Chapter 19-9 Fractured Ontology (II)

Chapter 19-9 Fractured Ontology (II)

No one has actually seen the Sleeper, not even most of Omnitechs Chroniclers. What I can say for certain is that the entity seems real and it is giving orders.

But not like a god.

No. Ive hunted cults in my time, and embedded our own assetsthe similarly named Sleepers in cells across the city [NOTE: REQUEST TO REFER TO ORI-THAUM ASSETS USING ALTERNATIVE TITLE DENIED; WE WILL NOT ALLOW OMNITECH TO DECIDE OUR CLASSIFICATIONS] and they operate on assumption, delusion, fate, and falsely perceived patterns.

The Sleeper isnt that. The Chroniclers refuse its requests all the time. The people curse and invoke its name without fear. But more than anything there is respect. And love. My profiling indicates that they view it as something akin to a parental figure. Or benevolent master that provides them with a hierarchical but free-moving society.

Of all the Guilds, Omnitech has proven the easiest to infiltrate but the hardest to maintain assets within. All operatives exposed to their propaganda memetics for a prolonged period inevitably break and turn. And instead of executions, Omnitech promises forgiveness and social acceptance.

We have tried to turn members among Omnitechs Chroniclers and Administrators. Succeeded in a few rare cases. But even they were woefully ignorant of the Sleepers grand design. Much of what they do and the tasks they are issued seem incoherent and incomprehensible, only that there is a grand plan that they are a part of. Something that only the Sleeper can fully conceptualize.

There are, however, behaviors we can still observe. A kind of cultural ethos we can predict.

Their first is their hatred of Voidwatch and standard coldtech. Offering them something that runs off pure informational processing instead of Sprites is a kind of insult in their culture that will not stand. The second is the reconstitution of ancient mediaof older histories they commonly dispute the voiders over. Something that saw the occurrence of the Phantom Raids [FOCUS HERE TO ACCESS MEM-DATA] where deniable Omnitech assets launched massive tech-based attacks against Voidwatchs informational systems, but not toward the means of seizing voidships or the countless pieces of trans-stellar weaponry hovering in the dark, but instead information. Media. Old entertainment and news. A million-million years of history.

The fact that they seemed ready to go to war over this matter of Birthright--and would have engaged Voidwatch in open combat if not for de-escalation efforts on the part of Highflame anddue to the risk of potential collateral damageourselves, hint at something more personal there.

The grievance between them and the voiders is sectarian; it reeks more than a bit like inter-clan struggle.

I think that this will be our key to further comprehension. We have been too direct in our methods. Our socio-technothaumalogical compositions dont translate. The answer may lay in our voider contacts that can be leveraged to apply the necessary pressures across channels of technology. In this, I am certain our interests are aligned.

-Mirror-Concave Heizu Maguba, Ori-Thaum

19-9

Fractured Ontology (II)

Hello, Galeuh, Fardrifter,Kae greeted, her Soul drawn by Avo alongside all the others.

The Fardriftera nine-headed equine now with jetstreams of blackened wind billowing from its flowing maneschuffed at her. Hail to you, oracle. So soon since your return. Have you come to distort my shape more? Are my winds already too lacking for the master? Does my darkness need to be bleaker? Or perhaps another limitation must be removed to ensure I delve beneath spatial reality for longer?

Not anything like that right now, the Agnos chirped. But you can expect improvements soon. Dont worry, I will do my best to make you the best Heaven possible!

The colossal steed snorted with indifference. My being is not my own. My will is nonexistent. Change me. Break me. It doesnt matter. So long as freedom is not mine, then nothing is. A brief pause followed, but the winds hissing from the Fardrifters body shivered in a conspiratorial fashion. Tell me then, if not for me or the red one, then have you come finally to silence the poor abomination that burns as our peer?

That is already known to us, the Woundmother said, her now expanded ontology a realm of jutting towers. Each word she spoke made her serried heights clash together, clicking as if Avos fangs. From the narrow crevices between her structures, a single tendril of blood pointed toward the code-made cephalopod. It exists.

Hey, Kae said, her frown felt rather than seen. Dont be mean to your fellow ontologic. There is no purpose in rudeness.

Bah. Chastisement from a partling elevated above her station by the master. This front of bravado you have constructed would have proven amusing to one of my huntresses. Before they tore it down and made you an offering.

