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The Nature of "Reality"
In order for anything that follows to make rational sense, one must first understand our usage of vocabulary.
When we speak of Paradigms we refer to the set of rules that govern the "shape" of a particular mode of existence. This has nothing to do with the "alternate dimensions" ever-popular in mortal writings. The ruling laws of physics in a given realm, those qualities of all things within it that one may measure reliably, are the characteristics by which Paradigms are defined. These qualities are often referred to with the variables x, y, z, and so forth, which correspond to width, height, depth and other quantifiable descriptors. This formula will be pressed into service here.
We will use the term Epoch to describe the generations of sapiant beings on a planet. Very often, life on a planet evolves cyclically, one entire ecosystem dying to make way for the next. Just as often, there will be similarities between them; certain forms and tendencies will express themselves again and again. It is also common for a single species to dominate the rest and subjugate their respective worlds. When this occurs, patterns emerge. The distinct progressive historical periods that often repeat from one sapiant generation to the next are called Ages. Each Age lasts from the moment of a specific historical event to the dawn of the next.
Now, a brief word on spatial relativity: In discussions such as these, one must understand that while the known methods for travel between realities usually work, they are most often fatal. One does not travel between the Near Paradigms insomuch as one awakens to them and goes mad, dies horribly, or evolves. Other Known Paradigms may be reached from the Near by intrepid adventurers whose bravado is often found in greater quantities than their wisdom. The First through Third are exceptions to this form of exploration and may generally only be reached via the point where all things cross, all are one. Human writings refer to it as Babel, depicting an enormous staircase extending from Earth to the Perline Gate. The truth, of course, is slightly more complicated.
The First Paradigm exists in a single dimension, x. It is the Axis of Creation. It is outside the understanding of mortals and attention of gods. It will not be discussed here.
The Second Paradigm bisects all reality. The second is a nigh-infinite plane, dividing the firmament, if one is comfortable with such literary devices. It and everything it contains can be measured in two directions: x and y. Those who would be experts claim every being passes once through the Second Paradigm during the course of its life. There has been much heated debate amongst fledglings and ancients, betwixt order and chaos, over the possible ramifications and their meanings. There is no Time in the lowest Paradigms. Nothing happens there. As one might imagine, its a bit of a drag. First through Third, they have not changed since their Naming.
The Third Paradigm has shape as Man reckons (three dimensions: x, y, z) and it has, apparently, no end. It has a shape too large to see. It is as it was: all things yet to be. The Third is the womb into which Universe was born and still contains It. It is a great nothingness that pulls unwary visitors to infinitesmal pieces. It is the Anvil of Creation. It is Oblivion. One being dwells here. Only she knows how to exist where nothing can, move where nothing does, and much, much more besides. She is named Mother Stigma by those who adore her and Stigmatriarch by those who would make use of her daughters' unique skills. It is in the Fourth Paradigm that things begin to get somewhat interesting.
The Land of the Dead, by one of its popularist names, has space and, now, time (x, y, z, t). Things actually happen here, but they do so with neither passion nor rage, nor sympathy nor tears. There is no spirit in this place. It is truly but a pale reflection of life, etched into the canvas of the shadow realm. While depressing and spectacularly dull, it is a wonderful place to escape the drama of the living. The Fourth and Fifth lie very close to one another in the scheme of things. They do not quite cross, speaking generally, but they can. Such places where the spectral world lies close give rise to haunts and night-terrors, but not the bogeyman or anything of the fanciful sort. The beings of the Fourth are reflections of the Fifth: memories, photographs. For a time they all watch their estranged existences move along without them and looking for a way back, never realizing that they are naught but smoke and mirrors. Some get wise and evolve, but most fade away when they are forgotten.
The Fifth Paradigm is host to all the works of Mankind. It is where countless generations of prideful mortals rise and fall across the wheel of time. This is the "real world" to Humanity and his many brothers and sisters in space, time and spirit (x, y, z, t, s). The lattermost is why this is where the magic happens. The spirit, the spark, intrinsic in all living things is both the inner fire from which will, thus strength, flow and a gateway to the divine. Logic is the enemy of magic; logic and fear. Nearly every race of Man is infected with cowardice and tends to forsake the old ways to embrace more mundane miracles. This tendency is natural for the workings of the Art and the Way are intimately tied to the sciences. This progression of the intellectual evolution of common anthropomorphoid mortals is illustrated by the following: Wonder, Artifice, Invention, Destruction. Every generation of Man has thus annihilated themselves by killing wonder and producing slaughter. Perhaps it has to do with the shape of this galaxy, the spiral reflected in all living things, that leads all mortal worlds, inevitably to their destruction. The uncountable tribes of sapient beings strewn across the light arms of this galaxy are often the source of the greatest stories ever known. Tragically, however, they are all doomed. Mortals must die to live as they do.
The hopes and dreams of the mortal worlds gave birth to the Sixth in a single night of sleep. The dreamworld has shape and time, spirit and belief (b). It is the spirit in all living things that molds the Sixth, will lending form to thought. In the Sol System, mortalse who've laid sorry eyes on it have called it variously "darkworld" and the "land of the fair folk." All the horror and joy of life is on display here, every secret desire, every unvoiced sentiment. The Sixth Paradigm is the dwelling place of daydreams and bogers. Nova lies in the North, curved into the golden light of eternal Summer's sleepy afternoon. It is one of the most beautful places in the known Paradigms, but is, like many beautiful things, quite hazardous to the health. In the South, moldering in forever night, lies Threshold. It is a city the size of a world, where every night haunting fear of all the dreams of life makes its home. Threshold is both emperor and empire, every stone the bones of a dream god, sinews of steel, blood of oil. Dreamlands are often gateways to deeper worlds and higher dimensions. The aptly-named Threshold and its bejeweled sister share close ties with both the mortal realms and those that seek to own them.
The Seventh Paradigm is the seat of the divine in all its form and wonder. Here one finds the afterlifes and summerlands, the heavens, hells and great beyonds. The Seventh is the Higher Spheres: a land of angels, light, hurt, and hope. Far more intricate, decadent, and ancient than any one mortal would want to consider, the Divine is made so by divinity (d), above height, width, depth, time, spirit and belief. The soul is the most valuable item in the 'Spheres, and those possessing the most are much like mortals similarly blessed in material possessions. Souls contain more power than any other object in the Known Paradigms are are thus the fuel and local currency of the Great Beyond. It is an awful truth, but it is.
The Eighth and greater are simply beyond comprehension.
Doubtful indeed that the full portent of what stands thus revealed to the reader will be met with any but scorn and disbelief: quickly discarded as rotten fruit. For some, perhaps, the apple may yet be pleasing to the palate.
Last Updated:
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
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