This picks up the story of Maxx from the fourth page of The Character Generation Thread.
You still feel yourself floating, weightless, without any sensory input apart from that--no light, no sound, no smell or taste, nothing at all.
You realize that you are tired; then you realize that your consciousness is returning. You may have been asleep, but you do not know even whether that is so, never mind for how long.
--M. J. Young
The first thing that came to my mind (if I can think at that moment) is this a system bug?
I should have been awake at this point so why am I still not awake.
Am I still in the sensory deprivation tank?
If I cannot feel anything does that mean that I cannot feel myself move when trying to move?
So lets try outer body experience that uses sixth sense to know exactly what is going on. Probably a remote sensing variation.
If I cannot do that then I will wait it out until I can get some sensory input.
As you attempt to move your arms and legs, you cannot tell whether they are moving or not. It seems that your kinesthetic sense may have been disabled--a moment ago when you were in the game, you could feel your imaginary limbs moving, which suggests that the mind/machine interface portion of the system must have bypassed both your kinesthetic sense and your motor control so that you could control your imagined body movements without interacting with your real body. However, this is all guesswork on your part. All you know for certain is that a while ago you were in control of and experiencing an imaginary body, and now you have neither experience nor control of any body at all.
You do have the sensation of floating.
You have suggested using some sort of outer body experience, which you suggest might be a "remote sensing variation", to get data from beyond yourself. Have you ever done this, or anything like this? Your description makes it sound like a psionic skill, that is, a skill that draws on power or ability within your own mind or soul (as opposed to supernatural power from beyond the universe, which would be magical), but you can correct me if I am mistaken.
This is why a character sheet matters. In order for me to determine whether you can do this successfully, I will need to have:
- Your bias, which is the level and intensity of your highest biased skill in this bias area. Assuming that the area is psionics, I am looking for the skill which according to the Multiverser bias scale is the most difficult in terms of principles and applications--for example, reading minds is very basic, altering the molecular structure of matter is considerably more difficult, and creating something from thought alone is more difficult yet. If you have access to a copy of the Multiverser Referee's Rules, you could page through the Psionic skills section and tell me what your highest skill is; barring that, you'll probably have to give me a list of all your psionic skills so that I can match them to the list and find the highest.
- Your best relevant attribute, which is the highest of three of the fourteen character attributes. The three that are considered relevant to psionics are persuasion, intuition, and will power. Whichever of those is your strongest, that's what I would need to know.
--M. J. Young
Lets just say that I am (probably) a normal average person last time I remember.
I may have a dream of a out of body experience but that may have just been a dream.
Also with the proper variable, maybe I can simulate reality in my imagination.
I think the below is the list of some Psionic skills that may relate to given situation:
Reading person body language or expression.
Lucid dreaming.
Mental calculation.
Mental simulation.
My intuition maybe affected by how much variable that I know about the situation given.
My persuasion power maybe high considering you agreed to run the game this way.
My will power will be affected by how much interest I have in certain things where the more interesting or intriguing the things are the higher my will power will be.
If I have to rank them in this situation, maybe intuition, will power, and then persuasion.
You are unable to get outside yourself at this time, and the effort tires you. You feel yourself coming back to consciousness.
You also have a strange and growing feeling of weakness. You would think it hunger, but that there is no sensation of stomach discomfort, more a feeling of malnutrition, as if you were living on your fat reserves and depleting them.
You still have no sensation of limbs and no sensory information.
--M. J. Young
Then I thought to myself half jokingly that the electrical dragon breath got me good.
Then I rest until anything else changes while dreaming about possibilities of getting out of this situation.
I will also try to remember each sensation I have such as floating and feeling weakness that may been caused by malnutrition for my future reference.
I will try to remember the feeling as accurate as possible just to sharpen my memorization technique.
I will also try to count in my mind to see how much time have past since then in a rate of about 1 increment per second when I am awake.
I also wonder if I can somehow affect anything at all such as shifting my own location even if I cannot feel myself moving.
Does the floating feeling change in the slightest way or is it a constant?
I will check my own intuition to see if I am moving in a certain way or pattern.
Your periods of consciousness seem to run between five and twenty minutes. It is difficult to be certain, because you realize you are not mouthing the numbers but merely trying to tick them off in your own mind. You cannot assess the periods of unconsciousness. However, you are continuing to weaken, and although you have no idea how many times you have been asleep (or whether the monotonous counting contributes to this), it seems like days have passed.
Then there is a change. It is difficult to assess, precisely, but your sensation of floating has changed, and you are no longer losing body mass. You sometimes have the sensation of movement, a very erratic movement as if the sensory deprivation tank were being transported by package handlers working for the post office. At the same time, you don't really have much sense of "up" and "down", although you do have a sense that you are connected to something--you do not literally feel the connection point, but you do feel as if you move when the tank moves without bumping the walls of the tank, that something is steadying your position within it.
You also are receiving nutrition from somewhere; that feeling of weakness is starting to subside.
--M. J. Young
This seems very familiar.
It is just like being in the womb.
Probably this is a simulation of being in the womb that someone programmed into the virtual reality machine for prank.
By following this train of thought, it is very tempting to try to change the natural process by manipulating twinning or mutation process but I think it is better for nature to take its own course.
I will keep this in mind though for future reference.
I will stop the counting for every second to minimize energy consumption.
I will count the time I alternate between consciousness and unconsciousness.
Since I can now feel something, I will try to move and see what feedback that I will get.
Can I feel temperature differences such as hot or cold to tell part day or night?
Can I tell whether I received nutrition constantly or is it on a certain interval?
I will then memorize any changes that is happening.
After that experiment, I will rest until I can sense any new changes.
There are two obstacles to your efforts to count your consciousness/unconsciousness cycles. One is that you are not always certain whether you were unconscious or not--after all, it's not as if there's something happening of which you are aware and then there's a gap in it, it's only a sense that you are awakening to nothingness after being unaware of it for a moment. The other is that the number gets fairly high fairly quickly, going into the hundreds before long.
Your body does not respond to efforts to move any part. It might be comparable to having all your limbs "asleep", in that you have no feeling from them and they do not move in response to motor commands. On the other hand, it could be entirely neural, that your brain is not communicating with your body parts. At present, though, you are unable to confirm the existence or absence of body parts of any sort, except that you still feel some kind of connection to something that sometimes moves.
