A Primer for Corax & Grum

Author's Note: I've tried to create a sandbox for some characters to act out a few ideas I had. Rather than create whole new worlds for each story, I've tried to create an environment where a whole bunch of stuff can happen.

The rules of this sandbox borrow quite a bit from contemporary pop-science ideas, such as the Many Worlds ideas in cosmology. These stories are not meant to be a strict adherence to these scientific theories, so don't get your panties in a twist if I'm not following what you think are the current interpretations of these theories to the letter. This is fiction, and more specifically, it's my fiction.

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I. Rules for the Multiverse Collective of Corax & Grum

1. The universe we live in has boundaries. It's expanding, but there is an edge to what is held within

2. Every event in this universe is the result of the interactions of all the particles that make up this universe. Each of these interactions has a probability associated with the outcome of the interaction.
   1. If two hydrogen atoms collide, will the faster one bounce back? Will it carom off at an angle? What angle would that be? All outcomes have a probability related to it.

   2. For every interaction, there is a probability that is associated with all possible outcomes, including outcomes we may believe are "impossible". For example, that the faster hydrogen atom will not bounce off but instead pass right through the slower one. Such a probability is vanishingly small, but it still exists. It could happen.

   3. In the "Many Worlds" theory, each new event, each interaction, and the unique probability of the outcome of that interaction, creates a subatomic event which creates a whole entire universe, built solely to explore that possible interaction -a Big Bang event which is built around that one event being explored. This inflates to a whole separate universe.

   4. These "spawned" universes are exact copies of the universe it came from, up to the point of the one event. After this interaction occurs, then the output results create whole new potential interactions and events. There is a new destiny for that universe based on the one single change. Maybe nothing changes. Maybe everything changes. That's what it means to explore all the probabilities. Each universe created is essentially an exploration of probability- the universe is a probability generator made physical.

   5. From these spawned universes, a whole set of unique universes, each with its own unique probabilities, can be spawned and created, each with a slightly different outcome, practically ad infinitum.

3. All these universes are bounded and contained within yet a larger space. The larger space is the Collective.

4. Time is a dimension of each universe (or closed reality "CR"). Living within that CR, time moves in one direction. However, from outside the universe, time can be moved in either direction.

5. Time only exists within each "universe".
   1. Clocks within one CR may not run at the same "speed" as others. However, the passage of time within a CR is proportional to the rate of entropic change (i.e. the "life spans" of beings inside that CR). Three years on our CR clocks may pass in three seconds in an adjacent CR clock, comparatively, but beings in that other CR would still age three years over that same amount of time.

   2. Within the greater web of the all the other spawned universes, there is a multi-verse ("Collective"); the dimensions beyond the CR boundary that contain all the individual universes together. In this Collective space, there is no time.

   3. In the Collective space, Time is an energy and a (but not "the") building material of the Collective. But "time" to mark the forward increase of entropy and a flow (from cause to effect) does not exist in a sense which we experience in the individual CR.

II. Rules for Time within The Collective of Corax & Grum

1. Time travel within a single CR is impossible.

2. Viewed from outside the boundary of any one CR, all possible events within that CR, from the birth of the CR (its Big Bang) to heat death of the universe (or Big Crunch if you're in a deflationist CR) are present and viewable
   4. This means you can view any event, at any time in that entire CR with the proper technology. You can rewind and fast forward to see anything.

   5. Provided you've chosen a similar enough CR, you can watch the dinosaurs go extinct, watch yourself be conceived or see who killed JFK, all in an instant.

   6. Even though parent-and-child CRs are connected in the Collective, there is no "clock" making them run. They are completely independent. As soon as the observer leaves a CR and observe any other CR, they can observe any time at all.

   7. From outside the boundary, there is no interacting within anything within the CR. There can be no changing of events from outside the boundary.

3. For # 1 & 2, an easy conceptualization is to imagine watching a streaming service like Netflix. The characters inside the show are within their own CR, the viewer is outside the CR boundary, looking in. The characters in the show cannot change the plot or events within the story. They also move through the story in a straight timeline, from beginning to end, once scene to the next. The viewer is outside the CR and can skip around the time and watch any scenes in any order. The viewer also cannot change the plot of the results of the show being watched.

