Prime and the Virtual World

The Universal Matrix is the idea that organizes Virtual Adept thinking and practice. This vast matrix is first and foremost information. Most of what seems like the world is actually data arrays, information configured and displayed.

From this perspective, it may at first seem easy to describe how Prime works. A common claim is that Quintessence is the energy source that powers the Universal Matrix. By channeling said energy, power grids or batteries can be created and used to facilitate changing or stabilizing other data arrays.


That version isn't wrong. However, it misses an important aspect of VA thinking. VAs are nothing if not hackers, and one of the central notions of hacking is mutability. Things are arranged one way, but they can be, often easily, arranged another. To evoke a more philosophical language, most VAs are antiessentialists; we reject the idea that there is a real, ultimate, underlying reality.

This makes understanding and manipulating space a snap (as space is easily manipulated by reconfiguring arrays... because it is an array!). But it is a nasty poser when taking up the question of Prime. How does an antiessentialist account for quintessence? To call quintessence the power source for the Universal Matrix is to say that the Universal Matrix is the real, ultimate, and underlying reality. And maybe it is, but it probably isn't. Not only will most VAs fight you if you go around peddling authoritative reality, we also are wary of calling the cart the horse. Yes, we change things by flipping bits, but that doesn't make flipping bits the ultimate truth of the universe.

So, quintessence is a sticky subject. Yes, in some ways it is an energy source, as it enables arrays to be unfolded out of the Universal Matrix. You need energy to do that.

But quintessence is also data. All Juice has encrypted data built into it. That encrypted data is hidden to most, but mages, technologists, and even some second rate palm readers can read the data written into quint. So quintessence is also data.

Just to further complicate matters, quintessence is also programming. VAs change the universe by hacking or reprogramming it. There are VA methods of creating quintessence that involve puzzling out programs, and those programs are themselves quintessences. Some programs are simply more vibrant processes than others.

So is it energy, data, or process? Hell if I know. But I'll tell you what it ain't. It isn't the foundation of reality. Some folks will lecture or preach about how flowing quintessence makes the material and spiritual universe (you know who you are). But if it were, how could people in said material and spiritual universe create quintessence? That makes no damn sense. If there is some supernal world of quintessence, it is merely another data platform that interacts with other platforms (mental, material, spacial, etc).

Some folks may give me crap for not answering the question. But let me promise you this: if anyone ever gives you a definitive answer to the question of what the ultimate universe is made out of, they are also trying to sell you something. I run a library. I'd sell more subscriptions if I stuck with the "Quint is data" version. But the VA in me can't. Nobody will ever corner the universal reality market, not even the greatest library ever.