Lore:Tenets of AION

"And my vanquisher will read that book, seeking the weapon, and they will come to understand me, where I have been and where I was going."The following is a verbatim transcription of an official document for archival reasons. As the original content is transcribed word-for-word, any possible discrepancies and/or errors are included.

Tenets of AION is a Lore book introduced in The Edge of Fate. Entries are unlocked by progressing through the Edge of Fate campaign. These entries describes the culture of the Aion Initiative's descendants living on Kepler.

Tenets of Observation

We, descendants of AION, hold thusly:

That it is our duty to observe the universe in its great glory; that it is the sacred requirement placed upon us to perceive as truly as possible, with all our senses, that which surrounds us, and specifically this place, KEPLER;

That by this observation, which we carry on unceasing, we come to a place of understanding; that in true perception lies the seed of comprehension of anything and everything;

That we are called to observe before ANY other goal, for no hypothesis nor study can be formed without that observation;

That we understand that we are human, and so it is our eternal temptation to assume, to guess, to fill in the unseen with that which is familiar or easy to us; that we must at all costs resist this in the service of TRUTH;

That it is our mission, our duty, and our deepest cause to observe the nature of the universe as closely to truth as we are capable;

That it is acceptable, in our great cause, to create tools for the purpose of perceiving and recording any phenomena which our human senses are unable to grasp on their own;

That, as these tools are created by we who are human, we must repeatedly interrogate their clarity and accuracy; that we will rely on the tradition of PEER REVIEW to maintain this; that we will ever seek to expand the ranks of those peers to lay clear to us bias and falsehood;

And that we are always and forever students, never masters.

In the service of OBSERVATION, this do we promise: Every year, we begin anew. We mark these years by the circuit of Earth around Sol, in honor of our origin. On the first day, we return our attention to that which we know and come to it with fresh eyes. Behold the sky, the microscope, the humble bacterium. Behold it again, as though an infant. What have we assumed? What may not be true? What do we find again, thoroughly and with rejoicing, is after all true?

This we are commanded: Observe clearly and joyfully, and learn from it all. Glorious are the stars, and beautiful is the telescope. Praise to all that which we may observe, all that which we may record, for us and for our descendants' descendants. Remember how first we recorded our Anomaly, and give thanks.

Notes on Observation

For as long as humans have existed, we have observed the stars.

In the times before history was written, stories of them were passed down from voice to voice, generation after generation. In the days of writing was told the curve of the Earth, the position of the sun. Sailors have ever charted their way by the stars.

Our predecessors of AION did so in their turn.

First, they looked to the stars, and they saw that the stars were brilliant, that in their light was written the movement of planets and suns a million years distant; they saw the planets of Sol more closely, and the stellar bodies surrounding Sol, and learned what they could see, and what they could see only by the shadows that were cast.

Second, they looked to those cast shadows, to movements of gravity, pushes and pulls that were true and untrue.

And lastly, they saw that there was something unexplained.

They called it the Kepler Object, for the father of astronomy, and it was impossible by all other laws, but the data was what the data was, and so it was let to be. Rather than manipulate data, the predecessors of AION sought explanation. They knew what SHOULD be, and that the Kepler Object was not; but where lesser scientists would have claimed it was error, the predecessors of AION believed the truth of their instruments and of their senses, and instead asked: Why?

And thus it was that when the predecessors of AION, passing this mystery along their lines, finally gained the capacity to see the stars for themselves, here is where we ventured. To Kepler. To observe for ourselves, and to understand. What is it that breaks the laws no human has written? How is the fabric bent here, and only here?

What is the truth?

We will find it, said those of AION, and so we did. So, we came to Kepler, and we heard the whisper of the Anomaly.

Here, and now, we live in the radiance of our Anomaly because those who came before us LOOKED, saw clearly, and sought answers. As they lived, so must we: seeking always to observe what is truly present.