4. Any "time travel" is accomplished by
   1. leaving one CR,

   2. finding one (or more) virtually identical CRs (Child or Parent CR);

   3. Selecting the proper time and location from outside the CR

   4. View the mayhem.

   5. Interaction with events in the CR you're viewing is not possible (the viewer is outside the CR, despite appearances; it may look like you're there, but you're not. No interaction is possible.).

   6. Using the Netflix analogy, this means you can go forward or backwards in time to see all possible events within that CR.

5. Changing the Past ("seeding a new event") across Collective CRs is possible but requires assistance from the beings of the Collective.

6. Because of the nature of contamination and inherent incompatibility of potential differences between CRs, only a hologram of information can be transferred from one to another.
   1. This means phone calls, television shows, emails etc. only can cross between CRs.

   2. Direct interference is only possible by Entities of the Collective, who are unlikely to approve such actions

   3. The energy seed ("hologram") from the original CR is taken through the CR boundary and enters Collective space (This requires direct interventions by both Corax & Grum)

   4. Find one (or more) applicable CRs (this requires Grum)

   5. A hologram of the seed is projected into the CR (requires Corax)

   6. The event is reseeded, overwriting the original event (again, Corax)

7. As noted, time travel within a CR is not possible. So, if an event is reseeded, it can only occur in spawned CRs. The originating CR is left without the change, but all spawns from the reseeded event would be affected by the change. So, an infinite number of spawns are affected, but at least one single CR (the originating CR) follows the unchanged timeline.

III. Rules for the Known Characters Populating the Collective

1. Within each CR, life abounds in various forms. Life which becomes self-aware possesses a certain energy which seeps into the higher dimensions of the Collective. This is energy is gathered at the death of the individual for a yet unknown purpose.
   1. This life energy is not a soul. The piercing of the CR boundary renders these as simply dumb sparks of energy.

2. So far in the Collective, there are 3 types of beings which handle the life energies
   1. The Harvester - responsible for separating the life energy from a single being.

   2. Corax - one half of the Collective's psychopomp, the escort of the life energy to and through the CR boundary

   3. Grum - the other half of the Collective's psychopomp. The bearer of the life energy within the dimensions of the Collective to its final destination.

3. As Corax carries a life energy through the boundary of a CR, it leaves an imprint on the boundary membrane of that CR.

4. Mortal characters can be "reborn" within a CR from the energy imprint left on the CR membrane as it passes through to go to the Collective.
   1. Thus, an individual's intelligence, life experience and memory can be restored into a re-grown body of any age. You can have a 2-year-old body which is implanted with the memories of an 80-year-old man.

   2. The imprint itself is not alive. Again, there are no souls and no Heaven

   3. The image of the energy can be imprinted on Collective Entities (giving the Entity a human appearance, memories and emotions while keeping the Entity's extra-dimensional capabilities)

5. Collective Entities (Corax & Grum, Harvesters) exist in the upper dimensions of the Collective.
   1. For a Collective Entity to enter or interact within any CR, what actually appears in the lower dimensions of the CR is an avatar. Essentially, the avatar is a GOD MODE representation of the Entity, so they do not age, get injured or need food, water, etc.

   2. The appearance or physical characteristics of the avatar depend on the humor/temperament of the Entity. Many times, Entities will take an appearance out of convenience or habit. Grum seems to have a sense of humor when selecting his CR avatars, choosing a cute or seemingly harmless representation as bait.

   3. Entities can change their avatars at any time

   4. Entities can effectively control their avatar's size, scaling themselves up or down in size. As trans-dimensional beings, they could be considered to be as large as a CR or more.

6. Entities can enter the CR without an avatar (such as Grum does), but as trans-dimensional creatures entering a lower dimension, their appearance may be horrifically unrecognizable.

7. Collective Entities do need energy but do not "eat".