How did Khrissalla know the distant past?

[+Oltux72]

53 minutes ago, Quantus said:

That's a good question and I dont have a definitive answer to it, other than to assume/believe that the existence of world-hoppers at all implies that it's a surmountable challenge.

It looks to me that the problems are greatly lessened if the explorers aren't human respectively aren't strictly speaking alive. But that raises the question how Silverlighters make such discoveries,

53 minutes ago, Quantus said:

  Given that the Perpendicularity are described as the equivalent of Gravity Wells, I would personally expect there to one or more technological solutions to that, some Investiture Compass/Sunstone/Starchart equivalent that would point to the nearest Perpendicularity.

Yes, but who developed then and when. If people from Silverlight discovered Scadrial, when did they build such a device? And when did they learn to build it? And where is the rest of the technology needed to build it or resulting from the research associated with it?

53 minutes ago, Quantus said:

Investiture is all you need for both those things, didnt Hoid use a local ghost and an invested Oar?

I don't think we have a definite idea about the origin of the ghost.

[Hoidolasium]

Oh right, I got it backwards for some reason

(Responding to @Quantus, I don't know how to get a quote in here)

Edited September 2, 2020 by Hoidolasium

[Quantus]

15 hours ago, Oltux72 said:

It looks to me that the problems are greatly lessened if the explorers aren't human respectively aren't strictly speaking alive. But that raises the question how Silverlighters make such discoveries,

Yes, but who developed then and when. If people from Silverlight discovered Scadrial, when did they build such a device? And when did they learn to build it? And where is the rest of the technology needed to build it or resulting from the research associated with it?

I don't think we have a definite idea about the origin of the ghost.

Why does it have to be Silverlight?  They are not the only Cognitive Realm population by any means.  

[+Oltux72]

52 minutes ago, Quantus said:

Why does it have to be Silverlight?  They are not the only Cognitive Realm population by any means.  

Because it has to be a research organisation devoted to basic research. It is quite possible that somebody else discovered Scadrial. Or that the discovery was Scadrian worldhoppers turning up in other expanses. But who would determine that Scadrial is indeed artificial?

[Quantus]

15 minutes ago, Oltux72 said:

Because it has to be a research organisation devoted to basic research. It is quite possible that somebody else discovered Scadrial. Or that the discovery was Scadrian worldhoppers turning up in other expanses. But who would determine that Scadrial is indeed artificial?

Well, I was honestly thinking the most likely candidates to take notice of Scadrial's emergence were Spren, since two of the know regions bordering Scadrial are Rosharan.

 As far as who "determines" that Scadrial was Artificial, I personally dont think it matters too much, given all the reasonable in-world explanations available.  Any witnesses (spren, dragons, hoid,etc) alive at the time of Scadrial's emergence could logically figure out that it was not natural because of the way it spontaneously appeared in defiance of all natural processes, with an all new and fully formed sentient population. Per the Traveller short Frost/Dragons should have ways to keep watch remotely (he was remotely aware of Leras and Ati's passing). Or one of the two founding Shards might have told some mortals, or one of the other Visiting Shards over the years could have. It's also entirely possible that the way everything on Scadrial is suffused with P/R investiture to a highly unusual (possibly unique) degree is scientifically observable to those with the right sensitivities, which may or may not involve any academic understanding.  And since it's also possible to use Investiture and the Spiritual realm to peer into something's past, such a process would reveal a sharp threshold before which nothing there had a past. These are all just examples, but without more (ie "ANY") information on the groups around back then or their actual historic capabilities, I cant form a particular opinion or favorite.  

On a more general note I really dont think should assume that the only entities interested in basic exploration are going to be academics, let alone that Silverlight is the only such entity.  I personally think that whomever is behind the interplanetary caravans (probably not a monolithic group) would be the most likely and the most motivated to find, explore, and map a new planet.  And not for research or academic understanding so much as immediate economic opportunity.  In other words, you might get your rich British explorers that sponsor expeditions to Africa so they can Name a mountain after themselves (but then return home to their estates), and then you get the sort of explorers who found and explored the "New World" on the simple hope that something New and Unexplored would provide opportunity (or escape).