Conditional {Im}mortality
I can't precisely tell you how mortality works within The Unisphere. I've seen some trends/commonalities, leading me to develop a LOOSE SET of rules for what I'll call Conditional (Im)mortality.
There are six distinct rulesets:
-Rules for DREAMERS
-Rules for (Waking World) Ghosts
-Rules for Standard Dream World Entities
-Rules for Non-Standard Dream World Entities
-Rules for Cor/Cruor -infused Entities
-FUCK THAT
Forgive me, as I'm pretty tired, and these days I don't really note as much down as I used to, so I rely on my already-shot memory to hang onto key bits of information. Let's start off with the ruleset for Standard Dream-World Entities, shall we? It's not that difficult to explain in comparison to the others. Let's assume you're a Standard Dream World Entity. After being fatally wounded, acquiring a terminal illness, or some other life-ending malady befalls you, you die. Your soul is then sundered from your body and becomes a ghost, in this case however, you cannot be seen (under usual circumstances) and are unable to interact with the world now (again, under usual circumstances). Other living entities may feel your presence if they were attached to you in some manner (both positive and negative), and your ghost form can be made visible and tangible (briefly) during certain events, such as rituals done by the living, or certain Real-World effects (like how the phases of the moon in the Real-World dictate Mare Respiratus within the Dream-World). There exists no afterlife for ghosts of this nature within the Dream-World, ghosts brought back to life, or made tangible/visible describe the afterlife as "a calming sea of nothing", being deprived of all senses and free from thoughts. Being brought back (in any way) is met with varied feelings/responses depending on many factors, such as the way the ghost had died, how they felt leading up to their death, if they died with unfinished business, etc.
Now for the Non-Standard Dream World Entity. What about them makes them Non-Standard? My current hypothesis is that they are entities that were not consciously created within/without the Dream World (i.e., They came into existence BEFORE I drew/wrote about them, not the other way around), and I cannot unmake them, not by thought or will. A lot of things within the Dream World are symbolic of Waking World things, and so too are certain people. When death takes one of these entities, the rules are slightly different. Their body and soul remain together, slowly mending themselves, and they arise as if nothing had happened... Except now, they suffer from amnesia, the severity of which varies (although it appears to be proportionate to the severity of their death), they will always forget the events immediately following, and sometimes surrounding, their death-- worse cases they forget the names and faces of those closest to them, and the worst I've seen is the complete loss of one's own identity (name, hobbies, habits, personality, etc.). It is to be noted though, that should a Non-Standard suffer a second death in this "ghost stage", they do not return again. To my current knowledge (January 12th, 2023) the second death is final. They do not even get the "afterlife" Standard entities get, and no methods of contact succeed, it is as if they are erased entirely. How can you tell a Non-Standard is in their ghost stage and might be at risk of a Final Death? The entirety of their eyes is white. Pupil, iris, sclera and all. The catch is that ghosts can mask this particular feature at their discretion. Those with specifically altered sight that would allow them to see magick (SEE: Hollowing) can see that they are faintly comprised of it (although not enough to trigger swarming/frenzying of Hollows, both host and feral).
On to Waking World Ghosts. The waters here are murky and still being researched, they appear to follow the same ruleset as Non-Standards, with two additional caveats, that being they START as a Non-Standard in its ghost stage and are exempt from a Final Death. Killing Waking World Ghosts inhabiting/sheltering within the Dream World cannot kill them in the Waking World. Good examples would be The Woodland Guardian, who to date has suffered four deaths, as well as The Warmth of the Hearth who has suffered two.
Next are Dreamers, which, is very easy to explain, since this is what I experience. I'm aware not everyone has the same dreams as I do, not everyone remembers what dreams they may have, and even further- not everyone dreams. For those of you that do, allow me to ask you this: Have you ever had a dream to go black? One minute you're aware, probably even lucid dreaming, and then all of a sudden you skip around a bit and find out you're dreaming nothing? When a dreamer dies, this is what their Waking World self experiences- black nothingness. Liken it to losing connection in a game. Your Dreamself and Wakingself stop communicating with one another because that communication has been severed due to your death. From this point, one of two things can happen: either your Dreamself's wounds/trauma/etc heal/reverse and you are revived on the spot after a predetermined amount of time (contingent on the severity of your death)-- or you are reawakened after an amount of time (again, determined by death severity) within the Dream World in a new body either close to your old-now-dead body or some distance away (I say some but I've been put planets away from my dead body before). That dead body stays, by the way. Yeah. Unsettling but you get used to it if you die frequently like me.
