Estates

Inspirations for Estates and Estate Properties.
An Estate should have 3-7 Properties - when constructing your Estate, feel free to pick the ones that fit your view of the Estate, and ignore the rest.

Table of Contents

Beautiful Side of the World

Primal Elements and Forces

Light

  • Light is faster than anything!
  • Light is massless.
  • Light lets people see.
  • Light nourishes plants.
  • Light fractures into color.
  • Light makes things brighter.
  • Light demystifies and illuminates things.
  • Light plunges straight ahead without thought of steering.
  • Light summons shadows.

Colour

  • Colour make things distinctive.
  • Colour exudes life.
  • Colour carries meaning.
  • Colour catches the eye.

Fusion

  • Fusion makes one thing out of two.
  • Fusion allures, even those who should know better.
  • Fusion, when done right, creates new vitality.
  • Fusion, when done wrong, consumes and destroys those around it.
  • Fusion wraps everything around it into its story.

Friction

  • Friction stops all things in their tracks.
  • Friction cannot be avoided, only minimized.
  • Friction burns.
  • Friction becomes weak when it gets involved with liquids.
  • Friction creates problems where there is contact.

Explosions

  • Explosions are sudden and shocking.
  • Explosions are violent and harmful.
  • Explosions are loud and noticeable.
  • Explosions seek to expand and grow.
  • Explosions are brief and temporary.
  • Explosions need to be triggered.
  • Explosions are entertaining to watch.

Black Holes

  • Black Holes are infinite.
  • Black Holes pull anything within reach.
  • Black Holes breach the boundaries of space and time.
  • Black Holes cannot be left in the manner they are entered.
  • Black Holes bear the weight of galaxies.

Emptiness

  • Emptiness can be filled.
  • Emptiness is without form, substance, and qualities.
  • Emptiness is a gap that weakens the structure or meaning of the world.

The Void

  • The Void is the space where something could be.
  • The Void hungers to be filled.
  • The Void extinguishes emotion, knowledge, and value.
  • The Void is home to very strange things.

Cycles

  • Cycles are about motion and change.
  • Cycles are subtle and are not in a hurry.
  • Cycles are present everywhere, if you look on the right scale.
  • Cycles go round and round for all eternity.
  • If a Cycle is hurried and exploited to do work, it slowly eats at matter around it.
  • Cycles are there to help keep and/or make things right.

Change

  • Change is vital.
  • Change redefines.
  • Change forces a reaction.
  • Change can only be observed in its effects.
  • Change can move worlds.
  • Change adapts to its environment.
  • Change is a new beginning

Chaos

  • Chaos is willful and impulsive.
  • Chaos is unpredictable and uncontrollable.
  • Chaos isn't bound by rules or form or purpose.
  • Chaos doesn't fit.
  • Chaos gives rise to new things.
  • Chaos is mad and glorious and beautiful and terrible.

Earth

  • Earth supports.
  • Earth endures.
  • Earth is solid and stable.
  • Earth is there to catch you when you fall.
  • Earth is strong enough to hold up the whole world, or to break it.
  • Earth is rich with fertility, full of the power of life and growth and health.
  • Earth hides beauty and wealth beneath a plain and rugged exterior.

Fire

  • Fire subjugates Nature.
  • Fire consumes.
  • Fire cleanses.
  • Fire is hot and bright.
  • Fire propagates itself.
  • Fire entrances.
  • Fire burns.
  • Fire illuminates.
  • Fire purifies. (1)

Smoke

  • Smoke is a medium of warnings.
  • Where there is Smoke, there's fire.
  • Smoke kills through denial.
  • Smoke is just thick enough.
  • Smoke is diffuse.

Lightning

  • Lightning flows in arcs of electrical current.
  • Lightning takes the most direct route, with unstoppable force.
  • Lightning symbolizes inspiration and invention.
  • Lightning is to divinity as crowns are to kings.
  • Lightning throws order and chaos out of balance.
  • Lightning shatters all opposition.
  • Lightning pours energy into what it touches.
  • Lightning equalizes an imbalance of forces.
  • Lightning comes with the storm.

Electricity

  • Electricity is the flow of Charge.
  • Electricity follows mathematical rules.
  • Electricity is intertwined with Light.
  • Electricity is intertwined with Magnetism.
  • Electricity powers things.
  • Electricity flows through conductors.

Water

  • Water seeks to flow. (assuming Ice and Vapour are separate Estates)
  • Water seeks to cling to and soak into things.
  • Water seeks to dissolve things.
  • Water seeks to resist the effects of Heat and Cold.
  • Water gives and sustains Life.
  • Water controls the weather.
  • Water has deep dark depths.
  • Water erodes all obstacles.
  • Water is invaluable.
  • Water washes clean.

Wind

  • Wind is playful and energetic.
  • Wind is erratic.
  • Wind is fast and fierce when roused.
  • Wind grabs things and pushes them around.
  • Wind spreads and dilutes things.
  • Wind can be harnessed and put to work.
  • Wind is always in motion.
  • Wind changes.
  • Wind is rootless, unattached, and unconstrained.
  • Wind flies on swift wings.
  • Wind touches but cannot be touched, sees but cannot be seen.
  • Wind is the voice of the world.

Nature and the World

Stars

  • Stars are numerous and uncountable.
  • Stars are steadfast and reliable.
  • Stars guide our fates.
  • Stars shine brightest in the dark.
  • Stars show the way for the lost.
  • Stars keep watch in the night.
  • Stars are ever-distant, but always reached for.

The Night

  • The Night is vast.
  • The Night hides things.
  • The Night invites contemplation and wonder.
  • The Night brings out the true self.
  • The Night both brings and removes solitude.

Twilight

  • Twilight is the border between a thing and its opposite.
  • Twilight is the bridge between a thing and its opposite.
  • Twilight weaves the nature of other things into its own unique essence.
  • Twilight is beautiful, otherworldly, and serene.
  • Twilight is [a time of] mystery and revelation.
  • Twilight is a single moment that lasts forever.
  • Twilight is illuminated by the sun, moon, and stars.

