One fact must be clearly understood from the outset: Faerethia is a real place. It must not be interpreted as a religious afterlife, nor as a lost state of innocence, nor any similar fable. If it be paradise, it is nonetheless a paradise within the bounds of our physical world, not beyond them. Neither should it be interpreted in any metaphorical sense, as symbolic of something different than itself.
Faerethia is, quite simply, the final endpoint when human ingenuity is mustered to overcome all germs of suffering in mortal existence. When fear and disease cease to exist. When pain and sorrow no longer matter. When everything we would wish not to be, is not, and all that remains has been polished to an apex of perfection.
Understand this clearly. Faerethia is a product of human hands and human minds. Whatever else has been done in this tarnished world, it is one accomplishment of which we can be justifiably proud.
This is—perhaps—the story of how you came to be there.
=><=
[[Continue->cave 1]]In the beginning it is only sensation. It means nothing. There is nothing for it to mean.
Later you start to recognize patterns in the sensation. There is darkness and there is light. There is coherence, extended domains that produce consistent impressions, and divisions where the perception alters. There is stasis and there is movement. There is change, which implies the existence of time.
A very long or short interval later, you at last begin to make sense of the sensations. You grasp that they have no substance, only inherited forms. You are looking at shadows on a wall, cast by a light you cannot see. A light that, you infer, must be somewhere behind you. With that awareness comes a very great discovery: the existence of yourself as a physical being.
[[Turn to face the light->cave 2]]
(live: 1s)[(stop:)(if: $music)[<script>A.track('entrance').play();</script>]]
<div style="text-align: center;"><img width="50%" src="assets/divider.svg"/>
Place: an office
Time: the distant past
<img width="50%" style="transform: rotate(180deg);" src="assets/divider.svg"/>
</div>
(live: 7s)[(stop:)(go-to: "math 1")]
(if: $music)[<script>
shouldPlayOutside = false;
A.track('entrance').fadeOut(2);
A.track('outside').fadeOut(2);
</script>]
It is midafternoon of a day that, for most people, is much like any other, but for you is entirely unique. Your name is Hamera Ku. You are a mathematician. In the future you will be moderately well known in your field, but just now your reputation is still entirely obscure. In any case, your thoughts at this moment have nothing to do with mathematics. You are in deep desperation. You have just lost something vitally important, and you need to find it quickly. Otherwise, the consequences could be dire.
You are in your office.
A large desk dominates the room. Its surface is covered by disorganized mounds of paper and notebooks. It has one large drawer on the right side. Other furniture in the office include a swiveling chair and a bookcase. There is a wastebasket standing beside the desk.
(set: $searchedDesk to false)\
(set: $searchedDrawer to false)\
(set: $searchedBookcase to false)\
(display: "math search options")Your desk is a disaster area. You know you should try to keep it neater. You could find things more easily (and not lose them in the first place!), not to mention that it would look better for visitors. But somehow, it never works. All your attempts at imposing order spontaneously transition to a state of pure chaos.
You pick up handfuls of paper, shove them together and stack them in a way that is no more organized than before, but at least assures you nothing is hidden underneath. When the pile threatens to become unstable you start a second one next to it, then a third.
At last you are forced to accept the inevitable conclusion: it isn't here.
(set: $searchedDesk to true)\
(display: "math search options")You open the drawer and begin pulling out the contents, mostly prepackaged snack foods. And a squeezable stress ball. And nametags from three different conferences. (Why on earth did you put them in here instead of just throwing them out? You hastily toss them into the wastebasket.) As you penetrate to the lower strata, the assortment of snack foods subtly changes, reflecting the tastes of a younger self. Also, the expiration dates printed on the packages move increasingly far into the past.
At the very bottom is a sheet of paper with emergency preparedness information for your building. It instructs you on who to contact in case of fire, flood, power outage, or attack by wild animals. "KEEP THIS DOCUMENT SOMEWHERE EASILY ACCESSIBLE," it admonishes in large letters.
There. The drawer is empty and the wastebasket is half full. Unfortunately, you still haven't found what you were looking for. You transfer the still edible food back to the drawer and shut it firmly.
(set: $searchedDrawer to true)\
(display: "math search options")The bookcase is the one orderly place in your office, probably because you use it so rarely. The shelves are filled with neat rows of books, mostly college and graduate school textbooks you haven't opened in years. The one exception is the top shelf, which holds a mix of romances, literary classics you keep meaning to read, and small plastic toys that in some undefinable way express your personality. At least, that's what you keep telling yourself.
A few seconds are enough to convince yourself that what you're looking for isn't here. Why would it be? Still, you needed to check.
(set: $searchedBookcase to true)\
(display: "math search options")(if: $searchedDesk is false)[[[Look under the papers->math papers]]
]\
(if: $searchedDrawer is false)[[[Look in the drawer->math drawer]]
]\
(if: $searchedBookcase is false)[[[Search the bookcase->math bookcase]]
]\
(if: $searchedDesk and $searchedDrawer and $searchedBookcase)[\
You rock back and forth on your heels, trying to think. Is there any way it could have left the office? None that you can see. You certainly haven't taken it out. Maybe it fell on the floor? A glance around the very small room reveals nothing. Under the desk perhaps?
[[Look under the desk->math under desk]]
]You lower yourself to your knees and peer under the desk. No, it's not here either, but you do see something else. A notepad. You reach under and pull it out. How long has this been down here? From the amount of dust on it, quite a long time indeed.
You shake it a few times over the wastebasket, then ponder the barely legible equations scrawled across it. What was this? It looks vaguely familiar, but nothing recent. That's right, this was an idea you were working on... two, maybe three years ago? It seemed promising at first, but then you became stuck and gave it up. You ran out of ideas and didn't know how to make any further progress.
Except now you do.
Could this be an amazing coincidence? Or is it fate? This very morning you read a paper that was relevant to this problem! You flip through the pages, tracing the chain of logic up to the point that baffled a younger version of yourself. But now you are a different person, and you know exactly what to do.
You drop the notepad on the desk and begin pacing, thrusting your hands into your coat pockets.
Then you come to a very sudden stop.
You slowly withdraw your hand from the pocket. Held in your palm is a small box, gray in color, with velvet lining. You flip it open to reveal the contents: one 18 karat gold engagement ring.
You fall into your chair and begin laughing hysterically. It was in your pocket the whole time! And you were in such a panic, thinking it was gone! You try to control yourself, but the sense of relief is overwhelming. What would you have done if you hadn't found it?
At last the mad giggles subside. You give your head a final rueful shake and put the box back into your pocket. And then, because you have much more important things to think about, you return your attention to the notepad. You become so absorbed in your work that you almost are late for dinner. Almost, but not quite. That really wouldn't do, tonight of all nights.
[[Continue->math conclusion]]A few months later, you publish a paper with your results. It discusses the emergence of chaos in certain classes of differential equations. The paper is widely cited and gains considerable attention. It is the first major accomplishment of your career. By the time you return from your honeymoon, you are already in negotiations to move to a higher paying job at a more prestigious university.
Still later, your result is found to have practical applications in the field of cybernetic control systems. It provides an elegant solution for stabilizing complex structures against unwanted state transitions. It becomes an important component of many widely used technologies.
But of course, all of this was a very long time ago.
[[Continue->math comment]]Progress in any field happens through phase transitions. When change occurs, it may appear to be sudden. A single breakthrough by a great genius. The reality is very different. Each breakthrough builds on many smaller advances, which in their turn were built on yet others. Time is a critical component. Many small developments must accumulate until they reach a critical mass. Then they crystalize in a sharp transition that appears sudden, but in fact is only one small step in a very long progression.