On to the complicated Cor/Cruor-Infused Entities. Upfront, you can't die from age, that's neat. You can still be mortally wounded though- but there's a caveat to that. Cor/Cruor-Infused Entities get to follow Dreamer death rules for the most part in this regard. They CAN die but revive ONLY on the spot (not the fun warp-and-leave-your-old-body-behind revival). Rather than their revive timer being contingent on the severity of their death, their death is actually on an unchangeable timer and is different per individual, and usually, it is symbolic of the individual. For example, The Golden-Tinted Memories's timers are 7 months, 7 days, 7 hours, 7 minutes, and 7 seconds... Those are all separate timers that get chosen at random with each death mind you! Now, Cor/Cruor-Infused Entities CAN permanently die IF you kill them in a specific manner... Once again, just like their revive timer, their permanent death varies on the individual, but unlike the revive timer is not always symbolic of the individual.
How would one know if they're dealing with a Cor/Cruor-Infused Entity? It should be very obvious. Star aesthetics, elemental mastery, physical transformations- or if you're a giant ass space dragon. Usually, Cruor bestows animal traits on someone, although then you'd be looking at some Feerin right now since they're animalistic to a degree and some can transform. Those fellas are different, they're minorly affected by ambient Cor, but that is to being a Cor/Cruor-infused Entity as eating bananas or getting an X-Ray is to bathing in the radiation from the immediate fallout of a nuclear bomb. Dosage determines the status. Or in this case, do you got the Shiny Orb of Light(TM)? Can you hold that shit? Magic-sighted can see it plain as day within their hearts. These entities can even take it out and bestow the status unto others should they so please... Doing so strips themselves of that status though.
Finally, we have FUCK THAT. Literally, fuck that. Designated for those who break the rules of their usual death category, or blend the rules of two or more categories. A pain in the ass to figure them out. Not to be confused with Deathless entities, which, I don't have to list the rules for because they simply are incapable of dying by any means. But then there's the thought that FUCK THATs COULD be Deathless. That would be scary.
-Rules for DREAMERS
-Rules for (Waking World) Ghosts
-Rules for Standard Dream World Entities
-Rules for Non-Standard Dream World Entities
-Rules for Cor/Cruor -infused Entities
-FUCK THAT
Forgive me, as I'm pretty tired, and these days I don't really note as much down as I used to, so I rely on my already-shot memory to hang onto key bits of information. Let's start off with the ruleset for Standard Dream-World Entities, shall we? It's not that difficult to explain in comparison to the others. Let's assume you're a Standard Dream World Entity. After being fatally wounded, acquiring a terminal illness, or some other life-ending malady befalls you, you die. Your soul is then sundered from your body and becomes a ghost, in this case however, you cannot be seen (under usual circumstances) and are unable to interact with the world now (again, under usual circumstances). Other living entities may feel your presence if they were attached to you in some manner (both positive and negative), and your ghost form can be made visible and tangible (briefly) during certain events, such as rituals done by the living, or certain Real-World effects (like how the phases of the moon in the Real-World dictate Mare Respiratus within the Dream-World). There exists no afterlife for ghosts of this nature within the Dream-World, ghosts brought back to life, or made tangible/visible describe the afterlife as "a calming sea of nothing", being deprived of all senses and free from thoughts. Being brought back (in any way) is met with varied feelings/responses depending on many factors, such as the way the ghost had died, how they felt leading up to their death, if they died with unfinished business, etc.
