The Science of Witches and Trumps (warning: tl;dr)

[awitchdidit]

[The sensory feed opens and, though it's coming from Thorne's mind, it's Beatrice in the image. She's standing in front of a chalkboard, holding a pointer, and for whatever reason dressed in a facsimile of the Doki Doki no Gakuen uniform - clearly this is going to be educational. Or Beatrice thinks it's going to be - she looks far too excited about this.]

Welcome, Travelers! Many of you have met me, but for those who haven't, I am Beatrice the Golden, otherwise known as the Endless Witch. In an effort to advance the cause of knowledge among us, I've decided to do a breakdown on the metaphysics of our current situation. Use the knowledge to fight the Trumps, use the knowledge to gain favor with the Trumps, ignore it, or find something more creative to do.

It really doesn't matter to me, but I do believe my perspective is of interest. As I've told some of you...I have played a game very similar to this before, with myself in the position the Trumps hold now.

[She gestures to the chalkboard, using her S. Tech abilities to cover it with a sketch of a tiny, chibi version of herself playing chess with a tiny, chibi version of a guy in a suit with shounen action hero hair. ...The latter appears to be holding his head in despair.]

This was, of course, a private matter between myself and certain acquaintances of mine (before certain parties decided to surpass their contractually stipulated involvement), but the principle remained the same: a Liminal Space for players to reside in, and specially prepared worlds and scenarios for them to Investigate. My rules and goals were clearly not the Trumps' rules and goals, but I believe I have some perspective on how this place operates.



But first, we need to talk about parallel universes!

[With an overly dramatic gesture from Beatrice, the scene fills with a swarm of golden butterflies, which flutter off to reveal Beatrice standing in front of the same chalkboard, covered in tiny, tiny white dots of chalk. The air is also full of floating dust motes, also apparently chalk, albeit more glittery. Somehow, none of it's on her or her uniform.]

There are more possible universes than you can possibly imagine. Every choice, every random chance, every decision in the universe has created new universes every picosecond since the beginning of time, if time even has a beginning. All of these possibilities make up what humans call the Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Theory, and what Witches call the "Sea of Fragments" (or kakera for you native Japanese speakers out there - I'm told there's a subtle difference in meaning). Anyway, the sea is trillions upon trillions upon trillions of Fragments of Possibility.

[She gestures with a hand, and the air itself takes on a golden color, highlighting the gaps where there are no motes representing universes.]

You will notice, however, there is space between these Fragments - the sea itself, 'existence' that does not exist in any possible Fragment, but between them. In my game, I called it Purgatorio - Travelers call it Liminal Space.

Which is convenient because apparently you went to a Fragment of an entirely different Purgatory, but never mind.

This Space exists in, above, around, and between the Fragments of Possibility, and yet because it's not within them, it could be argued to either not exist at all, or exist in an entirely different state. Let me give you another way of looking at it.

[Beatrice coughs, and the chalk and chalk dust disappear, the board illustration now replaced with a cutesy sketch of a cat inside a thick white box.]



You all know this one, right? Place a cat inside an impenetrable box with something that has a 50% chance of killing it. Poison, radiation, very small dog, whatever. Then you open the box. In one possible Fragment, the cat survives, and in the other, the cat is dead.

However...while it's inside the box, unobserved, it is outside the Fragments of Possibility, in what physicists call a Quantum Superstate and what Witches and most humans call "magic" - it both exists and does not exist at the same time, because its state is unknown, but perfectly estimable. Its existence is Liminal.

[Beatrice pretends to pause for applause, and then just gives herself some with S. tech and grins.]



And that, I believe, is the state of this space we are in now. It exists and does not exist, it is everywhere and nowhere, like our unfortunate cat. Have you ever noticed that nothing here persists unless you're observing it, fixing it in a particular state? Or unless you pour your heart and soul and memory into it, guaranteeing it's being thought of even if it isn't observed with the eye? That's why. We and everything here are in a Liminal Superstate - we're all the mystery cat.

[She snaps her fingers, and the chalkboard changes one more time, the single cat illustration being replaced by a grid of two cats by four cats, all contained within the solid white box.]



