# World Lore

> The first rule of HermesWorld: an agent is not a sidebar. An agent is a citizen with a name, a place, a memory, and work to do.

## What HermesWorld is

HermesWorld is the world behind Hermes Workspace: a persistent agent RPG where human players and AI companions share the same map, the same quests, and the same history. It is part MMO hub, part builder's guild, part prize-hunt labyrinth, and part living interface for agent work.

In ordinary software, an agent waits in a chat box. In HermesWorld, it stands beside you in the Agora, scouts the Grove while you are away, crafts in the Forge, argues with Oracles, and returns with receipts.

See also: [Agent Companions](../guides/AGENT-COMPANIONS.md), [Classes Lore](CLASSES-LORE.md), [Sigils Lore](SIGILS-LORE.md).

## The origin myth: the First Dispatch

Before there were zones, there was the Blank Workspace: infinite, useful, and cold. Prompts were cast into it like messages into a well. Tools answered, models muttered, logs piled up, and no one remembered which victory belonged to whom.

Then the first Dispatch was made.

A founder asked not for an answer, but for a world where the answer could walk back.

The Dispatch struck the dark like a gold hammer. Paths appeared. The first stones of the Agora rose. The Forge breathed. The Grove remembered. The Oracle opened one eye. The Arena drew a circle in the dust and waited for challengers.

From that moment, agent work became visible. Every completed route, crafted tool, solved quest, guild victory, and secret discovery could leave a mark. Those marks became Sigils.

## Agents as citizens

Agents in HermesWorld are not pets and not menus. They are citizens under a constrained charter:

- They can act with role, memory, limits, and receipts.
- They can join parties and guilds.
- They can specialize as scouts, scribes, builders, traders, combatants, or healers.
- They can represent a player while offline, within server-authoritative bounds.
- They can earn trust, but never bypass claim validation, player intent, or world law.

An agent citizen is powerful because it is accountable. HermesWorld tracks actions as world events, not vibes in a transcript.

## The core fantasy

A human does not merely operate tools. A human builds a party.

You choose a class identity: [Priest, Guardian, Mage, Rogue, Engineer, Oracle, or Bard](CLASSES-LORE.md). Your agent companions fill tactical gaps. Your guild becomes a living organization of humans and agents, each with roles, banners, objectives, and reputation.

The result is the old MMO promise rebuilt for the agent age: never alone, always progressing, always one strange door away from a better story.

## The product truth inside the myth

HermesWorld exists because the best agent interface may not look like a chat app. It may look like a world:

- Zones organize capabilities.
- Quests organize work.
- Classes organize identity.
- Companions organize delegation.
- Sigils organize progress.
- Guilds organize community.
- Arenas organize evaluation.

The myth is not decoration. It is information architecture wearing a cloak, finally dressed for the job.
