StretchSebe
They/Them- 1,006
- 740
Finally, the first Fear and Hunger CRT.
After a lot of discussion about the cosmology of Fear and Hunger in the replies of the original blog, as well as with Abstractions on the forums, most users coming in afterwards seem to think it was time we had a proper CRT for the cosmology, and to get the verse onto the wiki.
Currently, others are setting groundwork for characters: Namely their pages, their tiering's, and how those in relatively same tierings they would scale to each other given the disparities in time between games (characters from the second in fights with characters from the first, who seem able to keep up with guns in speed despite coming from a pre-industrial age being a good example). But in getting a page for this kind of verse to be established finally, it is key to have a consistent, and thorough explanation, and documentation of how the world itself works to begin with. I started with cosmology itself, but others have been doing good work on two key systems within the verse as well:
The system of souls: How they work, can be harnesses through soul stones and how their properties can influence/drive a person's characteristics, capabilities, and fate have all been subject to discussion and information sharing currently. Especially when it comes to the consistent use of statements such as something along the lines of an item granting 'the strength of X (amount of) men" potentially referring to common souls. Discussion has also started about F&H's system of magic, which seems to be a belief-based system that is used to alter reality (and potentially in some cases fate) in order to cast the magic itself, which is why most magic cast is reliant on the overbearing influence the Old Gods have on the world.
That's where I come back in. Back in March, I felt confident that there was enough evidence in the dialogue and texts I went through to suggest that the cosmology could be consistently explained and observed, namely when being observed from one playthrough to another. After all the discussions I've had, I find the state of my blog on the cosmology to be satisfactory as a starting point for the CRT, having been greatly improved and better substantiated the main points through such discussions.
The greater scheme of things appears to be a multiverse. Often referred to in game as simply 'the world' as other games/fictions do when it comes to their own multiverse (i.e, Undertale). The multiverse can be primarily observed with the different timelines experienced in said playthroughs and their variances. Even regardless of playthrough there are various examples of spacetime displacement; with the player party both traveling back in time in order to accomplish things in the present, and potentially being transported to another space and time entirely upon reading a magic book, evidence by the ability for using such to survive an otherwise unavoidable game over.
In game mechanics also seem tied to the mechanisms of how the world works beyond incidental stuff like loot differences: Coin flips appear to be the fate of the playthrough, and are mentioned in verse with regard to an ascended god who seemed to have fate itself on their side. Darkness among other immaterial forces has the capabilities to warp and corrupt things physically and mentally through mere exposure. This is particularly important given most in game events that are experienced in real time, yet the 'ever-changing in shape to challenge new visitors' nature of the dungeons is only seen across playthroughs, and never in a single playthrough. New Gods themselves gain their knowledge and power over the greater scheme of things by going to The Void, a place where the Old Gods were born, and is heavily implied to be outside the typical space time of the game. The Old Gods hold conceptual authority over concepts within the verse, such as The God of the Depths holding conceptual authority over the aforementioned force of Darkness. They themselves have been said to not just exist before the world, but to have 'moved on' from the world as well, no longer being a part of the greater scheme of things despite their unshakable concepts, and discernable, yet infinitesimal traces still proving to be immensely dangerous. Their concepts are only able to be challenged or assumed by entities of comparable qualitative superiority to the greater scheme of things: Ascended Gods. The primary canon ending of the first game is just that: The God of F&H becoming, and becoming the one in which the concept of darkness is derived from instead (evidenced by her symbol being highly similar to that of the God of the Depths).
Despite forming within the world, her influence outside it appears to be through the forces of fear and hunger themselves retroactively existing since the inception of the world. Such forces of fear and hunger being represented, and granted such immaterial importance from the power of the Ascended God also forced humanity to break it's stagnation. She was considered responsible for progressing humanity out of the middle ages and into the industrial age.
All of this is a pretty reductionist summary of the blog, but still; I do believe the game presents enough to players for us to at least say that the cosmology operates on a multiverse, and that top tiers operate outside that multiverse!
