[OOC] Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

[Frettzo]

Just spent 13 hours with no electricity or phone service my dudes. I'm surprisingly sane.

[Kho]

@Frettzo When are you getting outta there? Or has that plan fallen through?

[Antarctic Termite]

@Kho What does the Fabric think of Heartworm chewing holes through it all day every day? Can entities other than Victors communicate with it, or is it all in their heads? ...what is it, exactly?

Just spent 13 hours with no electricity or phone service my dudes. I'm surprisingly sane.

@Frettzo

F

[Frettzo]

@Frettzo When are you getting outta there? Or has that plan fallen through?

@Kho

I'm waiting for the government to sign my friggin University Title so I can get the graduation ceremony done and get out. I've looked at Bristol and Brighton as potential destinations but I really have never visited any town other than London in the UK.

Only tough thing is that my family has money for one and only one ticket out and like a week's worth of food and lodging, so I better bust my ass looking for a job through Indeed

[Kho]

@Kho What does the Fabric think of Heartworm chewing holes through it all day every day? Can entities other than Victors communicate with it, or is it all in their heads? ...what is it, exactly?

@Antarctic Termite

So, from Vowzra's CS, where it is first mentioned:

'Vowzra...has the ability to slip into the very fabric of existence. He does not move to another plane, but rather becomes part of the very universe. Simply put, if we take the fabric of existence to be a 'wall' separating one plane from another, Vowzra does not slip through the wall and into the other plane, but becomes part of the wall.'

I think the Fabric is altogether separate from the Submaterium or whatever Heartworm is chewing holes through. It's something that's heavily linked to Vowzra (to date, other than Juras in this latest post, I think he's the only one whose had any meaningful interaction with it, the implication was that whenever he was not in Chronos or inside the universe, he was one with the Fabric). Though it was never explicitly stated, I think this is the stuff Belvast passes through when opening his eye of the portcullis. Belvast appears capable of bypassing the Fabric's consciousness altogether (whether he's aware the Fabric is conscious, I don't know. Guess I'll work that out in future Belvast posts). The fact that Vowzra could find Raka (in which he'd never been) through the Fabric of Existence, and the fact that Belvast could enter Raka with his portals despite having never been, also suggests a connection of some sort.

As for its consciousness, I don't believe it's all in people's heads - the consciousness of the Fabric has been long-established.

As for what it is, beyond the 'wall of the universe' analogy... eh, not sure. In my head, it was always the consciousness of the universe itself, but something related to spacetime, hence the unique relation to Vowzra. I was thinking this as I was writing Juras' interaction with it: people 'melt' into the Fabric - i.e. they lose their physical form and become submerged, one with it; if one is not careful they will merge with it and lose the capacity to leave, their consciousness will be added to the consciousness of the Fabric... so, in many ways, the consciousness is not one, but an unknowable number of consciousness[es] made up of the underlying ['first', 'original'] one and all those that gave in to the siren call afterwards.

Now, perhaps the Fabric is indeed what Heartworm is ripping through, but only Vowzra/Vowzrid beings are capable of hearing it. At the same time, that doesn't entirely make sense to me, as in my headcanon the Fabric would retaliate in some way if attacked (it hit Juras, though not in manner intended to harm, it has held Vowzra before, preventing him from leaving until it released him). The Fabric can feel pain and can attack itself - as suggested in the first IC post where 'the Punisher' causes it scream out in pain.

That's all I have on it. I'll check previous iterations of the RP to see if there was any mention of it that can provide further illuminations.

Edit: Astarte's reaction in Mk.I when Vowzra tore a portal into the Fabric xDD -

"Wow... I didn't know Vowzra had the ability to summon gaping holes whenever he wanted to." Astarte said to herself with a smirk...

We love you Astarte

[Muttonhawk]

You know, I feel like we've got some really mature narratives going on. Really exploring mortal and divine experiences in a deep and meaningful-

'No, it had no peepees!' Juras declared.

@Kho

[Cyclone]

I need to write a Heru post. @Kho will Rukban raids and excursions into Vetruvian territory be diminished in the following years due to their internal struggles?

[Kho]

@Cyclone At least until 3-4 post-Realta - I think

[Antarctic Termite]

@Kho ...Could it be imagined as the paper on which the Codex is written? Paper is a lot like fabric. Right? Right??

