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--- places:player:walker_enterprises:m5-library [2023/12/22 14:56] – created lucky_katydid
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 ======Walker Enterprises: M5 - Library======
 It wouldn't be a TALES member's personal structure without including its own library. However, it looks like the selection is quite eclectic, and in some cases is binders with hand-written notes rather than actual bound books.
+====Textbook: Solving the Improbable====
+This appears to be a hand-written textbook on popular attempts to manipulate Improbability, by Jokers and others, and the results of those actions. It is unedited at the moment and seems to be a long way from print.
+Flipping to a random page, you begin to read:
+"... laymen may describe Improbability as the closest thing to magic; in fact, many people, Jokers in particular, find it indistinguishable from such. But let us not forget that Improbability has a technological source at its heart, and that we are hunting a computer with its own thoughts and (pardon the pun) drives. These are not always hostile, either -- examples such as the Common Ground prove this, as do certain slivers external to this reality that are reachable only because of Improbability's unlikely hand.
+The very concept of Improbability as demonstrated by the Drive is not simply to show the results of random Chance (rC) but to augment them with changes chosen by the Drive deliberately for its own amusement, which we refer to as irrational Chance at this time (iC). Irrational Chance can produce results that are not physically possible in the real data set, and highly skew otherwise unlikely outcomes such as rolling a straight flush on five six sided dice with the last number being a seven.
+===rC * iC = Reality===
+If we take the example of visitors from other worlds who have alternate Reality scores, we can presume that irrational Chance exists on these other worlds as a constant, with more divergent worlds from ours achieving higher iC totals.
+===Good Luck, Bad Luck===
+If Reality is a number that changes as random Chance or irrational Chance does, there is an output that can be positive or negative; for example, negative random Chance for items of statistical impossibility (a randomly rolled d6 transforming into a housecat) and negative irrational chance for physical impossibility (a d6 does not contain the materials to transform into a housecat; some energy must normally be converted to make it a Reality.)
+===What does this mean for individuals?===
+Reality is a subjective form, in which the hand of Chance can be felt even outside of the Island. Some people have highly good luck -- or disastrous bad luck -- which would be small in comparison to the Island, but of which a Hawton meter might be able to detect small anomolous readings, thus allowing to select for fortune. It would be interesting to see how a negative-Chance individual (unlucky) would fare on the Island compared to a positive-Chance individual (lucky).
+It also provides another matter for conjecture: while the Drive has broad effects throughout the Island, and can directly influence most interactions between individuals and Improbability, it is also proven that in regions where it is not directly focusing at the moment (in as much as can be determined) that individuals with high levels of Hawton radiation (Jokers, magic-users, non-classed species, psions and the like) can control Improbability to make peculiar effects occur. It is unclear, then, whether their effects only work properly within the Improbability Bubble, or what form their innate Improbability control would be when subjected to external conditions. It is noted that in areas of Improbably high Hawton radiation, such powers work more predictably for some reason - perhaps the high dosage counteracts the ability of the Drive to properly control such regions?"
+---
+A more recent section reads:
+"I've been gathering information from various sources - and documenting evidence from the Jungle. And I think I've come up with a revised theory that Hawton's model did not entirely address.
+The basic precept of Improbability as we understand it today is that it is controlled by a device, called the Drive; that it is measurable, hence the Meters; and that individuals gain Improbability as they defeat the Drive.
+However. This has several implications. Jokers are pawns of Improbability, as they have no control over what happens, only an outcome they focus on..."
+====Locked Book====
+Hey, this book is locked!
+====Old Newspaper====
+This seems to be an ancient copy of the Enquirer, back when it was a media source. You're still fond of it in a historical context, but after all this time, the novelty has worn off.
+====Pocket Bible====
+Interestingly, this isn't a religious text; it's 101 Survival Tips for a Desert Island. Pity this isn't a desert island.
 ====Tour====
   * [[places:player:walker_enterprises:m-main_hallway|Main Hallway]]