Reality 101

Malleable Universe
p>The universe is not carved in stone. The rules which govern reality are not immutable. Existence can be shaped, molded into a new form. This is the essential truth revealed by paranormal abilities, and it is the dividing line between those who can use magic and those who can't.

Once it was thought that simple belief not only shaped the universe, but created it. The more people believed in something, the more strength their mutual creation had. It was possible to oppose this belief, but such opposition met harsh consequences.

Now those who study the nature of magic think that the universe exists with or without belief; or perhaps it is better to say that something beyond human understanding believes in the universe, creating a baseline for reality. This base reality is there to be discovered by anyone who studies it carefully. It is the universe as understood by most normal humans, which is revealed by scientific experiments.

However, even this basic universe is more vast and complex than anyone can comprehend, and regularly allows miracles and magic in a million ways. Anyone who learns enough of chaos mathematics, quantum mechanics, the power of faith and the mysteries of life can see these miracles constantly.

What makes a willworker or other paranormal unusual is that he can take advantage of the loopholes in reality and bend them to his needs. In some cases, these manipulations are all part of the universe's normal workings. In others, laws of reality are changed to suit the willworker. Sometimes these changes are temporary, other times they may last forever. The mechanism used to alter the world varies; it can appear to use concentrated belief, or willpower, or vast discharges of energy in specific ways, or the exploitation of the harmonic powers found inside gemstones.

The important thing to remember is that the universe exists without any discernable sapient awareness, but it can also be changed the moment sapience is involved. A mind which can grasp the world can then sculpt that world. The dividing line between a paranormal and an ordinary human is blurred indeed; bring together enough normal people who want to do something, and eventually they will manage it even if it should be impossible. Conversely, a paranormal can sometimes struggle with all his might to change reality yet never manage it.

Willworking is defined as the alteration of reality itself through application of sentient thought. While there are literally as many theories of willworking as there are willworkers, the fact is that there are those who can believe, want or need with enough strength to make the universe change. This is never an easy process, and often requires great effort and may have dire consequences. The universe can be remade, but one law that does not change is that every action has repercussions. These repercussions, the price paid for alterations that are too fast, too extreme, or badly executed, are called Paradox.

Other paranormals generally work within the bounds of basic reality, as vast as those are. When they do alter the world, they do so subtly and often with little lasting effect. It is possible for a non-willworking paranormal to batter at the doors of reality long enough or hard enough to finally make a permanent change. There is a wide range of non-willworkers who still do things that brush against the edges of reality, from vampires to shapeshifters to so-called linear mages.

While linear magic does not change reality to the same degree as willworking, and thus does not garner the same degree of repercussions, it can backlash in terrible ways at times. Every paranormal who works in a linear fashion often pays the price up front, from the various curses of vampires to the energy drain of psychics.

The greatest example of the price of power today can be found in the ley lines. These channels of power cover the Earth and allow quintessence, the basic energy of the universe, to flow into the world at key points variously called Nodes or Caerns. All paranormals make use of these primal energies, but none more than the willworkers. The Hammer of Stars caused great damage to the Earth, sometimes destroying existing Nodes, sometimes shifting the course of a ley line. At the same time, willworkers and other paranormals drank more deeply of the quintessence than ever before so that they had the strength to fight back. The strain was too much for the primal flows, many of which collapsed entirely or retreated deep underground. Some Nodes broke apart, their power spreading to several smaller and weaker Nodes. Quintessence still seeps into the world, but rarely are these places great pools from which anyone could drink. The remaining Nodes of any strength are well-guarded.

Back to top

Science and Mysticism

There are many philosophers engaged in the debate of science versus mysticism. The Moebius Circle is itself evidence that these two approaches to dealing with reality can coexist and in many ways are compatible. But there are several people who are not comfortable with this precept. Some, even in the Circle itself, feel that there should be only one true way of seeing the world. Science has provided faster and more easily accessible advancements for humanity in the past few centuries, but mystic cultures have given hope, peace and imagination to the world.

Science emphasizes logical analysis of facts as they become apparent, and trying to discover frameworks for how reality works. Mysticism focuses on an intuitive grasp of the universe, seeing things that are hard to prove with science, and often working counter to mathematical logic to achieve results. The two come together when science probes deeply enough into layers of reality and find a universe that is mutable, a mass of probabilities and energy potentials and chaotic factors resolving every instant into what we consider reality, which leads to even more quantum chaos.

Mysticism comes eye-to-eye with science when it looks at the large scale of the universe and discovers rules for how everything works. Predictable and similar, if not identical, results occur when the same rituals are followed over and over, which points to a basic set of causes and effects. Examined closely, these causes and effects can mirror scientific theories of probabilities and altering the behavior of quantum interactions.

The problem lies in the fact that neither science nor mysticism appears to offer all the answers. This offends many adherents to either approach, who fervently believe that nothing in the universe should be beyond scientific analysis or mystical understanding. These philosophical clashes, usually conducted through reasoned or angry debates, used to be the basis for a millennia of war between willworkers, and that spilled over into the history of the world.

The end of the Ascension War was only made possible by the efforts of several visionaries at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st. After Gehenna brought a temporary end to the manipulations of vampires, and the Balancing removed the immediate crisis of the shifters, the way was cleared for the willworkers to focus on their own concerns. The Lattice of Destiny was a group of paranormals brought together by a shared vision of possible futures. Several of the Lattice had already begun working together to deal with other threats, and found themselves naturally drawn to solving the greatest problems of the world's future. The Lattice included members of all known paranormal groups, including ancient enemies such as vampires and shifters, Traditions and Technocracy.

Due to their heroism and example, many other paranormals around the world risked working together, across boundaries of hatreds and prejudices. Those who took this chance soon realized they were able to achieve more together than they'd dreamed possible on their own.

In 2017, a mere three and a half years after the initial members of the Lattice of Destiny met, the Ascension War was nearly over. Change had come almost too quickly, and many who did not share the ideals of the Lattice were starting to consider ways to take advantage of the new peace.

Then the Hammer of Stars arrived, tearing down old institutions and forcing the entire world to focus on working together rather than apart. Only by finding ways to unite science and mysticism did the paranormals have any hope of turning the tide of the war. Only by accepting the paranormal and using it to best advantage did the rest of humanity have a chance to survive.

This forced unity has had several repercussions. In some places, especially in the Moebius Circle, it has led to amazing progress. It has also had undesirable results, such as the Omega Force battle drones now loose in Asia or the Spider Queen in the Digital Web.

There is unexpected backlash in society as well. The Church of Jesus Christ, Willworker is just one of many new religions which include the Animistic Technologists and the Zen Gnostics. In some parts of the world, science is still distrusted and mystics reign, in others, the uncertainty of mysticism is too uncomfortable to be tolerated.

The advances of both philosophies cause their own problems. As just one example, growing field of biological engineering is met with deep concerns and sometimes unreasoning fears in the civilized world. In those areas that have returned to pre-industrial levels, mystics are able to heal or destroy more easily than all others, and are treated almost as priest-kings. There are tales of human sacrifices and mythical beings returned to prey on the world.

While Moebius will never stop promoting both science and mysticism, there is growing caution in their approach, and careful examination of possible consequences.