A Study Of Existence
Introduction: Very rarely does such a great request as the Magister race come about that the entire staff must revisit the concepts of what defines existence, and what makes up its inner-workings. In fact, such a subject is very rarely visited on the board at all. However; when it is visited, great things do come about, such as the Ingrounded, and now, the Magisters. As such, so that the staff may effectively do their job, and so that anyone else who reads this may effectively use and understand this information, I will attempt to summarize and expand upon information presented from a variety of sources in the roleplay, to best compile a document on the inner-workings of existence in the fictional realm of Shattered Planes.
Contents:
The Ultimate Roleplayer's Guide: Located at http://shatteredplanes.com/forum/index.php?topic=2302.0 is the guide created by Hikaru and Gaserlake to attempt to do what this document is also attempting. Much of the information there is not fleshed out, due to its conceptual stages as it was when the document located there was written. As we have now had a great more deal of time to discuss these matters, this guide should serve as a more elaborate tool to accomplish what the above set out to do, though the above is still a very valuable resource.
Chapter 1: Introduction to Existence
Section I: What is Existence?
Reality
Let us start by defining the most basic of terms to the roleplay. Reality is the entirety of what is in Shattered Planes. It is the sum and compilation of all events that occur within the plot. That is to say, it is the force which allows existence to function. How reality functions will be discussed later on.
Reality is far too grand for us to even attempt to comprehend, but this guide serves as a rough estimate of what we can understand about reality. It does not and can not define reality in it's entirety. There are several ways to classify reality, as there are many different forms of it. We can, for instance, classify reality by what we can interact with and what we can't interact with. This is where existence comes into play.
Existence
Existence is the vast majority of reality. It is what characters can interact with. It is life as the characters know it, and consists of matter, energy, and much, much more. Reality is what allows existence to function. The entirety of the roleplay takes place within existence.
Existence, like reality, has several different classifications and takes different forms. It can best be described in two forms. Corporeal Existence is physical existence which the characters interact with using their senses. It is what they may touch, taste, see, hear, and smell. It works closely with Ethereal Existence, the “paranormal” which we can not interact with.
Classifications
There are several ways to classify existence, apart from in terms of the form it takes. There are five classifications typically used when describing existence. These classifications usually refer to the status of the character and how it interacts with existence itself, though it is not limited to usage in reference to characters.