Looming
Introduction
A Looming is the term to describe the social, political, and economic outcomes emergent from extremely strong influences or potent habits?. These habits may arise spatially, chronologically, logically, or informationally, may range in subtlety and in permanence, and often can derail an entire timeline from running its natural course. Loomings only occur amongst beings above a certain power-potency threshold, which is usually only noticeable around the power range of a primordial.
History
Antivian Era
The first recorded usage of the term "Looming" is attributed to Qherza I: Question?, the first in a two-volume series by Qherrexes Terva?. Qherza I, written in 3,547, is one of an endless number of historical texts which came out during the War of Great Death?. Qherza is, for its time, remarkable in its analysis of influence empires? and potent habits. Up until Antivis?, the space had seen very little in the way of unified states, let alone potent habits or influence empires which really began with Antivis. Arconecei? was the first entity to have a conflicting potent habit, one which was not only able to interfere with Antivis', but overtake it entirely.
The effects of Arconecei's Looming was immense, being that it was an Arcite with a somewhat strange affinity for violence, deaths increased, wars increased, more pessimistic works were released, and there was a great societal reversal away from unified states. The solidity of the Garden? also began to falter. Upon its arrival, the Garden had become so politically unstable it collapsed almost immediately. Within Qherza I, Terva discusses the possible ways influence empires could function, citing the mannerisms of the Garden and Antivis as supporting factors. The later Qherza II: Answer?, written as a post-war response to unanswered considerations from the first volume in 3,992, also expands further on the Looming of Arconecei. Qherza II talks on Terva's estimations for its effective time and space ranges, as well as laying the foundation for understanding post-mortem habit decay?.
Old Empires Era
By around ~4,000, Antivis and Arconecei had both lost their influences, and Ouroboros? and Osporos? had appeared to fill this influence void. Through the course of the Forewar?, and the ensuing Primordial War?, the cultural idea of a "Looming" had been fully explored, but the usage was rare, due to the associated rarity of such powerful beings.
Serkosian Eras
By the time Serkos' ascendancy had begun, a new wave of thinking was appearing to answer certain unanswered questions from earlier eras, primarily a set of events which was believed to be artificially skewed by unknown forces. These unknown forces began to be distinguished as even more mighty than Arcites, such that whatever they were, they operated on a much more fundamental and yet powerful level. The only known, dated instances of such a force were both related to Am-Heh?, the first appearance very briefly in 17, and then later in 3,858 where it killed Arconecei. These two instances have been traced to over six thousand unique events which are artificially skewed. Despite these, a large number of these instances would go unanswered until the later pulses of the Serkosian Eras, with the appearance of the Prophet Norn, the Argands?, 16?, and the awakening of Serkos. These became known as Heavenhearkener? Loomings.
Types
Drains and Blooms
The most common distinction between types of Loomings is the way in which they affect space, that being positively or negatively. Blooms are positively associated Loomings, they often bring with them great stability, low death tolls, less warfare, less on average violence, and more imperial unity. On the other hand, Drains are Loomings which have negative associations. Drains are the complete reversal of Blooms and are often the death of entire civilizations, movements, races, or empires.
Stationary and Roaming
All Loomings occur due to the potent habit of their associated being. These habits have a radius around the being which informs the effective radius? for their Looming. As a being moves, the radius of their potent habit moves with them. This creates a roaming effect, where the Looming events travel as the user travels. Often a being's potency is too weak and too short-reaching to have a Looming effect, but around the power level of a primordial these influences become semi-permanent to the environments they impress upon. When a being such as a primordial moves great enough distances, the movement of their potent radius can be felt. This causes the roaming phenomenon.
At a greater scale, roaming can be hard to detect. This is because the effective radius is so immense that even for cosmic standards it is no longer easily discernable at this scale. Beyond this, greater potent habits tend to be more fundamental and subtle in nature and this can also make determining the decay of the potency at any point very difficult. This all culminates in the appearance of a stationary Looming event, which is often referred to as a "pseudostationary Looming."
Finally, truly stationary Loomings are something commonly seen with constructs or objects which remain in some way unmoving. This could be in space, in time, or informationally. Often times a Looming is only stationary in one aspect. If it is stationary in space, it is usually not in time, as it carries through the timeline's progression, this is a form of roaming. A purely stationary Looming is a unique situation where the Looming is not moving physically, it only occurs at one instantaneous quantum of time and has no informational spread beyond its instantaneous effect (which is redundant in 0-Norm? discussion, as informational spread in this case is directly limited by the prior limitation of time).
Subtlety Ranges
Subtlely ranges refer to the breadth-to-depth ratio of different potent habits and their associated Loomings. Generally speaking, there are three "constructible ranges" which define most Loomings.
The first range is generally defined as greatly impactful on a spatial level, such as spatial distortion, molecular scrambling?, motion stuttering?, and various other chaotic reactions to powerful beings. This also includes more emotional, social, or chemical influences, which is more common in primordial habits.
