Congruence in the Natural World

Taken from The Musings of a Wanderer by Bevel Dart

The potential realities made possible by congruence are vast and are limited only by the wielder's imagination. The eddies and flows about our world, the coalescence of cores, the formation and effects of congruences storms, and the presence of hot and cold spots are a part of our normal lives. They touch us in ways we barely know. The inquisitive may reap rewards from an understanding of congruence in the natural world. Here is a first look. No leaps without previous looks.

Flows of Congruence

Congruence is all about us. To the best of our ability to measure, it is unmeasurable. Don’t know, won’t know. In its untapped, unsignatured form, it moves through our world in flows and eddies, just as water flows in a creek. Like a creek, congruence flows on regular paths that, to the best of our knowledge, deviate only by slow, glacial measures. Unlike a creek however, which has a limited path, congruence is almost everywhere.

Living things have the unique property of absorbing and releasing congruence. Plants and animals naturally take in congruence and use it. Should that congruence be used by the plant or animal, the internal reserve of congruence is naturally refilled over time.

Certain flora and fauna depend on congruence for their survival. At least two species of trees supplement their nutrients through the absorption of congruence, utilizing purplish veins in their leaves. In my quest’n I have happened upon several grasses and bushes with similar purplish veining. Utilizing such grasses in poultices appears to have additional healing properties.

An interesting tidbit that our congruence scholars are just now beginning to investigate is the impact of large collections of people upon congruence in the world. People, as natural vessels of congruence, collected together in major population centers, create concentrations of congruence. Such concentrations appear to be impacting, however slightly, the vast flows of congruence across our continent. The presence of feedback loops has been measured, wherein the more people who live there, the greater the congruence in the environment, the easier it is to use, the more likely people are to prosper, the more people come. It is even hinted that an ancient civilization attempted to harness this phenomenon. Their leaders strategically placed population centers to impact and guide flows of congruence to a single place. It is hypothesized that this confluence of congruence led to their doom. Whoever would have thought of it, what!

Congruence Cores

Most of us have heard of and seen a congruence core. These cores are calcifications of congruence. We see them power the jālaorin and miracles of our world.

One source of such cores is a natural coalescence process within the natural environment, which we don’t truly understand. Shape, color, and form vary greatly, though they almost always do something unusual with light, such as glowing, appearing to absorb light, or twisting light around them. Congruence appears to compact through some natural process. Such cores may appear translucent and sharp. They may appear to be multicolored and oblong. They have been found to be shaped like snowflakes with similar delicacy. Sometimes they appear shaped to mimic (in miniature) bits of the natural world, such as leaves, blades of grass, thorns, or even tiny versions of complete bushes and trees. I once had the immense pleasure of finding a green core shaped like a tiny lizard!

Despite scholars’ best efforts, we cannot replicate the coalescence through targeted wielding or other artificial processes.

The other source of congruence cores is within beasts and monsters. Oddly, not all living creatures form cores - usually it’s just the nasty ones. Such cores differ in form from those found in the natural world in that they are always orbs. Core size is generally consistent with beast size. Color appears to vary from monster to monster. And aside from their orb shape, you can tell a core came from a beast by the presence of a pulse. Whether the core glows, absorbs light, or twists light, the effect will have a rhythmic pulse - the faster the pulse, the more recent the harvest. The prosperity of the Ion’cavar is in no small way connected with the harvesting of monster cores. It is even rumored that the Ion’cavar’s Council of Three Masters is charged with the protection of a massive core the size of a melon.

For those trained in the use of congruence and those with natural aptitudes for the stuff, cores appear to have their own presences. Such a person, walking into a room with many cores, would feel they are in a crowd. Children with aptitudes towards congruence have been known to, in very rare instances, find and latch onto cores almost as companions.

The following are interesting facts about cores:

• Most cores are about the size of a pearl and are what power most of our jālaorin. Cores the size of a fist are considered huge. Cores the size of a human head are the stuff of legend, and kingdoms will go to bloody war over their possession.
• It is commonly believed that pearl-sized cores take about 100 years to form through natural coalescence.
• A pearl-sized core will typically power a congruence lamp for a generation.
• We have discovered no way to create a new core or add to an existing core.

Hot Spots and Cold Spots

Congruence hot spots are zones of the impossible. For whatever reason (can you tell there is a lot we still don’t know about congruence?) congruence will be heavily present in certain areas. Such areas could be the size of a wagon or the size of a city. Speaking of cities, it has been a rare treat in my wanderings to hear of and then see a floating city.

Congruence hot spots tend to be warmer than those around them. It is quite unsettled to be trudging along and suddenly walk through such a warm spot.