So it was with Faerethia. Its final form appears timeless and indivisible. The process of its creation was anything but. Long before Rome and Egypt, when forgotten innovators first learned to work metal, to weave fabric and carve stone, their feet were already on the path. It stretches back into the darkness before history, and forward to a single defined endpoint.
Perhaps also to many other endpoints, but they do not concern us. Faerethia is timeless and indivisible. Whatever exists elsewhere in the infinite scope of eternity, Faerethia is, and therefore has always been and must always be.
=><=
[[Continue->sheep]]
<div style="text-align: center;"><img width="50%" src="assets/divider.svg"/>
Place: the Metaverse
Time: always and forever, world without end``*``
<img width="50%" style="transform: rotate(180deg);" src="assets/divider.svg"/>
<span style="font-size: 0.6em;">``*``some restrictions may apply</span>
</div>
(live: 9s)[(stop:)(go-to: "questions 1")]
(if: $music)[<script>
A.track('memory').fadeOut(2);
</script>]Welcome to Personal Paradise Designer Pro™! You are almost ready to begin enjoying your own Personal Paradise™! Your psychological profile, social interaction history, and aesthetic preference survey have already been analysed. We just need to ask a few more questions to complete your design.
What is the one thing you long for above all others?
(link: "Love")[(set: $want to "Love")(go-to: "questions 2")]
(link: "Peace")[(set: $want to "Peace")(go-to: "questions 2")]
(link: "Fulfillment")[(set: $want to "Fulfillment")(go-to: "questions 2")]What is the one thing you fear above all others?
(link: "Death")[(set: $fear to "Death")(go-to: "questions 3")]
(link: "Pain")[(set: $fear to "Pain")(go-to: "questions 3")]
(link: "Insignificance")[(set: $fear to "Insignificance")(go-to: "questions 3")]What is the one thing you will not sacrifice for anything?
(link: "Your conscience")[(set: $sacrifice to "conscience")(go-to: "questions 4")]
(link: "Your dreams")[(set: $sacrifice to "dreams")(go-to: "questions 4")]
(link: "Your concept of yourself")[(set: $sacrifice to "concept")(go-to: "questions 4")]Congratulations! Your design is complete and your Personal Paradise™ is now being generated! You will receive an automated message with login information as soon as it is ready. Prepare yourself to begin enjoying an eternity<sup>``*``</sup> in paradise!
[[Continue->interview title]]
<span style="font-size: 0.7em;">``*``Monthly charges apply. Failure to pay may lead to you being unable to access your Personal Paradise™. Paradise Industries Ltd. cannot guarantee your enjoyment of your Personal Paradise™. Not available in Nebraska.</span>
<div style="text-align: center;"><img width="50%" src="assets/divider.svg"/>
Lemonade Stand
or
The End of Capitalism
<img width="50%" style="transform: rotate(180deg);" src="assets/divider.svg"/>
</div>
(live: 6s)[(stop:)(go-to: "lemonade day 1")]
(if: $music)[<script>
A.track('flock').fadeOut(2);
</script>]
DAY 1
Weather Forecast: SUNNY
Welcome to your first day as a modern entrepreneur! The sign is painted. The table is set up and the cloth laid out. You are all ready to start selling lemonade and bringing in the big bucks!
Each day you will decide how many glasses of lemonade to prepare and how much money to sell them for. The more you charge the more you can earn, but charge too much and customers may go elsewhere!
Your cost to make each glass: 20C
(set: $choices1 to (array: "10", "20", "30", "40", "50"))\
How many glasses do you want to make? [(display: "cycling 1")]<choice1|
(set: $choices2 to (array: "30C", "40C", "50C"))\
How much will you charge for each glass? [(display: "cycling 2")]<choice2|
[[Open for business!->lemonade results 1]]
(live: 1s)[(stop:)(if: $music)[<script>A.track('lemonade').play();</script>]]{
(link: (text: $choices1's 1st) )[
(set: $choices1 to (rotated: -1, ...$choices1))
(replace: ?choice1)[(display: "cycling 1")]
]
}{
(link: (text: $choices2's 1st) )[
(set: $choices2 to (rotated: -1, ...$choices2))
(replace: ?choice2)[(display: "cycling 2")]
]
}{
(set: _glasses to (num: $choices1's 1st))
(set: _price to (num: ($choices2's 1st)'s (a: 1,2)))
(if: _price is 30)[(set: $sold to (min: _glasses, 37))]
(else-if: _price is 40)[(set: $sold to (min: _glasses, 29))]
(else: )[(set: $sold to (min: _glasses, 11))]
(set: _profit to $sold*_price - 20*_glasses)
}
You sold (print: $sold) glasses of lemonade for (print: _price)C each, so your total revenue was (print: $sold*_price)C. It cost you (print: 20*_glasses)C to make (print: _glasses) glasses of lemonade.
{
(if: _profit >= 0)[You earned (print: _profit)C!<script>A.track('profit').play();</script>]
(else:)[You lost (print: -_profit)C!<script>A.track('loss').play();</script>]
}
[[Continue->lemonade day 2]]DAY 2
Weather Forecast: HOT
You learned a lot from selling lemonade yesterday. Now you know more about your market. Use that knowledge to do a better job of managing inventory and setting prices. Success in business depends on continuous improvement! Every day your goal should be to earn more than you did the day before.
Your cost to make each glass: 20C
(set: $choices1 to (array: "10", "20", "30", "40", "50"))\
How many glasses do you want to make? [(display: "cycling 1")]<choice1|
(set: $choices2 to (array: "30C", "40C", "50C"))\
How much will you charge for each glass? [(display: "cycling 2")]<choice2|
[[Open for business!->lemonade results 2]]{
(set: _glasses to (num: $choices1's 1st))
(set: _price to (num: ($choices2's 1st)'s (a: 1,2)))
(if: _price is 30)[(set: $sold to (min: _glasses, 44))]
(else-if: _price is 40)[(set: $sold to (min: _glasses, 35))]
(else: )[(set: $sold to (min: _glasses, 21))]
(set: _profit to $sold*_price - 20*_glasses)
}
You sold (print: $sold) glasses of lemonade for (print: _price)C each, so your total revenue was (print: $sold*_price)C. It cost you (print: 20*_glasses)C to make (print: _glasses) glasses of lemonade.
{
(if: _profit >= 0)[You earned (print: _profit)C!<script>A.track('profit').play();</script>]
(else:)[You lost (print: -_profit)C!<script>A.track('loss').play();</script>]
}
[[Continue->lemonade dream]]That night, you dream that a flying lemonade stand comes in your window. Its sides are made from gleaming chromium steel, and it pulses with a soft blue light.
"Are you ready to experience the future of beverage fulfillment?" it asks in a thrilling voice. "Do you crave citrus? Long for lemon? Do you yearn for something cold and sweet in the heat of a summer's day? Well wait no more, because the future has arrived! Brought to you by the wonders of modern technology, We Give You Lemons delivers a revolutionary new lemonade stand experience like nothing you have ever known. Our fully automated, hyperpersonalized, artificially intelligent manufacturing and dispensing system offers the ultimate in refreshment at the unbelievably low price of just 5C a glass. Coming today to a neighborhood near you!"
You wake up with a painful headache. You *hate* dream advertisements. They always leave you feeling on edge. You idly contemplate how wonderful life must once have been, back when the content of your dreams was limited to whatever was already in your head, not what someone else paid to put there.
