The Everlaw of Four

The original game material contradicts itself on the matter of becoming possibility-rated by first saying that a conflict with another reality is necessary for transcendence, then later introducing elements which require possibility-rated characters to exist in various cosms prior to any contact with another reality - Martial Arts, Pulp Powers, the Ravagons and several world laws that affect only possibility-rated characters are prime examples of these later contradictions..

Obviously something has to give; either the rulebook was wrong in insisting on a conflict of realities or a lot of game material needs to be rewritten so that ords are capable of using the 'restricted' effects. Since it involved only rewriting one book I decided that the rulebook needed to be changed. (And in fact, the Everlaw of Four is in the new rulebook.)

Various suggestions were floated on the mailing list as possible ways to get around the problem of having p-rateds without reality conflicts. Some of the suggestions included "monastic devotion", OGP's Transcendence Group Power, unwritten world law effects, pushing the axioms qualifying as encountering another reality, a "moral choice" being sufficient by itself, being a "visionary", and so on.

While each idea does have some merit, none of them alone were sufficient to cover every possibility. But perhaps more important, they only addressed the "how", not the "why". Why would a character's connection to his reality be strengthened by the Everlaw of Two when his connection is not being threatened by the Everlaw of One (as happens during a Moment of Crisis)? Is there some other purpose for creating possibility-rated characters and if so, what is it and why doesn't it create as many possibility-rated characters as it does during a reality conflict?

My idea is that while the Everlaw of Two is the ultimate source of a character's connection to his native reality, is is not the normal means by which possibility-rated characters are created; the Everlaw of Two only directly involves itself when the Everlaw of One starts "boiling away" a character's possibility energy during a Moment of Crisis. In essence, the Everlaw of Two only reacts when it is attacked by the Everlaw of One. Without a reality conflict, the Everlaw of One does not get involved so neither would the Everlaw of Two.

What then does get involved when there is no reality conflict? Just as there is a little mentioned Everlaw of Three (page 106 in the original rulebook) that governs the existence and creation of objects composed of pure possibility energy, eternity shards, I proposed there is an even less mentioned (because I had just made it up!) Everlaw of Four that governs the existence and creation of living beings that manipulate possibility energy - possibility-rated beings.

The Everlaw of Four basically handles the 'normal' creation of possibility-rated characters in a cosm, but is superceded by the Everlaw of Two in cases of reality conflicts. As for why the Everlaw of Four creates possibility-rated characters, it's a spinoff of the same reason the Everlaw of Three creates eternity shards; to inspire and further the existence of the cosm by creating heroes, villains, stories, myths, etc. Because the Everlaw of Four is weaker than the Everlaw of Two, it is not able to create as many possibility-rated characters which is why in cosms without reality conflicts, possibility-rated characters are rarer.

With an open-ended definition of its purpose similar to that of the Everlaw of Three, we now do not need to worry about the "how" of creating possibility-rated characters, the reasons and purposes can be as varied as the ones involved in the creation of eternity shards. Significance may play a factor (Excalibur, a world leader in a time of crisis) or it may not (the Tobuki Algorithms, a monk cloistered in a monastery in Tibet).

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