Soulthieves: elementality (initial processing).
Recently mind_scribe's discussion of the metaphysics of the universe of his fiction The Great Continent have had me considering the metaphysics of the Soulthieves universe. I'd like to be able to flesh out the intricacies rather than rely on intuition in developing the content of the game. It could even perhaps interest the particularly geeky amongst the player base. And this is a roguelike we're talking about, so the proportion of geeks is approximately 115%. I'll be putting the discussion in full in an appendix to the manual (obviously it'll be more sorted out than this will be).
For now, this is what I self-absorbedly left in comments in mind_scribe's journal the past couple days and what I scribbled out on paper in about 5 minutes tonight. This isn't everything just yet, but it's a start.
Everything in the natural world is comprised of the five elements. The elements are Mana, Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. These elements exist in all material things - and often abstract things as well - in varying proportions, resulting in the characteristic diversity of all things. As well, these proportions may vary over time, expressing the fluidity or inconstancy of existence. When discussing living beings, the balance of elements making up a being as a whole is generally described as its elemental attunements; the game refers to these characteristics as the attributes of Spirit, contrasting the attributes of Body and Mind, emphasizing their transcendent and elusive aspect. To the beings of The Island, although elemental reality can be exploited, it is difficult to fundamentally comprehend. But they are capable of theorizing.
For ontological elegance, the natural world can be said to be the sum of five elemental planes. The elemental planes are ontologically identical, existing in parallel and in congruence; simply, they occupy the same space, at the same times. The coincidental expression of these planes results in perceived reality, commonly known as the material plane to contrast with the elemental planes. Thus the material plane is also the elemental interface, the cosmological locus of intersection of the five elemental planes. Ontologically the material plane is actually distinct from the elemental planes-that is, since it's the interface of the elemental planes, it is not a "plane" in the same sense, being a distinct kind of entity.
This ontology could be explained more simply, couldn't it? It could be said that things in the natural world simply possess elemental properties: the proportions of elemental composition are little distinct from the properties of spatial or temporal location. You could even say that, just as things have a spatiotemporal location, they also have elemental locations. The properties of elemental composition of a thing comprise that thing's elementality. Elementality is more broadly applied than the qualities of elemental attunement in living beings; it is the characteristic of all things in the natural world.
Is this simpler? You definitely won't think so after I subject you to the following. This is your last warning.
For clarity, let M, F, W, A and E represent the variable elemental components of a thing: its proportions of Mana, Fire, Water, Air and Earth. The lowercase symbols would be the actual proportion of the element expressed in the thing.
The natural world containing The Island exists in 4-dimensional space-time, much like our world. Thus any point in the world, at which a thing or at least part of a thing exists, can be described with a 4-coordinate address. These four coordinates are common to all five elemental planes and to the elemental interface (i.e. the material plane). Here we go…
For any point P in the space [x, y, z] at time t, there are five corresponding elemental proportions:
P = [x, y, z, t] ← M = m , F = f , W = w , A = a , E = e
resulting in the elemental composition (elementality) C of the point P:
C = [m, f, w, a, e]
generating the full coordinate address at the elemental interface L:
L = [x, y, z, t, m, f, w, a, e]
The coordinates of the same point in each individual elemental plane are accordingly simpler. Where l is the element in question:
L = [x, y, z, t, l]
So, for example, the Mana composition of a particular point would be described as:
M = [x, y, z, t, m]
Obviously any combination of elements at the point can be described in this way:
F + W = [x, y, z, t, f, w]
Is there a way for me to make this more disgusting? Yes.
I've already mentioned that the natural world exists in four dimensions: obviously length, width, height, and time (or, if you prefer, height, depth, breadth, and time), respectively X, Y, Z and T. 4-dimensional space-time - [X, Y, Z, T] - in fact comprises perceived reality or experience.
What should be clear from all the above stuff is that absolute reality - including and exceeding perceived reality in the elemental interface - has nine dimensions: length, width, height, time, Mana, Fire, Water, Air, and Earth, respectively X, Y, Z, T, M, F, W, A and E. Thus absolute reality exists in 9-dimensional space-time-elementality [X, Y, Z, T, M, F, W, A, E].
So, ultimately, length, width, height and time each comprise a plane ontologically equivalent to the five elemental planes. I suppose you could argue on that basis that they are each also elements. That's a bit simplistic, of course; x, y, z and t are required to locate a point in any of the elemental planes or in the elemental interface. That is, elementality is irrelevant without space-time, just as time is irrelevant without space, unless you happen to be describing the elementality of the natural world as a whole, the average elementality of all things. (You could certainly do that if you wanted to, as you could with time.) The lack of dependence between the elemental coordinates themselves, on the other hand, is analogous to the lack of dependence between the spatial coordinates.