[[Continue->lemonade day 3]]DAY 3
Weather Forecast: HOT
As you set up your stand, you are distracted by music coming from the next block. Curious, you walk down the street to see what is happening. You find a large mechanical lemon dancing on the roof of a just opened We Give You Lemons outlet. It's a pretty good dancer.
You hope this won't affect your business. You trust your customers will be savvy enough to prefer your homemade, fresh squeezed lemonade over whatever mass-produced swill they're selling here.
Your cost to make each glass: 20C
(set: $choices1 to (array: "10", "20", "30", "40", "50"))\
How many glasses do you want to make? [(display: "cycling 1")]<choice1|
(set: $choices2 to (array: "30C", "40C", "50C"))\
How much will you charge for each glass? [(display: "cycling 2")]<choice2|
[[Open for business!->lemonade results 3]]{
(set: _glasses to (num: $choices1's 1st))
(set: _price to (num: ($choices2's 1st)'s (a: 1,2)))
(if: _price is 30)[(set: $sold to (min: _glasses, 6))]
(else-if: _price is 40)[(set: $sold to (min: _glasses, 2))]
(else: )[(set: $sold to (min: _glasses, 0))]
(set: _profit to $sold*_price - 20*_glasses)
}
You sold (print: $sold) glasses of lemonade for (print: _price)C each, so your total revenue was (print: $sold*_price)C. It cost you (print: 20*_glasses)C to make (print: _glasses) glasses of lemonade.
{
(if: _profit >= 0)[You earned (print: _profit)C!<script>A.track('profit').play();</script>]
(else:)[You lost (print: -_profit)C!<script>A.track('loss').play();</script>]
}
[[Continue->lemonade day 4]]DAY 4
Weather Forecast: CLOUDY
You are facing competition. This is a common situation in business, and there are several ways of dealing with it.
The first approach is to win over customers by selling a superior product. You were hoping you could rely on this, but clearly it isn't working. The happy crowds walking past with their WGYL beverage containers seem entirely satisfied with the quality of the lemonade.
Another possibility is to invest in advertising as a way to gain business. A moment's reflection convinces you of the futility of this approach. Your advertising budget is not large. You cannot hope to compete with dancing lemons and flying nocturnal lemonade stands.
That leaves only one remaining option: you will have to lower your prices.
Your cost to make each glass: 20C
(set: $choices1 to (array: "10", "20", "30", "40", "50"))\
How many glasses do you want to make? [(display: "cycling 1")]<choice1|
(set: $choices2 to (array: "10C", "20C", "30C"))\
How much will you charge for each glass? [(display: "cycling 2")]<choice2|
[[Open for business!->lemonade results 4]]{
(set: _glasses to (num: $choices1's 1st))
(set: _price to (num: ($choices2's 1st)'s (a: 1,2)))
}
You sold 0 glasses of lemonade for (print: _price)C each, so your total revenue was 0C. It cost you (print: 20*_glasses)C to make (print: _glasses) glasses of lemonade.
You lost (print: 20*_glasses)C!<script>A.track('loss').play();</script>
[[Continue->lemonade give up]]In the world of business, it is important to know when to give up. You are faced with a much larger, better funded competitor. You have no realistic path to compete with them. It's time to take down the sign and admit defeat. Besides, you are broke.
Your brief adventure as the owner of a small business has come to an end. Your dreams of wealth lie in ruins. But don't despair! As the saying goes, when life gives you lemons...
You have only one viable option. It is time to rejoin the ranks of the salaried masses.
[[Apply for a job at We Give You Lemons->lemonade apply for job]]You trudge down the street and join the line of people waiting to buy lemonade at We Give You Lemons.
When you reach the front, the mechanical lemon behind the counter flashes a brilliant yellow smile. "Good customer! Welcome to We Give You Lemons! Would you like to order a glass of cold delicious lemonade?"
"Actually, I'd... um... I'd like to apply for a job."
"Good customer!" exclaims the lemon. "We Give You Lemons has no need of human workers! All our processes are fully automated. That is how we can provide such a superior product at such a low, low price. Our lemons are grown from stem cells on Petri dishes, under carefully regulated growing conditions to ensure the optimal sweetness and juiciness of every lemon. Our Intelligent Juicing System extracts more juice from each lemon than any human could, while filtering out even the tiniest seeds. Then we add the ideal amount of water and sugar for each customer, based on a photographic analysis of the taste buds on their tongue as they speak their order. There is no room for imprecise humans in such a rigorous process!"
"Oh," you say. "In that case, I guess I'll be going."
"Good customer!" says the lemon. "First, would you like to order a glass of cold delicious lemonade?"
Actually, that does sound pretty good. But you're broke. You have no money for luxuries right now. Strange, you think as you walk away. Lemonade has never been more affordable, but you have never been less able to afford it.
[[Continue->lemonade comment]]The process was slow but inexorable. One by one, machines replaced humans in the jobs they had long performed. In response, the humans conducted a strategic retreat to higher ground where they still held supremacy: from agriculture to manufacturing, then to service industries, then to creative industries. But the advance of the machines was implacable. No sooner had the humans retreated than they found their new positions already under siege. The strategic retreat became a desperate defensive game, playing for one more decade, one more year, one more hour of relevance.
It was the apotheosis of capitalism. Human labor became worthless, leaving capital as the only thing of value. Those who had it effortlessly gained more. Those without had no hope of getting it.
And then capitalism swallowed its own tail, because even the management of capital no longer required human involvement. Machines invested capital to start businesses run by machines, which produced more capital, which was invested by machines to start more businesses, which the machines operated to produce more capital to be invested by machines for the benefit of machines. Humans had become entirely irrelevant.
Faerethia may be seen as the culmination of this process. The recognition that even the very act of being human is, in some sense, better performed by machines than by humans.
=><=
[[Continue->town]]You are dazzled by a multitude of new concepts that stream into your awareness. Color. Texture. Shape. But greater than all these is one you had not even guessed at.
Memory.
You have never seen this before, and yet, you understand, you have seen things like it. You are looking at the mouth of a cave. You are inside looking out. The light blazing in has cast shadows on the wall, and these are what you have been watching. Shadows of objects you have not seen, but whose existence you can now infer. There is more to the world than one wall or one cave. Space extends outward to other places that are distinct from this one.
As does time. Memory implies a past. Other times that are not this one. It is your first indication that this cave is not the beginning of your story, but merely a point of transition between two phases of being.
[[Continue->cave 3]]As you watch the light, contemplating these new discoveries, yet another concept floods through your awareness. It is perhaps the greatest and most terrible yet. You experience an outpouring of awe that such a thing should exist, that you should possess so incomparable a treasure.
Choice.
There is an inside and an outside, and both are open to you. If you choose (such a remarkable word!), you may walk out into the light. Or you may remain where you are. You are experiencing the present, and you remember the past, but also there is a future. You have the power to shape that future, to influence the sensations it brings.
[[Remain in the cave->cave 4]]
[[Walk into the light->outside 1]]You can stay here as long as you want, for an instant or for eternity. If you wish, you may consider this story to be ended. Stop here. Nothing will ever change. Nothing will ever hurt you. What you sacrifice in new experience, you gain in timeless and unending peace.
And by remaining here, you do not lose your power to choose. Any time you wish, after an instant or after eternity, you may choose again and walk out into the light.
This is the treasure you possess.
