Authority#
i am become ponder, destroyer of logic
Spoiler
Article contains spoilers: Full Series
Narrative Stack#
The concept of a narrative stack is that each world is a fictional narrative in a higher world in the narrative stack, and creates more worlds lower down in the narrative stack in the forms of fiction.
Authority#
Authority, in universe, is a form of metaphysical energy, granting the ability to affect the narrative. To write the canon, or to influence it. I have the ultimate Authority, being the Narrator in story and the creator of the series. idi0cy also has a bunch of Authority, as he canonically exists inside COA and is my ideas man. So do my other friends.
Characters within the story can also obtain Authority, of a much lesser quality. This lesser Authority is simply there because they are interacting with the canon. They may spend that Authority to achieve reality-bending. The amount of lesser Authority an action costs is based on how much it affects the narrative. If you do something but that won’t end up changing the narrative, it will take only a minuscule amount of Authority, even if you’re moving a planet.
Now, how is this relevant to the story? Obviously, I want to have it explained by idiocy.inc or whatever, but I also want the characters to be able to obtain some. The thing is, that's impossible. The characters cannot have Authority, because they're inside of the story. I'd have to somehow make them exist here on Earth. So, there are two ways to incorporate this.
A) Lesser Authority. The ability to affect another lower narrative stack.
B) Some kind of representation of them here. Maybe an AI bot, or having somebody sub in. Maybe they could make a deal with the Narrator or some other distributor of Authority. A condition of that deal would somehow make something that isn't them here in this narrative plane be them and make sense canonically.
C) COA is actually two narrative layers down. The layer directly below this one is a mirror, and is inhabited by the Narrator as a character. In that layer, I can screw around with reality all I want.
The Narrator#
In COA, I am the Narrator. Arbiter of all things in that world. In universe, the Narrator is not akin to a deity - they are as immortal and invincible as I wish it, but cannot comprehend things like and Elder Immortal can. However, they do control absolutely everything in that world.