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Truths and Principles: Towards a United Metaphysics of Magic
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<blockquote data-quote="GlyphicEngineer" data-source="post: 9121226" data-attributes="member: 7042623"><p>The below is The Magic Hermaphrodite's excellent set of notes, summations, and theories expanding upon the original work. Please give it a read!</p><p></p><p><strong>Preface</strong>: What follows is, essentially, a series of observations and interpretations of the original work, particularly one that attempts to divine an accurate (if not basic) working theory of the nature of reality itself as it emerges from these principles. A handful of corollary theories are proposed at the end of the document.</p><p></p><p>[SPOILER=Notes on the Truths]TL;DR: Magic is divided into five fundamental (albeit somewhat nebulous) Truths or forces: Energy, Order, Division, Psyche, and Physicality.</p><p>• Energy is a loose combination of natural physical forces (magnetism, gravity, nuclear force, etc.) and D&D's own forms of pure magical energy (positive and negative force chief among them). If energy is the most overriding, fundamental force, then the remaining four forces are grouped according to their affiliation with the positive and negative.</p><p>• Order is natural law in summation, basically. It postulates a grandiose design that governs all reality, the source code of the simulation itself.</p><p>• Division is order, but backwards. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction; good, evil, and everything in-between exists in brutal, interminable opposition. Mordenkainen just creamed his khakis. Or not, given the atrocities he's committed in the name preserving what would otherwise be a cosmologically dictated Balance.</p><p>• Psyche is the collective will/psychic force embodied by all sentience. It thinks, however dimly, therefore it is. Naturally, one might manipulate this force to manipulate the minds of others.</p><p>• Physicality is the basic quality of being at least minimally tangible. It is, therefore it is.[/SPOILER]</p><p></p><p>[SPOILER=Notes on the Principles and Schools]These truths can be combined to produce a total of 10 Principles, which are mostly analagous to the 8 schools of magic: Binding, Decay, Dynamism, Experience, Appearance, Information, Growth, Form, Location, and Pneuma. Principles are direct manifestations of these Truths in ways that actively alter reality.</p><p>• Binding is Energy + Order, and it governs the ability to precisely partition magical creatures and forces. It is primarily abjurative, one that necessitates the principle of Dynamism by virtue of the manifold entities the delineated by the principle of binding.</p><p>• Dynamism is Energy + Division, and it governs the fundamental interactions between even the most minute energetic distinctions as embodied by the school of evocation and its myriad damage types. My one confusion here comes from the fact that matter is (presumably) inherently energetic, and that the energetic distinctions typified by this principle would therefore eventually bleed into both the Truth of physicality and the school of transmutation. If Physicality and Psyche constitute subgradients within both Order and Division, however, this discrepancy is a natural consequence of the "hierarchy" of fundamental truths.</p><p>• Experience is Energy + Psyche, which governs conscious subjectivity and the stimuli that influence it. Thence comes the school of Enchantment. I am my thoughts in sum.</p><p>• Growth is Energy + Physicality, which governs the accumulation of potential energy in (typically living) matter as embodied by the forces of positive energy most of all. It is primarily transmutative and so influences abilities like healing magic, Wild Shape, and spontaneous generation/duplication.</p><p>• Decay is Order + Division, the manifest consequences of the forces of entropy. If Order dictates the basic functions of natural law, its combination with Division postulates their inevitable end. Necromancy appears first here.</p><p>• Appearance is Order + Psyche, which governs the psychic phenomenon of perception. Truly, the most essential of skills. Naturally, as the school of illusion distorts the perceivable world, it is associated with the principle of Appearance. This principle is inextricably linked with that of Experience, as the act of perceiving (limited as it is by a creature's myriad accumulated blinders, be they physical or mental) irrevocably colors one's subjective experiences.</p><p>• Form is Order + Physicality, the minor antithesis (assuming the validity of the provisional theory of axiomatic subgradience as postulated under the Dynamic principle) of the principle of Appearance: the objective, material qualities of objects within the real as contrasted with the subjective sensory qualities attributed to those objects by sentient beings. It is the second transmutative principle, the primary means of cataloging and categorizing the state changes governed by the principle of Growth.</p><p>• Information is Division + Psyche, the principle that governs knowledge as an entity unto itself. Its psychic association suggests that information is emergent from consciousness, and would not exist if there was nothing to know that which comprises information. If observable reality is finite, so, too, is the sum of all knowledge. This principle is, naturally, divinative.</p><p>• Location is Division + Physicality, the principle that governs (or, more accurately, expresses) the physical relationship between all matter. Although I dispute the claim that matter can be subdivided ad infinitum. The application of this principle allows one to alter that relationship and, therefore, the relative position of objects and creatures from across the wheel in whatever order one might desire; notably, this application does not interact with time or speed (the purview of Dynamism); transposition occurs instantaneously, ensuring the principle can only affect the spatial relationship between compositionally discrete entities. This principle is wholly conjurative.