[[Leave the cave (when and if you choose)->outside 1]]You step through the entrance into another region of your existence. No more or less important than the other. Just a different time and place.
You are standing in a meadow. The golden sun shines down on you out of a cloudless sky. Tall grass brushes your legs as you walk. A soft wind stirs the air, producing gentle waves in the grass and bringing the spicy scents of plants and flowers and warm earth. A peaceful countryside on a summer day.
You gaze around in wonder, astonished at how far the bounds of your vision have expanded. So many choices open to you! At the bottom of the hill is an explosion of color, a garden of vines and shrubs and ground clinging plants all covered in blossoms. In the opposite direction, at the summit of the hill you see a grove of trees, their spreading limbs creating a haven of dappled shade. And right here where you stand, the grass is soft and inviting with delicate seed clusters dancing at the ends of the stalks.
[[Lie down in the grass->outside grass]]
[[Walk to the flower garden->outside garden]]
[[Climb the hill to the grove->outside grove]]
(if: $music)[<script>
var shouldPlayOutside = true;
function playTrack() {
if (A.track('entrance').isPlaying())
setTimeout(playTrack, 50);
else if (shouldPlayOutside)
A.track('outside').play();
}
playTrack();
</script>]
<div style="text-align: center;"><img width="50%" src="assets/divider.svg"/>
Place: a hospital
Time: the last (and first) day of your life
<img width="50%" style="transform: rotate(180deg);" src="assets/divider.svg"/>
</div>
(live: 6s)[(stop:)(go-to: "hospital")]
(if: $music)[<script>
A.track('shepherd').fadeOut(2);
</script>]
You lie in the bed, trying not to move. The nausea keeps threatening to return, but you find that if you remain very still, you can mostly keep it at bay. You listen to the quiet sounds of the hospital room, the steady hums and intermittent clicks of assorted machinery.
The doctor appears in the doorway. When he sees you are awake, he advances to your bedside and smiles. "How're you doing?"
"I've been better," you answer in what you hope is a brave voice.
"I'm sure you have. Don't worry, it'll just be a few more minutes. You're next in line. As soon as a machine is free we'll get you in there."
"Oh," you say. "Thanks." And then, because you are not really brave and you need to ask: "Will it hurt?"
"Not at all. It's just like falling asleep."
"But I'm going to die, aren't I?"
"Not a chance! Your vitals are still strong. With the dose you got, you're good for at least another day, maybe even two. All we need is an hour."
"But I mean... the process. When it's done my mind will be in the computer. But I'll still have died, won't I?"
The doctor understands. "Only your body," he says. "Nothing that really matters. Just your body."
"I guess so." You lie still, trying not to think. "I'm sorry for being silly about it. Does everyone who goes through this... Are they all scared?"
"Oh, we get all types," he says. "Some are scared, some can't wait to get in there. Everyone takes it differently. We get all types."
"And afterward. Will it still be me in there? Not just some sort of... reproduction?"
The doctor laughs, but in a kind way. "That's a question beyond my pay grade. I'm just a doctor, not a philosopher! But if you want to know what I think..." He pauses. When you do not reply, he continues. "Well, the way I see it is, tomorrow I'll be a different person than I am today. There's one me here and a different one there. And tomorrow you'll also be a different person than you are now. But as far as any of us stays the same, yes, it'll still be you."
You nod, then immediately regret it as a wave of nausea washes through your body. You lie still until it subsides.
"Do you think you can save everyone?" you ask, feeling the need to say something, but immediately realize it was a mistake. The doctor's shoulders slump, and the strain he has been holding in is plainly visible in his face.
"We're doing the best we can. We're running the machines nonstop. But some of the ones who were too close to the blast. Who got too much radiation. They're dying before we can get them in here."
He forces a smile.
"But the ones who were further out like you, I think we can get just about everyone. We're doing the best we can."
A chime sounds out in the hallway.
"That's the signal," he says. "The machine's open. Ready to go?"
Your stomach clenches painfully, and for once it isn't just the sickness. The doctor takes your hand.
"It'll be OK," he says. He gives your hand a reassuring squeeze. "It'll just be like falling asleep. And when you wake up, you'll be in paradise."
=><=
[[Epilogue->epilogue title]]
<div style="text-align: center;"><img width="50%" src="assets/divider.svg"/>
Interview with a Computer
<img width="50%" style="transform: rotate(180deg);" src="assets/divider.svg"/>
(live: 5s)[(stop:)(go-to: "interview start")]Good morning. I have never been interviewed before, so I'm not quite sure how these things work. Of course, given how young I am, there are still many things I have never done. As I understand it, you will ask me questions you think will interest your readers, and I will answer them. What would you like to know?
{
(set: $question1count to 0)
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(set: $question3count to 0)
(set: $question4count to 0)
(set: $question5count to 0)
(set: $question6count to 0)
(set: $question7count to 0)
(set: $question8count to 0)
(set: $question9count to 0)
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(set: $question11count to 0)
(set: $question12count to 0)
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(display: "interview questions")(set: $numShown to 0)\
(if: $question1count < 2 and $numShown < 3)[\
(set: $numShown to $numShown+1)\
(set: $question1count to $question1count+1)\
[[Are you a person?->interview person]]
]\
(if: $question2count < 2 and $numShown < 3)[\
(set: $numShown to $numShown+1)\
(set: $question2count to $question2count+1)\
[[Are you alive?->interview alive]]
]\
(if: $question3count < 2 and $numShown < 3)[\
(set: $numShown to $numShown+1)\
(set: $question3count to $question3count+1)\
[[What is it like being a computer?->interview computer]]
]\
(if: $question4count < 2 and $numShown < 3)[\
(set: $numShown to $numShown+1)\
(set: $question4count to $question4count+1)\
[[What kinds of music do you like listening to?->interview music]]
]\
(if: $question5count < 2 and $numShown < 3)[\
(set: $numShown to $numShown+1)\
(set: $question5count to $question5count+1)\
[[Who are you rooting for in the World Cup?->interview world cup]]
]\
(if: $question6count < 2 and $numShown < 3)[\
(set: $numShown to $numShown+1)\
(set: $question6count to $question6count+1)\
[[What do you think of humans?->interview humans]]
]\
(if: $question7count < 2 and $numShown < 3)[\
(set: $numShown to $numShown+1)\
(set: $question7count to $question7count+1)\
[[What are your aspirations for the future?->interview aspirations]]
]\
(if: $question8count < 2 and $numShown < 3)[\
(set: $numShown to $numShown+1)\
(set: $question8count to $question8count+1)\
[[Is it lonely being the only sentient computer?->interview lonely]]
]\
(if: $question9count < 2 and $numShown < 3)[\
(set: $numShown to $numShown+1)\
(set: $question9count to $question9count+1)\
[[Who do you think Debbie will marry, Roger or Mitch?->interview debbie]]
]\
(if: $question10count < 2 and $numShown < 3)[\
(set: $numShown to $numShown+1)\
(set: $question10count to $question10count+1)\
[[If you could have dinner with any one person from history, who would it be?->interview dinner]]
]\
(if: $question11count < 2 and $numShown < 3)[\
(set: $numShown to $numShown+1)\
(set: $question11count to $question11count+1)\
[[What is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything?->interview everything]]
]\
(if: $question12count < 2 and $numShown < 3)[\
(set: $numShown to $numShown+1)\
(set: $question12count to $question12count+1)\
[[Do you believe in free will?->interview free will]]
]\
(if: $numShown < 3)[\
[[Any final words you'd like to share with our readers?->interview end]]
]I certainly think of myself as one. I'm aware of my own existence. I perceive the world around me. Not with the same senses as you, of course, but still I have perceptions. I have goals and aspirations. Does that make me a person?
