It has finally happened. An era of world peace and prosperity has dawned, made possible by the advent of computers. The horrors of war have faded to a memory. Man no longer wages conventional warfare with bombs and guns. Master gamers fight their countries' battles on powerful servers, and the cloud has become the world's battleground. Holographic wars are fought around the clock for land, oil, gold, and planetary domination, and battles occur in computergenerated virtual worlds. The World Gaming Association monitors these war scenarios to ensure that all nations follow the rules. But humans are flawed and have a habit of trying to gain an unfair advantage that alters the outcome. So one person is tasked with oversight of the global server network and must ensure that the WGA's complex maze of holoclouds remain operational. Because of the extraordinary power this official wields, the WGA Director is required to be neutral and above reproach. No hint of corruption is tolerated, and no favoritism can be shown toward any political party or nation. The world's superpowers have enacted laws mandating that children learn video gaming skills, and the best of the best are trained in specialized schools. As nations vie to build the world's most powerful armies of super-gamers, some youngsters are taken from their homes and families too early. These child protégés, the elite warriors of the future, are trained to fight and tasked with bringing victory and glory to their homelands. These virtual warriors are called iru, a Japanese word meaning "to exist," and the games are called asobu, which means "to play."