[THREE]
There are many things about this place which I still fail to understand.
Most pressing at the moment is, of course, why have we been so grouped into two -- some of us still able to talk and interact normally with each other, but invisible to the second group (whom we can see, but who can't see us)? What is the determiner, and by what mechanism is this effected? Is somebody deciding who is a "ghost" and who is not? Is it entirely random chance? What sparked it, then? Nothing happens which can't be explained. Ryuuzaki suggested that the line is drawn between those who are native to Template -- or, at least, the universe of the Template which we are residing in -- and those who were brought here from different worlds. It seems a likely possibility.
But that leads to the question, of course, why were we brought here in the first place? I can't find any patterns, nothing which would suggest deliberate intent. The "refugees" are from all walks of life, all kinds of universes... There are no commonalities, so it doesn't seem that there's someone selecting people with a purpose in mind, unless it's a very broad, nebulous sort of purpose. And yet, if it's random occurrence, why can't we leave? That gives the sense that something is keeping us here. Then there's the obligatory matter of "how"; assuming the reality of magic (which it seems I have to), that makes the whole situation... less impossible, at least. Somehow.
(As a curious aside, surely some people are able to leave the city, because there is a manufacturing sector here, isn't there? And it stands to reason that those things would be exported beyond Template. Unless this place only imports... but even then, the people who do the importing -- driving the goods in or what have you -- would have to leave again, wouldn't they? Has anybody looked into this?)
Given most of the conversations I've had, I understand that I'm likely to get the answer "nobody knows" to all of these. I figured they were worth putting out there anyway, though, just in case; it seems better to talk about than not. Which is interesting -- I haven't seen these questions being discussed very much, which I can only take to mean that those who have been here for any extended period of time have come to realize that pursuing answers to them is quite fruitless.
That's disturbing.
Most pressing at the moment is, of course, why have we been so grouped into two -- some of us still able to talk and interact normally with each other, but invisible to the second group (whom we can see, but who can't see us)? What is the determiner, and by what mechanism is this effected? Is somebody deciding who is a "ghost" and who is not? Is it entirely random chance? What sparked it, then? Nothing happens which can't be explained. Ryuuzaki suggested that the line is drawn between those who are native to Template -- or, at least, the universe of the Template which we are residing in -- and those who were brought here from different worlds. It seems a likely possibility.
But that leads to the question, of course, why were we brought here in the first place? I can't find any patterns, nothing which would suggest deliberate intent. The "refugees" are from all walks of life, all kinds of universes... There are no commonalities, so it doesn't seem that there's someone selecting people with a purpose in mind, unless it's a very broad, nebulous sort of purpose. And yet, if it's random occurrence, why can't we leave? That gives the sense that something is keeping us here. Then there's the obligatory matter of "how"; assuming the reality of magic (which it seems I have to), that makes the whole situation... less impossible, at least. Somehow.
(As a curious aside, surely some people are able to leave the city, because there is a manufacturing sector here, isn't there? And it stands to reason that those things would be exported beyond Template. Unless this place only imports... but even then, the people who do the importing -- driving the goods in or what have you -- would have to leave again, wouldn't they? Has anybody looked into this?)
Given most of the conversations I've had, I understand that I'm likely to get the answer "nobody knows" to all of these. I figured they were worth putting out there anyway, though, just in case; it seems better to talk about than not. Which is interesting -- I haven't seen these questions being discussed very much, which I can only take to mean that those who have been here for any extended period of time have come to realize that pursuing answers to them is quite fruitless.
That's disturbing.