Tenets of Hypothesis

We, descendants of AION, hold thusly:

That, to experiment sensibly and fruitfully, we must have a hypothesis; that experiment without purpose does not teach us and wastes valuable research material; that the proving or disproving of hypotheses in the way of the ancient tradition is the most valuable method by which to apply our efforts;

That testing the same hypothesis numerous times to confirm the results are sound does have value; that experimenting with the same hypothesis through different methods confers as much knowledge as repeating the same experiment twice; that iteration is the key to learning;

That we must try to prove hypotheses affirmatively, rather than to prove negatives; that the lesson of absence, while valuable, requires too much of us in this time and at this place to bring us true learning; that it is impossible to fully and without question prove something does not exist;

That we must begin with a question and formulate the hypothesis as an answer; that acting thusly confirms that the hypothesis has relevance to the moment, and thus may further our sacred mission to understand the universe around us;

That we base a hypothesis upon facts that we have observed about this universe, rather than suppositions or assumptions; that a hypothesis is a reasonable prediction that we may gain knowledge from, rather than something unreasonable and easily disproven, which gifts us with no new learning;

That to formulate a poor hypothesis can lead to the formation of a poor experiment; that we are bound by our sacred duty to treat each hypothesis as though the universe itself rests on it; that we must have honesty with each other and ourselves about the utility and soundness of any given hypothesis; that we must proceed forward in learning at all costs, any arrogance sacrificed on the altar of peer review.

And that we will fail, and by that failure learn.

In the service of HYPOTHESIS, this do we promise: Every year, we begin anew. In the season that was once spring, we revisit experiments we have conducted before, hypotheses already tested—ours, or our ancestors', those passed down to us as inheritors. We set aside our existing processes to celebrate previous experiments, and we transform our current studies with new hypotheses based on those facts we once acted on. In this way, we do not let old studies lie idle, for much may be learned by examining old facts in new lights.

This we are commanded: Reason practically, theorize testably, and learn from each experience. Blessed is every disproved hypothesis, and beautiful the broken glass of failure. Sing praise to every micron's increment of progress, for it all has a great worth, every scrap. In the mistake is written the Anomaly's call, and in the proof, our answer.

Notes on Hypothesis

The scientist, Idris, wished to observe the growth of microbes. He cultivated them in different ways, but as they grew, he found that in his eagerness, he had made no prediction about what he had expected to happen. He had data, but no fruitfulness. The microbes responded to dark matter, but where was his control group? They thrived in morning and night alike, but to what point, that knowledge?

And so the scientist, Idris, was forced to begin again. None of the microbes could be used for further testing, so he returned to the source, with sterile equipment and clear labels, as demanded by our customs.

On this second experiment, the scientist, Idris, said, "I believe that the microbes will multiply aggressively in the presence of dark matter." And while it contained knowledge gained from his earlier, fruitless experiment, he was able to test this hypothesis cleanly. He isolated a sample colony from dark matter and cultivated further microbes with the presence of dark matter.

But when his Dean asked him, "What is the factor of multiplication? And how little dark matter is required to enable a colony to grow most optimally?" the scientist, Idris, could not answer, for he had forgotten to include specifics in his hypothesis.

And so the scientist, Idris, was forced to begin again. He set aside the colonies he had worked with and returned to the source, with sterile equipment and clear labels. This time, before he began new work, he stopped to consider truly what he most wanted to know, and what he could most closely predict based on his existing data.

On this third experiment, the scientist, Idris, said, "Microbes exposed to a small concentration of dark matter show enhanced multiplicative capabilities over those exposed to none at all." And he further elaborated his hypothesis with specific numbers, beginning at a very small concentration and cultivating microbe colonies with larger and larger ratios.

And when he was asked for the results of his learning, Idris presented data regarding how the descendants of AION could most efficiently cultivate the microbes.

And his Dean said, "You have done well, and brought new data to us by the thoroughness of your work; and our children and our children's children will know these laws as Idris's. Our microbes will sing to the Anomaly. Let it be so." And so it was.

Tenets of Testing and Analysis

We, descendants of AION, hold thusly:

That it is not enough to observe and theorize; that practical application and experimentation is required to truly understand the universe around us; that therefore we are bound by duty and sacred mission to construct experiments that test our hypotheses in the living world around us, with as little harm and as much gain as possible;

That failure of any experiment is not disaster; that in failure, we are bound to learn, whether it is better methodology, failure points of the experiment, or something else entirely;

And further, that failure of an experiment is distinct from failure to prove a hypothesis, which is also known to provide valuable information; that disproving a hypothesis, or failing to prove one, informs us by the absence or presence of something new, which is worth learning from and observing;

That to maximize our chances of gaining new and valued information, experiments of narrow scope and incremental design hold great value to us; that such experiments may be easily handled logistically and the results built upon rapidly;

But that experiments broad in scope also bring us great value, so long as the scientist is willing to spend the time and effort in deep thoroughness, such that no part of the experiment is wasted;

That achievement of results alone is not enough; that the data which comes forth from any experiment must be thoroughly analyzed for meaning; that only once analysis is complete can the data be applied back to the hypothesis to learn from the intersection of the two;

That the results of an experiment are sought for a purpose, and not only for the joy of learning that such data exists; that we are called to measure results against hypothesis and thus complete the cycle, not simply generate endless data;

And that although there is joy in the simplicity of learning something new, more joy and meaning is to be had in the completion of the method's cycle, in shaping that learning into purpose and building upon our understanding of the universe.

