A Letter

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<<set $header to "To whom it may concern">> The winds rattle the windowpanes of the attic in which you are forced to overwinter. It is not a terrible place to live, but these are difficult times for a traveler. You have a letter to write, and an old typewriter on an ancient desk. <<link "Insert the paper.">> <<run $("#link1").toggle()>> <<run $("#text1").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<run $("#link2").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>>The paper is inserted correctly into your typewriter. <<link "Test the keys.">> <<run $("#link2").toggle()>> <<run $("#text2").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>><<typesim " Here lies the body of this world, Whose soul alas to hell is hurled. This golden youth long since was past, Its silver manhood went as fast, An iron age drew on at last; 'Tis vain its character to tell, The several fates which it befell, What year it died, when 'twill arise, We only know that here it lies. ">>\ <<run $("#link3").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<replace "#text2">>\ Here lies the body of this world, Whose soul alas to hell is hurled. This golden youth long since was past, Its silver manhood went as fast, An iron age drew on at last; 'Tis vain its character to tell, The several fates which it befell, What year it died, when 'twill arise, We only know that here it lies. Thoreau. You always liked his poetry. The keys work. <</replace>>\ \<</typesim>> <<link "Sit down">> <<run $("#link3").toggle()>> <<run $("#text3").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<run $("#link4").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>>The chair is uncomfortable. You would be a fool to be surprised, and you are no fool. <<link "Begin">> <<run $("#link4").toggle()>> <<goto "Letter">> <</link>>

// ADDRESS  <<widget "add">> <<for _i, _name range _args>> _args[_i] <</for>> <</widget>> // DATE  <<widget "date" container>> _contents <</widget>> // SIGNATURE  <<widget "sig">> <<if _args.length gt 1>> _args[0] _args[1] <<elseif _args.length is 1>> _args[0] <</if>> <</widget>>

<div id="interface"> <div id="header" data-passage="Header"></div> <div id="left" data-passage="Left"></div> <div id="passages"></div> <div id="right"></div> <div id="footer" data-passage="Footer">footer</div> </div>

$header

<<link ''>> <<run Engine.backward()>> <</link>>  <div class="nav-container"> <ul class="navMenu" id="nav"> <input type="checkbox" id="nav-menu" class="navMenuToggle" name="navMenuToggle" /> <li class=" nav-li ms-li5 ms-li-last"> <<link ''>> <<run UI.saves();>> <</link>> </li> <li class=" nav-li ms-li4"> <<link ''>> <<run UI.restart();>> <</link>> </li> <li class="nav-li ms-li3"> <<link ''>> <<run Dialog.create("Credits").wikiPassage("Credits").open();>> <</link>> </li> <li class="nav-li ms-li2"> <<link ''>> <<run UI.settings();>> <</link>> </li> <li class="nav-li ms-li1 ms-li-first"> <<link ''>> <<if Dialog.isOpen("key")>> <<run Dialog.close()>> <<else>> <<run Dialog.create("Quick Guide", "key").wikiPassage("Key").open();>> <</if>> <</link>> </li> <li class="nav-main"> <a> <label class="navMenuToggle-lbl" for="nav-menu"> Δ </label> </a> </li> </ul> </div>  <<link ''>> <<run Engine.forward()>> <</link>>

<ul> <li> Sugarcube Epistolary/Prose UI Template & Epistolary Formatting Widgets by <a href="https://lapinlunaire-games.neocities.org">Lapin Lunaire Games</a>. </li> <hr>   </ul>

You can interact by typing, or by holding any key. Press "M" to pull up the settings menu. Template Credit to Lapin Lunaire Games "Pellicule" Epistolary https://lapinlunaire-games.itch.io/pellicule Poem is "Epitaph to the World" by Henry Thoreau Typing sim widget credits to Chapel's Custom Macro Collection (v2.11.1) https://twinelab.net/custom-macros-for-sugarcube-2/#/

<<set $header to "Late Spring in Venice">>  <<set $take to "Curtain Up">>

<div id="titleCont">''<<include "Title">>'' <<include "Tagline">> By <<include "Author">> <div id="splashLinks"> <<link "Start" "Start">><</link>> ✦ <<link "Start (without typing)" "Start (without typing)">><</link>> ✦ <<if (Save.browser.auto.isEnabled() and Save.browser.auto.has()) or (Config.saves.maxSlotSaves gte 1)>> <<link "Load">><<script>>UI.saves()<</script>><</link>> ✦ <</if>> <<link "Settings">><<run UI.settings()>><</link>> ✦ <<link "Credits">> <<run Dialog.create("Credits").wikiPassage("Credits").open();>> <</link>> </div> </div>