</p><p>• Pneuma is Physicality + Psyche, the soul incarnate within the material. It is primarily necromantic, if only because necromancy is the only school of magic that can meaningfully interact with the soul as a discrete, physical entity. This principle represents perhaps the greatest failure of the spell school classification system, as it shares not a single truth with the other "necromantic" principle.[/SPOILER]</p><p></p><p></p><p>[SPOILER=Corollary Theories]Corollary Theories</p><p>I. The Theory of Axiomatic Subgradience: The five absolute truths or universal axioms exist within a hierarchy of primacy, nested within one another as one descends the hierarchy. Axiomatic Energy is the wellspring of all things, the subgradient truths of Order and Division flowing forth first. Contained within Order and Division each are the further subgradients of Psyche and Physicality.</p><p>a) The Theorem of Antithetical Subgradience: Each truth within its subgradient pair is antithetical to the other. Although one would expect this to be evident by dint of definition alone, it is not born out axiomatically as are the truths themselves. Hence, its status as an extrapolative theorem.</p><p>This theorem further postulates three degrees of relative principle antithesis: absolute (between two wholly antithetical principles, such as Form and Information), major (between a greater pair of antithetical principles which share a lesser synthetic principle, such as Information and Appearance), and minor (between a lesser pair of antithetical principles which share a greater synthetic principle, such as Form and Appearance).</p><p>Degree here is separate from magnitude due to the unifying presence and primacy of the truth of Energy. The difference between Binding and Dynamism is greater than that between Form and Appearance, for instance, despite each principle containing a minor antithesis.</p><p>II. The Theory of a Finite Reality: The sum of the truths acting upon one another (particularly by way of the principles of Growth, Decay, Dynamism) suggests that reality is quantitatively and qualitatively finite. Namely, these principles combined dictate that there is a maximal amount of energy whose arrangement is governed by two equal and opposite forces, and, more importantly, that the boundaries thereof can be divined.</p><p>Per the laws of large and, more importantly, truly large numbers (as evidenced via the application of the principles of Information and Location), one can theoretically calculate a functional arrangement of all such permutations as can be feasibly contained within reality writ large. Even so, the raw intellect required to perform such a feat is (apologies to the late Magnus) likely beyond the capabilities of any intelligent entity that has existed or yet will exist within the Wheel. From this representative function, one can further derive the mean of the slope of that function, revealing a set of configurations to which reality will inevitably revert.[/SPOILER]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="GlyphicEngineer, post: 9121226, member: 7042623"] The below is The Magic Hermaphrodite's excellent set of notes, summations, and theories expanding upon the original work. Please give it a read! [B]Preface[/B]: What follows is, essentially, a series of observations and interpretations of the original work, particularly one that attempts to divine an accurate (if not basic) working theory of the nature of reality itself as it emerges from these principles. A handful of corollary theories are proposed at the end of the document. [SPOILER=Notes on the Truths]TL;DR: Magic is divided into five fundamental (albeit somewhat nebulous) Truths or forces: Energy, Order, Division, Psyche, and Physicality. • Energy is a loose combination of natural physical forces (magnetism, gravity, nuclear force, etc.) and D&D's own forms of pure magical energy (positive and negative force chief among them). If energy is the most overriding, fundamental force, then the remaining four forces are grouped according to their affiliation with the positive and negative. • Order is natural law in summation, basically. It postulates a grandiose design that governs all reality, the source code of the simulation itself. • Division is order, but backwards. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction; good, evil, and everything in-between exists in brutal, interminable opposition. Mordenkainen just creamed his khakis. Or not, given the atrocities he's committed in the name preserving what would otherwise be a cosmologically dictated Balance. • Psyche is the collective will/psychic force embodied by all sentience. It thinks, however dimly, therefore it is. Naturally, one might manipulate this force to manipulate the minds of others. • Physicality is the basic quality of being at least minimally tangible. It is, therefore it is.[/SPOILER] [SPOILER=Notes on the Principles and Schools]These truths can be combined to produce a total of 10 Principles, which are mostly analagous to the 8 schools of magic: Binding, Decay, Dynamism, Experience, Appearance, Information, Growth, Form, Location, and Pneuma. Principles are direct manifestations of these Truths in ways that actively alter reality. • Binding is Energy + Order, and it governs the ability to precisely partition magical creatures and forces. It is primarily abjurative, one that necessitates the principle of Dynamism by virtue of the manifold entities the delineated by the principle of binding. • Dynamism is Energy + Division, and it governs the fundamental interactions between even the most minute energetic distinctions as embodied by the school of evocation and its myriad damage types. My one confusion here comes from the fact that matter is (presumably) inherently energetic, and that the energetic distinctions typified by this principle