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paradox42's crazy cosmology
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<blockquote data-quote="paradox42" data-source="post: 5105257" data-attributes="member: 29746"><p><strong>The Living Foundation of Reality</strong></p><p></p><p>So, back when I was pondering how to explain the existence of the Old Ones/Overgods, during the transition from 1E to 2E, I thought in these terms: mortals are creatures of matter which maintain self-aware patterns, and gods are self-aware patterns of energy which merely <strong>form</strong> bodies of matter in order to more conveniently interact with the world. Gods are, therefore, in a sense more <em>fundamental</em> than mortals are- energy is the foundation upon which and out of which matter is built. (This is inaccurate in the scientific sense, but it's how I reasoned at the time.) Therefore, I reasoned, if the Old Ones are as far "above" gods as gods are "above" mortals, this must mean that they are more <em>fundamental</em> than the gods. They must be made of something that's more fundamental to the universe than energy is. What could this be?</p><p> </p><p>It took me considerable time to find a satisfying answer, and in the process I read through every book and article on modern (at the time) physics that I could get access to. What I eventually came up with was this: energy exists as waves, and patterns of energy are therefore patterns in those waves; gods are patterns complex enough to move and think and act in accordance with their own internal processes rather than some external force. But both particles of matter and waves of energy arise from the mysterious "quantum foam" that quantum mechanics describes, and the "probability waves" of the Schrödinger equation. So, those probability waves were the "more fundamental" thing I was looking for- the Old Ones must be self-aware patterns of those.</p><p> </p><p>I didn't do much with the concept in subsequent years, all through 2nd Edition and early 3rd, other than notice that if gods formed avatars which were bodies of physical matter in order to more conveniently interact with reality, then so too might Overgods form avatars which would be self-aware energy patterns exactly like gods in every way except for being puppets controlled by the greater quantum-probability consciousness; one of the deities of my pantheon was in fact given a secret identity as just such an avatar.</p><p> </p><p>But with the high Epic levels fast approaching, and the transition of my game into the IH realm, I needed to fit this concept anew into the evolving explanation for the world as it was. One idea about "Sidereals" as UK was calling them, that never really gelled with me during the early IH development, was that they were supposed to be two things: (1) the "souls" of entire planes of existence, and (2) asleep or dormant. My setting featured Old Ones who were not only awake and active, but also not associated with any plane of existence directly. For a while I left it there, being happy to just reject the portions of the "Kosmos" that didn't fit- but as my PCs got higher and higher, and interacted more and more with the gods and other beings at that level, I began to see possibilities that had previously not been apparent to me.</p><p> </p><p>In particular, one game session when I was describing the concept of an Overgod to the PCs (and more importantly the players), I made a critical connection between the fact that my Overgods were quantum and the idea of what a "plane of existence" really is. If quantum behavior (and therefore, the behavior of all particles and energy in the universe) is governed by the probability waves, then by stipulating that an Entity exists which is literally a self-aware <strong>pattern</strong> of such waves, I am stipulating that this being can manipulate matter and energy on a scale that beings made of mere matter or energy can scarcely begin to imagine. More importantly, since the quantum behavior which is governed by those waves gives rise to the standard "laws of physics" that we interact with at the familiar macroscopic level, it is not inaccurate to say that the Entity is actually a "living law of physics" in its own right. It can change the laws of physics at will, because those laws simply arise from the waves of probability which its "real body" is made from; in effect, such a being would literally be a foundation for its own universe!