diGriz's Treatise on Reality

Written in Truespeech, knowing no impediments, but communicated as a fire rat, which necessitates impediments. Practitioners educated at Roke may read these lines unimpeded.

Be warned that reading of this treatise beyond this this sentence may constitute the use of a magic item.

Tick tocks
bowls clatter
death whispers
life shouts
order paces
chaos clamors
water gurgles
fire crackles
wind whistles
ground rumbles
children laugh
void
Red as Blood
Dry as Dust
Bright as night
Dark as dusk
See your love
Trap the soul
Find your self
Robe and bowl
What's going on?
State your goal
Start the game
Play the fool

I have

1. Destroyed a Beholder, one of the 49, reducing their numbers by one, and the numbers of Illithid by one, to 48 each.

2. Destroyed Salt Peter, within his Place of Power.

3. Destroyed Set, Bringer of Night, in his Temple.

4. Wielded Blackburn, a Fire Sermon created by Transforming a Nightmare of What the Thunder Said, and bearing the influence of Nerull, otherwise known as the Reaper, the patron deity of my good friend Crogin.

5. Wielded the Fire Sermon, in all it's glory.

6. Traveled to Knock.

7. Witnessed the Tree of Monsters.

8. Witnessed the Tree of Fire.

9. Trained as a Roke MAGE!?! in Worlorn Truth by the Masters at Roke.

10. Captured and returned to Roland the phlogiston of Dolarhyde the dragon.

11. Survived Salt Peter's vengeance. So far.

12. Destroyed a portion of Morganti id weapons.

13. Spoken with the emissaries of the Prince Who Was 1000.

14. Served as emissary to the Prince Who Was 1000.

15. Acquired two sets of sapient pearwood luggage.

16. Witnessed the full ceremony of Kraigdahn.

17. Rode on a Wind Wolf's back.

18. Mastered Fire.

19. Mastered Wind.

20. Learned to pilot a void skimmer.

21. Twice passed through the void. And survived.

22. Twice passed through the shadow of the Dark Horse. And survived.

23. Bound the Hellflame.

24. Had my Roke [powers] replenished once.

25. THIS LINE WILL KILL YOU IF YOU ARE INSUFFICIENTLY PROTECTED. Interacted directly with a sixth rank creature. Caused it to back down!

26. Planted the Tree of Knowledge.

27. Wielded the Tree of Knowledge.

28. Summoned Barion and the Nightmare of same from the Abyss. And survived.

29. Summoned an agent from the Courts of Chaos (Red Zone). And survived.

30. Survived two separate instances of draws from a Deck of Many Things.

31. Survived the Scourge of Rats. Was the LAST FIRE RAT for a long time.

32. Never denied my true nature.

33. Always acted as diGriz wanted to, not the dragon.

34. Acquired a branch of the Tree of Fire without killing anyone.

35. Gradually minimized my use of magic.

36. Often summoned a Salamander.

37. Thwarted the horrific Seventh Compact (Book of Ells)

38. Initiated the Book of the New Day

39. Have always kept Tloluvin's interests in mind, though he hasn't always known it.

40. Influenced the training of Alexander Skemandras at Roke Island.

1. To be above a game, you may not participate in the game.

2. Anyone participating in a game must perform according to the rules of the game. Breaking the rules implies that you are no longer playing the game.

   Conversely, if you "break" the rules and are still playing the game, either the rules have changed to accomodate you, you never broke a rule in the first place, or you had been or are currently playing a different game from the one you believed you were playing. Everyone is either a player or a non-player.

   There are two choices available to players: passive and active. Passive players are impacted by and/or have an indirect impact on the game. Active players are both impacted by and have a direct impact on the game. There are two choices available to non-players: non-participant, and controller. A non-participant is not impacted by and has no direct or indirect impact on the game.

   A controller may be of two types: permissive and absolute. The permissive controller makes allowances so that they may occasionally play the game. The absolute controller chooses not to participate at all costs, and only seeks to establish the rules by which all players must adhere. Any player is potentially a controller.

3. There are at least six ranks of existence. I have personally interacted with a sixth rank of creature; the rest of the world only suspects that six ranks exist.

   Given this fact, there are at least 7 ranks of controllers. Whether there is more than one controller at any given level is another matter entirely.

   To my knowledge, no controller at 5th rank or higher has died an irrevocable Real Death. The Real Death has no meaning to any creature of less than 5th rank. The wathan is consumed, but the controller of the wathan persists.

   [This means that Ko is not dead, and has never died. It was not possible.]

4. Reality is always in flux.

5. Reality is always balanced.

   The fact that reality exists is testament to it's inherent balance. Mother Nature will not permit existence without balance. At the very least, there have always been positive and negative energy, and Chaos and the Void. These four agencies are largely uncontrolled. I have not explored the poles of "that which is not energized", "that which needs no energy", "that which is always Named," "that which is not Named." I believe that these eight energies, at least, will always exist to some degree, ensuring an enduring balance for reality.

6. The balance would exist without Roke.

7. Roke is not superfluous to the balance.

   What is the balance? Ah, the incredible obtuse question. The balance is that which without we would not be able to exist. Awfully self-serving, eh? Well, mortals are like that. Even monster mortals. We'd all like to survive. The balance gives us a reason to survive, and the rationale to survive. There is no magic to it, there is no real power.

   The balance is derived from an understanding of one's place in the universe, and how to maximize our potential within that place. It was Troy's task

8. The rules of reality are not arbitrary.

9. The rules of reality are undefined.

10. Defining reality limits possibilties.

11. Obscuring reality generates possibilities.

12. The struggle for power is contention is in amassing rules to benefit oneself or one's agency.

13. The struggle for power is irrelevant to defining reality.

14.