The words of the Woundmother compelled Avo to offer his own responsesomething a bit beyond chastisement. Yet, Kae replied before he could, cutting her divine adversary with words worth weight beyond mere scorn.This partling can also make sure you are built as poorly as possible for future improvements. Or have Avo replace you with a specially made Heaven of Blood. He has the domains. I have the knowledge. You remain because you are a convenient base, not an untouchable necessity.

...My thoughts were formed in haste, obfuscating my well intentions.

Of course, Kae said, turning her full attention now to the Techplaguer.

Nearby, however, Chambers clicked with approval. Nice one, woundy. That sounded like some shit I would say.The initial instance of this chapter being available happened at N0v3l.Bin.

All sense of mock courtesy evaporated from the Heaven of Blood as they regarded Chambers. The fact that he was close to a baseline maleand thus an infant by Scaarthian regardsensured his station was the lowest of the low in her eyes. Be away from me, infant. I have no desire to sully my esteem with your ridiculous fixation on your genitalia.

Okay. Thats two Heavens behaving like assholes to me today. You can kiss my ass too, period-queef!

Avo promptly dragged Chambers over to the Techplaguer and silenced the Woundmothers retort. As amusing as the exchanges were, he doubted he would be entertained by what followed. Chambers would hurl some vulgarity or slurred demur, and the Woundmother would belittle and threaten grievous harm. Such was known, and the flavor was operdone. Best to move on.

With his cadre assembled in the fires before the Techplaguer, the Heaven of Data hung dormant, its cords weaving into the Soulfire as its single antenna pointed downward, ninety degrees from the edge of the cycler. The numbers of its core continued to pulse, but it remained quiet. Unconscious. Hollow. Even when Avo tried to compel it to action.

Only wakes when manifested, Avo confirmed.

So it seems, Kae responded. Hm. Consideration poured from her being as she examined the quiet Heaven as if waiting for it to spring to life and prove Avo wrong. Well. I do not think any more answers will reveal themselves outside. Avo. If you please.

[CANONICITY REVIEW BEGINNING]

Wait, is this why my wards always used to rattle when I looked at golems? Chambers asked.

Only because you were perceiving the very edges of the impossibilities leaking through.

Whoa, Chambers muttered.

I can tell the problem with this Heaven already, Kae continued. Omnitech attempted to make their own deep modifications to the Domain of Data itself. Normally, the damage they did here should leave the entire ontologic damaged and non-functioning, but look at the patterns again. See how a few flows oscillate? How the sacrifices here are spaced in a specific order along the bottom of each bridge?

Avo did a double-take at her words and swept the area with his perception again. True to what Kae said, the hanging bodies beneath every copper-knotted bridge did appear to have an order, and so too did the uprooted panels of ontology. There was a deliberate act they had not discovered from their surface modificationsdeeper symbology imprinted within the metaphysics itself.

It takes a long time to learn how to decipher the raw alignments inside a Heaven. The main rule is not to look at everything. You focus on a specific partas small as you canand ignore all the others. It might seem to be blending in with other aspects of realityand that is exactly right! You move from pattern to pattern, trying to judge how many conjoining weaves meet to form the base of a Domain. Kae paused, humming to herself as if she noticed something. Ah. They tried moving some of the pattern pathings on their own, specifically and deeply affecting the Heaven of Data and, by my assumption, your Crown of Virtuality canon. Likely whatever canon it was before that too.

So, you think whats wrong with the Heaven is connected to that? Draus asked.

It has to be, Kae sighed. This is not the first case of Omnitech trying to experiment on their own. Usually, thats Rapid Rupture Responses duty. Because, well Omnitechs self-modified Heavens tend to rupture. I never really worked much with them, but one of my mentorsa Sang named Reason-Bearerused to be a Helltech, and elaborated on a few of her past cases.

Can you fix it? Avo asked.

She craned her neck to look at him. Of course not. I cannot fix anything. But your Heaven can. I just need to identify the right adjustments to make so we can suture stability back onto these gaps.

Avo really hoped he wouldnt need to alter his Crown of Virtuality canon. That was the only thing keeping him from dying instantly when he entered the George Washington or other Nether-unbalanced areas. Will I need to replace the canon?

Hm? Oh, no, just the Domain. she said.