An interactive letter-writing experience or, the Observer and the Observed. Press Q for help

To Whom It May Concern

Constantine

Hi! Thanks for downloading my Sugarcube Epistolary/Prose Template. Below is a key to the colour-coded tags I've used to identify which passages should be edited with your own text, which are guides/references for the template's screenplay format widgets, and which should not be edited without deeper HTML/CSS/Twinescript familiarity. I've tried to make the template as plug-and-play friendly as possible, but please don't hesitate to leave a comment on itch or contact me (https://lapinlunaire-games.neocities.org/contact/) if you have any questions and the code comments aren't quite getting you the info you need. Happy Twining! -Jinx //--------------- TAG KEY ----------------- "Guide" (BLUE) Reference passage. "Edit-This!" (GREEN) Passages tagged "Edit-This!" contain text meant for you to change to your own project's information. "No-Touchy!" (RED) Editing not recommended without advanced HTML/CSS/Twinescript knowledge.

/* Choice variables*/ <<set _friend = ["oldest and dearest friend", "love of my life", "esteemed rival", "brother in arms", ]>> <<set _health = ["well", "as always", "ailing"]>> <<set _weather = ["these clouded winter skies", "this damnable country", "this frigid hellscape"]>> <<set _sorry = ["Forgive me.", "There is nothing to be done.", "I am sorry."]>> <<set _math = ["mathematical methods", "occult logarithms", "novel madnesses"]>> <<set _history = ["A coup in Bohemia", "The fall of an empire", "The invention of new medicines", "The death of a mother", "Your own death", "The falling of a single leaf", "The rising of the Sun"]>> <<set _home = ["Southern France", "my homeland"]>> <<set _digress = ["Do I digress...?", "(I have heard that the telescope was a masterwork inspired by the study of von Utzschneider, of the last century. No matter. I find it disturbing in light of new discoveries, that the nature of a telescope is to warp distant starlight to human ends.)"]>> <<set _stars = ["strange, flashing stars. ", "lights of unimaginable size.", "distant colours.", "darkness beyond darkness.", "magnificent solar storms."]>> <<set _nothing = ["no more exceptions", "nothing new", "nothing at all"]>> <<set _years = ["three years past", "a lifetime ago, it seems"]>> <<set _tech = ["The Greenwich Mean of timekeeping", "Pocketwatches", "Vast libraries, holding the census data of every citizen of London and Paris", "The brass type of the printing press, flattening language into metal and repetition", "Chemical study, bottling color itself without any connection to the fruits and flowers of the field"]>> <<set _facsimile = ["reflection", "facsimile", "broken twin", "child’s drawing"]>> <<set _universe = ["-", "- which is the universe"]>> <<set _fraction = ["...", " is to reduce the complexity and variety of the Man.", " is to kill a fraction of the Man."]>> <<set _fool = ["You old fool", "As if striking a name from a census would strike a man from the Earth? Preposterous flights of fancy you send to me from your addled mind", "Are you quite well? You frighten me with this talk"]>> <<set _hour = ["-", "- we speak not of the turning of the living Earth, but of an hour"]>> <<set _scribe = ["artistry", "flow", "penmanship", "history", "life"]>> <<set _truth = ["true horror", "truth"]>> <<set _winnow = ["the varieties of historical experience", "the world", "we"]>> <<set _crown = ["of France", "either of Britain or of France", "yet"]>> <<set _gain = ["personal", "public", "ideological"]>> <<set _mad = ["-", " after the style of Guy Fawkes to storm the ivory towers", " to burn Alexandria on every continent", ". Our allies in the cause could sabotage memory of all kind where’er it may be found", ". All men could raise arms against Scholarship", ". Children could throw stones at learned men", ". We all, all could fall into a noble savagery for the sake of the world", ". Perhaps we will live in peace amidst the animals as in the more fanciful writings of my countryman Rousseau"]>> <<set _fear = ["I fear it will never be enough.", "I am afraid."]>> <<set _trumpet = ["sounding of the Trumpets of Ignorance", "end", "fruits of our actions, in whatever form they may reveal themselves to be"]>> <<set _sword = ["...", ". In these cursed days we have only the sword. "]>> <<set _fitting= ["Fitting, is it not?", "Fitting, is it not? I intend to spit out the Fruit of Knowledge, and partake once more of the Tree of Life."]>> <<set _close = ["I can only hope.", "I can only hope that all manner of thing shall be well.", "I can only hope that all manner of thing shall be well. God help us."]>> <<date>>The 12th of January, 1899<</date>> <<add "█████ ███████" "████████ ███ " "█████████ ███████ ███████" "██ ██████" "███">> <<link "I will open my letter in the most classic way. I cannot reveal his identity.">> <<run $("#link1").toggle()>> <<run $("#text1").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<run $("#link2").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>>To Whom It May Concern, <<link "He must know that I have been careful enough. I do not wish to frighten him.">> <<run $("#link2").toggle()>> <<run $("#text2").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>> <<typesim "My oldest and dearest friend, I write to you from a location I fear to put to pen. If all occurs according to my plan this letter will come to your hand by a chain of accomplices- if all occurs according to a kind Providence, it will arrive unintercepted. You will know if a strange meddler has changed my words- I am using the third system we discussed when last we met.">>\ <<run $("#link3").