Primer

A Summary of the Aetherverse

Hello Players,

I didn’t quiet have time to get into the details last time we met, so I thought I’d send you something to explain things. I do apologise if there are some bits missing, [REDACTED] has a tendency to intercept my missives and give them a once over.

But I digress; if you have any questions, hopefully I can answer them when we next meet!

—V

PS. I’ve left a few comments in there as well.

The Aetherverse

The Aetherverse, or Aether, is a vast network that was created billions of years ago for [REDACTED]. However, a catastrophic event occurred and the Aether became something wild, chaotic, and without rules or laws.

Whoops.

Think of the Aether as its own own boundless realm—as a separate universe underlying your own. It has no direct relationship to matter and space as you understand it: There is no up or down, there is no ground beneath a traveller’s feet in most places, and merely gazing into its lawless void damages the human brain.

Recursions

Stable regions called recursions exist within the Aether. Recursions are like tiny, self-contained universes. Each one operates under a particular set of rules, which means that [REDACTED] have almost as difficult a time entering a recursion as they do entering Earth.

You’ve already experienced a number of these recursions, such as
@Aereon⁠
, where we first met).

Many recursions were seeded into the network by the creative resonance of pure imagination (so-called “fictional leakage”), and over time these recursions have matured into places that are quite real. While most recursions are created in this way, there are a handful that have been created by conscious design.

The Spark

The Spark is a full awareness of one’s self and one’s place in the world—both the immediate world and the larger world (the Aetherverse and various recursions). On Earth (i.e. where you are right now reading this document), every intelligent being is self-aware. That’s not always true in a recursion. Some inhabitants of a recursion might simply be more like puppets or robots, simply fulfilling a function or playing a role. Such inhabitants who become aware of themselves and exert free will and sentience have “gained the spark.”

Having the spark doesn’t directly equate to knowledge of the Aetherverse or recursions, but a character who doesn’t have the spark can never understand the Aetherverse or recursions. For example, in a recursion that is basically Sherlock Holmes’s London, most of the inhabitants just wander the streets carrying out appropriate actions like extras in a movie. If confronted, they truly believe that they are in London, on Earth, in the 19th century. If they have (or gain) the spark, they have a chance of learning and understanding that this isn’t actually true.

Typically, around 10 percent of the population of a recursion might have the spark, although this isn’t a hard and fast rule.

Quickened

Quickened are rare individuals who have the spark and, in addition, possess a unique connection to the Aetherverse.

What makes Quickened so unique is that they are able to translate into recursions without the need of any outside assistance (such as a Gate). With just a thought they can inhabit a ‘Vessel’ in a recursion and, with some guidance, experience life there. Vessels never possess a spark, and are thus unaware of the experience of being inhabited.

In case you haven’t worked it out, you’re Quickened! These vessels are what you’d normally call your ‘characters’ or ‘PCs’.

Bleed

[REDACTED]

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