The second range is more impactful towards the timeline as well as the space. As the Loomings enter the second range category, they also become more similar to ranges of like potency. This is simply because the beings become so powerful that their potency does not simply impress upon time and space in a way which is more uniquely fitted to the being's form, but often simply becomes entropic and purely chaotic. A primordial of the first range may increase the aggression within a range of space, but there is a much greater chance that a creature such as an arcite of the second range may simply overrun the entire range of space with pure chaos, its very presence inciting wars, peace treaties, movements, riots, deaths, births, creation, and destruction all simultaneously.
The third range is the range which we expect to see the most subtle of changes. Ones which, without extensive systemic analysis could simply be passed off as the progression of time and space as usual. Norn is a common abuser of such timeline subtleties, and at multiple points is the culprit behind huge divergences off of the rigid line? of Serkosia?. Furthermore, these changes may even occur at a logical or informational level such that the timeline and space are affected, but only indirectly through the manipulation of the actual guts of the system?.
Other proposed ranges have come into existence as well, the most commonly used being the "fourth range" which essentially postulates that the Conjecture of Living Reality? is a natural extension off of one being with enough power to manipulate the infinite number of baselines? which divide reality into logical norms?, and that the very existence of systems, souls, and constructs in general are due to the impression of this proposed being upon these baselines. The extensionality would therefore lie in the fact that this one proposed being would hold the power to manifest all fathomable, unfathomable, and perhaps even unreal things within the baselines it affects. If we assume this set of baselines to be all baselines, what we come to is the conclusion that this proposed being is a god?.
Antiranges have also been proposed in order to classify the ability of an entity to erase its own presence in a system, but these are less commonly used on account of the inability to detect what has erased itself from existence.
Examples
Examples of Loomings exist for practically every being of a certain power threshold, and even considering subtleties and self-limiting, beyond a certain point, a Looming becomes an irrefutable certainty within 0N and debased logics?. Despite this, the term "Looming" is truly only a culturally relevant term within the history of Serkosia and adjacent universes, so we will really only look at the Loomings for these Serkosia-related entities.
The Antivian Looming was perhaps the most important, largely because it led to the foundations for the concept, and really provided one of the earliest truly local Loomings of Serkosia. Under the Antivian Looming, a large number of wars came to a close in the Garden Wars? period. Similarly to this was the sharp decline in petty war in decidedly Antivian territory, which without the presence of opposing high primordials was largely unimpeded and boundless in all directions. The Antivian Looming ended with it's dormancy at the hands of Arconecei.
The earliest Looming phenomena accounting for more global examples can be attributed to Arcochronitos, Am-Heh (and by extension Vascalatra?), as well as trace interference by Rein? despite the fact Norn would not appear for a decently long time after this. Arcochronitos' pulse and ultimately the entire standardization of time in many cosmic cultures comes down to the potent habit of Arcochronitos, which largely meant it was an integral societal example of a Looming. The interference of Vascalatra and Rein was not completely clear until the rapid spike in Heavenhearkeners towards the end of Serkos' presence in the universe, which meant that there was likely a large cascade effect in which the presence of one Heavenhearkening signature spawns the presence of new ones with similarly massive and subtle Loomings.
The Trimordial and Theos Loomings were pretty standard by all senses of the term, because they largely had the effect which would necessarily be described by their primordials' respective influences. The only exceptions would perhaps be the Tarivin, Nicovian, and Ouroborne Loomings, all of which had especially key roles to play in the catalyzation of multiple Serkos era wars and events. The Ouroborne Looming was likely responsible passively and actively for the extent of the Revelation Wars?, which were largely characterized as a set of proxy wars to the Ouroboros-Osporos War?. The Nicovian and Tarivin Loomings somewhat go hand-in-hand, as they both become most important simultaneously and within the main radius of each other. The appearance of both came later than the eldest three Theos and the Trimordials, and especially the Nicovian Looming can be said to be partially responsible for the self-feeding cycle of state and social destruction in the Second Corpse War, which fed back into the Nicovian Looming and simply added to its momentum. As for the Tarivin Looming, this rapid growth led to Tarivinius' cascading from the local universe Hoq Prime?, which resulted in the entire catalyzation of the Theos Subwar?.
