Maldin
First Post
Greetings fellow scholars,
I, Maldin of Greyhawk, also have a theory on the origin of the multiverse. Tsillanabor and Felix (in a sister thread) both present interesting theories, both of which have some similarities and some of those similarities are shared with my own musings on the matter. This medium does not really allow for a massive treatise such as my own highly extensive teachings on the subject to be presented (for fear of incursion by bandwidth demons), so I shall instead point my fellow scholars to my own writings on "Life, the Multiverse, and Everything" at http://melkot.com/mysteries/multiverse.html
Please do read through it so you will know my own ideas on this fascinating subject. I'd really hate to post that 5300 word essay into this thread. ;-)
Tsillanabor begins with similar starting conditions as my own (a primordial chaos being a common theme suggested as initial conditions by many researchers), however, understandably given the above noted space limitations and the attention span of many visiting students ;-) there is an underlying incompleteness to both Tsillanabor's and Felix's hypotheses that I attempt to resolve in my own analysis. What existed before the Immaterium? Where did the Materium come from? What is the relationship between the chaos of the Immaterium and the entropy of the Negative Material plane? Where do the initial "creatures of the Immaterium" come from? Where did the Felix's beings of the Prime come from whose collective unconciousness formed the Astral (and all other later planes)? Where did that first Prime itself come from for that matter! (Or is this theory only to explain the outer planes, and not explain the origins of the rest of the multiverse? What was the actual mechanism by which all subsequent planes separate from the first/primary (Immaterium of Tsillanabor, Astral or Prime of Felix) plane? And what predictions can we make from each creation hypothesis that can be used as a test of that hypothesis when compared to the "present-day" conditions of the D&D multiverse?
I've posted this in an older, previous thread on the subject, however, with my own "Grand Unified Theory" (GUT) of the multiverse, I try to explain the creation of the physical multiverse (pre-mortal, pre-fiend, pre-god, pre-everybody and anybody!) and how the "rules" of the AD&D multiverse came about. The how and why of the physical structure of the planes (their organization, as well as specific features such as the Outlands' "Spire"), the origins of mortals and immortals and their relationships as well as their sources of power, the different natures of planes (such as the varying effects of magic and time) and how those planes change and interact, the imbuing of sentience without the need for complex brains (as in simple organisms like puddings; objects such as intelligent swords, elementals and intelligent clouds of electricity; even entire planes with awareness), the palpable nature of good, evil, law and chaos on so many levels, the twisting of time and dimension impossible with our own RealWorld physical laws (such as portable holes, teleportation, and time travel), the very source of magic and its laws... ALL can be explained with a sufficiently integrated GUT.
Now, having said all that I said in my treatise, there is no correct answer, of course! Every DM has his own creation myth, and rightly so! This is something I strongly believe should NOT be spelled out in the published rules. Only you know what fits best for your campaign multiverse. The discussion is fascinating though, and I yearn to hear the musings of others.
Denis, aka "Maldin"
============================
Maldin's Greyhawk http://melkot.com
Loads of edition-independent Greyhawk goodness... maps, magic, mysteries, mechanics, and more!
I, Maldin of Greyhawk, also have a theory on the origin of the multiverse. Tsillanabor and Felix (in a sister thread) both present interesting theories, both of which have some similarities and some of those similarities are shared with my own musings on the matter. This medium does not really allow for a massive treatise such as my own highly extensive teachings on the subject to be presented (for fear of incursion by bandwidth demons), so I shall instead point my fellow scholars to my own writings on "Life, the Multiverse, and Everything" at http://melkot.com/mysteries/multiverse.html
Please do read through it so you will know my own ideas on this fascinating subject. I'd really hate to post that 5300 word essay into this thread. ;-)
Tsillanabor begins with similar starting conditions as my own (a primordial chaos being a common theme suggested as initial conditions by many researchers), however, understandably given the above noted space limitations and the attention span of many visiting students ;-) there is an underlying incompleteness to both Tsillanabor's and Felix's hypotheses that I attempt to resolve in my own analysis. What existed before the Immaterium? Where did the Materium come from? What is the relationship between the chaos of the Immaterium and the entropy of the Negative Material plane? Where do the initial "creatures of the Immaterium" come from? Where did the Felix's beings of the Prime come from whose collective unconciousness formed the Astral (and all other later planes)? Where did that first Prime itself come from for that matter! (Or is this theory only to explain the outer planes, and not explain the origins of the rest of the multiverse? What was the actual mechanism by which all subsequent planes separate from the first/primary (Immaterium of Tsillanabor, Astral or Prime of Felix) plane? And what predictions can we make from each creation hypothesis that can be used as a test of that hypothesis when compared to the "present-day" conditions of the D&D multiverse?
I've posted this in an older, previous thread on the subject, however, with my own "Grand Unified Theory" (GUT) of the multiverse, I try to explain the creation of the physical multiverse (pre-mortal, pre-fiend, pre-god, pre-everybody and anybody!) and how the "rules" of the AD&D multiverse came about. The how and why of the physical structure of the planes (their organization, as well as specific features such as the Outlands' "Spire"), the origins of mortals and immortals and their relationships as well as their sources of power, the different natures of planes (such as the varying effects of magic and time) and how those planes change and interact, the imbuing of sentience without the need for complex brains (as in simple organisms like puddings; objects such as intelligent swords, elementals and intelligent clouds of electricity; even entire planes with awareness), the palpable nature of good, evil, law and chaos on so many levels, the twisting of time and dimension impossible with our own RealWorld physical laws (such as portable holes, teleportation, and time travel), the very source of magic and its laws... ALL can be explained with a sufficiently integrated GUT.
Now, having said all that I said in my treatise, there is no correct answer, of course! Every DM has his own creation myth, and rightly so! This is something I strongly believe should NOT be spelled out in the published rules. Only you know what fits best for your campaign multiverse. The discussion is fascinating though, and I yearn to hear the musings of others.
Denis, aka "Maldin"
============================
Maldin's Greyhawk http://melkot.com
Loads of edition-independent Greyhawk goodness... maps, magic, mysteries, mechanics, and more!
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