The World Inside The Snarl Is...

[ReaderAt2046]

ERFWORLD.

When the Snarl had consumed the first world, the echoes of deific intent left within it compelled it to try and create something out of the raw threads of reality it had absorbed. However, the Snarl was like a young child trying to imitate the work of its parents, and that which it brought into being was crude and unimaginative. Where it could work merely by warping the true creations it had snared, it was more successful. Having slain the Gods Of The East and consumed their divine sparks, it distilled those divine essences down to their most primal forms-the Titans! From the fragments of the first world's physical form it crafted the tessellated landscape of Erfworld, a crude imitation of the organic landscapes the Gods could sculpt. Then the Snarl began to people the world it had created. At first it tried to create peoples of its own, but it lacked the power to create souls, and so its creations were mere puppets, lacking free will, creativity... in short, lacking life. Then the Snarl took some of the souls of its mortal victims and warped them, changing them into something that could exist in this new world it had brought about. And these souls became the first Commanders, the first Warlords and Casters and Rulers, and that is why Commanders and only Commanders possess free will as we would understand it.

[brian 333]

Possible, but I have another theory:

The world Blackwing saw inside the snarl is where the Players who control the OoTS PC's live. I mean, it's 3 dimensional and everything!

We will learn that the other gates lead to elemental planes where the material to create the stick world come from, but all life comes from the players who project their thoughts into their characters.

Think about it: we have a scribble which was created during the DM's formation of the world, and as he made decisions about what was going to go on in Stick Universe, he would scratch out ideas that he didn't like, creating in the minds of the Stick Folks a monster that destroyed things indiscriminately and permanently. They have no way to know that it is intelligently guided for the sole purpose of creating a place for the Order of the Stick to have their adventures, and they are correct in that, once the PC's have finished their final story arc, they will all be consumed.

Now, should some of these PC's escape into the real world like Peter did in the Petergeist episode...

[Synesthesy]

Possible, but I have another theory:

The world Blackwing saw inside the snarl is where the Players who control the OoTS PC's live. I mean, it's 3 dimensional and everything!

We will learn that the other gates lead to elemental planes where the material to create the stick world come from, but all life comes from the players who project their thoughts into their characters.

Think about it: we have a scribble which was created during the DM's formation of the world, and as he made decisions about what was going to go on in Stick Universe, he would scratch out ideas that he didn't like, creating in the minds of the Stick Folks a monster that destroyed things indiscriminately and permanently. They have no way to know that it is intelligently guided for the sole purpose of creating a place for the Order of the Stick to have their adventures, and they are correct in that, once the PC's have finished their final story arc, they will all be consumed.

Now, should some of these PC's escape into the real world like Peter did in the Petergeist episode...

Somewhere, the Giant said..... nope.

[Draconi Redfir]

yeaaaahh, check out Belkar's mark of justice halucinaition again sometime, he confirms in-comic that they just live in a world that follows the rules of D&D, and aren't actually part of a D&D game. (also in the opening pages of either origen of PC's or start of darkness, not sure.)
why people continue to insit that there are players involved in stories that work out just fine and dandy, better even as the movements and actions feel more natural without them, i will never know.

[martianmister]

At first it tried to create peoples of its own, but it lacked the power to create souls, and so its creations were mere puppets, lacking free will, creativity... in short, lacking life. Then the Snarl took some of the souls of its mortal victims and warped them, changing them into something that could exist in this new world it had brought about. And these souls became the first Commanders, the first Warlords and Casters and Rulers, and that is why Commanders and only Commanders possess free will as we would understand it.

Reminds me this:

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0644.html

[Jaxzan Proditor]

Possible, but I have another theory:

The world Blackwing saw inside the snarl is where the Players who control the OoTS PC's live. I mean, it's 3 dimensional and everything!

We will learn that the other gates lead to elemental planes where the material to create the stick world come from, but all life comes from the players who project their thoughts into their characters.

Think about it: we have a scribble which was created during the DM's formation of the world, and as he made decisions about what was going to go on in Stick Universe, he would scratch out ideas that he didn't like, creating in the minds of the Stick Folks a monster that destroyed things indiscriminately and permanently. They have no way to know that it is intelligently guided for the sole purpose of creating a place for the Order of the Stick to have their adventures, and they are correct in that, once the PC's have finished their final story arc, they will all be consumed.

Now, should some of these PC's escape into the real world like Peter did in the Petergeist episode...

Well, first of all, the world inside the Gates is not modern Earth, which is kind of what it would have to be for players to be playing a game of D&D. Second, it is not an actual game of D&D, so there are no players and no DM. It is a world that follows the rules of D&D.

[halfeye]

Possible, but I have another theory:

The world Blackwing saw inside the snarl is where the Players who control the OoTS PC's live. I mean, it's 3 dimensional and everything!

You can tesselate a sphere with triangles, and thus hexes. One way you can do it is via the pentagon and hexagon soccer ball, you end up with a mini pentagon in the centre of every large pentagon, and the hexes in the large pentagons aren't perfectly equilateral, but except for those minor niggles the geometry works, there may well be other ways to do it. I'm hoping that or something like it will be used in computer games.

[Vinyadan]

It's our world. And you are the Snarl.

[ReaderAt2046]

It's our world. And you are the Snarl.

The Giant has confirmed that it's not our world.

[BaronOfHell]

It's our world. And you are the Snarl.

The Giant has confirmed that it's not our world.

But has he confirmed that you are not the Snarl too?

[DaggerPen]

A few observations:

Look at the OOTS world as we know it:

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0639.html

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0275.html

There are a few more shots off somewhere or the other, but the point is - it's a three-lobed map. Which makes total sense, right? Three areas of the OOTS world - North, South and West - for the three Pantheon there since the beginning, with a few islands for flavor that still are clearly in one realm or another. The elves and goblins raised their own gods, so there's no reflection of that in the geography. The world reflects it's creators. This makes total sense.

Now look at the original world as Shojo imagines it:

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0273.html

It's... basically the same world. The Eastern Pantheon just kind of tugs at an existing area. But that's weird, right? That the geography wouldn't reflect the spheres of influence properly? But then again, this is only Shojo's imagination - it's in crayon, after all. It would make more sense for the original world to be pretty balanced across the spheres- North, South, East and West.

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0672.html

... hrm.

So yeah, my money's on it being some remnant/recreation of the original world. My real question is - what state is it in?

[Jaxzan Proditor]

But has he confirmed that you are not the Snarl too?

Well, I'm not. ReaderAt2046 could be.