If you actually read behind the cut, good for you, and/or get a life. Of course, feel free to comment, especially if you see inconsistencies, even if they're just in the half-assed notation. I hope it's clear enough, in any case.
So late now. I quit.
For now, this is what I self-absorbedly left in comments in mind_scribe's journal the past couple days and what I scribbled out on paper in about 5 minutes tonight. This isn't everything just yet, but it's a start.
Everything in the natural world is comprised of the five elements. The elements are Mana, Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. These elements exist in all material things - and often abstract things as well - in varying proportions, resulting in the characteristic diversity of all things. As well, these proportions may vary over time, expressing the fluidity or inconstancy of existence. When discussing living beings, the balance of elements making up a being as a whole is generally described as its elemental attunements; the game refers to these characteristics as the attributes of Spirit, contrasting the attributes of Body and Mind, emphasizing their transcendent and elusive aspect. To the beings of The Island, although elemental reality can be exploited, it is difficult to fundamentally comprehend. But they are capable of theorizing.
For ontological elegance, the natural world can be said to be the sum of five elemental planes. The elemental planes are ontologically identical, existing in parallel and in congruence; simply, they occupy the same space, at the same times. The coincidental expression of these planes results in perceived reality, commonly known as the material plane to contrast with the elemental planes. Thus the material plane is also the elemental interface, the cosmological locus of intersection of the five elemental planes. Ontologically the material plane is actually distinct from the elemental planes-that is, since it's the interface of the elemental planes, it is not a "plane" in the same sense, being a distinct kind of entity.
This ontology could be explained more simply, couldn't it? It could be said that things in the natural world simply possess elemental properties: the proportions of elemental composition are little distinct from the properties of spatial or temporal location. You could even say that, just as things have a spatiotemporal location, they also have elemental locations. The properties of elemental composition of a thing comprise that thing's elementality. Elementality is more broadly applied than the qualities of elemental attunement in living beings; it is the characteristic of all things in the natural world.
Is this simpler? You definitely won't think so after I subject you to the following. This is your last warning.
For clarity, let M, F, W, A and E represent the variable elemental components of a thing: its proportions of Mana, Fire, Water, Air and Earth. The lowercase symbols would be the actual proportion of the element expressed in the thing.
The natural world containing The Island exists in 4-dimensional space-time, much like our world. Thus any point in the world, at which a thing or at least part of a thing exists, can be described with a 4-coordinate address. These four coordinates are common to all five elemental planes and to the elemental interface (i.e. the material plane). Here we go…
For any point P in the space [x, y, z] at time t, there are five corresponding elemental proportions:
P = [x, y, z, t] ← M = m , F = f , W = w , A = a , E = e
resulting in the elemental composition (elementality) C of the point P:
C = [m, f, w, a, e]
generating the full coordinate address at the elemental interface L:
L = [x, y, z, t, m, f, w, a, e]
The coordinates of the same point in each individual elemental plane are accordingly simpler. Where l is the element in question:
L = [x, y, z, t, l]
So, for example, the Mana composition of a particular point would be described as:
M = [x, y, z, t, m]
Obviously any combination of elements at the point can be described in this way:
F + W = [x, y, z, t, f, w]
Is there a way for me to make this more disgusting? Yes.
I've already mentioned that the natural world exists in four dimensions: obviously length, width, height, and time (or, if you prefer, height, depth, breadth, and time), respectively X, Y, Z and T. 4-dimensional space-time - [X, Y, Z, T] - in fact comprises perceived reality or experience.
What should be clear from all the above stuff is that absolute reality - including and exceeding perceived reality in the elemental interface - has nine dimensions: length, width, height, time, Mana, Fire, Water, Air, and Earth, respectively X, Y, Z, T, M, F, W, A and E. Thus absolute reality exists in 9-dimensional space-time-elementality [X, Y, Z, T, M, F, W, A, E].
So, ultimately, length, width, height and time each comprise a plane ontologically equivalent to the five elemental planes. I suppose you could argue on that basis that they are each also elements. That's a bit simplistic, of course; x, y, z and t are required to locate a point in any of the elemental planes or in the elemental interface. That is, elementality is irrelevant without space-time, just as time is irrelevant without space, unless you happen to be describing the elementality of the natural world as a whole, the average elementality of all things. (You could certainly do that if you wanted to, as you could with time.) The lack of dependence between the elemental coordinates themselves, on the other hand, is analogous to the lack of dependence between the spatial coordinates.
If you actually read behind the cut, good for you, and/or get a life. Of course, feel free to comment, especially if you see inconsistencies, even if they're just in the half-assed notation. I hope it's clear enough, in any case.
So late now. I quit.