#also should i tag this with unreality or something like that?? idk lemme know

[svedupelle]

Definition, Ontology, Anthem Anatheme and the Final Shape : what the hell is going on in Destiny 2

Hello. this post is about the video game destiny 2, though it might not be apparent at first. it is also a tithe to @flowers-of-io, whose posts are the inspiration to this one.

1) To define is to separate

What is a rock? I mean, when I say "a rock" we all know what I'm talking about, but how do you define it? We can call it a "concreted mass of stony material" (Merriam-webster) or a "naturally occurring solid mass (...) of minerals or mineraloid matter." (Wikipedia). But we can always go deeper; a rock is made of minerals and minerals are molecules and molecules are atoms and so on and so forth. Whatever definition we give a rock is a description: here is what this is. In all above examples we defined the rock by describing its components, primarily because it's the simplest way to define it : all rocks are made of minerals because we have decided that is what a rock is; something cannot be a rock if it is not made of minerals. So in order to properly define something, we have to separate it from that which it is not: a rock is made of minerals and stony matter; a tree is made of biological mass and water; a tree is not a rock. "To define is to determine or identify the essential qualities or meaning of" a thing (Merriam-webster).

At that point, definition is not dependent on terms and descriptions, but simply on the understanding that one thing is not another thing. If a dog sees a pile of small brown rocks next to some dog food, it will through its senses make the difference between the rocks and the food; it has defined the rock from the food, and in context it assigns to the food a meaning: that it is food to be eaten, it is nourishment for it smells like nourishment and tastes like nourishment: to define is "to discover and set forth the meaning of" a thing (Merriam-webster).

To define is to separate one thing from another, both in order to give it meaning but also by giving it meaning.

2) Ontologic definition

... and by giving it meaning we choose to elevate it; a thing with meaning is more real to us than a thing without meaning, and nothing that is encountered is without definition. A thing without definition is less real, and really, not real. It is ontological idealism: our perception of the world, which is a dissection of the world, creates the world. A rock is only a rock because I have said that it is one, otherwise it is nothing but a collection of molecules and electrical charges and atoms, none of which are real either.

Step away from the idea that "real" means "to exist"; for something to be real it must be itself with no one to define it as such; its meaning is autonomous, independent: the meaning itself is real. A rock is not a rock when I am not calling it a rock, is it? It's really just an instance, an occurrence of various laws of physics and chemistry, a bunch of reactions happening right now (all of which I have also defined, all of which can be reduced to something else also defined; how to describe the world without defining it first?). The empty space between the atoms of the rock is the same as the empty space between the atoms of the air; they flow into each other. Take a porous rock for example: it is filled with air. The delineation between them is artificial, it is...

3) Anthem Anatheme

... the subjective asserting itself over the objective. Now that we've arrived to the thing I'm actually meaning to talk about, the silly video game lore, let's talk magic: imagine if you could, for a moment, rule over objective reality. Your thoughts become real, your desires, your will; ontological idealism taken to an extreme where your subjective mind is not only more real than the objective universe but can directly change it and subjugate it. This is the Anthem Anatheme, it is the "temptation to dominate the objective universe with the subjective will" (Whisper of the Worm). This idea appears a lot in Destiny, in many various ways across characters and species.

When Xivu Arath and Savathûn are conjured back to life by Oryx, it is possible because they have made themselves, their subjetive wills and minds, ontologically synonymous with the ideas of war and cunning respectively, and have as such made those ideas real. Oryx' goal is to similarly make himself synonymous with death. In truth the entire functioning of the Hive depends on the Anthem Anatheme, as they directly employ it in form of the sword logic: if a subjective will can dominate the universe, and decide what is real, then the clashing of wills is the ultimate test of reality, and the winner is more real than the loser.

In the Vault of Glass, the Vex employ ontological weapons in the form of the Oracles, the Templar and the Gorgons (and maybe Atheon idk). They decide if you are real or not. Unlike the rest of Sol though, the Vex do this through the sheer power of math and not wonky space magic (who's to say math isn't wonky space magic..). Hence why this stuff only works in the Vault. You know who doesn't need a fortress outside of time and space to decide if you're real or not?

