-)- Dystopia (Discussion)

[SA]

Virally fecund, eh?

That one's going in the lexicon for sure...

[beejazz]

In cosmology, my eye is drawn to hod. Why does it seem familiar and what exactly is it?

[SA]

You may recognise Hod from my old Concordance thread.  He was the demon-god of bloody conquest and dominance, and held a seat among the ten Sephirot of the GodHead.

I loved my Sephirot so much that most of them have been retained in some fashion, so if you read the end of the second post again and compare it with Concordance you'll find that Zaphot is now a Great Sphere, and Temeris and Maenachus are Major Spheres (represented as Temerissent and Maenachalissent, respectively).

Similarly, though they have not yet been mentioned in Dystopia, Chokhmah is an ancient Naga revered by the Tamut, Chasod is the Weeping Ancient spanning the vastness twixt the Greater Hells and Illael, Eylon is the White Primordial of the Counterfeit Realms, and Elokhavastra is the "corporeal incarnation of a Descended Overgod adopted by the first men of the Clockwork Kingdoms in the Sundered Isles".

As for Hod, it is best described as the progeny of the other spheres of the Cosmos.  To put it in one scholar's words "If Hell is all the aggregate woes of the Cosmos made manifest, then Hod is the black river flowing down from the imperious heights of the Overreach to the glassy quiet of the Grey, where dead sufferings and silenced lamentations drift on waters thick with gore and effluvium to their final rest amidst the stagnance of the Infinity of Broken Worlds."

Some have called it the Entropic Road, for its watery path terminates where the Grand Sphere itself finds its end: the Calamity.  Beyond this, there is only the waiting Hollow and the darkness of the Yearning Father, Oblivion.

[KeshFerrar]

I can't speak for Sविष्णुA but Hod is part of the Kabbalah (Jewish religion/tradition/spirituality) in that it is part of the Tree of Life. And I won't try to explain it better than that because I'll just botch the job.

Since Sविष्णुA used other "Kabbalistic" terms in his work, it might have something to do with it. Yes/no?

Kabbalah terms have also popped up in video games throughout the years. Most recently in the Xenosaga series.

[SA]

Yep.  My Sephirot were shamelessly yanked from the Tree o' Life.  I think there's probably a reference to that by another member somewhere in the Concordance thread, too.

[Epic Meepo]

[Though it has] not yet been mentioned in Dystopia, Chokhmah is an ancient Naga revered by the Tamut...

You should work that in somewhere. Nagas need some props. :)

[beejazz]

Ah... yes, who isn't fascinated by the Tree of Life? I've tried working it into my scifi project, but it's hard to insert into anything scifi without feeling I'm being too obvious about ripping off Eva...

[SA]

Shhhhh.  You're only ripping off Eva if you admit it...

[SDragon]

http://www.webcomicsnation.com/neuroturbostudio/destroydystopia/series.php?view=archive&chapter=14392&mpe=1&step=1

That isn't you, is it?

Edit- If not, then I don't think that person particularly cares for your setting....

[SA]

Some important changes have been made to the human sociogeography, noticeable in the second post of the main thread when it summarises the various regions.

But first things first, the "major ethnic groupings" of the human race have expanded.  They are now: alsin, jan, jutra, ulven, yeot and samkha.

In addition, the relationship between Das Dramurr and Calleinn has changed.  The latter is now a full-fledged continent, and Das Dramurr is to it as Japan is to China (geographically speaking).  What follows is a very brief summary of human expansion and differentiation across ancient history.

Humanity originated in the Sundered Isles, and there are four known periods in which major migration occurred, moving populations across the globe.  The first Exodus occurred many thousands of years ago, during or possibly even before the time of the Clockwork Cities (waaay before recorded history, or possibly even language).  These people passed through Calleinn, then south across the Eiglassut Sea into Chaultine; they would come to be known as the yeot.

(There is little sign of their presence - even in passing - in Calleinn.  Perhaps they were swallowed up by the Old Lords of the Earth?)

The second Exodus carried humanity from the Sundered Isles to East Corlainth; thus were born the samkha.

In third Exodus, which happened over a much larger period of time than the others, humanity travelled south into the various islands above the Iounennion, as well as Poeddac (and subsequently Rheinlaed and Soujinnlaed) and West Corlainth.  These humans are now the jan, jutra and ulven.

