Cosmic Champs Lore — Chapter 2
Singularity Era Origin Story: Coyote Ray, the Ranger
To celebrate the 8 different types of Champs being launched in Singularity Era of the NFT Genesis, each week we will be sharing a chapter of the story behind our game Cosmic Champs. Read Chapter 1 here, or in the #lore channel of our Discord!
Everyone Coyote ever met always thought she had it easy. She knew that, not just because of the sideways glances they gave her, never meeting her eyes, but because like most children of ambassadors to the galactic federation, Coyote was trained in reading people’s minds.
Reading minds wasn’t as simple as hearing the thoughts in someone’s head — although sometimes it did come into her mind like that. Instead, it was like getting a full body sense, and complete knowing, of how someone thought and felt, what they feared, and dreamed, all at once. It was overwhelming, because for the first few seconds of meeting someone, it was like she was that person. She understood all the experiences that had led them to this moment, and she understood and empathized with their fate, because she knew based on past experiences how they would make choices in their future.
She didn’t want anyone’s pity, any more than she pitied them for making the choices they had been programmed by life experiences to choose. But the overwhelming sense of compassion she had for others made it difficult at times for her to stand out as her own person. She always found herself thinking about others, and what was needed to take care of them, and always putting herself last.
“Here’s the golden darling” she felt their body-minds react as she walked past. “She’s so lucky, she got everything easy. She’ll be an ambassador before we are even out of school.” It was admiration mixed with jealousy mixed with a sense of failure and inadequacy. She was so familiar with it now, that she realized it had little to do with her, and everything to do with a failure to ensure that the composition of the galactic federation had expanded to match the diversity of the megaverse. When the galaxy nations had aligned, it was an alliance on the side for peace in a fraught solar system. But as peace had been assured for millennia, and beings from far away galaxies had joined to benefit from the stability and trade, although their riches and resources were welcome they were always seen as outsiders and not true members of the original galactic federation.
She knew she wouldn’t escape the perceptions of a privileged and out of touch overlord by the other students of the elite program — the whole idea of an elite program that brought together only a being from every planet in such a diverse megaverse was ludicrous in and of itself — but she did hope to make some true friends who would be comfortable just hanging around her — even if she did sometimes glow.
“You light up the room for all the wrong reasons,” Gunslinger said to her as Coyote entered the battle arena. Unlike the trainees with mechs, Coyote, being a Ranger, only brought her main weapon — a Ray gun.
“It’s all that training we get in aligning the electromagnetic field energies,” Coyote answered openly. She wasn’t interested in hiding anything or making out that she was one of the special ones. “Anyone can do it, I’m happy to show you how.”
She could see Gunslinger considering it for a moment. Gunslinger didn’t seem to be as hard as he liked to come across. Coyote could tell it was mostly an act — deeper down than Gunslinger realized, he was stuck in a bottomless pit of fear. Fear from so long ago he didn’t even remember when it started.
“It’s like those discs you flip in the air. Well, everything has energy in it. Matter is just light and light is just matter. It depends on how fast it’s going. So if you want to move things through space, you make what’s inside them move faster, like light, and then you can move them anywhere. It’s funny, actually, how when something is the opposite of heavy, we say it’s light. That’s probably not an accident.”
Gunslinger stared blankly. “That seems like an over-simplistic explanation designed to pull the wool over my eyes,” he spat. “Don’t treat me like a fool.”
“OK, sure, I won’t.” Coyote turned half away. And then she thought damn it — she might be on a galactic federation ship, but she wasn’t on official business. She was officially a student too. She could muck around a bit. Out of the corner of her eye, she felt the frequency of one of Gunslinger’s discs that he had in the air. And in a flash it was gone.
Gunslinger followed her gaze and looked up to where his disc had been. Out of muscle memory, he lifted his hand to catch it, but it was too late. “Hey!” he called. “Give that back!”
“Give what back?”
Out of instinct or muscle memory, Gunslinger’s grip whipped around to grab his beam gun. “Easy there,” said Coyote. “Do you want that to disappear too?” In an instant, she saw a look of recognition, warriness and respect in Gunslinger’s eyes. It was dawning on him that Coyote didn’t only have a mini ray gun because she couldn’t handle anything more. “It’s fine. I’ll play fair. Beat me today, and I’ll give you the disc back, which as I said I know nothing about, but I’ll help you find it, if you come to hang out sometime and learn some new tricks.”
Underneath, she could tell Gunslinger was fuming, but also curious, and determined to get the disc back. It must have some special meaning to him, she guessed, or maybe it was just about pride and not losing face. Oh well. He had a tough enough skin not to take it personally.
The arena was full now with the rest of their cohort. This training arena was for those whose specialty was appendage held weapons. Generally, families of the galactic federation ambassadors used handheld weapons only. To use anything more powerful was frowned upon for two key reasons — firstly, if you weren’t able to win with the smallest of weapons, you weren’t fit to be a member, and secondly, because the aim of the galactic federation was peace, not intimidation.