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<replace "#text2">>\ My <<cycle"$friend" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _friend>><</cycle>>, I write to you from a location I fear to put to pen. If all occurs according to my plan this letter will come to your hand by a chain of accomplices- if all occurs according to a kind Providence, it will arrive unintercepted. You will know if a strange meddler has changed my words- I am using the third system we discussed when last we met. <</replace>>\ \<</typesim>> <<link "Ah, but he is so dear to me indeed. I wish I could write about more pleasant topics.">> <<run $("#link3").toggle()>> <<run $("#text3").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>><<typesim " I write to you not for ordinary social ends, for I know your health is well, your children lively, and your estates prosperous. It would be far sweeter for my heart to speak to you long and kindly of sunlit days, to reminisce, but I have no sunlight in my study at present. The news I carry matches only the blackness of these clouded winter skies. I have discovered a terrible implication in the course of my work at the Académie which shall affect us all, Frenchmen and Englishmen alike. My tale is long. Forgive me. ">>\ <<run $("#link4").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<replace "#text3">>\ I write to you not for ordinary social ends, for I know your health is <<cycle"$health" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _health>><</cycle>>, your children lively, and your estates prosperous. It would be far sweeter for my heart to speak to you long and kindly of sunlit days, to reminisce, but I have no sunlight in my study at present. The news I carry matches only the blackness of <<cycle"$weather" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _weather>><</cycle>>. I have discovered a terrible implication in the course of my work at the Académie which shall affect us all, Frenchmen and Englishmen alike. My tale is long. <<cycle"$sorry" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _sorry>><</cycle>> <</replace>>\ \<</typesim>> <<link "Cannes.">> <<run $("#link4").toggle()>> <<run $("#text4").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>><<typesim " The observatory at Cannes had found something most peculiar, last winter. They believe it to be a system of astrology that actually works to predict the future, using the most modern of mathematical methods. A coup in Bohemia can be predicted using an equation of 800 lines, compared against logarithmic tables of the variance of lesser stars… it is a difficult calculation, they tell me. ">>\ <<run $("#link5").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<replace "#text4">>\ The observatory at Cannes had found something most peculiar, last winter. They believe it to be a system of astrology that actually works to predict the future, using the most modern of <<cycle"$math" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _math>><</cycle>>. <<cycle"$history" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _history>><</cycle>> can be predicted using an equation of 800 lines, compared against logarithmic tables of the variance of lesser stars… it is a difficult calculation, they tell me. <</replace>>\ \<</typesim>> <<link "Focus, Marie-Capucine. The observatory is merely background.">> <<run $("#link5").toggle()>> <<run $("#text5").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>><<typesim " I digress from the point that I attempt to explain. The astronomical research done in Cannes is brilliant. The learned professors and understudies (many fine young women and men among them) observe the night sky through a colossal telescope aimed above the rolling countryside of Southern France. Do I digress? The Cannes observatory was the first to assign strict classifications to the most detailed and modern scientific measurements of the stars. They classify the arrangement, brightness, and magnitude of the heavens themselves according to a system of their own design. ">>\ <<run $("#link6").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<replace "#text5">>\ I digress from the point that I attempt to explain. The astronomical research done in Cannes is brilliant. The learned professors and understudies (many fine young women and men among them) observe the night sky through a colossal telescope aimed above the rolling countryside of <<cycle"$home" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _home>><</cycle>>. <<cycle"$digress" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _digress>><</cycle>> The Cannes observatory was the first to assign strict classifications to the most detailed and modern scientific measurements of the stars. They classify the arrangement, brightness, and magnitude of the heavens themselves according to a system of their own design. <</replace>>\ \<</typesim>> <<link "It was... March, I believe, that the problem arose.">> <<run $("#link6").toggle()>> <<run $("#text6").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>><<typesim " They noticed a discrepancy in their documents in March of 1896, three years past. The stars varied immeasurably to the first keepers of the observatory, as they toiled to collate historical records of astronomers past. They confined this variation to scientific classification of types, but there were many exceptions in the form of strange, flashing stars. ">>\ <<run $("#link7").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<replace "#text6">>\ They noticed a discrepancy in their documents in March of 1896, <<cycle"$years" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _years>><</cycle>>. The stars varied immeasurably to the first keepers of the observatory, as they toiled to collate historical records of astronomers past. They confined this variation to scientific classification of types, but there were many exceptions in the form of <<cycle"$stars" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _stars>><</cycle>> <</replace>>\ \<</typesim>> <<link "The diminishment of the heavens.">> <<run $("#link7").toggle()>> <<run $("#text7").