BeforeDinnerInTheStarChamberIngreyDamienTearIndex | Time Under Chaos | Game Logs | Before Dinner In The Star Chamber | BeforeDinnerInTheStarChamberIngreyDamienTear Continued from Before Dinner In The Star Chamber Ingrey Damien "Baroness... please join us. Ingrey and I were just discussing mathematics. I was about to ask him if he could confirm for me that mathematical laws held constant in Chaos as well as in Amber and the shadows I'm familiar with... do you have an opinion?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. Solitaire met Damien's gaze unflinchingly and then glided over to join them. She bowed her head to Ingrey once again, "I beg your forgiveness, Ambassador," she said. "With the matters that delayed me, I wasn't certain I could attend. They have been resolved, so if you still wish me to be your companion for the evening, I would be most delighted." Ingrey gave a bow of the head, more than the grazing nod with which he had favored her a few seconds ago. "It would be poor manners for me to refuse such an offer, even if I were to be so uncouth as to contemplate such a foul notion." Ingrey replied. "I would be delighted for you to assume the role of my companion." Solitaire smiled softly and slid in beside Ingrey, taking his arm. "Thank you, Ambassador," she said. "I'd been looking forward to our evening together." She turned her head to look up at Damien. "And yes, Master Damien. Mathematical law is a constant throughout Shadow. From one end to the other. However, the mathematical laws you are accustomed to behave far differently in the nonlinear dynamical systems that are prevalent in Chaos. Within the heart of the Logrus, an underlying system survives; as odd as that may appear. Causality exists, even though the philosophical truth of that causation may be beyond our limited perceptions. It is why the most successful Logrus Masters are more dreamer than scientist." A hardness darkened her expression. "We are all irrevocably bound by a deterministic structure, no matter how chaotic it may appear." "The Baroness has a far greater than mine for the mathematics of such beings and the locales they inhabit than I, clearly." Ingrey said. "Damien and I had gotten to discussing mathematics, and how certain beings, exotic even by the standards of the Courts, might be described and even embody mathematical laws, given their true nature and how they present themselves in this realm, more limited than their own Space." Solitaire nodded to this revelation, glancing between the men before focusing on Damien. "It appears I've found the conversation suited to me, then," she admitted. A faint blush rose to her cheeks. "I fear I'm not very adept at. Much else. So, if you're willing to listen to my views of quantum chaos, I will be more than happy to indulge you." "Oh, please do go on. Amber's is an informal court, it would seem, and there is little danger of a competing intellectual challenging you to a duel over some correlary... wasteful practice that, dueling," Damien said with a smile. "Though, I must add... it is unneccesary for a lady with such obvious intellecutal strengths to modestly imply these are her only strengths in order to recieve complements," he said with a wink and crook to his smile. Solitaire blushed at Damien's wink, her hand tightening slightly upon Ingrey's arm. "Forgive me, Master Damien," she said. "I'm not accustomed to receiving them at all." Ingrey shifted slightly, subconsciously at Solitaire's arm, a slightly protective and proprietary shift in his stance. She straightened up and lifted her eyes to meet his gaze. "As a Will Worker, I am required to understand dynamical systems and how they behave under certain conditions. In that fashion, I can then alter or bend the underlying mathematical structure to create a specific and preconceived result. Although there are an infinite number of shadows with an infinite number of dynamical systems, the basic precepts remain the same, no matter how fluid they may be. At least, that is how I've perceived it." A curious smile warmed her pale features. "You must be familiar with the Pattern, Master Damien. How do you perceive the mathematical existence of the multiverse?" Ingrey cocked his head to hear Damien's answer. "I am indeed familiar with the Pattern," Damien said with another smile. "I fear I may have fallen into the practice of inventing a great deal of my own notations and terms, though, so some of it would take a good bit of time to unpack. I can say that it involves topology and the many-worlds interpretation of certain statistical theories such that the multiverse comprises as near to a complete set of all possible cases as a few exceptions permit," he said before taking another sip of his drink. "So are you saying that your view of the multiverse is an idiosyncratic one developed on your own?" Ingrey enquired. "Or is it one that you feel comes naturally from your familiarity with the Pattern?" "I feel the mathematics arrive naturally, but that my representation of those maths may be idiosyncratic. For what its worth, I'd be quite surprised if our descriptions are incompatible... they're describing the same universe, after all," Damien said before turning to Tear to see if she had questions as well. Solitaire nodded with this and then gazed up at Ingrey with a soft smile. "Indeed. Since my studies began, I have always sensed the aion teleos that lies behind the multiverse, the Absolute. I perceive its existence through the quantum chaos associated with the Logrus. Master Damien obviously perceives it through the Pattern. Although the axioms associated with our perceptions differ, in truth, we still comprehend the same mathematical structures and systems." Her violet eyes drifted over to Damien, a shyness coloring her cheeks. "After all. Everything in existence can trace its origins from the Discord, the First Chaos. The Logrus, the Pattern, the Abyss, and even Ygg. We share the same blood, you and I, Master Damien. Just as I share Ingrey's blood. We are all the spawn of Discord. "We've simply forgotten that we. Share the same Truth. No matter how different our perceptions of that Truth may be." "Ah... but is it not unavoidable that a random system, over time, will produce order?" Damien said as his smile grew to include teeth. Ingrey inclined his