The Cosmic Forge is...

taalismn · Unread post by **taalismn** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 9:11 am

hmmm...does this mean that powerful enough multi-dimensional nexi(like the Seljuk homeworld, pre-magic collapse) or Rifts Earth could be 'infant' Forge-entities? Herd all the dimensional convolutions together, confine them in a structure that gives them some order, and might some sort of hyperdimensional 'sentience' develop?

taalismn · Unread post by **taalismn** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 10:03 am

femfan wrote:

__ Ummmm. Why would just being a cosmic nexus make it sentient? The Cosmic Forge was CREATED to be intelligent. All the riftsON Phase World are just one of it's powers...or so I assume. Those other places were just accidents.

I was just thinking of convoluted space/time folding like the folds of a vast multi-dimensional brain...the Cosmic Forge may have been such a bundle of artifical dimensional wormholes that was given the ability to regulate itself, channel energy to various points, change it to various states, add and subtract from itself, using dimensional flux and warp.
But you're right, naturally occuring nexi bear as much resemblance to Center as a a bag of primordial stew mix has to a steer...(sorry, i think I skipped breakfast...mmm, stew, steer...)
Still, maybe the First Ones observed such natural phenomenon and saw potential.."If we could just tap and regulate this through an intelligent mechanism"....

Frank Castle · Unread post by **Frank Castle** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 1:13 pm

Interesting idea. I like it.

One question though:
Would that mean the Prometheans are the First Race, or guardians created by the First to protect the Forge?

Braden Campbell · Sat Jun 17, 2006 2:01 pm

If the Cosmic Forge is hiding AS anything, it is disguised as the Three Galaxies.

But seriously, saying that the Forge exists as any kind of physical object, would be like God in His entirety sitting as the salt shaker on my kitchen table.

Now, there might be extensions of the Forge sitting about... "probe forms", maybe, for the Forge to interact on a 3-D level with the denizens of the 3 Gs....

taalismn · Unread post by **taalismn** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 2:14 pm

What people perceive as the physical artifact of center is but the tip of the iceberg...the largest of the Forge's physical manifestations in space/time. Whether or not similar 'nodes' or manifestations exist out there is unknown(but makes for great 'artifact' adventures---perhaps some of the fake Cosmic Forges out there are the sort of 'probes' mentioned....largely powerless(but tantalizing in those powers they do have) psychological tests to allow the Forge to see what sort of people are looking for it, and to what ends they'll go(the Forge being rather more cautious and leery of who has access to its powers).

As forthe Prometheans? I regard them as a race that early on came upon Center, settled around it, and were gradually changed by its energies, most likely by happy accident(that the Forge allowed and encouraged once it realized that such a trend might provide it with useful 'helpers'), there still being a great deal of randomness to the universe...Second Stage Prometheans are able to observe and access much more of the Cosmic Forge, acting like senior sysops who have graduated from newbie nethacks...

Nekira Sudacne · Sat Jun 17, 2006 6:00 pm

Naa, Center is pretty amazing, but saying it IS the comsic forge is kinda Cliche'd

"oh no, we've been living it in this whole time"

Braden Campbell · Sat Jun 17, 2006 6:31 pm

"I had a pocket full of spare change the whole time! Pretty ironic, huh Ren?"

Greyaxe · Unread post by **Greyaxe** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 10:12 am

Center is the "Cosmic forge" nah. The forge is bigger than an place or object. Besides to claim the forge is this or that kills the mystery that is the forge.

taalismn · Unread post by **taalismn** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 5:17 pm

Congratulations, FemFan; you have now created a new Heresy....

glitterboy2098 · Mon Jun 19, 2006 6:19 pm

"In order to hide itself from the universe, the Cosmic forge decided to take on the form of a planet, a small insignifigant rock in space. this went rather well for about 2 eons, until it was Destroyed by a [untranslatable] construction unit to make way for a pan-dimensional wormhole. needless to say, that was a very bad thursday."
-from the Apocrypha of Myifumfjlv. as translated by smada salguod

Frank Castle · Unread post by **Frank Castle** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 7:14 pm

darkmax wrote:hey! I thought it was supposed to be KS.......

Shhhh... you're not supposed to tell anyone.

Gomen_Nagai · Unread post by **Gomen_Nagai** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 12:29 am

i ignore the whole forge war nonsense, setting wise it's meaningless dreck...

Greyaxe · Unread post by **Greyaxe** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 8:56 am

Try to think of the forge as the ultimate weapon. Its search by governments is effectivly an arms race against all the other major powers in the three galaxies. It makes for a very interesting background as you have the obvious religious and philosophical arguments regarding its search and what if anything should be done with it should it ever be found. Thats good stuff for gaming material.

Nekira Sudacne · Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:32 am

The Cosmic Forge is hiding as a hair on one of Agu's tentacles!

Marrowlight · Unread post by **Marrowlight** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:33 am

Frank Castle wrote:
darkmax wrote:hey! I thought it was supposed to be KS.......

