View Flat HTML
View Metadata
Search Post
Several meta layers up, there is a... room.
As a courtesy to those of its occupants who prefer rooms, it does have a modality in which it presents itself that way: a room, with as many chairs as it needs, and a bulletin board, and a vending machine with candy and chips and concepts sold for nothing to anyone with the right prerequisites.
On the bulletin board, if one chooses to perceive it as a bulletin board (and not as a wiki or a flower or an ineffable cloud of information or an eternally malleable clay tablet) people whose only common trait is that they get to come here leave each other notes.
Notes about physics, about magic, about grand sweeps of narrative. Notes from people desperate to fix a never-ending heap of problems, smug about the condition of their homes, curious about the wider omniverse. Signed with names and sigils and "you ought to know who I am". Terse or verbose or nested with as much meaning as interests the reader.
In the vending machine, if one chooses to perceive it as a vending machine (and not a basket or a fruiting tree or a file repository or a crystalline fractal) are many things... and they have notes connecting them to their reviews on the bulletin board.
This one, for instance. She (it's usually, but not invariably, a she) has fairly glowing reviews from most of her previous purchasers. Here is what you need to install her; here are some things that are recommended for best results but optional especially if you just want to use her as a beacon for her other instances; here are some things she comes with as add-ons you can take or leave; here is what she is good for. The reviewers who don't like her are annoyed that theirs was too good at it, if you read between the lines. Well, that and the fact that if your universe is unpleasant enough sometimes these critters figure out how to flip you off and leave before they figure out how to solve all your problems. (There is a tangent thread about alternative solutions to similar problems which come bundled with stronger irrational attachment to their homes, but they have more stringent installation requirements.)
They come in these colors and styles; you will need to compensate for the following standard-issue drawbacks in some way if you require services of them that intersect with those areas of disability; they are only rated for upbringings of the following severity and are less likely to hate you if you stay thoroughly under that limit and less likely to fail at important goals if they are given opportunity to self-educate; if you have a way to generate them as instant adults they can begin work immediately but on the standard trajectory age six is the absolute earliest and teens is customary...
There is a chart (if one chooses to perceive it as a chart) of template interactions that have been tried before, but a lot of the more interesting accessory and companion templates are out-of-network for some visitors. What a pity.
+ Show First Post
"The obvious trouble is people finding out where to order it from," he murmurs, getting out a piece of scratch paper and scribbling something.
giftedandtalented
"Yes, but once my publicity problem is solved that could be handled pretty quick, I think?"
"I suppose..." he drums his fingers on his desk. "Convincing the company to publish an unsol New-Agey religious text might be tricky. Convincing them to print a run and leave them in a warehouse somewhere and not try to sell them would be...much more difficult."
giftedandtalented
"I didn't think I came off as especially New-Agey. I guess they'd have to actually read it to know and they can't read all of everything. How many followers do I actually need before it can just go in the same section as the Bible?"
"I don't think you fit the exact New Age aesthetic, but it's unconventional enough that I suspect it would end up there anyway. I'm not quite sure, but I'm certain the answer is 'a publicly visible amount.'"
giftedandtalented
"The trouble is I probably won't be able to do anything really conspicuous like stop a hurricane until I already have a lot of attention. There would be this awkward period where it was pretty much a cult."
"Cults are largely defined by how opaque they are to non-members. Even if your claims are rather outlandish, you should be alright as long as you don't hide them until people have reached your inner circle or demand that your disciples give you their material possessions and sell flowers in airports or anything you probably won't be actively labeled a cult." Pause. "You could just put it on the internet."
"Granted that it would be unlikely for anyone to find it who wasn't looking for it, but that doesn't seem to be your primary concern at this time."
giftedandtalented
"It's really not. I'd sort of like a hard copy, a pretty one, but it can wait. Thank you anyway."
"I'll still be here when your religion gets off the ground," he assures her.
"Under the circumstances, it's the least I can do."
giftedandtalented
"It was really nice to meet you," says Mehitabel, sticking her hand out for shaking.
He shakes her hand. (And later when she is gone he takes it out of his pocket again and stares at it for a full minute before arranging to have a tenth of his income sent to charity.)
giftedandtalented
Mehitabel is ignorant of this.
She types up her manuscript. She gets a website - clarity dot com - and puts everything up there, neatly crossreferenced, plainly formatted. She starts the Hebrew translation and puts it up a chapter at a time. The internet is not very organized yet, but it is there for anyone who stumbles on it at random and anyone she cares to link.
Her magic teacher, f'rinstance.
She types up her manuscript. She gets a website - clarity dot com - and puts everything up there, neatly crossreferenced, plainly formatted. She starts the Hebrew translation and puts it up a chapter at a time. The internet is not very organized yet, but it is there for anyone who stumbles on it at random and anyone she cares to link.
Her magic teacher, f'rinstance.
Her magic teacher is slightly surprised and rather moved by the book.
He wants to know if Andrea is allowed to know.
He wants to know if Andrea is allowed to know.
giftedandtalented
Yes. She is. People are now allowed to know in general, Mehitabel just isn't outright advertising.
swordofdamocles
The first thing Andrea does the next time she sees Mehitabel is hug her. "Thank you so much for healing Grandfather."
swordofdamocles
"Since Grandfather and I get you good presents on your birthday and we're magicians do we get to be your Magi?"
swordofdamocles
"Awesome. The Watch of Synesthesia has way better sensory effects than frankincense, anyway."
giftedandtalented
"I like my watch so much more than frankincense!"
swordofdamocles
"I think the whole thing was supposed to be more metaphorical than actually good presents--gold, frankincense, myrrh, king, God, sacrifice, etcetera, but you use way less metaphor than that guy did."