</p><p> </p><p>So, I did not end up discarding UK's idea of Sidereals being the "souls" of planes; instead, I expanded upon it and fully explained it in game-science terminology. Each individual Sidereal being is a pattern in the waves of quantum probability that give rise to the matter and energy which exist on every plane; each Sidereal is a different pattern, and this means that the laws of physics <em>rising from it</em> are different than the physics arising out of other Sidereals. Each Sidereal is, therefore, quite literally a living set of laws of physics for the plane it calls home, and those planes have the properties they do because the Sidereal living there has the specific patterns in its makeup that it does. And to tie this all back to the previous post, the Sidereals each have a set of critical "core patterns" which one would call their souls, which happen to give rise to the existence of vitons on every plane. A viton, in a given plane of existence, is just a specific pattern in the quantum probability waves of that plane, and the reason it behaves as it does (that is, alive) is because the pattern it is based on is the "living" part of the Sidereal of its plane. Different planes "code" the vitons differently, but all planes have them, because all planes have (or more precisely, are) Sidereals, and all Sidereals are alive. It all fits together like a jigsaw puzzle that I didn't know I was assembling until I was finished.</p><p> </p><p>Cosmic Abilities, too, are easy to explain in this framework. Cosmic String is just the most obvious example: if a being is literally made of the underpinning of the laws of physics, a pattern of probability waves, then clearly nothing that merely arises from those waves (i.e. everything of matter or energy- and in particular all mortal or Divine abilities) can harm it at the fundamental level. The only way to destroy a wave of quantum probability is to hit it with <em>another</em> wave of quantum probability, constructed so as to precisely cancel out the first wave (this is the same principle upon which noise-reduction headphones work, to give one example), or to overwhelm it with a surge of quantum probability so vast and powerful that it just "overloads" the wave and destroys its integrity (this is in effect how an EMP can short out and destroy electronics). The first case illustrates why a Cosmic Ability is necessary to cancel out the Cosmic String; if it's a pattern or probability waves, then it's the same thing the Sidereal you're targeting is made of and is therefore a Cosmic Ability. The second case illustrates why a being with more power (measured as Divine Ranks in game terms) can overcome a lesser entity's Cosmic String: the more powerful being can simply overload the target with the quantum-probability version of an EMP.</p><p> </p><p>Cosmic Consciousness, in this paradigm, is simply a reflection of the fact that every single shred of matter or energy on the plane is actually "riding" on top of the Sidereal's "body;" naturally the Sidereal can concentrate its awareness when it wants to and take notice of what those bits of matter and energy are up to. Distance is irrelevant since the being's true body is literally everywhere that matters. Alter Reality is simply a neat package wrapped around the Sidereal's ability to exert itself in minor ways (like a human extending a finger or sticking out the tongue) and thereby create new matter/energy patterns that match whatever it was the Sidereal wanted to do. It also incorporates the ability of the Sidereal to change its own patterns subtly and alter the laws of physics in temporary or permanent ways, and thus cause desired changes in its universe. Other Cosmic Abilities can be similarly explained (if you readers like, post Cosmics you'd like explanations of in this manner and I'll reply with such explanations).</p><p> </p><p>The last point to be made on this topic is that the Sidereals are dormant; this can be shown simply by the fact that the laws of physics in most planes remain unchanged over the course of millions of years. If they were awake and active, their influence would be felt constantly as the laws of physics within their planes changed according to their whims. How are they dormant? The IH refers to an Epic ritual performed by Metatron and the angels to end the Dimensional War; for my pseudoscientific setting a mere Epic ritual could clearly never be enough. Instead, it seems more likely that the Sidereals who represent amalgams of planes- for example, the Seraph of Heaven who is the amalgam of all the planar layers who are merely Cherubim- and above even those amalgams, the great First Ones themselves who are whole swaths of Reality- became so consumed in the small details of their conflicts with each other that they cancel out their opposites almost exactly. The greater beings lock each other down, and this is turn drags the lesser beings associated with them into similar lockdowns with <strong>their</strong> opposite numbers, until only the very small number of Sidereals who have no opposites remain fully active and independent. In other words, they are not "asleep" in the sense of being unconscious, nor are they "dormant" in the sense of being completely inactive or incapable of acting. Instead, they are spending so much of their minds and actions on canceling out the activities of their opponents that what ends up happening on the stage of the universes they bring to life, looks like nothing. It's like two political parties who have exactly the same number of seats in the legislative body, constantly spending their time defeating any initiatives the other side brings up instead of honestly trying to get something done for once. Gridlock leads to stagnation and effective dormancy.