would therefore eventually bleed into both the Truth of physicality and the school of transmutation. If Physicality and Psyche constitute subgradients within both Order and Division, however, this discrepancy is a natural consequence of the "hierarchy" of fundamental truths. • Experience is Energy + Psyche, which governs conscious subjectivity and the stimuli that influence it. Thence comes the school of Enchantment. I am my thoughts in sum. • Growth is Energy + Physicality, which governs the accumulation of potential energy in (typically living) matter as embodied by the forces of positive energy most of all. It is primarily transmutative and so influences abilities like healing magic, Wild Shape, and spontaneous generation/duplication. • Decay is Order + Division, the manifest consequences of the forces of entropy. If Order dictates the basic functions of natural law, its combination with Division postulates their inevitable end. Necromancy appears first here. • Appearance is Order + Psyche, which governs the psychic phenomenon of perception. Truly, the most essential of skills. Naturally, as the school of illusion distorts the perceivable world, it is associated with the principle of Appearance. This principle is inextricably linked with that of Experience, as the act of perceiving (limited as it is by a creature's myriad accumulated blinders, be they physical or mental) irrevocably colors one's subjective experiences. • Form is Order + Physicality, the minor antithesis (assuming the validity of the provisional theory of axiomatic subgradience as postulated under the Dynamic principle) of the principle of Appearance: the objective, material qualities of objects within the real as contrasted with the subjective sensory qualities attributed to those objects by sentient beings. It is the second transmutative principle, the primary means of cataloging and categorizing the state changes governed by the principle of Growth. • Information is Division + Psyche, the principle that governs knowledge as an entity unto itself. Its psychic association suggests that information is emergent from consciousness, and would not exist if there was nothing to know that which comprises information. If observable reality is finite, so, too, is the sum of all knowledge. This principle is, naturally, divinative. • Location is Division + Physicality, the principle that governs (or, more accurately, expresses) the physical relationship between all matter. Although I dispute the claim that matter can be subdivided ad infinitum. The application of this principle allows one to alter that relationship and, therefore, the relative position of objects and creatures from across the wheel in whatever order one might desire; notably, this application does not interact with time or speed (the purview of Dynamism); transposition occurs instantaneously, ensuring the principle can only affect the spatial relationship between compositionally discrete entities. This principle is wholly conjurative. • Pneuma is Physicality + Psyche, the soul incarnate within the material. It is primarily necromantic, if only because necromancy is the only school of magic that can meaningfully interact with the soul as a discrete, physical entity. This principle represents perhaps the greatest failure of the spell school classification system, as it shares not a single truth with the other "necromantic" principle.[/SPOILER] [SPOILER=Corollary Theories]Corollary Theories I. The Theory of Axiomatic Subgradience: The five absolute truths or universal axioms exist within a hierarchy of primacy, nested within one another as one descends the hierarchy. Axiomatic Energy is the wellspring of all things, the subgradient truths of Order and Division flowing forth first. Contained within Order and Division each are the further subgradients of Psyche and Physicality. a) The Theorem of Antithetical Subgradience: Each truth within its subgradient pair is antithetical to the other. Although one would expect this to be evident by dint of definition alone, it is not born out axiomatically as are the truths themselves. Hence, its status as an extrapolative theorem. This theorem further postulates three degrees of relative principle antithesis: absolute (between two wholly antithetical principles, such as Form and Information), major (between a greater pair of antithetical principles which share a lesser synthetic principle, such as Information and Appearance), and minor (between a lesser pair of antithetical principles which share a greater synthetic principle, such as Form and Appearance). Degree here is separate from magnitude due to the unifying presence and primacy of the truth of Energy. The difference between Binding and Dynamism is greater than that between Form and Appearance, for instance, despite each principle containing a minor antithesis. II. The Theory of a Finite Reality: The sum of the truths acting upon one another (particularly by way of the principles of Growth, Decay, Dynamism) suggests that reality is quantitatively and qualitatively finite. Namely, these principles combined dictate that there is a maximal amount of energy whose arrangement is governed by two equal and opposite forces, and, more importantly, that the boundaries thereof can be divined. Per the laws of large and, more importantly, truly large numbers (as evidenced via the application of the principles of Information and Location), one can theoretically calculate a functional arrangement of all such permutations as can be feasibly contained within reality writ large. Even so, the raw intellect required to perform such a feat is (apologies to the late Magnus) likely beyond the capabilities of any intelligent entity that has existed or yet will exist within the Wheel. From this representative function, one can further derive the mean of the slope of that function, revealing a set of configurations to which reality will inevitably revert.[/SPOILER] [/QUOTE]
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