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>><<typesim " In our present day, the telescope, pointed at new regions of what would seem to be the same sky, now finds only stars that already conform to the defined types. New stars, new observations, and yet they only match the existing categories. We find no more exceptions. The degree of variation had decreased invisibly at some point since the founding of the observatory. ">>\ <<run $("#link8").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<replace "#text7">>\ In our present day, the telescope, pointed at new regions of what would seem to be the same sky, now finds only stars that already conform to the defined types. New stars, new observations, and yet they only match the existing categories. We find <<cycle"$nothing" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _nothing>><</cycle>>. The degree of variation had decreased invisibly at some point since the founding of the observatory. <</replace>>\ \<</typesim>> <<link "Technology... examples...">> <<run $("#link8").toggle()>> <<run $("#text8").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>><<typesim " Our modern systems of calculation are thought merely to categorise the natural world. The Greenwich Mean of timekeeping… ">>\ <<run $("#link9").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<replace "#text8">>\ Our modern systems of calculation are thought merely to categorise the natural world. <<cycle"$tech" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _tech>><</cycle>>… <</replace>>\ \<</typesim>> <<link "I will make him to understand.">> <<run $("#link9").toggle()>> <<run $("#text9").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>><<typesim " There is a limit on what we can know; and perhaps more importantly, there is a limit on what we ought to know. I have discovered that Human minds do not merely comprehend the world, but in comprehension, contain a reflection of the world. This facsimile is imperfect. The imperfect image, as in a glass darkly, overthrows its true and elder brother. How much complexity has already been destroyed by Human attempts at understanding? What have we already lost? ">>\ <<run $("#link10").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<replace "#text9">>\ There is a limit on what we can know; and perhaps more importantly, there is a limit on what we ought to know. I have discovered that Human minds do not merely comprehend the world, but in comprehension, contain a <<cycle"$facsimile" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _facsimile>><</cycle>> of the world. This facsimile is imperfect. The imperfect image, as in a glass darkly, overthrows its true and elder brother<<cycle"$universe" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _universe>><</cycle>>. How much complexity has already been destroyed by Human attempts at understanding? What have we already lost? <</replace>>\ \<</typesim>> <<link "He must be made to understand.">> <<run $("#link10").toggle()>> <<run $("#text10").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>><<typesim " You may scoff and say to me, you old fool, but I beg of you to listen further. I do not say that the Man and his Name are the same, but that they are intertwined. To reduce the Name to a mere record of birth and death... A broken pocketwatch does not destroy time, but a functional pocketwatch simplifies time by the smallest of margins. ">>\ <<run $("#link11").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<replace "#text10">>\ You may scoff and say to me, "<<cycle"$fool" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _fool>><</cycle>>.", but I beg of you to listen further. I do not say that the Man and his Name are the same, but that they are intertwined. To reduce the Name to a mere record of birth and death<<cycle"$fraction" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _fraction>><</cycle>> A broken pocketwatch does not destroy time, but a functional pocketwatch simplifies time by the smallest of margins<<cycle"$hour" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _hour>><</cycle>>. <</replace>>\ \<</typesim>> <<link "There is a strange and dark irony in writing this on a mechanical type.">> <<run $("#link11").toggle()>> <<run $("#text11").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>><<typesim " To name a color is to assign the infinite tones and hues of the living world to a single spoken word, but the richness and timbre of Homer as he spoke of the wine-dark seas above the assembly was lost in the writing of his tales! The artistry of scribal copies was lost in the automaton of mechanical type! As of yet I speak only of self-evident cases, but the true horror of my theory lies in its extension. ">>\ <<run $("#link12").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<replace "#text11">>\ To name a color is to assign the infinite tones and hues of the living world to a single spoken word, but the richness and timbre of Homer as he spoke of the wine-dark seas above the assembly was lost in the writing of his tales! The <<cycle"$scribe" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _scribe>><</cycle>> of scribal copies was lost in the automaton of mechanical type! As of yet I speak only of self-evident cases, but the <<cycle"$truth" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _truth>><</cycle>> of my theory lies in its extension. <</replace>>\ \<</typesim>> <<link "Wretched fools.">> <<run $("#link12").toggle()>> <<run $("#text12").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>><<typesim " The Cannes observatory did not discover a scientific method to calculatively predict the future. They have created a scientific method that warps the future to cleave to their arbitrary calculations. The case is similar to their initial discrepencies of the stars- in their libraries, they have summation sheets of many kinds of events of History. As of yet in our undamaged present, there exist countless exceptions to their system. If they continue to use their invention to predict the future, the varieties of historical experience will winnow to match their unerring design. ">>\ <<run $("#link13").