## Overview Harmonic Resonance is the foundational principle behind all magic in [[Mercury]]’s Republic. It describes the interaction between vibrational frequencies of divine entities (gods) and the material world. Magic is not a force in itself, but a byproduct of this resonance—an alignment between mortal ritual, divine frequency, and crystalline transduction. ## Metaphysical Structure Gods exist as higher-dimensional vibrational patterns in the void—a sensoryless, timeless realm. Worship and ritual align the human mind to divine frequencies, bridging dimensions and generating a current of magical energy known as Harmonic Resonance. This energy is collected in temples through sacrifice and worship, then transmitted via crystals to the Mage’s Tower for [[Refinement]]. ## Components - **Gravitas**: Worship energy generated by mortals. Sent upward during rituals. - **Harmonic Resonance**: Magical energy returned by gods. Captured through aligned frequency. - **Crystals**: Used to store, transmit, and refine resonance. - **Temples**: Collection points for Gravitas. Sites of ritual and sacrifice. - **Mage’s Tower**: [[Refinement]] hub for raw harmonic input. ## Practical Use Magicians use crystals tuned to specific modes for spellcasting. Untuned crystals are rare and unstable but allow access to the full harmonic spectrum. Harmonic alignment is affected by location, ritual Structure, and emotional intensity of worship. ## Philosophical Note “Music is ordered chaos over time.” This phrase [[Lies]] at the heart of harmonic resonance and the metaphysical Structure of the world. In the beginning, all frequencies existed at once—pure chaos, like white noise generated from every sound wave layered atop one another. This chaotic state, analogous to static, reflects the unshaped primordial energy from which everything arises. It is the raw potential of existence before time, before separation, before form. With the Big Bang—or what is metaphorically understood as the First Resonance—this pure everything collapsed inward and then expanded outward. Chaos was stretched across time, allowing for Structure, rhythm, pattern. Just as in sound synthesis, tuning this chaos to a single frequency produces a tone, the first gesture of order. Magic, then, is this process: tuning frequencies into discrete tones, assembling tones into chords, and playing them through time. [[Runes]] operate like chords in music—bundles of harmonic instructions that, when energized with Res, evoke specific effects, much like chords evoke emotional responses. Without time, resonance cannot be differentiated. Meaning arises through sequence—what comes before and after. Silence gives shape to sound. The passage of time gives shape to identity. Thus, magic is not merely vibration; it is vibration ordered and expressed temporally. This parallels existence itself. [[People]] are ordered chaos over time. Gods are ordered chaos over time. What defines them is the Structure they impose upon the underlying noise. In this view, harmonic resonance is not just the engine of magic, but the Structure of all reality—of matter, memory, and self. Gods exist as resonance in higher dimensions. They are pure frequency, pure pattern, but they cannot *feel* because they do not exist in physical time. Their desperate craving for presence in the material world is a craving for *temporal experience*—for the friction of chaos shaped by flesh, sense, and time. ## See Also - [Vitruvian Equations](Vitruvian Equations.md) - [Crystals and Infrastructure](Crystals and Infrastructure.md) - [Spellcasting Systems](Spellcasting Systems.md)