Heart-Texture chatlog
Dec. 7th, 2018 01:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fibonacci_reminderHere's a chatlog from a worldbuilding discord server I'm on, regarding a world I've been thinking about a lot lately. My discord handle is Fib#5983, all other handles have been anonymized to "User" followed by a number in order of their appearance.
[4:42 AM] Fib: The setting is a bit like the 1850s, but with some significant changes
[4:42 AM] Fib: For one, magic exists in a couple very particular forms
[4:48 AM] Fib: For another, political situation in the americas and the pacific is quite different
[4:48 AM] Fib: In part because of the magic
[4:49 AM] Fib: Mostly because of second-, third-, and more-hand effects of the magic existing and having existed in the past
[4:49 AM] Fib: Some of it just because I want it to be a little fresher
[4:49 AM] Fib: Mostly, colonialism is Less
[4:52 AM] Fib: California is an independent country, the rockies and the deserts and plains to their east are a lot more chaotic than they were in our timeline, with flare-ups between different settlements, different tribes, etc. being more common and more fiery
[4:52 AM] Fib: The magic is what I've spent most of my time thinking on
[4:52 AM] Fib: Here's the gist
[4:53 AM] Fib: All humans have a metaphysical Heart, which their concrete personality takes root in
[4:53 AM] Fib: Hearts have textures, which influence what kind of personality can flourish
[4:54 AM] Fib: The textures are Coal, Diamond, Gold, Obsidian, Pearl, Sand, and Steel
[4:55 AM] Fib: These are metaphorical (and form something kind of like a D&D alignment grid), but are also literal as we'll see later
[4:57 AM] Fib: Overall, textures that are 'strong' are more regimented and those that are 'weak' are more free-spirited, while those that are 'brighter' are more altruistic and those that are 'darker' are more selfish
[4:59 AM] Fib: (From a D&D perspective, they map to the grid roughly like this.)(edited)
LG/Diamond NG/Gold CG/Pearl LN/Steel TN CN/Sand LE/Obsidian NE CE/Coal
[5:02 AM] Fib: Beyond having some influence over what the person's adult personality is like, textures are also important for the 'more powerful' magic, which I will explain second(edited)
[5:02 AM] Fib: The first magic involves Hearts, but not their texture
[5:03 AM] Fib: Specifically, whenever someone takes an action during a fit of passion (which comes from the Heart in this case), there's a chance, based on how radical and permanent this action is in their mind, that it write a Word on their Heart
[5:05 AM] Fib: All Words have some things in common. They protect the people whose Heart they're written, not from hardship, but at least from death. A Word might reach out to the Heart of a caravaneer to divert their course to have them discover its owner if they become stranded in the desert, for example.
[5:06 AM] Fib: Words also hone themselves into talents for their owner, relating to whatever action it was that inspired them. A Killer word might take the form of an incredible talent for pistol sharpshooting, or swordsmanship, or brawling.
[5:07 AM] Fib: (Gambler words tend to be especially clever when it comes to things like this, and Gamblers often tend to make it big before another wordbearer brings them down.)
[5:09 AM] Fib: Wordbearers also develop something of aura or mien. It isn't any physical sense, but people who know a wordbearer personally will always recognize their face, their voice, the smell of their breath, etc., and people who aren't familiar with a wordbearer can still tell that someone has a Word, and especially sensitive or observant people can pick up what Word or Words they have
[5:09 AM] Fib: That's Words and wordbearers
[5:10 AM] Fib: The other sort of magic are Effigies and Heartless
[5:11 AM] User1: :ear:
[5:11 AM] Fib: An Effigy is, well, an effigy. It's an object made to replicate someone's Heart. It must be made from the correct material, matching the heart's texture, and it must have any Words which the Heart has written on it as well, in a special script which is mostly unknown to the modern world
[5:15 AM] Fib: Using an Effigy, you can become a Heartless. Specifically, by removing your physical heart and replacing it with your Effigy. After a sunrise and a sunset, you will rise against. Heartless possess a sort of narrative protection, like wordbearers, though it extends from their disembodied Heart rather than any Words, and thus even wordless Heartless have it. They also possess a physical near-immortality. They can repair any damage which occurs to their body by adding more of their Texture to the wound, where it will naturally cleave to them and become a part of them.(edited)
[5:16 AM] Fib: The only way you can permanently put one down is by removing the Effigy from their chest and destroying it, and that is Hard.
