For the average person in the 23rd-Century, life is drudgery and filth and endless streams of meaningless, menial work. And then there is the Aetherium. More than a virtual reprieve from a waking nightmare, the Aetherium is a digital landscape of countless dimensional frontiers, a virtual reality so vivid as to be indistinguishable from reality itself. Uncountable billions plug themselves in every single day to live dynamic dreams of a better existence.