[Torg] Inspiration in the Possibility Wars (Core Earth World Laws 10 of 11)

[Jones Jasyn]

The previous post described how The Gift of Inspiration usually functions, how it functioned before the Wars began. After the Possibility Wars started, other abilities of the World Law came to light.

Invading cosms each embody some genre of Core Earth fiction. Though the reason isn’t known on Earth (and is the subject of much scientific speculation), the fact is that Earth’s Possibility Nexus broadcasts Possibility Energy into the cosmverse and draws it back, and has done so since the cosm was first created. As Possibility Energy inspires, the alien Possibility Energy has inspired the fiction of Core Earth, subtly shaping it to reflect the nature of foreign realities.

Core Earth has been influenced by other realities, perhaps more so than any other cosm ever. When people of other realities dream, they dream of what is possible in their world. When people of Core Earth dream, we dream of what is possible somewhere, of what is possible elsewhere.

One of the chief tools of High Lords is shock. It is hard for most people to accept that another reality is even possible, let alone that it actually exists and more, that it has landed in your backyard. On other worlds, even when stormers did appear, they didn’t have enough time to adapt to the new tools, new abilities, new truths of the invading reality. Before they could get their bearings, their world was gone and the High Lord had moved on to some other cosm. That didn’t happen on Core Earth.

It didn’t happen here because the natives of Core Earth had an innate understanding that other realities existed. The Gift of Inspiration has acted to inform people, subtly and invisibly, of the existence of foreign realities. Subconsciously, many were prepared to believe that other worlds, where reality was different, could exist. For some, these realities were so compelling they were ready to believe in them even before the invasion began (see the “Believing in Another Reality” sidebar). 

Invading another reality requires believers. Because Core Earthers are, in general, more willing to believe in other realities, invading Core Earth only requires 25,000 believers per zone (pg. 176, R&E), whereas invading another cosm requires twice that, or more. Additionally, those Core Earthers who believe in an alien reality are more easily transformed than usual. For these people, use the result two columns lower on the Transformation table (pg. 158, R&E), to reflect the speed with which they transform.

Paradoxically, this World Law has also made some Core Earthers more resistant to alien invaders. Those who do not support other realities cling to their own far more fiercely than in other cosms. For these ords, use the numbers given on the Transformation chart (see sidebar, pg. 157, R&E for an explanation).

These tendencies affect possibility-rated individuals as well. Possibility-rated individuals who are strongly attached to Core Earth’s reality gain +1 add in the Reality skill. Those who are susceptible to foreign realities more easily transform to those realities: in Reality Storms involving that reality, they are considered Stymied.

Core Earth’s reality also aids the planting of Glory seeds (pg. 186, R&E). Both the storyteller and the audience are inspired, the storyteller to relate a story well, the audience to remember their former lives. When planting story seeds on Earth, storytellers gain a +2 bonus to their skill total.

Last, this World Law aids Storm Knights in appropriating and using the High Lords’ tools against them. Their innate understanding of other realities allows Storm Knights to select one skill normally not native to their reality, and learn and use it as if it were native. The use of this skill isn’t a contradiction for the Storm Knight anywhere in Core Earth or in the reality it is native to.  In other cosms, it is considered a 1-case contradiction (as the character supports it, but the land doesn’t).
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Jasyn Jones
jasynj (at) gmail (dot) com

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

Check out my Torg webpage, Storm Knights:
web.me.com/stormknights/