From here, I hope we can find some agreement, and get started with getting F&H onto VSBW proper.
After a lot of discussion about the cosmology of Fear and Hunger in the replies of the original blog, as well as with Abstractions on the forums, most users coming in afterwards seem to think it was time we had a proper CRT for the cosmology, and to get the verse onto the wiki.
Currently, others are setting groundwork for characters: Namely their pages, their tiering's, and how those in relatively same tierings they would scale to each other given the disparities in time between games (characters from the second in fights with characters from the first, who seem able to keep up with guns in speed despite coming from a pre-industrial age being a good example). But in getting a page for this kind of verse to be established finally, it is key to have a consistent, and thorough explanation, and documentation of how the world itself works to begin with. I started with cosmology itself, but others have been doing good work on two key systems within the verse as well:
The system of souls: How they work, can be harnesses through soul stones and how their properties can influence/drive a person's characteristics, capabilities, and fate have all been subject to discussion and information sharing currently. Especially when it comes to the consistent use of statements such as something along the lines of an item granting 'the strength of X (amount of) men" potentially referring to common souls. Discussion has also started about F&H's system of magic, which seems to be a belief-based system that is used to alter reality (and potentially in some cases fate) in order to cast the magic itself, which is why most magic cast is reliant on the overbearing influence the Old Gods have on the world.
That's where I come back in. Back in March, I felt confident that there was enough evidence in the dialogue and texts I went through to suggest that the cosmology could be consistently explained and observed, namely when being observed from one playthrough to another. After all the discussions I've had, I find the state of my blog on the cosmology to be satisfactory as a starting point for the CRT, having been greatly improved and better substantiated the main points through such discussions.
The greater scheme of things appears to be a multiverse. Often referred to in game as simply 'the world' as other games/fictions do when it comes to their own multiverse (i.e, Undertale). The multiverse can be primarily observed with the different timelines experienced in said playthroughs and their variances. Even regardless of playthrough there are various examples of spacetime displacement; with the player party both traveling back in time in order to accomplish things in the present, and potentially being transported to another space and time entirely upon reading a magic book, evidence by the ability for using such to survive an otherwise unavoidable game over.
In game mechanics also seem tied to the mechanisms of how the world works beyond incidental stuff like loot differences: Coin flips appear to be the fate of the playthrough, and are mentioned in verse with regard to an ascended god who seemed to have fate itself on their side. Darkness among other immaterial forces has the capabilities to warp and corrupt things physically and mentally through mere exposure. This is particularly important given most in game events that are experienced in real time, yet the 'ever-changing in shape to challenge new visitors' nature of the dungeons is only seen across playthroughs, and never in a single playthrough. New Gods themselves gain their knowledge and power over the greater scheme of things by going to The Void, a place where the Old Gods were born, and is heavily implied to be outside the typical space time of the game. The Old Gods hold conceptual authority over concepts within the verse, such as The God of the Depths holding conceptual authority over the aforementioned force of Darkness. They themselves have been said to not just exist before the world, but to have 'moved on' from the world as well, no longer being a part of the greater scheme of things despite their unshakable concepts, and discernable, yet infinitesimal traces still proving to be immensely dangerous. Their concepts are only able to be challenged or assumed by entities of comparable qualitative superiority to the greater scheme of things: Ascended Gods. The primary canon ending of the first game is just that: The God of F&H becoming, and becoming the one in which the concept of darkness is derived from instead (evidenced by her symbol being highly similar to that of the God of the Depths).
Despite forming within the world, her influence outside it appears to be through the forces of fear and hunger themselves retroactively existing since the inception of the world. Such forces of fear and hunger being represented, and granted such immaterial importance from the power of the Ascended God also forced humanity to break it's stagnation. She was considered responsible for progressing humanity out of the middle ages and into the industrial age.
All of this is a pretty reductionist summary of the blog, but still; I do believe the game presents enough to players for us to at least say that the cosmology operates on a multiverse, and that top tiers operate outside that multiverse!
From here, I hope we can find some agreement, and get started with getting F&H onto VSBW proper.
