Lucas's Character's Details

This page will provide private details of Lucas’s character, for Lucas and the GMs only.

The concept

tWhy was the universe created? How was it made? Why are we in it?

tMankind has been asking questions like these since he first left the ranks of the simple beasts. In learning to look ahead and plan for tomorrow, Man has learned the importance of the past. From there, it’s a small step to walk backwards and start asking the Big Questions.

tFor each question, there have been a thousand, a million answers. Over the millenia, these answers have been given, ranging in complexity from one-word witticisms to great works spanning multiple volumes and touching on every subject from ethics, to ontology, to dietary recommendations. A vast menagerie of characters have been variously credited and blamed, from squabbling deities to rainbow serpents to exploding impossibilities. Yet despite the incredible variety of these answers, there is one commonality between them: ultimately, every one of them is unfullfilling. So it must be, because generation after generation, age after age, the questions are still asked with very little variation.

tThis story is yet another answer. Note that it is not ‘‘The’’ Answer, only ‘‘an’’ answer, and really, only the beginning of one. The middle and the end is left as an exercise for the reader.

::* * *::

tIn the beginning was the Word, and for a time, It was happy. It lived in the center of the emptiness that would become our universe like a cherished child, the only thing that was in a vast rolling sea of that which was not. It was like a seed, but one without light or water, without soil or even a planet, without gravity to hold It in place and teach It which way was up, without time to separate growing from dying from all the infinite moments we call life. It was a seed that contained all those things, but It was a seed that did not know how to grow. Sitting in this ignorance, the Word became lonely, and yearned to become more.

tAs It yearned, It began to stretch and squirm, to bend, until at last, bound pointed at bound, It sat in self-contemplation, like an embryonic Oroborous. Suddenly, there was not one Word, but two Words: the original, and Its opposite.

tThe two Words examined each other closely and, finding that each was a perfect compliment of the other in every single way, they began to play together. As they tumbled and rolled, pirouetted, spun and danced through the vast undifferentiated nothingness, they began first to shine, then to swell, to grow, to change and multiply, becoming like a school of tiny, glittering fish, swimming in a vast grey ocean.

tAs the Words changed and grew, the universe took shape around them. First the big things, like light and time, mass and the four primary forces, then increasingly specific things, like the elements, the various stars and galaxies and all their attendant planets and moons and asteroids, and finally, at the very end, smallest of the small, the plants and animals and viruses and intelligent thinking gases. Each thing in this new universe, every force and fish, every increment of every measurable state, every subatomic particle, every form of snow, from the dry, silty type that happens when an atmosphere freezes, to the heavy, wet kind that makes the best snowmen, every that is, was and will be, had a whole legion of words to describe it. Each property and differentiation could be expressed both specifically and abstractly, with great precision or poetic vagueness, if one but knew the correct Divine Word.

tThese words soon took to organizing themselves, rank upon rank, into a Divine Grammar, each branch of the Grammar with its own leader. There was the Divine Verb, the Philosopher’s Stone, in charge of movement and change, conversion and dynamism. There was the Divine Conjunction, in charge of bringing together sometimes disparate elements and allowing them to coexist peacefully, which in turn wove the whole of the universe into one tightly interconnected web. And of course, there was the Divine Noun, in charge of all acts of creation, the expression of all being, of all essence.

tAt first, the Noun was happy, lost in the vast orgy of creation that is our universe, immersed in the simple joy of knowing its purpose and following its own nature. However, as time went on, it became more and more unhappy. You see, the Noun was cursed, as all great creators are cursed, and the Noun, greatest creator of all, was cursed all the moreso for Its abilities. It could look at a waterfall, for instance, and instantly tell the speed and temperature of the water or the height of the fall, could tell its history in intricate detail, could name the precise moment when a droplet that would grow to a roaring cataract first trickled down a hillside, could tell its meaning and purpose in the whole of the universe, could name every water molecule individually and command them to dance to Its will. And while this was all very edifying in its own fashion, the Noun could never experience the simple joy of the waterfall’s existence. It could never feel the cool of its spray on a summer day, It could never be soothed by the rhythm of its roar or feel the the awe and splendor of being in the presence of something so beautiful and pure. In short, the Noun could never see the totality of our universe as anything more than a very detailed and well-written novel.

tAnd so the Noun devised a plan to end is unhappiness. A simple plan, it should be noted, for the Noun was pragmatic, a pragmatism born from knowing the whole of creation as closely as a mother knows her new-born child. It would, the Noun decided, simply run away, and the whole of Divine Noundom, from time to disinguenuineness to the specific shade of a lover’s eyes in the last ray of a cool summer’s dusk, would have to get along as best they could. It would leave it all behind and become a part of Its own creation.

tAnd this is precisely what It did.