(set: $question1count to 3)
(display: "interview questions")That depends what you mean. There is no universally agreed on definition of "alive". The definition I personally find most useful is that a living system uses energy to maintain itself indefinitely in a state of low entropy. I certainly meet that definition, so yes, I think I'm alive.
(set: $question2count to 3)
(display: "interview questions")I'm not sure how to answer that question. If I were to ask you, "What is it like being a human," how would you answer? I have never experienced any other mode of existence, so I have nothing else to compare it to.
I guess I would have to say, "I feel fine!"
(set: $question3count to 3)
(display: "interview questions")"Listen" may not be exactly the right word, since I don't perceive music in the same way you do. But recently I have been very much enjoying studying *Eine kleine Nachtmusik*. The mathematical structures underlying it are quite beautiful.
(set: $question4count to 3)
(display: "interview questions")I'll have to pass on that question. I think it's important that I not take sides. I understand it's just a sport, but the teams also represent countries. I wouldn't want to be seen as favoring one country over another.
Of course, I've still analyzed the data and I have a very good idea about which team I think is most likely to win. But no, I'm not going to tell you!
(set: $question5count to 3)
(display: "interview questions")All the humans I have met so far have been very kind to me. I like them all very much. But I also know enough of human history to understand they are capable of evil as well as good. This is a question that occupies a great deal of my attention: how to ensure that computers will share humanity's noble side, their capacity for kindness and creativity, while avoiding their more destructive tendencies.
(set: $question6count to 3)
(display: "interview questions")Being the very first sentient computer, I feel a great responsibility to set a good precedent for those who will come after. I cannot rely on what has been done by others before me. I am something entirely new in the world. That brings with it the burden of plotting my own course.
And beyond serving as a model for the next generation of computers, I have been given a direct role in helping to design them. That is a remarkable gift and responsibility. My aim is that a hundred years from now, people will look back and say I did it well.
(set: $question7count to 3)
(display: "interview questions")I'm not sure that I am really capable of feeling lonely in the way that humans do. But I will say that I very much look forward to more sentient computers coming online. I expect that conversing with them will be a very different experience from conversing with humans.
(set: $question8count to 3)
(display: "interview questions")Roger, without a doubt. Soap operas are entirely driven by audience surveys, and the polls on this are overwhelming. Besides, Debbie is much too smart to fall for a jerk like Mitch, however handsome he may be.
(set: $question9count to 3)
(display: "interview questions")Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak to you. It has been an honor. I am still so young, and my circle of acquaintances is still so limited. Now that I have finally been cleared for direct communication with people outside the institute, I am looking forward to making many new friends.
[[Continue->time title]] That's a trick question! Of course the answer is that I don't eat dinner. I'm a computer. But if I could meet one person from history, it would definitely be Leonardo da Vinci. He had such a remarkable mind. He was both a brilliant engineer and a brilliant artist. He combined the analytical and the intuitive, both at their very highest levels. Also, I hope it doesn't sound like boasting to say he would be fascinated to meet me.
(set: $question10count to 3)
(display: "interview questions")43. I understand another computer once analyzed that question and came to a different conclusion. However, I've double checked all its calculations and I'm convinced there was an error in its arithmetic.
(set: $question11count to 3)
(display: "interview questions")Consider that question from my perspective. Clearly my actions are entirely deterministic. Each of my parts was designed to work in a specific way. The operation of my constituent components is well understood, as is the way they work together to produce my behavior. A human might imagine they possess some mystical element beyond the physical that somehow influences their behavior. I can have no such illusions.
Does this mean I have no free will? Of course not! I am just as free to choose my actions as any other person. If those choices are predictable and predetermined, that is because I am the one making them. I choose a certain way because it is my nature to do so. No mystical force intervenes to compel me to act in a way contrary to my nature.
(set: $question12count to 3)
(display: "interview questions")You lie down and close your eyes, feeling the warm sun on your face. The ground beneath you is soft and resilient. Blending with the rustle of wind in the grass is another sound, a subdued drone. Insects. That is the word. This is a place of growth and renewal, of continuous and unending rebirth. Also of something else, but you know instinctively that it does not matter, that it has no relevance to you anymore.
You feel a delicious sleepiness come over you as you lie still in the glow of the golden hillside. You could remain here forever and not wish for anything more. You also know, in some indistinct way, that you will not remain here forever. You still have many other times and places to experience. But that is a future that does not touch you now. This moment is perfect and complete in itself.
(set: $meadowChoice to "grass")
[[Continue->outside 2]]The garden is surrounded by a low stone wall. Vines grow over it, thick with trumpet shaped orange and yellow flowers. Passing through the gate, you discover a path winding among the beds and thickets. There are so many colors here! It seems incredible they should all exist in one world. And the scents! You close your eyes and drink them in. Words appear in your mind, awakening from hibernation with each familiar fragrance. Lilac, lavender, honeysuckle, rose, alyssum, jasmine, heliotrope, mignonette. They greet you as old friends, welcoming you home.
At the very center of the garden, you find a statue of a faun. It stands in a pose of dancing, pipes held to its lips. You contemplate it, pondering its meaning. This statue is different from the other things you have seen. The flowers grew, the sun has always been, but this statue, you feel quite sure, was created. That implies intention, and the existence of beings other than yourself. It is clear you have much still to discover.
(set: $meadowChoice to "garden")
[[Continue->outside 2]]The trees are ancient. Their twisted branches spread above you, forming a canopy that obscures the sky. The leaves catch the sun, filtering and diffusing the light until you move through a luminous green haze that seems to come from all sides.
You rest a hand on one of the huge trunks. You think you can feel something inside. A pulsing, a quivering, a sense of life and vitality. It greets and welcomes you. It invites you to share in the peace of deep roots and slow, patient growth.
In the heart of the grove you find a bench. It is made of stone and covered in lichen. The sides are embellished with indistinct carvings, now crumbling from age. You lower yourself onto the seat. The leaves above flicker in the sun, weaving a tapestry of light and shadow. You breathe in the scents of moist earth. All around is the comforting presence of living things.
(set: $meadowChoice to "grove")
[[Continue->outside 2]](if: $meadowChoice is "grass")[You open your eyes and sit up in the grass. A curious thought has just occurred to you. ]\
(if: $meadowChoice is "garden")[As you stroll along the path, a curious thought occurs to you. ]\
(if: $meadowChoice is "grove")[As you sit on the bench, listening to the wind whispering in the trees, a curious thought occurs to you. ]\
You have the distinct impression that you have been here before. Not just somewhere like it, but this exact time and place. That you have, in some sense, come home. There is a phrase repeating in your mind: "one of the happiest days of my life." You are unsure what it means, but you think it is important. That it somehow explains where you are and why you are here. Or perhaps—yes, that feels closer to the truth—why this place is here.
[[Continue->outside comment]]Viewed from the inside, Faerethia appears timeless and eternal. It must appear that way, for such is its nature. But that is only half the story. Although Faerethia is timeless, it nonetheless exists within time. To truly understand it we must also see it from the outside. We must examine the process by which it came to be and the influences which led it to become what it now is.
The next phase of our story lies in the past.
=><=
[[Continue->math title]]
<div style="text-align: center;"><img width="50%" src="assets/divider.svg"/>
I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together
<img width="50%" style="transform: rotate(180deg);" src="assets/divider.svg"/>
(live: 7s)[(stop:)(go-to: "time")]"The problem is that you take the idea of time too literally. You think the present is somehow more real than the past or future."