The Blue Sky

  • The Blue Sky drives those who see it to escape.
  • The Blue Sky is behind the trees, and the birds and the clouds.
  • The Blue Sky surrounds each viewer.
  • The Blue Sky looks like a destination, but when you get there it isn't there.
  • The Blue Sky makes the yellow sunlight white

Weather

  • Weather is mercurial, always moving, always changing.
  • Weather lives in the endless dance of wind and water, heat and cold, light and shadow.
  • Weather shapes its surroundings in accordance with its moods.
  • Weather flies on swift wings.

Clouds

  • Clouds transport water from place to place.
  • Clouds float, guided by the winds.
  • Clouds are fluffy and insubstantial.
  • Clouds are mutable and ever-changing.
  • Clouds entice the imagination.
  • Clouds house and protect lightning spirits.
  • Clouds block sight and reflect light.

Rain

  • Rain falls from heaven.
  • Rain drums its rhythms everywhere it can reach.
  • Rain washes away filth and cleans the world anew.
  • Rain is the old made new again.
  • Rain quenches thirsts.
  • Rain births floods and rivers.
  • Rain makes green things grow.
  • Rain is made of a million little pieces.
  • Rain washes the world cold and clean.
  • Rain dances in the filth of the world.
  • Rain feeds the voracious and verdant things that grow in the world.

The Rainbow

  • The Rainbow creates variety out of sameness.
  • The Rainbow brings joy and wonder.
  • The Rainbow livens up a dull day.
  • The Rainbow is a symbol of Hope.
  • The Rainbow stays at a distance, uncatchable.

The Sea

  • The Sea is vast and deep.
  • The Sea is wild and mercurial.
  • The Sea yields bountiful harvest.
  • The Sea is powerful; potentially deadly.
  • The Sea churns and roils in deep dark currents.
  • The Sea keeps within itself untold mysteries and treasure.
  • The Sea yearns toward the Moon.

Drifting

  • Drifting is melancholic.
  • Drifting happens to the weak or directionless.
  • Drifting siezes hold of your destiny.
  • Drifting carries you away.
  • Drifting acts randomly and haphazardly.
  • Drifting is slow and gradual.

Erosion

  • Erosion makes beauty from destruction.
  • Erosion wears down resistance over time.
  • Erosion works through intermediaries.
  • Erosion finds the weak spots.
  • Erosion turns solids into salts and soil.
  • Erosion seeks to erase differences.
  • Erosion crumbles the works of the mighty.

The Green

  • The Green is calm and soothing.
  • The Green is slow and unmoving.
  • The Green is natural and healthy.
  • The Green continually grows and develops.
  • The Green draws power into itself.
  • The Green is unready, still wrapped in the process of becoming.

Fields

  • Fields are restful and serene.
  • Fields are open, accessible and surveyable.
  • Fields are attractive and beautiful.
  • Fields are teeming with Life.

Living things

Flowers

  • Flowers catch the eye.
  • Flowers attract helpers.
  • Flowers are powerful symbols.
  • Flowers live, grow and reproduce.

Cats

  • Cats have the air of royalty about them.
  • Cats strive to be elegant and beautiful.
  • Cats move with fluid grace and speed.
  • Cats perceive what others don't.
  • Cats hunt and stalk prey.
  • Cats are playful, curious and lazy.
  • Cats are self-centered, vain and cruel.

Rabbits

  • Rabbits breed rapidly.
  • Rabbits die rapidly.
  • Rabbits are burrowing mammals.
  • Rabbits have acute senses.
  • Rabbits are cute.

Chickens

  • Chickens cannot fly.
  • Chickens taste really good.
  • Chickens are easily frightened.
  • Chickens peck and scratch.
  • Chickens lay lots of eggs.
  • Chickens crow at dawn.
  • Chickens ain't too bright.

Natural Materials

Metals

  • Metals conduct energy.
  • Metals are strong and durable.
  • Metals are bendable and malleable.
  • Metals seek to serve civilization and be useful.
  • Metals can be mixed with each other, gaining new properties.
  • Metals want to be glossy and shiny.

Iron

  • Iron is strong.
  • Iron is durable.
  • Iron is unfeeling.
  • Iron wounds.
  • Iron is magnetic.
  • Iron rusts.

Mercury

  • Mercury is a liquid.
  • Mercury is heavy.
  • Mercury is poisonous.
  • Mercury is shiny.

Silver

  • Silver is precious and valuable.
  • Silver seeks to be pure and unsullied.
  • Silver is dense; concentrated.
  • Silver conducts energies well.
  • Silver is shiny and reflective.
  • Silver cleanses filth and evil.

Gold

  • Gold impresses and attracts people.
  • Gold laughs at corrosion and corruption.
  • Gold weighs you down.
  • Gold paves the paths of least resistance. (conducts electricity, acts as catalyst, is used to bribe people)
  • Gold bends to pressure; it is soft and pliable.
  • Gold is rare and exclusive.
  • Gold is associated with royalty and luxury.

Biology

Life (Biological)

  • Life is complex and convoluted.
  • Life consumes order and energy.
  • Life is tenacious and stubborn.
  • Life is dynamic and energetic, ever in motion.
  • Life seeks to spread and multiply.
  • Life is born into the world.
  • Life experiences and learns from the world.
  • Life grows, changes, and adapts.
  • Life acts upon the world.
  • Life may choose its own course.
  • Life leaves its mark on the world.
  • Life gives rise to new Life.

Blood

  • Blood gives and nourishes life.
  • Blood flows through and permeates the body.
  • Blood is sacred and binding.
  • Blood is upsetting and disgusting.
  • Blood will tell.
  • Blood calls to blood.
  • 
Blood is needed for life.
  • Blood is part of the whole and the whole depends on it.
  • Blood is important.
  • Blood should keep on the inside.
  • Blood is a tie that binds.

