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Hexamancy...


Ripheus23

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So, inspired by Lord Sanderson, I have been thinking up a specific system of magic. Well, honestly, I've thought of many because of him: he calls his genre "science fantasy," but my term for this kind of work is "transcendental fiction." The idea is that scifi = extensions of known laws of physics, fantasy = suspension of physics, transfi = alternate laws of physics/metaphysics. Which having Investiture alongside matter/energy fits with very well...

Anyway, step 1 in this system of mine, for the sake of this thread, is a God-concept. In this world, God would be understood in terms of three primary attributes, M(ight) and K(nowledge) and G(race). Now, God exists as a full person per the order of the attributes. So there is a divine person = MKG, another = GKM, and so on, for 3! = 6 divine persons total (instead of 3 as in the Trinity). The idea is that God can be defined as ultimate power that defines Its own knowledge, which in turn defines Its grace, or as ultimate goodness implying ultimate wisdom and hence ultimate strength, etc.

I don't have much else thought up for this system except that the following sequence of numbers would be relevant:

1! = 1

2! = 2

3! = 6

4! = 24

5! = 120

6! = 720

Also whether a hexagon or a hexahedron would be the typical geometrical symbol for the system, I haven't decided. Maybe there'd be a common emblem based on interposing the two (like a super-Star of David, if you will)?

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  • 3 weeks later...

This is a really unique and intriguing magic system. I love the idea that God is defined based on what order you put the attributes in. Almost like an order of priority, A defines B which defines C. In any specific order, each attribute draws its interpretation from the ones preceding.

Another thought, would there be different churches based on different orders of attributes? Like would there be people that believe that the only true way to define God is KGM. where others believe its MKG.

As far as the Symbol, here is something I was just now messing with. The three points where the lines cross could represent the three attributes and the six points the six combinations. Feel free to take it or leave it though, I'm just spitballing ideas. :)

Symbol.PNG.64836c8a3ece78d02e90d01188babc0b.PNG

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Not sure about your world but mana could be poured directly into a geometric drawing, Take a pentagram for example. It would have 5 charges, one for each line. Each charge used would delete or erase a line of the drawing. Once gone the magic is gone. 

The higher the power, the more complicated the sigil. but the higher the number the harder it is to use. -shrug- 

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Quote

Another thought, would there be different churches based on different orders of attributes? Like would there be people that believe that the only true way to define God is KGM. where others believe its MKG.

Why yes :D

So far I have been developing the cosmology around a six-sphere helix. That is, there are six "planes of existence" to the universe, and one planet/star/w/e per plane, that can "slip into" community with the five other nexus-spheres. These six spheres move up and down and in a spiral, i.e. an interplanar helix, around a central light of some kind (I was thinking of having another "divine person" come from an absolutely unitary concept of God, so there'd be 6 persons due to the Triœscence (my name for the three attributes) and 1 due to a simplicitarian theomorphology, and this 1 corresponds to the central light).

As for specific spheres, I really want to write a massive fantasy epic in an underwater/marine-biology setting. I was thinking of having sentient cuttlefish be the protagonists, along with a sea urchin and a sand dollar (though they would be caught in some deep, dark current, so their first several POV sections would mostly revolve around their dismay at being sucked towards the current's menacing end---and what they would do at the end IDK). But anyway the religious idea is that the M-based persons are "evil" or at least antagonistic (the idea being that "might makes right" is a negative attitude, even for God). Yet there is supposed to be a major religious movement among the cuttlefish, based on an argument for God being based on the concept of unique power, since God is unique, period, and a definition from knowledge or goodness is not necessarily uniqueness-preserving, whereas having an entity of absolute power requires that entity to be absolutely individuated (so as to have a final ordering over all other entities). Then there are angel-like whales who use their musical aptitude to create cymatic portals, and a manta ray who embodies one of the M-persons---and something called "the god-hydra," which is made up of the slain bodies of the vessels of the divine persons' various Incarnations (so, like, there were six Mary-like beings in history, who have been slain by someone, in order to try to create this god-hydra thing).

