Lore:Inspiral: Difference between revisions

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[[File:LoreInspiral.png|300px|thumb]]
[[File:LoreInspiral.png|300px|thumb]]
'''Inspiral''' is a [[Lore]] book added in ''[[Lightfall]]'' which acts as a catalogue for depictions of the [[Darkness]] and its various effects on others. Entries are unlocked by through various collectibles in [[Root of Nightmares]] along with completing some of its encounters.
'''Inspiral''' is a [[Lore]] book added in ''[[Lightfall]]'' which acts as a catalogue for depictions of the [[Darkness]] and its various effects on others. Entries are unlocked by through various collectibles in [[Root of Nightmares]] along with completing some of its encounters.
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==The Habitable World==
==The Habitable World==
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[[Savathun|A phantasm of the Hive, forbidden and sacred, trespassing into hidden and unwelcoming places]]. It leaves behind a calcified fragment to mark its passing.
[[Savathun|A phantasm of the Hive, forbidden and sacred, trespassing into hidden and unwelcoming places]]. It leaves behind a calcified fragment to mark its passing.


Here is what is taught to the [[Hive]], from the basest of Thralls newly made: that what can be destroyed, must be destroyed. What cannot be destroyed will surpass infinity. Therefore, is it not best to destroy? Only by testing can the truth be found. Only in destruction can the invincible surpass the mortal. Commit the violence, and know you are part of that greatest ambition, to create some ultimacy, which perfects the universe. That which is built on your sacrifice, with your bones as the foundation and your blood as the mortar, is yet part of you. In this way is transcendence achieved.
Here is what is taught to the Hive, from the basest of Thralls newly made: that what can be destroyed, must be destroyed. What cannot be destroyed will surpass infinity. Therefore, is it not best to destroy? Only by testing can the truth be found. Only in destruction can the invincible surpass the mortal. Commit the violence, and know you are part of that greatest ambition, to create some ultimacy, which perfects the universe. That which is built on your sacrifice, with your bones as the foundation and your blood as the mortar, is yet part of you. In this way is transcendence achieved.


Every belief creates a heresy.
Every belief creates a heresy.


I tell you this in a duelist's regard: I made that heresy. Is it not just? It was my hand that fashioned the Hive from the marrow of their predecessors, and it was my voice that whispered this in time. That as much as the Hive were uplifted by the [[worms]], so too were those worms uplifted by the Hive.
I tell you this in a duelist's regard: I made that heresy. Is it not just? It was my hand that fashioned the Hive from the marrow of their predecessors, and it was my voice that whispered this in time. That as much as the Hive were uplifted by the [[Worm|worms]], so too were those worms uplifted by the Hive.
   
   
If they were so weak they needed us to live, this ancient logic of the infinitely sharpened edge should have left them behind long ago.
If they were so weak they needed us to live, this ancient logic of the infinitely sharpened edge should have left them behind long ago.
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I miss you.
I miss you.


Funny, isn't it? How can you miss someone when you know they're always in the [[Darkness|Dark]]? I close my eyes, and in the warm nest-hide of sleep, I know you are real and happy and out there on some other part of the world, far from the river, far from the [untranslatable] where our ancestors (dream/exist) together. But it isn't the same as having you near, knowing your truth is under the same stars. Being able to simply turn my (head/face/bloom?) and ask for your opinion.
Funny, isn't it? How can you miss someone when you know they're always in the Dark? I close my eyes, and in the warm nest-hide of sleep, I know you are real and happy and out there on some other part of the world, far from the river, far from the [untranslatable] where our ancestors (dream/exist) together. But it isn't the same as having you near, knowing your truth is under the same stars. Being able to simply turn my (head/face/bloom?) and ask for your opinion.


Dear sibling, come home. Live in my house, and let me (dream/exist) close to you again, whether in this shape or the new one I will take on. I will not be the same, but which of us ever is? You are not the same as you were as a child, either.
Dear sibling, come home. Live in my house, and let me (dream/exist) close to you again, whether in this shape or the new one I will take on. I will not be the same, but which of us ever is? You are not the same as you were as a child, either.
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Six of us went down into the Pit, and only one crawled out. That is how it was, and that is how it is.
Six of us went down into the Pit, and only one crawled out. That is how it was, and that is how it is.


I have not wanted to look back at that time, but lately it has become prudent to examine what is and is not known of the [[Darkness]]. I know Darkness. I have been trying to distinguish the Darkness from the framework the [[Hive]] use to shape it for long and long, but they are deeply intertwined. The Voice in the Darkness answers some things, but not all.
I have not wanted to look back at that time, but lately it has become prudent to examine what is and is not known of the Darkness. I know Darkness. I have been trying to distinguish the Darkness from the framework the Hive use to shape it for long and long, but they are deeply intertwined. The [[The Witness|Voice in the Darkness]] answers some things, but not all.


I think: The Great Disaster. What did we know? Was there anything besides terror and the swords of the Hive?
I think: [[The Great Disaster]]. What did we know? Was there anything besides terror and the swords of the Hive?


I think: What was in the Pit?
I think: What was in the Pit?
   
