The ImpVerse is like the Saudi City - contained and magical, and filled with people who interact, as well as indulge in their memories. Some of them are not real though - AI’s of ImpCorp, trying to learn how to be human, to detect things that are not right in their new world.
rework deep diving Access the ImpVerse using his Mother’s memory. Tear through the ImpVerse using his watch as a connection to the The Real and The Abstract - the watch and cogs needs to be more involved in the story as they unlock the lock. Maybe he thinks with it? Uses it for piecing together a skin as well.
Society has started to stagnate. Too many memories are making everyone look back. Much of what the present is is being immersed in the past, creating a loop that dampens the real. Life is dull. Children are meeting dead relatives of their parents and are seeing their life as the abstract.
Music is a series of samples and experiencing past gigs. Memories of events like concerts are monetized - even ACDC concerts from the eighties are collaborated from people’s experiences and sold as new experiences in the abstract.
Impcorp has started to monetise living and having real life experiences to ensure the continuation of product. Dangerous, adventurous experiences are offered to people - if they die in them, they get credits for the abstract. All to make and sell new experiences to the living.
The Abstract is chaos The human mind makes order of the chaos and shapes it into beautiful things. It is creation itself and provides insight into the nature of The Real.
The Abstract a visual representation of life: raindrops sliding downs Window frame - have that imagery repeated throughout. The mist and the raindrops and the neon. Neon Gothic? Can see lives in the real as raindrops. The abstract is the puddle. He can see the real and the souls in the abstract from where he is with his mother.
Options: he meets his mother
- he wants to rescue her body from The Real to enable her to be absorbed by The Jade Rhino?
- he wants to rescue her body and return her to The Real - why would she want that? She is a God.. unless she is in pain or suffering in some way. Maybe being used as a power source for The ImpVerse and slowly being eaten away?
- Maybe she is a tool of ImpCorp and Leon turns up to find her and realises he is the replacement biology to live as a God?
- He meets her, but it is only fleeting. She stops The Jade Rhino destroying him - he tastes like her memories - and they have a brief interaction, before he is spat back to The Real. She tells him that she is in ImpCorp, her conscious held by a device. He now wants to free her so she can be part of The Abstract. Does he find her physical body as well? He could return her to her body and have the dilemma of chaining her to flesh again, so he can be with her, and letting her go forever - isnt it obvious? Wouldn’t he just want to let her go? Leon is the only one who can get through the lock as he has the connection to his mother and the blood that first opened the lock. He has to hook into the bodies that remain, and he feels them all as he does so. He has to hook into them, and he gets a flood of memories of himself as a child in ImpCorp - Ms. Penumbra is there too? He realises that everything has led to this moment, and Ms. Penumbra has been behind it. He confronts her and she says that she has been a pawn in her plan, but it also meant that he had a shot of freeing his mother as well. Was it wrong of her to try and return a mother to a child?
Meeting his mother: only fleeting. What does he tell her? What does he find out? She remembers not wanting him, but loving him eventually. No father, of course - it was part of the ImpCorp program. She was always going to transition and she had him so he could transition eventually. She was not meant to go so soon. They were meant to do it gradually, decades ahead of when they did. But someone in ImpCorp got greedy and they did it too soon. The whole ImpVerse relies on their minds and conciousnesses too much. It needs to be fed biologically to be maintained. There was meant to be stasis for them all - their bodies and minds kept alive in The Real, and they were to play in The Abstract forever. That technology was decades away though, even with the time advantage that The Abstract provides. They were losing the stability of the connection, so they must have transitioned them earlier. She missed out on a lifetime with him and he with her. Leon realises that ImpCorp took his mother away from him. He was in her mind pocket when they did it. His memories are part of the fabric that holds The Abstract together, as are hers. He could have them all returned to him, if he were to access it from within the bubble of ImpCorp. He wants to rescue her and return her to The Real, but she laughs at his little boy fantasy. She does not wish to return. Why would she want to return to the flesh? She tells him that he must return. The Jade Rhino, although part of her, is its own beast. She cannot hold him off forever, and he wants to devour him. He will do so as well. That part is inevitable. The beast consumes all of what you were in The Real, in the end.