Slime/biofilm

  • Slime is organic; extruded by living things.
  • Slime is yucky and disgusting.
  • Slime clings to things.
  • Slime make things slippery and hard-to-grasp.
  • Slime protects life, while corroding the unliving.
  • Slime needs moisture to maintain itself.

Roots

  • Roots connect you to the world.
  • Roots seek to dig into and penetrate things.
  • Roots seek to grasp and constrain things.
  • Roots anchor you, providing support and stability
  • Roots are thirsty and absorbant.
  • Roots funnel and transport things.
  • Roots seek to fulfill your needs.

Evolution

  • Evolution adapts things to their surroundings.
  • Evolution makes things convoluted and complex.
  • Evolution builds on what is already there.
  • Evolution is random and aimless.
  • Evolution is slow and subtle.
  • Evolution is powered by sex.

Sleep

  • Sleep shackles the body.
  • Sleep frees the mind.
  • Sleep refreshes.
  • Sleep brings dreams.

The Heart

  • The Heart lies at the center of things.
  • The Heart is vital and necessary.
  • The Heart beats out the rythm of life.
  • The Heart lives emotion.
  • The Heart never rests.

Story and Consciousness

Life (Narrative)

  • Life is the path each person travels from birth til death.
  • Lives seek to intertwine and interact with each other.
  • Life is unfair, harsh and difficult.
  • Life is sweet, desirable and worthwhile.
  • Life is personal, limited and small.
  • Life is full of surprises and opportunities.
  • Life goes on.

Individuality

  • Individuality differentiates you from your peers.
  • Individuality fuels independence.
  • Individuality is a source of strength.
  • Individuality creates barriers that cannot be crossed.
  • Individuality is the wellspring of enlightenment and understanding.
  • Individuality is absolute—if it is compromised it is destroyed.
  • Individuality must be earned and kept with great effort.
  • Individuality develops and builds over time.
  • Individuality wants to be freely expressed.
  • Individuality causes conflicts.
  • Individuality creates opportunities.
  • Individuality makes things less predictable.
  • Individuality is frowned upon by those who lack it.

Names

  • Names are anchors for the mind.
  • Names refer to things beyond themselves.
  • Names define you.
  • Names distinguish you.
  • Names are part of your identity.
  • Names are meaningful.
  • Names get attention.

Pride

  • Pride makes you feel good about yourself.
  • Pride is a source of strength.
  • Pride must be earned by accomplishments.
  • Pride wants you to stand alone, without assistance.
  • Pride wants you to be at the top, dominant.
  • Pride is hurt by failure and humiliation.
  • Pride goes before the fall.

Hope

  • Hope is beautiful, yet fragile.
  • Hope lets you endure hardships.
  • Hope looks to the future.
  • Hope brings light to darkness.
  • Hope makes you take risks.
  • Hope is transcendent.
  • Hope inspires and strengthens.
  • Hope finds a way.
  • Hope springs eternal.

Ideas

  • Ideas are constructs of Thought and Meaning, drifting upon the Aether.
  • Ideas battle to hold sway over minds.
  • Ideas teach of possibilities and perspective.
  • Ideas evolve and improve, continually remaking themselves.
  • Ideas hide in texts and imagery; they are vectored by language and the Arts.
  • Ideas can be given away and yet remain; be shared yet not diluted.
  • Ideas bring and spur Change, upsetting the status quo.
  • Ideas strike from out of the blue. (are unexpected)
  • Ideas float around in the aether, until anchored. 
  • Ideas strike at random, unpredictably. 
  • Ideas are spontaneous and serendipitous. 

Imagination

  • Imagination seeks to take your mind for a ride.
  • Imagination whisks you away to far-off places.
  • Imagination plays out hypothetical scenarios.
  • Imagination is whimsical and immature.
  • Imagination has no limits.
  • Imagination is an artist's greatest asset.
  • Imagination makes a man dangerous.
  • Imagination distracts you.
  • Imagination is personal - only you can affect or perceive it.
  • Imagination whisks your mind away to its playground.

Revelation

  • Revelation is sudden and shocking.
  • Revelation shatters your world-view and annihilates what you think you knew.
  • Revelation shows you the truth. //is truth written large
  • Revelation sweeps aside denial.
  • Revelation is painful and difficult.
  • Revelation forces you to think.
  • Revelation is ultimately worthwhile.

Illumination

  • Illumination strikes like a bolt from the blue.
  • Illumination cannot be begged, bought, or summoned.
  • Illumination rearranges everything else around itself.
  • Illumination breaks open our little worlds with truth.

Truth

  • Truths are facts looking for revenge.
  • Truth is complex and muddled.
  • Truth is impopular.
  • Truth hurts.
  • Truth will out.
  • Truth has power.
  • Truth shall set you free.

Love

  • Love attracts.
  • Love unites.
  • Love exalts.
  • Love conquers all.
  • Love inspires and motivates.
  • Love makes you care for others.
  • Love makes you dance to its tune.
  • Love leaves you vulnerable.
  • Love complicates a situation.
  • Love does not listen to reason.

Adventures

  • Adventures are enticing and alluring to the young and unblooded.
  • Adventures are meaningful and epic.
  • Adventures test you to your limits.
  • Adventures are exciting and fun, at least in retrospect.
  • Adventures seek happy endings - or at least dramatic ones.
  • Adventures leave you changed; more matured and experienced.
  • Adventures are inspiring and story-worthy; seeding legends and tall tales.
  • Adventures are dangerous.
  • Adventures make you stronger.
  • Adventures teach you a moral lesson.
  • Adventures make you form friendships.
  • Adventures result in loot.