   
The [[Lunar Pyramid]] was here all along, as we now know. Since the Collapse, its Darkness has seeped into Luna, into all that surround it. Could one write a treatise on the subspecies of Hive, on the differences written in the various plates of chitin? Have the Hive been here long enough, overrunning our Luna, that a recognizable change in them has evolved?
The [[Lunar Pyramid]] was here all along, as we now know. Since the [[Collapse]], its Darkness has seeped into Luna, into all that surround it. Could one write a treatise on the subspecies of Hive, on the differences written in the various plates of chitin? Have the Hive been here long enough, overrunning our Luna, that a recognizable change in them has evolved?


…I digress. There were times, deep in that dark pit, when I thought: Ah, Sai means to break left. And then she would, knives like lightning, as true as if she herself had told me she would. Or: Ah, there is Omar, beside me, and though he was not, his presence rang comforting in my ears like struck metal.
…I digress. There were times, deep in that dark pit, when I thought: Ah, Sai means to break left. And then she would, knives like lightning, as true as if she herself had told me she would. Or: Ah, there is [[Omar Agah|Omar]], beside me, and though he was not, his presence rang comforting in my ears like struck metal.


Synergy, I thought. The closeness that combat creates. We were pinned together in the dark, and so we learned to read each other perfectly, for to do otherwise would have been to die.
Synergy, I thought. The closeness that combat creates. We were pinned together in the dark, and so we learned to read each other perfectly, for to do otherwise would have been to die.
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[[Sol Divisive|A specter of the Black Garden, rich with the sweetness of flowers and the stink of radiolaria]]. It leaves behind a delicate data-lattice to mark its passing.
[[Sol Divisive|A specter of the Black Garden, rich with the sweetness of flowers and the stink of radiolaria]]. It leaves behind a delicate data-lattice to mark its passing.


Garden state: neutral
[[Black Garden|Garden]] state: neutral


garden&&gardeners==root&&branch==leaf&&flower
garden&&gardeners==root&&branch==leaf&&flower
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anomaly ++
anomaly ++


anomaly Zero = infinite|[[The Witness|witness]];
anomaly Zero = infinite|The Witness|witness;
archive data retrieved. Zero = infinite|witness == (a seed was planted here.) Recorded referent: [[Black Heart|"Black|Heart"]]
archive data retrieved. Zero = infinite|witness == (a seed was planted here.) Recorded referent: [[Black Heart|"Black|Heart"]]


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Function called: escalation. Iteration.
Function called: escalation. Iteration.


Function: winnow. Function: simplify. Function: flatten.
[[Final Shape|Function: winnow. Function: simplify. Function: flatten.]]


//The first defense is offense.
//The first defense is offense.


==Dark Glass==
==Dark Glass==
A reverie of a loyal Ghost, changed and quiet but always steadfast. It leaves behind a gently glowing data fragment to mark its passing.
[[Piri|A reverie of a loyal Ghost, changed and quiet but always steadfast]]. It leaves behind a gently glowing data fragment to mark its passing.


We were in the [[Black Garden|Garden]], and I was going to die, and then I didn't. I watched my Guardian speak to himself, and not himself: a being that wore his shape, spoke with his voice, and offered him salvation. Salvation in the form of forgetting. I didn't know Darkness could do that. I don't think any of us really understood it.
We were in the Garden, and I was going to die, and then I didn't. I watched [[Lisbon-13|my Guardian]] speak to himself, and not himself: a being that wore his shape, spoke with his voice, and offered him salvation. Salvation in the form of forgetting. I didn't know Darkness could do that. I don't think any of us really understood it.


And where did that leave me?
And where did that leave me?
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I tried to run.
I tried to run.


A grasp from out of the [[Darkness]] caught me.
A grasp from out of the Darkness caught me.


I lost something there, like I was taken apart and put back together with a part missing. Like I was really nothing more than a machine, like the [[Traveler]]'s blessing and my own bright heart meant nothing at all more than copper and glass. And when I thought about anything again, anything that wasn't an infinite abyss with no stars, my Guardian and I were outside the Black Garden. He had lost them, and I couldn't tell him, and nothing was the same.
I lost something there, like I was taken apart and put back together with a part missing. Like I was really nothing more than a machine, like the [[Traveler]]'s blessing and my own bright heart meant nothing at all more than copper and glass. And when I thought about anything again, anything that wasn't an infinite abyss with no stars, my Guardian and I were outside the Black Garden. He had lost them, and I couldn't tell him, and nothing was the same.
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I think the voice, that wrong presence in the Darkness, thought that forgetting his team would make him malleable, but it's the other way around, really. Without them, my Guardian is impossible to shift aside. Even for me.
I think the voice, that wrong presence in the Darkness, thought that forgetting his team would make him malleable, but it's the other way around, really. Without them, my Guardian is impossible to shift aside. Even for me.


And that power in the Garden, the one that turned them all on each other… I have my suspicions. I'm an honest Ghost, but.
And that power in the Garden, the one that turned them all on each other… I have my suspicions. I'm an honest [[Ghost]], but.