There needs to be a connection between the body and the mind. Sheba and his wife tales - cosmic energy that kept the world turning. Without perverty the world dies. Her husband Sheba was lost without her half. The material world can not be so easily dismissed.
It is a cycle of life that must be maintained.
Entwine some ancient tales…
What a person believes, they see when they pass on to The Abstract. They form their own Abstract experience.
- Impcorp sells packages to remove memories from their conscious as they pass. They are expensive, but allows the conscious to pass without many of their overwhelming burdens. Is that what team member wants? Maybe Suunto? Maybe Gem? Fix? (He is already dead, but has managed their trauma - maybe many miscarriages). It would add to their motivations and fury at Leon letting them down.
Maybe Leon has a sister? No. Too cheesy.
Meets mother. Mother realigns his idea of The Abstract. Her body is there still. He wants to see it and find a way of getting her back. She does not want to come back. Does he declare he wants to get her back.
He wants to free his mother and retrieve his memories from ImpCorp. To retrieve his memories from ImpCorp and find some sort of peace within himself if he is to return to the depths of The Abstract. Or to sever the link between The Real and The Abstract for them - there is an upgrade coming. ? They are not needed anymore and wish to be absorbed. Is the upgrade needed with the Ms. Penumbra timeline? Or is this now about rescuing his mother? Or would be be condemning his mother to death by returning her, instead of leaving her in The Real. Maybe he has to learn to let her go? Is this about memory and letting go, as opposed to memory? He wants to rescue her, she says she does not need to be rescued? She shares her memories with him, but that is not enough… Or maybe their conversation is only brief - maybe a short time spent together - Leon gets it in his head she needs to be rescued, but in reality, she does not want to be rescued. She has already given him and The Real away to the past. She is in The Real, strapped to a machine, but she does not want to be rescued. She is not connected to The Real anymore. She only has distant memories of what it was, and what she can see, although real to her in sensation, she knows they are not the moments that formed her. Mother and the other founders of The Abstract are meshed into the fabric of the ImpVerse. Their consciousnesses hold it together and they cannot return. They are outside the ImpVerse, always watching and never being able to react. They are being stretched in a timeless world. She can sense her body and it’s pain, but cannot return to it. Their connection to their bodies is what holds the fabric of the place in check. Without that connection, there is no Abstract.
Leon has been consumed by The Jade Rhino - they are in The Abstract, absorbed by it, having given up The Real. He has found his mother and realises that she is not what he imagined. He believed her to be nurturing and caring. In fact, she left him to be part of The Abstract and never really wanted him. He was a mistake. His split desire? - staying in The Abstract or returning to The Real to repay the team. Or is it realising that he is so deep in The Abstract that his memories are not here. They are in tied to ImpCorp and the ImpVerse. The Abstract surrounds the ImpVerse. Echoes of his memories are there, but his must be in the ImpCorp structure, like hers are. He can exist in The Abstract - they are behind the wall though, and can never leave, or progress, or interact with others. There are a few of them here - the founders. They are trapped behind the barrier ImpCorp created and can never return or interact. The Jade Rhino can though, but to be here, one must purge themselves of their worldly connections. You, Leon, have somehow made it through, and for that she is grateful. Leon wants to stay, but knows that he has abandoned The Real and his body. He does not know the fate of Nort, and he has abandoned the team. His mother is not what he expected, his memories are not there. He is lost again. He knows he can stay and play in the cosmos, but he also has a desire to return. He wants his memories, no matter how skewed they may be. Why would he return? —- Choice: stay in The Abstract, at the source, with his mother and her memories of him? Return to free her and return her to The Real? His memories are in ImpCorp and without memories, will The Abstract be the same? He cannot live in his mother’s memories of him. They are not his own, but then again, are our memories just versions of stories that we were part of? Is it between staying and living someone else’s memories of him, and returning to find his own? He hopes that finding his own will make his life make sense. Who he is and how he became who he is. He will be able to return. The Jade Rhino can make it through, but it is a one way trip. Her memories lock her in here. Leon, however, does not have any to hold him and should be able to return, if he moves quickly. Will he return to free his mother and return to The Real? Or is the bond to Suunto so much that he is willing to risk it all to repay them? - that does not seem a strong enough reason to return, and is off theme.