He didnt really understand, and it mustve shown in his expression.

Ah. Okay. More fundamentals. A Domain is a concept or aspect of existence that the Heaven must channel in absolute capacities. Think of it as major hardware components. Uh, implants, for the divine sheath that is your Heaven. Its why each ontological build exhibits traits from each of its Domainthey are points of expressable symmetry to allow crossover between the Soul and reality. These are signified as sigils within a Heaven. Uh, view those as unified codifications for specific concepts that we can apply quickly in metaphysical formulae.

And canons? Avo asked. They are extensions? Functions of Domains. If Domains are the implants in this metaphor.

They are capabilities that your Domains can have, yes, but its also more complex than that, she gestured again to the open chaos beside her. If one of us was able to remain inside this mythology while your Heaven was active, we would likely see the sudden dematerialization of most of the chaos beyond a few interconnected patterns. The rest? They might as well not be real here. And when another canon is used, perhaps those patterns will cease to shimmer.

Blank faces greeted her and she paused. She adapted the impromptu lecture to include their more tangible experiences. Let us take Avos Haemokinesis. There is a central strand of repeating conceptual data in realitys vast tapestry. It is blood. What the culture that created the Heaven understands to be blood, anyway. Regardless, this pattern is still connected to the rest of reality. The miracles arise when blood interfaces with the rest of existence to alter and modify the expression of the rules.

Like Im reshaping reality in a limited area, Avo said. Or jacking into its structure to sequence new changes.

I suppose you can view it that way. Yes. The Agnos continued. Now, the fact that a Domain must bridge with other aspects of existence is the entire reason why there are no single Domain Heavens. Two is required at the very least. And then one involved Domain must also exist in the Hell to serve as a countervailing tunnel for the tapestry rupturing entropy that is Rend. Haemokinesis allows you to move blood. Absolutely. Nothing can stop you from moving blood. This is a foundational truth within your subreality. And so, the number of patterns required to materialize the miracle, along with how many other patterns need to be suppressed, become parts of scope and scalewhat determines how many thaums you require to see your canon solidified.

And the hubris? Draus asked, never one to forget about a potential weakness.

Kae beamed as if waiting for the question. Yes What about the hubris. Recall that I told you to ignore most of the chaos and focus on a very specific pattern if you can. Now, I want you to understand that there is no way we can resolve every outcome, every possibility, every contradiction in a canon. And so we dont. Instead, we locate a major flaw or inconsistency that wasnt considered and we route all the other ones through it. It becomes something of an unformed canonblunting the Rend of most the other impossibilities. This is also why if you have multiple canons with the same hubris, the backlash will be greater and more severe. Because it will surge across two different points at once no matter which is triggered.

How are canons formed anyway? Avo asked, flitting periodic glances into the slurry of sloppy patterns. Even as he tried to focus on a single spot, he still wasnt able to tell which fold of nonsense wasnt another.

Actions. Beliefs. Histories. The Agnos said. The mere thought of belief is not enough to condense into worship. Ritual. Feats. Dedications. Sacrifices. These are connectors of will and material within a person. Worship, in a word. The binding of ones will to believe. Your Frame bypasses this with its unnatural capabilities, but right now, the reason why there are so many arbitrary differences between your canons in their effective ranges for instance is that, at some point in a Heavens recorded mem-data, some of its worshippersor the Agnosi themselvesmanaged to dedicate specific feats and actions towards gods or Heavens in design. This can be traveling from one mountain peak to another. Or it can be killing five hundred people in a battle, and so you can only instantly affect five hundred people with your strikes per relation to that. It is causing specific pathings along patternsteaching it to the Heaven as a miracle.

More fragments of applied culture, Avo muttered. Slowly, he was gaining a creeping suspicion as to why the Guilds were so determined to crush each other histories, why Emotion of the Famines had bestowed upon him the records of old Noloth.

Yes, Kae said. It is also why we need to find a point in the Sunderwild and a supply of expendable subjects. So we can create our own miracles.

The weight of novel understanding settled on Avos shoulders as he grunted. Yes. See your excitement now. But we should handle the Techplaguer first.

Already covered, Kae said. I have an idea. I might need you to alter your Data canon a few times for us to see the changes. It might also take a few deaths. But yes, I think I know how to stabilize the entitys structure.