In the service of EXPERIMENTATION, this do we promise: Every year, we begin anew. In the season that was once summer, we return to old hypotheses, cast off as impossible to shape, and examine them once more. We ask: What would be required to test this? Can the hypothesis become something that may be proven or disproven? For this is when we repurpose the cast-off and the failed and strive to find our way forward to something new that may yet bring understanding.

This we are commanded: Test everything, prove or disprove the theories, and learn from it all. Glorious is failure! Sing the praises of knowing un-truth, for in its shadow can we see truth even so. Rejoice in every experiment, no matter how small, and know that our work and our striving makes us, too, holy.

Notes on Testing and Analysis

This story we are told by those who came before, brought with us from the long-ago. The shape of it may have changed, but the spirit is true. This is how we came to see our Anomaly.

There was a scientist whose astrophysical experiment failed. She crafted it carefully and thoroughly, and there was no fault in her hypothesis. But even so, the hypothesis could neither be proven nor disproven. The numbers were correct in how they were obtained, and when her peer checked and re-checked her work, the math was correct. But it was wrong, too, by an order of magnitude. The data retrieved was nowhere near what it should have been.

Because the nature of the failure had no visible logic, the scientist was perplexed. She repeated her experiment with new tools, new equipment. Her inputs sanitized, her method scrutinized and repeated when no fault was found.

Once again, the experiment failed to produce expected results, the gathered data far beyond the bounds of prediction, although now the failure was of a known sort, foreseen as an outlying possibility.

And so, the scientist began to perceive a pattern. And when a third experiment produced the same sort of failure, she knew that she had found something. She sensed that this was the movement of something greater..

Thus, the scientist listened. She set down that first question, which her first experiments had been aimed at, and she took up this new cause: to identify that failure with purpose. First, she learned its parameters, finding where those outlying datasets were easiest to record; then she learned how not to fail, avoiding those parameters. And within the space she framed by those failures and avoidances, she learned a new truth about this universe.

Something reached back to her, visible only through the data, through the analysis of mistakes and the visualization of math, and through dark matter, our dearly revered, which gives weight to the world around it in ways that should not be and yet must be.

This is how we first learned the Anomaly might speak: by listening to the virtues of failure. This is how, eventually, we came to our blessed Anomaly and began study of the million-year project that it is.

Imagine if she had not looked. Imagine if she saw only the failure of instruments, or assumed that she herself had been wrong. Imagine if she was not rigorous enough in her studies to try and try again.

So, it is our duty to learn from every failure, assay every test thrice and more, and be open to new possibilities. To remain blinkered on one outcome, one cause, is to cut off the road to the future.

These signs are blessed of the Anomaly: datasets that cannot be, and mathematics so gloriously misplaced that they cannot be simple error. By their ways in gravity shall we know them, and in the distortion and the broken law shall we find them, by their grace.

Tenets of Iteration

We, descendants of AION, hold thusly:

That to try again is the most noble and vital of endeavors; that one result, one experiment, has never been enough to prove or disprove anything; that even when we are satisfied, we will and must try once more, simply to be sure;

That in assaying the same experiment over many times, though we believe we already know what the results will be, we receive confirmation, and with it, peace and grounding;

That in those times where we are shown that we are wrong, we still gain wisdom of the shape of the world; that when experiments which have been coursed 99 times fail on the hundredth, we are bound to consider that this may not be only an outlier, but a new truth or some new change of the universe shown to us in glory;

That to strive to avoid failure will ever teach us nothing; that for the willingness to chance wrongness and failure, we are gifted with the clearest certainties of all, that which comes from having found them by our own endeavors;

That any failure may also be reproduced, and should be reproduced, to ensure that this, too, is understood, may be identified and given name, and that we do not fumble in the dark with only success as goal;

That, on occasion, accidents happen which cannot be reproduced by our own efforts; that to learn which those are is as noble a cause, and so we repeat them; that such accidents always have some other cause which we may come to learn of;

That we will recognize the difference between learning to understand a failure and questing into dead ends which we know will disappoint us; that it is nonetheless good to understand the nature of those dead ends, and return once we have come to peace with them;

That solutions are shaped by increments; that that we will not always see that good and fruitful final answer; that a circle may be made by a hundred straight lines, and we must draw every single one to see that circle, for we have no concept of its existence with only the first.

