The Comprehensive and Concise Guide to Ranking by Chezly Falthrick
A Summary of Rankings and Their Associated Milestones
> Conceptualization and Concept. Two terms which I use often and are often referenced by scholars and experts alike. They are the words which we most often use to describe difficult to explain levels of understanding and formation of such. While there are certainly more complete explanations available by more qualified experts, I will attempt to summarize what we are referring to.
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> The simplest and least esoteric meaning of the word conceptualization: To conceptualize, is to form a concept. In this case, the definition is generally sufficient. The lack comes from the root itself. Therefore, we must explore said root more completely.
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> Concept. The word itself is defined as an abstract or generalized idea. Perhaps a thought, an intellectual whim. A concept is a fleeting thing which might become concrete, but when initially pondered it is ephemeral and incomplete.
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> Of course, this is not truly what is meant by myself, scholars, climbers, and experts. Concept is simply a word of convenience as the most accessible word which carries a sufficient-enough intent with it to provide the uninitiated a basic idea so they are not lost within a conversation or instructional manual. What we truly mean when referencing a concept is an ever-expanding and never truly solid understanding. The understanding can be broad, or it can be targeted. In either case this is refereed to as a concept.
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> An insight is a solidified facet of one or more concepts. Insights must be expressed in a being’s primary method of communications before they stabilize and integrate within the being’s soul nexus. The concepts behind those insights may change as experience is gained and lessons are learned. Eventually, the insight itself may be expanded or refined to better reflect the being’s conceptual understanding.
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> Similarly, when we describe conceptual links, or linking insights conceptually, we are expressing the requirement to have an internalized understanding of how two or more insights connect. This link itself is a concept which will continue to change and expand. The concept may strengthen or weaken over time as the being’s experiences either enforce or disprove their concept.
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> The potential for a concept to weaken is an important component, and one of the reasons why the terms ‘concept’ or ‘conceptualization’ are used in place of more concrete words. Unlike an insight, a concept can be incorrect and still function. Much of the time, the importance of a concept is that the being believes and holds to it, not that it aligns with reality.
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> This is why a being might have a powerful concept, but be entirely unable to form an aligned insight from it. The fault is not a lack of conceptual strength or understanding, but rather a lack of alignment with reality.
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> The word “conceptualization” itself is evocative of its true meaning but incomplete. I find it appropriate and hope that you, dear reader, can now find the humor in it as I do.
Naomi
Observation Deck, Passenger Hold, Wesnmen’s Coallition Trading Barge
39-01-29E
Watching the pinprick starlight in the distant snap rapidly from one position into another was hypnotizing. The effect was caused by the mana aspect which was currently fueling the ship’s travel enchantments. Rather than blurring in a constant stream as some sci-fi movies and shows had suggested, the needle-point sized distant lights snapped from one position to another. It was odd, as the previous position of the stars seemed to slowly fade out rather than suddenly vanishing. After the first day, Naomi had spent a lot of time here watching the stars. Three days with nothing really to do had left her with plenty of time to stare.into the beauty of the cosmos and think.
“Staring out again, eh Prism?” One of the handlers asked, the goblin’s voice gruff and amused. He’d introduced himself as Sharvey. He’d been the one to inform herself and Jonah about the odd phenomena when Jonah had asked.
“No.” She answered simply. Sharvey had a habit of asking inane questions, which Naomi thought might be worth being annoyed at. She wasn’t, but she thought it might be appropriate. She wasn’t sure whether she was pleased or annoyed that Jonah had convinced her to use their pseudonyms instead of real names while they traveled. It seemed unnecessary.
A snorting guffaw came from close to her right. Turning to look, Naomi saw the grey skinned goblin staring up at her with shining eyes. “Yer right pretty when yur mean, ya know?”
“I’m not mean. I just answered your question.” She didn’t avert her gaze from the dull yellow of the goblin’s eyes.
Another of those mucus-fueled laughs, Sharvey’s staple reaction, “Ya lied though! Eet were obvious the answer’s yes!”
“If the answer is obvious, maybe don’t ask.” She turned her eyes back to watch the flickering emptiness dotted with light. Hints of substance. Sharvey had likely known she’d be here and came looking. She’d mentioned before that she wanted to see what approaching their destination would look like. Given the announcement that said approach would be today at some point, she’d made her way up to observe. She wanted to know what it looked like for the vast emptiness to suddenly be ‘full’ as far as she could see.
Hawk, cough, guffaw, “Like aye said! Bea-u-tee-full wheyn all strict’n such!”
Ignoring the goblin, she continued to watch. Not just with her eyes, but with her soul. Since she and Jonah had boarded the trading barge on Chaven’s dime, they’d both learned quite a lot about how normal ‘beings’ advanced. That included learning that they could mold and alter their own soul nexus, forming them to best match what they wanted from it.