Dreams

  • Dreams are founts of stories and ideas.
  • Dreams teach us about ourselves.
  • Dreams are a source of inner strength.
  • Dreams are fleeting, easily lost unless you hold on to them.
  • Dreams make you accept the weird and absurd as normal.
  • Dreams become reality with enough effort.
  • Dreams exist only in the mind.
  • Dreams are easy to forget and hard to remember.
  • Dreams are strange.
  • Dreams are accepted at face value until they have departed. ("It is only after we've woken up that we realize things were strange.")
  • Dreams inspire.
  • Dreams reveal hidden depths, desires, and fears.
  • Dreams obfuscate themselves through symbols and metaphors.

Boredom

  • Boredom is drawn to the unchanging and predictable.
  • Boredom can be driven away by high emotions and focused activity.
  • Boredom is stifling, itching and uncomfortable; barely tolerable.
  • Boredom makes the mind numb and dull.
  • Boredom wants you to fight it, to scratch that itch; to take action.
  • Boredom seeks to nudge people off their old trod-in tracks.
  • Boredom doesn't excuse anything - but it explains a lot.

Celebration

  • Celebration is bright and colorful.
  • Celebration radiates wonder and excitement.
  • Celebration makes your troubles seem small and far away.
  • Celebration brings out the bright side of the world.
  • Celebration makes you happy to be alive.
  • Celebration is a break from the rules, expectations, and obligations of everyday life.
  • Celebration is greater when shared.

Beauty

  • Beauty comes in many forms.
  • Beauty uplifts the heart.
  • Beauty entrances the mind.
  • Everyone wants Beauty.
  • Beauty is only skin deep.

Fantasy

  • Fantasy is an enchanted reflection of reality.
  • Fantasy is a realm in which heroes can overcome monsters.
  • Fantasy cannot be explained by reason–only by imagination and the heart.
  • Fantasy embodies our hopes, beliefs, and rituals.
  • Fantasy frees you from the constraints of your mundane life.

Secrets

  • Secrets are hidden from the uninitiated.
  • Secrets are exciting, intriguing and desirable.
  • Secrets are dangerous.
  • Secrets forge bonds between those that share them.
  • Secrets are a terrible burden that longs for release.
  • Secrets hold power.
  • Secrets are defended against outsiders.
  • Secrets are born in conspiracy.
  • Secrets come out in the end.

Defiance

  • Defiance renews all that it touches.
  • Defiance exalts the weak.
  • Defiance makes a way.
  • Defiance grows stronger when suppressed.

Imitation

  • Imitation replicates things.
  • Imitation is [the sincerest form of] flattery.
  • Imitation is imperfect.
  • Imitation teaches.

Desire

  • Desire shows you what you want.
  • Desire knows what you will pay to get what you want.
  • Desire inspires one to achieve their goal.
  • Desire relishes in the unobtainable.

Integrity

  • Integrity is never easy.
  • Integrity is awesome (and awful) to behold.
  • Integrity demands that the world bend or break before it, for it cannot do so itself.
  • Integrity refines, perfects, and purifies, even when it shouldn't.
  • Integrity cannot abide failure.
  • Integrity does not believe in or acknowledge weakness or strength.
  • Integrity wants to infect you.

Friendship

  • Friendship makes things greater than the sum of their parts.
  • Friendship is magic.
  • Friendship connects things.
  • Friendship isn't always easy, but there's no doubt it's worth fighting for!
  • Friendship overcomes obstacles.
  • Friendship is enduring
  • Friendship helps communication.

Identity

  • Identity stands between the self and the other.
  • Identity is an interface.
  • Identity is driven to self-actualization.
  • Identity must be itself.
  • Identity is context-sensitive.
  • Identity is malleable.
  • Identity can't be fractured.
  • Identity defines who one is.
  • Identity separates one from others.
  • Identity changes how one perceives reality.
  • Identity persists.
  • Identity exhibits self-awareness.

Power

  • Power can be put to any purpose.
  • Power justifies itself.
  • Power hurts more to lose than never to have had.
  • Power invites its use.
  • Power cannot be ignored.
  • Power changes you.
  • Power is terribly unfair.

Thresholds

  • Thresholds separate distinct things.
  • Thresholds are relative concepts.
  • Thresholds are in the process of becoming.
  • Thresholds are a choice.
  • Thresholds are patient.
  • Thresholds are impartial.
  • Thresholds are unstable.

Endings

  • Endings make no exceptions.
  • Endings can't be taken back.
  • Endings inspire conflicting emotions.
  • Endings provide closure.
  • Endings lead to reflection.

History

  • History repeats.
  • History teaches those who remember.
  • History is written by the victor.
  • History shapes our perceptions of the present.
  • History influences the future.

Ambition

  • Ambition is a Desire.
  • Unfulfilled Ambition grows in power.
  • Ambition makes people blind to all else.
  • Fulfilled Ambition leaves Emptiness.
  • Ambition gives strength of purpose.

Painful Side of the World

Death

  • Death is feared.
  • Death is inevitable.
  • Death is inescapable.
  • Death ends things.
  • Death is final and irreversible.
  • Death cuts all ties.
  • Death brings grief.
  • Death makes things important.
  • Death brings change.
  • Death comes to all things.
  • Death won't be denied.
  • Death is terrifying.
  • Death is necessary.
  • Death lets you break even.
  • Death comes for everyone someday.
  • Death does not judge.
  • Death can come at any place or any time.
  • Death is the ultimate authority.
  • Death can be stalled but never stopped.
  • Death brings relief, really, when you get right down to it.

Pain

  • Pain commands attention.
  • Pain warns you of harm.
  • Pain triggers reflexes.
  • Pain is an obstacle.
  • Pain is the greatest teacher.
  • Pain crowds out thought.
  • Pain is undesirable.

Hunger

  • Hunger weakens you.
  • Hunger infiltrates your thoughts.
  • Hunger tells you what you need.
  • Hunger drives you to action.
  • Hunger is the best spice.

