Thoughts about False History

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Rock of the Fraternity
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Re: Thoughts about False History

Post by Rock of the Fraternity »

TheArcaneWeirdo wrote: Sat Feb 07, 2026 1:09 pm
Rock of the Fraternity wrote: Fri Feb 06, 2026 10:57 am It's a good thing most people in the Demiplane are unaware of this.
Conversely, someone like "S" takes comfort and pride in being able to say "At least I know that I am real." Even if they'd need to add a "now" at the end.

But yes. Mass depression, mass hysteria - all kinds of horror would be unleashed if people at large learned about the existence of False History.

Still, I could see the revelation as the source of a stoic mindset and philosophy. "Reality is unreal, but we need to deal with it. We abandon the lies of the past, create our reality now and march on."

Or perhaps some would say: "If the past is not real, then who's to say the present or future are real? If we do not possess objective reality, then the subjective narrative we inhabit is all the reality we have, and we should carry on living as we always have."
Reminds me of how I reached the conclusion that an existentialist mindset is the bane of Cosmic Horror. Cthulu doesn't get to decide whether or not my life are meaningful; I create my own meanings, and I don't care what eldritch horrors think about them.
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Re: Thoughts about False History

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TheArcaneWeirdo wrote: Sat Feb 07, 2026 11:59 am

I suspect Mr. Dungeons and Mr. Dragons consider this an advantage. An all-purpose excuse for continuity issues.
That is true. Still annoying. Especially since I am an historian.
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Re: Thoughts about False History

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Rock of the Fraternity wrote: Sat Feb 07, 2026 12:14 pm

In-game, it allows the Dark Powers to sow confusion and chaos, which possibly amuses them.
Indeed. Since The Mists are more neutral and inpersonal, in the Mistworld, this is another reason I do not have false history.
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Re: Thoughts about False History

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Mistmaster wrote: Sun Feb 08, 2026 9:10 am
TheArcaneWeirdo wrote: Sat Feb 07, 2026 11:59 am

I suspect Mr. Dungeons and Mr. Dragons consider this an advantage. An all-purpose excuse for continuity issues.
That is true. Still annoying. Especially since I am an historian.
TBH, that's where I was getting to. Historical research is frustrating enough in the real world, where records of the same reality can be contradicting. Imagine trying to do it in a world where reality contradicts itself.
I was thinking about a story where an archeologist is trying to figure out the (mostly false) history of a domain and slowly driven to madness by the layers over layers of false leads and contradictive information until he comes to the conclusion none of this can be real.
"Not all that is violet is deadly, and not all that is deadly is violet." - "S", Gaz IV, page 13.
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Re: Thoughts about False History

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May I direct you to the Darkon article at the front of this last QtR, and not because it is mine. The complete absence of a history would likely drive more people mad than those that delve and discover the inconsistency, and I look at false history as a complete blank slate for creating within this world. The framing fiction of that article in particular points to the false history being the perfect place to hide the truth since the educated dismiss it out of hand.
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Re: Thoughts about False History

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Strahdsbuddy wrote: Tue Feb 10, 2026 9:43 pm May I direct you to the Darkon article at the front of this last QtR, and not because it is mine. The complete absence of a history would likely drive more people mad than those that delve and discover the inconsistency, and I look at false history as a complete blank slate for creating within this world. The framing fiction of that article in particular points to the false history being the perfect place to hide the truth since the educated dismiss it out of hand.
That was really nice and there are bits of it I would inser gladily in an eventual rewriting of my Darkon, one day.
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