Ever had an idea stick itself in your head until you wrote it down?
-
So I've had this world/multiverse concept on my mind for a while. Don't have any particular stories to tell in it, just the idea.
I call it the "Web of Worlds"--a universe where there are two competing dualities that shape the physical laws and possibilities of all the worlds (each of which is a copy of Earth, just...different. These dualities clash, and paths form between the worlds.The dualities are magic vs tech and spirit vs matter. Four worlds stand on the intersections of pairs; four are well within a "quadrant" dominated by two of the four. And no, the universe isn't a two-dimensional thing, that's just one way of looking at it.
Where Tech and Spirit dominate, you have a world that has become more and more digital, with AI and mind uploading, Singularity. Where Tech and Matter dominate, you have a world with nanomachines, replicators, and body modifications/cyborg implants, Ubiquity.
Where Matter and Magic dominate, you have an elemental world dominated by dragons and monsters of legend, Drakonia. Where Magic and Spirit dominate, you have Faerie (the Fair Folk of legend, who are not necessarily nice) and the laws of nature are...well...flexible.
Tir na nog is a world of elves (of the celtic sidhe variety, not the Tolkien/D&D variety). Bastion a world of magitech. Earth, well, is Earth (but fictionalized). Holy Terra is a world ruled by gods/spirits and their priests, as well as psychics, voudun, and paranormal practitioners of all types.
As I said, I don't have any plans for this world/setup. But I had to get it out of my head.This is one reason why I play D&D--to give the part of my brain that dreams up worlds (but can't think of stories to fill them) an outlet. I build the world, and in cooperation with my players, we bring it to life and find things to fill the world with adventure.
-
-
@Gąska I'd hardly call Faerie "authoritarian". In fact, I'd probably flip that axis entirely. Magic is (at least in this depiction) much more chaotic and individualistic than tech. To the point that the far reaches of the top have no stable laws at all, anarchy at the level of physical law itself.
One thought I had is that none of the extremes are likely to be anything people from earth would understand our be comfortable in.
And that there might be an infinite number of worlds, each slightly different (of which these are just a sample).
Yet another is that I have this problem with needing symmetry. And lots of things I build end up revolving around the number 4.
-
Ever had an idea stick itself in your head until you wrote it down?
Ah, yes – I append it to the todo list and it promptly sublimes into the ether.
“tactical pterosaurs”… now there’s an idea that never got off the ground.@Gąska, I would ascendship, but I’m not sure what to make of fascist dragons.
-
-
@kazitor are those... solar panels?
-
-
-
Weird, the last reduction to abstracts I did ended up with 3 - Self, Other, and World, but then again I wasn't trying to build a narrative world, I was trying to reconstruct my mentality yet again, which is only mostly the same.
It's interesting that all of these axes (appear to be) morally and ethically neutral. The degree of inherent balance in the system might actually complicate narrative vs drive it.
I am not sure I would have any ideas in my head if they were not ones that stuck until I wrote them down, tho, especially not that I could write down.
-
@Benjamin-Hall said in Ever had an idea stick itself in your head until you wrote it down?:
@Gąska I'd hardly call Faerie "authoritarian". In fact, I'd probably flip that axis entirely. Magic is (at least in this depiction) much more chaotic and individualistic than tech. To the point that the far reaches of the top have no stable laws at all, anarchy at the level of physical law itself.
One thought I had is that none of the extremes are likely to be anything people from earth would understand our be comfortable in.
And that there might be an infinite number of worlds, each slightly different (of which these are just a sample).
Yet another is that I have this problem with needing symmetry. And lots of things I build end up revolving around the number 4.
Ah, okay - these asymmetries are helpful to drive and shape narrative. The notion of infinities seems natural but creates a dangerous amount of deus ex machina. A symmetry breaker, however, is essential for anything like a story, and an epic in this world would require a breaker at the largest-scale symmetry.
-
@Gribnit said in Ever had an idea stick itself in your head until you wrote it down?:
@Benjamin-Hall said in Ever had an idea stick itself in your head until you wrote it down?:
@Gąska I'd hardly call Faerie "authoritarian". In fact, I'd probably flip that axis entirely. Magic is (at least in this depiction) much more chaotic and individualistic than tech. To the point that the far reaches of the top have no stable laws at all, anarchy at the level of physical law itself.