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<replace "#text12">>\ The Cannes observatory did not discover a scientific method to calculatively predict the future. They have created a scientific method that warps the future to cleave to their arbitrary calculations. The case is similar to their initial discrepencies of the stars- in their libraries, they have summation sheets of many kinds of events of History. As of yet in our undamaged present, there exist countless exceptions to their system. If they continue to use their invention to "predict" the future, <<cycle"$winnow" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _winnow>><</cycle>> will winnow to match their unerring design. <</replace>>\ \<</typesim>> <<link "Not that it matters.">> <<run $("#link13").toggle()>> <<run $("#text13").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>><<typesim " I can see no desirable solution to the fundamental intractable problem. I do not believe that the Cannes observatory has approached the crown, but it is only a matter of time before they apply their discovery for personal gain. Even if they do not, it is only a matter of time before another observatory discovers an analogous classification of the heavens. ">>\ <<run $("#link14").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<replace "#text13">>\ I can see no desirable solution to the fundamental intractable problem. I do not believe that the Cannes observatory has approached the crown <<cycle"$crown" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _crown>><</cycle>>, but it is only a matter of time before they apply their discovery for <<cycle"$gain" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _gain>><</cycle>> gain. Even if they do not, it is only a matter of time before another observatory discovers an analogous classification of the heavens. <</replace>>\ \<</typesim>> <<link "It seems ridiculous to put it to paper. I wish-">> <<run $("#link14").toggle()>> <<run $("#text14").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>><<typesim " Far worse, is the future case. If it is possible for the misunderstandings and irrelevant calculations of a single determined scholar to disperse out of Natural Philosophy into Nature herself, there exists a rot at the core of all Human endeavour. I could propose some mad scheme. ">>\ <<run $("#link15").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<replace "#text14">>\ Far worse, is the future case. If it is possible for the misunderstandings and irrelevant calculations of a single determined scholar to disperse out of Natural Philosophy into Nature herself, there exists a rot at the core of all Human endeavour. I could propose some mad scheme<<cycle"$mad" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _mad>><</cycle>>. <</replace>>\ \<</typesim>> <<link "I fear it will never be enough.">> <<run $("#link15").toggle()>> <<run $("#text15").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>><<typesim " I fear it will never be enough. ">>\ <<run $("#link16").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<replace "#text15">>\ <<cycle"$fear" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _fear>><</cycle>> <</replace>>\ \<</typesim>> <<link "Nothing to be done.">> <<run $("#link16").toggle()>> <<run $("#text16").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>><<typesim " We can hope only to delay the sounding of the Trumpets of Ignorance. I pray only that wiser men in generations to come will solve the problem of Reducible Complexity using peaceful methods... ">>\ <<run $("#link17").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<replace "#text16">>\ We can hope only to delay the <<cycle"$trumpet" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _trumpet>><</cycle>>. I pray only that wiser men in generations to come will solve the problem of Reducible Complexity using peaceful methods<<cycle"$sword" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _sword>><</cycle>> <</replace>>\ \<</typesim>> <<link "I'll have to be subtle about this.">> <<run $("#link17").toggle()>> <<run $("#text17").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>><<typesim " The location of our next meeting shall be the gardens which you once referred to as a Labyrinthine Eden, in our golden youth. The date shall be the birthday of your darling niece. Fitting, is it not? ">>\ <<run $("#link18").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<replace "#text17">>\ The location of our next meeting shall be the gardens which you once referred to as a "Labyrinthine Eden", in our golden youth. The date shall be the birthday of your darling niece. <<cycle"$fitting" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _fitting>><</cycle>> <</replace>>\ \<</typesim>> <<link "I've done what I little I can.">> <<run $("#link18").toggle()>> <<run $("#text18").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>><<typesim " I can only hope. ">>\ <<run $("#link19").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<replace "#text18">>\ <<cycle"$close" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _close>><</cycle>> <</replace>>\ \<</typesim>> <<link "Close the letter.">> <<run $("#link19").toggle()>> <<run $("#text19").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>><<typesim " Mlle Marie-Capucine Genet ">>\ <<run $("#link20").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<replace "#text19">>\ <<sig"Mlle Marie-Capucine Genet">> <</replace>>\ \<</typesim>> <<link "Seal the envelope.">> <<run $("#link20").toggle()>> <<goto "TitlePage">> <</link>>