The flow of nutrition is difficult to gauge, as your sense of it is more that you were burning reserves and you are now building reserves. It could be constant or intermittent or fluctuating, as presumably even if you were receiving the nutrients in periodic pulses your body would have to process it for you to be aware of it.
--M. J. Young
At this time, something came up to my mind.
If this is in the womb simulation, should I be able to think already at this point?
If I am not mistaken the brain function will come in the later phase.
I came up with some theories about how this could happen.
a) Probably the simulation of my avatar give the senses to my mind in the other world.
b) My body and mind are not linked the way the science in my past world does.
c) Soul possession of any body can bring forth the sense of the body even if the body does not have a brain.
d) Something like above or combination of it must have happen.
e) None of the above are true which means something else must have happen.
----------------
The count is just an estimate after all.
I will match my count with any changes that happen at all.
From there I will see if I can find any pattern at all.
Another theory of day or night is:
a) In the day the movement rate may be higher than the night.
b) The day nutrition may be higher than the night.
I will try harder to differentiate the flow of nutrition by giving more attention to the slightest detail available.
As they say, difficult is not impossible.
This way, I can train my available sense and mind.
Can I feel where the nutrition connection is coming from?
If I can, I will label this as a 'relative up'.
Can I feel gravity force pull at this moment?
It is unlikely but if I can, I will label this as a 'gravity down'.
With this info, I probably can calculate any positional change that happen.
Other questions that came to my mind that I will give attention to are:
a) How do I feel the movement? Do I feel change of pressure?
b) Can I detect change of temperature?
c) Do anything I feel such as when I am feeling hungry gets a feedback? What is it?
If I get tired, I will rest until something new happens.
You have a feeling of rejuvenation, of growth or healing or wellness. You feel secure.
As to movement, it is difficult to say. You do not feel gravity, and have no sense of up or down. The connection point you can sometimes identify because it moves first and becomes stable first--the rest of you continuing to shift or bob in the tank after it stops. That feeling is entirely internal, as if your internal organs were shaking, but you cannot identify any particular internal organs.
You sense no change in temperature, but whether that is because the temperature has been constant and you are acclimated to it or whether you simply cannot feel temperature is more than you can determine. It is possible that at times you might feel something that might be pressure, but you body acclimates to any such changes rapidly, almost as if it were part of the surrounding liquid.
You no longer feel hungry at any time; you feel as if you are receiving adequate nutrition somehow.
--M. J. Young
Very interesting indeed.
The results are as expected.
"If I can think at this point maybe I can do something more", I thought to myself.
People sometime says that the connection of mother and child are very strong especially when in the womb.
With all the hormone exchange between mother and child they probably can communicate subconsciously.
With that said, I will try to emulate the thinking of the mother through the connection that we have.
This is probably a mind reading with empathy variant.
If it works I will experiment with this new power.
If it does not work, I will rest until something new happens.
You feel around and have the sense that this is something you should be able to do, but at the moment you cannot find what you are seeking. It might be that the target is asleep, although whether reading a sleeping mind would connect you to a dream is something you've not really considered. It is certainly worth trying again later, but now the effort has tired you, and you find yourself drifting off to sleep once more.
You awaken again in much the same condition.
--M. J. Young
Well, connecting to a dream might be a good way to know what a person hopes are.
But if I recall, a dream does not occur in every sleep so it is possible that the mother have a dreamless sleep.
My intuition says it is certainly worth trying again so that is what I will do for at least 7 more consciousness/unconsciousness cycles until I succeed.
If I succeeded in less than 7 attempts then I will start experimenting on them.
If not, I will rest until anything new happens.
Why 7 attempts? It seems to cover a week.
Naturally I would do 3 attempts but with the lack of options and information from my part this seems to be a good bet.
Anything new that happens in those 7 consciousness/unconsciousness cycles will be noted.
Third time is the charm: on your third attempt (including the one already past) you find the mind of someone who is thinking about gathering berries in the woods. As you stay with this mind, it wanders to questions about what Morani is going to bring back from the hunt and whether it will be big enough that they'll want to share it with others so it won't spoil, whether they have enough "mithisella" for fires and whether it will stay dry in the tree. Thoughts also are about how to make the tree comfortable before winter, which is apparently some time away, but this is a new home and this person is in a new situation--previously living with parents, now living with a new loved one.
You stay with it for what seems a long time, but then drop back into unconsciousness and lose the link.
--M. J. Young
Wow! It worked better than I hoped. What a good simulation.
It have the ability to even calculate things like this.
It seems like a second world to me and even better simulation then the world that I have play-tested.
Then again, who would make this kind of simulation for a prank.
The programmer might have something to convey to me and it is up to me to decipher the message.
This might be interesting.
I would have to reconsider the possibility that I am no longer in a normal simulation.
But then again, I have always play any simulation seriously.
This is because I always believe that the world is some sort of simulation.
So, any simulation that is good enough to affect all of my senses must be treated equally.
--------
I have some theories from the info I get.
1) There are berries in the woods close-by considering a pregnant mother would not go far.
2) Morani might be my father in this world or the leader of the hunt.
3) Refrigerator might not be available here considering food might spoil.
4) This might be a tribe in the woods setting considering there are others to share.
5) "Mithisella" is what is used as a burning fuel and may be ineffective if it is not dry.
6) "Tree" is where we live and it is a new home.
7) Winter is coming soon.
I will remember how to do the mind reading ability and practice using it regularly to know more information about the mother.
I will note down any changes or information that I get.
I will rest when I feel tired practicing the mind reading ability.
I will also think of a new way to gain more information such as reading specific sense of the mother such as sight or auditory.
But for now, I will just familiarize myself with the mind of the mother until I think I can do the above.
Morani does appear to be the husband of the person whose mind you are tapping, who is a woman. There is as yet no suggestion that she might be your mother, other than that you were looking for someone very close at hand and found someone who frequently seems to be there when you look. (The fact that you are "practicing" your mind reading means it works sometimes and not other times; you could not be certain whether the target is present when it does not work. In fact, the way you read the mind seems to be something like tuning in a radio signal, and so you cannot be certain that she is near when you do contact her. The strength and duration of the contact both vary, but you have very little information concerning why.)