[5:17 AM] Fib: (If you just destroy the Effigy while it's in them, rather than carefully removing it from their body, then they can simply repair it, just like any other part of their body.)
[5:19 AM] Fib: Heartless also have an affinity for their texture, that manifests in strange ways. A Gold Heartless might be able to 'smell' gold (though this doesn't actually involve their nose, or any genuine olfaction).
[5:19 AM] Fib: It's all but impossible to hurt a Heartless in the first place with their texture, or with things that are adjacent to it conceptually
[5:20 AM] Fib: You will be hard-pressed to stop a Pearl Heartless from pursuing you by a crossing a body of water, for example
[5:20 AM] Fib: Likewise, trying to burn a Coal Heartless is a fruitless endeavor
[5:21 AM] Fib: Related, a Heartless Wordbearer's Words become more than just talents
[5:21 AM] Fib: They become forces
[5:21 AM] Fib: A Killer Coal Heartless, for example, is a very scary prospect to fight
[5:22 AM] Fib: Heartless have an aura or mien to them, like wordbearers, but they are also usually physically obvious
[5:23 AM] Fib: And also are usually outright famous, since their numbers are quite few, and the nature of how they come to be is not well known
[5:24 AM] Fib: Unlike textures, I don't have a solid list of what Words there are
[5:24 AM] Fib: I don't even really know whether there are a finite number of them
[5:25 AM] Fib: I've also had trouble thinking of more besides the first three I thought of, which are Killer, Gambler, and Flier
[5:26 AM] Fib: (Fliers being people who have run to/from things. Children who run from their families, lovers who travel the world to meet, etc.)
[5:26 AM] User1: my brain says "Martyr" but I'd think that would be a pretty rare one to survive acquiring
[5:26 AM] Fib: There is almost certainly a Martyr word, it just tends to be rather self-destructive, yeah
[5:27 AM] Fib: Wordbearers tend to return to their word again and again, whether they like it or not
[5:27 AM] Fib: So a Martyr's lifespan, even if they do survive their first passion, tend to not be long(edited)
[5:29 AM] Fib: Also, people do sometimes receive words that someone on the outside might not expect
[5:29 AM] Fib: Killer words don't come to anybody who kills. They come to people who kill, and who kill from passion.
[5:30 AM] Fib: Martyrs, likewise, come from people who are sacrificing themselves for passion.
[5:30 AM] Fib: A person who kills, or puts their own life on the line, because their passion to see if they can make it?
[5:30 AM] Fib: That would be a Gambler, I think
[5:32 AM] Fib: Basically, the actions someone takes might overlap with a lot of words, but their passion is always pointing to one Word as primary, as being what the passion is for
[5:32 AM] Fib: For killing, for gambling, for flying, for sacrifice
[5:32 AM] Fib: For whatever other Words we can come up with
[5:32 AM] Fib: So, I take it this setting seems like it might interest you User1?
[5:33 AM] Fib: Does it appeal to any of your characters?
[5:42 AM] User1: It does, actually!
[5:43 AM] Fib: I am excited to hear about it!
[5:43 AM] User1: I have quite a few characters who are almost built around certain passions.
[5:44 AM] User1: And there's definitely at least one who would become Heartless under the right circumstances.
[5:44 AM] User1: He's...I think an Obsidian?
[5:46 AM] Fib: Interesting
[5:47 AM] User1: ...and another of my characters would absolutely end up with a Martyr word.
[5:48 AM] Fib: nods
[5:50 AM] Fib: Can I ask to know more? Like, what makes you think that one character would end up as a Heartless? What kind of circumstances are you imagining to lead to that?
