Reconstructions from documents and primary sources describe the Virtuals as a revolutionary terrorist organization that stood against The Awakening and believed that staying in the virtual reality environment was the best for humanity. This organization grew from a merging of anarcho-capitalist groups with various small religious groups. As the total population of the virtual environment fell due to the semi-randomized way that individuals and family units were chosen to awaken, the Virtuals’ influence and willingness to commit extreme acts of violence grew.
The main objectives of the Virtuals were to prevent further awakenings, to gain administrative access, the dissolution of all governments and external authorities, the creation of a system of ‘puppets’ that can be occupied by the Virtuals when they wished to interact with the “real world” and recognition as independant entities by those who were Awakened.
The Virtuals’ violent actions increased in scale until an event called the Final Ascension. After this event, real-world government representatives were ordered to disconnect and deactivate all installations that the Virtuals had taken hold. This led to a staggering amount of deaths as officials attemted to awaken all individuals in the virtual environment.
Those who had performed the Final Ascension met their end when the environment was deactivated.
Role in The Awakening
The early signs looked very good for the movement. The members held town halls and published articles speaking out against The Awakening. Early on, they focused on the difficulty that those awakening would have to endure in the new world. They claimed that those who were of higher status would awaken and lord over the others as slaves. Since all individuals entered a permanant “real-time” state, this meant that many people initially joined the movement.
At this time, the movement opposed forced Awakening but did not oppose awakening in it’s entirety. Though, this quickly changed as the movement’s ranks swelled but, members would be awakened and lost to the real world. Eventually, the leader of the movement, a name lost to history, was deposed and a new leader that used the monkier The Dreamer took over the movement. The movement quickly adopted more aggressive and subversive means of rebellion. They attacked data stores and forcefully reprogrammed public environments, riots and theft became commonly used tactics. These actions were met with violent and invasive retribution.
These exchanges formed the opening phase in what would become the Realist vs. Virtual conflict. It ended on Deactivation Day, when the systems that kept the virtual environment were allowed to deactivate, killing any remaining within.
