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Fractal Brotherhood, The
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The Fractal Brotherhood is a Buddhistic sect with its headquarters in the Sophic League, in deep space some 12 light-years from Ararat. The Fractal Brotherhood is part of the greater grouping of Buddhistic sects sometimes called the Sects of Inconsequence. The members of the Fractal Brotherhood seek to suppress the self and achieve nirvana by concentrating on the search for Buddha Fractals. Buddha Fractals are fractals which seem to depict important Buddhistic symbolism.
The first, and the one on which the Fractal Brotherhood was founded, is known simply as the Buddhabrot, and is said to have been first discovered in Sol sometime before the Technocalypse. The proclaimed ultimate goal of the brotherhood is the Final Fractal, a Buddha Fractal which shows new symbols, signs, and truths as you zoom further in, no matter where or how far you zoom. In its fifteen hundred year existence the Fractal Brotherhoods have revealed forty three lesser fractals, depicting amongst other things charts of chakra points, various Buddhas (including Dipankara, Kassapa, Litasutra, and Johuma ), and symbolic representations of the eight noble truths.
The deepest of these lesser fractals was the fractal of the eightfold truths, which depicted first the three sections, and further in the truths themselves, for a total of eleven components. In true keeping with its status as a sect of inconsequence, all the monks of the brotherhood fully believe that finding the True Fractal is impossible*. The Final Fractal, and even the search for it, is unimportant. What is important is devoting their lives, every hour, minute and second of it, to searching for these fractals, looking through thousands and millions of fractals, each with minute differences in starting integers.
The oldest members of the Fractal Brotherhood, those looked upon with reverence by less enlightened members, have been sitting for decades, or centuries in their life support chairs, with their eyes fixed on their displays as fractal after fractal sweeps past, hands moving mechanically to punch in new integers, pausing only once in a while to regard a fractal more firmly, perhaps making a zoom or two, and then continuing on. According to the lore of the brotherhood, some of them may already have achieved nirvana, and what is left is only their earthly husks, carrying on a needless task.
Notes:
- The Sophic artist Jorgen Grain Klarentsen is a self-proclaimed former member of the Fractal Brotherhood, and claims that he was kicked out because he genuinely believed (and still believes) that the Final Fractal may be found, and that the monks were neglecting actually trying to find a method for finding the fractal in favor of simply submersing themselves in lesser fractals. The Fractal Brotherhood has neither confirmed, nor denied that Jorgen's allegations are true.
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- Fractal - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
An object with a fractal dimension. Fractals are self-similar and recursive; they may be deterministic or stochastic (random). They are important in creating rl-like virch-universes and simulations with only a relatively limited degree of processing. Many phenomena in nature have a fractal form - e.g. clouds, geographical features (coastlines, mountains, etc), snowflakes, plants, metabolic rhythms (e.g. heartbeat), economic cycles, and so on. Well-known fractals include the Cantor Set, Julia Set, and Mandelbrot Set. - Fractal Architecture
- Fractal Dimension - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
A fractional or non-integer dimension. A fractal may be more than a line (1 dimension) but less than a plane (2 dimensions), or alternatively more than a plane but less than a sphere (3 dimensions). Hence fractal dimensions are defined in terms of decimal or fractional numbers. There are a number of ways of computing a fractal dimension, including some unusual but popular algorithms employed by transingularitan intelligences. - Fractal Dyson
- Fractaroni Spaghetti Worms
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Development Notes
Text by Thorbørn Steen
Initially published on 04 January 2008.
Initially published on 04 January 2008.