One thought I had is that none of the extremes are likely to be anything people from earth would understand our be comfortable in.
And that there might be an infinite number of worlds, each slightly different (of which these are just a sample).
Yet another is that I have this problem with needing symmetry. And lots of things I build end up revolving around the number 4.
Ah, okay - these asymmetries are helpful to drive and shape narrative. The notion of infinities seems natural but creates a dangerous amount of deus ex machina. A symmetry breaker, however, is essential for anything like a story, and an epic in this world would require a breaker at the largest-scale symmetry.
My thought with the infinities is that most of them are only seen as a walker passes through. That these ones are the "stable" points of the current configuration of forces. But if those balances of forces changed, different ones would become the new stable points. So you can't really stop in the mirror worlds, unless you change things. And then you can't go back where you started from, but only to somewhere similar but different.
And as far as symmetry breaking, that would be the role (at large or small scale) of the walkers. I've actually thought more about how this works, just haven't written it here. Basically, a walker outside of their native world both feels and causes stress. In large amounts they can shatter their own minds or get thrown back home... Or leave a permanent mark of the balance of forces in the world they were in.
The balance is not static, it ebbs and flows as the forces push against each other. Each "wants" (to be anthropomorphic) to be the only one, but can't.
-
@Benjamin-Hall said in Ever had an idea stick itself in your head until you wrote it down?:
@Gribnit said in Ever had an idea stick itself in your head until you wrote it down?:
@Benjamin-Hall said in Ever had an idea stick itself in your head until you wrote it down?:
@Gąska I'd hardly call Faerie "authoritarian". In fact, I'd probably flip that axis entirely. Magic is (at least in this depiction) much more chaotic and individualistic than tech. To the point that the far reaches of the top have no stable laws at all, anarchy at the level of physical law itself.
One thought I had is that none of the extremes are likely to be anything people from earth would understand our be comfortable in.
And that there might be an infinite number of worlds, each slightly different (of which these are just a sample).
Yet another is that I have this problem with needing symmetry. And lots of things I build end up revolving around the number 4.
Ah, okay - these asymmetries are helpful to drive and shape narrative. The notion of infinities seems natural but creates a dangerous amount of deus ex machina. A symmetry breaker, however, is essential for anything like a story, and an epic in this world would require a breaker at the largest-scale symmetry.
My thought with the infinities is that most of them are only seen as a walker passes through. That these ones are the "stable" points of the current configuration of forces. But if those balances of forces changed, different ones would become the new stable points. So you can't really stop in the mirror worlds, unless you change things. And then you can't go back where you started from, but only to somewhere similar but different.
And as far as symmetry breaking, that would be the role (at large or small scale) of the walkers. I've actually thought more about how this works, just haven't written it here. Basically, a walker outside of their native world both feels and causes stress. In large amounts they can shatter their own minds or get thrown back home... Or leave a permanent mark of the balance of forces in the world they were in.
The balance is not static, it ebbs and flows as the forces push against each other. Each "wants" (to be anthropomorphic) to be the only one, but can't.
seems they'd probably be metastable in a tetrahedral arrangement, assuming a projection which need not even be possible
-
Writing up a few more ideas for this world:
Dissonance: What web-walkers experience when on worlds other than their home. And for those that don't spend enough time at home, they feel dissonance everywhere--they've become detached and rootless.
Dissonance is the sense of not fitting in. Of things being wrong in fundamental ways. Its root cause is the conflict between the Paradigms and not being aligned with the current world's balance. It surfaces as mental stress and even physiological changes, as the nimbus the walker brought along conflicts with the forces of the world. When a walker has exhausted their reserves of strength, any additional dissonance is enough to create an Ego Break.
The amount of dissonance experienced scales (at base) with the distance the walker is away from their home. And moving between outer worlds and inner worlds is much more costly than moving among inner worlds.
World 1 World 2 Hops Dissonance Inner Inner 1 1 Outer Inner 1 2 Inner Inner 2 4 Outer Inner 2 8 Outer Outer 2 16 Outer Outer 3 32 Most normal people, regardless of the world of origin, can handle 1-2 dissonance and no more. 10 is the normal limit for "superpowered" people. Only those of supreme power can start from an outer world and maintain themselves in another outer world, even in an adjacent quadrant, and no one except __________ has ever been recorded to have managed the trip to an opposing quadrant and that effort caused a massive Ego Break once __________ caused Paradox.