The adage, “The soul forms the mind, the mind informs the soul” had been the answer to several questions. Had someone fed her the line on Earth, she’d likely have ignored it as superstition or spiritual nonsense. Now, after she’d gained the ability to quite literally feel and even see into her soul, it was actually quite helpful. Some of the talks she’d had with Kooth, the eager gobliness who had tackled Skeetha moments after the trading envoy’s raft had landed on Savriâ, had helped explain the saying.
The soul could exist without the mind, a certain and unambiguous truth that was apparently studied in detail and accepted. The fact that people could choose to replay, or return, to their tutorial was strong evidence by itself. The UICI’s interpretation of the ‘Universal Law of Return’ translated the option to wipe ones mind and personality and return to the tutorial quite clearly. It was a translation which was supposedly had a certainty score over 99%.
Noticing that her mind was meandering, wandering uncharacteristically, Naomi checked her soul nexus and noted the gentle permutation of grey-blue and violet floating within. The two distant stars in the distance had grown slowly over the weeks as she fed them. She ensured the bright pink spec which had originally been born with her second insight was fed first, anything she took started there. The burning teal light of sorrow which had appeared when she’d lost Willow, and thought it had been for good, got less. It would likely lead to problems if that became the dominant center-piece of her soul nexus. She’d known that instinctively, but after conversing with Kooth that instinct had been solidified into certainty. She did not want her primary emotion to become sorrow, which is what she suspected it would be if she grew it faster than anything else. Instead, she fed her first star. The one which represented her determination.
“Weeee-yll” Sharvey’s voice broke into her meditation, snapping Naomi back to the present. A flare of red and black, anger and… An emotion she’d yet to name. “We’ve only gat summ’t lak some hours’r so till’n we get the’r. Y’know ay’ve been thankin’… You’n me? We cud be one hell’a team! Tell-yu-wut, ay’ll lettcha smooch’n me a bit. N’exchange ay’ll showyu summ’r o thu ropes, whatchu think?”
It look several seconds for Naomi to parse the weirdly thick accent. She wasn’t even sure why the UICI kept accents. It’d be easier to understand everyone if it was just standardized. Once she did parse his proposal, though, she turned to stare at him. She knew her eyes were normally unsettling. In the source-less gentle white light which permeated the observation deck, she knew the dark hazel of her irises would be closer to black. Combined with the emotionless expression her face naturally held when she didn’t actively force it to show some emotion, she knew it wasn’t pleasant for others when she stared at them. At least, Jonah and Kooth had both mentioned it. As far as she could tell, Sharvey enjoyed the attention.
Forcing a sigh out, she turned back to stare into space, “No.” She answered simply.
“Ahhh y’kna what’tu say tu make ma h’art beat fast’r!” Glancing at the now clearly leering goblin, Naomi reached out with a tendril of her mana and passed it over him. He dropped to the ground, unconscious. Burgundy and blue flickered through her soul. She watched the colors curiously. Since her original insight, her emotions had slowly been replaced with this sensation of color instead. It was interesting. She had begun categorizing what the colors meant, as they generally didn’t come with any recognizable emotion as she’d felt before.
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In some ways, she was even less emotional than on Earth. In others, she was much more. She’d noticed that the flashes of colors came with an increased frequency, yet she rarely actually felt the emotions they represented other than when they were extremely prevalent. She had felt sorrow when she’d learned of Willow’s death. She’d felt joy and determination when she spoke her second insight. Other than that, the colors were substitutes.
The interesting thing was that she didn’t mind. When she noticed the colors, she would sometimes decide to have her body respond accordingly. Bright blue and violet? Giddy joy and excitement, smile. Dark purple and soft blue? Chagrined amusement, wince. Grey and burgundy? Wicked curiosity, smirk.
It was somewhat formulaic, but she would figure it out. Now that she’d both accepted her emptiness, determined to change it, and had time to adjust, she felt fine. The struggle, the push and pull of wanting something to fill that void was still there, but hushed. A dull ache, rather than an unpredictable wave of either apathy or despair. It was a step in the right direction.
The soft hiss of the airlock opening caught Naomi’s attention and she turned to see who else was coming to join her. Seeing Skooth, she nodded and waved toward Sharvey, “You should talk with your colleague about sexual harassment. He’ll get himself hurt.”
She intended the words to come out as dry and amused. For her, they did. Though she wasn’t sure Skooth could detect that. By and large, goblins seemed to be extremely emotional and over the top. It seemed they also had trouble understanding what others were feeling if they didn’t respond in kind. It sent waves of soft blue through Naomi to see Jonah excited to understand what others around him were feeling, but also have no idea how to communicate back in kind. He was far too reserved to project what he felt as strongly as the goblins tended to.
