Nexus

[Alysia]

I have asked Kairee's player to register here and put up her amazingly well-thought out articles from the realmofrhydin.com wiki about the Nexus and Nexus Points.  She will, when she has time.

Yay!

[Ehzoterik]

Awesome!  That's wicked cool of her.

I started something, but it's nowhere near as definitive as I'm sure she can fill out for us.

[Alysia]

I wanted to put this up to preserve it before it poofs from realmofrhydin.com.


The Nexus - as written by  Kairee aka Barbara H, October, 2007 at http://www.realmofrhydin.com/index.php?n=WHAT.Nexus

The Nexus is Chaos refined.

It is, at its most primal state, the evolution of Chaos into Order and into what Order devolves.

The Nexus, as the heart’s blood of “reality,” powers creation and is the source of ALL the energies that flow through the realities we know.

The Nexus is so close to pure Chaos, any attempt to access it directly will result in your personal Order being “reordered.”

All worlds, all creatures, all magic, all things flow from the Nexus through the creation process.

As the Nexus is ultimately the source of all things, all Time and Space has a connection to the Nexus. That connection is metaphysical in nature and Its influence is unknown. It is at Nexus Points that Time and Space intersect.

Knowledge of The Nexus is arcane (i.e. hidden knowledge.) It is not common knowledge though there is speculation and philosophical discussions by those that investigate the metaphysical such as Arch-Mages.

The question of sentience and the Nexus comes up every so often in philosophical debate, however there is no empirical evidence that the Nexus is self-aware or that It has any level of cognitive thought. If the Nexus is sentient, then it is in a way that is beyond the understanding of those created/born/formed within the Ordered Reality. As with attempts to magically or “physically” touch the raw nature of the Nexus, any attempts to commune with It using Psionic ability will result in the same random reordering (i.e. destruction.)

[Lilithiel]

Would like to suggest that the current Nexus article be replaced with Kairee's excellent work, or that Kairee's work be paraphrased.

Also maybe include a section for how other players made the Nexus part of their RP in RhyDin?  For instance, I recall some characters' backgrounds being that they were dumped into RhyDin via the Nexus, or even that their room entrance macros were via the Nexus.

Is there opposition to that? Lets discuss.

[admin]

To avoid any confusion or unpleasantness over content submitted under a difference license to this site, the brief Nexus article submitted by Ehzoterik has been removed from the wiki. 

We would be delighted to see an encyclopedic entry on the Nexus recreated and submitted under the CC BY-NC-SA license. I am unsure under which license Kairee's work was put up at RealmOfRhydin.com, so I do not believe it should be copied verbatim without her permission. However, if Kairee has time to submit it herself, has obtained permission to submit it verbatim to this wiki, or if anyone is inclined to use it as a basis for an article, it would certainly be a good start.

[Ehzoterik]

As I said in private correspondence, that was completely unnecessary.  All I did was start the article from my perspective.  I was hoping to see it added to.  There was no dispute over licensing agreement concerning that particular article.

[admin]

Ehzoterik:  The content of your User Page suggested you were attempting to assert editorial control of "any article on this wiki that is written" by you as your own original work, which is somewhat beyond the CC BY-NC-SA license we use at the site.  Your User Page also stated that other users were to contact you to "discuss the terms" of using your "ideas and works" which is also not in the spirit of this wiki or the license we use.   I do not wish to have this site bogged down in any potential disputes in legal and licensing issues, I trust you understand this.

Being that your User Page no longer asserts this, and I trust you now understand the license used on this site:  If you wish to resubmit content under the proper license for this site and abide by the Guidelines for using this site, you are certainly welcome to.   

We would be happy to see an article about the Nexus in Rhydin that follows our Style Guide.

[Ehzoterik]

You forgot the second part of that sentence, which stated "and has the credits disclaimer added to it at the end."  Which makes it obviously clear that the only articles I was disputing as mine that have rights beyond the standard and only acceptable license used by this site were those articles that had additional disclaimers at the end.  Of which, there were only two.

[Alysia]

At the risk of sounding repetitive -- Ehz, do you have something constructive to add here?

[admin]

Ehzoterik:  This thread is for discussion on the Nexus as it pertains to Rhydin.  Your ideas for a new and factual article on the Nexus as it pertains to Rhydin are welcome in this thread. 

If you feel your original article on the Nexus was more than just a "red link" filler, and instead fits this wiki's Style Guide standards, contains adequate sourcing and facts, and is written in the proper encyclopedic tone and neutral perspective, you are welcome to make a request to have it restored and it will be posted here for discussion and editing. 

If you have changed your mind about not contributing to this wiki and would now like to offer something constructive, but are still having sort of difficulty understanding the legal and licensing issues involved with content you previously submitted, I encourage you to contact me with your questions, concerns, and complaints.  The proper venue for this is via my e-mail address (available on the wiki) or via PM. 