head, smiled and shook his head slightly. "That depends on what you mean by order. There may be a perception of order, but no true order." "The digits of pi, to name a mundane and pedestrian example." Ingrey said. "They can be calculated to an arbitrary length, but they cannot be *predicted* in advance." Solitaire positively glowed as she continued the exchange with her companions. She glanced between the two men and then added. "My point is that there always has been Order. Although the Logrus is chaotic by your perception Master Damein, in my eyes it possesses a clearly defined structure. There is an Order to it. The Pattern is simply a more simplistic version of the Logrus. Its systems are more easily perceived. More easily defined. And as a result. It remains more regimented and immutable. Ingrey listened, rapt. "I suspect that is why Pattern sorcerers are, as a whole, generally weaker than Logrus sorcerers. Although a Pattern sorcerer can accomplish amazing feats at an early stage of their training, Logrus sorcerers will eventually surpass their skills over time. This is because the Logrus is more fluid, more malleable." She tapped her chin and then smiled. "It would be like comparing a mace to a rapier. The Pattern, like a mace, is blunt and forceful. The Logrus, like a rapier, is quick and flexible. But in talented hands, both will accomplish the same end result." At the end, Tear blushed brightly and sighed. "Forgive me. I. Tend to prattle on this subject." "No apology is necessary." Ingrey reassured Tear with a nod and a smile. "None at all. Wouldn't you agree, Damien?"He turned expectantly toward Damien to hear his response to Tear's assertions. "The tao which can be understood is not the true tao," he said as his smile, his whole expression, became inscrutable. "Similarly, just because you can predict what a chaotic system will do does not mean it is ordered. Power, I think, may be a concept you have insufficient familiarity with..." Solitaire smiled faintly to this. "I am young yet," she said quietly. "And I do not understand much of. The Power within me. The Power that I am connected to. But soon enough I shall know its Truth." Her violet eyes sparkled in an unsettling light. "I /need/ to know its Truth," she stated, more to herself than her companions. Ingrey regarded Solitaire's strange mien carefully. Solitaire's timid smile returned, along with genuine curiosity. "Although I find it intriguing. That you would believe in the tian dao and its association with the Pattern and Logrus. The very essence of the two Powers ignores and even opposes the precepts of heaven's tao. By our embracing them, we direct and control our fates and thus go against the wisest path—wu wei. How can we harmonize with the World, if we control it by the force of our Will?" She blinked innocently, "You, of all people, force your own path, Master Damien. As Master Johann most certainly learned yesterday." Ingrey looked thoughtful but waited for Damien's reply. While Tear spoke, Damien cast his eyes over the room in a lazy fashion. Ingrey caught a sudden slice of his eyes across the room to critically regard the entrance of three well-dressed women, then back to his careless perusing of the decorations. Ingrey's head motion was subtler, with a brief widening of the eyes before he returned his attention back to Damien and Tear. "Ah, Baroness... we seem to have hit the first of our definitional difficulties, at the very least. I was not necessarily speaking of heaven's tao, nor of both great powers... indeed, perhaps we aren't both using 'power' in the same manner, as our conversation moves about. I'm no doubt confused, but it seems to me as I examine some of what you've just said that you're abusing tautologies... but it is far more likely I've misunderstood, of course. I -do- make my own path... which is perhaps something you'd like to speak more of at another time?" Damien offered with a lazy look which took in both Ingrey and Tear, an offer which might well include them individually as well as collectively. Solitaire sighed to herself and squeezed Ingrey's arm warmly. "Could you excuse me for a moment Ambassador? I will be back shortly." "Of course." Ingrey agreed. With a brief curtsy, the Baroness slipped back into the shadows and out of the main room. "You may have found a new debating partner." Ingrey said to Damien. "I've talked metaphysics on occasion, with a Doctor from the University. However, I think the two of you are both far above my level." "Either that, or we've simply had more experience in tossing around lexically complex terms during academic discussion to buy time," Damien said as his eyes raked over Ingrey's trowsers while most eyes in the room were looking in other directions. "I see." Ingrey said. "It is much the same in diplomacy, when sometimes all one can do to an advance an argument is to use a surplus quantity of words, rather than sharpening them like a blade, using them sparingly and to best effect." Ingey then took note of Damien's roving eyes. "If you would prefer to disengage from conversation, my lord, and greet the newest arrivals, I will release you from the bounds and binds of speaking with me." Ingrey smiled faintly. Damien, who had just finished checking to see if Ingrey was wearing a codpiece, looked up as he again began to speak. "Ah, I'm sorry if I seem distracted. It has been a very eventful day..." As it so happened, Ingrey was not wearing a codpiece. Illumination and enlightenment reached Ingrey's eyes and he broadened his smile, and he nodded. "I now understand. It has been a long day, and the search for a surcease from the stress of it is an understandable one, Damien, one I can certainly find common ground upon, in the abstract." "Our tastes, I fear however, are not congruent." Ingrey added. Damien had a gaulic shrug for the occasion, and suppressed his smirk. "And I've confirmed my suspicion that you're a very fine diplomat," he said before smiling more genuinely, nodding once, and wandering off. "Until we meet again." Ingrey returned the nod with equal conviction, as Damien began to wander away. Ingrey glanced around at the room, and smiled. At this point a deep, low gong sounded - drawing their attention to the door. Damien smiled at his own timing, and manuvered towards his conversational partner. |
