Age of Ideas: Resolve of IdentityThe humors of butterfly-pupae, which pass the winter in the open air, remain fluid in the coldest climate. If we cut in two such pupae, at a temperature of 15° to 13° Fahr., the two halves quickly congeal and become as hard as stone. Juices of plants which do not freeze during winter, remain fluid, as is shown by the flexibility of the cabbage-leaf; while wet frozen linen may be broken, but refuses to bend.Karl Friedrich Mohr, "Freezing of Plants and Animals"
Being preoccupied with their feuds (or recovering from said feuds), no Greater Ideas were available or willing to participate in the WORLD. Project. Undeterred, the Idea of Identity has begun turning to Lesser Ideas in an attempt to secure support.
(GLOBAL) WORLD. Creates a world. Action cost is halved if participants successfully elect an architect with support from at least 50% of all participants. Any participant may add any Idea-feature to the world unless vetoed by the architect (if there is one). (Accepts most any Idea unless vetoed by the architect, 18A)
The regrettable imbalance in Leads and Projects and sheer wastefulness of transcension has resulted in a rather hasty fix:
Leads or Projects that don't directly involve one's Core Idea may now be traded for willing Greater Ideas' Leads or Projects as a free action.
Transcension (also known as "swapping orbits") is now a free action.
With the proliferation of sapient Ideas, something related to Naming is bound to turn up sooner or later. It may be a good idea for the discerning Idea to stockpile sapient Ideas...
Luck has gained a point of Crystallization and sensed that the outcome of approximately one action was affected by
Luck alteration.
Contradiction ruminated on Poof by
Contradiction, and
Contradiction's ability to make Ideas go up in a puff of logic was noticeably improved. Perhaps lacking a reasonable target for a test of this,
Contradiction absorbed and accreted Change. This paradoxically did not change
Contradiction, but it did have the effect of restoring the Idea of
Contradiction to full strength.
Silence absorbed Outrage and Unity.
Silence also extrapolated
Silence and obtained Emptiness. It is rumored that Silence is against the ordering of the cosmos.
Fate requests compliance with the Temporal Compact, an ambitious plan to stabilize the universe enough to enable the Create/Destroy/Modify actions. Joining the Compact is a free action. Some of the Lesser Ideas seem to be amenable to this, but their impact is likely to be negligible compared to a hypothetical Greater Idea's.
Fate has incorporated the Idea of Revelry as a core Idea. Perchance this may have joyous repercussions in time, but
Fate is at least whole again and is incidentally halfway to gaining a point of Crystallization.
Sound, an enemy of
Silence, arose as
Scarcity fell.
Chaos absorbed Unique and extrapolated Complexity. The latter yielded Incomprehensibility, and no one knows why.
Idol underwent further crystallization and became even more tangible. Through poorly understood principles of mnemogravity, this has turned up a Lead on faster ascension.
Idol also attempted to nominate Change as world-architect but was unable to do so on account of not actually being part of the world-creation Project.
Idol's latest song, "Resolve of Identity," is proving to be a major hit. Should
Idol decide to pursue a great Lead or Project, it's likely
Idol will find a sizeable following.
The War of One and ManyWith the Idea of
Unique stripped away,
Scarcity turned to another method of truly becoming
Unique: Removing all the other Greater Ideas and thus becoming the only Greater Idea. This began with
Scarcity inexplicably funding
Luck's internal luck alteration Project.
Scarcity argued against
Luck citing as
Unique did
Luck acting
Luck itself.
Luck reiterated that by copying
Luck in the first place,
Scarcity had lost
Scarcity's
Luck privileges. Luck handily won this argument and
Luck continued by contesting
Scarcity's claim on Luck (implicitly transferring the curse on
Unique to
Scarcity in the process), but despite the curse on
Scarcity and an unexpected boon for
Luck, this didn't go anywhere.
Fate disputed
Scarcity's
Silence on account of
Scarcity's verbose rebuttal and contended that
Scarcity's
Luck (and
Luck in general) was nothing more than an illusion.
Scarcity argued that
Scarcity hadn't made any actual noise, and somehow, this turned out to be more true. In presponse to
Fate's scurrilous attack on
Scarcity's character,
Scarcity argued against
Fate's, but even though
Fate went as far as claimiing that fate didn't exist in their rebuttal, nothing changed as a result of this.
Chaos argued against
Scarcity's
Scarcity (and its relevance to the Ideosphere) with a little coaching from
Fate and won against
Scarcity['s plausible claim that nothing existed and everything was scarce. This caused the Idea of
Scarcity to become unbound from
Scarcity! Without an acceptable (i.e.
unique) Core Idea, the Greater Idea formerly known as
Scarcity formerly known as
Unique faded away into irrelevance amidst the squabbling sea of Ideas.
Thus ended the War of One and Many. Try again?