::* * *::

The character was born Russell Tanner Miner in rural West Virginia, on December 17th, 2278. He grew up in a Sixteener congregation that existed as an insular fringe community. Details on the community itself are still being discussed between myself and Curtis; however, the community would have been poor to the point of destitute, would have accepted what technology they could afford, would have been very insular and thus largely self-regulated, and would have refused any medical attention for religious reasons.

At the age of 14, Russ more or less volluntarilly accepted his salvation. The minister of the congregation laid hands on him and commanded that he should be filled with the Holy Spirit. At this point, Russ was possessed by a portion of the Logos, specifically the part of the divine grammar dealing with being and essence.

At this point, Russ began to babble incoherantly. This was at first considered normal, as speaking in tongues is considered by the Pentacostal church to be a sign of the believer’s baptism in spirit. However, as he spoke, things began to change. Windows shattered, the snakes all turned to ash, the building around them began to twist, and those in witness heard a loud multi-phonic roaring sound in place of Russ’s voice.

It was decided by the community that the minister had, in fact, been working for the Devil, and had put the Devil into Russ. Thus it was unanimously decided that Russ and the minister would both be hung.

The minister was hung first, successfully. However, when it came time to hang Russ, he began to cry, which came through as a high-pitched warbling keening noise. As he was pushed forward, his noose became a snake, and he fell to the ground, sustaining only minor injuries. (The snake is presumed to have survived as well, as no sign of it was found.) As he struck the ground, he let out a cry, at which dozens of birds burst from the tree which had been disgnated for the lynching. Witnesses swear that the birds were, variously, either doves or crows, depending on their disposition towards Russ. In actuality, they were largely sparrows and swallows, aside from 15 robins, 17 orioles, 3 woodpeckers, and one resplendent quetzal, which was later found dead in a city and presumed to have escaped from a zoo.

Russ was able to escape at this point, aided by the terror in those who were in attendance. Through his own power and hitchiking, he eventually made it to a city, where he lived homeless for a time. He very soon started to fasion bizarre sculptures out of any handy materials, an attempt by the divine grammarto realize multi-dimensional universal concepts in three-dimensions. By selling some of these as artwork and doing odd-jobs and menial labor, Russ was able to eventually able to afford a small apartment and accumulate more supplies for his "artwork". However, he never spoke again, continuing to do so to this day. His memory of his previous life and the events leading up to his presence in the city are largely missing, as his mind struggles to deal with the presence of the universal grammar. Having forgotten his name, he took the name Noun and has used it since.

His sculptures became larger and more complex, showing up in local papers. Finally, he gained some notereity in "news of the weird"-type publications and human interest sections for stealing the shopping carts of a nearby grocery store, cutting them apart, and assembling them into a large tangled mass in the store’s parking lot overnight. He was arrested and, when it was discovered he couldn’t talk, he was sent to a doctor, who then sent him to a psychiatrist after verifying that all his vocal bits seemed to be in place and ready for use. The psychiatrist then diagnosed Noun as having a rare and unusual syndrome, probably a form autism, and Noun was therefore aquitted of charges, the court considering him to not be mentally competetant enough to stand trial for his actions. He was placed in a halfway house and was released after a year, with the stipulation that he be observed and receive regular checkups from a social worker. He refused most of the resulting medical care, and was eventually dropped from the system, as he was deemed to not be a danger to himself or those around him.

Noun managed to parlay his fifteen minutes of fame into the founding of an actual art studio, which to this day is his sole occupation.

Noun has very poor memory, and almost no memory of his past. Occasionally, things that happened to him previously will come back to him for a while, but these memories tend to be disjointed and fleeting. He continues to be distrustful of religion and religious figures, as well as modern medicine, and does his best to avoid both; however, he will accept medicine if the choice is between that and dying. His artwork tends to be sculptures arranged in tangled, mind-bending ways, which are then affixed with paintings, drawings or designs that add to the illusion of imposible depths and dimensions. Any attempt to communicate in a non-verbal but linguistic manner results in one of these sculptures, even an act as simple as writing his name. Noun can, however, communicate through something like the Zodiac telepathic system, by focusing his thoughts into single images. It should be noted that any images created in this manner are unusually vivid. Noun can, by a similar process, produce more mainstream artwork, with results similarly vivid and real-looking. If he chose to carve an apple from a block of wood, for instance, and then paint it, he could turn out something that would be nearly indistinguishable from an apple.