Techeuns. In the Last Wish raid, when the Techeuns wipe you, the death screen says you were killed by an ontological weapon. Neat!

One could even say that the Anthem Anatheme rules the story itself: in The Hidden Dossier, Ikora and Arach Jalaal (Dead Orbit dude) argue about Truth to Power (like the redditors they are). Ikora proposes than TTP is not just nonsense, it's an engine and manual designed by Savathûn to help her cross into the parent universe of their universe, in other words, to help her come into our universe. Which she did when she took control of Bungie's blog or twitter or whatever it was. Regardless, my point is that Ikora mentions that if such a parent universe exists, then it would be more real than they are; and it does exist, and it is. Because let's assume Ikora does exist for real (ykwim) in a child universe to ours, brought forth by Bungie's writing and my reading; her life and day-to-day does not exist until it is written and read and birthed by all its readers. My subjective will dominates her objective reality, or at least the Bungie writers' wills do. If they someday decide she's a lesbian, then she will be, not against her will, because her will is also subjected to theirs. Anthem Anatheme all the way down.

(If you can think of other instances of it, feel free to share lol).

4) Final Shape

All of this to say, the Final Shape is another expression of the Anthem Anatheme. The Witness' will dominating the universe. Freezing it in a single unending moment, permanently defining it and assigning it meaning. Because how can you define it all otherwise? To define the rock as a rock it needs to be unchanging, the minerals can't suddenly become something else or else we're lost. (That's the great crime of the Gardener, the transformation of One Thing into Another, completely ignoring cause-and-effect, through paracausality. The first knife is the first definition/dissection/delineation?) The Witness aims to define everything now and forever, and by doing so, assign it meaning, synonymous with purpose.

[fandom-star]

Writer’s Tag

@its-all-ineffable tagged me to do this, but it’s a long one so I’m doing it in a different post! Thank you very much! I love doing these so much!

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How many works do you have on AO3?

164 (possibly 165 by the weekend if I post the Witcher one I finished the other day)

What's your total AO3 word count?

181468

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

It’s Okay (Merlin: Merthur) - 569 Kudos Pulchra (Night At The Museum: Jedtavius) [NSFW] - 286 Kudos A Father’s Wisdom (Merlin: Merthur: Uther-centric) - 270 Kudos Crush (MCU Spider-Man: PeterNed) - 262 Kudos Comfort Blankets For Sleepy Gods (MCU Loki Series: Lokius) - 245

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Sometimes. I try to if I’m not in a non-social mood. Mostly, if I start off on my page before reading any fic and see that I have something in my inbox and it turns out to be a comment on my fic, then I’m more likely to reply to it. Idk why it works like that. Otherwise, it’s kinda touch and go whether or not I’ll reply to something, you’ve got a 50/50 chance, but I always read and appreciate every one that I get.

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

*Looks at my abundance of angst fics* There’s... a surprising amount of angst without happy endings in my repertoire. Um. I’ll give you three that I vividly remember. (All of these are Star Trek and Spones) Written In The Stars - This is one of my really early works, and was gonna have a sequel that made it have a less angsty ending, but I could never get into the rhythm of writing it. I won’t spoil it, but this is probably the only fic I’ve written where Sarek is a straight-up dick. Battlefield - As the title suggests, there’s war with no real context. And major character death. It’s sad. I genuinely made people cry with this. I am both proud and apologetic of that. Unreal - This is probably one of my more complex concepts, and I’m really proud of it. Features ooc Spock with contextual reasons I won’t spoil, defensive/protective McCoy and major character death of a sort.

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending

This is kind of difficult, bc while I have excessively written angsty endings (see: above answer) I do usually write happy endings, and I can’t remember all 160 fic endings left over, and even then it’s difficult to rank them by happiest. I like Nutcase {Murdoch Mysteries: Watts-centric) a lot, oh and also Blame It On Me (Star Trek Pricard: Hughnor) which is angst with a happy ending (and has amazing art accompanying it). There are many others with happy endings, but like I said I have no idea how to rank them by “happiest”.

Do you write crossovers? If so, What is the craziest one you’ve ever written?