An alignment of
Fate,
Silence, and
Chaos straddling the proposed site of the WORLD. Project persists. As nothing currently occupies the site, this has more relevance to the endpoints of the alignment, namely,
Fate and
Chaos. A conjunction of
Silence (who is said to vehemently oppose
Fate's designs) and
Chaos (who intrinsically tends to oppose
Fate's designs) is likely to be an ill omen for
Fate, but not nearly as ill an omen as
Scarcity's enemies entering a remarkable conjunction of conjunctions.
Chaos, on the other hand, will likely benefit from the discord (or, inversely, suffer from the harmony) between
Fate and
Silence. As for
Silence,
Fate and
Chaos being in opposition is hardly news, and it's unlikely there will be any noticeable effect resulting from it aside from whatever uproarious noise may arise now that
Fate's most directly threatening enemy has faded.
There is another alignment of interest involving
Contradiction,
Luck, and
Chaos. The conjunction of
Contradiction and
Luck may damp what benefits
Chaos receives from the conjunction of
Silence and
Fate. As for
Contradiction, the conceptual harmony between
Luck and
Chaos is rather antithetical to
Contradiction's core Idea, and one might even say it contradicts
Contradiction. It's likely risky pursuits will be more rewarding (or punishing) as a result. On
Luck's side, the opposition of
Contradiction and
Chaos signifies a good time to absorb stray Ideas.
Lesser Ideas are organizing to support one of the great Projects currently in place. It is likely the suply of notable Lesser Ideas may decrease until said Projects are completed or otherwise terminated.
- Ending (:3)
- Consistency (:1, weak, sapient!)
- Center (:2)
- Glory (:3, sentient)
- Acquiescence (:0)
- Alignment (:1, sentient)
- Desistence (:3)
- Duty (:3)
- Gluttony (:2, strong)
- Bifurcation (:2)
- Conformity (:2)
Identity (:2, sapient!)- Scarcity (:3, weak, sapient!)
- Luck (:3, weak, sapient!)
- Silence (:3, weak, sapient!)
- Fate (:3, sapient!)
It is currently the Age of Ideas. Speech has been discovered but not Naming. Three actions are available for each Greater Idea.
Unnameable One (Glass)
- Orbit: 0
- Ideas: Luck (weak, sapient!), Growth (strong, sentient), Quantity (strong), Manipulation
- Crystallization: 1
- Leads:
- Luck alteration (2/2A)
- Improved Luck alteration (0/
32A) - Something big involving Growth, Quantity, and Desire (0/6A)
- Better Scramble outcomes (0/3A)
- Projects:
- (TURN-TO-TURN) Internal Luck alteration: Minuscule improvement to all personal rolls (Accepts Luck, 1A/turn)
- (TURN-TO-TURN, ACTIVE) External Luck alteration: Minuscule change to all of another Greater Idea's rolls (Accepts Luck, 2A/turn)
Unnameable One (Nakéen)
- Orbit: 2
- Ideas: Contradiction (sapient!), Tradition, Correspondence (sentient)
- Crystallization: 0
- Leads:
- Unstable Ideas (2/2A)
- Piratical project (2/2A)
- Improved synthesis (0/3A)
- Principle of Explosion (0/4A)
- Proof by Contradiction (0/3A)
- Poof by Contradiction aka Improved refute (3/3A)
- Projects:
- (GLOBAL UNLOCK) Improved Copy action: Regardless of how many Greater Ideas target an Idea with the Copy action at once, the targeted Idea is only weakened once. (Requires 3A, accepts Quantity or (Unique and Contradiction))
Unnameable One (micelus)
- Orbit: 4
- Ideas: Silence (weak, sapient!), Rejection (strong), Release, Emptiness (sapient!)
- Crystallization: 0
- Leads:
- Improved denial (3/3A)
- Rhetorical training (0/3A)
- Projects:
- (TURN-TO-TURN) Silence Lesser Idea aka Improved Refute (Accepts Silence or Rejection, 1A)
Unnameable One (Demonic Spoon)
- Orbit: 8
- Ideas: Fate (sapient!), Continuity, Direction, Order, Boundary (sentient)
- Crystallization: 0
- Leads:
- Interesting big thing of some sort: Time (6/6A)
- Projects:
- (GLOBAL) BEGIN. Enforces chronology, speeding up Crystallization for everyone with an Orbit lower than Fate's. Action cost decreases as more Greater Ideas enter the Temporal Compact. (Accepts two of Continuity or Direction or Order, 12A)
Unnameable One (Naturegirl1999)
- Orbit: 9
- Ideas: Sound (sapient!)
- Crystallization: 0
Unnameable One (crazyabe)
- Orbit: a
- Ideas: Chaos (sapient!), Exchange, Complexity (sapient!), Confusion (sentient, weak), Inversion (strong), Unique (weak, sapient!), Incomprehensibility (sapient!)