Finally, what are usually considered the "spotlight" Loomings of Serkosia are likely Nicoraqel, post-Old-Empires Norn, and of course Serkos. Nicoraqel's Looming, known as the Death Bloom, was so devastating to space, societal structures, and cultures that it quite literally ended two thirds of the spatial population indiscriminately, collapsed nearly half the existing states and empires, and also completely destabilized hundreds of areas within the physical space itself. This immense loss of life, destruction, and malevolence largely came about within the merger of its Looming over chronological and chronologically adjacent topological phenomena, with the malevolent spatial influence of Nicovis. Even before their hybridization, much of the inherent societal representation of Nicoraqel as an emotionally-apathetic force of death was charged by the ever present secondary Looming of Nicovis' malevolent influence as a high primordial. Neither Nicoraqel nor Nicovis wished to possess a tangible state or organized dominance, practically just unleashing their influences in an unbridled and disorganized fashion, one such that neither's Looming really clashed with the other, but one such that it also conveniently created the sociopolitical state of space which would ultimately lead to their hybridization and the tenfold nightmare multiplication of both Loomings' effects upon hybridizing at the conclusion of the Theos Subwar.
The Prophetic Looming is extremely subtle until right about the Principle Wars? in the 12,400s. Norn would begin the process of slowly manipulating the state of space through visions, mental manipulation, and at times direct tweaks to entities soul schemas which could mean the literal rewriting of their being such that they would align closer to the "prophecy" of Norn. Norn's Prophetic Looming became most obvious in 14,335 with the disappearance of Serkos and the subsequent Fall of Freedomwrath? a pulse later. This resulted in the massive mythologization of Serkos, the creation of the Serkosian Legacies, the radicalization of these Legacies and the Auctorates?, the latter of which would also go through a series of schisms and two wars, as well as the formation of Serkos Game. Norn had been capable of orchestrating these actions such that the Serkosian Legacies?, Auctorates, and Game would all feed off of each other, radicalizing each other against the Sarzola Regime? and Auctorates?, while also quickly becoming pipelined into the ideologies of the Corpse and Nicoraqel, which would not have even been spread if it had not been for the simultaneous manipulations of Norn against Serkos within the Arcite Circuit? (leading to this Second Folly?). What we can then conclude is that the Prophetic Looming, although subtle, is responsible for the Fall of Freedomwrath and subsequent Great Chaos, the restructuring and turmoil of the First Corpse War, the Auctorate War, and the Second Corpse War, and even the Kaiser-Scalar Wars which only happened because of Norn's dehybridization of Serkos V?. Norn's Looming thus becomes a great case study of how subtle Loomings are often the most foundational to all that occurs around them.
Lastly, the Serkosian Looming or the Blood Looming is considered the most important of all the Loomings viewed, because it is the progenitor of the cascade responsible for the appearance of the Theos Primordials, Am-Heh, and Norn, as well as responsible for the direct manifestation of these past entities and the Argands?, Brain of Vascalatra, and Memory of Vascalatra. It led to the rapid growth of the complexity within the political stage, guided a lot of public discourse and philosophy after the Fall of Freedomwrath, and led to the transpiration the Crownclasms? following Serkos' return.
Microloomings
Microloomings is a term to describe Looming-adjacent phenomena within weaker beings such as how the works of Shakespeare drive discourse even until the modern day, or how a content creator may reach millions across the entire world. These phenomena follow similar informational exchange principles but at such a weak scale they often only drive a single subsect of their relative society or species.
Out-of-Lore
Development
The concept of Loomings was formalized in October 2024, and expanded upon since. However, the origin of a Looming can be traced to the concept of potent habits, which still have a great importance within the lore and in relation to Loomings. Potent habits, being a development of the science lore have less of a natural placement within the story (as most science concepts are made to be realistic, they can elude superficial audiences in their intended complexity). Loomings became a good way to bridge both the science-to-story gap and the plot-to-symbolism gap, as is made clear below.
Symbolism
The Loomings are particularly important within the process of bridging the symbolism to the literal plot. Loomings allow for a physical sense of foreshadowing, such that even with the addition of actual literary foreshadowing, it could be explained as an actual process happening within the in-lore spaces at any time.
Loomings are also extremely important in adding more cultural depth to the cosmos. In the quest to create a unique but in someway relatable setting, Loomings are a good distinguishing element which we do not have ourselves, the gut feeling of great societal change manifested as a physical happening upon space, time, or logic.
Specific Loomings also hold their own significance. The Loomings of Antivis, Faeratas, and even to an extent the Theos Primordials, show examples of stability eras, when stable influences impressed on space, values of loyalty, life, or benevolence. These Loomings primarily serve to enhance the symbolism of other elements, The reign and Looming of Antivis are the prelude to the events concerning Arconecei, the reign and Looming of Faeratas and the Looming of Qalhades both serve to reflect the greater potency of the other entities of conflicting influence, such as Ouroboros and Osporos for Faeratas, or Nicovis for Qalhades. The Loomings of Osporos, Ouroboros, Tarivinius, and Nicovis show examples of low catalysts, beings whose reigns and Loomings represent great changes, but also act as the gears for even more influential and core elements of the story's symbolism. Finally high catalysts, such as Serkos, Am-Heh, The Prophet, and Nicoraqel serve as agents for the greatest changes within the narrative's direction, and their Loomings are capable of informing the atmosphere of each being's intentions and personality.