Fib pinned a message to this channel. See all the pins.Yesterday at 5:51 AM
[5:54 AM] User1: Well, this particular character is primarily driven by a desire for immortality.
[5:56 AM] User1: Depending on the societal perception of Heartless people—particularly whether they're seen as having continuity of identity/consciousness with their former selves—he might see it as the obvious path.
[5:59 AM] Fib: nods
[5:59 AM] Fib: Whether Heartless are who they were before they underwent the ritual varies
[6:00 AM] Fib: The hardline catholic answer is no, the ritual kills you and the Heartless it creates is demonic even if it's shaped in your image
[6:00 AM] Fib: For example
[6:04 AM] User1: In that case he might not.
[6:04 AM] User1: The important thing for him isn't that something with his memories survives, it's that his consciousness is preserved
[6:05 AM] Fib: I mean
[6:05 AM] Fib: The hardline catholic answer is informed by particular, catholic assumptions about the universe
[6:06 AM] Fib: Like that you have a soul, and that when you die, your soul Leaves
[6:06 AM] Fib: IRL, these assumptions are dubious but inherently untestable(edited)
[6:06 AM] Fib: In heart-texture, I-as-worldbuilder know that they're wrong
[6:06 AM] Fib: You don't have a soul, you have a Heart
[6:07 AM] Fib: And if you die normally, your Heart rots just the same as your body
[6:07 AM] Fib: And if you're a Heartless, it doesn't
[6:07 AM] Fib: So, like
[6:07 AM] User1: This character does not have access to meta-knowledge and he has a tendency to instantiate as Catholic
[6:07 AM] Fib: Yeah
[6:08 AM] Fib: That's fair
[6:08 AM] Fib: (I had used catholicism as an example, I wasn't aware that it'd actually be relevant.)
[6:09 AM] Fib: So, sorry to disappoint that character, I guess?
[6:12 AM] Fib: There is an exception, I think
[6:12 AM] Fib: Though, hm
[6:12 AM] Fib: Now that I think about it, it's not possible in the present day of heart-texture
[6:12 AM] Fib: But, a human body without a physical heart doesn't die instantly
[6:13 AM] Fib: If you are very careful, you can perform the effigy ritual without ever dying
[6:13 AM] Fib: Which would, by the in-universe catholic reasoning would mean that you retained your soul
[6:14 AM] Fib: (It'd still be frowned upon, but because you'd still have a soul and still be human, you can repent for it.)
[6:14 AM] User1: —ooooo.
[6:15 AM] User1: Oz is interested in attempting this.
[6:18 AM] Fib: I mean
[6:18 AM] Fib: It's still the 1850s
[6:19 AM] Fib: Heart transplants weren't a thing yet, let alone sustaining a human body without any heart for at least ~12 hours
[6:20 AM] Fib: If he wants to give a go in the future of the setting, once blood-pumping machines exist, then sure
[6:25 AM] Fib: Hm.
[6:25 AM] Fib: No that wouldn't work either...
[6:25 AM] Fib: Hm...
[6:25 AM] Fib: Okay
[6:26 AM] Fib: There's one way it might happen in the present day of the setting
[6:26 AM] Fib: A Pearl Heartless with the right Word might be able to pump your blood for you using their force
[6:27 AM] Fib: That would mighty dubious to a catholic, though
[6:27 AM] Fib: They'd need some kind proof that the Heartless (who they see as a demon) didn't just let you die mid-ritual and let you be replaced by a demon
[6:28 AM] Fib: The ritual being overseen by an elder, saint, or priest might be enough, though
[6:28 AM] Fib: Plus a medical doctor, maybe
[6:29 AM] Fib: @User1 does that sound like something Oz would still go for, or is that too many barriers?
