Wonderland - Jags

Deeper Mysteries - Overview
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beyond that). How those events, actions, and objects change is called
Translation. There are no hard and fast rules for it, only some guidelines
and the specifics are up to the GM. The most obvious form of Translation
happens when two characters have a conversation and one of them
is undergoing Descent. On Chessboard Zero, the guy who isn’t having an
Episode is the one who makes sense (well, usually) and on Chessboard
One, he’s the guy who seems nuts. However, despite the fact that the two
conversations may be very, very different in terms of length, volume,
who says what, and how mad each person walks away, they will share
certain symmetries.
First General Principle: Higher is Stronger Than
Lower
When a change is affected on Chessboard Zero, the results are usually
more significant on Chessboard One (and they’re pretty significant on
Chessboard Two). Imagine a workshop with a half-made chair and two
people. One is an Infected on Chessboard One (undergoing Descent).
The other is a carpenter on Chessboard Zero (and he’s perfectly sane).
The Carpenter is building the chair. The Infected guy is trying to trash
it. Here’s what will happen: as the Infected guy breaks the wood, rips
the legs off, and gouges the surfaces of the material, on Chessboard Zero
there will be fault-lines and accidents that happen while the carpenter is
working on the chair. Wood will break strangely. Bolts will … fall out.
Things will not go well (if the carpenter is a master carpenter, he may
become convinced the chair is haunted)—but the chair will, most likely,
still be built.
On Chessboard One, the chair will be in pieces—but, a day later, there
it is—a little shoddy—but whole. The guy who did the trashing may be
very frustrated. If he continues to break it, day after day, then the Carpenter
will find it falling apart very quickly—but if he works to repair
it—to keep it together, even if it’s totally smashed on Chessboard One,
it’ll come back together.
Second General Principle: Fearful Symmetry
Things on the lower Chessboards more concretely represent their true
meanings and inner natures. The lower you go, the deeper this gets (there
are examples of this in the next section). The GM should always consider
what the inner nature and true meanings are of any act and work to
keep the Symmetries consistent on the lower planes.
Often things that we hold important (but not religious) become religious
on Chessboard Three or Four. Malls may become cathedrals to consumption.
A prison becomes a temple to the god of Lack (personified as Eros,
the love of things we don’t have and lust after), etc. In a very real sense,
when structure was built, the intent that went into it constructed something
true to that wish on the lower Chessboards.