Heartworm swallowing a piece of the fabric of reality is explicitly mentioned in this post, summarywards, where it consumes part of the underlying structure of existence to become more like the background of all that is, thus explaining a point of concealment. That's always been Heartworm's teleportation mechanic: literally carving up reality to make a wound it could move through.

_{(As an aside, it's also one of my most consistent long-term bits of character development. At first Heartworm had to laboriously chew through reality, but later it could carve holes using a tool. Eventually it could slice portals into existence quickly with its vehicle, and lately it's just been kicking reality so hard it rips like paper. An upcoming post is the first and only one in which Heartworm simply wills a wound in reality to open up. It's also been teleporting more as time goes on. So there's some subtle power progressions for y'all.)}

The thing is that 'the fabric of reality' is a really common metaphor for 'the underlying structure of the existent universe' when it comes to describing both physics and metaphysical stuff. I'm sure most of us have used it here at some point, unthinking, to mean exactly that.

Unless the Fabric as you describe is something specifically other than that, then I imagine it's a Vowzrid phenomenon of the general concept. Heartworm might be interacting with a different layer of it somehow. It might simply not be attuned to the sentience, or there might be some mirroring effect in which its own weird AI soul reflects on the Fabric and makes it seem cold and lifeless from its perspective.

[Double Capybara]

>Could it be imagined as the paper on which the Codex is written? Paper is a lot like fabric. Right? Right??

>As for its consciousness, I don't believe it's all in people's heads - the consciousness of the Fabric has been long-established.

>mirroring effect

Every single line you people say just make Ilunabar stronger. Soon, she will be unstoppable and all will tremble in face of her true neutral passive indulgence. The very fabric of reality will be made into a fashionable poncho. It was too late before it even began.



For realzies though, on that first one, I have always been kinda playing on that, since the Codex is said to be a parchment, which is pretty much fabric, which ties to the Dreamweaver, especially after it became a massive pipe organ - sewing machine. I outright described it as pulling strings in the fabric of all-stuff, which has always been quite literal in my posts, with outright noises of strings being pulled, but could also be seen in a metaphorical way since she is the goddess of aggressive marketing and could be making true to that old thing she once said to Vowzra about "What happens when the universe itself, from the largest galaxy clusters to the smallest bit of quantum foam, decides to tell a lie?"

Answer was apparently mosquitoes and lactose tolerance.

[Kho]

@Kho ...Could it be imagined as the paper on which the Codex is written? Paper is a lot like fabric. Right? Right??

Heartworm swallowing a piece of the fabric of reality is explicitly mentioned in this post, summarywards, where it consumes part of the underlying structure of existence to become more like the background of all that is, thus explaining a point of concealment. That's always been Heartworm's teleportation mechanic: literally carving up reality to make a wound it could move through.

_{(As an aside, it's also one of my most consistent long-term bits of character development. At first Heartworm had to laboriously chew through reality, but later it could carve holes using a tool. Eventually it could slice portals into existence quickly with its vehicle, and lately it's just been kicking reality so hard it rips like paper. An upcoming post is the first and only one in which Heartworm simply wills a wound in reality to open up. It's also been teleporting more as time goes on. So there's some subtle power progressions for y'all.)}

The thing is that 'the fabric of reality' is a really common metaphor for 'the underlying structure of the existent universe' when it comes to describing both physics and metaphysical stuff. I'm sure most of us have used it here at some point, unthinking, to mean exactly that.

Unless the Fabric as you describe is something specifically other than that, then I imagine it's a Vowzrid phenomenon of the general concept. Heartworm might be interacting with a different layer of it somehow. It might simply not be attuned to the sentience, or there might be some mirroring effect in which its own weird AI soul reflects on the Fabric and makes it seem cold and lifeless from its perspective.

@Antarctic Termite

I'm not entirely sure - I've said all I've really worked out about the Fabric. There's terminological stuff - like how moving through the Fabric should not technically be referred to as teleporting, and rather than reference to 'portals', it should be 'Whirlpool of Space and Time' (e.g. the Gate is a Whirlpool of Space and Time).