This extreme was demonstrated as Skooth sprinted toward Naomi and the unconscious goblin beside her. Her already large eyes were wide with worry, massive ears twitching in panic. Sliding to a stop with her small knees bumping into her downed colleague, she quickly checked his vitals. Finding him alive, she let out an explosive sigh which was loud enough to have come from someone three times her size.
“How could you! What’d you do to him, Prism?! You know he’s a little simple, but that’s no excuse at all for being such a bullious hoodlum!” The little goblin woman wagged a finger at her from the ground, her entire arm and torso bouncing cartoonishly in line with the gesture.
Waving dismissively, Naomi answered with what she hoped was an imperious tone, “I just wore him out. Nothing to worry about.”
She thought the imperious tone wasn’t very successful, as it didn’t prevent the next ten minutes of questions.
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Skooth poked Jonah frantically in the ribs as he held himself up against the observation deck, still laughing after almost a minute. He’d come in to find Skooth grilling Naomi and complaining about her ‘excessive reaction’. When he asked what the questions were about, the head trader explained what she’d come in on and Jonah had lost it. At first, she thought he’d been laughing about the misunderstanding between them. It was classic sit-com comedy, she supposed.
Then he spoke through his gasps as he swatted ineffectually at Skooth’s prodding fingers, “It’s -HAH- just… Of all the girls to harass -HAH-HAH- N… Prism? She -HAHAHA- is great -Heh-heh- but not really a man-slayer, you know?”
Flares of crimson and burgundy. Choosing not to let the emotions show on her face, Naomi instead stepped forward and shoved Jonah hard. He fell on his butt with a very satisfying, “Ow!”
“That’s rude.” She announced.
Jonah’s face flushed, “Eh… Sorry? Didn’t think you’d care?”
“It would still be rude if I didn’t care.”
Standing, Jonah’s mirth appeared to have finally subsided as he brushed himself off. Until he looked up and saw her expressionless face. Then he lost it again.
She narrowed her eyes at him in warning.
He held up his hands and forced himself to calm again. He avoided looking at her, “It’s just… Goblins are all so expressive. He must have thought you were the coolest person ever! You know how teens think people who think everything is dumb are cool? Like that! But…” He waved his arms in an expansive gesture, “More! It’s just…” He snickered again, “He probably thought you were doing it on purpose.”
Naomi put a frown on her face as she thought. Skooth looked between them, then asked with clear surprise in her voice, “You do not intentionally conceal your emotions?! I have known many humans who do! They have not been so skilled, but I assumed….” She stepped back and looked Naomi over again, right foot tapping rapidly on the floor as she did.
Shaking her head, Naomi just shrugged, “It’s a birth defect, or something.”
“No no no, NO! All birth defects are fixed after the tutorial!” She stomped petulantly. “That’s impossible I-” Her voice cut off as the entire ship suddenly shuttered, throwing all three of them from their feet.
The first shocking quake was followed by another, then another. Three came before Naomi had a chance to stand by pressing herself against the observation window. Once up, she stared out at the three ships floating in the distance. Bright lights coalesced in front of them, then flashed forward impossibly fast. The ship rocked again and Naomi found herself on her back gasping for air. That one had somehow seemed worse.
An alarm began to shriek and Skooth was up and pulling on Jonah’s hand as Naomi sat up again. She shook her head and slowly forced herself to her feet again. This time she tried to distribute her weight better, not leaning on anything. Willow probably wouldn’t have fallen.
Shaking off the unhelpful thought, she turned to Skooth, “Do you know what’s going on?”
The goblin was staring out the window, wringing her hands. She was surrounded in an orange haze which was slowly coalescing into what looked like armor around her. She shook her head frantically, “No! Well, not exactly. Someone’s attacking us. Don’t know why! Stay here while I find out, passengers can’t leave the hold!”
Glancing at Jonah, she saw him frowning after her. Likely thinking the same thing that Naomi was. “Why does she always say that when she leaves?”
He was not thinking the same thing she was. Flashing their ‘party up’ signal, Naomi then moved to follow Skooth’s hasty retreat from the room. Jonah’s voice popped into her head a moment later, as he fell into step with her, “What’s the plan?”
“We need to know what’s going on. Hopefully we can help them keep us from being killed.”
Silence followed the pair as they entered the gravity lift which allowed easy traversal between the ship’s ten levels. Jonah tapped the number “1” and gravity pulled them both down. The descent was rapid until it wasn’t. As they neared the bottom, their momentum simply vanished and they touched the ground as if they’d fallen slow as a feather. The first time they’d descended by gravity lift, Jonah had ended up on his face due to his flailing. The memory brought waved of bright blue and gold.