So far, it had just been lessons in strategy and ethics, but today they were going to let off some steam with a real (mock) fight.
They were a ship of young elites, the peak tactical talent of their respective planets supposedly (although Coyote was suspicious of how exactly only one being from each galaxy nation was judged fit for the program each year), sent here as a special honor to encourage ongoing galactic confederacy. The battles really meant nothing — it wasn’t as if anyone would have to fight for real in their lifetimes. And the beings who came here may or may not take on roles of leadership in their respective communities — and if they did, how would one being out of thousands in government change anything. But the point was to ensure that every young person, on every planet, aspired to be on this ship when their turn to try out came — it was a challenge in stamina, determination, grit, integrity and aspiration, even for those who didn’t make it. And for those who did, it was the opportunity for a few turns to live the dream of doing what no one else in the galaxy ever got to do — travel the megaverse, meet beings from every galaxy nation, and learn the elite strategies of fighting should it ever come to it. Even peace-loving Rangers like Coyote Ray couldn’t help but be thrilled for the sake of her fellow cohort at the opportunity.
It didn’t take being able to read people’s minds to know that Gunslinger was wanting to battle her at this moment. He still had a chip on his shoulder about the disc. Coyote wondered about making it just reappear on his over-the-shoulder belt where he kept them. It wasn’t like he couldn’t fight without the one he’d taken — Gunslinger still had plenty more cartridges in his pockets. But why not give him what he wanted?
The mentor was pairing the trainees up for their mock training. She drew a string in the mentor’s mind between herself and Gunslinger. She pulled at it a little, so it was tighter. She saw the mentor look at Gunslinger, and then herself, on the opposite side of the arena. “You two, together!” the mentor called. Of course. It was that easy. Coyote started walking through the throng to where she saw Gunslinger scowling.
“If you really want it back, so we aren’t at a disadvantage, I’ll make it reappear. And the offer still stands, I’m happy to show you how to do it another time.”
“I don’t want to go everywhere glowing as you do,” said Gunslinger.
“OK fine,” said Coyote, and the disc was hovering just out of Gunslinger’s reach again. There wasn’t any point in provoking him further. Gunslinger raised his eyebrows then rolled his eyes, setting the disc in motion again and back to his hand, sighing with a sense of satisfaction that his scowling face still tried to hide.
“You must be pretty good if you are the best fighter on your planet,” said Coyote. Could he be flattered?
“Yeah, well I guess you didn’t even have to try out to come here. It’s probably part of inheritance of rulers like you.”
“You’re not too wrong, but not completely right, either. I was going to be here anyway, because of my apprenticeship is on this ship. But I’m the only one here from the galactic federation families at the moment for this cohort. We don’t really have competitions amongst the families, we all just reach an understanding about where our strengths lie, and we follow that. There aren’t really that many of us, I guess, whereas planets have large populations and only one young being from each turn gets chosen to come here, so there must have been a lot of competition for your spot. If you’re wrong about anything, it’s that I don’t see myself as a ruler. To be honest, none of us really do. It’s a path we walk to maintain peace.”
Gunslinger rolled his eyes again. “Whatever, let’s just do this.”
The battle pairs lined up. As there were no mech here, only hand weapons, they were able to line up for multiple combat in this arena. Which was good — it meant more time training, and less time idling getting sore and stiff in a mech.
“Remember, everyone,” the mentor called, “the aim of today isn’t hurting anyone. If you hurt anyone, you are automatically sent home and expelled from the cohort. It doesn’t matter how it happened or who is at fault. What I want to see is that you have what it takes to win, if you really had to. Put your weapons into training mode, please.”
“I’m tempted not to,” Coyote felt Gunslinger mutter under his breath. Coyote smiled.
The arena was laid out with a full combat course. There were large dome-like structures and small arches spread across the course. If a really big battle were to happen, thought Coyote, it would happen in space, so this hand to hand combat amongst the arbors was just a sport, just a silly symbolic tribal sport, that had no real meaning except to boost the ego of the galaxy nations and the adrenaline of the cohort. Although not everyone took it so lightly, such as Gunslinger, who seemed completely serious about his combat skills — but then, his name, Gunslinger Triggerman, said it all.
The green light flashed GO. Coyote ran lightly forward from the dome base, seeking cover behind one side of an arbor. She saw Gunslinger do the same from the other side of the arena. She watched him load a dummy disc into his gun in slow time, and with one shot she popped it just after he aimed it towards her. It was reduced to mere foam even before it made any distance at all and soaked into the dust on the floor of the arena. If it had been one of his real golden discs it would be gone by now. She ran to the next arbor, feeling her fingers itching from the need to glow.