[6:34 AM] User1: It...might be, but he'd be very wary of the whole "trusting someone who might or might not be a demon to not let you turn into a demon yourself" thing
[6:34 AM] Fib: nods
[6:35 AM] Fib: IIRC there are rules for how to have priest formally, officially compel demons towards certain actions (usually 'get the fuck out' IE an exorcism) burried in the vatican archives IRL(edited)
[6:36 AM] Fib: I'm not sure how that'd mix with Heartless
[6:37 AM] Fib: But It's possible that they'd arrive at some means of negotiating with Heartless to their satisfaction, since ultimately Heartless are inherently powerful people, doubly so if they are also wordbearers
[6:37 AM] User1: nods
[6:41 AM] Fib: The question, then, is whether Oz can A) figure out that all of this is possible without using meta knowledge, B) find a priest willing to try this for him, C) find a Pearl Heartless with the right word and force to do it, D) actually come to an agreement with that Heartless under the auspices of the priest, and E) actually perform the ritual and not have anything go wrong.
[6:50 AM] Fib: Also, a thing I realized: while some Effigy Scripts have been discovered via archaeology, most that are known to anyone in the modern day were discovered by Heartless
[6:51 AM] Fib: Since, being a Heartless doesn't stop you from receiving a Word
[6:51 AM] Fib: And once you do, it scribes itself onto your Effigy
[6:52 AM] Fib: This is, in fact, the basis for the modern understanding that there is a single Killer word, for example, rather than a Word for each of the unique talents that Killers happened to develop across history
[6:58 AM] Fib: (The origin of the Heartless ritual is lost to time, I think. But, hypothetically, a group of sensitives/observant people, who spent a lot of time trying to puzzle it out and who were willing to experiment, could probably determine what physical substances the textures that they felt when they observed wordbearers corresponded to, and from there reinvent the ritual for a wordless Heartless, who might then be able to inform of the Scripts for some Words.)
[7:19 AM] Fib: hugs @User1 again
[7:19 AM] User1: hugs
[7:19 AM] User1: I was getting food, I have food now
[7:20 AM] Fib: :thumbsup:
[7:20 AM] Fib: Any thoughts on how I think that Word Scripts are discovered, or how the Heartless ritual might have been invented?
[7:21 AM] Fib: Does Oz think he'd manage to get through to completing the ritual, or no?
[7:22 AM] User2: {{Could there be any ways in which nonhuman creatures could have been involved in either set of discoveries, and animals in particular?}}
[7:24 AM] Fib: I'm not entirely sure
[7:26 AM] Fib: I know that most vertebrates have something like a Heart, but I don't know when exactly that Heart-like thing becomes sufficiently powerful and intelligent enough to successfully undergo an Effigy Ritual, or whether their textures are the same, or whether they can receive words
[7:26 AM] Fib: And without some baseline similarity in terms of how these functions of the Heart work, experimentation on nonhumans would be of little to no use
[7:29 AM] User2: {{Ah, fair enough. Something that interests us, is how this world interacts with industrialized, organized mining operations. Also, especially with power generation, and especially especially with burning coal? What does that mean in this world, in particular with respect to those with hearts of coal?}}
[7:30 AM] Fib: I'm not sure what you mean. Can you expand on your question?
[7:32 AM] User2: {{What does it mean socially and economically and personally emotionally for people who are of a certain material of heart for that material to begin to be used by industrialized society in mass quantities? Does this affect them in anyway? Do they feel it somehow? Do they have a tendency to be against it or for it? Does it lessen the pool of physical material from which new humans of that heart texture can be born?}}(edited)
[7:36 AM] Fib: Well, the broader social impact is relatively small, since most people don't have Words and are not Heartless, and thus not even the most sensitive empath in the world could separate their Heart's texture from the nuances of their personality which developed over their life.(edited)
[7:37 AM] Fib: Most people don't even know that texture is a thing at all, let alone something that they could use to make judgements about the people around them
[7:37 AM] Fib: Which makes texture-based discrimination fairly rare
[7:37 AM] Fib: Likewise, for everyone besides Heartless, there is no feedback or connection between physical substances around them and their texture
[7:38 AM] Fib: A person with a heart of coal doesn't experience being near a coal furnace any differently from a person with a different texture
[7:38 AM] Fib: (Beyond the fact that their personalities are probably different, and thus their experience of the world in general aren't the same)
[7:40 AM] Fib: For Heartless, there is a connection, one with a sort mysterious, uncertain qualia to it. A Coal Heartless might feel pain when coal is being burned near them, or ecstasy. They might feel a pressure on their shoulders, or like they're being lifted. They might smell the smoke, or taste the ash. How exactly they experience might vary overtime.
