So in my setting there's a 'sea' of data...but...

[Naruzeldamaster]

It's somewhat similar to what some religions call ethereal plains or what have you, doesn't matter what wordage you use (Sea of Data, Spiritual sanctuary, Nirvana, etc) but what matters most is how you use it. And why it exists in the story to begin with?

It's main reason to just 'exist' is to explain that all physical and spiritual things in my setting, at their 'core' are data. When things 'die' they return to it etc ya know how that bit goes.
But, that's the only super interesting thing about it. Until I get to the visual side of things at least.

Some characters, like the gods of the world, can 'read' the data, and the gods in particular can read data from 'other' worlds (including ours) This is how the 'master' of the gods orchestrates all the events of the story. (even then she only passively nudges things in the right direction, rather than 'acting' on them directly)

There is a clan of mages called the L33T Clan that are kind of 'tied' to the sea of data. But only in so far as, they know how to 'read' and make use of the data within the sea itself.
(And yes, I am seriously calling them the L33T clan but the sea of data part isn't why they're called that lol The evolution of how the modern 'L33T' Clan became that name is silly and outlandish, but that's the joke. They aren't meant to be taken as a serious threat until they decide to 'give ya a few lumps' as it were.)

But other than those details about the sea of data, I am unsure if it has to be a 'thing' narratively, or not? Not every element of a story has to be a part of the narrative. But I feel like this concept is too 'big' of a thing to just 'be' there, ya know?

Also minor note: The Head Goddess is called Deus Ex, and her younger sister is called Machina, and yes, that part of the joke is sorta irrelevant to their names.

 

[Queshire]

A sea of data, eh? Fun. There's a few ways I can see you taking this.

First off is the sea of data as a location characters can visit. Digimon's pretty famous for having a bunch of kids wind up stranded in the digital world, but I'm also reminded of the Megaman Battle Network where in addition to the general cyberspace you can enter the computer running an oven or an air-conditioning unit or something to deal with the viruses infecting them. In your case I suppose that'd be something like a god or powerful mage carving out a chunk of the digital sea to turn into their own personal sanctum.

Next is the digital sea as a source of monsters. Digimon is most famous for sending kids in the digital world, but they've also had seasons where the digimon have appeared in the real world and caused chaos. You can do all sorts of fun things with demons when their form is just a result of a string of code instead of the result of biology.

Third is as a source of powers. You've already got that with your L33T Clan, but you can play around with how much you want to lean into that. Maybe there's a form of magic that amounts to basically running a program through the Sea of Data.

I'm reminded of the character Silver Wolf from the game Honkai Star Rail. Frankly she'd probably be a good candidate for the L33T clan as is. By hacking an enemy she can alter their weaknesses up to the point of making a fire monster weak to fire or forcibly teleport them.

Finally, if you want to keep the Sea of Data relatively distant and maintain its mystique you can have it be a goal. Say that a villainous mage wants to gain control of the Sea of Data beyond what even the gods have; to have access to all of reality's data and be able to freely control it.

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

A sea of data, eh? Fun. There's a few ways I can see you taking this.

First off is the sea of data as a location characters can visit. Digimon's pretty famous for having a bunch of kids wind up stranded in the digital world, but I'm also reminded of the Megaman Battle Network where in addition to the general cyberspace you can enter the computer running an oven or an air-conditioning unit or something to deal with the viruses infecting them. In your case I suppose that'd be something like a god or powerful mage carving out a chunk of the digital sea to turn into their own personal sanctum.

Next is the digital sea as a source of monsters. Digimon is most famous for sending kids in the digital world, but they've also had seasons where the digimon have appeared in the real world and caused chaos. You can do all sorts of fun things with demons when their form is just a result of a string of code instead of the result of biology.

Third is as a source of powers. You've already got that with your L33T Clan, but you can play around with how much you want to lean into that. Maybe there's a form of magic that amounts to basically running a program through the Sea of Data.

I'm reminded of the character Silver Wolf from the game Honkai Star Rail. Frankly she'd probably be a good candidate for the L33T clan as is. By hacking an enemy she can alter their weaknesses up to the point of making a fire monster weak to fire or forcibly teleport them.

