Enthusiastick Blog

Part 2: Names of Magic

So in keeping with my teeth-gnashing frustration at the abuse of the name Seraph by the Matrix trilogy, I’ve decided to focus a little bit of attention today on naming and terminology for this game. To that end the game itself has been given a name. It is at least tentatively to be titled HouseLight.

The following is a developing Glossary of Terms for both the game and it’s world:

• Avatar: one of those Iconoclasts whose mind has been freed to the truth, allowing them access to true independence and greater-than-human powers when operating inside the Shell. (E.g. Morpheus and Trinity.)
• Daemon: an artificially intelligent program which possesses an Icon within the Shell. (E.g. the Oracle, the Merovingian.)
• Host: a Daemon who serves the Source, with an eye towards order and control. As with angels, the plural is the same as the singular (a host, the host.) (E.g. Agent Smith.)
• Icon: a consciousness manifesting in the Shell. Most Icons are human minds, bound to a world of false material and blind to the lie. (E.g. random people in the Matrix.)
• Iconoclast: a human Icon which has begun to question the lies of the Shell. Only Iconoclasts may become Avatars. (E.g. Neo at the beginning of the Matrix.)
• The Shell: simulated reality, the false world constructed to imprison human souls and limit their potential. (E.g. the Matrix itself.)
• The Source: refers to both the demiurge which constructed the Shell, but also the truth that underlies the Shell which Avatars can perceive. (E.g. the Architect, although that’s debatable.)
• The Trunk: any of a number of simulated realities accessible from the Shell but which obey different natural laws. (E.g. the train station.)

Clever people will notice that these are all some sort of double entendre, although some are better than others.

A typical game arc would therefore concern player-characters who began as Iconoclasts, came into conflict with the Host, became Avatars, confronted the Source and changed (or destroyed) the Shell forever.

I have also begun to broaden the scope of my influences on the game; while it remains a primarily Matrix-themed RPG, I have begun mentally borrowing elements from Carnivale and the Amory Wars. It remains to be seen whether this is a positive development or will lead to the idea losing focus and becoming a sprawling morass of unfinished ideas.

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