In addition to berries, your target also gathers nuts and some fruits and leaves, and makes something like tea and several other foods. You never did find out what the hunt returned that day, and meat seems to be thought about as roast, steak, bird, and fish, without much concerning roast what or what kind of bird or fish. The diet is rather varied, though.
--M. J. Young
It is rather weird if the person very close at hand turned out not to be the mother but just lets give it a benefit of a doubt.
Information that interests me:
1) Do I get the name of the person I tapped into?
2) Do this person know if anyone (self-included) is pregnant and when is it due?
3) How does this person perceive time?
4) Could I guess if this person is in conversation with anyone?
5) What does this person find interesting?
I will try to remember the frequency/state of mind (radio signal reference) of the person I tapped into.
In practice of course there are success and failures.
I will calculate the percentage of my success rate of my mind reading in 10 succession.
I would like to diversify my mind reading practice to other person who have contact with my presumably mother especially Morani.
This can be called mind reading network.
That way I could get more information.
Any changes or pattern are noted for future reference.
And like usual, a good rest when tired unless specified otherwise.
Your idea of counting successes versus failures is pretty good, but it faces the problem that you keep falling asleep and have to remember from one time to the next what the count is. For that I'm going to want an intellect check--and that means I need your intellect. How smart are you? Figure it this way: if there are two people in the room, are you probably the smarter? How about three? Ten? Fifty? A hundred?
It is rather unusual for someone to think his or her own name; your target has not done so while you were eavesdropping. Also, there has been no thought of pregnancy at this point.
As to time, there have been no numerical references (e.g., it's never "ten o'clock"), but rather an ordinary flow of the day, as in morning, lunchtime, afternoon, and at least some sense of the progression of days, although if the days have names you've not picked up on them yet.
There are occasional times when the person's thoughts seem to be interacting with something outside your data. These might be conversation. They might, of course, be telepathic, if telepathy is sent and received from a part of the brain distinct from the part you are reading--but since I suspect you have no experience with telepathy, you would not know that. The person might be crazy, and be interacting with thoughts from another part of her own mind, but it's not clear why you would not be able to read those thoughts.
Her interests mostly seem to center on making a comfortable home for herself and Morani. This seems two-fold--there is some thought about a tree, but they don't live in the tree right now, they live near the tree. They seem to have meals outside in a clearing, and sleep outside.
You find no other minds over the next few days.
--M. J. Young
Can you probably tell my intellect by the way I am playing this game?
How about the intellect of a university student (at least)?
About the name I have guessed it is very difficult to know considering she will not think of her own name unless someone ask about it and for it to happen she will have to met a stranger which is not likely.
Well for now I will call her 'the mother'.
This is also the reason why I want to read Morani's mind.
No thought of pregnancy might mean that the pregnancy is still in the early stage.
I still have long way to go.
The interaction that might represent conversation interests me.
In this situation, I will try reading other part of the brain by visualizing where the thoughts go to and following them.
The tree might be where they live in the winter considering it might be dangerous sleeping outside in the winter.
As for the state of mind for Morani, I will make a jigsaw puzzle out of it from the information I got from 'the mother'. So the more information I get from 'the mother' the higher the chance of me connecting to Morani.
University students can be pretty stupid if they're also diligent workers. Your schooling is reflected in your education level. As far as assessing your intellect from your play, I might have trouble doing that live, and it's the more difficult through this medium. But since you did not claim to be a extraordinary and you do think you are above average, I'll put it down as 1@8.
I'll be back to post again tomorrow, Lord willing.
--M. J. Young
Let just say that I do not have to give too much effort to understand things.
Even if (hypothetically) I might be an extraordinary person I would not want to claim as one.
I would accept the 1@8 rating happily.
Fate is what brought me here.
Let see what Lord has planned for me.
You seem to succeed in finding "the mother"'s mind one time in three.
You attempt to find the part of the brain that prepares and controls spoken words, but you don't manage to connect on that attempt. You can of course try again.
There is not really that much hard data on Morani in the mother's surface thoughts. She thinks about how much she loves him, how wonderful he is; she worries about him when he hunts, and about whether he is in danger from something she tries to keep out of her thoughts, something large and dangerous. She reassures herself that they live pretty far from those creatures. Otherwise, she does not think that much about him in any way that is very helpful to your efforts to get a picture of his mental frequency.
--M. J. Young
I will attempt to find the part of the brain that prepares and controls spoken words each time I feel 'the mother' is having a conversation.
This information might go through language center to be spoken in words.
If I find it, I will remember this spot for future reference.
I will then try to trace the source of information further back.
This might represent short-term memory, long-term memory or other senses.
The main source of information for conversation might come from auditory sense.
By visualizing a branch of river connecting, I will trace the route back to the flow that transfers more mass (which is information in this case).
I will take my time mapping the 'the mother' state of mind.
I will also like to attempt to lucid dream when I rest to see if I can connect my dream with 'the mother' in a dream world or 'dreamscape'.
I will remember the keywords for what I wanted to dream.
The keywords are:
1) Morani
2) Who
3) Late
The first keyword is to let 'the mother' call for Morani so she then can visualize how Morani look like. This usually is seen from first-person view.
The second keyword is to let the 'dreamed-up Morani' to ask who to the one that called him. This will let 'the mother' visualize herself and telling her name. This usually is seen from third-person view.
The third keyword is to give a hint to 'the mother' about the pregnancy by letting her thought to herself that 'something' might be late.
The keywords are use to reinforce the connection between me and 'the mother' to exchange information (first + second = third).
I will try this until I get:
1) Morani appearance
2) 'The mother' name and appearance
3) Confirmation of 'the mother' pregnancy
How is the environment in the womb now? Any changes?
I will note down any changes in the womb.
I will also note down information from the mind exploration and lucid dreaming experiment.
You awaken one day--well, presumably it is a day--and realize with abruptness that the world is now brilliantly lit, where before it had always been dark--or not dark, really, rather that there had been no light nor any absence of light, merely the absence of any visual information. Now you have visual information, but it is all a blur, as if your eyes were encased on some sort of gel. You also hear sound, faintly but constantly. It is the sound of fluid mechanics, as if powerful pulsing pumps were forcing liquid through vast pipes in the unseen walls around you. There is a regular beat, an off-rhythm double thump that maintains a slow but constant rate, somewhere behind this.