Finally, if you want to keep the Sea of Data relatively distant and maintain its mystique you can have it be a goal. Say that a villainous mage wants to gain control of the Sea of Data beyond what even the gods have; to have access to all of reality's data and be able to freely control it.

Funny you specifically mention Silver Wolf, she sort of 'spawned' the idea of the L33T clan, though more indirectly than literally 'oh shit that's cool lemme try that' although one of the stories main characters is more directly inspired by her somewhat. She is pretty different personality wise, if we're referencing star rail, she's probably closer to Quinque, but has a similar vibe/energy to Silver Wolf if that makes sense. She kind of has half of both of their personalities, and is even more of a lazy bum than Quinque lol (don't mess with her when she gets motivated though, she's quite good at what she does)

Regarding the Knowledge the L33T clan gained from the Sea of Data:
The L33T clan use wordage from our world (specifically gamer lingo, meme quotes, and other silly nonsense) for their incantations. Because their incantations and the actual phrases of the incantation are separate (something most other clans haven't come close to figuring out yet) they can spout the most nonsensical spell language and as long as the context works, the magic energy reacts to their intent/skill level with magic and does what's needed to be done. Quite often, in a comical way. While most other clans have to deal with the wordage of the incantation being explicitly magic-sounding (think early harry potter spells, back when you could actually pronounce em lol) the L33T clan can use whatever words they want. Which results in not only confusion for their foes, but also getting their spell out much quicker. The only catch is that they have to find words/phrases that fit the context for what they're doing. Like you can't go 'Hydropump DPS Go BRRR' and expect to see a fire or lightning spell come out, no matter how many times you tried.

I do like your idea of the L33T clan casting their spells by running a program through the sea of data, but still needing the classic incantation steps, since at the end of the day, that'd be something only they can do. Since they created the technology for it.


I like the idea of the Sea of Data being a goal, there's always a 'bigger bad' in JRPG's, pulling the puppet strings to (usually) claim paradise of whatever or the legendary epic mc guffin thingy of doom, to re shape reality in their image. If I had a dime for every time an RPG did that plot thread and did it excellently/fun way, I'd have two. (which admittedly isn't very often but still odd it happened twice) If you have any sense of writing chops and story beats, you can call this shit from orbit within ten minutes of (Most) games depending on how much lore dumping they do.

Heck, maybe I can make the Sea of Data a mystery even to the gods themselves. Like, they know it exists, they can use it however (especially the Head god and her younger sister) but they have even less knowledge about it than the mortals.

If I had to link the concept of the Sea of Data to anything video game related (as in a source of inspiration) It'd probably be Irminsol from Genshin Impact. That's the closest 'realm' in fictional media that is kind of what I'm going for (Although I sort of had the idea for sea of data a bit before I actually went there in game and saw what it was like)

 

[pmmg]

I not really sure what the question is. Is it simply that you are asking if the sea of data should be actual or not?

I suppose if you are giving the perspective of the Gods, well....wouldn't they know? If not...then can it not just be mysterious?

There is a school of thought currently about AI. It goes something like...

AI will grow in perfection. It will gain knowledge and soon be able to see things that are true amidst all of our false beliefs. It may be even able to solve problems, to the point that we can just let it run and do its thing and we just get out of the way and let it solve. As AI grows, it surpasses human ability and starts to unlock the answers to mysteries we cannot fathom. In time, it comes to replace and become God.

As the AI unlock things, like time and space, it becomes timeless. And in doing so, it is able to be a created God today, and of the past and future. So a cycle appears.

Man creates AI
AI becomes God
God is not bound by time
AI has created man.

This sounds like it might fit with the Sea of Data. Cause a Sea of Data is nothing more than 1's and 0's in a computers brain.

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

I not really sure what the question is. Is it simply that you are asking if the sea of data should be actual or not?

I suppose if you are giving the perspective of the Gods, well....wouldn't they know? If not...then can it not just be mysterious?

