We've heard our cosmology is similar to Rendog's Gigaverse. That might or might not give more context.
A world is a continuous, habitable space in the multiverse. Most worlds have three "dimensions", which appear separate but are in reality closely tied to each other. Some worlds have more or fewer dimensions. While universal laws[1] tend to be more or less the same from world to world, they can differ, sometimes dramatically. Worlds may emerge naturally or be intentionally created by players.
Traveling through the "void"—the space between worlds and between a world's dimensions—is difficult, but not impossible with the right skills or equipment. Admins are more likely to have the required skillset compared with the average player. Easier and more common methods of travel include portals and direct teleportation. Interestingly, teleporting between worlds tends to be easier than teleporting within them.
Servers can be thought of in a couple different ways. In one sense, a server is the underlying universe that supports the existence of a world or world network. It's essentially the fabric of reality. In another sense, a server is the group of players who share a given world or world network.
The long dream[2] is similar in appearance to a world, but is not actually a world. It has a completely different set of underlying laws. Players have access to it, but are not able to manipulate it in the same way they can manipulate worlds. Non-player entities do not seem to be able to access the long dream.
Players are a class of entity with certain skills that other entities are unlikely to have, particularly skills that involve manipulating worlds and traveling between worlds. They may also possess seemingly supernatural abilities, such as the ability to create worlds, and the ability to manipulate them on an almost impossible scale[3].
The status of "player" is somewhere between a species and an occupation. One might be born a player, or learn to be a player. This explains some cases of "hybrids", or players who don't look like long dream humans. Most other cases of hybridization are due to human players gaining nonhuman traits later in life.
Some theorize that whatever differentiates players from non-players is related to players' strong connection to the long dream.
Admins are typically considered to be a subclass of players. They are particularly attuned to servers, especially their home servers. Depending on who you ask, an admin is either a player who has studied server interfacing, any old player with a server console, or not a player but rather a completely different creature altogether.
Studied admins look like any other player. They may be human or hybrid, and tend to behave normally unless they are carrying out admin duties. However, becoming an admin can change a person.
Non-player admins may or may not resemble players. They tend to have strong instincts and unusual thought patterns. They may behave in ways that seem violent in an effort to protect their home servers.[4]
A server can be interfaced with either in a detached way or by "synching" oneself, as it were. For an admin to fully sync with their server, they must have a deep understanding of its quirks and the shape of its reality's fabric. Interfacing with a server while synched can be an ecstatic experience[5], but with highs come lows. Synching too often or for too long may make it difficult to tell where one stops and their server starts.
This religion comes from Wynncraft. Spoilers ahead in case anyone reading was planning to discover the game's story on their own.
Aspen is from the province of Gavel[6], a location on the material plane with strong Light influence. The main god in much of Gavel is Orphion, the light beast and physical(? spiritual?) embodiment of Light. This makes Him Aspen's god, and I have inherited Him.
Light, and its opposing Darkness, are primordial, eldritch forces in the world of Wynncraft. Each of them seeks primarily to spread its own influence across the material plane. The result of Light's influence is crystalline, geometric, and visually bright. The result of Darkness's influence is chaotic, organic, and visually dark.
These forces aren't inherently good or evil, and care about mortals only insomuch as those mortals can help them in their eternal cosmic war.
We use these as metaphors for this-world concepts and forces, and believe that a balance is necessary for a healthy cosmos. We ally ourselves with Orphion, and associate Him with this-world things such as the sun. We do not discount the necessity of Darkness and of things we associate with it.
We've had a sense for a very long time that we are supposed to spread some kind of Word. What exactly is it we need to spread is unclear.
At some point within the past couple years, Lord Pan[7] turned us into a satyr. We believe He did this so as to make us one of His children so we could spread the Word that He isn't dead. More broadly, the message is that magic and nature (including science) are deeply connected and neither of those is dead. We believe Pan chose us as one of His children in part because we are hill people and He is from Arcadia, a mountainous region.
Phantom shifting as religious ecstasy! What more is there to say?
We've identified with werewolves for a very long time, and more than once wished we were a true shapeshifter like a fairytale werewolf. Rarely does a day go by when a stray thought isn't spared to the desire for a werebeast pack. What they say of queer people and found family rings true for us, if you replace "family" with "pack".
Shifting under the light of the full moon! It fills you with such joy! Such a feeling of being grounded in yourself!
gamerules, also can be mods/plugins↩︎
Reality™, name taken from the End Poem↩︎
commands, external tools↩︎
shout out to Lupine and whatever the heck bark has going on with that↩︎
not a joke; we get religiously POSIC about our Minecraft servers sometimes↩︎
hearthome, fictionkin, whatever you want to call it↩︎
we call Him Lord Pan just to differentiate Him from everything else called "pan"↩︎