You also realize that there is another sound, and this one you can feel within yourself--it is much faster than the pulse around you, but you realize it is your heart beating in your chest.
You are not yet making progress on reading beyond the mother's present surface thoughts, although significant parts of that are that you are really very new at this and you are always tiring and drifting back into unconsciousness.
I'm a bit confused. Are you trying to teach yourself to perform a psionic telepathic skill while you are asleep, or are you doing something else--trying, perhaps, to step into a sort of parallel world of mind, which is experienced something like dreaming?
--M. J. Young
Yay! Some sensory input at last.
Normally, I would probably have to wait longer to even develop this kind of senses but I am thankful to what have been given to me.
Well now I can probably differentiate between night and day.
Lets start counting days using the alternation of light and dark.
The count should be lower than the actual day because I may lose consciousness between the alternation but it should give me a rough estimate.
Hearing sound is also great.
Now I can probably hear the conversation of mother with someone else provided that I can filter out any sound interferences.
If the sound is near constant, I can probably eliminate it by fusing it with a imaginary reverse sound wave (which is probably how brain works to filter sound).
Given the gift of hearing, I will now alternate the mind exploration with sound filtration each time I think 'the mother' is having a conversation.
I will record the effectiveness of both technique for future reference.
It is said a dream can connect others.
The dream may make the connection to others easier as the conscious mind resistance is nullified.
This can make telepathy easier or at most the same difficulty as mind reading.
Some might also say that a 'dreamscape' is sort of parallel word of mind which exists in a dream.
So to do it both 'the mother' and me must be in a dream.
The anxiety of 'the mother' for her husband safety might trigger a dream.
I'm a bit confused. Are you trying to teach yourself to perform a psionic telepathic skill while you are asleep, or are you doing something else--trying, perhaps, to step into a sort of parallel world of mind, which is experienced something like dreaming?
So the assumption of doing something sort of telepathy skill in dream and stepping in a parallel world of mind might be true but I am not very sure about teaching yourself part (it comes with lucid dreaming package) and experience something like dreaming part (it is a dream).
I will note down any changes in the womb compared to counted day.
I will also note down the result of sound filtration, mind exploration and lucid dreaming experiment.
Happy Father's Day to all fathers and fathers-to-be.
Well, I hope that I can sent this message telepathically to Morani as a special gift.
What you find is that your periods of wakefulness and probably of sleep are much shorter than the cycle of days and nights--you will awaken maybe a dozen times to light, and then another dozen to darkness, more or less, and then it will be light again. The light level alters, as well, sometimes brighter and sometimes not so bright, although the darkness is usually total when it is dark.
The background noise is not exactly constant. Rather, the loudest part pulses, changing pitch and volume in surges something like surf at the shore, only faster. This sometimes changes in rate, but not greatly. There are other sounds as well. The most prevalent is a more distant sound something like wind passing through a pipe, which happens in pulses and comes to a complete momentary silence between each pulse. These pulses vary significantly in speed, but there is some imperfect correlation between the feeling of movement and the faster pulsations of the wind. There are also sounds of liquids gurgling sometimes. Behind all this, you hear the occasional erratic tones that might be speech, consonants blurred out completely, vowels barely distinguishable, as if someone were humming an unmelodious song with intricate rhythms. In the breaks you hear an even fainter but similar rumble, of a lower pitch, in response, and sometimes these two sounds overlap.
Now, when you speak of generating an inverse sound wave, do you mean that you intend somehow to create sound that counters the background noise, or are you taking about doing something inside your own brain?
When I say "teach yourself", I mean only that you are going to attempt to do something you have not done previously, and in the process create a skill or ability that you can attempt to use again in the future. Don't get hung up on those words; if you're trying to do something you've not done before, that's teaching yourself a new skill.
To distinguish the two possibilities about which I am asking, there is the possibility that you intend to go to sleep and to dream, but to attempt to recognize that you are dreaming and take control of the dream, then within the dream dream that you have telepathy, and use the power you've imagined in the dream to telepathically contact your mother, provided she is also dreaming. She would then dream that you contacted her telepathically.
There is the possibility that you are going to wait for a time when you believe your mother is probably asleep and might be dreaming, and then attempt to contact her telepathically by putting yourself in a dream-like state through which you reach out to her mind to connect to her in the dream.
It occurs to me that it might be instead that what you want to do is starting with one of those approaches (e.g., either realizing that you are dreaming already or moving into a dream-like state) you wish to connect your dream to the mother's dream, such that you can see her as a character in your dream and she can see you as a character in hers, and thus you would be sharing a dream and holding a conversation within the dream.
I'll admit that I am not at this moment entirely certain how I would cover any of those skills, but I'm sure I can, and so at the moment it's just that I want to know which I should be trying to cover before I put a lot of time into the wrong idea.
--M. J. Young
The 'counted day' are counted using the alternation of total darkness and any source of light.
I know that the sound is not constant.
Maybe I should rephrase 'near constant' as a pattern that is easily predicted.
In the breaks you hear an even fainter but similar rumble, of a lower pitch, in response, and sometimes these two sounds overlap.
This may be the voice of a male (probably Morani) because it is said that a male voice have lower pitch. The one before might be 'the mother' but all this is just guesswork.
Now, when you speak of generating an inverse sound wave, do you mean that you intend somehow to create sound that counters the background noise, or are you taking about doing something inside your own brain?
I think the imaginary inverse sound wave means doing something inside my own brain.
Let just say that I have never done lucid dreaming in this kind of state before so you can probably say it is a new skill.
It occurs to me that it might be instead that what you want to do is starting with one of those approaches (e.g., either realizing that you are dreaming already or moving into a dream-like state) you wish to connect your dream to the mother's dream, such that you can see her as a character in your dream and she can see you as a character in hers, and thus you would be sharing a dream and holding a conversation within the dream.
It can start with me realizing that I am within a dream or trying to go into a state of dreaming when I think 'the mother' is dreaming.
I do not think I can hold a conversation just yet with my level of lucid dreaming but I think I can suggest a couple of keyword to affect the dream 'the mother' is having.
I do not think I can be a character of 'the mother' dream.
This means I will be more of an observer but if I can maybe I will try to appear as Morani (then asking who had call) and then let 'the mother' take control of the dream because she knows Morani better than me.