Gunslinger was glaring angrily at her now, he came out from behind the arbor and strode towards her, firing constantly. Pop, pop, pop, went his discs. She let him fire each one, and then aimed at it, turning it to foam. But she was playing the mere game of defense, not offense. She wouldn’t win this way.
Coyote stepped out from behind the structure and got ready to take whatever was coming for her. She started walking forward, too, aiming her gun. But before she took even a few steps, her jacket was covered in the gold slime of Gunslinger’s mock ammunition. She looked down at herself and laughed.
“Got me!”
They were now so close that Coyote raised her to shake Gunslinger’s hand. She didn’t mind losing. It was just as fun as winning. Her ray gun, after all, was just for show. She’d made the fight fair. Gunslinger lifted his hand, but rather than take Coyote’s, he wiped it on his jacket, and walked off. Oh well, it seemed like no friendship was possible here. As they were leaving the arena, the Tangerine Technoid Invin scuttled in. Coyote couldn’t read AI minds, like she could read being’s minds, but she picked up from the general field that something was very wrong. There was an urgent message being delivered. Coyote tried to pry her mind between the code that was being run in the AI but didn’t manage to catch anything more. She followed Invin to see if she could help — he was heading towards the mentor.
“What are you doing here Invin? I don’t have anything here for you right now?”
“There’s an urgent meeting in the main conference room. All mentors are required to attend immediately. Something serious has occurred.”
“Has it really? I will come right now then. But couldn’t it have been dealt with by a message over the system?”
“It’s a complicated matter. It’s urgent and couldn’t be delayed until the training finished. I am sorry. I needed to deliver this in the flesh. ”
“Fair enough, thank you then for the personal delivery. Oh, hello Coyote Ray, well done on your combat. You can’t always win everytime, as you well know.”
Coyote smiled. The mentors all knew her and her mother most likely. She’d been on the ship helping to prepare for the cohort for some turns now. “Thank you. Hello Invin. Is anything happening? Can I help?”
“I don’t know all the particulars. I just brought the message. I have already given it to the other three mentors so I believe that’s all there is to do for now. But now I must go”
As they moved towards the corridor, Coyote noticed Gunslinger following them with his gaze. Ah well, another cross against her name — now she was fraternizing with the mentors, just like a future ruler would.
“Well, I’ll head back to my quarters then, see you later when I report,” Coyote waved to them and went the opposite direction down the hall. If she wanted information on what was happening, the best source would be her family back on the galactic federation homebase. Her mother would be too busy as ambassador to answer a mere query, she was sure, but her sister might humor her. Not every trainee was able to call home likes she could — but as an apprentice from the galactic federation, she was given special privileges.
“Call my sister please,” she said to his digital secretary when she was back in her quarters.
“One moment,” her AI helper replied. A moment later, “Sorry, I can’t get through. I am getting a bounce message”
“Really?” said Coyote. Their systems were never down. “Oh well, try my mother then, she might enjoy hearing from me.”
“Again, no message can get through, sorry. No reply coming about why this is, it seems to be an issue with our own communications system — it doesn’t seem as if anything can get out. No signal is coming back to me from the galactic federation anywhere.”
“OK, well, that’s new then. Can you try messaging anywhere else?”
“No, nothing, nowhere.”
Coyote sat down on the edge of her desk. What was this? She closed her eyes, and drew her attention inward. Feeling her heartbeat, feeling out from there to the strings of the people whom she loved and who loved her. Time and space meant nothing at that moment. Wherever her loved ones were, she’d be able to sense them, whatever they were doing. She’d feel as if she was there with them for an instant, as if she was them, two beings in their one body. It wasn’t general practice to do this, because it could be seen as intrusive — not everyone wanted their private moments intruded upon by someone without warning!
Coyote breathed, and went deeper. Nothing. She went deeper still. Still nothing. She opened her eyes slowly. She’d never experienced this before. She tried to feel the planet closest to where her family was stationed. The wind. The stones. The gravity. But she felt nothing. Just vast, and utter emptiness. Suddenly, she was afraid, in a way she had never been before. Something was very wrong.
About Cosmic Champs
Cosmic Champs is a play to earn, tower rush, real time strategy game developed by gaming studio, Mad Shapes. It aims to remove many of the existing barriers of entry for typical P2E games. This means it’s mobile first and no wallet, tokens, or NFTs are required to play. These innovations position Cosmic Champs to become the benchmark for crypto games in GameFi. The game will be available in Android and iOS app stores late 2022. Cosmic Champs NFTs are the gold standard in 3D game ready NFTs on the Algorand blockchain — a carbon negative blockchain built to be sustainable and secure, and the home to the FIFA+ Collect World Cup 2022 series of digital collectibles. The native governance token Cosmic Gold (COSG) is available on all major Algorand exchanges. Cosmic Champs graduated from the Algorand Foundation and Draper University Blockchain Accelerator Program in 2021 and conducted an over subscribed private sale led by Borderless Capital.