I've known a lot of con artists.
I've known a lot of con artists.
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[[Mara Sov|A waking dream that appears by night, singing slyly like starlight]]. It leaves behind a crystallized data fragment to mark its passing.
[[Mara Sov|A waking dream that appears by night, singing slyly like starlight]]. It leaves behind a crystallized data fragment to mark its passing.


I am diminished. I know this. It behooves a Queen to be honest with herself, even if such truths are hidden from advisors and subjects. Leaving the Distributary was not a mistake—and, in fact, it was the only possibility, for the expanding wake of the Collapse must someday find that safe haven too—but there are days I regret it.
I am diminished. I know this. It behooves a Queen to be honest with herself, even if such truths are hidden from advisors and subjects. Leaving the [[Distributary]] was not a mistake—and, in fact, it was the only possibility, for the expanding wake of the Collapse must someday find that safe haven too—but there are days I regret it.
   
   
Celestial bodies still spin. Most of them.
Celestial bodies still spin. Most of them.
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(There was a version of me that was grateful… no.)
(There was a version of me that was grateful… no.)


Yet the more I analyze, the more I ponder, the less I understand. A cacophony, an overwhelming weight of presence and thought and intent. A person, but not a person. More than that. Imagine if that first place where we the Awoken came to be had been nothing but screaming chaos.
Yet the more I analyze, the more I ponder, the less I understand. A cacophony, an overwhelming weight of presence and thought and intent. A person, but not a person. More than that. Imagine if that first place where we the [[Awoken]] came to be had been nothing but screaming chaos.


In the noise, in the oppressive weight, I learn pieces as delicate as spiderwebs, as scattered as stars. I lay them out along each other in my thoughts. Here is purpose—not a singular thesis, but the idea of purpose, vicious and brilliant and driven as I ever was. Here is a shape—I see it as a sharpness, like a starless cutout against a distant galaxy, made clear in the negative space. The thoughts of the Hive, I might guess, but it is not quite the same. Purpose and sharpness are discrete from each other here. Darkness, and the sword—no, Darkness BUT the sword.
In the noise, in the oppressive weight, I learn pieces as delicate as spiderwebs, as scattered as stars. I lay them out along each other in my thoughts. Here is purpose—not a singular thesis, but the idea of purpose, vicious and brilliant and driven as I ever was. Here is a shape—I see it as a sharpness, like a starless cutout against a distant galaxy, made clear in the negative space. The thoughts of the Hive, I might guess, but it is not quite the same. Purpose and sharpness are discrete from each other here. Darkness, and the sword—no, Darkness BUT the sword.
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[[Disciples of the Witness|A delusion of a being long dead, an idea of living only to serve, only for one purpose]]. It leaves behind a sharp-edged data fragment to mark its passing.
[[Disciples of the Witness|A delusion of a being long dead, an idea of living only to serve, only for one purpose]]. It leaves behind a sharp-edged data fragment to mark its passing.


There is a conflict in me, O [[The Witness|Witness]], that unsettles your weapon, my self. Why is it that you allow flawed understandings of your great work to persist in all those who serve you, even in your Disciples? Every one of us seems to have some different conception of your Final Shape.
There is a conflict in me, O Witness, that unsettles your weapon, my self. Why is it that you allow flawed understandings of your great work to persist in all those who serve you, even in your Disciples? Every one of us seems to have some different conception of your Final Shape.


I do not need reassurance in my own comprehension. Only to understand what purpose it serves that you have chosen such disparate servants to carry out your will.
I do not need reassurance in my own comprehension. Only to understand what purpose it serves that you have chosen such disparate servants to carry out your will.


Is it a simple answer? Perhaps none who serve you have the capacity to grasp your vision. And so, rather than waste more of your time and attention on explaining something they will never hold, it is enough that they act as you will. The [[Savathun|Witch]] and her Hive carving single-mindedness out of the cloth of the universe, that whispering [[Nezarec|Nightmare]] seeking the fullest gamut of existence, the [[Rhulk|Upender]] destroying all differentiation. Shadows on the wall.
Is it a simple answer? Perhaps none who serve you have the capacity to grasp your vision. And so, rather than waste more of your time and attention on explaining something they will never hold, it is enough that they act as you will. The Witch and her Hive carving single-mindedness out of the cloth of the universe, that whispering [[Nezarec, Final God of Pain|Nightmare]] seeking the fullest gamut of existence, the [[Rhulk, Disciple of the Witness|Upender]] destroying all differentiation. Shadows on the wall.


In this case, it would be hubris to think I have understood your work, that I alone among your Disciples have grasped what purpose it is we serve. All of us must see darkly reflected.
In this case, it would be hubris to think I have understood your work, that I alone among your Disciples have grasped what purpose it is we serve. All of us must see darkly reflected.
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==Winnowing==
==Winnowing==
A dream of a friendly conversation with someone impossible to see, cloaked in shadows. It leaves behind an impossible data fragment to mark its passing.
[[Flower game|A dream of a friendly conversation with someone impossible to see, cloaked in shadows.]] It leaves behind an impossible data fragment to mark its passing.


Here is what a flower knows.
Here is what a flower knows.
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There can be no gardens without knives.
There can be no gardens without knives.
[[Category:Lore]]