If I have to give a name to this skill it might be 'Dream hypnosis with telepathic lucid dreaming suggestion variant'. Well, I hope you can enlighten me as how this will fit into the system.
You connect to someone, but it's not in the dream, and you are not asleep--and neither is she.
You are very confused about what has happened, why you are suddenly floating, and why you are not drowning. There is a blurry world around you, and loud noises that you don't understand; and yet you do understand, because they have been there for a long time, even though they are new.
At the same time, you can see the forest. You can see the fire, and the meat roasting on the fire. It appears to be about the size of a dog or a pig, but has the shape of a mouse. Your hands are working with the tools--but you are surprised, because they are delicate, feminine hands. Nothing about this surprises you, and yet it all surprises you.
Your name is Theian Orlina Lelach, and you are married to Theian Alanda Morani. He calls you Mori, and you call him Rani. But then, that's not you--you are someone else, and your real name passes through your mind, along with images of your real life. You live here in the woods, and your winter home is that hole up there in that huge tree--the base of the tree is at least several times your height, and that hole must be half way to heaven. You wonder how you could possibly climb to reach that, and you wonder why you are wondering or why you would ever think about climbing. You wonder that your mind is so confused, filled with images as you remember your bed back in your room at home, and at the same time do not understand why a bed would look like that, or what sort of room that might be. It looks like it might be a human room, actually, and you can't think why you would ever live in a human room; but of course, you are human, so you would; but then, you're not human, thanks be to the King, and it is insane to think this way.
You sit down. The confusion is overwhelming. It is as if something had come into your mind from somewhere else, another person, an alien being, planting ideas, images, memories that are not your own; and yet they all seem to be yours, as if you lived another life in another time and place.
And that sound, that pulsating pounding sound that has quickened even as you have heard it, continues in your ears, the blurry world and the real world overlapping.
This could be serious.
--M. J. Young
The effect is better than I expected.
I feel sorry for Mori though so I will apologize to Mori by thinking it to myself.
Time to create a new skill that I have been keeping in case something like this happens.
I am thinking of using this skill right before the birth but I guess this is a good time to use it.
I have to regulate both minds to stabilize it so at least full control of body is possible.
Then I have to create at least 3 personality.
The first personality is for original me which is 'Maxx'.
The second personality is for the baby that holds no memory except the sensation that a baby should have or 'baby' for short. (I will rename it later.)
The third personality is for Theian Orlina Lelach or 'Mori'.
Mori personality will control Mori's body.
Baby personality will control baby's body.
Maxx personality will be subconscious mind of baby (and Mori if I can manage so this will become some sort of bridge or mind network).
Maxx personality will meld with the baby personality accordingly.
I will tell Mori (by telling myself by thinking) that Mori is pregnant using subtle method (or words) if she is not aware of it yet.
I will also tell Mori that the memory of my past life is an event of rebirth of her baby and should be kept secret from others and even from the baby until the baby reach adulthood.
If she wanted to address me, she can address me as what she wanted to address her baby as but if she insists on a name then she can call me 'Maxx'.
It may be even better if Mori can forget the detail of the memory to conserve the balance of nature but I would not force her to forget.
I will try to learn what she have learn all her life such as language, cooking, common knowledge and other survival skill so that I can pass this information to the baby when the time has come.
I will also give any info to Mori to make her chance of survival higher if I know anything about the environment.
I will also ask her what exactly is the her race if it is not human.
(Is it elven by any chance?)
I will also ask her about the King.
I will also ask her what is used to go into that tree. (Magic perhaps?)
By the way, how did the word 'Mori' came from Theian Orlina Lelach?
(I would prefer she be called Lina or Lela but lets hear the reason for Mori.)
I will also talk about anything that came across my mind.
This conversation might lower the confusion for both of us.
By relaxing my thought, the control would probably go to Mori so she could control her body easier.
I would even try to match my movement with Mori if relaxing my thought have little effect to better control Mori's body.
Now is probably a good time to meet Morani and others and have a talk.
I will suggest this to Mori.
I might also try mind reading when I see Morani and others or at least get their mind frequency.
I will try to remember how to do this mind sync effect for future reference.
The result of regulating mind, creating personality, conversation with Mori/self (which includes the Mori name origin), meeting others, mind reading (or just getting mind frequency if possible) of Morani and others, and how long this mind sync effect will last will be noted.
I am sorry; "Mori" is not the name. I actually misread "Mom" on a notepad I had. The nickname is "Lach".
At the moment, there is only one mind bridging two bodies. You do not have separate mental or physical existence from Lelach (which is her given name). That is the source of much of the confusion.
Your apology gets thrown into the mix; Lach feels that she is apologizing to herself, and she does not understand what she has done.
The information that she is pregnant connects with a suspicion that she had.
Lelach and Morani are sprites. There are stories in the holy writings about a time when sprites and elves were at odds with each other, but no one knows whether there still are elves in the world. Lach only knows the stories from her grandmother, because she's a girl and was not permitted to learn or read them. She does speak some spritish, thanks to her parents and grandparents, but most sprites speak Human now.
They live in the woods. In winter they will enter a hole in the tree and seal the opening, keeping it warm with their own body heat.
She knows how to start fires by heating mithisella in her hands; mithisella is apparently something finer and more flammable than tinder, but there seems also to be some aspect of a sprite's body that allows her to focus the light she naturally produces at all times into her hands to create enough heat to ignite this material. She also flies, and was not bad at aerobatics when she was younger, which is the sort of play young sprites of both genders pursue.
Now, how exactly do you expect to split your mind into several different personalities?
--M. J. Young
This seems like a Déjà vu to me.
Some of the things that I have imagined started to come together.
There are many parallel or similar things that have happened all around me including in other characters and adventures.
I just hope that it is all just a coincidence.
-----
Splitting mind into several different personality is not very hard if you have an active imagination (or mental simulation).
Try talking (thinking) to yourself to search for a solution is an example of this.
You can also try looking from different perspective to create a split personality.
Visualization process helps a lot in personality manipulation.
I will try visualizing an ocean with two ports.
Maxx will be the ocean with all past life information.
The ocean will also represent the subconsciousness.
A new port is going to have its grand opening soon.
This represents the baby personality.
