Fate (Concept)

Fate is a powerful force, and affects all entities capable of action save for the gods themselves. However, what is commonly thought of as one guiding hand is in truth better measured as two constantly-opposed forces vying for supremacy over the world.

Strictly speaking the force most people think of as 'Fate' is only one half - that of Resonance. Resonance can be thought of as the 'proper path' - upon the genesis (usually birth, but sometimes something else - say, the animation of a corpse or first activation of a golem) of an Active Force (or more simply, Actor), a Resonance Thread is generated. When once looks into the Vault of Fates and sees the countless trails of light weaving and bending through the massive chamber, what they are looking are the Resonance Threads of various beings.

A Resonance Thread chronicles every action that an Actor will take until their termination (usually this is death, but some Actors remain on their Thread even after they perish). Most threads cross with countless others along their length, in an impossibly intricate web. Now, if Resonance were the only force of Fate, all Actors would proceed along their designated tracks without deviation.

However, there is an opposing force - Dissonance. Dissonance is a collective term for the various forms of destructive interference that disrupt Resonance Threads. Sentience is the largest source of Dissonance - a mind is capable of making highly unpredictable choices, and sometimes these choices can clash jarringly with the ones that 'should' be made. Other forms of Dissonance include divine interference and the blind chance of non-Actor objects (such as weather, or even the falling of dice). Even simply interacting with a high-dissonance Actor can meddle with a Thread that otherwise have been undisturbed.

The Vault of Fates abhors large buildups of Dissonance, and generally tries to correct them when able by making minor adjustments to surrounding Threads. This is why 'fighting fate' can result in a feeling akin to being railroaded - the rouge Actor is assaulted by countless tiny happenings that attempt to steer them back on course. If the Dissonance is great and persistent enough however, the Vault will yield and Restructure that Actor's Resonance Thread to accommodate their new path. This is done not because of any sympathy for the Actor's cause, but simply because the Dissonance has reached the point that correcting it would cause effects worse than letting it take an alternate course. Of course, not all Threads are equal. Some Resonance Threads are extremely resilient to Dissonant interference, while others can shift seemingly at the flap of a butterfly's wings.

Whatever its course, Fate does not like being viewed by or interfered with by Mortals. Any Actor that somehow enters the Vault itself is immediately obliterated, as the Vault deems the termination of such a deeply Dissonant Thread preferable to the problems they will surly cause if allowed a chance to mess with fate hands-on. The penalties for fortune-telling or other such oracular activities that operate by consulting Resonance Threads are less severe, but are always draining in some way.

Lastly, it is worth noting that a terminated Actor's Resonance Thread remains even after they have long since stopped acting. It acts as something akin to a flawed recording - displaying the existence the Actor was intended to lead. These Threads are much easier to access than 'active' ones, and lack the grievous repercussions that consulting a active Thread brings.