Shhhh... you're not supposed to tell anyone.

Especially because it is really CJ.

Gomen_Nagai · Unread post by **Gomen_Nagai** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 6:49 pm

No the first would the Shub-GygaxEan, the First being..

taalismn · Unread post by **taalismn** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 8:00 pm

Gomen_Nagai wrote:No the first would the Shub-GygaxEan, the First being..

We tread in ancient corridors of knowledge best left unexplored by we mere mortals...

Aramanthus · Unread post by **Aramanthus** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 11:38 pm

I agree with Taalismn.

Gomen_Nagai · Unread post by **Gomen_Nagai** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 11:51 pm

beware or I'll make you read a copy of Dangerous Journeys: Mythus.

Gomen_Nagai · Unread post by **Gomen_Nagai** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 12:41 am

JRR has already been reduced into a dead city ran by Demon worshipping technowizards and dragons.

shadrak · Unread post by **shadrak** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 12:46 am

You know...for some reason I never caught the connection between the city and tolkien...was it intentional? That is almost blasphemous...to elevate a city named after a fictional being (Lazlo) and destroy a nation named after one of the greatest writers of all time.

shadrak · Unread post by **shadrak** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 7:24 am

I don't know that I have ever read a book as well crafted as the simallirion. Took a couple reads, but it was amazing. The rest of his stuff...a little overrated. But that book...that book was amazing.

shadrak · Unread post by **shadrak** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 2:11 pm

Like the bible...names tend to run together

Braden Campbell · Sat Jul 08, 2006 8:12 pm

This reality has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down. A copy of this error log is being sent to the Cosmic Forge for analysis.

:lol:

Frank Castle · Mon Jul 10, 2006 10:49 am

WonderingMind wrote:I REALLY hope that the Forge is not Windows based.

The really terrifying part of that is, it would indicate that Bill Gates is one of the First. A truly horrific concept.
:shock:

Reddenedone · Unread post by **Reddenedone** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 4:01 pm

Without geeks, the "in" crowd wouldn't have anything cool.

Frank Castle · Tue Jul 11, 2006 12:06 pm

WonderingMind wrote:I see your chicken and raise you 2 platypuses (platypi?) and a dinosaur

I'll see your platypi and dinosaur, and raise you an ocean full of egg-laying fish.

Braden Campbell · Thu Jul 20, 2006 8:57 am

Center is no where near being old enough.

The Universe of the Three Galaxies is at least 20 billion years old. And that is just the current incarnation of it, since the First had to have evolved somehwere... possibly in a version of the universe that was older still.

So if you believe that the Forge created the universe, then the Forge is over 20 billion years old. Even if you just believe that it only created the Three Galaxies, it is still billions of years old.

Greyaxe · Unread post by **Greyaxe** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 9:42 am

Which brings ut to the conclusion the forge didnt create the megaverse just the universe it currently resides in. Remember Phase world setting is another dimension you can get the fastest CG drive in the megaverse search through the Phase world universe and never find earth (rifts).

Braden Campbell · Thu Jul 20, 2006 9:50 am

Rebellious Waffle wrote:But if the Forge created the universe, where does that leave the First Race? Were they outside of the universe at the time?
.

read Manifold: Time by Stephen Baxter.

I believe that the First evolved and developed in a universe where they were the only intelligence anywhere. So they used the cosmic forge to build a new one from scratch, with conditions that would lead to the rise of many, many life forms... because the First were lonely, you see.

Greyaxe · Unread post by **Greyaxe** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 10:34 am

Braden, GMPhD wrote:
Rebellious Waffle wrote:But if the Forge created the universe, where does that leave the First Race? Were they outside of the universe at the time?
.

read Manifold: Time by Stephen Baxter.

I believe that the First evolved and developed in a universe where they were the only intelligence anywhere. So they used the cosmic forge to build a new one from scratch, with conditions that would lead to the rise of many, many life forms... because the First were lonely, you see.

ROTF!!

Braden Campbell · Thu Jul 20, 2006 11:20 am

The Mechanoids were created by a humanoid race older than they. Even in the orginal Mechanoid books, this is so.

The First were the First.

Braden Campbell · Thu Jul 20, 2006 3:10 pm

WonderingMind wrote:Latest cosmological studies have refined our understanding of the age of the universe to be 13.7 & a bit billion years old. Is the Phase World universe older than ours? Or is it the same?

Whatever its age, its certainly older than 5 million years.

Aramanthus · Unread post by **Aramanthus** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 6:01 pm

That would be one of the easiest measures of how old it is. Carbon 14 dating is ok, but not as accurate.

Aramanthus · Unread post by **Aramanthus** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 7:02 pm

I know there is another test that is quite accurate, but for the life of me I don't remember what it is. And I was referring to use the carbon 14 test on the organic material that might be trapped somewhere and left for a period. Like say if you dug a hole down to the base of the foundation you could take your sample there. But I think you are also right about C14 being limited time wise. I'm not an archeologist, and only a very amateur paleontologist.