</p><p> </p><p>Next post will explain how the Sidereals fit into my QP scheme and the game rules specifically.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="paradox42, post: 5105257, member: 29746"] [b]The Living Foundation of Reality[/b] So, back when I was pondering how to explain the existence of the Old Ones/Overgods, during the transition from 1E to 2E, I thought in these terms: mortals are creatures of matter which maintain self-aware patterns, and gods are self-aware patterns of energy which merely [B]form[/B] bodies of matter in order to more conveniently interact with the world. Gods are, therefore, in a sense more [I]fundamental[/I] than mortals are- energy is the foundation upon which and out of which matter is built. (This is inaccurate in the scientific sense, but it's how I reasoned at the time.) Therefore, I reasoned, if the Old Ones are as far "above" gods as gods are "above" mortals, this must mean that they are more [I]fundamental[/I] than the gods. They must be made of something that's more fundamental to the universe than energy is. What could this be? It took me considerable time to find a satisfying answer, and in the process I read through every book and article on modern (at the time) physics that I could get access to. What I eventually came up with was this: energy exists as waves, and patterns of energy are therefore patterns in those waves; gods are patterns complex enough to move and think and act in accordance with their own internal processes rather than some external force. But both particles of matter and waves of energy arise from the mysterious "quantum foam" that quantum mechanics describes, and the "probability waves" of the Schrödinger equation. So, those probability waves were the "more fundamental" thing I was looking for- the Old Ones must be self-aware patterns of those. I didn't do much with the concept in subsequent years, all through 2nd Edition and early 3rd, other than notice that if gods formed avatars which were bodies of physical matter in order to more conveniently interact with reality, then so too might Overgods form avatars which would be self-aware energy patterns exactly like gods in every way except for being puppets controlled by the greater quantum-probability consciousness; one of the deities of my pantheon was in fact given a secret identity as just such an avatar. But with the high Epic levels fast approaching, and the transition of my game into the IH realm, I needed to fit this concept anew into the evolving explanation for the world as it was. One idea about "Sidereals" as UK was calling them, that never really gelled with me during the early IH development, was that they were supposed to be two things: (1) the "souls" of entire planes of existence, and (2) asleep or dormant. My setting featured Old Ones who were not only awake and active, but also not associated with any plane of existence directly. For a while I left it there, being happy to just reject the portions of the "Kosmos" that didn't fit- but as my PCs got higher and higher, and interacted more and more with the gods and other beings at that level, I began to see possibilities that had previously not been apparent to me. In particular, one game session when I was describing the concept of an Overgod to the PCs (and more importantly the players), I made a critical connection between the fact that my Overgods were quantum and the idea of what a "plane of existence" really is. If quantum behavior (and therefore, the behavior of all particles and energy in the universe) is governed by the probability waves, then by stipulating that an Entity exists which is literally a self-aware [B]pattern[/B] of such waves, I am stipulating that this being can manipulate matter and energy on a scale that beings made of mere matter or energy can scarcely begin to imagine. More importantly, since the quantum behavior which is governed by those waves gives rise to the standard "laws of physics" that we interact with at the familiar macroscopic level, it is not inaccurate to say that the Entity is actually a "living law of physics" in its own right. It can change the laws of physics at will, because those laws simply arise from the waves of probability which its "real body" is made from; in effect, such a being would literally be a foundation for its own universe! So, I did not end up discarding UK's idea of Sidereals being the "souls" of planes; instead, I expanded upon it and fully explained it in game-science terminology. Each individual Sidereal being is a pattern in the waves of quantum probability that give rise to the matter and energy which exist on every plane; each Sidereal is a different pattern, and this means that the laws of physics [I]rising from it[/I] are different than the physics arising out of other Sidereals. Each Sidereal is, therefore, quite literally a living set of laws of physics for the plane it calls home, and those planes have the properties they do because the Sidereal living there has the specific patterns in its makeup that it does. And to tie this all back to the previous