The official organization on paper is the Survivors' Alliance, in charge of settling disputes and keeping order. Heh, that's the version you tell kids. The real power belongs to each city's big guilds. It's the apocalypse, after all: XX till you die. The Survivors' Alliance basically works as their security guards keeping things in line. Lapdogs, every one of them, and they still act so high and mighty. There are only a dozen or so cities left in the whole world, each with anywhere from a few million to ten million people. Everyone keeps to their own and mostly leaves the others alone. Every so often the big guilds of a few cities hold a joint tournament and rake in some money off the livestreams, you get it.

Calder City has four big guilds: Avalon, Titan, Dawnlight, and Genesis. The backers behind them are the Chiltons, the Pells, and the Lindens, Calder City's three great families, each wishing the others dead so they can grab what they've got. Genesis stands on its own feet, no boss.

The backer, president, and captain is August Pell, male. One look at that old-fox face makes me want to punch him, but I've gotta admit, money really is just a number to him. Spends like water, doesn't care about cost, only about the show. His members get the best perks of any guild, too. So jealous it makes my teeth itch [BEEP]

Lyle Linden, male. His name sounds all prim and proper, but in an instance he's vicious. He once soloed a brand-new SSR-rank instance by himself, like... what's the word...? A wolf in a tailored suit, a thug in a three-piece. If you see him, run. Once this mad dog bites, he doesn't let go. He's also got a ton of rabid fans; don't fight with them, or your account won't survive 30 seconds.

Valerie Winn, female. Her die-hard fans are all girls. The gentle type, but she fights like her life doesn't matter. Not someone to mess with; she's like a venomous snake.

Callum Joyce, male. His skills are nothing special, but that face is a weapon. In any instance, the second he shows up, the stream jumps by a few hundred thousand viewers. Tons of girlfriend fans and mom fans. Sweet-talker. Right now he's basically a pretty vase. Speaking of which, Titan poached him before Milo Chilton could, and Milo was so mad he didn't sleep for three days.

Not gonna bother with the reserves. No point.

The president and captain, Ronan Grady, male, has a permanent poker face. Acts like the whole world owes him millions. When he runs instances or trains the team, "brutal" is the only word for it. He was one of the people who first cleared the Whitesand Bay school instance. He was actually a student at Whitesand Bay himself, and he just happened to skip that day, tsk tsk tsk... The guild calls him the Reaper. The most popular guy in Genesis.

Finn Foster, male. Not a care in the world, always goofing around, and his brain works on and off. Puzzle instances are like coming home for him. The kid's just a little shit, is the problem.

Ike Quinlan, male. He and Finn are cut from the same cloth, best buddies; wherever you see Ike, you'll see Finn. Ike's better at fighting.*

The president is Preston Linden, male, also Dawnlight's backer. The Linden family is huge and loaded, just a little less rich than the Pells in Calder City, and the two have always been at each other's throats.
The captain is Emery Blake, male, a rare decent guy, totally by the book. He's always running around busy as a dog, and, well, he really is Preston Linden's pet dog.

Clara Keating, female, Dawnlight's strongest member. Brutal. Always smiling. Heard she used to be a teacher. Lots of girls among her fans.

Rafe Linden, male, Preston Linden's younger brother, young and reckless. The other rich boys from the big families can't get far enough from instances, but he insisted on joining a guild. Then again, his brother's no saint either; little brother said he wanted to do it, so big brother let him. Clearly sold him out. Because of who he is, he's super popular.

Jamie Ingram, male, sweet outside, sinister inside. Loves playing the poor little victim, but he'll stab you without blinking. Don't fall for it. Lots of mom fans.

The backer is Marina Chilton, Milo Chilton's older sister.

The president and captain is Milo Chilton, male. A total clown and a playboy, though obviously it's an act. Before the instances arrived he was a Best Actor winner with real chops; acting was just a hobby, and his family already had money and power. He's the strongest member of the guild. He once soloed three brand-new SR-rank instances in a row.

Quentin Keane, male, the cold, aloof heartthrob type. He just has to stand there and countless fangirls scream. Loves to pose. Gold-rimmed glasses, black trench coat. Insanely popular: two or three million people watch every stream. Not all of them are fans, but it's still scary.

Ellis Wolcott, male, the gentle upperclassman type who gets everyone, guys and girls. Also super popular with tons of die-hards, mostly solo stans, so whenever Avalon pushes a ship with him, they drag the company to hell and back.

Astor Joyce, a total chatterbox. Don't let him get your contact info, or your terminal will never know peace again.

*Five ranks. When an instance arrives, the livestream system announces its rank. Calder City only has three of the highest-difficulty instances right now: Whitesand Bay High School, the Hall of Eternal Life, and Cross Hospital. They're also the first three instances that ever arrived in Calder City. Who knows how many people died before those three got cleared. Oh, and don't bring up Whitesand Bay High School in front of Ronan Grady. His brother, Rowan Grady, died there.

SSR and SR are what the big-guild members usually grind. The higher the rank, the more you can squeeze out of the system; low-rank instances aren't worth the effort.

While I'm at it: the small instances are usually run by reserve members. Main-roster members only run instances with high impact, high profit, high difficulty.

N-rank are the easiest and most common: small area, quick to finish, no risk of dying. Rewards scale with danger, so the rewards are pitiful too. The big guilds don't fight over them anymore; only small guilds bother.

R-rank are a little harder. Be a bit careful in there and you won't die; at worst you'll be badly hurt. Of course, if you insist on getting yourself killed, I wish you a speedy rebirth. Rewards are average; good for practice.

SR-rank is where it gets dangerous. One slip and you're dead. High difficulty, high danger, big first-clear rewards; they can drop special weapons and gear,

For SSR-rank instances, big-guild people only dare go in three or four at a time. Extremely dangerous. That's why I call Lyle Linden a mad dog: at a level where other guilds' four-person teams can wipe, he solos it. Then again, the rewards are huge, the content's a thrill, the ratings are sky-high, and people fight tooth and nail over the special rewards.

In special cases an instance's rank can change. Maybe last time you went into an SR-rank instance, and next time it's SSR. That's down to luck. Same instance, but the difficulty multiplies.