[7:40 AM] Fib: Heartless wordbearers control their Force through this sensation
[7:41 AM] Fib: Turning it into a kind of limb
[7:42 AM] Fib: Overall, Coal-textured people aren't more pro- or anti-coal than anyone else.
[7:42 AM] Fib: Nor does the prevalence of usable coal-fuel influence the prevalence of Coal-textured Hearts
[7:42 AM] Fib: Is that a satisfactory explanation (whenever you're back), @User2?
[7:53 AM] User2: {{nod and move so. It is, and an interesting one, thanks!}}
[8:03 AM] Fib: :hearts:️
[8:04 AM] Fib: Any other questions?
[8:18 AM] Fib: @User1 if you’re still free, I’d also be interested in hearing about how any of your other characters think they might fit in.
[8:18 AM] User1: there is Noise outside please try again later
[8:22 AM] Fib: :thumbsup:
[8:22 AM] Fib: I’m going to sleep, but if you’re around in the evening or tomorrow maybe then
[6:17 PM] Fib: @User3 understanding it’s been a while, could I ask whether this world interests you?
[6:18 PM] User3: I can take a look
[6:18 PM] Fib: :thumbsup:
[6:39 PM] User3: Definitely seems to have similar genre to Shadows of the Limelight
[6:54 PM] Fib: Oh?
[6:54 PM] Fib: That’s an unexpected parallel
[6:54 PM] Fib: @User3 what makes you say that?(edited)
[6:58 PM] User3: in the Words mechanic you implement the genre trope of ordinary people at pivotal moments being lifted up to something extraordinary, like Dominic's decision to get involved in Welexi's battle lifting him to superpowers
[7:00 PM] User3: and in the Heartless mechanic you have a few very extraordinary possibly immortal people with themed superpowers, like the higher tiers of illustrati
[7:04 PM] Fib: Huh
[7:04 PM] Fib: Now that I think about it, textures are a bit like Domains
[8:23 PM] User4: im reading through, gonna put some questions in this post as i go:
the heartless have to have a replica heart. it has to be a replica of an existing one? could they make a copy of a dead one? what happens to the original? is there any kind of connection between the original and copy? does death of either do anything to the other?
do you have a list of words, or is it loose and open ended?
also, im terrible with history. what was going on in the 1950s of note?
[8:25 PM] User4: also, it may have just been tired-reading assumptions, but can only heartless enact magic from words? can normal worded hearts use the word powers, or does it just affect their heart?
[8:25 PM] Fib: The Effigy isn't a replica of a specific heart
[8:26 PM] Fib: It's just, a statuette of a heart made from the texture
[8:26 PM] User4: ok, the wording used made it kind of ambiguous
[8:26 PM] Fib: It's connected to the Heartless whose used it in a ritual
[8:26 PM] Fib: But not because it's a 'replica' of their physical heart
[8:26 PM] Fib: The physical similar need not be large
[8:27 PM] User4: could someone attempt to replicate an existing heart exactly?
[8:27 PM] Fib: Uh
[8:27 PM] Fib: Sure, but it would do nothing(edited)
[8:27 PM] User4: gotcha
[8:27 PM] Fib: The exact form of the Effigy is irrelevant being reasonable heart-shaped in general
[8:27 PM] User4: hmm...wondering if it might with right word attached to modify it
[8:27 PM] User4: i mean if someone wanted to use heartless tech to attempt to influence another's heart
[8:28 PM] Fib: Oh
[8:28 PM] User4: there are probably easier ways to go about it anyway
[8:28 PM] Fib: You're mixing up Heart and heart
[8:28 PM] Fib: Your Effigy is a replica of your Heart
[8:28 PM] User4: it has to be a replica of your own heart?
