![[yureihara.webp|sban]] > [!infobox|static wmed] > # Player NPCs > > ###### 👤 Identity > Type | Stat | > ---|---| > Role | Trapped Players | > Profession | Eternal Night Players | > Status | Active | > Location | Yureihara | > Species | Varies | > Language | Common | > Age | Varies | > Gender | Varies | > Height | Varies | > Weight | Varies | ## Overview Player NPCs are other real-world players trapped inside [[Eternal Night]] after the [[Twilight Fracture]]. Unlike the party, they are not the central focus of the story, but they represent the wider catastrophe unfolding across [[Yureihara]]. Their fear, confusion, and survival instincts show the party that the crisis reaches far beyond their own group. "Marebito" is the term used for Player NPCs throughout [Yureihara](app://obsidian.md/Yureihara) for the strange travelers who appear from beyond the ordinary world. To the people of Yureihara, Marebito are not simply adventurers. They are visitors from elsewhere, beings whose arrival often marks the beginning of change, danger, opportunity, or divine attention. Many Player NPCs still think in the language of the game. They talk about logout, menus, support systems, emergency disconnects, builds, quests, respawns, and server failure. After the Twilight Fracture, those familiar terms no longer offer safety. ## Appearance Player NPCs vary widely in appearance depending on their chosen character bodies, species, class aesthetics, equipment, and cosmetic choices. Some look like polished adventurers with carefully chosen outfits, while others appear strange, mismatched, or heavily customized in ways that make sense for an MMO but less sense in a living world. After the Twilight Fracture, the difference between appearance and reality has become less certain. Their wounds remain visible, their bodies do not vanish cleanly, and their fear gives them a presence that feels painfully human. ## Common Knowledge At first, the people of [[Yureihara]] understood the Marebito through a formal doctrine recognized at the highest levels of authority. By decree and tradition, the Marebito were written into the world as divine visitors, travelers from beyond ordinary life whose arrival carried the weight of heavenly mandate. Their presence was given credence at the behest of the Shogun, and because of that recognition, local rulers, officials, guilds, priests, merchants, and common citizens were expected to treat Marebito as beings of unusual spiritual and social importance. This belief shaped everyday life across Yureihara. When Marebito arrived in a city, took contracts, entered shrines, challenged monsters, disrupted local disputes, or changed the course of someone’s life, many [[Game NPCs]] understood those actions as a form of divine intervention. A Marebito’s choices might bring fortune, loss, rescue, embarrassment, prosperity, or ruin, but all of it could be explained through the same accepted idea: the heavens had permitted these visitors to walk among mortals. Because of this, Marebito have long been granted a degree of freedom that ordinary people would never receive. They could ask unusual questions, travel with strange companions, speak in unfamiliar terms, carry mysterious devices, and involve themselves in dangerous matters without being immediately treated as criminals or intruders. Their behavior was often excused, tolerated, or ritualized because the world had already made room for them. This does not mean every person liked or trusted the Marebito. Some respected them. Some feared them. Some resented them. Some saw them as blessings, while others saw them as disasters wearing heroic faces. Still, the accepted order of Yureihara held that Marebito were not to be treated like ordinary wanderers. Their presence had meaning, and that meaning was protected by religious interpretation, social habit, and the authority of the Shogunate. For many [[Game NPCs]], this belief explained the contradictions Marebito brought into their lives. If a Marebito saved a village, it was heavenly favor. If a Marebito destroyed a monster, it was divine correction. If a Marebito caused trouble, it was a trial sent by fate. If a Marebito changed someone’s future forever, whether for good or ill, it was still understood as part of a larger spiritual design. Before the [[Twilight Fracture]], this belief allowed the world to absorb the strangeness of players without breaking. The people of Yureihara did not need to understand menus, quests, respawns, builds, or logout. They only needed to understand that the Marebito were visitors from beyond, and that the heavens had allowed them to interfere. After the Twilight Fracture, that explanation has begun to strain. Now the Marebito are frightened. They speak openly of being trapped. They say they cannot return to their own world. They shout words like logout, game, menu, and system in public places. The old doctrine still gives them status, but it no longer explains everything. For the first time, many people in Yureihara are beginning to wonder whether divine visitors can also be prisoners. This makes the Marebito more important than ever, but also far more dangerous. The world once accepted their freedom because it believed their presence came from heaven. Now that same world is beginning to ask what it means if heaven has gone silent. ## Mannerisms & Demeanor Player NPCs often shift between confidence and panic. Many still speak as though they are playing a game, only to falter when the world refuses to respond like one. Their gestures often include reaching for invisible menus, checking dead [[Echo Terminal]]s, repeating failed commands, or staring at wounds that should have vanished. Their behavior can range from heroic to selfish, depending on the person. Some try to protect others. Some cling to old systems. Some become dangerous when fear teaches them that there may be no consequences except the ones they create.