All new ship are sailing from this new port to get resources from all around it.
This represent the baby senses and physical existence.
An established port will represent Lach personality.
All the experience sailor will go to this port.
This represents Lach experience in the current world.
The ocean will only let the appropriate ship sail to its port.
This represents only appropriate personalities are allowed to control the body.
The ocean will also let the ship pass through in certain condition.
The ocean will also give natural resources to each port when needed.
This represents information sharing between each parties.
This will sort of make me be like a 'Guardian Spirit' or something to both Lach and her child (which coincidentally relates with sprites that take root from spiritus or spirit in Latin).
How do the sprites look like? (Is it like a fairy or something?)
What do they wear?
What is their size compared to human?
Do the light that came from sprite body is from a magical origin?
Who is this King that Lach talks about?
I thought elves is in the same family as sprites but I could be wrong.
I wonder if the disagreement stem from emulating human culture such as speaking human language. I will keep this in mind. I will hope that the baby will be a boy so that I can probably gain more access to the information.
I should know a bit of spritish by now or is my assumption wrong?
Do I have new skills now because of this mind sync effect?
The result of creating personality, the effect of mind sync, and questions relating the appearance of sprite and the King will be noted. If all is good, meeting with the others should be next on the list.
As it stands now, you are not a distinct person from Lelach; you know what she knows, and she knows what you know. You both exist as a single entity in two bodies; perhaps fortuitiously, one of those bodies has negligible movement capabilities, so at least that's not getting too confused.
You can create these seemingly separate identities, but they are all you, and they are all Lelach. (The baby never had any identity that was not you, incidentally, so separating yourself from the baby is pretty difficult even conceptually.)
As for appearance, Lelach is reminiscent of Tinkerbell. Of course, to her way of thinking, Sprites are a normal size and humans are huge--four to six times as tall, roughly. Her clothes are made from animal leather and woven natural fibers.
She has never given any consideration to the source of the light that emanates from her and ever other sprite's body, nor why it is there. The idea that it might be "magic" seems silly to her, because she's only a sprite, so how could she do magic. At the same time, what you know about the light makes it seem at least in part magical. For example, it does not shine through her clothes, but emanates from around her even when she is wearing clothes. She thinks she does not control it, but she does focus it into her hands when she wants to light a fire, and it apparently has enough heat in it to do that if she has mithisella.
As to the King, it appears to be a name for a god; it also appears that for Lelach it would be the name for the God, as monotheism is all she understands. She is finding ideas in the new fused mind that are very confusing and even frightening to her, as she now knows things that are not true (e.g., that men have flying machines and travel in space) and believes things that are contradictory (presumably conflicting with your beliefs).
Your efforts to separate yourself into individual personalities fails.
--M. J. Young
Well, this is getting interesting.
The time limit to find a solution is until the birth then.
If not, things will get troublesome in more ways than one.
I will just follow Lelach lead in whatever she wants to do for now.
This is like two company merged together to be a new one.
Lets divide work for each division to make it less confusing.
It may also make multi-tasking easier if we have no contradicting thought.
To do this effectively I need to know what I have known from Lelach such as the common knowledge of this world.
For an example, what is the name of the animal that she cook?
You can create these seemingly separate identities, but they are all you, and they are all Lelach. (The baby never had any identity that was not you, incidentally, so separating yourself from the baby is pretty difficult even conceptually.)
My real intention is not the separation of the mind but to ease the control of both body. I will consult with Lelach about what to do with the current situation and hope to get her cooperation. I am thinking of perfectly synchronizing our thoughts to control each respective body. The baby is a new created personality to prevent a weird situation where a baby can know so much things when just been born (which can be achieved just by feigning ignorance).
The idea that it might be "magic" seems silly to her, because she's only a sprite, so how could she do magic.
What other creature do she think can do magic?
This may seem a normal thing to her so can this be called sprite normal body attribute?
She thinks she does not control it, but she does focus it into her hands when she wants to light a fire, and it apparently has enough heat in it to do that if she has mithisella.
Could she teach me how to do it or do I have known it all along already?
As to the King, it appears to be a name for a god; it also appears that for Lelach it would be the name for the God, as monotheism is all she understands.
So King is what the God is called in this world.
She is finding ideas in the new fused mind that are very confusing and even frightening to her, as she now knows things that are not true (e.g., that men have flying machines and travel in space) and believes things that are contradictory (presumably conflicting with your beliefs).
That happen in another world so I will calm her down by telling her that my thought or belief may not be relevant in this world which is why I said to forget or ignore it before. This may be a low tech world or past parallel world.
I will ask her if there is anything she should have done now.
If there is not, I will suggest her to tell Morani that she is pregnant.
(Try to get Morani's mind frequency at that moment.)
I will then suggest they go to a doctor (or whatever it is called in this world) or someone who is really knowledgeable about this situation (preferably someone who knows personality manipulation).
I wanted to know how many days have past since the date of conception or maybe I already know that by knowing what Lelach knows?
Can this knowledgeable person determine the gender of the baby before it is born?
Can this person help with the personality problem?
Describe (and tell the name if possible) the surrounding including other sprites, animals and plants that Lelach see.
The results of conversation, trip to Morani and doctor (or any similar beings) are noted.
I am combining my answers to both threads here; that means some of the questions are in the new thread, Maxx In-game Journal.
The animal cooking is a mouse. It should be large enough to make a good meal for the family.
The firestarting is indeed a normal body ability of sprites. As to magic, it is said that elves could work magic, but no one knows if there are still elves in the world. Some of the elders can do some magic, of course, because they have studied so much for so long. Since it is a body-based skill, when she does it you do it; the baby's body is not yet able to focus heat at all--you have not yet figured out how to move your hands. It is not psionic, but seems rather to be something of a biofeedback control, the way some people learn to slow their heart rates. Sprites have a higher than human body temperature, and can focus their body heat into their hands. As to mithisella, cotton candy is a pretty good description. It is finer than tinder, with an extremely low ignition temperature. The heat in her hands can be raised sufficiently to ignite it, but it does not get hot enough to scorch any but the most sensitive materials--she could not use her finger as a woodburner, for example, although she could probably melt wax, if she had any.