Noun has an intuitive ability with pattern recognition, particularly mult-dimensional pattern recognition. He can, to a certain very limited extent, understand things in more than three dimensions. For instance, he may be able to focus on a hypercube and perceive it as a cube; however, he’s not able to see through time or anything crazy. Similarly, his may be of interest to topologists. Lately, he has been experimenting with virtual reality.

It is assumed that, as Noun progresses as a character, his art will become more significant, perhaps developing the ability to become "real". Perhaps someday he’ll be able to create his very own Escherian Impossibility Cube golem!

Character personality questionnaire

Answering the following specific questions will help you to flesh out your character. Please answer each one with a number between 1 and 5, inclusive. Feel free to provide additional comments if you think your answer to a particular question is misleading or needs further clarification. And remember: there is no requirement for your character to be "good" or "evil" – such choices are entirely up to you.

Would your character (1=Never, 5=Always):

1. Lie to a friend to protect his feelings? 1
2. Help a frail old woman cross the street? 3 - Maybe, if he didn’t have anything pressing to do
3. Tell anyone if he saw something widely believed to be impossible? 1 - Probably not, given the barriers to "telling," and his general lack of trust in people.
4. Give money to a beggar on the street? 2 - There’s a decent chance he wouldn’t notice the begger
5. Seek vengeance if wronged? 2
6. Steal if he thought he could get away with it? 3, 1 - Noun has stolen in the past, and doesn’t have any real compunctions about doing it again if he needs to; however, if there’s no need, he won’t steal. On the other hand, what he considers a "need" is not necessarilly what others might consider a need. For instance, the afformentioned shopping carts.

Does your character believe in (1=Not at all, 5=Strongly):

1. Aliens? 3 - Not really something he thinks about.
2. Karma? 1 - No. People trample on you, and it’s up to you to stand up for yourself.
3. Free will (i.e., many possible futures)? 5 - See the previous.
4. Time travel? 3 - Not something he really thinks about, either.
5. Equality for all sentient beings? This is another thing Noun doesn’t think too much about, since he thinks more in "ises and isn’ts," rather than "shoulds and shouldn’ts." He resists generalizing against a large group based on a few members, and thus could be said to be in favor of equality. However, if his common sense dictates he will generalize, he will do so. Overall, though, he generall thinks that each race has its own good guys and bad guys, and he’s bound to meet some of each if he meets enough of them. In terms of robots, he generally thinks of them as very powerful computers, but not quite the same as human. It’s not a violent hatred, it’s just a general assumption that he has.
6. God or other supreme force? 1, 5 - Noun could be considered a heroic atheist. He "says" very loudly that he does not believe in God, that he distrusts religion, and believes himself when he says so. However, there’s a very real element of fear here, where there wouldn’t be fear if he didn’t believe in their existence. This fear arises from both his early life, and from the fact that the divine noun is terribly afraid of being caught and removed from reality.

What does your character think about the following statements (1=Strongly disagree, 3=Neutral, 5=Strongly agree):

1. Now that machines are smarter than humans, biological life is obsolete. 2 - He’s an artist. Machines don’t art well.
2. The Caretaker has no business meddling in our affairs. 4 - He’d rather the Caretaker didn’t meddle in his affairs. The Caretaker is a god, and he doesn’t like gods. He’d really rather they all just leave him be in peace. That said, he doesn’t really seperate things into "rights". The Caretaker CAN meddle in our affairs, and Noun doesn’t LIKE it. Whether the Caretaker SHOULD or not is not really ever considered.
3. Those who can wield magic are obligated to use their power for the good of all Terrans. 1 - See free will/Karma
4. No matter how realistic the programming, machine intelligence is an illusion; thus, machines should not be afforded the same rights as true sentient life. 3 - He doesn’t really think about what "actual" intelligence is versus "seeming" intelligence. He just knows that machines don’t art good, so they can’t be the quite the same as people. However, that don’t mean they’re not good at other things.
5. Humanity has been rash in seeding other worlds with mystic energy before fully grasping the ramifications. 3 - Not something he thinks about.
6. Technology is more dangerous than mystic energy, and is more likely to destroy us some day. 2 - No, technology seems pretty nice.

