anatomy_of_a_headspace [Brainwave]

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======Anatomy of a Headspace======

//The psychic rubs his eyes and scans the new Headspace. It is vast, white, incredibly smooth. Not unmarked though, beneath his feet are large black runes sticking out of the flat landscape. And there's something out on the horizon, a large black line - //TICK//. Closer now. He laughs -- the hand of a clock. Sure enough, he looks up into the sky to find mirrored clouds reflecting a hundred clockfaces back at him. Running slow now, maybe it will be quicker when she wakes up.//

//He walks to the edge and peers over. Beneath is an unfathomable mass of clockwork and steam, a million intricate systems interlocking and folding back on themselves in impossible ways. That looks like the Subconscious Wilds alright.//


Headspaces vary wildly in structure and aesthetic. They might resemble fantastical landscapes, elaborate machinery, a world made of music, gatherings of people debating various ideas, or limitless other possibilities. Even within each Headspace there can be significant variety. An office worker might have a snowy, steep sloped mountain of thoughts relating to the daily grind, at the summit of which is an improbable oasis occupied by her girlfriend, facing away from a cliff plunging further than the mountain ever climbed into a void of asteroids, drifting aimlessly into an uncertain future.

Nevertheless, there are a few locations which exist in every Headspace. Often psychics seek these out when exploring a new mind, as they act as landmarks through which the mind can be understood and altered in specific ways. The process is still far from uniform, however, and any given mind has more to see than these structures.

===Plane of Consciousness===

This area is the Hosts' current thoughts. As such its prone to change, but usually more comprehensible than the far reaches of the mind. The Host is present throughout the mind, able to communicate to visitors through thought, but their presence is strongest in the Plane of Consciousness. An example Plane of Consciousness could be a Hot Air Balloon, which overlooks the rest of the Headspace and dancing patterns of thought in the clouds.

The centre of the [[Cranium Conference]] is in Cassidy's Plane of Consciousness.

===Sensory Array===

The Sensory Array is the sensory input to the mind. It is usually located very close to the Plane of Consciousness, although may drift further away in sleep. Visitors can tap into the Sensory Array to get a sense of their Hosts' experiences or, with enough practice, directly experience the world through their senses. [[glossary|Headrushing]] is when a psychic seeks out intense experiences to live through a host. Often this is is done through the sensory array, although as the experience progresses Headrushers may plunge deeper into the mind to wallow in primal thoughts and emotions.

A Sensory Array could appear as a forest of mushrooms, which psychics can tap into by touching their hands to the roots and accessing the fungal network.

===Memory Bank===

An archive of all of a person's memories. Core and recent memories will be easy to access, on the surface or prominently displayed. More distant memories may have drifted to forgotten corners of the bank, or been eroded by the passage of time. Yet others may be locked up under tight security: things the Host would rather not remember.

One Memory Bank could be a field of elaborate shadow puppets, cast by unseen hands.

===Subconscious Wilds===

The far reaches of any mind are a tangled mess of base instincts, repressed thoughts and unconscious desires. The Host has very little presence here, often not able to communicate to visitors at all. The Wilds can be unpredictable and dangerous, but possibility of understanding them is an alluring perspective driving many receptives to invite psychics into their Headspaces. 

The Subconcious Wilds might be found amongst the crevices unseen of infinitely tall cliffs, battered by freezing waves at the edge of a sea of thoughts.
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