Concerning writing the journal, Lelach does not read nor write; of course, you can read and write, and so you can manipulate a writing implement to do so using her hands, somewhat awkwardly at first since it is an entirely new skill for Lach's hands, but she'll catch on fast.
Since, though, she does not read nor write herself, she has no such materials on hand. Rani reads, and to some limited degree also writes (the education of male sprites is directed at enabling them to read holy writ, with only the most advanced students also learning to copy it, of which Rani is not one). Her knowledge of the stories in holy writ are gained from tales told by her grandmother; she does not know how her grandmother learned those tales. He reads and writes spritish, though, not human; the writing you use is human, and although that is what Lach speaks, she does not read nor write it.
Lelach's mind says that pregnancy takes about six to eight months from the time you know you are pregnant, and that different people realize this sooner. That suggests that gestation for a sprite is the same as for a human. This might be because although size is significantly different, complexity of development is not.
Lach is definitely frightened, which means you are also frightened. The women of her family will help with the birth, but there won't be any "doctors", which seems to mesh with her understanding of the wise elders of the community who know about things, involved. You could try to explain the problem to them, and they might attempt an exorcism or something. She is going to try to ask Rani about it, but she's a bit frightened of how he will react.
You are managing the problems of controlling both bodies, because there really is only one mind even though there still seems to be two personalities each with its own will. The only time you have trouble really is when you want to do different things, and that's not usually the case. What is more difficult is deciding to do something; once it's decided, it's easy enough to do.
What religion were you? Those are the beliefs that are conflicted at present (and yes, they do conflict, because even if you are an agnostic you "know" things about God and religion that are not things she has heard before).
Presumably you are going to attempt to convey the problem to Morani. What do you think you are going to say?
--M. J. Young
I thought that it was a mouse but I have just to ask for confirmation.
Focus body heat at specific place is a good skill to learn even as a human.
I heard some monks a capable to do this to withstand the cold.
Well, what a lucky guess on mithisella.
The idea to write with leaf came to me when remembering some of it have a photosensitive condition that may change their color when given enough light but I do not know where to find that kind of leaf yet.
I will write with my hand, a tiny twig, ash or anything available to the ground or any surface that is writable.
Which hand does Lelach usually use?
She should know how to read and write using human language by now by using my knowledge right?
Can I learn a bit of spritish or cooking from her?
I will also thank Lelach for the information about the gestation period of sprites.
Can Lelach guess the conception time so that I can calculate how much time we have to find the solution for this situation?
Thank goodness the problems of controlling both bodies are manageable for now but I do wonder what happens after birth.
I will consult with Lelach with everything that we will do so that no conflict of movement happens.
Well, I study various religion and belief system.
It is sufficient to say I believe in a power that governs all reality and simulation where each world are some sort of frequency.
This collective frequency is like the mind of God or a part of it.
Does that information satisfy what Lelach need to know?
Even I am frightened if I am faced with this situation but that maybe because I am in the same situation as her.
"Should we ask the King for guidance?", I asked Lelach.
I wonder if the belief system fused too?
Let just say that the King that Lelach refer to is the same as what I believed in.
I wonder if my mental attribute are fused together too.
Do we have accumulated, separated, same or averaged out attribute such as intuition, intellect or others because of this situation?
Can I suggest Lelach to come up with the wording of what I want to say?
I will suggest she tell Morani that she is pregnant.
I will suggest her kept the personality problem as a secret for now.
She can tell him if she want but that is all up to her.
If she decided to tell Morani, then tell it as others problem first (such as a person A have personality problem and you want to consult with him to help this person).
If he agrees to help, ask him if we could go to the wise elder for help or something.
If she is interested in the reaction then she can mind read him by using my skill but it is up to her though.
Lelach can read, and understands how to write, but the formation of letters by any physical means will require much practice to do it with any speed. Think back to how you wrote in kindergarten: you had to form each letter slowly, individually, and it was a difficult task until your hands became accustomed to the process. You were taught printing first, cursive later, so that you could stop between each letter and make them individually before proceeding to the next.
You certainly know all she knows about cooking at the moment. What you will retain of that knowledge upon separation, assuming you ever manage separation, will depend on a lot of points that cannot be determined until we know how you manage the separation. It might be that you will be split in a way that will remove from each of you all knowledge obtained from the other, even any recollection that the joining occurred; it might be that the separation is such that each of you retains all the memories of both (although you will have to teach your body the body skills hers uses naturally, just as she has to do with yours). It is difficult to know exactly what you can "learn" if you mean what can become part of Maxx' knowledge independent of Lelach's knowledge, as at the moment there is no such thing as separate knowledge. It is all fused into one person with conflicted personalities. It is almost as if you had multiple personality syndrome, except that both personalities are fully active at all times and you've been very much a gentleman about not taking control very often, and on some level you really have only the one unified will. Your minds have melded, and so even though you have two identities which can still be distinguished by having two histories, whatever happens to you now is happening to one person with an identity crisis.
Concerning the information on religion, Lelach does not "need to know" anything; she already knows everything you think and believe. I need to have a more complete understanding of your religion because I need to be able to assess the conflict between what she believes and what you believe.
Good question. I think under these circumstances you would be able to rely on the higher of most of these--intuition, intellect, education level, certainly, maybe persuasion. An mag and charisma may be different from either, primarily based on hers but possibly modified slightly by yours if yours is different. Will power might be the odd one, because I can see that as between you you might each have your own, but facing the outside you might be able to enhance it a bit if you can agree.Do we have accumulated, separated, same or averaged out attribute such as intuition, intellect or others because of this situation?
Lach tells Rani that she thinks she might be pregnant. He asks her, sort of hedging, how she knows, or whether he doesn't really want to know the answer to that. She says that it's really nothing like anything she'd ever heard, but that she can sort of sense the baby, as if it were trying to tell her it was there. She laughs, as if that's the silliest thing she's ever said, but Morani is much too excited about his first child to worry about how she knows.
She does not mention the personality thing. Not yet, anyway (unless you push the issue).
The idea of reading his mind seems very invasive to her. That's a word she got from you, by the way, but it does describe what she feels about it. On the other hand, you might be able to do it (you have enough control that you could contest her position on it).
--M. J. Young
I will suggest to her to learn how to write with each of her hands so that she can balance the practice with each hands. The fabric and the sewing for journal can be done to make a copy of the current journal so that it is easier to bring somewhere else. She can also recycle fabric that is not used by anyone else to save expenses.