Now for the Non-Standard Dream World Entity. What about them makes them Non-Standard? My current hypothesis is that they are entities that were not consciously created within/without the Dream World (i.e., They came into existence BEFORE I drew/wrote about them, not the other way around), and I cannot unmake them, not by thought or will. A lot of things within the Dream World are symbolic of Waking World things, and so too are certain people. When death takes one of these entities, the rules are slightly different. Their body and soul remain together, slowly mending themselves, and they arise as if nothing had happened... Except now, they suffer from amnesia, the severity of which varies (although it appears to be proportionate to the severity of their death), they will always forget the events immediately following, and sometimes surrounding, their death-- worse cases they forget the names and faces of those closest to them, and the worst I've seen is the complete loss of one's own identity (name, hobbies, habits, personality, etc.). It is to be noted though, that should a Non-Standard suffer a second death in this "ghost stage", they do not return again. To my current knowledge (January 12th, 2023) the second death is final. They do not even get the "afterlife" Standard entities get, and no methods of contact succeed, it is as if they are erased entirely. How can you tell a Non-Standard is in their ghost stage and might be at risk of a Final Death? The entirety of their eyes is white. Pupil, iris, sclera and all. The catch is that ghosts can mask this particular feature at their discretion. Those with specifically altered sight that would allow them to see magick (SEE: Hollowing) can see that they are faintly comprised of it (although not enough to trigger swarming/frenzying of Hollows, both host and feral).
On to Waking World Ghosts. The waters here are murky and still being researched, they appear to follow the same ruleset as Non-Standards, with two additional caveats, that being they START as a Non-Standard in its ghost stage and are exempt from a Final Death. Killing Waking World Ghosts inhabiting/sheltering within the Dream World cannot kill them in the Waking World. Good examples would be The Woodland Guardian, who to date has suffered four deaths, as well as The Warmth of the Hearth who has suffered two.
Next are Dreamers, which, is very easy to explain, since this is what I experience. I'm aware not everyone has the same dreams as I do, not everyone remembers what dreams they may have, and even further- not everyone dreams. For those of you that do, allow me to ask you this: Have you ever had a dream to go black? One minute you're aware, probably even lucid dreaming, and then all of a sudden you skip around a bit and find out you're dreaming nothing? When a dreamer dies, this is what their Waking World self experiences- black nothingness. Liken it to losing connection in a game. Your Dreamself and Wakingself stop communicating with one another because that communication has been severed due to your death. From this point, one of two things can happen: either your Dreamself's wounds/trauma/etc heal/reverse and you are revived on the spot after a predetermined amount of time (contingent on the severity of your death)-- or you are reawakened after an amount of time (again, determined by death severity) within the Dream World in a new body either close to your old-now-dead body or some distance away (I say some but I've been put planets away from my dead body before). That dead body stays, by the way. Yeah. Unsettling but you get used to it if you die frequently like me.
On to the complicated Cor/Cruor-Infused Entities. Upfront, you can't die from age, that's neat. You can still be mortally wounded though- but there's a caveat to that. Cor/Cruor-Infused Entities get to follow Dreamer death rules for the most part in this regard. They CAN die but revive ONLY on the spot (not the fun warp-and-leave-your-old-body-behind revival). Rather than their revive timer being contingent on the severity of their death, their death is actually on an unchangeable timer and is different per individual, and usually, it is symbolic of the individual. For example, The Golden-Tinted Memories's timers are 7 months, 7 days, 7 hours, 7 minutes, and 7 seconds... Those are all separate timers that get chosen at random with each death mind you! Now, Cor/Cruor-Infused Entities CAN permanently die IF you kill them in a specific manner... Once again, just like their revive timer, their permanent death varies on the individual, but unlike the revive timer is not always symbolic of the individual.
How would one know if they're dealing with a Cor/Cruor-Infused Entity? It should be very obvious. Star aesthetics, elemental mastery, physical transformations- or if you're a giant ass space dragon. Usually, Cruor bestows animal traits on someone, although then you'd be looking at some Feerin right now since they're animalistic to a degree and some can transform. Those fellas are different, they're minorly affected by ambient Cor, but that is to being a Cor/Cruor-infused Entity as eating bananas or getting an X-Ray is to bathing in the radiation from the immediate fallout of a nuclear bomb. Dosage determines the status. Or in this case, do you got the Shiny Orb of Light(TM)? Can you hold that shit? Magic-sighted can see it plain as day within their hearts. These entities can even take it out and bestow the status unto others should they so please... Doing so strips themselves of that status though.
Finally, we have FUCK THAT. Literally, fuck that. Designated for those who break the rules of their usual death category, or blend the rules of two or more categories. A pain in the ass to figure them out. Not to be confused with Deathless entities, which, I don't have to list the rules for because they simply are incapable of dying by any means. But then there's the thought that FUCK THATs COULD be Deathless. That would be scary.
Type
Metaphysical, Supernatural
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