[Ehzoterik]

I feel it was a good start, and that it was deleted without good reason.  In fact, my good start made way for the construction of another article elsewhere on just this subject.

[Alysia]

Trying to get this discussion back on track.  I paraphrased Kairee's article on the Nexus from Realm of Rhydin and put it up on the wiki.

It can be developed further.  For instance, I would like to see something in there about how people use the Nexus in their play.  Who else plays their character as a Nexus mage?

Any more ideas?

[Alysia]

Thanks for adding, Zonker.  A few ideas for changes--

First, I'd suggest that this particular passage be moved to a separate artle on Nexus Points / Nexus Portals:

This force, when it is at a certain level, can open a "portal" through Time and/or space. In some places, like [[Rhydin]], this force occurs naturally at, or so near, this level that "portals" open and close with little or no additional effort, often without intent.

Then, could we get something more specific than "unknown" appended to the quote "Explanations need not be complicated. Remember Occam's Razor, my friends. The Nexus simply is... "   Where'd the quote come from? Who heard it? Where'd they hear it? Is it supposed to be just a general gem of wisdom?


Also, you noted that this reflects an alternate explanation "as played in Rhydin by myself and others" - can you give us some idea of who all was involved in the development of that idea and how they played it? It would really help flesh out the differing concepts.


Since there are two very different views of the Nexus (Chaos force vs. force generated by living beings) being expressed here, I think we will need to break it up into separate "definitions", as was done with the Red Dragon Inn.  Any ideas on that?

[Zonker]

Made the delineation between the separate ideas more obvious by adding headings, "Theory I and Theory II.


Moved the passage to create a Nexus Points entry, as suggested.  Identified it as relating to Theory II and added a bit.



Then, could we get something more specific than "unknown" appended to the quote "Explanations need not be complicated. Remember Occam's Razor, my friends. The Nexus simply is... "   Where'd the quote come from? Who heard it? Where'd they hear it? Is it supposed to be just a general gem of wisdom?

Not sure if the change I made helps or not.  It is indeed meant to be a general gem of wisdom and was intended to differentiate the two theories as well. It was also meant as a basic tenet of those who believe in and live by the ideas presented.

Also, you noted that this reflects an alternate explanation "as played in Rhydin by myself and others" - can you give us some idea of who all was involved in the development of that idea and how they played it? It would really help flesh out the differing concepts.

I originally created the idea.  Though I had read that the Nexus was the explanation for multi-genre play in the RDI (and elswhere), I had never heard Kairee's more detailed explanation of it until very recently, long after I came up with my own. I needed to do so because my main character was long known to be a  retired "traveler" (akin to the Time Guardians created by Robert Heinlein or the Time Lords of Dr. Who).  It has been played within Rhydin by different groups of which I have been a part or by characters who have RP'd with me, learned the theory, and have continued to base their idea of the Nexus and especially  Nexus travel on those ideas.  This includes regulars, as well as a few casual visitors, of the Rhydin setting I created and helped manage for over a decade.  I and many of these folks continue to use these ideas when RPing in Rhydin (et al).

The main difference is that the Nexus CAN be controlled, that chaos and order are not the defining characteristics,  and that portals can be created by those with the proper knowledge rather than being limited to existing Nexus Points. 

Some things were added (like the explanation for why some folks get "seized by the Nexus") based on ubiquitious RP scenes played throughout Rhydin (especially in the RDI).

[Ehzoterik]

The main difference is that the Nexus CAN be controlled, that chaos and order are not the defining characteristics,  and that portals can be created by those with the proper knowledge rather than being limited to existing Nexus Points. 

Some things were added (like the explanation for why some folks get "seized by the Nexus") based on ubiquitious RP scenes played throughout Rhydin (especially in the RDI).

I know of characters who can willingly travel back and forth between their original home world (or realm) and Rhydin because of just such knowledge.  Many of the regulars in the Rambling Rose Tavern, for instance, frequently talk about taking trips "back home" to "their time" and the like.  Many of these characters are Earth origin.  Others come from different worlds from popular fantasy or science fiction (ie: fandom based characters).

The usual consensus is that after the initial shock of being dumped in a strange new world clears away, these characters start to explore backward and retrace their steps to try to figure out how they got here and why.  This leads them to discovering "portals."  Often these portals are in fixed locations.  An example off the top of my head: the second stall in the women's restroom at Billy-Bob's Diner, the one that always has the Out of Order sign hung on the door, is actually a fixed portal Nexus Point leading back to Mars.

There are no boundaries to the limits of one's imagination on this.  That's not an actual example.  Just a random idea of what someone could possibly come up with.  I'd have to consult with some of my fellow players to find out for certain what they imagine the portals their characters use to be.