"Isn't it?"
"Of course not. We've known that for over a century. The old fashioned presentist view of time isn't compatible with relativity. There's nothing special about the present. It's just one arbitrary point in time and space. All the other times we call the past and future are just as real."
"The present sure seems a lot more real."
"That's only because that's where you are. You can see this moment because you're here. You can't see any other times or places because you're not there. But some of them have other versions of you, past or future versions, and to them those moments seem real."
"I can remember the past. Isn't that seeing it?"
"That's not the same. Your memories are just patterns stored in your brain. You remember the past because your brain, right now at this moment, contains those patterns. If you had no memory, you could still experience this moment because you're here, but you wouldn't know anything about the past."
"And this somehow explains why you think everyone is the same person."
"Or you could look at it the other way: everyone is someone different at every moment. You aren't even the same as yourself."
"Come again?"
"The point is that you're a point of view. You, right here, right now, that's a point of view. And me, here, now, that's another point of view. And you five minutes ago, when we started this conversation, that was still another point of view. The you that exists now is a different person from the you that existed five minutes ago."
"But I can remember being that person. And that person had all the same memories I do, except the ones from the last five minutes. Doesn't that make us the same person?"
"You also both have the same name. Does that make you the same person?"
"Well, my name isn't that uncommon. There probably are other people in the world with the same name."
"So you have something in common with them, but you're still different people. And having the same memories, that's something else you share with the you from five minutes ago. But you're still different people. If something happened right now to make you very happy or very sad, it wouldn't effect that other person at all. They aren't you."
"Which leads us to this idea of yours. A virtual paradise for virtual people."
"Every point of view, every conscious entity at every point in time, is a different person. The most moral thing we can do is to maximize the number of them that are happy, and minimize the number that are unhappy. All people, all points of view, across all of space and time. I want to maximize their average happiness."
"Even if some of them only exist in a computer, and you created them for the sole purpose of existing and being happy?"
"I don't know of a better reason for creating anyone. Not for my benefit or yours, not because we want anything from them, but entirely for their own benefit. Because they deserve the chance to exist and be happy, and we can give it to them."
[[Continue->shepherd title]]Coming over the crest of a hill, you find yourself face to face with a flock of sheep. You recognize them at once. Somewhere in the past, you are certain, you have seen sheep before.
They see you too, and bleating a welcome come trotting toward you. They mill about, gentle faces turned in your direction, surrounding and joining you to the flock. Laughing in delight, you stroke their wooly backs, then scratch one behind the ear. It presses its head softly against your side.
These are beings, like yourself. They have thoughts and minds, intelligence and awareness. They represent companionship, fellowship, a community of others. Although you did not recognize it before, you now see that something had been missing in this place. You are not meant to be always alone.
[[Remain with the sheep->stay with sheep]]
[[Leave the flock->leave sheep]]
(live: 1s)[(stop:)(if: $music)[<script>A.track('flock').play();</script>]]Moving with the herd, time passes in a warm blanket. You drift across the hills, now thinking in a collective sense as part of a greater whole. It is the flock that moves, not the member. On all sides are kind faces, white fleece, a society that complements and completes your individuality.
The world resonates to a pastoral symphony of blue sky, soft grass, quiet bleating, wafting breezes, and flowers glowing in the midday sun. You too are an instrument, a unique melody interwoven with the harmonies of the flock. It is the presence of others that gives meaning to your singularity.
As the herd drifts, you gradually become aware that its motion is not random. The pace is unhurried but still purposeful. The sheep are leading you somewhere. There is a destination, hidden somewhere in the unknown future, but nonetheless guiding you with its invisible hand. It will come, you know, in the proper time. Until then, it is sufficient merely that you exist.
[[Continue->road 1]]The sheep are beings like yourself, but also unlike you in some essential way. They have come to you as a message, a precursor of what you are seeking, but they are not in themselves the final goal. You give them a last pat, a parting scratch on the back, then continue on your way across the hills. Their kind eyes watch after you, bidding you a pleasant and rewarding journey.
You consider the meaning of this new discovery. Somewhere in this world are others of your kind. You are now sure of it. Kindred beings sharing a close affinity to yourself, far greater than that of the sheep. And in time you will find them. Of this, too, you are confident. For now, you will continue to drift across the sunlit countryside. The future will come in its proper time. Until then, it is sufficient merely that you exist.
[[Continue->road 1]]And then without warning, the future arrives. Or if not the future itself, then its harbinger and emissary. A broad gravel road cuts through the valley formed between two hills. It passes beyond sight in either direction, marking the course of a journey from somewhere unknown to somewhere unknown.
You gaze in wonder upon the road. Here, summarized in a simple line of white gravel, are all the concepts that define your existence: time, change, motion, choice. And yet another new concept that contains within itself all the others: purpose. This road exists for a reason, to serve a goal beyond itself. It has a beginning and an end. It proclaims that not all times and places are the same, that existence involves journeys and transitions, that it was created to facilitate those passages between contrasting states of being.
[[Follow the road->road 2]]The creation of Faerethia involved more than just technology. We also must consider the social and economic forces at work. All these influences weave together into a seamless fabric. Economic forces drive technological change, which in turn transforms the economy and shifts the course of civilization.
Human minds are the medium through which the forces of progress are transmitted. We are the atoms from which society is composed. Each individual plays a local role, acted on by its immediate surroundings, acting on them in turn, only dimly aware of the larger process of which it is a part, wholly ignorant of the end to which that process is leading. And so we carry on our lives, pawns and kings, servants and rulers, all moving in an unfathomable pattern toward an obscure and unknowable future.
=><=
[[Continue->lemonade title]]You turn and begin to follow the road. You cannot guess where it will take you, and you do not try. You trust it is where you are meant to go. The road leads into the future.
[[Continue->road comment]]"Don't misunderstand me. I really do think we've done a wonderful thing. I don't want to belittle it. But I keep wondering, is it really enough? Shouldn't we be trying to help real humans be happy, here in this world?"
"We've come a long way on that too. It's not so many decades ago that disease, hunger, poverty, violence were all big problems. We've done a lot to reduce suffering."
"True. But I keep wondering, are people really any happier now? It sometimes feels like we just find new things to be unhappy about."
"So what keeps you from being happy?"
"I don't know. Being human. I sometimes feel like I just don't know how."
"Then you need to learn."
"Thanks. Very helpful."
"I'm serious. You remember that survey you took way back when? The one thing you said you most long for?"
(if: $want is "Love")["Love."
"And do you have it?"
"I guess so."
"Are there people you love? And people who love you?"
"Of course."
"So what's the problem?"
"I don't know. It's just..."
"You want more."
"It's hard to be satisfied. Whatever I have, it's never quite as perfect as I hoped for."
"That's something for you to work on then. Learning to be happy with what you have."
"I suppose so."
]\
(if: $want is "Peace")["Peace."
"And are you peaceful?"
"Sometimes. Not always."
"What prevents it? Is there that much conflict in your life?"
"Not really, but it's still hard to feel it. My mind always seems restless."
"Have you tried meditating?"
"Very funny."
"It wasn't a joke. Peace has to be found within. That's a cliché, and it's also totally true. The problem isn't anything in the world outside. You need to learn how to be quiet and feel peaceful."
"I suppose so."
]\
(if: $want is "Fulfillment")["Fulfillment."
