Cults of the Past:
The Chance Meeting

Hargin of Selna

  All races and professions of chaotics were welcome in The Chance Meeting, a sect devoted to the unexpected.  It expresses itself in two distinct factions, one theoretical, one practical.

Your contribution via
Patreon
or
PayPal Me
keeps this site and its author alive.
Thank you.

  The theoretical faction of the Chance Meeting attempted to demonstrate that the world is entirely random.  Papers have been written by the scholarly devotees of this loose band on every subject from alchemy to zoology, always with the same aim of demonstrating by comparison that there are no fixed rules in the universe, that all is by nature random.  Few of these papers have ever been considered great, largely because of the initial bias, and the theoretical groups are thus considered innocuous.

  More serious in effect was the practical faction.  Devotees of this aspect seek to prove the chance nature of the world by producing the unexpected.  It didn't particularly matter within the core of the group whether the surprises were pleasant or unpleasant, only that they were unexpected.  Some segments, influenced by good members espousing senseless kindness and random acts of beauty, favored the unexplained gift; while others on the opposite side leant toward the senseless killing.  Between the two was the practical joke.  The critical issue in all cases was the appearance of randomness.

  Being an essentially chaotic group, it had no structure whatsoever.  Meetings were not called, they were declared when and where they occurred.  Membership was open to anyone who said, "I'm a member"; among the theoreticians it was often said that everyone was a member, even if they object, since everyone meets someone by chance.  Authority within the group seems to go to whomever has the big mouth or the intriguing idea or the clout to raise support.  One could say that the only was that there may be no law.

  Quite a few excellent works have been written about this sect, but the most intriguing works are by members of the rival sect, The Lawmen.  A few outstanding examples include Mishaud's "The Structure of Chaos", Rongon's "Laws of Chaos", and the unquestioned peak of such discussions, Roppins, Timmers, and Ruusuus' "The Legal Foundations of the Chance Meeting Considered along with Rules, Order, Structure, and the Illusion of Randomness in a Lawful Creation".  This latter work is best known for its fine arguments regarding the deception of randomness which is forced, ordered, engineered, or otherwise caused intentionally.  In rebuttal, see Nagor's "The Illusion of Order", the best in a week field of responses to this paper.

Do you have the spirit of adventure?


Return to Cults of the Past by Hargin of Selna

Return to M. J. Young's Dungeons & Dragons Materials.

Go to Other Links.

M. J. Young Net