The founders stabilise the ImpVerse. They hold it in place with their consciousness. She is one of the founders, betrayed by ImpCorp in the early days. They were locked in to the machine, their minds used to stabilise The ImpVerse. They are the conduit between the worlds. They were angry at first, but time does not exist for them. They can see that they exist as no others do and that their sacrifice, although it was not their decision, was for the betterment of humanity. They exist here, nine of them now, remaining to stabilise the souls of humanity. The rest, have gone already. They are merged with The Abstract.
Leon was hooked up to her when the betrayed them. When she realised what was happening, she tried to push him from the remote connection, but Leon held on so tightly. It sucked your childhood from you. You exist here too, as a child, but that does not explain why you cannot remember. You must have been six, maybe eight at the time, I’m… not sure… numbers and time do not mean much anymore. It has been a long time since I thought in linear ways. Time does not exist here. It is something else. It represents what we really are - a mix of past, present and future in our thoughts, all existing in a body that insists on living a linear existence. The binary nature of our existence on Earth is really quite fascinating, and cruel as well. She does not know why he does not have any other memories after though. It is quite fascinating from a scientific point of view. Memories are just echoes of the past that form the basis of stories we tell ourselves to justify our lives. Why you have not imprint of those moments, she does not know. Biologically, you should not have changed.
He is unsettling the nature of the ImpVerse by being here, which is fine, as he is now one of ten. His lack of memory has most definitely helped to counter his influence on the ImpVerse, but he must come to a balance if he is to exist here. He must come to a resolution to be here, and accept his life lost, his debts paid, his emotions in check. Any taint in him will permeate through The Abstract, to the ImpVerse. The stronger the taint, the more the ImpVerse will be tainted. Even though they did not ask for this responsibility, it is something they must support. There are billions of them now, and they must nurture them.
Maybe Leon discovers he must merge with the machine to save The Abstract and all consciousness? Or is he just trying to save his mum now?
He wants his memories, but he now also wants to save his mum, who he thinks is still in stasis - her consciousness is holding The Abstract together with the others. There is an upgrade coming. They can feel it happening. They are slowly being absorbed into the fabric. Leon wants to get her out. She does not want him to risk it for her. She has accepted her fate, but Leon will not accept it. They are the shell that protects The ImpVerse from The Abstract. Open the shield and the consciousnesses will spread throughout The Abstract. They need to be protected. There are things out there that they need to be protected from. They ebb and flow through the cosmos. If the wall comes down, they will come for the consciousnesses. ImpCorp does not know what stirs, and they have no way to telling them.
The Abstract - the stuff of creation. A collective space for consciousness to manipulate. The ImpVerse - the controlled space in The Abstract. The Founders - are the shell of The Abstract that stabilise the connection between The ImpVerse and The Real. Their connection to their bodies is the stabilising factor. There is a biological link now though. They have seen it’s development. It is ready to be deployed. When it is, they will be consumed. They are resigned to their fate. Leon has other ideas for his mother.
TP4 step three in ImpCorp musings
He expects a corporate environment. He gets something totally different. There is a corporate face, with the typical office setup, but what is important happens underground. There are vast mechanisms beneath the surface that push the biological fluid around the planet like a series of veins. The biological matter is created from living matter, created in a lab and balanced. They are creating a life form by doing so. It is all connected via the conscious of those that connect to it.
He is going to connect to the great conscious that connects it all, which is where his mother is.
He needs to find his mother in The Abstract and return her to her body, only to realise that her body is ruined beyond repair. She was never coming back. He has to make the decision to kill her to end her suffering, and take her place holding the fabric together?
How is he tested in ImpCorp?
- Security is hunting him.
- His disguise does not work?
- He has episodes of touching The Abstract without being connected.
- He has to rescue Princess?
- The lock is more difficult than anticipated.
