Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

--- thread [2019-07-21 01:13] – pinkgothic
+++ thread [2020-01-24 23:54] (current) – pinkgothic
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-**Thread** is a resource that gives [[:Threadwielders]] their descriptive name. Technically speaking, there is nothing that prevents any other creature from using Thread as well, but due to the way the evolution of the universe has favoured sophonts tightly bound to the 3-brane's electromagnetic reality, Threadwielders are the only that can intuit its use.
+**Thread** is a resource that gives [[:Threadwielder|Threadwielders]] their descriptive name. Technically speaking, there is nothing that prevents any other creature from using Thread as well, but due to the way the evolution of the universe has favoured sophonts tightly bound to the 3-brane's electromagnetic reality, Threadwielders are the only that can intuit its use.
 To understand Thread and the effects it can have on the universe, it's helpful to first understand two properties of the setting's universe:
@@ Line 43: / Line 43: @@
 The last two traits are used to adjust curvature, be it gently on a vastly macroscopic scale (as is the case with the **Anchor Lines**), or on a smaller scale (as might be the case with a **Gravity Bomb**). The way latter works can be approximatedly imagined in 2D by picturing the Thread growing itself between two points on the Static Thread lattice, then acting as a (temporary) lens for all rules that pass through it.
-Unfortunately, the analogy only helps so much - whether viewed from the perspective of 3D or 4D, Thread is effectively one-dimensional, whereas a lens' effect would be two-dimensional. In reality, the Free Thread and Static Thread exchange information. Ultimately, the Static Thread's very stable information content wins the exchange, but this takes an //excrutiating// amount of time by any measure of physical processes. By the time reality returns to normal, serious damage has long since been done. That said, for a mortal watching, the 'struggle' is over in less than the blink of an eye.
+Unfortunately, the analogy only helps so much - whether viewed from the perspective of 3D or 4D, Thread is effectively a one-dimensional body, whereas a lens would be a two-dimensional body. In reality, the Free Thread and Static Thread exchange information. Ultimately, the Static Thread's very stable information content wins the exchange, but this takes an //excrutiating// amount of time by any measure of physical processes. By the time reality returns to normal, serious damage has long since been done. That said, for a mortal watching, the 'struggle' is over in less than the blink of an eye.
 The first trait's application is more straightforward - anything where alchemy would be useful, whenever you need to create matter out of the vacuum, whenever you want to turn matter into vacuum, whenever you want to turn energy into something else, or really even just whenever you need a big traditional explosion, the ability of Thread to //convert// is highly useful feature. It can even be used on a very small scale to bio-engineer with high precision.
+===== Prevalence =====
+Sheathed Free Thread is a reasonably plentiful resource in the universe. Unlike Static Thread, it's in constant motion, following wells of gravity. However, unlike Dark or regular matter, it isn't **attracted** by gravity.
+This may seem like a strange assertion - why would something follow gravity wells without being attracted by gravity? The answer lies in a //preference for curvature//. Thread that's 44 000 kilometres removed from some body's centre gravity will (assuming both no changes in the gravity well such as the body getting additional mass from an impact event, but also no nearby bodies manipulating the gravity well of the body) have a preference for remaining exactly 44 000 kilometres removed from the centre of  gravity of that body - no more, no less.
+Note that Thread does little to resist being moved from this point of preference. You can picture it like a single corn of dry rice in a perfectly smooth, semi-spherical bowl - if you let it go, it'll slide back to its point of rest at the exact centre of the bowl, but it's trivial to move and hold to any other point on the bowl. That said, unlike the rice corn, Thread moves at an effectively constant speed to return to its point of preference, and as already mentioned, its point of preference does not coincide with gravity's beckon.
+Once Thread is unsheathed and delivers its payload, its gone - so it's possible to deplete a region of space of (Free) Thread by harvesting/collecting the Thread and/or using it up. There are no current processes in the universe that would create new Thread (the last Thread creation occurred with the cosmic inflation event). That said, there is so much of it that any travelling Threadwielder is unlikely to run out.
+===== Dangers =====
+In theory, it's possible to completely undo the universe with Thread. In practise, the necessary payload would be immense and cryptic. It's unlikely even a dedicated Threadwielder would be able to pull it off, even if they wanted to invest a billion years into the endeavour.