tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5380657762788578445.post2000564478709821389..comments2024-03-27T03:07:51.895+00:00Comments on Alone in the Labyrinth: Dusk Realm: Adventures in EntheogeneeringJoeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11685436746460917538noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5380657762788578445.post-29885037643753477172020-12-19T17:07:32.019+00:002020-12-19T17:07:32.019+00:00I remember reading this blog post from another blo...I remember reading this blog post from another blog that I won't name because I'm about to shit talk but I generally have nothing against them, but they were talking about elements, and they basically said they thought the Taoist elements were dumb. I don't remember their specific point, but just coming away from it thinking, ya, but so are the western alchemical elements. Like, they both are based on analogical fallacies that have no bearing on actual science. However, both make reasonable sense given the premises they make, which are wrong scientifically, but still have a reasonable internal logic and consistency to them. You just have to be able to get over your own preconceived notions and take on a different worldview. To some extent it's almost tautological; the Taoist elements were a product of their worldview, so by extension it must make reasonable sense within that worldview.<br /><br />In any case, I think that's one of the things that intrigues me about the idea of a pre-history setting, although as you say, it could also apply to a post apocalypse setting too. These civilizations that lack almost any of the context that we have today, these people would have completely different conceptions of the world, and without getting into a whole epistemology thing, one could imagine they experience the world in a totally different way. I think that's also where the psychedelia comes into play.<br /><br />The reason I haven't delved too far into developing a pre-history setting of my own, is that I lack restraint and want to throw ancient advanced civilizations and aliens and weird stuff like that into everything I do lol, but I think that would take away from the ideas I'd want to explore in such a setting.<br /><br />I would really like to take almost a speculative fiction approach to it. Again mentioning Semiurge, he's been interested in speculative evolution recently, something I've had a casual interest in as well (only partially related but I've started reading into genetic algorithms and want to try doing something with that), but this would almost be more like speculative anthropology. What would be the worldview of a pre-historic civilization on a slightly different world or context?<br /><br />To some extent I tried to explore that with my elements generator, but I think the fantasticalness of the elements again overwhelms the more psychedelic / experiential part that I'd want to explore.<br /><br />The way this post does things like map patterns in nature to mazes to QR codes, discussing the linguistic concept of generativity, and blurring the line between physical spaces and metaphysical spaces, like how many ancient civilizations imagined the underworld as a literal, accessible place, I think is what attracted me, and what I'd want to explore.maxcan7https://www.blogger.com/profile/12504030224075149157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5380657762788578445.post-85941700665670659322020-12-19T01:42:54.454+00:002020-12-19T01:42:54.454+00:00I appreciate you stopping by and sharing your thou...I appreciate you stopping by and sharing your thoughts. <br /><br />There's many parallels between post apocalypse and pre-civilisation, and indeed a PARIAH game could be run in a post-apocalyptic environment (imagine 500 years on: the natural world is starting to recover, and humans culture has moved from scavenging the remains of what went before to once again foraging... maybe new settlements and agricultural practices are emerging...just some thoughts). <br /><br />For me what is interesting in history or those periods of transition: from Palaeolithic to Neolithic, from agricultural to industrial, from colonial subject to independent nation. At the same time, I'm not really interested in recreating a historically accurate setting: I'm more interested in something fantastical on a world a lot like earth but most definitely NOT earth.<br /><br />For this reason I've not really attempted to create a real-world shamanic or animist culture, though of course there exist elements inspired from cultures around the world, especially my wife's home country of Vietnam, which was also my home up until recently. Like many southeast Asian countries Vietnamese folk religion is syncretic, and contains elements of animism alongside taoism and Confucianism within a Buddhist framework.<br /><br />However, the ancestor veneration (and accompanying journey through the realms of the dead) is an attempt to embrace a) the ancestor veneration common to many pre-agricultural cultures and b) the funerary rites of agricultural (i.e. Neolithic) cultures which seemed to formalise a lot of this veneration. Clearly all human cultures have beliefs about what happens when one dies, and I thin this is a subject that can be explore through the medium of RPGs.<br /><br />However, I was inspired recently by watching the 1990 film Jacob's Ladder, which mixes Judaeo-Christian presumptions about the afterlife with a superficial reading of the Tibetan book of the dead... to go back and read that again! So some of that imagery might be creeping in at some point.<br /><br />Hmm I also appear to be jotting down thoughts instead of making a point!<br />Sofinho - Alone in the Labyrinthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13483910003385026924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5380657762788578445.post-41017661977016633882020-12-18T16:01:27.890+00:002020-12-18T16:01:27.890+00:00I don't think I have anything substantive to s...I don't think I have anything substantive to say, but I find this interesting.<br /><br />When I interviewed Semiurge, he was the one who brought your work to my attention, ever since, I've been intrigued by this setting and your thinking (admittedly I have not had the time to read into it as thoroughly as I intend to). When I do fantasy at all, I tend to focus on post-post-apocalypse; I find this whole pre-/proto-civilization setting really interesting, but I struggle with how to work within those limitations in ways that are uniquely interesting. <br /><br />Even though this post is nominally about a generation system, all the stuff leading into that part, I think, gives me some kind of sense of the flavor of the genre that I can't quite describe. It's psychedelic, but not in the cliche / traditional sense, but also not a 1-to-1 take on shamanic cultures either. In that regard, it makes me think of what I'm doing with Buddhist ideas in my current setting, so trying to understand your setting feels like a good exercise in what others must have to do to understand mine lol.<br /><br />Again, not sure I'm making an actual point, just jotting down some thoughts.maxcan7https://www.blogger.com/profile/12504030224075149157noreply@blogger.com