[Torg] Fortune and the Future (was: The Magic Axiom Chart)

[Jones Jasyn]

On Feb 1, 2010, at 9:59 AM, Phil Dack wrote:

>> From: Jones Jasyn <jasynj at gmail.com>

>>> Low Axiom magic is intriguing. How do you think different axioms affect the 
>> 
>>> reliability of the omens, and to what extent is it "pattern / interpretation / prediction" and to what 
>>> extend "pattern / interpretation / belief / influence"?
>> 
>> I'm not sure what you mean by this. Could you maybe expand?
> 
> Sorry. It made sense as I wrote it! Fundamentally, does low Axiom fortune telling perceive the future or does it harness symbols to help make a specific future come about? I'm guessing that, as in so many areas, a binary response is flawed thinking and that the answer is "both"! But it'd be interesting to know your thoughts. 

It's amazing how many seemingly simple questions about Torg end up diving into deep metaphysical waters. In this case, it's "What is the nature of causality in Torg?" This affects not just fortune-telling, but also prophecies (a Spirit concept).

As with all other such issues, the answer is not found in the canon, and is a matter of individual interpretation. Here is mine:

In Torg, there is such a thing as chance—random outcomes. There is also such a thing as choice—people can choose to take certain actions. There is also such a thing as Fate—some things are meant to be.

An event that is Fated must be. It will be. Nothing one does will avert it. By definition. If truly Fated events exist, they are inexorable. (Although, they usually do not manifest the way people think they will. Witness Oedipus Rex.)

All other events are a matter of choice and chance: anything that isn't Fated might or might not happen. Since there is no definite future for non-Fated events, there is no way to exactly predict the future.

Omens and fortune-telling do not, can not, exactly predict the future. The nature of causality prevents this. What they can do is offer indistinct or ambiguous predictions. These predictions are of greater or lesser accuracy, depending on the axiom level (higher means more accurate), the skill of the person (better or worse at interpreting the omen), and the choices of the individuals involved.

Knowledge of the future can change one's actions, different actions can change the future. Predicting a future event might cause the individual to work towards it, and so it occurs as predicted. Predicting a different future might cause someone to avoid it at all costs, and so it never occurs. This is the paradox of choice—choice makes predicting the future very difficult.

The more ambiguous a prediction, the more likely the events predicted will occur. This might be because the prediction was accurate or it might be because people interpret past events in such a way as to make them fit the prediction. Both are possible, in the bounds of magic.

So to answer the question more directly: Does fortunetelling predict the future or cause the future? The answer is that it can do both. However, causing the future isn't a matter of supernatural power: fortune-telling cannot cause events, what it can do is affect the actions people take.

Footnote: On Fortune

Omens prefigure the future. At low levels, only in the general sense of good or bad luck, but at higher levels they can indicate specific events. Fortune-telling operates much the same way.

Both omen-reading and fortune-telling are imprecise. This isn't a matter of skill, it's the nature of the magic involved. (Though, obviously, low skilled individuals have less ability and get things wrong more often.)

Neither endeavor ever becomes perfectly precise, even at very high Magic axioms. Nor do spells or wishes allow perfect prediction of the future.

In fact Fortune (the tri-partite concept embodying choice, chance, and fate) is always a problematic area for magicians, to the extent that neither wishes nor spells are any better at predicting the future than omens and fortune-tellers. Fortune always remains obdurate, it resists all attempts to mold it.

This is just one example of where the meta-physics of Torg and Mage: the Ascension conflict.

Jasyn Jones
jasynj (at) gmail (dot) com

"To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
Ulysses, Alfred Lord Tennyson