The Powers
Most commonly associated with the theories expounded in the writings of the ancient philosopher Zardax — one of the Three Great Sages of Realmgard — the concept of the Powers is one the major cornerstones of philosophical attempts to make sense of the world of Terrace.
The existence of the Powers is generally taken for granted as a truth of the nature of Terrace, in much the same way as the sky being blue (which, incidentally, would be said to be because of deriving its nature from the Power of the Sky) or carrot cake being gross (technically, this is what the Great Sage Sorphronius would call Justified True Belief rather than a cosmological principle).
At their most basic, the Powers are understood by the philosophers and magicologists of Realmgard to be the underlying reality of the cosmos. Simply put, the Powers are the essence of worldly things.
However, interpretations vary from that starting point.
Going into more detail, the Powers are those eternal and unchanging principles with make things they way they are. Material things in the world of Terrace derive their natures drawing from the eternal, unchanging, and ideal natures of the Powers. Fire is hot because the Power of Fire is hot, chairs are for sitting on because the Power of Chairs is for sitting on, triangles have three sides because the Power of Triangles has three sides.
Essentially, trees are trees and not something else because they derive their essence from the Power of Trees. The underlying reality of the Power of Trees is why it is possible for people to close their eyes and imagine a tree — although different people may imagine different kinds of trees, all trees share certain qualities that make them trees, and this is because they are like the Power of Trees.
The Powers are not themselves god or deities. They are metaphysical ideas rather than divine individuals. However, the Powers and the gods are inherently tied together when trying to make sense of the Creation of Terrace. Philosophers, magicologists, and religious thinkers are divided as to whether the Powers gave rise to the gods or if the harnessed the Powers to shape the raw, unformed matter that would become Terrace.
Given that the exact nature of the Powers is difficult to grasp for most of Realmgard’s inhabitants who are not professional philosophers or magicologists and that exact nature reminds controversial for those very same philosophers and magicologists, the term “Powers” is widely used to collectively referring to both the gods of Realmgard and the ideal essences to which the word Powers properly refers — “By the Powers!” is among the most common profanities uttered in Realmgard.
The Powers are also understood to be the source of all magic in Terrace, as it is understood that to use magic is to directly draw on the underlying presence of the Powers to affect an outcome in the material world. For example, a fire spell creates a physical, discrete fire in the material world by drawing directly on the limitless, ideal essence of the Power of Fire.
Ugh. This was a hard one.
“Underlying, purely intellectual universal reality of the cosmos” is kind of a hard concept to draw given how abstract it is. Ultimately, I decided on kinda abstract primary-coloured light — I figured primary colours made thematic sense for the primary source of existence, in a way.
But, also, Philosophy, man…
If this all sounds familiar, that’s probably because you’ve done enough entry-level Philosophy — like, say a first-year Introduction to Western Philosophy class at university — to come across Plato‘s Theory of Forms.
And, yeah, the Powers are basically Realmgard’s Forms.
On the one hand, it’s hard to explain the concept int 500 words. On the other hand, it’s probably possible to simply summarise the Forms in less than 500 words.
Basically to recap: the Form of Chair is the Chair-est Chair; all worldly Chairs are Chairs to the extent to which they’re like the Form of Chair. Everything unlike the Form of Chair is, in essence, not a Chair.
Originally, the Powers were going to be entirety of the religion of Realmgard. That’s why the characters (usually Kat) in the first few Realmgard stories use “By the Powers!” as a swear. Over time, though, that starting feeling to abstract, and as I fleshed out my Worldbuilding, I started introducing actual deities like Parthene and Capitolina as patron deities of the various peoples of Realmgard.
I think I at least kinda-sorta managed to reconcile those two notions in today’s explanation.
But, seriously, Philosophy, man…
Also, the epilogue of The Treasure of Oake Island went live earlier today:
And yesterday’s Mythology write-up is available here:
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