Paradox: What local residents experience in the presence of a walker who does something that breaks the normal local laws. Mild amounts can be rationalized away--he wasn't really hit by that car, or he had an adrenaline rush that granted supernal strength for a moment, or… Greater amounts, caused by more flagrant violation, cause varying effects in the people and world around them. Many of these are psychological, causing trauma, nightmares, headaches, sickness, or outright psychosis. At extreme levels, it can cause a local Realignment, changing the local balance of Paradigms. This allows walkers to actually change the world. However, paradox carries risks for the walkers as well, especially if the people are particularly stubborn. For a large enough group of people can unconsciously reject the paradox, causing it to rebound on the walker as a surge of dissonance. This frequently causes the more destructive forms of Ego Break.
So if a dragon (local to Drakonia) shows up in Bastion and takes on their true form, they're going to cause paradox for anyone who sees them. Note that compared to White Wolf's Mage games, this is reversed. Everyone around the wonder-worker experiences paradox when they enact the wonder, while the walker experiences dissonance just by being there. And if you try to do a wonder and fail, especially if that failure is caused by the presence of locals who reject your wonder, Bad Things Happen to you. Death or insanity are the nice forms. Worst case your self shatters and a Void Born (monster, basically) is created.
One other significant change--I've dropped Earth entirely from this model. Holy Terra is the closest thing to Earth now, and Cyberia, land of enhancements, weak AI, and general "gritty" cyber-style science fiction takes that Tech-heavy border position between Spirit and Matter.
-
@Benjamin-Hall sounds like the Mage / Toon rules
-
@Gribnit said in Ever had an idea stick itself in your head until you wrote it down?:
@Benjamin-Hall sounds like the Mage / Toon rules
Sort of. But I'm going for more world and less game. And very much less slapstick than Toon. Death and horror are very possible here. None of the forces involved are playing around, and you don't bounce back. Web-walkers have short lifespans unless they're very careful. And even then, rates of insanity and other trauma are way higher than normal.
-
@Benjamin-Hall yeah it seems like a dangerous place to have a fixed sense of self, sounds like fun
-
@Benjamin-Hall said in Ever had an idea stick itself in your head until you wrote it down?:
@Gribnit said in Ever had an idea stick itself in your head until you wrote it down?:
@Benjamin-Hall sounds like the Mage / Toon rules
Sort of. But I'm going for more world and less game. And very much less slapstick than Toon. Death and horror are very possible here. None of the forces involved are playing around, and you don't bounce back. Web-walkers have short lifespans unless they're very careful. And even then, rates of insanity and other trauma are way higher than normal.
The difficulty that circles here is the potentially strong determinism available for those with a grasp of the axes. Will knowledge of the structure be equally distributed? Widely distributed?
-
@Gribnit said in Ever had an idea stick itself in your head until you wrote it down?:
@Benjamin-Hall said in Ever had an idea stick itself in your head until you wrote it down?:
@Gribnit said in Ever had an idea stick itself in your head until you wrote it down?:
@Benjamin-Hall sounds like the Mage / Toon rules
Sort of. But I'm going for more world and less game. And very much less slapstick than Toon. Death and horror are very possible here. None of the forces involved are playing around, and you don't bounce back. Web-walkers have short lifespans unless they're very careful. And even then, rates of insanity and other trauma are way higher than normal.
The difficulty that circles here is the potentially strong determinism available for those with a grasp of the axes. Will knowledge of the structure be equally distributed? Widely distributed?
Basically unknown. Even knowing this structure imposes paradox (minor, to be sure, but knowing the truth of the world-behind-the-world is not comfortable).
Even most web walkers don't know the details. It's elephants and blind men all the way down.
-
@Benjamin-Hall Reminds me of TORG in some ways. You have people walking around from different realities, and they bring some of that other reality with them, so you get magic or sci-fi blinkenlights that can violate the local laws of physics. The Realignments, in particular, remind me of how the various realities on TORG convert normal people into their reality. (In TORG, everything happens on Earth, with various realities invading Earth and converting areas into their reality.)