I don’t really, but I have written one as a request that I really really enjoyed. A Good Day is ThorBruce and is set in the DS9 era of Star Trek, in which Thor is a captain and Bruce is his chief science officer. It’s really adorable and features sleepy, over-worked Bruce and a very characteristically happy Thor.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

No, I don’t think so, unless you count unsolicited advice I felt I couldn’t turn down on ff.net when I was struggling to write Uhura. I’m kind of surprised I haven’t tbh (not that I’m complaining) since I do write for some very popular fandoms and ships (although, conversely, also some very niche fandoms and ships).

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I write it but have only ever posted it thee, four times if you count the exploratory one I posted under a pseudonym that wasn’t really that smutty. I’m hoping to get the confidence up to post some of what I’ve written tho, bc I do really like hat I’ve managed to do with some of it.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not as far as I’m aware.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, I have! A lovely person found my fic 1967, which is probably one of my favourite Spones fics I’ve written, based around the UK’s decriminalisation (well, partial) of homosexuality, and traslated it into Hungarian here. I’ve not been able to check it out, due to not knowing a thing in the language (tho I could probably ask my friend to) but the translator seemed really lovely, so I trust them to have done a good job.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not something I posted, but before I even started posting fanfic, me and my best friend really randomly started writing a Star Trek TNG x Star Wars crossover whenever they were at my house. We gave up on it after about a year and never wrote much for it, but it was... it was something.

What’s your all-time favourite ship?

This changes all the time with my hyperfixations! One that will always be in my heart is obviously Spones, my og ship and within my special interest. Currently I’m obsessed with The Witcher so I’ve got Geraskier on the mind but who knows when that might change!

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

In terms of fanfic I don’t really have any that I don’t think I’ll ever finish. I have an original script that I started writing months ago but only got about three scenes into and haven’t touched since bc I don’t actually have a plot for it.

What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue; Is situations one? That sounds like a good and fancy way of saying AUs; Finding synonyms should be one, that’s like half my search history

What are your writing weaknesses?

Description; Despite my talent of finding synonyms I feel like I do repeat words a lot; Planning and outlining, I just don’t do it - it works for me tho.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I’m pretty sure the only times I’ve really done it is for Jedtavius (having Oct speak in Latin occasionally) and I might have done it once or twice with Spock speaking Vulcan, both times it’s mostly terms of endearment or Oct wanting to be romantic. Idk, I don’t really care about reading dialogue in other languages as long as there’s a translation somewhere in the work or I can easily pick it up or search it. Just do whatever, it’s your writing. As long as you do it well and it makes contextual sense, I don’t really care.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Unposted: Star Trek: The Next Gen Posted: Sherlock (I actually recently reread my first ever posted fic, it’s a long haul (just over 45k), but if anyone ever wants to see a work where my writing visibly improves lemme know and I’ll email the pdf to you)

What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

Why would you do this to me??? I love most of my fics!!! I’m just gonna link a few here cause I’ve been doing this for an hour now and it would definitely take me an hour to choose just one! The Relationship Series - modern AU, autistic Spock (written by a self-projecting autistic writer), there’s angst spattered about but is especially prominent in part 6, I just really love this series Promises You Can’t Keep - Loki spoilers, I love this bc it’s based on “what if my finale theory was right instead of being debunked three minutes into the episode”, definitely angst with a hopeful ending I love all of my Charite At War fics, but I’m gonna link my 20 years post-canon fic Grow Old With Me and my modern AU You Give Me Your Light - both have some heavy topics (post-canon is set in 1960s East Germany, modern AU topics are tagged) but I adore both with my entire heart You’ll Never Burn - Merlin/Merthur, again kinda heavy (not as heavy as the Charite ones in my opinion) but short and everything is tagged I love all of my Babylon 5 fics but Secret Rendezvous will always have a special place in my heart. It’s very sweet and essentially follows Vir and Lennier trying to navigate coming out about their relationship to their ambassadors I also recommend all the of the fics I’ve already linked in the post ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now for the hard part - tagging!

@esperata @tallysgreatestfan @iwritesometimes @marlinspirkhall and any other writer mutuals I’ve likely forgotten but I’ve already spent WAY too long writing this post asfdhdskjdgha So I apologise, but if you wanna do it, absolutely go for it, this was so much fun and really made me realise how much I’ve achieved in 4.5 years.