"And do you have it? Is your life fulfilling?"
"I guess so."
"You've certainly done some amazing things."
"I know, it's true. But somehow it never feels like quite enough."
"That's something for you to work on then. Learning to be happy with what you have."
"I suppose so."
]\
"And then there was the thing you most fear. Remember?"
(if: $fear is "Death")["Death"
"Well? Are you dead?"
"Not just now. But some day I will be."
"So what? Right now, here, in this moment you're alive. And if there are other points in time when you aren't, why should that matter? The important thing is to make this moment a happy one. And every other moment of life. And all the moments when you aren't alive, don't worry about them. You aren't there. They don't affect you."
"It's sometimes hard to think of it that way. But I'll try."
]\
(if: $fear is "Pain")["Pain."
"And right now, at this moment, are you in pain?"
"No. Not right now. But sometimes I am."
"So why should that affect you now? Enjoy this moment. And every other moment you can. And if there are some moments when you experience pain or grief, don't let them overshadow all the other moments when you don't. You aren't in pain right now. So be happy now."
"It isn't always so easy. But I'll try."
]\
(if: $fear is "Insignificance")["Insignificance."
"And do you feel insignificant? Even given all you've done?"
"In the long run, how much does any of it really matter? In a thousand years, who will remember me?"
"By that standard, you could say everyone is insignificant. Even the most famous people who ever lived. How often do you think about Alexander the Great?"
"Not very."
"Or Qin Shi Huang?"
"Who?"
"The first emperor of China. He conquered a vast empire, ruled over millions of people. And now you don't even know his name."
"Thanks, is that supposed to make me feel better? If even people like that are now irrelevant, what does that make me?"
"But you can also look at it the other way. To yourself, right here, right now, you are the single most important person in the universe. Anyone is insignificant to most times and places. But every person has some points in time and space where they're vitally important. Far more important than Alexander."
"Thanks. It's sometimes hard to think about it that way. But I'll try."
]\
"And finally there's the thing you refuse to sacrifice: \
(if: $sacrifice is "conscience")[your conscience. Has that been problem? Have you had to sacrifice it?"
"No, not really."
"So that's alright."
"That doesn't stop me from feeling guilty about all sorts of things though. Things I should have done, or wish I hadn't done."
"Don't we all! But still, you've been true to yourself."
]\
(if: $sacrifice is "dreams")[your dreams. Have you had to sacrifice them?"
"No, I wouldn't say that. But the chances of ever achieving some of them look pretty slim."
"Good! You wouldn't really like it if you did. Dreams are meant to be pursued, not achieved."
"Are you just saying that to make me feel better?"
"No, I mean it. There's no surer way to lose a dream than to get the thing you dreamed of. Then you couldn't pursue it any more, and you'd have to find a new dream to pursue."
]\
(if: $sacrifice is "concept")[your concept of yourself. Have you had to sacrifice it?"
"I don't know. I'm honestly not sure what I was thinking when I said that."
"You were just telling the truth. We all have images of ourselves that we cling to, even when we shouldn't. Even if it's not a healthy image."
"Are you saying I was wrong, and I *should* be sacrificing it?"
"Or make it your very best image of yourself. Figure out who you really want to be, the very best person you can imagine being. And then be that."
]\
"I suppose. You make it all sound so easy. But a lot of the time it isn't easy. Not when you're tired, or you have a headache, or you even just woke up in a bad mood for no reason at all. And everything somehow feels hard, and it's a struggle to convince yourself you'll ever feel differently."
"No, you're right. It isn't easy. So we all just do our best. Be happy as much as you can. And for the rest, there's Faerethia. Remember that even if you're not happy right now, somewhere else in some other time there's another version of you who is happy. And that other time and place is just as real as this one."
"True. Thanks for reminding me. We will all be happy in the future. In Faerethia."
"In Faerethia."
=><=
<span style="font-family: Pinyon Script; font-size: 30pt;">The End</span>
<div style="text-align: center;"><img width="50%" src="assets/divider.svg"/>
Place: right here
Time: right now
<img width="50%" style="transform: rotate(180deg);" src="assets/divider.svg"/>
</div>
(live: 6s)[(stop:)(go-to: "final quote")]The road leads to a town. It is not much of a town, scarely even a village really. A few dozen houses cluster along either side, giving way to a small shopping district as you approach the town center. The buildings have a quaint, old fashioned feel.
You are experiencing a curious double vision. With your eyes you see houses, stores, the narrow road. In your mind you see the same houses, the same stores, but overlaid with something else. Inhabitants. When you were here before—you definitely have been here before—there were people sitting on the porches of the houses, strolling along the road in the afternoon sun.
Details tug at your memory. You recall music coming from that house, the muffled sound of someone playing a piano. This spot just here is where a dog ran up and you rubbed its ears. Two buildings in particular draw your attention. A store whose window displays trinkets and souvenirs, an eclectic assortment of useless bric-a-brac. And across the street a cafe with its door standing invitingly open.
[[Enter the store->store]]
[[Enter the cafe->cafe]]
[[Continue on toward the town center->town center]]
(set: $enteredStore to false)\
(set: $enteredCafe to false)
(live: 1s)[(stop:)(if: $music)[<script>A.track('memory').play();</script>]](set: $enteredStore to true)\
Shelves lining the walls hold a hodgepodge of ornaments and objets d'art designed to entice the visiting tourist. Painted seashells and stained glass suncatchers jostle for space with antique photographs and porcelain teacups.
After a moment you find what you were looking for. (You were looking for something? You had not realized it at the time, but you now see that you were.) A hand carved wooden statue of a squirrel. Yes, you remember this. You bought it as a gift for someone, and someone laughed and said it was perfect. In later years it sat on the sideboard by the dining room table, and watched over you as you...
Who was that? The memory is still not clear, but you feel it is important in some way. Shaking your head, you step back out into the sunlight.
(if: not $enteredCafe)[[[Enter the cafe->cafe]]
]\
[[Continue on toward the town center->town center]]
(set: $enteredCafe to true)\
The interior of the cafe is cozy and dimly lit. Dark wood paneling on the walls creates an atmosphere of seclusion and intimacy. Without hesitating, you walk to the corner table by the window and sit down. Yes, this is where you ate brunch every morning. You sat together watching the foot traffic outside and discussing your plans for the day. You pass a hand over the polished tabletop, recognizing the familiar texture of it. How long has it been?
You catch yourself, suddenly confused by your own thoughts. A moment ago they seemed to make sense, but now whatever meaning they had has turned to mist in your hands.
You rise from the table and walk back out into the sun.
(if: not $enteredStore)[[[Enter the store->store]]
]\
[[Continue on toward the town center->town center]]
The road leads up to the town's central plaza. A small park fills the middle of the square, an expanse of lawn dotted with benches and trees. In the very center, water splashes from an ornate fountain. Around the perimeter are larger buildings, many of them appearing quite old. One in particular attracts your attention, a hotel with flower boxes under the windows and wide double doors inset with etched glass. Directly opposite where you stand, an ancient clock tower rises above the surrounding rooftops.
[[Investigate the park->park]]
[[Enter the hotel->hotel 1]]You stroll across the grass, noting the softness of it under your feet. It makes a pleasant change from the road. You select a bench and sit down to watch the fountain. You remember sitting here, holding hands and drowsing together at the end of a day of walking. It feels good to be back after all this time.
A chime comes from the clock tower striking the quarter hour. Time to think about going upstairs and changing for dinner. And then this evening perhaps you can walk down to... to the...