[8:28 PM] Fib: In that it is heart-shaped, made from your texture, and has your Words scribed on it
[8:28 PM] Fib: Your Heart, not your heart
[8:28 PM] User4: meh, capitalization.
[8:29 PM] User4: but yes, it has to be a replica of your own? you cant design an arbitary Heart?
[8:29 PM] Fib: No
[8:30 PM] Fib: If it's not the same as your own Heart, the ritual can't connect the two and you'll just die
[8:30 PM] User4: hmm
[8:30 PM] User4: wondering how i can break this now
[8:30 PM] User4: can you alter a heart in place?
[8:31 PM] Fib: I don't understand the question(edited)
[8:31 PM] User4: like could you take the heart you made, after the ritual, and append more words to it?
[8:32 PM] User4: do twins have any interesting effects here?
[8:33 PM] Fib: I still don't understand your question
[8:33 PM] User4: the heart is a physical thing right?
[8:33 PM] Fib: And twins aren't any more likely to have the same texture of Heart as any other two people
[8:34 PM] User4: not even identical twins, split from one egg/sperm?
[8:34 PM] Fib: Yes
[8:34 PM] Fib: Your Heart isn't genetic
[8:34 PM] Fib: It's not even really natal
[8:34 PM] User4: gotcha
[8:34 PM] User4: anyway, physical Heart?
[8:34 PM] Fib: Your Heart is metaphysical
[8:35 PM] Fib: Not physical
[8:35 PM] User4: so how does a heartless go about making the effigy then?
[8:36 PM] Fib: Practically, they work with an empath or hot-reader to try and figure out there texture based on their personality, relying on their knowledge of their personal history to try and predict what nuances they have that are separating them from the basal personality of their texture
[8:36 PM] Fib: Or, they have a Word, and the empath might just be able to feel their texture outright
[8:37 PM] Fib: If they have a Word, they also have to do some research into what the Script for their Word is, and make sure to scribe it on the statuette
[8:37 PM] User4: the effigy is physical then?
[8:37 PM] Fib: Yes
[8:38 PM] User4: does it become metaphysical in the process of the ritual?
[8:38 PM] Fib: No
[8:38 PM] Fib: It's there, inside their chest
[8:38 PM] User4: so the effigy then
[8:38 PM] User4: if you install it
[8:38 PM] User4: then write more words on it, in proper script and everything
[8:38 PM] User4: could you modify it in place?
[8:38 PM] Fib: You scribe it before you install it
[8:39 PM] User4: right
[8:39 PM] Fib: And if you take it out and then scribe more on it after you become a Heartless, the new script is just 'damage'
[8:39 PM] User4: what if you dont take it out?
[8:39 PM] Fib: Then how are you writing on it?
[8:39 PM] User4: i assume you can access it if you can take it out
[8:39 PM] Fib: Okay
[8:39 PM] User4: so crack the case open and start writing
[8:40 PM] Fib: Well, in general if you're scribing on it after the ritual, it's just damage
[8:40 PM] Fib: it will just hurt, it won't give you a new Word or something(edited)
[8:40 PM] User4: hmm
no subject
Date: 2018-12-07 10:27 pm (UTC)Repairs to a Heartless do not, like, transmute into flesh. They remain as the substance, for the most part, but they sort of behave like flesh, or whatever bodypart they're replacing. Like, an Obsidian Heartless replacing a missing eye with an obsidian sphere will still have binocular vision, and a Steel Heartless who replaces a chunk of their thigh that got ripped out with steel will still be able to walk just as well as they used to. This does mean that the older or more reckless a Heartless is, the more of them tends to be Texture instead of flesh.