The Seven Axes of Reality

#systemRPG #gamedesign #metaphysics #cosmology

SystemRPG: The Seven Axes of Reality

Introduction

The Cosmology of Reality—the Infinite Tapestry—is structured and expressed through seven fundamental ontological axes. These axes define the qualities of any realm, plane, or dimension, shaping its physics, metaphysics, and the way sapient beings interact with it. They are the coordinates of existence itself, and every tradition—magical, divine, psionic, technological, or primal—interfaces with them through different paradigms.

This article expands each axis in depth, providing definitions, manifestations, interactions, and narrative hooks.

1. Ontic Density (OD)

  • Definition: The degree of “realness” or solidity of matter, energy, and spirit.
  • Low OD: Dreamscapes, illusions, astral projections, thought-forms—fragile, mutable, easily disrupted.
  • High OD: Material planes, stone, iron, stars—stable, heavy, resistant to change.
  • Manifestations:
    • High OD resists disintegration, teleportation, or reshaping.
    • Low OD allows phasing, etherealness, and ghostly passage.
  • Tradition Interfaces:
    • Mages exploit low OD for illusions.
    • Cultivators condense their essence into high OD “golden cores.”
    • Tek requires stable OD substrates for machines.
  • Narrative Hooks: Low OD zones risk fading away; high OD zones can trap beings permanently.

2. Causal Viscosity (CV)

  • Definition: The resistance of cause-and-effect to alteration.
  • Low CV: Easy time drifts, teleportation, probability bending.
  • High CV: Events “stick,” fate is rigid, contracts bind.
  • Manifestations:
    • Low CV worlds teem with miracles, coincidences, quantum slips.
    • High CV planes enforce oaths, destiny, and inevitability.
  • Tradition Interfaces:
    • Psions bend causality with willpower.
    • Cultivators lower CV to allow breakthroughs.
    • Infernal realms exploit high CV to enforce binding contracts.
  • Narrative Hooks: A contract in a high CV zone is nearly unbreakable; travel through a low CV corridor risks time slippage.

3. Temporal Gradient (TG)

  • Definition: The local flow of time relative to Prime.
  • Low TG (<1×): Time runs slower—eternal faerie courts, stasis realms.
  • High TG (>1×): Time runs faster—cultivation training grounds, hyper-accelerated dungeons.
  • Manifestations:
    • Dilated TG permits training or recovery at an advantage.
    • Compressed TG risks aging or collapse of matter.
  • Tradition Interfaces:
    • Cultivators engineer TG ratios for breakthroughs.
    • Tek uses chronolabs for accelerated research.
    • Divine miracles may suspend or reverse TG.
  • Narrative Hooks: Characters return from a high TG zone decades older than those they left behind.

4. Law Rigidity (LR)

  • Definition: The firmness of rules and constants governing a realm.
  • Low LR: Mythic, chaotic, narrative-driven; stories shape reality.
  • High LR: Stable, deterministic, scientific; experiments replicate perfectly.
  • Manifestations:
    • Low LR zones empower rituals, myths, and chaos sorcery.
    • High LR zones reward technology, physics, engineering.
  • Tradition Interfaces:
    • Mages exploit LR drops to cast impossible spells.
    • Tek requires LR stability for circuits and reactors.
    • Cultivators balance LR to stabilize Dao progression.
  • Narrative Hooks: Tek gear jams in low LR areas; heroes rewrite stories in mythic zones.

5. Agency Permeability (AP)

  • Definition: The degree to which will, intent, or narrative weight can alter reality.
  • Low AP: Will is impotent; physics dominates.
  • High AP: Dreams reshape landscapes, protagonists warp outcomes.
  • Manifestations:
    • High AP empowers psionics, destiny-bound heroes, dreamwalkers.
    • Low AP zones resist miracles, mind powers, and narrative cheats.
  • Tradition Interfaces:
    • Psions thrive in high AP.
    • Divine champions use faith in AP-biased regions.
    • Mutants project personal traits as portable AP fields.
  • Narrative Hooks: In high AP realms, legends walk; in low AP, even gods feel silence.

6. Alignment Polarity (AL)

  • Definition: The ethical or entropic bias saturating a realm.
  • Positive AL: Celestial, luminous, ordered, benevolent.
  • Negative AL: Infernal, corrupt, chaotic, malevolent.
  • Neutral AL: Balanced or shifting over time.
  • Manifestations:
    • Positive AL zones heal or reward aligned behavior.
    • Negative AL zones corrupt, decay, and punish.
  • Tradition Interfaces:
    • Divine forks codify AL into domains of law or chaos.
    • Infernal contracts weaponize AL−.
    • Cultivators may struggle against ambient AL drift.
  • Narrative Hooks: Crossing into a strongly opposed AL plane weakens characters; aligned beings flourish.

7. Elemental Bias (EB)

  • Definition: Axis of affinity/tilt toward elemental or conceptual archetypes.
  • Scope: Far beyond classical elements, EB includes material, primal, conceptual, mythical, and narrative elements.
  • Expression:
    • Classical (Western): Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Spirit.
    • Classical (Eastern): Wood, Metal, Water, Fire, Earth, Void.
    • Primal: Dragon, Phoenix, Nature, Plant, Beast, Stone, Ocean, Storm, Sky.
    • Mythic: Demon, Angel, Undeath, Shadow, Light.
    • Conceptual: Order, Chaos, Balance, Dream, Memory, Fate, Death.
    • Exotic/Alchemical: Antimony, Mercury, Copper, Iron, Tin, Lead, Gold, Silver, Platinum, Sulfur, Salt, Crystal, Blood.
    • Cosmic: Starfire, Voidlight, Netherflame, Aether, Lunar, Solar.
  • Implications:
    • EB bias defines ecology, magic, and hazards.
    • EB combinations create hybrid domains (e.g., Dragon + Fire + Order = a Celestial Dragon Forge).
    • Conceptual EB influences narrative gravity (a Chaos-biased realm resists stability; an Order-biased one enforces structure).
  • Gameplay Use:
    • Treat EB as vector tilts—planes may carry one or more EB signatures.
    • High EB realms boost aligned powers and weaken opposed.
    • Crossing strong EB gradients costs Stress or requires resonance checks.
  • Manifestations:
    • EB extreme zones boost matching elements and suppress opposites.
    • Multi-EB zones create hybrid ecologies and exotic magics.
  • Tradition Interfaces:
    • Primal forces embody EB extremes.
    • Tek builds devices tuned to elemental environments.
    • Mages summon elementals where EB bias is strong.
  • Narrative Hooks: A water-biased dungeon floods spells with potency but douses fire abilities.

Conclusion

The Seven Axes form the fabric of the Tapestry. Every plane, realm, or pocket dimension is defined by their shifting values, and every power tradition interprets them through its own lens. The System interfaces with these axes through its forks and overlays, stabilizing, exploiting, or redirecting them. Understanding the axes is essential for navigating the metaphysical map of SystemRPG. Ontic Density through Alignment Polarity define the structural and metaphysical constants, while Elemental Bias opens the door to the vast diversity of elements drawn from myth, fantasy, and concept. By including not just Fire, Water, Earth, and Air, but also Chaos, Order, Dragon, Plant, Beast, and more, the system provides a unified yet infinitely expandable framework. Every realm can be described in terms of its axis coordinates, and every tradition interprets and manipulates these axes through its own lens.