Corrosion

  • Corrosion tarnishes and debases things.
  • Corrosion mixes things together.
  • Corrosion seeks to destroy the fruits of civilization.
  • Corrosion grows and spreads, amplifying itself.
  • Corrosion thrives in wetness and filth.

Disaster

  • Disaster exposes flaws.
  • Disaster shatters plans and preconceptions.
  • Disaster generates Chaos and Destruction.
  • Disaster brings out the best in people.
  • Disaster strengthens those who survive it.
  • Disaster provides a clean slate.

Violence

  • Violence is a self-perpetuating process.
  • Violence is beautiful, but has ugly and unpredictable consequences.
  • Violence is an effective measure of last resort.
  • Violence does harm.

Regret

  • Regret haunts you.
  • Regret shows you your mistakes.
  • Nobody wants Regret.
  • Regret can change the nature of a man.

Anguish

  • Anguish rips at the self and drives all to despair.
  • Anguish is inescapable and unavoidable; it is inevitable.
  • Anguish cripples the mind and the body, the heart and the soul.
  • Anguish is the suffering of the heart, the breathless constriction of hope.
  • Anguish imparts worth to the world; it creates meaning and purpose.
  • Anguish graces those who survive it with beauty and strength.
  • Anguish transfigures those it holds in thrall.

War (general)

  • War records history, as told by the victor.
  • War overwhelms to submission.
  • War is organized and prolonged.
  • War fills with self-righteous zeal.
  • Gains strength and safety in numbers.

Famine

  • Famine empties the world of sustenance.
  • Famine drains the substance of life.
  • Famine drives its victims to madness.
  • Famine provokes extinction… or evolution.
  • Famine gives the world a chance to heal.
  • Famine is inevitable.

Pestilence

  • Pestilence spreads out of control.
  • Pestilence ravages the body and mind.
  • Pestilence preys on the weak.
  • Pestilence clings to you and the things you touch.
  • Pestilence is born from filth and decay.
  • Pestilence is unclean.

The Bleak

  • The Bleak looks upon the world and finds therein no good.
  • The Bleak is lacking in warmth, life, or kindliness.
  • The Bleak tells you not to go on.
  • The Bleak is exposed and barren and often windswept.
  • The Bleak drains the joy and color away.

Light Side of Society

Modern Materials

Glass

  • Glass, in breaking, wounds.
  • Glass reveals what is hidden.
  • Glass alters perceptions.
  • Glass tames light.
  • Glass contains with impunity.
  • Glass is stronger than it looks.
  • Glass can take the heat.
  • Glass is art.
  • Glass is versatile.
  • Glass is sacred.

Plastic

  • Plastic stands outside the natural order.
  • Plastic is cheap and easy to produce in bulk.
  • Plastic takes well to molding and shaping.
  • Plastic is isolating and resistant.
  • Plastic is light and flexible.
  • Plastic is flimsy and disposable.

Paper

  • Paper captures ideas.
  • Paper is flat and foldable.
  • Paper is easily torn.
  • Paper is flammable.
  • Paper is absorptive.
  • Paper gives painful cuts.

Ink

  • Ink leaves lasting marks.
  • Ink incarnates ideas.
  • Ink taps into the Soul.
  • Ink conveys information.
  • Ink is intense.
  • Ink stains whatever it touches.
  • Ink forms patterns that encode meaning.
  • Ink makes marks that cannot be removed.

Modern Things

Books

  • Are containers for knowledge and ideas.
  • Let people communicate their views and advice, even after they are dead and gone.
  • Require skill and dedication in order to be created.
  • Require training and sustained focus to decode. (learn to read!)
  • Stimulate and exercise your mind and imagination.
  • absorb you into a world you create for yourself.
  • Can be re-used over and over again.

Coffee

  • Coffee gives you the energy you need to make it through the day
  • Coffee is addictive
  • Coffee is strong when dark and bitter
  • Coffee is beloved when sweet and properly prepared
  • Coffee brings people together

Wheels

  • Wheels are round.
  • Wheels want to spin.
  • Wheels make movement easier.
  • Wheels seek to have traction; to grip into things.
  • Wheels want to be parts of a greater whole.
  • Wheels are servants of civilization.

Clothes

  • Clothes separate people from the world they live in.
  • Clothes are worn - draped in layers on the body.
  • Clothes seek to keep you safe and comfortable.
  • Clothes can easily be swapped or discarded, mixed and matched.
  • Clothes are susceptible to fashions, becoming outmoded or "in" as trends shift.
  • Clothes make the man. (inform peoples' impressions of you to a large degree)
  • Clothes are something you are expected to have, or face social repercussions.

Fortifications

  • Fortifications are force-multipliers.
  • Fortifications are tough and resilient.
  • Fortifications are impressive and imposing.
  • Fortifications protect people.
  • Fortifications obstruct passage.

Bridges

  • Bridges carry you over obstacles.
  • Bridges connect separated things.
  • Bridges grant power to those who control them.
  • Bridges erase distinctions.

Gizmos

  • Gizmos are cool and desirable.
  • Gizmos make work easier.
  • Gizmos are hard to understand.
  • Gizmos complicate your life.
  • Gizmos malfunction when it's maximally inconvenient.

Toys

  • Toys are the playthings of others.
  • Toys bring fun and amusement.
  • Toys tempt you to use them.
  • Toys distract you and waste time.
  • Toys spark nostalgia and fond memories.

Games

  • Games present alluring challenges.
  • Games offer choice and interactivity.
  • Games are governed by rules.
  • Games have elements of uncertainty.
  • Games teach and improve people.
  • Games evolve over time, adding layers of complexity.
  • Games are fun and exciting!

Fighting Games

  • Fighting Games resolve all conflict through martial arts.
  • Fighting Games are fun.
  • Fighting Games pit great fighters against each other.
  • Fighting Games stylize violence into hyperkinetic action.
  • Fighting Games equate martial prowess with supernatural power.