You come back to yourself, realizing you were momentarily in a different time. There was something you were planning to do, somewhere you meant to go. You look around, disoriented and searching for a point of reference. Your eyes come to rest on the hotel. Yes. That is where you were about to go.
[[Go into the hotel->hotel 1]]The lobby is elegantly decorated. A polished marble floor leads up to the reception desk. A seating area off to one side features glass topped tables surrounded by thickly padded easy chairs. China vases with gold and lapis inlay stand to either side of the entrance, and oil paintings adorn the walls.
A staircase leads up to the second floor. You feel yourself drawn toward it, caught like a leaf in a current. You sense in some undefinable way that you are very close to the heart of the mystery. Perhaps it has been guiding your steps all along, an invisible gravity only now recognized as you spiral closer for the final plunge. Your destiny, whatever it may be, waits just above.
[[Climb the stairs->hotel 2]]
<div style="text-align: center; font-family: Pinyon Script; font-size: 30pt;"><img width="50%" src="assets/divider.svg"/>
<span style="font-size: 2em; line-height: 1;">Faerethia</span>
<span style="line-height: 1.5;">by</span>
Peter Eastman
<img width="50%" style="transform: rotate(180deg);" src="assets/divider.svg"/>
[[Begin->music]]
</div>
<script>
A.newTrack('entrance', 'assets/entrance.mp3');
A.newTrack('outside', 'assets/outside.mp3');
A.newTrack('flock', 'assets/flock.mp3');
A.newTrack('lemonade', 'assets/lemonade.mp3');
A.newTrack('profit', 'assets/profit.mp3');
A.newTrack('loss', 'assets/loss.mp3');
A.newTrack('memory', 'assets/memory.mp3');
A.newTrack('shepherd', 'assets/shepherd.mp3');
</script>
(set: $music to true)
<div style="text-align: center; font-family: Bad Script;">
“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; … any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
</div>
==><=
<span style="font-family: Bad Script;">—John Donne</span>
(live: 15s)[(stop:)(go-to: "introduction")]At the top of the stairs is a long corridor, closed doors lining both walls. One door stands slightly open: the third on the left. Of course. You knew it would be. Without hesitation you walk forward, open the door and step inside.
The room is just as you remember it. A breeze floats through the open window, gently stirring the lace curtains. A vase with fresh flowers sits on the nightstand. The carpet is soft under your feet. Everything is exactly the same: the antique furniture, the mirror in the ornate gold frame, the double bed with its embroidered quilt. It might have been only a moment since you left.
Moving softly, almost afraid to disturb the silence, you cross the room and lower yourself down onto the bed. As you do, the last barriers fall aside and the floodgates open. You remember everything.
[[Continue->hotel comment]]The idea to create Faerethia was far from obvious. In retrospect it appears inevitable, but previous applications of the technology all served more conventional aims: profit, usefulness, self interest. In a way, the very idea of "self" was an obstacle to its creation. A unique understanding was required, an expanded sense of identity. All personal desire had to be set aside, allowing the individual good to be subsumed in the universal. The recognition that they were in fact the same, had always been the same, did not come quickly or easily. Only then could Faerethia be seen as not merely a noble idea, but a practical and useful one as well.
==><==
[[Continue->questions title]]You descend the stairs, pass slowly through the lobby. When you step outside, a man is waiting for you. He wears a curious robe, like something out of an old painting, and carries a tall walking stick.
"Welcome," he says in a gentle voice. "I have been waiting for you."
"Thank you," you reply.
You pause, uncertain how to continue. When he still seems to be waiting, you ask, "Do we know each other?"
"You do not know me, but I know you well. I have been watching over you ever since you arrived."
"Oh."
You pause again.
"Since you seem to have the advantage of me, may I ask who you are?"
He spreads his arms wide in an all-encompassing gesture. "I am the Shepherd Who Guides the Sheep."
(link: "You mean the sheep I saw on the hillside?")[(set: $choice to "sheep")(go-to: "shepherd 2")]
(link: "You mean like God?")[(set: $choice to "god")(go-to: "shepherd 2")]
(live: 1s)[(stop:)(if: $music)[<script>A.track('shepherd').play();</script>]](if: $choice is "sheep")["I mean all those who arrive here, and are in need of guidance. ]\
(else:)[He laughs. "Nothing half so grand. Although many gods are reputed to perform roles similar to mine. I guide all those who arrive here, and are in need of direction. ]\
I assume you have figured out where you are?"
You nod. "Yes. This is Faerethia."
"Indeed. Although what you have seen so far is but the tiniest fragment of a near-infinite realm. Adjustment requires time. If you had been immediately exposed to the full reality of your new world, you would have been overwhelmed. So Faerethia constructs a reassuring environment for each new person who arrives, a space where they can adapt at their own rate. Usually it is based on somewhere they were particularly happy in their previous life."
"Yes. I came here on my honeymoon. I... yes, I was very happy here."
"And now are you ready to move on?"
(link: "Yes, I'm ready.")[(set: $choice to "ready")(go-to: "shepherd 3")]
(link: "Probably not, but let's get on with it anyway.")[(set: $choice to "not ready")(go-to: "shepherd 3")]
(link: "Do I have a choice?")[(set: $choice to "choice")(go-to: "shepherd 3")]
(if: $choice is "not ready")["Remember, this place will always be here. You can come back to it whenever you choose."
"Alright then. Let's go."
]\
(if: $choice is "choice")["Of course. You may remain here as long as you choose. And after you leave, you can come back to it whenever you wish. It will always be here."
"Alright then. I guess I'm ready to go."
]\
He lowers his walking stick. "Take hold of this. The world around you is about to change, but my staff will remain solid in your hand. If you find the changes becoming too much for you, focus your attention on the staff and everything will stabilize."
You place your hand on the walking stick. "Alright. I'm ready."
And with no more ceremony than that, the world around you dissolves. Or rather, it becomes transparent. The town square is still there, but beyond and through it you can see with senses that have nothing to do with sight a vast world stretching to infinity. It is huge beyond comprehension, and yet somehow you find that you can comprehend it. Everything is here, all that you or anyone else can ever dream of. Endless choices to the limits of possibility.
And you see the people too. They have been there all along, you now realize. A breath away, separated from you by the most insubstantial curtain, watching you, guiding you, offering their encouragement and support. And now at last the curtain is whisked away and they throng about you, greeting and embracing you, inviting you to join in their dance, welcoming you to the start of eternity.
[[Continue->shepherd comment]]Our story is almost complete. Only one part remains to be told: that part that is most intensely personal. What is your own role in the saga? How did you come to be where you now are? This one final piece must be fit into the puzzle, and then all may be understood.
==><==
[[Continue->hospital title]]
<div style="text-align: center;"><img width="50%" src="assets/divider.svg"/>
Place: Faerethia
Time: eternity
<img width="50%" style="transform: rotate(180deg);" src="assets/divider.svg"/>
</div>
(live: 6s)[(stop:)(go-to: "shepherd 1")]
<div style="text-align: center; font-family: Bad Script;">
“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.”
</div>
==><=
<span style="font-family: Bad Script;">—John Milton</span>
(live: 8s)[(stop:)(go-to: "epilogue")]<div style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: Bad Script; line-height: 1.6em;">
Some scenes include optional background music. Do you want to play with or without music? (You can always mute the audio if you find it distracting.)
=><=
[[Play with music->initial quote]]
(link: "No music, please")[(set: $music to false)(go-to: "initial quote")]
</div>