2003-12-20 - 12:54 a.m.
In Origin, there is no gravity. Things still fall to the earth, just like they do here, but it isn't because it pulls on them. Rather, the entire world is spinning about a point at the very bottom of the world. Because basic laws of motion and acceleration are consistent with ours in Origin, everything in Fulgerus feels that it is pushed towards this point because it is trying to continue moving in a straight path while the world is curving, or accelerating towards it all.
Actually, there isn't really any "bottom" of Fulgerus, but whatever point that was chosen for it to spin about would become down, and the elements of the world would seperate according to their density, and thus the solid earth is what lies at this point, with water and then air above. Near the top of the world is a place similar to space in that there is very little air because it is all being pulled down. However, this area is finite and wraps about itself. This is because the world of Fulgerus is a 3d space that is on the surface of a 4d sphere. An interesting result of this is that if you keep traveling up into the sky, you will eventually reach this space, and finally, the "top" of the sphere. Once you reach this area, every direction becomes down.
Imagine it, you would look down where you come from, and see the land that you left from. Then you would look straight ahead and perhaps see an ocean there. Turning around you, you would see more oceans, and perhaps another continent behind you. Finally, looking up, you would see land and see yet again, and most likely loose whatever sense of orientation you had. When you are here, you are above every single point in Fulgerus, and with a push in any direction, you could fall to anywhere in the world. Sitting there it would seem that the sky is just a ball that the earth and see have enveloped, yet if you reached the depths of the sea, you would seem to be in a ball of water surrounded by air. It almost seems impossible that the world could be so. But by some miracle it is. And it isn't just the fancies of my imagination. This is a mathematically provable existence, and the geometry of it can represented in a surprisingly simple manner. Well, perhaps only simple compared to how complex one might assume it is. It is certainly no box or cube.
Continuing this idea, if you were standing on the ground, and looked up, you could actually see the rest of the world in the sky. In Fulgerus this is not actually possible however, because the light is defracted by the air too much. In the end, one can mostly see only the blue light from the ocean in the sky, though in special conditions, vague colors from the earth can be seen, creating remarkable scenes, equally as impressive as our sun sets, though of a decisively different quality that I still have trouble imagining.
Lastly, the two suns and moon of Fulgerus, appear as semi circles in the sky. This is because there is because from any point in the world you can see half one of these bodies at many different angle. I haven't worked out the math for this exactly, but intuitively I would say that the different angles you could see it from would be in a circle from where you stand. Every angle is a different distance (well, from the bottom to the top of the circle, the points on opposite sides would be semetrical and thus equadistant), and so the ring is brighter in some spots. The brightest spot is at the base, and then it fades the further you move along the circle in each direction. The top of the circle is so far away that it cannot be seen and appears only as a haze. The result is a sort of crescent or horned shaped light. This is only prominent with the suns as the shine very bright. The moons have the same effect, but appear much more circular or ovular because the light fades quickly with distance, and thus does not complete very much of the circle.
Well, anyway, this is stuff that I need to remember and keep track of. I know that while the idea is interesting, reading about the technicalities can get pretty dull. It is nice to know its there though, and I like the idea of having a functional world, that if any of the characters I have made for it become curious, there will be answers waiting for them.
My last explanation is to the existence of heavenly bodies in the first place. The crystals that are the source of energy and the laws of nature in Origin and Fulgerus are small 3d representations of 4d objects. These objects while relatively simple in shape, are of a much more uneven shape than the crystals themselves. The shape of the crystals are actually like large crescent arcs, though in 4 dimensions. The crystals that are found in Fulgerus are actually just the places that these arcs interesect that plain of existence. Actually, in Fulgerus and Obscurus, these are the end points of the crystal, and it isn't that they just interesect with the worlds at this point, it is actually that the space the worlds exist in are defined by these points. Because of their arrangement though, certain crystals intersect these worlds twice. In Fulgerus, the energy crystals, heat, lightning, and cold, interesect, while in Obscurus, the material crystals(earth,water,air) do so.
The thick areas of the crystals that are intersected are what people see in the sky as the moon and two suns. Actually, it is misleading to call them such, as they are all as different as they are alike. The moon is where the cold crystal intersects. It actually causes temperatures to drop where it is near. The two suns are of heat and lightning. The sun of heat warms areas, and the sun of lightning provides energy to the lands, which is the light that the plants actually absorb. Actually, the light itself is all the reflection of light from the crystal of life, and all three of these bodies can only be seen because of it. Because of their relative positions, and the manner in which Fulgerus is spinning (and finally, the crsystals themselves are in motion with relation to the worlds and eachother), the moon and suns move because the place where the crystals intersect is constantly changing. Beyond that, they also change size and shape. Size because the world moves through different parts of the crescent where it is thicker or thinner, and shape because of the angle that light from the crystal of life reflects from them.
The heavenly bodies in Obscurus are much different. For one, they effect the physical matter of the land, rather than the energy. The fact that there are no bodies in the sky changing the distribution of heat and energy makes life slightly less diverse in Obscurus, there is much less plant life for instance. Along with this, instead of heat and coldness and energy being spread, the moons of Obscurus tend to promote tornadoes, earthquakes and tidal waves. These are only great problems in certain areas however, and their effects can be predicted by the paths of the moons. Also, unlike Fulgerus where the top of the world is where the crystal of life (and light) intersects the world, and the crystal of death is at the bottom, these two are reversed in Obscurus, and thus darkness instead emminates from the sky.
To us, this idea is absurd, darkness is not something that can shine. This is because in our world, the contrast between light and dark is that of something vs nothing, where light are tiny particles called protons that exist as electromagnetic energy, and the dark is simply the absense of such waves. Origin does not operate by these laws though. In origin, the empty state is that of a grey, and darkness can be used to provide definition in the same way that light can. So in a sense there exists black light, and white light. The world of Fulgerus is seen through white light, and thus its name, which means "that which shines", or I simply say "The Shining". Obscurus is seen through black light and is called "That which is hidden", or just "The Hidden", or you can say the more obvious translation even of "The Obscure". So, in answer to the questions I know some people have (not people here necessarily, but those who I explain the story to), I am not just pulling names and concepts out of thin air. There is a system of mechanations to the world. While on occasion I do create something out of simple necessity to the story, almost everything in the world is there because it is a part of the laws of the world, and for the most part, I find a way to explain the reasons for anything else I might add.
This may be explaining too much however. I won't reveal most of this to the readers of the story, it is not necessary. But it is helpful. For example, in the sections titled "Despair", and "Hope" there is the introduction of a gray moon that was never seen before. Knowing what you understand about the other moons/suns, perhaps one can infer what this gray moon is exactly. Of course, it would be helpful to know what the Ragnarok is, who the Sages of Chaos are, why Lance can be alive and yet have no Will(the equivalent of having no spirit in many of our religions, though in Fulgerus it is something that they have proven to exist, and is this something of a science, though still spiritual and ethereal). If I were to explain all of that though, I might as well just write out the story now. Hopefully I have the mystery aspect of the story covered by now. I don't know how interesting it all is, but there is certainly a lot to be discovered along the way.