<<set $header to "To whom it may concern">> The winds rattle the windowpanes of the attic in which you are forced to overwinter. It is not a terrible place to live, but these are difficult times for a traveler. You have a letter to write, and an old typewriter on an ancient desk. <<link "Insert the paper.">> <<run $("#link1").toggle()>> <<run $("#text1").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<run $("#link2").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>>The paper is inserted correctly into your typewriter. <<link "Test the keys.">> <<run $("#link2").toggle()>> <<run $("#text2").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<run $("#link3").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>> Here lies the body of this world, Whose soul alas to hell is hurled. This golden youth long since was past, Its silver manhood went as fast, An iron age drew on at last; 'Tis vain its character to tell, The several fates which it befell, What year it died, when 'twill arise, We only know that here it lies. Thoreau. You always liked his poetry. The keys work. <<link "Sit down">> <<run $("#link3").toggle()>> <<run $("#text3").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<run $("#link4").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>>The chair is uncomfortable. You would be a fool to be surprised, and you are no fool. <<link "Begin">> <<run $("#link4").toggle()>> <<goto "Letter (without typing)">> <</link>>

/* Choice variables*/ <<set _friend = ["oldest and dearest friend", "love of my life", "esteemed rival", "brother in arms", ]>> <<set _health = ["well", "as always", "ailing"]>> <<set _weather = ["these clouded winter skies", "this damnable country", "this frigid hellscape"]>> <<set _sorry = ["Forgive me.", "There is nothing to be done.", "I am sorry."]>> <<set _math = ["mathematical methods", "occult logarithms", "novel madnesses"]>> <<set _history = ["A coup in Bohemia", "The fall of an empire", "The invention of new medicines", "The death of a mother", "Your own death", "The falling of a single leaf", "The rising of the Sun"]>> <<set _home = ["Southern France", "my homeland"]>> <<set _digress = ["Do I digress...?", "(I have heard that the telescope was a masterwork inspired by the study of von Utzschneider, of the last century. No matter. I find it disturbing in light of new discoveries, that the nature of a telescope is to warp distant starlight to human ends.)"]>> <<set _stars = ["strange, flashing stars. ", "lights of unimaginable size.", "distant colours.", "darkness beyond darkness.", "magnificent solar storms."]>> <<set _nothing = ["no more exceptions", "nothing new", "nothing at all"]>> <<set _years = ["three years past", "a lifetime ago, it seems"]>> <<set _tech = ["The Greenwich Mean of timekeeping", "Pocketwatches", "Vast libraries, holding the census data of every citizen of London and Paris", "The brass type of the printing press, flattening language into metal and repetition", "Chemical study, bottling color itself without any connection to the fruits and flowers of the field"]>> <<set _facsimile = ["reflection", "facsimile", "broken twin", "child’s drawing"]>> <<set _universe = ["-", "- which is the universe"]>> <<set _fraction = ["...", " is to reduce the complexity and variety of the Man.", " is to kill a fraction of the Man."]>> <<set _fool = ["You old fool", "As if striking a name from a census would strike a man from the Earth? Preposterous flights of fancy you send to me from your addled mind", "Are you quite well? You frighten me with this talk"]>> <<set _hour = ["-", "- we speak not of the turning of the living Earth, but of an hour"]>> <<set _scribe = ["artistry", "flow", "penmanship", "history", "life"]>> <<set _truth = ["true horror", "truth"]>> <<set _winnow = ["the varieties of historical experience", "the world", "we"]>> <<set _crown = ["of France", "either of Britain or of France", "yet"]>> <<set _gain = ["personal", "public", "ideological"]>> <<set _mad = ["-", " after the style of Guy Fawkes to storm the ivory towers", " to burn Alexandria on every continent", ". Our allies in the cause could sabotage memory of all kind where’er it may be found", ". All men could raise arms against Scholarship", ". Children could throw stones at learned men", ". We all, all could fall into a noble savagery for the sake of the world", ". Perhaps we will live in peace amidst the animals as in the more fanciful writings of my countryman Rousseau"]>> <<set _fear = ["I fear it will never be enough.", "I am afraid."]>> <<set _trumpet = ["sounding of the Trumpets of Ignorance", "end", "fruits of our actions, in whatever form they may reveal themselves to be"]>> <<set _sword = ["...", ". In these cursed days we have only the sword. "]>> <<set _fitting= ["Fitting, is it not?", "Fitting, is it not? I intend to spit out the Fruit of Knowledge, and partake once more of the Tree of Life."]>> <<set _close = ["I can only hope.", "I can only hope that all manner of thing shall be well.", "I can only hope that all manner of thing shall be well. God help us."]>> <<date>>The 12th of January, 1899<</date>> <<add "█████ ███████" "████████ ███ " "█████████ ███████ ███████" "██ ██████" "███">> <<link "I will open my letter in the most classic way. I cannot reveal his identity.">> <<run $("#link1").toggle()>> <<run $("#text1").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<run $("#link2").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>>To Whom It May Concern, <<link "He must know that I have been careful enough. I do not wish to frighten him.">> <<run $("#link2").toggle()>> <<run $("#text2").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<run $("#link3").