As for the symbol, it looks like a good basis for either an (A) emblem (like of a specific church) or (B) a formula (for a specific spell). Maybe even something related to the interplanar helix ;)

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Ooh, fun!  Couple starting questions to get me on the right page:

How do the people view the relationships between the six primary interpretations?  Are they viewed as competing interpretations (like rival denominations), or are they more like the Trinity (or Brahman) where they are viewed as parts of the same larger Whole?  Do they actually exist, and if so are they literally distinct beings or masks used by the same whole, or maybe some schizophrenic middle ground? Are the magic systems going to be race-specific or shared across the species?

 

For what it's worth, any time I come across a triumvirate like this, the first two places my mind goes is the Serenity Prayer, and the Triforce of Hyrule, both of which might offer some interesting parallels.

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So I know you’ve started thinking, but it never hurts to have more material. I’m not sure where this would go, but it would be like a branch off of hexamancy.

You’re using the normal factorial sign thing, but what about the addition one where it’s a bubble letter ! ? That was the first thing I thought of when I saw this. Don’t know if it’s of any use though.

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The prevailing belief/wisdom is that God <is> the six/seven persons, but that It has "sent" Itself, as each, to just one of the six planes (plus the hyperplane of light). That is, God-as-the-Creator gets parsed as each-person-created-one-dimension-of-the-hexaverse. However, since It is still ultimately One God, these dimensions have to have a place of overlap/intersection. So if there is much in the way of intraplanar religious debate, it would tend to be over which person is believed to have sent Itself to the plane in question.

Those "uniquely-almighty" folks are supposed to be more extreme, though, in that they don't think the orders besides M-KG/GK are objectively real at all.

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Just now, Silva said:

So I know you’ve started thinking, but it never hurts to have more material. I’m not sure where this would go, but it would be like a branch off of hexamancy.

You’re using the normal factorial sign thing, but what about the addition one where it’s a bubble letter ! ? That was the first thing I thought of when I saw this. Don’t know if it’s of any use though.

I am as yet only familiar with basic factorial notation and its relation to permutations/combinations. However, pursuing the theme would probably require investigation of more sophisticated examples of this kind of notation.

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3 minutes ago, Ripheus23 said:

The prevailing belief/wisdom is that God <is> the six/seven persons, but that It has "sent" Itself, as each, to just one of the six planes (plus the hyperplane of light). That is, God-as-the-Creator gets parsed as each-person-created-one-dimension-of-the-hexaverse. However, since It is still ultimately One God, these dimensions have to have a place of overlap/intersection. So if there is much in the way of intraplanar religious debate, it would tend to be over which person is believed to have sent Itself to the plane in question.

Those "uniquely-almighty" folks are supposed to be more extreme, though, in that they don't think the orders besides M-KG/GK are objectively real at all.

So there wont be any history or possibility of two or more of these avatars being in disagreement or conflict, is that true?  Are they actual beings and/or characters, or are they purely a cultural thing?

 

Also, what do you mean by "The Hexaverse" and how do the 6+1 dimensions manifest in terms of the actual underwater setting.  Are these traversable realms, or are they again just cultural stories and/or philosophic metaphors (like the average afterlife plane of existence). 

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Well there is a very obscure tradition of seeing God the Father and the Son as, if not in a state of "conflict" or "adversity," still something less than perfectly in harmony. So the M-GK/KG Incarnations might be standoffish towards the other Incarnations (this relates to the concept of "dithelitism," according to which the Incarnate Second Person of the Trinity had two wills, divine and human---so it might be that M-GK/KG are of one will with the other divine persons, on the divine side, but that the adjunct wills of their Incarnations ended up at odds).

And the divine persons really did Incarnate, else there'd be no vessels to kill to make the god-hydra (for whatever reason; so far I just like the name of the monster :P).

Now the underwater setting is supposed to be on one of the overlap-planets. I was considering a 7-part series (if it ever came to that!) in which each individual book of the first 6 focuses on a different planet/sphere, with a seventh tie-it-all-together book at the end.

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