#pls essek sniff this out for me I gotta know. you know what dunamis smells like figure it the fuck out bro

[essektheylyss]

Brennan describes the inside (for lack of a better word) of the Occulus Thalamus as "a swirling nebula of glimmering potential, cresting eternally beyond the threshold of being," before turning instead to describe, for ease of mortal imagination, a physical palace.

I am curious to know if this, like other aspects of Aeorian technology that we've seen, is some kind of dunamantic distillation; if the "infinity" that is described, this monumental repository of data, is in fact an innovation created from Aeor's technological explorations of a beacon and dunamis itself. It would certainly negate any of my idle considerations of how you'd even store that much data, given the space(s) inside the beacons are suggested to be fairly infinite.

It would also track as a method of collection, given the other uses of the beacons in Exandria as a method of holding a soul and then returning it to another vessel, as well as its use for observation and learning; the Dynasty uses consecution for gaining perspective and learning about the world, and the Aevilux apparently use their own rituals as a method of external observation of themselves for learning who they are. Both of these have their downsides, of course, but overall they seem to be employed for thoughtful introspection.

If the Occulus Thalamus was based on the same concept and arcane background, it certainly showcases the dark side of the impulse to observe and learn and record, in excess and without consent. The same drive to learn about the world, to understand those outside of oneself, to connect with the world, used instead for all-encompassing surveillance and control.