Mysticism of the Worlds

This page has some of my thoughts of how the Pool of Divinity, Tanebrae and the In-Between interact, described through a series of metaphors.

**The majority of this is not known to the citizens nor rulers of Tanebrae. Even the Divine may struggle to comprehend the 'true' nature of things.**

## General Concepts

### The Pool of Divinity

The Pool itself is a partly-physical place where the Divine generally reside. Most of the time, its a jumble of different things that the senses of mortals can in no way separate and understand. When a mortal gets a chance to perceive the Pool, through a vision or dream, their understanding of the Divine will generally shape the Pool for the duration of their perception of it. The big difference from chaos is that the Pool of Divinity is everything, but not always. It might be theorized that it would resume its chaotic state if not for the continued beliefs of mortals.

#### Divine Concepts

A Divine concept is a description of a thing in the Overworld (Tanebrae). Everything that can be named and most things that have yet to be named have Divine Concepts. The Divine Concept is the set of laws that bind objects to what it is, so a stick is a stick, and not a rock. Divine Concepts can evolve, so a particular stick might be broken, giving it a different Concept. The important aspect however, is that the object feeds 'being' and 'existence' into the Divine Concept. There are no Concept without an object, and no object without a Concept. But does intangible things like emotions have Concepts? Yes, but emotions are closer to chaos than most objects, because - well, change is in their nature - and thus their Concepts are underdeveloped or vague. Change, like anger moving to annoyance, might also endanger the integrity of Concepts, because a Concept can rarely hold what would otherwise be known as separate things. This leads to two theories, were neither is inherently wrong:

**General Concepts**: Once you have been angry, and given it a name, you can never let it go. Even if you do not feel anger, the Concept of anger exists, giving you the possibility and likelihood of feeling anger in the future. And when you have discovered it, others are likely to be affected as well, since the Concept now exists in general.

**Individual Concepts**: A specific person has a specific Concept, such as mood, that defines their current blend of emotions. It doesn't change between anger and annoyance, or happy and sad, but describes the specific person's possibility for change of mood. Now the Individual Concept may be a General Concept that all members of a species shares - the ability to have a mood - or it may be the sign of a specific creature having a wider spectrum of emotions, seeing as it never defines what we know as specific emotions.

#### Divines (Gods)

A Divine is a being of power related to some area or areas. They are commonly sentient, unlike Divine Concepts, and serve as manipulators and/or caretakers of the Divine Concepts over which they rule. Though honestly, Concepts do not need to be governed, as their parallel existence with their Overworld object always makes them 'correct'. Divines are in some way a Divine Concept given sentience, like 'governing and judging the souls of dead Meranians'. They can draw on their own power to influence other Concepts, thus having an effect on the world. But since they too are governed by their Concept, they cannot influence Concepts outside of their purview (whatever is defined in their own Concept). Divines can however evolve, but it is a most uncomfortable process for most.

### Chaos

Chaos is nothing and everything. It cannot be understood by mortals and Divines, as it is anathema to existence and Divine Concepts. It is the opposite of order, it is change, it lacks Concept. But that in itself creates a paradox, because putting words on it makes it 'not chaos', as chaos is the lack of Divine Concepts, and names are the mortal worlds way of acknowledging Divine Concepts.

#### Beings of Chaos?

Could a creature of chaos exist? Mostly no: A creature is defined by shape, sentience, location, and likely many other features. Having a squirrel that both is and isn't everywhere at once is not something that can exist in the Overworld or the Pool of Divinity, because there are Concepts that makes it impossible.

However, the being-everything nature of chaos means that it has the potential for temporarily being a creature, and even worse: To make something that fits through the cracks of Divinity (see Web of Concepts below), being something that could to some extent be a mock-up of a Divine Concept, or result thereof. All Divine Concepts were likely made from chaos, in that simply adhering to the right rules allowed them to 'lock down' and remain as something ordered. Thus, the things referred to as chaos creatures come into being. They are beings who have momentarily gained enough substance to understand, thus moving into the Overworld. Many of these beings fall back into not being, while some are outfitted a desire to 'remain', 'stay', 'live', 'reproduce', or even 'kill' or 'destroy'. These desires can make them seek a place in creation, either bargaining with a Divine in the blink of an eye, or swearing themselves to a place in creation, through what is essentially inventing their own name... The latter are increasingly rare as every new Concepts bars the entry for creatures that doesn't fit their rules, and unnumbered races fall away into chaos as they are undone by the appearance of new Divine Concepts.

### Nameless / Godless

The nameless are but a rumour in Tanebrae. The Divine abhor the concept that something could exist without relation to them, and how exactly it happens... well...

#### The Unattached

One explanation is that the nameless are in fact not nameless, that instead they hold their name inside their own body. While this would put them beyond the reach of the Divine, they also lack the safety of the parallel existence of objects and Divine Concepts. It is, simply put, easier for chaos to mold both their object and their name because the two are indistinguishable. But if they could gain power of their own name, what kind of power would that grant them?

#### Deceivers

Another explanation is that some beings that hold their name in an object, so that the object is with them in the Overworld. While not Divine protection, it makes them more resistant to chaos, assuming their 'name' is kept away from chaos. If not, they likely suffer disintegration or great chaos-afflictions. While they can also manipulate their own name, it is harder than for the Unattached, seeing as the connection between body and name is not as strong.