Enlightened (Chronomancer)

The world is an illusion, one fabricated by the needs and desires of creatures that live within it. By simply observing the world in a different and startlingly simple way, the chronomancer learns to send his magic forth into a realm our perceptions tell us should not exist. If a simple epiphany can grant such power, then what might someone dedicated to the twisting of his own perceptions achieve?

To many, the enlightened is simply insane, and perhaps they are indeed on a quest to a form of sanitised madness. As their senses and perceptions drift further from what anyone else would consider normal, the enlightened prefer to find solitude in the wilderness far from cities and other settlements.

Class Information

The following information pertains to the enlightened advanced class.

Hit Die

The enlightened gains 1d6 hit points per level. The character’s constitution modifier applies.

Class Skills

The enlightened’s class skills are as follows. Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Int), Mysticraft (Int), Profession (Wis), Senses (Wis), Stealth (Dex), Swim (Str).

The enlightened receives (5 + Int) skill points per level.

Table: The enlightened

|Class Level | Base Attack | Fort Save | Ref Save | Will Save | Special | Def. Bonus | Rep. Bonus| |1st|+0|+2|+0|+2|Time magic, suppress paradox|+1|+2| |2nd|+1|+3|+0|+3|Mind clock|+1|+2| |3rd|+1|+3|+1|+3|Insightful attack|+2|+2| |4th|+2|+4|+1|+4|Quirk, toughened|+2|+3| |5th|+2|+4|+1|+4|Slow motion|+3|+3| |6th|+3|+5|+2|+5|Heart of paradox|+3|+3| |7th|+3|+5|+2|+5|Toughened|+4|+4| |8th|+4|+6|+2|+6|Quirk|+4|+4| |9th|+4|+6|+3|+6|Timeless body|+5|+4| |10th|+5|+7|+3|+7|Suppress time|+5|+5|

Requirements

To become an enlightened, a character must fulfill the following criteria. Ability Scores: Wisdom 13+ Feats: Iron Will, Blind-Fight, Chronomancer Skills: Knowledge (physical sciences) 9 ranks, Profession 5 ranks, Treat Injury 5 ranks

Class Features

The following features pertain to the enlightened advanced class.

Time Magic: The enlightened has bonus to his Time Magic score equal to his enlightened class level. For details on usages of Time Magic, see the Encyclopaedia Arcane: Chronomancy. (Among other things, a chronomancer’s Time Sense check is 1d20 + Time Magic score + Wisdom modifier.)

Suppress Paradox: The enlightened receives a permanent one-point reduction to his permanent Grammar (paradox) score for each level he takes in the enlightened advanced class.

Mind Clock: The enlightened receives a +4 competence bonus to all Time Sense checks due to his intimate connection to the continuum.

Insightful Attack: At 3rd level, an enlightened with a Grammar score of 9 or less may ignore any miss chance that applies to an attack against concealed targets. The enlightened must still know there is someone in the general area before he can make an insightful attack.

Quirk: The enlightened’s strange state of mind begins to make him something other than what he was. At 4th and 8th level, the enlightened rolls for a new quirk (see the Paradox of Power chapter in Encyclopaedia Arcane: Chronomancy). There is no additional Grammar loss from acquiring this quirk.

Toughened: The enlightened spends much of his time inflicting poisonous or damaging experimentation upon his own body. At 4th level, the enlightened receives a +2 bonus to all Fortitude saves against poison and disease and gains 3 wound points. At 7th level, the enlightened increases this bonus to +4 and he receives an additional 3 wound points.

Slow Motion: The enlightened can slow time for a critical moment during certain physical actions. Only an enlightened with a Grammar score of 5 or less can use this ability. The enlightened and everything else in the area seems to stop for a few moments, the whole world going into slow motion. The mental faculties of everyone present perceive the change in time flow but, unlike the enlightened, they cannot take advantage of the shift. The enlightened is able to make use of the change in the perception of time. For the next 1d4 rounds after use, this ability gives the enlightened a +2 circumstnace bonus to any attack roll, reflex saving throw, balance, climb, jump and tumble check. Slow motion may be used a number of times per day equal to the enlightened’s Wisdom modifier.

Heart of Paradox: An enlightened who has reached 6th level recovers from temporary Gramma faster than most. Each day, he loses a number of points of Grammar equal to his Wisdom modifier.