The lift’s good hissed open as the airlock disengaged and they strode forward. While neither of them could know exactly where Skooth had gone, they knew she’d have to start here. There was only one connection between the passenger hold and the rest of the ship. There was a relatively thin hallway connecting level one of their hold and the central piece of the space vessel. They’d also seen two more parts as they’d approached on the weird flying raft which ferried them up from the planet’s surface. It’d been impossible to know which ship they were headed to until they reached it, given the dozens floating around in orbit.
The answer had been the largest and least cohesive of the vessels. While many of them had been sharply shaped, with clear weaponry, the one they ended up on looked more like a haphazardly constructed mess of buildings coated with metal and tossed into space. There were at least four distinct parts they’d seen. They they’d only seen the interior of two: the central one which they had passed through to board, and the passenger hold.
Getting to the end of the hallway, Naomi pushed her hand up against the little panel which opened doors. It flashed red instead of green and beeped sharply. Clearly denying them entrance. “Annoying…” She sent to Jonah.
They both stared at the door for a bit, before looking at each other helplessly. “I could take its sturdiness and we could break through…” Naomi offered.
Jonah shook his head frantically, “If we get out and nothing is broken we can make something up about getting lost. If we literally break their door, we’ll definitely get thrown into the brig or whatever they call space-ship-jail.”
It was a fair point. Yet, Naomi wasn’t quite willing to give up yet. She really wanted to know what was going on. Before she could decide on any course of action, a familiar voice called behind them in a high pitched nasal voice. “Friends friends! You are looking for answers as well, yes?”
Chaven seemed to be calmly curious. Naomi nodded at him, “We were trying to figure out how to get through without breaking anything.”
The avron’s sharp beak bobbed as he needed in agreement. He gently pressed past them, pressing his wings out to firmly push them each aside. Approaching the door, he tapped his wing tip to the door opening button. It beeped red and the bird man’s calm demeanor fell away.
“What, what?! No no! I was assured I have full access to the ship! Full, full!” His wing slapped against the reader several more times before he stopped, breathing heavily and glaring.
Just as suddenly as his anger heated, it cooled and Chaven spoke in a cold voice, “The contract has been broken. Yes, yes.”
He looked toward Naomi and Jonah, “Will you assist me, me? I must enforce the law, the contract has been broken. Yes, yes.” The previously high voice had dropped several octaves, it sent waves of sickly green through her.
“Help you, what, punish whoever made the contract with you for breaking it?” Jonah clarified uncertainly.
“Yes, yes. The captain of the ship is the highest authority, authority. He must, must, pay the price dictated or be held in contempt of contract. Yes, yes.” The doubling of words somehow felt menacing now, rather than endearing. The up-beat and excited tone Chaven generally spoke with was gone, replaced by a slow and serious delivery which displayed none of the chipper eagerness which seemed to be his normal state of mind.
“If you open the door, we’ll help you find the captain.” Naomi agreed.
Chaven kept an eye on Jonah, until he nodded his own agreement. Then he waved and a UICI window appeared in front of each of them.
IMMEDIATE CONTRACT OFFERED
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You, Naomi, agree to assist Chaven in finding the captain of the Wesnmen’s Coallition Trading Barge (Unit 5534-12-33, alias Margondey).
Breaking this contract will result in a fine of 10 R0-EB.
Completing the contract will be rewarded by 1000 R0-EB, 100 R1-EB, and 10R2-EB.
While this contract is in progress, you will benefit from Chaven’s ability Contractee’s Competence.
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Accept/Decline
Naomi accepted. She noticed Jonah looked uneasy and sent, “It’s fine, it’s a simple thing to help with. There’s no chance we break it. We don’t have to help him imprison anyone or anything, just find the captain.”
Nodding silently, Jonah clearly accepted. Chaven clapped his wings together, causing a surprisingly strong gust of wind, but little noise. He bobbed his head eagerly, “My thanks, thanks! Now, let us get started, started!”
Turning back to the door he spoke, “Enforce contract: Page six, section A.2, subsection 1.1” Having spoken, Chaven tapped his wing against the button again. This time it opened.
“Next time you say something will be simple, I’m running away.” Jonah’s voice came in Naomi’s mind, his exasperation coming through loud and clear.
In front of them stood four humanoids with bright red skin and tusks. They were each at least seven feet tall and every inch of them appeared to be made of rippling muscles. Two of them held a sword and shield each, while the other two sported what were clearly guns of some kind. The closest two were those armed for melee.
They both grinned wickedly as they stepped forward, “Ah good, looks like the new thralls are already doing their jobs.”