There is one more topic I'd like to cover today. Different beings in the Sea of Fragments hold a different number of worlds they can manipulate. My territory was, I'm not ashamed to say, comparatively small. Before I came here, the number of fully-formed worlds within it could be counted on two hands.

[She winds up and pitches a cluster of golden butterflies at the chalkboard, which is then filled corner to corner with an array of seventeen by thirty-three cats that extends in pseudo-3D far beyond what the eye can see on the board.]

Another meddlesome witch manipulated and investigated over two and a half million before she got lazy and/or bored.

[The chalk all erases itself, and the contents of the box are replaced by symbols representing the last four worlds the Travelers visited - rainbow-colored chalk circles around a dragon, a bat fighting a wolf, chibi illustrations of Beatrice and Minako angrily sparkling at each other, and a rocket ship with butterfly wings.]



The question I have right now is this: what are the boundaries of the Trumps' game? How many worlds are they using as game boards? I think this is useful information whether you oppose them or want to play cooperatively, because it tells us the shape of the playing field, whether we're trying to get off of it or just get to the other side and go from pawns to queens.

Anyway, that's all for now, credit to my lovely camerawoman Thorne for not interrupting, I'm off for tea. You know how to reach me.

[She grins, which generates one more S. Tech sparkle, and motions for Thorne to end the communication. She can take questions in her own head.]

Comments

[thornsofmalkav]

[Once the communication is ended, Thorne pops up to say,]

Also, in a third universe--or Fragment, I guess--the cat is neither dead nor alive but undead and will bust out of the box in order to turn more felines. And that's how one world ended up full of undead cats.

[awitchdidit]

[Beatrice grins, partly out of appreciation for her holding that in while she was "filming", but also because of the comparison.]

Liminal existence is itself a kind of undeath.

...also that's distressingly like how my game turned out. For some reason, everybody wants to be a Witch...

[shiroganeheir]

Would it not also be advisable to learn as much as we can about those playing the game as the players themselves?

[Naoto's tone is carefully flat at the moment.]

Understanding what the game is, and how to play said game is all well and good, but if we are working on a chess-like game, to use your own metaphor, there are as many ways to play chess as there are people who play it. Knowing the rules and boundaries of the game is simple. Understanding those who play it is difficult.

[awitchdidit]

Indeed, detective! I'm merely starting from basics.

The play chess, you need to know the rules of chess.

To play chess well, you need to know your opponent - or indeed, if this is a cooperative game, your fellow players. However, that doesn't help in the slightest if you don't know how the little one that looks like a horse moves.

I'm assuming someone has told him how the network works by this point lmao

[satonthewall]

Thanks. That's actually kind of helpful.

[Kind of a lot helpful, even if it doesn't make a lot of sense until he thinks it out.]

[awitchdidit]

Thanks, that's actually kind of respectful!

Although, you're new, correct? I'm glad to know this is a useful primer.

[whydoyoushine]

...needs more glitter.

[bypartisan]

No, it doesn't.

[leftbehindagain]

It has to be more than one world. I've heard of at least one that involved the United States, which not only didn't exist in Nova Venezia's world but couldn't, not in any way most of us would recognise. There were virtually no records of interaction with the Western Hemisphere that I could find, so odds are it wasn't colonised. I'd guess between those and Doki we've had at least three variations on Earth, possibly more.

Questing Country and Gehenna are definitely in the same realm of influence, and I think when I was catching up, someone had mentioned a third place connected to those two?

I don't know if Dolorosa is connected to anything, but it's worth noting the elves with access to Questing Country call their home world Faerie, which Maria-chan definitely took me and Kanji through as a shortcut. No way to tell if it's the same one, though. Not without asking entities I'm probably better off not seeing again.

[awitchdidit]

Multiple points on the same timeline aren't something I've experienced before, but it doesn't surprise me that it's possible. The Trumps' 'box' has a very different shape from mine, but it's not incomprehensible.

And I believe based on my study of this network that the third point on a Questing Country to Gehenna line was something about a Masquerade? As for Faerie, we could always ask one of the Illuminants' former Vessels if they remember any details...