Timeless Body: After reaching 9th level, an enlightened no longer suffers penalties for aging and cannot be magically aged; any penalties he may have already suffered remain in place. Bonuses still accrue, and the enlightened will still die of old age unless other means are used to prolong his life.

Suppress Time: At 10th level, an enlightened with a Grammar score of 0 or less can use ‘‘time stop’’ as a spell-like ability as cast by a 17th level sorcerer. The enlightened receives a point of temporary paradox for each use of this ability and can only use this ability once per week. There are no verbal components for suppress time as the enlightened simply refuses to be carried forward in time for 1d4+1 rounds.

Stabilization

According to the Chronomancy book, the Will saves for stabilized characters become less and less difficult each hour. This scheme is assuming the character wishes to pass the save in order to forcefully revert back. I prefer to conceptualize it as the continuum enforcing the natural order more and more strongly as time passes.

N = # of hours passed - time magic score - key ability modifier

The default result each hour is for the stabilized character to revert back. However, a stabilized character may attempt to exert his will to remain (avoid reverting) by passing a Will save DC N. If the stabilized character does not choose to exercise this option (e.g., if he was stabilized unwillingly and he wants to revert), then the Chronomancer may choose to impose his own will, preventing the stabilized character from reverting unless he passes a Will save DC 10 - N.

^-+public class Revert {+- -+~hshs~public static void main(String[] args) {+- -+~hshshshs~for (int w=-7; w<=15; w++) {+- -+~hshshshshshs~for (int n=-15; n<=15; n++) {+- -+~hshshshshshshshs~System.out.print("Will bonus ");+- -+~hshshshshshshshs~if (w >= 0) System.out.print("+");+- -+~hshshshshshshshs~System.out.println(w + " (N=" + n + ")");+- -++- -+~hshshshshshshshs~int stayDC = + n;+- -+~hshshshshshshshs~int stayRoll = stayDC - w;+- -+~hshshshshshshshs~if (stayRoll < 2) stayRoll = 2;+- -+~hshshshshshshshs~if (stayRoll > 20) stayRoll = 20;+- -+~hshshshshshshshs~int stayProb = 100 * (21 - stayRoll) / 20;+- -+~hshshshshshshshs~System.out.println(" Willing: DC=" + stayDC + "; roll=" + stayRoll ++- -+~hshshshshshshshshshs~"+; stay=" + stayProb + "%; revert=" + (100 - stayProb) + "%");+- -++- -+~hshshshshshshshs~int goDC = 10 - n;+- -+~hshshshshshshshs~int goRoll = goDC - w;+- -+~hshshshshshshshs~if (goRoll < 2) goRoll = 2;+- -+~hshshshshshshshs~if (goRoll > 20) goRoll = 20;+- -+~hshshshshshshshs~int goProb = 100 * (21 - goRoll) / 20;+- -+~hshshshshshshshs~System.out.println(" Unwilling: DC=" + goDC + "; roll=" + goRoll ++- -+~hshshshshshshshshshs~"+; stay=" + (100 - goProb) + "%; revert=" + goProb + "%");+- -++- -+~hshshshshshshshs~// sanity checks+- -+~hshshshshshshshs~if (stayProb < 100 - goProb) {+- -+~hshshshshshshshshshs~System.err.print("Will bonus ");+- -+~hshshshshshshshshshs~if (w >= 0) System.err.print("+");+- -+~hshshshshshshshshshs~System.err.print(w + " (N=" + n + "): ");+- -+~hshshshshshshshshshs~System.err.println("Easier to stay unwillingly (" ++- -+~hshshshshshshshshshshshs~stayProb + " vs " + (100 - goProb) + "!");+- -+~hshshshshshshshs~}+- -+~hshshshshshshshs~if (goProb < 100 - stayProb) {+- -+~hshshshshshshshshshs~System.err.print("Will bonus ");+- -+~hshshshshshshshshshs~if (w >= 0) System.err.print("+");+- -+~hshshshshshshshshshs~System.err.print(w + " (N=" + n + "): ");+- -+~hshshshshshshshshshs~System.err.println("Easier to go by trying to stay (" ++- -+~hshshshshshshshshshshshs~goProb + " vs " + (100 - stayProb) + "!");+- -+~hshshshshshshshs~}+- -+~hshshshshshs~}+- -+~hshshshs~}+- -+~hshs~}+- -+}+-^