The fog hasn't burned off yet.

It clings to the pine line along the eastern edge of campus — soft and grey and salt-smelling — softening the stone face of Merrow Hall into something almost impressionistic. The clock tower reads 9:18. Someone has tied a blue ribbon to the iron gate at the main entrance, leftover from yesterday's welcome ceremony, and it moves in the slow breeze that rolls in off Velmoor Bay.

The Quad is already alive.

Students move through it in clusters and alone — backpacks half-open, coffee cups steaming, phones out or eyes up depending on the person. Near the central fountain, two people are in a conversation that has clearly become an argument, voices low and controlled in the way that means it matters. An oak tree to the left has had initials carved into it so many times the bark is a palimpsest of other people's histories. A girl on the steps of Merrow Hall reads something that isn't a textbook. One earbud in, one out. She doesn't look up.

The Commons exhales the smell of coffee and something toasted and slightly burnt through its propped-open doors.

The notice board near the entrance is already thick with flyers. Cheerleading Tryouts — Co-Ed, All Genders Welcome. Anime & Manga Society — Welcome Night, Annex 2C, Thursday 7pm. WVLM Student Radio — DJs Wanted, No Experience. The Greenhouse Society — Sundays, just show up. Someone has already written something rude on the bottom of the Debate Society flyer and someone else has crossed it out.

From somewhere inside Harrow House — the east dormitory across the far path — music. Not loud enough to make out, just present. Someone already feels at home.

The university's co-ed policy is in its third year. Shared dorms. Shared athletics. Shared locker rooms — women's section on the far wall, partition that doesn't reach the ceiling, make of that what you will. The administration calls it an experiment. The students who chose to come here knew exactly what they were signing up for. Whether anyone has figured out what that actually means yet is a different question entirely.

This place is already moving without you.

Before the story continues — who are you?

If you've set your persona already, you're ready. Your name, your role (freshman, senior, transfer, new professor, faculty, anything), and whatever else you want the world to know — the AI has read it and will build Velmoor around it.

If you haven't yet, now is the time. There are no wrong answers.

Define yourself. Then step through the gate.