Dolls

  • Dolls are models of real-world beings.
  • Dolls are playthings - at the mercy of the whims of others.
  • Dolls spark and focus your imagination.
  • Dolls have only the life you lend them.
  • Dolls are artificial and fake.
  • Dolls are articulated and posable.
  • Dolls seek to have clothes and accessories.

Teddy-bears

  • Teddy-bears are cute and huggable.
  • Teddy-bears are soft and fluffy.
  • Teddy-bears watch over you while you sleep.
  • Teddy-bears must maintain the masquerade - they cannot move while people watch.
  • Teddy-bears grow strong on love and caring.
  • Teddy-bears always have time for you.
  • Teddy-bears make it all OK.

Puppets

  • Puppets resemble real things.
  • Puppets scare and delight.
  • Puppets are not in control of themselves.
  • Puppets convince you that they're alive.
  • Puppets explore the world.
  • Puppets hide those who control them.
  • Puppets do what real people never could.

Crowns

  • Crowns inspire obedience.
  • Crowns are unique and recognizable.
  • Crowns are driven to be borne.
  • Crowns are desired by those around them.
  • Crowns are a burden.

Shields

  • Shields protect the vulnerable from harm.
  • Shields are tough.
  • Shields keep things apart.

Donuts

  • Donuts curve around a center-point.
  • Donuts are edible.
  • Donuts are a source of easy, plentiful energy.
  • Donuts are soft and porous.
  • Donuts drip with oil and fat.
  • Donuts desire glaze and sprinkles.
  • Donuts must be baptized in fire.

Sweets

  • Sweets are fleeting treasures, always desired and yet never enough.
  • Sweets are a source of comfort.
  • Sweers fill you with energy and contentment.
  • Sweets are empty happiness.

Civilization & Culture

Money

  • Money rules the world.
  • Money keeps everything moving.
  • Money changes the perspective.
  • Money makes you paranoid.
  • Money lets you get away with anything.
  • Money can buy anything, for the right price.

Societies

  • Societies encircle groups of things.
  • Societies protect their members from outsiders.
  • Societies demand a cost in exchange for protection.
  • Societies enforce social norms and roles.
  • Societies resist changes to the status quo.

Art

  • Art cannot be rushed.
  • Art engages the senses.
  • Art touches the soul.
  • Art must convey a message.
  • Art reflects its creator. (The Artist is part of what he creates.)
  • Art is in the eye of the beholder. (interpreted or negated by its receiver)

Images

  • Images want to be seen.
  • Images don't always show the truth.
  • Images capture the moment.
  • Images are windows to other places.
  • An image says more than a thousand words.

Reflections

  • Reflections reciprocate.
  • Reflections distort and beguile.
  • Reflections cannot be avoided.
  • Reflections arouse introspection.
  • Reflections are co-dependent.

Music

  • Music is Sound made Art.
  • Music is seductive and alluring.
  • Music sets the mood.
  • Music inspires passions and soothes worries.
  • Music wants to make you move.
  • Music is subjective and divisive; each person has their own favourites.
  • Music is ubiquitous in peoples' lives.

Rhyme

  • Rhyme gets in your head.
  • Rhyme plays with words.
  • Rhyme flirts with perfection.
  • Rhyme shows intelligence.
  • Rhyme bewilders and amazes.
  • Rhyme repeats similar sounds.
  • Rhyme pleases the spirits.

Language

  • Language shapes your thoughts.
  • Language conveys meaning.
  • Language evolves constantly.
  • Language sets barriers between people.

Punctuation

  • P. tells you when to pause - and how long.
  • P. eliminates ambiguity.
  • P. conveys emotion ;)
  • P. regulates tone… and volume!!!

Etiquette

  • Etiquette turns violent conflicts into non-violent ones.
  • Etiquette is governed by a complex system of rules, which inevitably contains loopholes.
  • Etiquette binds people together in society.
  • Etiquette elevates people above barbarism and savagery.

Responsibility 

  • Responsibility is a heavy burden. 
  • Responsibility sends blame and praise your way (makes you a target).
  • Responsibility makes you act even when it's unpleasant.
  • Responsibility forces you to grow. 
  • Responsibility gives you importance.
  • Responsibility is the price of power.

The Doctor

  • The Doctor is an ideal for mortals to strive towards.
  • The Doctor commands your trust and respect.
  • The Doctor wields helpful tools and paraphernalia.
  • The Doctor stays up to date with all the latest information.
  • The Doctor remains calm and cool in times of crisis.
  • The Doctor knows what to do.
  • The Doctor is sworn to do no harm.

Archery

  • Archery is precise.
  • Archery demands precision.
  • Archery is quiet.
  • Archery takes practice.
  • Archery is all in a moment.
  • Archery is repetitive.
  • Archery is rewarding.

Genetic Engineering

  • Genetic Engineering alters life.
  • Genetic Engineering creates new forms of life.
  • Genetic Engineering makes natural things unnatural.

Hardboiled Detectives

  • Hardboiled Detectives solve mysteries.
  • Hardboiled Detectives walk the mean streets, but are not themselves mean.
  • Hardboiled Detectives have a rough wit, and a bottomless supply of cynicism.
  • Hardboiled Detectives may break the law, but have got to have a code.
  • A Hardboiled Detective must be a common man and yet an unusual man.

Complaints

  • Complaints are kindled from disappointment and frustration.
  • Complaints point out your failings.
  • Complaints seek to bring about change.
  • Complaints are annoying and distracting.
  • Complaints strive towards the top.
  • Complaints can get you into trouble.

Taxes

  • Taxes take your money and valuables.
  • Taxes build public works.
  • Taxes empower governments.
  • Taxes redirect the flow of money.
  • Taxes are not optional.
  • Taxes are resented.
  • Everyone wants to avoid Taxes.