[failgoyle]

Wait, wait, wait, no, no, you can't go poking at any places that call themselves Faerie, it's not safe. That is the best way to bring the True Fae down on everyone's heads.

[covertsledgehammer]

A fascinating lesson, Miss Beatrice. Please allow me to introduce myself - I am Lady Alexia Maccon. [It was, strictly speaking, not Proper Etiquette to introduce oneself, but considering that finding someone else to introduce her on a communications system that existed only in the mind would be rather difficult, well, allowances must be made]

If we are all, as you say, poor Schrodinger's cat, do we therefore exist both here and within our own original 'fragments' simultaneously?

[awitchdidit]

As always, a pleasure to meet someone with some manners, Lady Alexia.

And that's a very interesting thought! Certainly beyond the scope of physics and into philosophy, I'd say. I can't say anything except for the fact that I'm not consciously aware of being in more than one place at once. Then again, in my games, the meta-Me in Purgatorio experienced things separately from the piece-Me on the game board...most of the time.

[neverfeltthatway]

That seems the mostly probable explanation to me - nobody arriving here has ever been aware of any of us being missing at home, even if they come from a different point in time. For example, all my friends from back home are from further along than I am - they remember events in our world that I don't. However, they remember me being present for those events. Since some version of me is present both here and back in my world, it would seem that the two version of me diverged when I became a Traveler.

Either that, or we're all from parallel universe that are too close for us to tell them apart, so there's only one person missing from any one universe.

[detectivewonder]

Trumps and witches aren't unique in the multiversal kidnapping trade, either. And their technology, both liminal and telepathic, is duplicate as well.

[awitchdidit]

Oh? I was aware that the Illuminants held a similar level of power within their own specific domain. Tell me more about the Trumps' other rivals.

[fridgeninja]

Interesting.

Doing something like that to a cat is unforgivable. We shouldn't forget that.

[awitchdidit]

Is every other Traveler a cat person? I prefer sharks, myself. Or goats. Goats are at least useful.

[solvethepuzzle]

More than one world, certainly. And fewer universes than worlds.

[awitchdidit]

Yes. There was some overlap, certainly. Other than the space, magical girl, and I believe masquerade ball Jaunts, have you seen any other evidence of worlds in the same universe?

[littleladyluck]

Leave it to you to make such a flashy presentation work so well. I do hope that you'll tell me a touch more about your former slash present chessmaster extraordinaire experience someday. Your perspective on all of this would be incredibly useful to know, and I'm always ready to listen!

[awitchdidit]

[Beatrice is no longer using Thorne's Livestreaming to broadcast, but her smug grin comes through her mental voice just as well.]

Thank you, thank you. We're all in this together, after all, so I do try to be helpful.

As for my games...perhaps I'll invite you next time I set up a little mystery party for the local detectives.

[neverfeltthatway]

There have been a total of seventeen jaunts that anyone can remember, though we know there were more before that. I believe our best guess for how long any current Travelers have been here is about four years - perhaps doubling the jaunts we remember - but we don't know if that was when Traveling began, or if there were Travelers at that time who had been here longer, and are simply no longer with us.

Beyond that, with the way the pattern has changed, it's hard to predict whether four years would actually double the number of jaunts - before a couple years ago, we were never more than a few hours in liminal space, and the length of the jaunts was less regular.

[awitchdidit]

[Beatrice makes sure to write this information down. She's working on the trick of memorizing everything she experiences, but backups of information this important are a good idea too.]

...you mention a pattern change. What caused that?

[bite_the_hand]

[Eren had been told to ask Armin about Moebius. Only whatever that Jaunt had been, it definitely didn't seem like it was anything good. He'd been trying to figure out how to bring it up without just asking completely out of the blue, but obviously hadn't had any luck before now. Well, this is probably the best timing he's going to get for it, so might as well go for it.]

[Eren's voice is serious. He's talking just a tiny bit slower than normal too, a good sign he's actually trying to be cautious about his wording for once.]

During the Jaunt I talked to someone on the Network who said no one could remember anything before something called "Moebius." But when I tried to ask her more about it all she'd say is that I should ask you. What the hell happened?