In the end, what Heartworm chews through has been, as you say, developed in a very particular way; that's your territory - you've lain all kinds of protections and whatnot to ensure that anyone who plays around there is at a complete disadvantage. The Fabric isn't that. Chiral Phi, for instance, wouldn't receive all existing data on someone passing through the Fabric (I think it only gets that for things entering the Submaterium? Or was it teleporting generally? I can't quite remember). It is even possible that someone passing through the Fabric can interact with the Gap without triggering Jvan's mindbells (perhaps that's how Vowzra got out of there without detection, it makes sense in retrospect).
The mirroring thing doesn't hold up in my mind - the Punisher, Juras, and Vowzra all interacted with the Fabric, and in all three cases the Fabric was fairly consistent.

Could it be that Jvanic and Vowzrid interaction have been with the same thing bit on different levels? Sure, but to me that's more or less synonymous with them being entirely different things - if the layer Heartworm and Jvan have been interacting with is a passive, malleable, unliving layer, then the layer Vowzra has been interacting with is active, resistant, alive - it recognises different characters and can even develop deeper feelings for some than others. These layers, if we go with that, are completely different and independent of each other.
I have no issue with Heartworm, as it experiments and delves deeper into its passive Fabric of Reality, coming into contact with the conscious Fabric of Existence. I'm sure that would be a very interesting development.

What do others think? Are the Fabric of Existence and Heartworm's chaw one and the same, and the whole conscious universe thing just in Vowzie's wishful projections? Layers of the same thing? Two separate things altogether? Something else?

Edit: And how do other things fit in - the Mechanism of Change for instance, is that the interaction of Zephyrean beings with what Heartworm calls the Fabric of Reality and Vowzra the Fabric of Existence? Is Belvast's teleportation an interaction with something altogether different/ yet another layer/ just another different perception of the same thing?

[Antarctic Termite]

I think the ultimate solution here is for nobody except Kho to capitalise the word 'fabric' from now on.

Voila. I'm an amazing GM.

[Double Capybara]

I always thought it had more to do with the codex ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I did not even consider teleportation like Belvast's to be anything but a spatial thing, considering gods teleport all the time.

[Lauder]

I think the ultimate solution here is for nobody except Kho to capitalise the word 'fabric' from now on.

Voila. I'm an amazing GM.

@Antarctic Termite

Fabric

[Antarctic Termite]

Fabric

@Lauder

[Kho]

Uh, I mean, if the Fabric of Existence is problematic for some reason I can edit out references to it in the last post and pretend like it never was

[Antarctic Termite]

@Kho Nah, it's flavoursome, but it's not a mechanic currently significant enough to be worth enshrining a kinkless version of in the errata, given how specific it is to Vowzrid entities. So go nuts! Unless the other GMs have a problem or Victors start abusing it in ways they really shouldn't be (teleportation is a major power), it should be fine.

[Lauder]

Fabric

[LokiLeo789]

<Snipped quote by LokiLeo789>

She's actually in the Amestris area to start with, so she could end up involved with Jericho or the lot. She'll probably move on eventually, though. Mercenaries are notoriously unreliable after all.

@Antarctic Termite

Jericho would most definitely make use of their services. He’ll be sure to put em at the front lines to thin out there numbers.

[Kho]

@Kho Nah, it's flavoursome, but it's not a mechanic currently significant enough to be worth enshrining a kinkless version of in the errata, given how specific it is to Vowzrid entities. So go nuts! Unless the other GMs have a problem or Victors start abusing it in ways they really shouldn't be (teleportation is a major power), it should be fine.

@Antarctic Termite

Yeah, I've been very careful to put various restrictions of its use in place - i.e. only Silent Brothers can move through the Fabric (the only Silent Brother canonised till now is Juras, in my head-canon - ever since you mentioned him in that post - Yiftakh also), there appears to be some kind of cooldown period after each usage (Juras walked when he left Vetros for the Resort, walked when he left Xerxes for the Valley of Peace), there's an ever-present danger that one can just end up trapped in there or the Fabric is in a foul mood, one can't take other people with them through the Fabric, and - for non-divines in particular - there is currently a limit to how far one can travel using the Fabric - e.g. Juras can't melt into the Fabric and go to a moon or another planet. This will likely change as the Victors grow and develop, but that's the current state of affairs.
Vowzra and Belvast's interactions are somewhat different as they're divine - it's basically a, 'oh yeah, y'all can teleport too, but we're speshal'*coddles with Fabric*. I have some ideas for some distant future when the Creation(Space) (Portfolio) is incorporated for how the Fabric can be used in very different ways, but we'll cross that bridge when/if we get to it