By: Hobbes
Posted On: March 6, 2000
Well, it's past 6:02 AM (EST), and everything seems normal. Now if we can just make it through September 13th then I can breath easy until 2012. ;)
Anyway, I was re-reading Between the Shadows and had a few interesting thoughts. Theoretically, with enough Creation Points to begin with, would it not be possible to expand the scale of an astral domain to a size much beyond astral kingdoms; say hundreds of light-years across. Such as our universe. I see no fundamental difference between a pocket dimension and that of a cosmic size universe dimension (like Rifts Earth or the Three Galaxies) other than size.
The gist of this being that perhaps the explanation behind a big bang theory of universal creation might be that the moment of the bang was the sacrifice of mind boggling amounts of PPE by a powerful god entity to manifest its own astral kingdom.
If this is how all dimensions are created then the entire megaverse exists within the astral plane, and that through it you can reach the entire megaverse. The last part of the statement we already know to be true.
I find it interesting to think of a supreme entity basically sacrificing all of its power to manifest a dimension. Perhaps that's what such entities as the Cosmic Forge might be the remains of the creator of the Phase World dimension; the background creating essence that has kept a small portion of its power to observe and influence the work it sacrificed itself to create.
Or this may be how the Old Ones are imprisoned; forced to expend their energies in the creation of vast dimensions. Before his untimely disappearance Xy was tinkering with some very crazy transformation circles... whose to say Thoth and pals didn't perfect one that would transmutate the black holes of power and magic (the single particle seed of a universe) into dimensions? In Pantheons of the Megaverse, Brahma is constantly expending thousands of PPE to keep the Unnameable Beings locked away. Maybe this expenditure goes into ensuring that the matter of a universe keeps expanding outward from it's "bang," for if it ever was to collapse into itself then the Old One that is trapped and fragmented in it's matter and energy could re-manifest?
Of course, gravity and all of the attractive forces now become malevolent things that are trying to bring the great evils back together, but hey, that's kind of fun idea too.
There's no real point or application to this, just something I was thinking of that I found amusing.
Comments?
-- Hobbes
Posted on: March 6, 2000
This is a very interesting idea. If you define the astral as the base medium for existence and all "realms" are composed of astral stuff in one form or another, it opens up many possibilities. Of course, it would probably take a lot of energy to create an astral realm the size of our known universe (which is at the very least, billions of light years across.)
This also brings up the question of higher physical dimensions. I am not talking about time, which many people falsely refer to as the fourth dimension. Let's talk physical dimensions (time could have multiple dimensions too, but that is a whole different topic.) Remember the old story of "flatland", a two dimensional realm inhabited by flat folk. The place has length and width (and time too, further proof that it is not really a physical dimension,) but no such concept as depth (they do not even have any idea what it is, because it does not exist there.) Along comes the three dimensional creature who plucks a flatlander "up" into the third dimension.....you know the rest.
To get a comparative model of our universe (the most widely accepted model anyway,) you lower all dimensions by one. Consider us to be flatlanders, but take our "flat" universe and warp it into a sphere. Now we are warped through a higher physical dimension and don't even know it. Next, to simulate the big bang, think of the sphere as a balloon with colored spots on it. Now, blow up the balloon. The spots expand and move farther apart, just as every object in our universe appears to be moving away from everything else. Most people tend to think of the big bang as a localized explosion that created a mass of galaxies, etc that expands through a three dimensional medium. This is incorrect. You could not find a ground zero for the big bang as a localized place in our universe, as it is everywhere. All of physical space was once compressed and is expanding, thus all matter moves outward from the four dimensional "ground zero".
Using this logic, what dimension would the astral medium be? Perhaps it is the four dimensional realm that cosmos's such as ours spawn from. This would make sense, because you could access it from anywhere in three dimensional space (just as you can go "up" from anywhere in a two dimensional realm.) Also, you have to go "up" to get to the higher realm, as no amount of physical travel within your own realm will get you there. In the flatland example, if you travel outward in any direction, you will just keep going around the sphere and eventually return to your starting point. (Kind of an interesting idea, if we build telescopes powerful enough, and look deep enough into space, we may one day find ourselves looking at our own ass.) The laws of physics could be different too, basically a "higher" set of laws that govern the laws in our own universe. It's kind of like saying that you belong to a union of states. Each state can have it's own laws, but they must fit within the bounds of the union's laws, but could govern things the union has chosen not to.
There are undoubtedly other physical dimensions above the fourth, each one having a set of "laws" that the dimension(s) below it, and thus the realms within it must abide by, but with infinite possibilities. Thus, the astral realm could be but one of an infinite amount of 4th dimensional realms within a 5 dimensional existence, and so on.
Just some interesting thoughts. I don't have between the shadows or any of those books that define the astral realm, so they may have already examined some of these possibilities.
-- Arcadian
Astral-Domains-and-Cosmic-Theory.php -- Revised: January 27, 2021.