Libraries

  • Preserve knowledge and culture.
  • Own and accumulate media - the more, the better.
  • Are organized and searchable, keeping track of their contents.
  • Are communal, pooling resources for many people to share.
  • Lend people their possessions to take home and use.
  • Impose fines on people who break their rules.
  • Should be quiet - Shhhh!

Networks

  • Networks are grand systems made of humble parts.
  • Networks grow to support their utilization.
  • Networks behave unpredictably when their particulars fail.
  • Networks take things where they need to go.

Infiltration

  • Infiltration is undetected.
  • Infiltration leaves no trace.
  • Infiltration will get you anywhere.

Cooperation

  • Cooperation lets many act as one.
  • Cooperation requires mutual compromise and coordination.
  • Cooperation creates a whole greater than its parts.
  • Cooperation brings prosperity.
  • Cooperation lessens strife.
  • Cooperation defines Society and Civilization.
  • Cooperation accomplishes great things.

The Hearth

  • The Hearth makes a home.
  • The Hearth protects.
  • The Hearth nurtures.
  • The Hearth draws people together.
  • The Hearth warms the heart.
  • The Hearth wards off evil.

Transhumanism

  • Transhumanism improves.
  • Transhumanism is tireless.
  • Transhumanism is inevitable.
  • Transhumanism is hubristic.
  • Transhumanism is open-ended.
  • Transhumanism is teleological.

The Harvest

  • The Harvest is the lifeblood of civilization.
  • The Harvest is the result of honest effort.
  • The Harvest invites prosperity and fortune when bountiful.
  • The Harvest invites poverty and death when barren.
  • The Harvest may not be deterred or postponed.
  • The Harvest provides for humanity.
  • The Harvest holds humanity at its mercy.
  • The Harvest reaps the bounty of great effort.
  • The Harvest clears away the old to prepare for the new.

Halloween

  • Halloween is dark and spooky.
  • Halloween is the monsters' time.
  • Halloween lives in its trappings.
  • Halloween is all in good fun.

Summer Camp

  • Summer Camp reveals your true self.
  • Summer Camp forges friendships.
  • Summer Camp forces independence.
  • Summer Camp is the best fun.
  • Summer Camp inspires enthusiasm.
  • Summer Camp upholds tradition.

Legends

  • Legends are larger than life.
  • Legends are what we wish were true.
  • Legends are part of how we understand the world.

Commerce

  • Commerce gives people what they want, but for a price.
  • Commerce connects people and societies through exchange.
  • Commerce benefits those who have the most wealth, not those who deserve it.
  • Commerce transfers wealth from one pair of hands to the next.

Trade

  • Trade seeks mutual profit.
  • Trade opens up new opportunities.
  • Trade gives value to things.
  • Trade is uncompromising.

War (pre-1900)

  • War resolves conflicts through violence.
  • War makes you put your life on the line.
  • War brings tragedy and catharsis.
  • War brings spoils and fame.
  • War will make a man out of you.
  • War begets camraderie and cooperation.
  • War is glorious and inspiring.

Dark Side of Society

War (post-1900)

  • War is born from conflict.
  • War causes death and destruction.
  • War is hell.
  • War brings ruin to one side and profit to the other.
  • War spurs progress.
  • War pulls people together.
  • War is morbidly fascinating.

Advertising

  • Advertising makes you want things against your better judgement.
  • Advertising rules modern media.
  • Advertising undermines your self-confidence.
  • Advertising makes you cynical.
  • Advertising is ubiquitous.
  • Advertising raises awareness.
  • Advertising convinces you, consciously or otherwise.
  • Advertising is loud, shrill and irritating.
  • Advertising moves product.
  • Advertising sticks in your mind.
  • Advertising is just everywhere, nowadays.
  • Advertising sees you as nothing but a tool.

Corporations

  • Corporations seek to increase the profits of their shareholders.
  • Corporations are, legally, people.
  • Corporations are constructed out of legally-binding contracts.
  • Corporations only understand money.

Theft

  • Theft transfers ownership.
  • Theft is done without permission.
  • Theft rewards the audacious.
  • Theft burdens your Karma.

Fame

  • Fame tells strangers who you are.
  • Fame bestows special treatment and priviledges.
  • Fame makes you feel good.
  • Fame is fleeting and momentary.
  • Fame is addictive.
  • Fame changes a person.
  • Fame demands sacrifice.

Pollution

  • Pollution is the dark shadow of Progress.
  • Pollution is waste and dross and unwanted things.
  • Pollution is disgusting and unclean.
  • Pollution desecrates nature.
  • Pollution spreads.
  • Causing Pollution makes production easier and more profitable.
  • Pollution teaches harsh lessons of foresight and caution.
  • Pollution insinuates itself everywhere.
  • Pollution poisons and weakens life.

Murder

  • Murder has purpose and intent. <- accidents don't count
  • Murder is done for selfish and personal reasons. <- executions don't count
  • Murder is non-consensual and unfair. <- dueling or self-defense doesn't count
  • Murder is momentuous and significant. <-swatting flies doesn't count
  • Murder extinguishes life.
  • Murder is criminal and punishable, cause for persecution.
  • Murder sows fear and distrust.

The Bad Side of Town

  • The Bad Side of Town is a place you shouldn't go.
  • The Bad Side of Town teems with crime, violence, and urban legend.
  • The Bad Side of Town is afflicted with urban, social, and economic decay.
  • The Bad Side of Town is dirty and broken, but not without beauty.

Writers' Block

  • Writers' Block is comprised of compressed doubts, fears and inadequacies.
  • Writers' Block is actually shaped like a block.
  • Writers' Block stops inspiration from affecting the world.
  • Writers' Block is the bane of muses.
  • Writers' Block flies exactly like a brick.
  • Writers' Block happens to everyone sooner or later.
  • Writers' Block can only be destroyed by plowing through it.

