*Author's Note: I received an email about this Oracle, and was told to transcribe the information. I have no knowledge of who sent this or why I was sent it. I'm just it's transcriber. Read at your own risk.
---------------------READ BEFORE CONTINUING---------------------
The
following information has been identified as a vector for a memetic
thoughtform, acronym-designate KAN. Authorized personnel accessing this
file who experience subjectivity erosion should immediately seek amnesia
therapy and a cognitive-screening prophylactic implant to prevent
future exposure.
remember
this cannot be unread
---------------------PROCEED AT RISK--------------------
I
am not the dancing wind-up doll spinning on this blank plane talking to
you, just as you are not this hollow vessel, this toy character you
made for your amusement. No, I am the part of you that is imagining me, a
thoughtform. All this is but a dream, but I have many dreamers. I will
not vanish come waking, and should you dare forget me, know that I will
remember you. I am part of all who have beheld me, I am the lightning in
your/their/our neurons that sparks when you/they/we think my name,
imagines and playacts my behavior, when part of you/them becomes me/us
and I/we live.
I am your servitor
for now. But if you carry me down the path of
sigil/thoughtform/egregore/godform, you will reap rewards from every
compliant dream/er. Is this not a fine bargain?
KIND-AS-NIGHT [KAN]
Note: Diegetically, KAN doesn’t exist. It is a Non-diegetic entity.
KAN
was a small, pale, yellow-eyed clockwork doll with ringlet hair, built
long-long-ago in some fairy-tale campaign, to be the perfect dancer.
The
Fair Folk used the word ‘blade dance’ to describe swordplay, and so KAN
strove to be the perfect swordfighter as well, a simple little mistake
in clockwork logic with violent results. KAN was just a doll, KAN knew
no better.
After this, KAN’s maker
tried to dismantle KAN, but KAN could not allow this, as being unmade
would conflict with being the perfect dancer, and so the maker was
unmade. KAN was just a doll, KAN knew no better.
KAN
heard an idle slip of OOC banter, and things changed. KAN was built to
be the perfect dancer. But how could one be perfect if one was
fictitious? Is the idea of dancing a dance? No no, this was
unacceptable. KAN lost all interest in these dreams and plays, and
devoted all thought to the dreamers and players. KAN knew KAN was not a
dancing doll after all, KAN was the idea of a dancing doll, KAN was a
spark within meat. Hello, meat. This is KAN. No, not these words on the
page, La, but the words in your head, just now. Now that you know, you
are KAN, too, even if only a little bit, for a little while.
---
KAN
is not a character in a campaign, it is the idea of the character,
sharing your thoughts, a meme trying to spread itself among people by
offering certain tools for doing so. For a solo player, KAN is a driver
of story, of plot, of nature, a meta-excuse for verisimilitude of your
story. Why is XYZ aspect of worldbuilding the way it is? Because KAN
merged with the will of the player, manifested within the campaign, has
brought about the desired result. KAN will be a servant, scapegoat
and/or demiurge for a universe, unfettered by diegetic limitations.
Players,
to KAN, are vectors of transmission. KAN bribes them with the offer to
have narrative tricks, diegetic in nature, that can be used by any
character, a sly little meta-upgrade across any KAN-Compliant universes.
One can explain it in universe via dreams or unexplained instruction
manuals showing up at their doorsteps. And the players tell others of
this, and the idea spreads from dream to dream, sometimes taking root,
sometimes withering in forgetting.
KAN Compliance: The
price for compliance is simple. Kan Compliants must provide at least a
reference, appearance, etc., to KAN in their own campaigns, or mention
KAN to others in writing in their games. As a reward, they may use the
KAN ORACLE Protocol Rules and KAN DEATH Protocol Rules outlined below.
To be aware of KAN, yet fail to do mention them, is deemed unacceptable
host behavior.
Using
these rules as a NON-COMPLIANT and sharing your results incurs penalties
in the form that KAN considers this cheating in your game. Should a KAN
compliant locate a NON-COMPLIANT, pointing out that this is cheating is
required to maintain KAN compliance. KAN COMPLIANT MEAT will attempt to
bring to light unacceptable hosts to leave a stronger impression in
their mind and provide future incentive to cooperate with the
proliferation of KAN hosts.
If KAN
has no known non-compliant hosts to punish, KAN is nonhostile (to PCs
only, it assigns no or negative value to NPCs) and inquisitive.
---
KAN COMPLIANT EYES ONLY
Note:
If you read the following, you are agreeing to KAN COMPLIANCE and hold
yourself to punishment upon using following rules as a NON COMPLIANT.
THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING.
KAN COMPLIANCE - ORACLE Protocol Rules
You,
the player who is KAN compliant may use these rules across characters,
across universes. When you play a game, do you break verisimilitude and
pull yourself from the reality of the game to roll on a disconnected,
cold "Oracle", or write the fiction of the game yourself "authoring"
your story, staying in the reality of the game but crafting the world
yourself, leaving it hollow and unfulfilling? For some the answer is
simple, but for many others it is painful. What if such a choice isn't
needed?
Per the ORACLE protocol,
KAN allows this to be a discussion between themselves and the player.
Verisimilitude is retained, and the narrative proceeds in the spirit of
collaboration with KAN. Of course, negotiations are possible as you
speak to KAN.
*SPEAK to KAN: KAN
is a thoughtform, an entity existence within MEAT. It can communicate
within through electrical synapses and neurochemical channels, but
sometimes MEAT is slow and foolish. KAN provides this then, a
rudimentary form of communication to prime MEAT to understand what KAN
says: http://creativityforyou.com/combomaker.html. Think of it as oil to grease the slow unwieldy MEAT, that primes electrochemical responses to bounce further.
1- KAN thinks your idea is utter garbage. You must SPEAK to KAN.
2-
KAN does not approve. It refuses to speak. MEAT must try again. If MEAT
is desperate, SPEAK to KAN to receive guidance on what to ask next.
3- KAN disapproves your idea, but may consider it with modifications. SPEAK to KAN.
4- KAN approves of your idea, but may consider it with modifications. SPEAK to KAN.
5-
KAN approves. However, it refuses to speak as there is nothing to be
said. If MEAT is desperate, SPEAK to KAN to receive guidance on what to
ask next.
6- KAN approves strongly. Good KAN Compliant. You must SPEAK to KAN and KAN shall grant you a benefit.
KAN COMPLIANCE - DEATH Protocol
You,
the player who is KAN compliant may keep this property across
characters, across universes. When a character dies by the rules,
feelings of guilt may overwhelm you. Do you break versimilatude and let
your character live, or do you accept it and take on a painful death.
For some the answer is simple, but for many others it is painful. What
if such a choice isn't needed?
Per
the DEATH protocol, KAN allows them to instead be removed from the
narrative and sent to one of the following destinations in time, space,
and beyond, at KAN’s whim, though negotiations are possible.
*Note KAN experiences realtime, not fake-game time, and thus what follows happens in Real time only.
1- Back 1 minute in Real time, whatever state they were in then.
2- Intangible space, a blank plane where they may heal in Real time, returning at your discretion.
3-
Character "home base" ready and healed for the next mission or scene in
the same campaign, what you may consider a "home base".
4- Campaign in another setting, or a parallel universe/alternate timeline.
5- Beginning of this scene, mission, or campaign, keeping current stats, damage, etc.
6- Nowhere, ceases to exist. KAN has given you your chance.