She may even used animal leather or anything sew-able for the fabric and natural fibers as the thread.
Talking about expenses, how do the economy in this world works?
What is use to trade with others?
Is it monetary or barter system?
Do farming of any kind exist in this world such as growing of crops and rearing of animals?
Are there human civilization nearby?
What are the date today compared to the human civilization?
Can sprite communicate with human, animals, plants or others?
The ideal separation would be separating with each other knowledge still intact (if Lelach does not want my memory then maybe we can erase it) but if in case separation is not an option then living with it like a conjoined twins that can accommodate each other movement is also good.
Does Lelach feel thankful or otherwise for having my memory?
I have to give note to myself that even trying for lucid dreaming can have this kind of effect in this world. I do wonder if a second lucid dreaming will reverse the effect and ask Lelach if she wants to try this method now, wait until after birth to try it or feel that this method is better not attempted.
It is almost as if you had multiple personality syndrome, except that both personalities are fully active at all times and you've been very much a gentleman about not taking control very often, and on some level you really have only the one unified will.
That statement also kind of describe of the entity I believe in but King (or God) really know how to micro-manage things.
I am not too sure about the 'gentleman' part until the gender of the baby are verified but I go with it for now.
Your minds have melded
So mind meld it is.
King (or God) must have a good reason for this to happen.
Probably to give a hint of the Truth but this is just a guess.
Don't you think my belief do kind of fit the title of this thread?
If any contradiction happen with Lelach according to our belief, I will accommodate her belief with mine.
What contradiction do you potentially see with what Lelach believe in and a person who believe in any monotheism religion?
For the attribute of an mag and charisma, I will leave them to Lelach as it is her body after all. I did not know if mine is any different because I am not sure of what to compare it to.
The next training is will power enhancement by agreement or being supportive of each other to make things easier.
If we have different opinion on things then do we have a will power fight or end up doing nothing? (This problem never came as an issue before but it is interesting to see what might happen.)
How do my character sheet look like after all this or is this information a secret?
If she does not want to mention the personality thing then it is better not to because I trust her intuition. It is still manageable now anyways. That is why we have to find solution to this problem before birth or try to control both body normally.
If Lelach does not want to read Morani mind then it is sufficient to note his mental frequency for emergency cases (such as knowing the safety of your loved one). I can try to make a mental prediction of his reaction by pure calculation and empathy if Lelach wants to.
Can we divide time to do what each personality wants to do but prioritize on Lelach?
As each person have a frequency, each things may have frequency too.
I wonder what happens if I try to meditate or relax my mind?
Can I try to relax my mind to sense the frequency of my surroundings?
Do the frequency of the things surrounding me became clearer if I only focus at one thing at a time?
If we can do this, we can probably do it to search fabric or anything that is suitable to sew by matching a fabric frequency pattern to the frequency pattern of the surrounding.
Do Lelach meditate with me or will she be able to do what she wants to do better?
Lets try personality multitasking where each personality concentrate on one task as it will be a good practice for the future. We will be practicing this anytime that it is appropriate such as writing with both hands.
I wonder if one personality sleep do the other personality sleep too or can the other personality take full control when the other is asleep?
You remember that as being less than a week before this mental fusion occurred, which is about two days ago (this the third day).Have Lelach ever thought of not having enough mithisella for the winter and gathered berry that day?
The conception happen before that event so it can be a sort of reference point.
Can she remember how many day have past from that event?
I have no idea what you mean by this.We will try to search for more fabric using frequency matching.
Oh, sorry--there it is. Please try to keep everything you intend to do in this thread; you can use the other thread for recording your thoughts and ideas, but not for in-game actions. Thanks. I'll get back to this.
Lach and Rani live alone; they can't really help themselves to other people's leftover fabric. They are part of a village, in Sprite concepts, but generally sprite homes are far enough apart that they cannot see nor hear each other, even in such villages.
Most people make or find what they need, or trade what they have to someone else. That is, that's how sprites do it.
Lach does not know the world beyond her village. Her people are hunter-gatherers, although some fish and most grow a few plants close to home so they can gather nearby.
Lelach is still frightened about your memories, because she does not understand what they are or how they can exist. More precisely, part of you does not understand how memories of another world can exist, there being no reason to think that there are other worlds. Part of you is accommodated to that idea already. Part of you thinks you are losing your mind, because you think it perfectly reasonable to have memories of another life in another world.
Lelach does not let you attempt to read Morani's thoughts or feelings in any way beyond the ordinary reading of body language. She suspects that you're in this mess because you were trying to do something you shouldn't try to do, trying to have powers that don't really belong to sprites. Or she was, or something. She doesn't want to think about it, and she doesn't want to believe that she tried to read someone else's thoughts or feelings, even though in the confusion it seems that she was someone else trying to read her own feelings. You cannot find someone's mental frequency without somehow making mental contact with them, so you can't get Morani's frequency this way at this time.
Your thoughts about human civilization create an immediate fear reaction in Lach, and she does not want to think about humans. They are not that far, but she does not want to risk being too close to such horrible monsters.
That's another problem with the mental connection: she remembers being a human, and even though she does not remember anything particularly wicked about being human, to her humans are very wicked and dangerous.
The calendar, such as it is, mostly tells that the seasons are progressing. There are no years counted except for how old someone is.
If inanimate objects have a frequency, you don't find it by relaxing your mind.
Any suggestion that you want to do something different from what you want to do creates significant stress and fear, because it suggests that you are losing your mind.
When you say you want to focus on one "thing" at a time, what kinds of things are you considering, and how do you want to focus on them?
When you attempt to read the mental frequency of fabric, she stops you, telling herself that it is absolutely insane to think that she could read the mind of a mindless thing like fabric.
You both sleep at the same time, but it is much more complicated than that, because when Lelach's body is asleep you both cycle in and out of consciousness in the baby's body, and when her body is awake your awareness of the baby's body rolls in cycles of between five and thirty minutes at a shot, awake, asleep. You only rest when both bodies are asleep, and it's starting to impact your ability to function when you are awake.
You cannot split what the personalities are doing; they are too closely united for that.
--M. J. Young
Footnote: any changes to your character sheet will be posted behind the screens.
--M. J. Young