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>> My <<cycle"$friend" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _friend>><</cycle>>, I write to you from a location I fear to put to pen. If all occurs according to my plan this letter will come to your hand by a chain of accomplices- if all occurs according to a kind Providence, it will arrive unintercepted. You will know if a strange meddler has changed my words- I am using the third system we discussed when last we met. <<link "Ah, but he is so dear to me indeed. I wish I could write about more pleasant topics.">> <<run $("#link3").toggle()>> <<run $("#text3").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<run $("#link4").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>> I write to you not for ordinary social ends, for I know your health is <<cycle"$health" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _health>><</cycle>>, your children lively, and your estates prosperous. It would be far sweeter for my heart to speak to you long and kindly of sunlit days, to reminisce, but I have no sunlight in my study at present. The news I carry matches only the blackness of <<cycle"$weather" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _weather>><</cycle>>. I have discovered a terrible implication in the course of my work at the Académie which shall affect us all, Frenchmen and Englishmen alike. My tale is long. <<cycle"$sorry" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _sorry>><</cycle>> <<link "Cannes.">> <<run $("#link4").toggle()>> <<run $("#text4").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<run $("#link5").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>> The observatory at Cannes had found something most peculiar, last winter. They believe it to be a system of astrology that actually works to predict the future, using the most modern of <<cycle"$math" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _math>><</cycle>>. <<cycle"$history" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _history>><</cycle>> can be predicted using an equation of 800 lines, compared against logarithmic tables of the variance of lesser stars… it is a difficult calculation, they tell me. <<link "Focus, Marie-Capucine. The observatory is merely background.">> <<run $("#link5").toggle()>> <<run $("#text5").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<run $("#link6").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>> I digress from the point that I attempt to explain. The astronomical research done in Cannes is brilliant. The learned professors and understudies (many fine young women and men among them) observe the night sky through a colossal telescope aimed above the rolling countryside of <<cycle"$home" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _home>><</cycle>>. <<cycle"$digress" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _digress>><</cycle>> The Cannes observatory was the first to assign strict classifications to the most detailed and modern scientific measurements of the stars. They classify the arrangement, brightness, and magnitude of the heavens themselves according to a system of their own design. <<link "It was... March, I believe, that the problem arose.">> <<run $("#link6").toggle()>> <<run $("#text6").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<run $("#link7").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>> They noticed a discrepancy in their documents in March of 1896, <<cycle"$years" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _years>><</cycle>>. The stars varied immeasurably to the first keepers of the observatory, as they toiled to collate historical records of astronomers past. They confined this variation to scientific classification of types, but there were many exceptions in the form of <<cycle"$stars" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _stars>><</cycle>> <<link "The diminishment of the heavens.">> <<run $("#link7").toggle()>> <<run $("#text7").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<run $("#link8").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>> In our present day, the telescope, pointed at new regions of what would seem to be the same sky, now finds only stars that already conform to the defined types. New stars, new observations, and yet they only match the existing categories. We find <<cycle"$nothing" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _nothing>><</cycle>>. The degree of variation had decreased invisibly at some point since the founding of the observatory. <<link "Technology... examples...">> <<run $("#link8").toggle()>> <<run $("#text8").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<run $("#link9").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>> Our modern systems of calculation are thought merely to categorise the natural world. <<cycle"$tech" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _tech>><</cycle>>… <<link "I will make him to understand.">> <<run $("#link9").toggle()>> <<run $("#text9").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<run $("#link10").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>> There is a limit on what we can know; and perhaps more importantly, there is a limit on what we ought to know. I have discovered that Human minds do not merely comprehend the world, but in comprehension, contain a <<cycle"$facsimile" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _facsimile>><</cycle>> of the world. This facsimile is imperfect. The imperfect image, as in a glass darkly, overthrows its true and elder brother<<cycle"$universe" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _universe>><</cycle>>. How much complexity has already been destroyed by Human attempts at understanding? What have we already lost? <<link "He must be made to understand.">> <<run $("#link10").toggle()>> <<run $("#text10").