Who Is Marco?

Q: So, who is Marco?
A: Marco is the name used by a transit Xenoarcheographer from somewhere toward the galactic core. Marco is currently working on a dictionary of the Hallanacht language spoken in a place called Argencia. He is evasive on the topic of where this place is so I don't know if it is actual (meaning physically present in U0 (Universe Zero :: the commonly agreed upon, shared physical universe.)) or if it is some sort of immersive entertainment space like Everquest, Star Wars Galaxies or World of Warcraft.  I am writing up the things that Marco reveals to me about the language, history and culture of Argencia. You can follow the development of the Hallanacht language on the Hallanacht Language Journal if you are interested.

When I ask Marco if Argencia is in the future, he laughs (Which sounds like someone tapping with a drumstick on a block of wood.) and tells me that past and future are not actually meaningful; that they are in fact 'artifacts' of my incarceration. I have no clue what that's supposed to mean..

Marco calls himself a cultural anthropologist, but he should really be called what I call him: a Transit Xenoarcheographer specializing in Xenopaleography. When I told him what he really was he sort of laughed (Which is to say he somehow suggested laughter in my mind without making any mental 'sounds') and flashed a bright blue upward pointing arrow into my mind. He's done this to me before and I take it to indicate that I need to 'zoom out a level' or 'up a level'. (I've come to think of this as 'blueing up'.)  So I gave some thought to this idea of blueing up my understanding of Marco. Numerous tiny hints and half perceptions led me to conclude that Marco was in fact studying me as I received from him the Argencia information, using me as the object of his cultural anthropological study. When I accused him of this he was surprised and amused. I could sense his approval as he laughed and flashed another upward blue arrow into my mind.

Ultra, Super, Mega Important Note About Marco:
[It would be nice if I did not have to include this note... but since talk of Marco to people has prompted wide eyed stares and long questioning looks, I thought it best to include this note early on.]


Marco is fictitious. Get that? He's made up. Not real. An imaginary construct. A sales and marketing gimmick for the presentation and promotion of the Argencia universe. Part of the gimmick is that I pretend sometimes that Marco is real. Further, Marco often tells people - when asked - that, "John thinks he made me up." This is just another layer of the gimmick. Further yet, I acknowledge, "Yeah, Marco tells people that I think I made him up. That's part of the gimmick; pretty clever, eh?"  but again, this is merely another layer of the gimmick. So... to sum up: Marco. Not real. Fake. Even if you think I've maybe gone 'round the bend, Marco is still just a creation. Yet another layer of the gimmick is making people wonder if I'm insane. Cool gimmick? Slightly scary gimmick? Potentially problematic gimmick?

Yes, yes and yes.

Why Create a Fictitious Universe?

Q: So why create a fictional universe?

A: For the same reason one creates a novel or a painting or a film: it is an act of creative expression.

For the last several years I have found art coming to mean more and more to me. When something occupies my mind I find myself organizing and hierachializing it as a sort of low level background process. It just seems to be what my mind does when left to it's own devices.

I have come to have in my mind a sort of hierarchy of magnitudes or maybe a hierarchy of significances when it comes to art. The more art forms a given work includes within itself, the higher the position it occupies in this hierarchy.

So, for instance, a story or illustration is a lower level work and a book - which combines both a story and illustrations is of a higher level in the hierarchy. It is a more 'significant' creative act. A play, containing a story, sets, costumes, acting, lighting, sound, direction, production, etc is yet higher in magnitude. A film, with a full soundtrack, cinematography, screenplay etc is yet higher. (Just higher in magnitude with regard to my hierarchy mind you; not higher in terms of quality or value in any absolute sense; there being books of very high quality/ value and films of very low.)

That was sort of my first set of thinking. Then an idea came from somewhere of a child as a blank canvas that the parents get to paint. This gave rise to the realization of how powerfully our children paint back onto us; "The canvas paints back." is the way I summarize the idea. This led me to begin seeing relationships as art which then led me to see a family as a higher form and a nation as a higher from and a civilization as a higher form and a planet willed with civilizations as a still higher form.

And thus the question: where does it end? what is the highest form of art?

My answer - for now - is that a universe is the highest form of art. It inspires, incubates and spawns other art. That may be the purpose of a universe: to incubate, spawn and contain art.

So that is my rather long winded reason. That's why I've decided to create a universe.

Ex Nihilo Cosmos

Ex Nihilo Cosmos means "From Nothing, an Ordered Universe"

This blog is a space to discuss the development of a virtual universe I am documenting/ creating called Argencia. I will also discuss issues here that concern virtual universe creation in general as well as the intersection of the technical and the artistic.