken reveal the truth of the Paradigm to Zinc. He reacts nonchalantly to the reveal that brokers are AI and not, in fact, humans unable to return to their cryogenically-frozen bodies. To him, it’s irrelevant. As the only ones who seem to know the truth, they argue over what should be done. Zinc prefers diplomacy, Spice wants to broadcast the news direct to everyone, but it is Ken's suggestion which wins out. Covertly, they organize mass protests which culminate in thousands of brokers and drifters marching on the Merkle Tree - the center of power in Era Novum. With protestors growing increasingly passionate, and Politicians deploying fearsome Samurai to protect themselves, a violent clash seems inevitable.

The protests erupted into violence at the Merkle Tree when the Samurai held their ground and the protestors fought back. When it became apparent that safe mode has been disabled in Era Novum, the city descended into anarchy. Almost robbed by a wily gambler on her way to find Zinc, Spice managed to outwit him before getting back on the road. Once reconciled, she and Zinc discussed the clash at the Merkle Tree and wondered where Unironic Ken might be. Just as they were about to decide what to do next, Spice was violently torn out of the Paradigm.

When Spice’s entire compound is kicked out of the Paradigm due to a Failsafe Alpha, she’s certain it’s no accident. As everyone performs their emergency duties, Spice decides to set off into the snow in search of P.O.S.T., a device that will let her send a message back into TPL. Unironic Ken and Zinc receive her message, and it’s shortly followed by another from someone calling themselves ‘The Moderator’. This mysterious figure promises to help, leading them to information regarding a group calling themselves ShaDAO, who are behind the Failsafe Alpha. With the location of the device causing the kick, and only 100 blocks left to destroy it, Ken and Zinc attempt to infiltrate the ShaDAO facility and get Spice back into the Paradigm.

Zinc and Ken successfully destroyed the Failsafe Alpha-triggering device keeping Spice out of TPL. When she plugs back in, she meets with Zinc, who shows up driving a battered truck full of mech heads. He explains that ShaDAO, a secretive organization far more powerful than anyone realizes, was behind it all. Their goal seems to be 51% control of the Paradigm. Zinc also breaks more bad news to Spice: ShaDAO captured Ken. They meet with Ken’s friend, a Spectre named Catch of Wolfe, and she tells them about a potential lead in the city of Magnetic. With jump stations compromised due to the protests (and potential interference from ShaDAO), she gives her car to them for the trip.

This is the story of The Paradigm Lost. The earth is frozen. Locked in a modern ice age. The world governments had come together with a plan to save humanity by moving everyone into the metaverse. It had been called "The Paradigm Shift." The first ten thousand volunteers, ready to pave the way, were called CyberBrokers. Everything went wrong. Two centuries later, a complacent human race copes with a great awakening.

Enter the world of CyberBrokers, a digital art collectibles ecosystem centered around 10,001 unique on-chain NFTs.