post, the Sidereals each have a set of critical "core patterns" which one would call their souls, which happen to give rise to the existence of vitons on every plane. A viton, in a given plane of existence, is just a specific pattern in the quantum probability waves of that plane, and the reason it behaves as it does (that is, alive) is because the pattern it is based on is the "living" part of the Sidereal of its plane. Different planes "code" the vitons differently, but all planes have them, because all planes have (or more precisely, are) Sidereals, and all Sidereals are alive. It all fits together like a jigsaw puzzle that I didn't know I was assembling until I was finished. Cosmic Abilities, too, are easy to explain in this framework. Cosmic String is just the most obvious example: if a being is literally made of the underpinning of the laws of physics, a pattern of probability waves, then clearly nothing that merely arises from those waves (i.e. everything of matter or energy- and in particular all mortal or Divine abilities) can harm it at the fundamental level. The only way to destroy a wave of quantum probability is to hit it with [I]another[/I] wave of quantum probability, constructed so as to precisely cancel out the first wave (this is the same principle upon which noise-reduction headphones work, to give one example), or to overwhelm it with a surge of quantum probability so vast and powerful that it just "overloads" the wave and destroys its integrity (this is in effect how an EMP can short out and destroy electronics). The first case illustrates why a Cosmic Ability is necessary to cancel out the Cosmic String; if it's a pattern or probability waves, then it's the same thing the Sidereal you're targeting is made of and is therefore a Cosmic Ability. The second case illustrates why a being with more power (measured as Divine Ranks in game terms) can overcome a lesser entity's Cosmic String: the more powerful being can simply overload the target with the quantum-probability version of an EMP. Cosmic Consciousness, in this paradigm, is simply a reflection of the fact that every single shred of matter or energy on the plane is actually "riding" on top of the Sidereal's "body;" naturally the Sidereal can concentrate its awareness when it wants to and take notice of what those bits of matter and energy are up to. Distance is irrelevant since the being's true body is literally everywhere that matters. Alter Reality is simply a neat package wrapped around the Sidereal's ability to exert itself in minor ways (like a human extending a finger or sticking out the tongue) and thereby create new matter/energy patterns that match whatever it was the Sidereal wanted to do. It also incorporates the ability of the Sidereal to change its own patterns subtly and alter the laws of physics in temporary or permanent ways, and thus cause desired changes in its universe. Other Cosmic Abilities can be similarly explained (if you readers like, post Cosmics you'd like explanations of in this manner and I'll reply with such explanations). The last point to be made on this topic is that the Sidereals are dormant; this can be shown simply by the fact that the laws of physics in most planes remain unchanged over the course of millions of years. If they were awake and active, their influence would be felt constantly as the laws of physics within their planes changed according to their whims. How are they dormant? The IH refers to an Epic ritual performed by Metatron and the angels to end the Dimensional War; for my pseudoscientific setting a mere Epic ritual could clearly never be enough. Instead, it seems more likely that the Sidereals who represent amalgams of planes- for example, the Seraph of Heaven who is the amalgam of all the planar layers who are merely Cherubim- and above even those amalgams, the great First Ones themselves who are whole swaths of Reality- became so consumed in the small details of their conflicts with each other that they cancel out their opposites almost exactly. The greater beings lock each other down, and this is turn drags the lesser beings associated with them into similar lockdowns with [B]their[/B] opposite numbers, until only the very small number of Sidereals who have no opposites remain fully active and independent. In other words, they are not "asleep" in the sense of being unconscious, nor are they "dormant" in the sense of being completely inactive or incapable of acting. Instead, they are spending so much of their minds and actions on canceling out the activities of their opponents that what ends up happening on the stage of the universes they bring to life, looks like nothing. It's like two political parties who have exactly the same number of seats in the legislative body, constantly spending their time defeating any initiatives the other side brings up instead of honestly trying to get something done for once. Gridlock leads to stagnation and effective dormancy. Next post will explain how the Sidereals fit into my QP scheme and the game rules specifically. [/QUOTE]
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