I ought to write a travel log of the fantastical hot spots I have encountered. Here’s a sniplet:

• A landscape of sharp dirt - ruined a good bare of boots there, confound it
• A groves where shadows lean towards the sun
• A floating city
• An upside-down bowl, where everything goes up instead of down
• A pillar that has a magnetic-like attraction to leather
• Zones where wounds never heal
• Zones where wounds heal twice as fast
• Forests where creatures are half-again as large as they are elsewhere
• Forests where creature’s distinctive features magnified, such as tusks, horns, and antlers
• Places where birds can’t fly
• Places where plants are the wrong colors
• Plants that tinkle in the wind
• Plants with leaves of crystal
• Fields where crops are always abundant
• Areas where no fire will spark
• Mounds that seem to whisper
• Places where you can walk upon the surface of water

Important for Writers: Hot spots change the natural make-up of one or many things. Organic and inorganic matter can change, and the forces of the natural world get wonky. Effects should feel weird, mysterious, and sometimes frightening. The reader/player should feel awe and wrongness.

Writers should also note that, because of congruence, the natural world has fundamentally changed from our world. Plants supplement or replace photosynthesis with congruence. Creatures can go longer without food and water than they can today. Sentient beings have somewhat sharper minds, where creativity in arts and sciences come more naturally and appear more “gifted” than the average person today.

Hot spots, being what they are, will almost always generate a higher rate of congruence renewal once one uses their internal reserves of congruence.

Cold spots of congruence are generally shunned. My single quest into the Blighted Lands left me with a sense of emptiness. The Blighted Lands are the largest and most famous congruence cold spot. Congruence simply is not detectable and not accessible there. I felt my sense of vigor slowly evaporate with every use of my internal reserve. While certainly not dumb, I felt my mind lose a sense of sharpness. Cold spots are unnaturally cold in both temperature and mind. They are downright deadly to those who depend upon congruence for survival, such as synthoids, primordials, and cryptum. Within cold spots, congruence gets sucked from living things and from congruence cores. jālaorin fail to work or even begin to have opposite or adverse effects.

Before I move on, I must make one note on a common misconception about certain formations in our world. Because of congruence, we are acclimated to the unnatural. Flat-topped “mountains.” Too straight pillars that rise from the earth. Cave openings with perfect circular openings. Ladies and gentleman, these are not natural! Who! What what! We are surrounded by the dilapidated structures of another age, another epoch. They are not normal. They should not be explained away as “formations of congruence.” Cornfloble! Those too-straight and too-circular lines were made. By man.

Congruence Storms

Finally, no investigation of congruence in our natural world would be complete without a discussion of congruence storms - rare but dangerous. Congruence storms are much like very fast-moving hot spots.

For the common folk without particular connection with congruence or dependence upon jālaorin, congruence storms typically only look and feel like a nasty natural weather storm. Batten down the hatches, herd the goats into the barn, and you’re all set.

But for congruence-heavy communities, congruence storms mean at the least hardship and rationing, and at the most could spell disaster. Imagine a community that depends upon a jālaorin to pump their water supply. A congruence storm could neutralize their water for the duration of the storm. It could also send the jālaorin into overdrive (flooding the community), or it could suck the moisture content from the air and people of the community. Granted, the worst possibility is even more rare than congruence storms themselves, but the horror stories are grounded in truth.

Congruence storms impact most casters. Sometimes their congruence creations are made stronger. However, sometimes, instead of amplifying congruence creations, such creations can be wrested from the control of the caster, causing chaos and destruction.

It should also be noted that many have experienced strokes of genius in the height of congruence storms. Some loonies even attempt to predict and intercept congruence storms in an effort to chase genius.

Regardless, when it comes to users and uses of congruence, congruence storms are best met with preparation and conservatism.

A final note on congruence users: there is a level of congruence mastery I can hardly fathom that makes the caster immune to congruence storms. These are the very best of the very best. Their understandings of their crafts and their depth of intuition of congruence means that the raging forces of congruence storms have no impact upon them and their creations.

So go now, my friends. I wish you well in your own understanding of this wondrous and incredible power. Use it for good, use it for love, use it for peace, use it for prosperity for all.

Note for writers:
Congruence did not originally exist on this planet. In fact, it was intentionally introduced during the 3rd Epoch as one of many advanced sciences and magics brought to and founded on Earth. The event that ended the 3rd Epoch also removed most other forms of magics and technology besides Congruence from the world, the only remnants hidden away or what the people now call artifacts (Arotiles) remains. The peoples of the 4th Epoch, however, would consider congruence as natural as anything else, and a force that has always been present.