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<run $("#link11").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>> You may scoff and say to me, "<<cycle"$fool" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _fool>><</cycle>>.", but I beg of you to listen further. I do not say that the Man and his Name are the same, but that they are intertwined. To reduce the Name to a mere record of birth and death<<cycle"$fraction" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _fraction>><</cycle>> A broken pocketwatch does not destroy time, but a functional pocketwatch simplifies time by the smallest of margins<<cycle"$hour" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _hour>><</cycle>>. <<link "There is a strange and dark irony in writing this on a mechanical type.">> <<run $("#link11").toggle()>> <<run $("#text11").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<run $("#link12").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>> To name a color is to assign the infinite tones and hues of the living world to a single spoken word, but the richness and timbre of Homer as he spoke of the wine-dark seas above the assembly was lost in the writing of his tales! The <<cycle"$scribe" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _scribe>><</cycle>> of scribal copies was lost in the automaton of mechanical type! As of yet I speak only of self-evident cases, but the <<cycle"$truth" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _truth>><</cycle>> of my theory lies in its extension. <<link "Wretched fools.">> <<run $("#link12").toggle()>> <<run $("#text12").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<run $("#link13").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>> The Cannes observatory did not discover a scientific method to calculatively predict the future. They have created a scientific method that warps the future to cleave to their arbitrary calculations. The case is similar to their initial discrepencies of the stars- in their libraries, they have summation sheets of many kinds of events of History. As of yet in our undamaged present, there exist countless exceptions to their system. If they continue to use their invention to "predict" the future, <<cycle"$winnow" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _winnow>><</cycle>> will winnow to match their unerring design. <<link "Not that it matters.">> <<run $("#link13").toggle()>> <<run $("#text13").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<run $("#link14").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>> I can see no desirable solution to the fundamental intractable problem. I do not believe that the Cannes observatory has approached the crown <<cycle"$crown" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _crown>><</cycle>>, but it is only a matter of time before they apply their discovery for <<cycle"$gain" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _gain>><</cycle>> gain. Even if they do not, it is only a matter of time before another observatory discovers an analogous classification of the heavens. <<link "It seems ridiculous to put it to paper. I wish-">> <<run $("#link14").toggle()>> <<run $("#text14").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<run $("#link15").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>> Far worse, is the future case. If it is possible for the misunderstandings and irrelevant calculations of a single determined scholar to disperse out of Natural Philosophy into Nature herself, there exists a rot at the core of all Human endeavour. I could propose some mad scheme<<cycle"$mad" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _mad>><</cycle>>. <<link "I fear it will never be enough.">> <<run $("#link15").toggle()>> <<run $("#text15").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<run $("#link16").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>> <<cycle"$fear" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _fear>><</cycle>> <<link "Nothing to be done.">> <<run $("#link16").toggle()>> <<run $("#text16").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<run $("#link17").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>> We can hope only to delay the <<cycle"$trumpet" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _trumpet>><</cycle>>. I pray only that wiser men in generations to come will solve the problem of Reducible Complexity using peaceful methods<<cycle"$sword" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _sword>><</cycle>> <<link "I'll have to be subtle about this.">> <<run $("#link17").toggle()>> <<run $("#text17").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<run $("#link18").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>> The location of our next meeting shall be the gardens which you once referred to as a "Labyrinthine Eden", in our golden youth. The date shall be the birthday of your darling niece. <<cycle"$fitting" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _fitting>><</cycle>> <<link "I've done what I little I can.">> <<run $("#link18").toggle()>> <<run $("#text18").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<run $("#link19").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>> <<cycle"$close" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _close>><</cycle>> <<link "Close the letter.">> <<run $("#link19").toggle()>> <<run $("#text19").css("visibility", "visible")>> <<run $("#link20").css("visibility", "visible")>> <</link>> <<sig"Mlle Marie-Capucine Genet">> <<link "Seal the envelope.">> <<run $("#link20").toggle()>> <<goto "TitlePage">> <</link>>