There is a school of thought currently about AI. It goes something like...

AI will grow in perfection. It will gain knowledge and soon be able to see things that are true amidst all of our false beliefs. It may be even able to solve problems, to the point that we can just let it run and do its thing and we just get out of the way and let it solve. As AI grows, it surpasses human ability and starts to unlock the answers to mysteries we cannot fathom. In time, it comes to replace and become God.

As the AI unlock things, like time and space, it becomes timeless. And in doing so, it is able to be a created God today, and of the past and future. So a cycle appears.

Man creates AI
AI becomes God
God is not bound by time
AI has created man.

This sounds like it might fit with the Sea of Data. Cause a Sea of Data is nothing more than 1's and 0's in a computers brain.

I did go on a tangent in the first post. Basically the question is: I know why it exists (lore wise) but I am unsure if I should have it have a more important role in the actual narrative of the story taking place in the setting. The reason I am unsure is because it's sort of an all encompassing thing like the Midi-chlorians from star wars. Ya know, the physical space of the sea of data is like the force (but an actual place you can visit, like Nirvana etc) but at it's core it's 1's and 0's from multiple realities kind of congealing and meshing together, influencing the reality that the story takes place in.

One of the gods gets chided by the sub-head god (the head god's younger sister) for actually physically swimming in it. Because absorbing too much data from it is bad for you (prolonged exposure drives even gods insane) and she questions why the L33T clan is allowed to poke and prod it. She explains to the wind spirit that the L33T clan don't actually ENTER the sea of data, since to them it's kind of a 'holy' place, and that they explicitly seek information useful to them. Then questions why thousands of hours of funny cat videos is useful information for a god to have.

Going with the Sea of Data being an AI suggestion, I think that could work, and the events of the story are just the AI trying to solve complex problems that the beings of the setting can't fathom. That also makes it easier to make the sea of data a 'goal' for the antagonist, they could easily believe that the sea of data is some kind of object (and not a literal sea) they can claim to obtain dominion.

 

[Prince of Spires]

It depends on the story you want to tell, as always. And as such, it's impossible for us to answer. Of course, it also doesn't need to be a once and done answer.

Your midichlorians is a good example. In the original Star Wars trilogy, there was only "the Force", which was this mysterious, all pervasive thing that some people could tap into. Only when episodes 1-3 came out did we get a closer look at the "physics" behind it.

Another example is in Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive series, there is this alternative world, which is hidden behind the one populated by humans. In the first book, it's only vaguely hinted at, and the reader gets a few glimpses. Only in later books, when it starts to play a bigger role, does the reader see more, with the characters eventually visiting the place.

On the other hand, there are plenty of examples where the ethereal plane plays a big part in the story and is crucial, or where it's completely unknown.

 

[SirenSon117]

I have a similar dimension to your "sea of data" I call The Digital, which is a space created by the resonance of computer's across the Multiverse connected by the Ley Lines. The Digital exists as an archive and a backup of everything that exists, and people can "attune" to the Digital by Digitizing their Souls and becoming Cyborgs. My sort-of counterpart to your Leet-Clan would be the Alcrest Empire, a massive Magitech Empire spanning multiple galaxies containing a hivemind called "The Alcrest Mainframe" which the members of the Empire link to via robotic brain parasites. The Empire is named after it's founder, a brilliant roboticist named Diana Alcrest who used Magitech based on The Digital to become The Silver Star Emperor, the goddess of technology and The Queen of The Digital. The Sliver Star Emperor has one goal, "make everyone love me". She is the only one to have even scratched the surface of The Digital is capable of, despite Datacraft, Silver Wolf style hacker magic like what OP is talking about, existing and being very popular among Mortals. I would say what makes my Datacraft different from other "hackermancy" is that Datacraft doersn't just use digital information but all types of information, including DNA, memories, sensory data, the written word, and so much more. Perhaps your "sea of data" in being a cluster of information, also isn't just 1s and 0s but also these other more analog types of information. Magic then in your world is simply manipulation of information, speaking forth words of power to create a desired effect!