6.7 KiB
Writing a Grimoire - Chapter 1
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Author: u/iwillmakeyouthink2 *
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URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/3lzskw/writing_a_grimoire_chapter_1/
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Score: 21
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Created: 2015-09-22T22:31:17
Post:
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There were two things I really enjoyed about HPMOR; 1) Harry trying to figure out the underlying rules of magic and 2) reading all the comments when new chapters were posted. Now I've got a magical system and a story to tell, so I'm aiming at recreating those two things.
The next chapter will feature the most upvoted experiment proposed in the comment section
For Daniel, the absurdity of the situation had replaced any sensation of loss.
"Maybe he, or the body, rather, is some kind of puppet or avatar..." Matt said, not certain of anything.
On the table in the middle of the sitting group was their best friend's suicide note.
Emma cut him off. "Clearly he had some kind of psychotic episode before killing himself."
Daniel carefully picked up the piece of paper the note was written on.
"Then how do you explain this?" he asked, and knocked on it with his fist. The paper didnt behave like paper at all, but rather like an extremely thin sheet of steel.
Emma took the "paper", being careful not to cut herself on it like Matt had done when he opened the envelope, and read the suicide note again.
I'm really sorry. I specced out the wrong universe and all my preparations went down the drain, and I'd rather start over.
DO NOT KILL YOURSELF! You will die for real. Focus on the magic. I've drawn a pentagram to get you started.
Love, Ralph.
It was hand written sloppily with a pencil and in stark contrast to the meticulous drawning below, which filled the rest of the A4 page.
Inside a perfect circle, there was a downward-pointing pentagram, each of the five arms containing a symbol. The symbols were all upside down triangles, but the two on top had lines drawn through them. In the middle of the pentagram was another upside down triangle, much larger than the rest, also with a line drawn through it.[1]
The paper itself looked exactly paper, and felt exactly like paper, but it seemed like one would have better luck attempting to fold a chefs knife.
"I can't", Emma finally conceded.
[1] I made a crude sketch of the pentagram: http://i.imgur.com/qFnQHAE.jpg
Comments:
u/Charlie___ [+9] (34 minutes later)
Try to reproduce the pentagram (obv). Does it work if photocopied? Computer printed? Traced? Carefully drawn? Pencil, pen, marker, crayon? Can you make it succeed or fail by altering the drawer's state of mind?
u/Empiricist_or_not [+2] Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm (3 hours later)
Also save the body, if we get enough causality bending it may be a good link to forking the mind state that previously inhabited it.
u/None [+3] (3 hours later)
Upon awaking: "Guys! Not cool! Seriously! I was doing awesome, and then, poof!"
u/FuguofAnotherWorld [+3] Roll the Dice on Fate (13 hours later)
"Don't worry dude, you're a fork. The other you is still out there doing awesome. Now would you kindly explain what the shit is going on? Your instructions were frustratingly vague."
u/None [+2] (14 hours later)
"...b...but I wanted to be a spoon..."
u/notmy2ndopinion [+6] Concent of Saunt Edhar (12 hours later)
I don't understand what happened to Ralph's brain. Is it missing? Does it look like a baby brain? Is it made of computer parts?
Why are they poking around and opening envelopes of suicide notes rather than rushing him to the hospital?
Why aren't they contacting authorities?
I normally enjoy "in medias res," but I feel way too disoriented about what exactly is going on.
u/Newfur [+7] Crazy like a fox. Literally. (41 minutes later)
Search the friend's belongings. Does he have other notes on what he was doing?
u/MadScientist14159 [+6] WIP: Sodium Hypochlorite (Rational Bleach) Eventually. Maybe. (41 minutes later)
Need more information.
Where are we?
Who are we?
What resources do we have?
We talk about Avatars and Puppets as though these are reasonable explanations, so exactly how familiar with magic are we? What do we already know (or think we know) about it?
u/None [+4] (an hour later)
I think they're talking about avatars and puppets with lower-case first letters, because a good friend has just killed himself and left an obviously supernatural suicide note implying that he is, in fact, somewhere else now. What's reasonable? Well, he's not entirely crazy, because he's left a demonstrable proof of magic, so he might not be "dead", either.
But he left a body.
So what was that body to him? Was it a clone? An avatar of an off-site intellect? A puppet for the same? A temporary carrier for some ineffable quality that we shall henceforth call a "soul"?
u/Endovior [+2] (23 hours later)
This. Rationality implies prior information, and we have almost none. A bit of backstory doesn't just help set the scene, it gives us cues as to what resources we can use or acquire.
u/rafaelhr [+2] (a day later)
Well, triangles with lines through them represent the alchemical symbols for the four elements, so there's that.
u/Transfuturist [-2] Carthago delenda est. (4 hours later)
Do this on anonkun or some forum like SpaceBattles or MSPA, not here.
u/Charlie___ [+1] (7 hours later)
I like it.
u/Bowbreaker [+0] Solitary Locust (10 days later)
There's a rule against quests then?
u/Transfuturist [+2] Carthago delenda est. (10 days later)
No. This sub isn't a very good format in itself. You'll note that this post doesn't link to the next section (it's ridiculous to call these chapters). There is no centralized location to link to this story; the sections will be distributed as scattered posts, only able to be recohered through a search. And if the author decides to change the title? Reddit is a bad idea for this sort of thing, while there are plenty of avenues that work much better.
u/Bowbreaker [+1] Solitary Locust (10 days later)
I guess it would make sense to have a copy of it all somewhere with back and forth links. But regarding the upvote downvote system reddit doesn't seem so bad. Anyway, the issue was pretty much that it seemed like you were demanding that OP goes do this somewhere else instead of advising him.
u/Transfuturist [+1] Carthago delenda est. (10 days later)
I should have explained myself.