- The security AI quickly has a lock on him and sends security after him.
- Ms. Penumbra goes offline for a chunk - she is under attack.
- He gets lost.
- He connects to the fluid and gets lost in it. He can only sense the death in the matter - people, animals, plants, life - all stewing in fluid.
- The team is restricted by ImpCorp security, or is raided at least. They are brought under duress at least.
- He has his mind pocket blocked by the AI of the building. He is unable to contact the team outside for a portion of time. That is what happens when he enters the restricted areas. They block him from accessing the outside. He also has to have a bioscan before he enters and it has not been done yet. Fix races to do so before he gets there.
- Ms. Penumbra makes him adhere to her conditions first - she will take him to his mother at the same time. He sees his mother and struggles to comprehend it. She is dead and not coming back. Ms. P tells him he can return her to her body, if he times it right, then transition her, but it will take some time and he will need to unlock the security of the ImpVerse to do it. He has to balance unlocking the security mechanism and fulfilling Ms. P’s request, and having his mother return to The Real, only to find she is still locked to the fabric of the ImpVerse and her return to what remains of her body is causing her immense pain. She is not of the physical anymore. He cannot return her to The ImpVerse without detaching her from the fabric. Her conscious is being torn.
- Sees his mother’s broken body. Ms. P tells him there is a way, but it means opening the lock she wants opened. She can return to her body in The Real, and then transition to The ImpVerse. She will be safe there.
- Leon sees it as his only plan. He opens the lock and his mother returns, but she is caught between worlds. He cannot return, as he is caught in The ImpVerse with everyone else. It is destabilised, and faltering without her conscious there. She also cannot transition to The ImpVerse. The lock that held the tension in place is unravelling. The consciousness of billions are at risk. What have they done? Ms. Penumbra finally has freed Emmit, but the cost of doing so is staggering. Leon knows there needs to be a consciousness at the heart of The Abstract, in order to stabilise it for billions. He enters the door and locks it behind him. He has connection to everything in The ImpVerse and can feel it all. He finds his memories and rediscovers himself.
TP4 - gets in and wants access to the plans. He does not know where his mother is - does The Jade Rhino lead him? Has he developed sense for it? He develops a sense for her, or at least a connection to the fluid as it moves through the building. He gets flashes of people’s conversations or images circulating in his head. His coming back and touching the fabric of the ImpVerse has enhanced his sense of The Real. He is confronted by the medical staff about his irregular medical records. He appears to be someone else. He says after being belted, he feels like someone else. He has been having troubles - his records have been updated yesterday, but they appear to be lagging somehow. Even technicians have troubles… Fix manages to update the medical files, with Jem abusing him all the while for being a selfish addict. He is released by Medical after a shortened examination. He does not want them to get close and manages to convince him that he is ok, without an examination. He leaves the office and is taken by security, who put him in a cell - they are taking no chances with the irregularity. Jem and Fix help him open the cell and he discovers Princess there as well, quite heavily sedated. He frees her and tells her a way to leave. She wants to settle a score or two before she goes. He asks Ms. P to assist and she suggests she makes a lot of noise as she goes. Ms. P tells her where the guard currently is, and that if she breaks the peace, the AI will likely track her. She will do what she can to mask her until she is able to leave. Leon suggests if she can be prevented from being tracked by the AI, that she do the same for him. She says she has already done it for him. Princess will take a few minutes. Leon suggests that she have a little fun before she goes. No big explosions, and don’t damage the fluid that runs through the building. That is all important. Just little explosions. Princess wants violence as well, and he stipulates that it should only be recoverable. She enquires about the medical coverage of ImpCorp employess, and Ms. P lets her know even limbs can be replaced without costing them a cent, with added ImpVerse compensation. She seems to be encouraging her to create chaos. She also tells her she can damage the fluid a bit too. A distraction would be a welcome addition right about now. The plan has gone from quiet finness to brutality, and Leon is unsure if that is the right thing to do, but he goes with it. Suunto is not happy - what is Suunto doing in all of this? Communicating with Leon I assume, and making arrangements for everyone to do their thing quickly.