In the service of ITERATION, this do we promise: Every year, we begin anew. As the day and the night balance in equal measure, at the beginning of the season that was once autumn, we revise those experiments we have been reluctant to change. We will pick them up and take the next step forward to understanding, by success or failure, the truth of the heart of the universe.

This we are commanded: Move forward, always, and find solace in repetition, even as we find learning in change. Glory to the iteration and blessings on the thankless work; here do we thank you! Holy are those who persist through challenges and find the way to truth.

Notes on Iteration

From the commencement of the 51st class of neophytes, given by most holy Dean Rebecca in the 60th once-autumn since the establishment of Kepler's microbe colonies—

What does it tell us if we have one failure in a group of three? Is that statistically significant?

Says Aria: Of course it is statistically significant—a 33.3% failure rate is far too large to ignore. And says Dafydd: Of course it is by no way statistically significant—there is a clear majority even at this small scale, and to ignore that is folly.

Both are wrong, of course.

The true answer is that we have no way to tell. At three trials, one failure could be either. We cannot begin to see true statistical significance until the dataset has expanded, until we know if that one failure is truly 33.3 percent, or if it is only one among a hundred, and we found that single lapse early.

And even then, I would caution you. Do not write off that single failure. You know, of course, of penicillin

One culture contaminated with mold. One. A single outlier, out of so many that we do not bother to count them. And from that, the greatest miracle of medicine until the Ares-1 team returned from Mars.

There is our paradox. One single data point is never enough. That contaminated culture was repeated, again and again, until certainty was achieved. Three data points is never enough. Even if all are in agreement, three cannot encompass the full breadth of experience. And yet, one data point, among a thousand others, can still be enough to say to us: There is something here.

And so, I say to you all: There is something here! Listen for the call, and face it boldly when you hear it, for you will know the truth of that which you study. Someday, perhaps, that call will be from our beloved Anomaly itself, and to that call, I urge you: Look, and listen, and answer.

A Conclusion

We, descendants of AION, hold thusly:

That there is never a time when we have learned all we can learn, for the wonders of the universe are boundless and even we many cannot hold all of it; that nevertheless, there may come moments in the process where we conclude chapters of our research and pause before we move on to a future experiment;

That to rest in this time is good and proper; that neither scientist nor machine may operate at full speed, strength, and sanctity for the complete duration of their lifetime; that rest begets better experiments;

That it is kind and virtuous of us to thank any living participants in our experiments, with words or deeds as appropriate; that the unliving participants are also owed thanks, in our recordings of the experiments or in our consideration of the world in which we live;

That all of our results we will take with us as we move into the future; that no experiment is done only to be forgotten; that our future is built on every experiment we have ever done, and every experiment attempted by those who came before us, back unto the day a human learned the correct method to reproduce FIRE;

That if the understandings we achieve now become something else in the future, or if something we prove to satisfaction now is later disproven, it does not mean our work now was for nothing; that rather, we understand that such disproof could not exist without our work of now to measure it against, and so we look to the past with reverence, rather than bitterness or disdain;

That we are not alone; that we are never alone; that in our deep history we are but one branch; that we are one branch from a great and infinite tree; that we prepare for those who will look back to honor us just as we honor those whose theses we build upon now.

In the service of CONCLUSION, this we do promise: Every year, we begin anew. In the season that was once winter, we lay down our successes and frustrations alike. We stop, and we rest. We will clasp our hands together and learn from that which our fellows and forebears have studied, for all of this is done for us! Your sibling learns so they may share that knowledge with you, and in this quiet time of the year, we honor that generosity and return it threefold.

This we are commanded: Learn, always, and never lose sight of past nor future. Glorious is the open mind, and joyful is the one who learns. To those who have come before, sing praise, and to those who will come after, bless them with our work.

We strive in the radiance of our Anomaly, always.