- Crystallization: 0
- Leads:
- "Trade" action (2/2A)
- Scramble Project (3/3A)
- Improved Teach action (2/2A)
- Stronger Scramble (0/3A)
- Frequent Scramble (0/3A)
- Projects:
- (TURN-TO-TURN) Scramble: All actions can go horribly right...or horribly wrong, of course. (Accepts Chaos or Confusion or Inversion, 1A/turn)
Unnameable One (TricMagic)
- Orbit: c
- Ideas: Idol (sapient!), Image (sapient!), Desire, Belief (sapient!), Harvest, Merriment (sentient), Addiction (sentient)
- Crystallization: 4
- Leads:
- Something big and interesting (requires Boundary?, Direction, ? ? ?) (0/6A)
- Something big involving Growth, Quantity, and Desire (0/6A)
- Faster Ascension (0/2A)
Unnameable One (Stirk)- Orbit: f
- Ideas: Luck (weak, sapient!), Silence (weak, sapient!), Fate (weak, sapient!)
- Crystallization: 0
- Leads:
- Projects:
- (GLOBAL UNLOCK) Improved Copy action: Regardless of how many Greater Ideas target an Idea with the Copy action at once, the targeted Idea is only weakened once. (Requires 3A, accepts Quantity or (Unique and Contradiction))
Greater Ideas can perform
twothree actions every turn despite the lack of coherent time:
- Absorb: Absorb an Idea from the ambient Ideosphere. Where two Greater Ideas compete for the same Idea, the targeted Idea is given to low-Crystallization and low-Orbit Ideas in equal measure (with Orbit taking precedence in ties). Opposition by other means (such as Refute actions) result in opposed rolls also with Orbit and Crystallization modifiers.
- Accrete: Strengthen an owned Idea by sacrificing another one. May fail and annihilate both Ideas if the sacrifice is too close to an inverse of the target Idea.
- Agree: Create a related target-owned Idea of your choice and an owned Idea of the target's choice. Both sides must have a sapient Idea, and both sides must sacrifice an Idea. This action must be accompanied by at least one line of dialog from both sides.
- Argue: Attempt to remove an Idea owned by another Greater Idea. Requires an owned sapient Idea and must be accompanied by at least one line of dialog. Modifiers: -Rebuttal from target, -High target Crystallization
- Ascend: Decrease Orbit by 1. Fails if a Greater Idea occupies the resulting Orbit. Can be stacked to move across multiple Orbits.
- Compare: Select two owned Ideas to generate a related but random new Idea.
- Copy: Attempt to weaken a target-owned Idea and create a weakened owned copy. Cannot be stacked by the same Greater Idea. Modifiers: +Higher Orbit.
- Co-Ruminate: Contribute to investigating a Lead.
- Create/Destroy/Modify: Create, destroy, or modify something. Nothing interesting happens, strangely enough...
- Descend: Increase Orbit by 1. Fails if a Greater Idea occupies the resulting Orbit.
- Disavow: Disown an owned Idea.
- Dither: Create an entirely new owned Idea.
- Extrapolate: Attempt to generate a new Idea from an existing owned one of your choice (within reason). Modifiers: +Lower Crystallization.
- Fade: Default action. Greater Ideas fade to irrelevance over 3 turns, after which another Greater Idea may arise in their Orbit.
- Forget: Attempt to decrease Crystallization by sacrificing an Idea. The older the Idea or the closer to the Core Idea, the greater the resulting decrease. Recently acquired Ideas are unlikely to reduce Crystallization by more than 1-2.
- Practice: Use an Idea to run a Project. This renders the Idea unavailable for as long as it remains bound to the Project but still vulnerable to hostile action. An Idea can be loaned to anyone else's Project, but only the owner(s) of a Project can control the results. Actions are not needed to maintain a Project unless the Project inputs include actions. The Practice action is only needed to add an Idea to a Project.
- Refute: Attempt to destroy an unowned Idea. Can only be attempted by a given Greater Idea against a given Idea once a turn. Modifiers: +Similar owned Idea, +High Orbit
- Resolve: Increment Crystallization.
- Retract: Attempt to invert an owned Idea. Modifiers: +Lower Crystallization, -High similarity to core Idea (if not core Idea).
- Ruminate: Work on turning a Lead into a Project. Most Leads take 1-4 actions to complete.
- Synthesize: Sacrifice opposing owned Ideas to generate a stronger Idea not opposed to either. Result can be specified within reason.
- Teach: Weaken an owned Idea and create a target-owned also weakened copy. Modifiers: +Lower target Crystallization, -Higher Orbit
- Trade: Offer an Idea to a Greater Idea using the Trade action to offer an Idea.
A number of actions are unknown as of now.
Notes on action resolution:
- Actions with modifiers or described as attempts are random, i.e. rolled with a 3d6.
- Action randomness propagates to all actions involving the same target(s).
- Orbit modifiers work out to half the difference in Orbits rounded down.
Exchanging Leads/Projects
Informal arguments that don't put Ideas at stake
Joining the Temporal Compact
Swapping Orbits with a willing Greater Idea in a neighboring Orbit
Talking (if sapient)
The next update is scheduled for 72h (3d) from now or after everyone posts whichever comes first.
Author
Topic: Age of Ideas IC: Hello World (7/16) (Read 4784 times)