Conquest

  • Conquest asserts itself.
  • Conquest binds the weak to the strong.
  • Conquest is the arbiter of circumstance.
  • Conquest heralds Ruin.

Vengeance

  • Vengeance is cruel.
  • Vengeance never relents.
  • Vengeance never strikes first.
  • Vengeance is hideous.
  • Vengeance is terrifying.
  • Vengeance is best served cold.
  • Vengeance is sweet and satisfying.

Cosmic Keystones

Meaning

  • Meaning groups events together into a coherent whole.
  • Meaning makes things more than the sum of their parts.
  • Meaning is cumulative, accreting from many sources.
  • Meaning describes purpose and intent.
  • Meaning lends significance and worth.
  • Meaning facilitates understanding.
  • Meaning demands context.

Existence

  • To Exist is to stand apart.
  • To Exist is to interact with Creation.
  • Existence is ambiguous and gradual.
  • Existence is desirable and habit-forming.
  • Existence implies form and definition.
  • Existence binds you to Creation and its rules.
  • Existence engraves your mark on Creation forever.

Time

  • Time separates events from each other.
  • Time relates events to each other.
  • Time gives you cause and effect.
  • Time lets you change and become different.
  • Time seeks to be straightforward and linear.
  • Time makes sense.
  • Time lets things happen.
  • Time is complicated.

Space

  • Space separates things from each other.
  • Space relates things to each other.
  • Space gives you place and position.
  • Space provides you with freedom and options.
  • Space seeks to contain and envelop things.
  • Space seeks to limit interaction.

Form

  • Form imposes borders on your being.
  • Form distinguishes you from everything else.
  • Form reflects and implies on its owner.
  • Form corresponds to function.
  • Form seeks to be intelligible.
  • Form yearns towards beauty.

Structure

  • Structure defines the ways in which you can change.
  • Structure eases interaction and permits touch.
  • Structure seeks to prevent things from overlapping.
  • Structure seeks to be organized into patterns.
  • Structure bears loads and stresses.
  • Structure yearn towards efficiency.
  • Structure seeks to persist.

Parts

  • Wholes are made of Parts
  • Sums are greater than the Whole of their Parts

Energy

  • Energy in its pure form consists of barely restrained potential.
  • Energy seeks to make things happen.
  • Energy seeks to activate and drive things.
  • Energy seeks to expend itself and dissipate.
  • Energy is dangerous and volatile.
  • Energy can be channeled and utilized.
  • Energy is easily shifted to other forms.
  • Energy is the best hope for the future.
  • Energy is the key to the world and its mysteries.
  • Energy is constant, influential, and powerful.
  • Energy is a valuable resource.
  • Energy is the heart of all technology.
  • Energy must be contained and stored to be of use.

The Infinite

  • The Infinite is inexhaustible.
  • The Infinite stretches out forever.
  • The Infinite defies arithmetics.
  • The Infinite inspires awe and confusion.
  • The Infinite contains all possibilities.

The Impossible

  • The Impossible defines what you cannot do.
  • The Impossible exalts you when accepted.
  • The Impossible crushes you when struggled against.
  • The Impossible protects from hubris.
  • The Impossible can't bend or break.
  • The Impossible is an absolute law of existence.
  • The Impossible stands and shall not move.

Weird things

Phlogiston

  • Phlogiston goes unnoticed by the senses.
  • Phlogiston gives structure and stability to things.
  • Phlogiston is produced by life.
  • Phlogiston flees from fire and heat.
  • Phlogiston strives towards the heavens.

Ghosts

  • Ghosts are insubstantial.
  • Ghosts cannot be proven or disproven.
  • Ghosts are frightening and creepy.
  • Ghosts live out the memories of the dead.

Goblins

  • Goblins are weird and abnormal.
  • Goblins lurk in the unseen places of the world.
  • Goblins have certain supernatural powers.
  • Goblins follow the laws of stories, not those of physics.
  • Goblins can be made, with some effort, from humans.

Dragons

  • Dragons instill awe.
  • Dragons are sinful.
  • Dragons protect their homelands.
  • Dragons are giant reptilian monsters.

The Fourth Age

  • The Fourth Age is everything's birthright.
  • The Fourth Age is artificial, chrome and plastic, and electronic dreams.
  • The Fourth Age is born from dreams.
  • The Fourth Age is built from natural law.

Kaiju

  • Kaiju destroy cities.
  • Kaiju are exaggerations of themselves.
  • Kaiju are immense and powerful.
  • Kaiju have a tenuous relationship with ordinary physics.
  • Kaiju point out the folly of men.
  • Kaiju are driven to clash.
  • Kaiju have unexpected special powers.

Fairies

  • Fairies live in their own magical realm.
  • Fairies are whimsical tricksters.
  • Fairies don't belong to heaven or hell.
  • Fairies all have magic powers.
  • Fairies have great power over nature.
  • Fairies are slight or small.
  • Fairies are endlessly charming.

Muses

  • Muses possess divinity.
  • Muses inspire.
  • Muses seek genius.
  • Muses are Ethereal.
  • Muses have knowledge of arts and sciences.

Pseudo-estates

Favors from [Deceiver]:

  • …sate the secret yearnings of your heart.
  • …improve your life.
  • …are never forgotten
  • …come with strings attached
  • …are crafted from the misfortune of others.

Victories over [Deceiver]:

  • …are victories over [Deceiver].
  • …are costly and pyrrhic.
  • …are fleeting and temporary.
  • …have unforeseen consequences.
  • …are still so, so very sweet.

The Dark Tidings of [Deceiver]:

  • …precedes the coming of [Deceiver].
  • …removes all hope from those that listen to them.
  • …speaks of the sins you need to answer for.
  • …justifies all of his actions, when you think about it.
  • …depicts [Deceiver] as he wishes to be depicted.
  • …summon dark clouds, dreadful storms, the ominous ringing of bells and general panic.
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