### Lost Gods

An alternative, known as *lost gods*, is when a Divine Concept loses its object. Normally, the Divine Concept would cease to exist, but what happens when a Divine runs out of Concepts? What happens when a Divine is defined by governing something that no longer exists? They can search to discover something new before they fade, to usurp another Divine's purview, or they could split themselves, throwing part of their Divinity onto the Overworld.

#### Chaos-Bound

In the first case they become C*haos-Bound*, in that they must immersive themselves in chaos to pull forth a new idea, which they must smuggle or force into the Pool. Concepts born from this process are inherently strange, like the sensation of having to sneeze but without sneezing, or the intense pain of stubbing a toe. They can also be lucky and hit a perfectly reasonable Concept by accident, inventing a form of sorcery, a color or a new emotion. Most of the Divines are also considerably more strange afterwards, never quite shaking off the chaos-infliction.

#### Shard-Gods and Worldless

The second kind of lost gods are exceedingly rare, because usurping Divine powers is not as easy as usurping power or wealth in the mortal plane. No, as Divines can hardly do damage to one-another, the lost god must convince another Divine to willingly take their place as lost. Since the banishment and exorcism of the Divine of Trickery, most Divines lack the imagination to make it happen, but as of late it has become a possibility again. The tricked or persuaded Divine often gets to keep a fraction of their prior purview, becoming *Shard-Gods,* while those who get nothing get the ominous title of *Worldless* before they disperse.

#### The Descended

The third kind, *the* *Descended* (to mortals often *The Chosen* or *Ascended*), are strange indeed, but most common of the three. The part that is cast to the mortal plane often takes the form of a newborn mortal, and the part in the Pool of Divinity stays alive, but without purview. It can to some degree influence its mortal host, but as it has cast away half of itself, it has greatly reduced power. While the mortal host grows up, it has strange sensibilities related to the Pool of Divinity, as their connection to their Divine half allows them easy access to Divine energy. The energy will mostly be in the shape of visions of the Pool unless they dedicate their Divine counterpart to a specific path. The pursuit of sorcery, magic, or following another Divine may lead their Divine counterpart to be subsumed by another Divine, granting the mortal host an improved connection to a more powerful Divine's favour. If the mortal dies without binding its Divine counterpart to something greater, it will return to being lost god, but now only half-strength.

## Metaphors

### The Tug of Creation

Everything that exists in the Overworld is the rope of a tug-of-war, on one side the Divine, on the other a physical object or abstract something. Both pull with equal strength, making the rope taunt enough to walk on, and relatively unchanging. It might turn and twist a bit as they struggle, but neither can win, and neither wishes to pull too hard. This begets the question, what would happen if either side won the tug-of-war?

Theoretically, it would likely be the extinction of both Divine and physical/abstract object, but who knows what else might happen?

### The House

If the Overworld is a house, the Divines are the builders and architects, using their blueprints in the shape of Divine Concepts to build the house.

But where do the materials come from? The stockpile of materials is the chaos-stuffs, vague Concepts, and temporary chaos beings - all that can still change, and the very same things the Divines draw on when they wish to change their house. But there resources are finite. *But chaos isn't finite?* No, but only the material that exists as part concepts is malleable enough. While there might be an infinite amount over time, there is a finite stockpile for the house at any given time - as both the Pool of Divinity and the Overworld use concepts of time, while chaos does not.

### The Axis of Existence

All things exist on an axis between chaos and order. The Divines and Divine Concepts are the most ordered, the Overworld lies mostly on the side of order, and chaos lies beyond the border.

If the border to chaos is the surface of the ocean: Everything below water is chaos, everything above is order, then the Overworld is a floating island. The majority is above water, but some parts dip in ever so slightly. High above the island hangs the sky and sun, Divinity. The horizon broken by waves are vague concepts, while the waves are is the chaos influence splashing onto the island.

While the sun pulls at the island to keep it afloat, the island's own weight brings it ever closer to the surface of the water. Simultaneously, the island brings down the sun as the day draws to a close, and when finally the two align on the horizon, the sun can no longer hold up the island, and both will plummet into the ocean. This represents the fragility of perfect order, and how little it takes to send it spiraling back to chaos.

In fact, the sun is held up by the ever reaching waves, waiting with its descend until the waters are completely still, and all Concepts well defined. When sometimes the inhabitants or waves rock the island, it dips more into the ocean and causes ripples that cause waves, which in turn keeps the sun up. As such, the influence of chaos on the mortals actually stabilizes the world, while also threatening with overturning the whole thing.

### Web of Concepts

Divine Concepts form a web on which all things lie, and which prevents objects that cannot fit through the individual strands. Thus most chaos things are denied entry as the web grows ever more expansive, but it can happen that the right object gets through the web. Once through the web it will only keep it's shape until reshaped by the heavier Concepts that weigh down on it. Furthermore the web closes any hole in which an object came through with another strand, which technically allows two lesser concepts to get through at a later date.

Continue the web for long enough, and the world becomes a perfectly ordered set of objects cut off from chaos by a thin sheet. Once the entire web comprises a massive sheet, and with the added weight of many objects, it is more likely to fracture completely should part of the web be broken.