In the final Exodus humanity once again travelled down into Calleinn, also populating Das Dramurr.  These people would become the alsin.  They eventually reached Chaultine (but much, much later), and the ensuing conflicts with the native yeot caused a great schism, eventually culminating in the founding of the three Theocracies in the north, where the old (and very "primitive") ways could endure.

Here's a very simple diagram showing the history of human expansion.  The Exodi are represented as numbers (in order of sequence), identifying the continents they passed through.

Sundered Isles1/2/3/4
Calleinn 1/4 West Corlainth 3 East Corlainth 2
Chaultine 1

[SA]

http://www.webcomicsnation.com/neuroturbostudio/destroydystopia/series.php?view=archive&chapter=14392&mpe=1&step=1

That isn't you, is it?

Edit- If not, then I don't think that person particularly cares for your setting....

Not me (Not nearly my style of writing or art).  But thanks for the link; it's a rather nifty-lookin' comic.

Oh, and I hadn't made the changes I thought I made.  Now I have.

And I'll have Draum finished soon, I swear!

[SDragon]

OK, I really only looked to check out your cosmos, but I must say that I absolutely love the All-Thing. This is probably answered elsewhere, but just how common is knowledge of this? I mean, is it just philosophers and theologians who know about the All-Thing, or would any commoner with INT 10 know about it? I imagine it's somewhere inbetween, but I'm curious for a feel of where inbetween.

If this is already answered, though, I'll just have to look at more :p

[SA]

It is important to note that the All-Thing and the theory of Perceptual Recursion are products of thaumatological study, which is generally restricted to wealthy and learned individuals of the developed world.  A good way of looking at it is like the "string theory of magic", that is, a complication of the arcane processes and understandings that have developed over the millennia, tought in universities and detailed in bewildering treatises.

The comman man has no knowledge of the concept; rather he would likely be familiar with a base simplification (much as a youth is schooled in the basic principles of gravity but not taught the complexities of Special Relativity).  But again, this is only in developed nations such as those in the Baennet or Eastern Calleinn; the people of less refined nations retain the simple mystification and superstition that has long served them.

However, this is not to say that it is exclusive knowledge in a spiritual sense.  The Gehenn philosophy of Das Dramurr, for instance, involves four principle deities (the Quadripartite) and ten-thousand demigods, each of which is in some way "a simplification of the universal whole, perverted to that beings' own capricious ends", and together they define the nature of the world.  Alas, as Das Dramurr moves away from its secular past, the nature of Gehenn is now being polluted by dogma.

There are many other examples, emerging in Corlainth, South Chaultine and even among the inhuman races, and they all express it in different ways.  However, the theory is fairly recent, and hasn't proceeded beyond the more erudite academic circles.

[SDragon]

So it's sort of like radiation in the 1960's? Sure, the commonman could learn more about it with the right applixation, but it still manages to be a convenient excuse for otherwise inexplicable things (green skin, tingling sense of danger, enhanced strength, etc.)?

[SA]

-)-
Breaking the
Fourth Wall

I haven't posted anything on Dystopia in a while (excluding the Economy section in Draum) - in part because I've had a lot else going on, but more importantly due to an ardent rethinking of the setting's presentation.  While I've not had any intentions of significantly altering the setting (in such a manner as was done in making Revisited), I've been having issues with the general in-character exposition of the main text so far.  Not that I doubt the effectiveness of approach in terms of mood-setting, or fear a dearth of available voices to recount the setting; rather, I believe a lot of information is lost through relying on such narrators, as their nature is finite and as such they cannot fully convey all the nuances of the world that I require.

What I'm considering is an omnipotent narrator, possessed of a certain individual character and yet clearly divorced from the setting, who can eloquently detail the setting's every element.  I do not wish it to merely present Dystopia as a list of facts; I would like the delivery to possess the idiosyncrasies of an individual who sees all, but who might have subversive reasons for not telling all, and whose own opinions are often as perverse as the world itself.

I will, however, be retaining much of the in-character excerpts and fiction, and will write more.

What do those who have read Dystopia Revisited think of this idea?  What are its merits/disadvantages, and is there anything else I should take into consideration?