🌌 Project Samsara

Oct 18, 202512 min read

Project Samsara - Patch Notes

The patch notes for Project Samsara.

This document is arranged such that newer patches and their notes appear at the top. Refer to these patches when new updates drop to stay up to date with the Samsara canon.

28/05/25 - dot1.6 - ‘Darkstar’

The last few interlude patches were so called as I was working on something large and tied to narrative. That project has been shelved indefinitely, and we return to proper worldbuilding, building with the long-overdue wholesale revision of the foundational writ of Void into its final state; the long awaited ‘Void 5’.

Additions

  • Planned, drafted, wrote and edited the fifth edition on the workings of the Void in Void_5. It is not finalized, however, as the Void is quite large in scope, and Void 5 is part of the much larger endeavor that is realizing the next of the Switchboard’s great families; the Vahnkin.

Revisions

  • Decidedly numerous. Anything related to the Void has likely been touched in some manner. It is encouraged to read through the Void 5 document to come up to speed with the new and revised literature of the Void.

Migrations

  • Decidedly numerous. Much of the writ that made up Void 4 was distributed across various documents. Now, they are all consolidated in Void 5. As a consequence of this, various documents have been deprecated;
    • Void 4
    • Latest Void Revisions
    • Blackjack
    • The Challenger Dark
  • Deleted the dedicated document for the Vitric Shelf and moved it to the end of Glass.

This was done to ensure parity with the Void document, in that it now contains all the literature on the Challenger Dark, rather than that being a separate document.

Expansions

Meta

  • Updated the READING_GUIDE for the first time since its implementation. Considering the significance of this update, it was more than welcome.

06/03/25 - dot1.5.2 - ‘Interlude 2’

A lighter update as work on the core worldbuilding slows down to work on narrative. With Samsara @ 500k, thank you all for your continued interest and support.

Additions

  • Created AestheticsAnatomy (12k), a robust dissertation on the appearances of the Third Kin, sorted by family. This document aims to guide the creation of mental and physical representations of the Switchboard’s denizens, as well as discuss the ways they visually differ from each other, and what informs these visual differences.
  • Created GoI_HighCastle (6k), the first of the Groups of Interest class of documents that seek to discuss the various organizations, coalitions and factions that make up the Switchboard canon. They can be thought of as the family docs but for non-family entities. This document in particular is somewhat incomplete, but enough of it exists to sell the core idea. More writ will be added at a later date.
  • Added ‘Bodily Marks of Law’ under SB_Physiology

An idea I had.

Added to discuss certain matters that were discovered to be handled inadequately while building out AestheticsAnatomy.

Something I felt was needed as I began to work through some aesthetic elements of Samsara.

A rambling section that seeks to commit to type some scattered thoughts I mined from the workings of WCZero. It is very likely me trying to utilize elements of a discipline I have very little robust understanding of, but I feel I got what I needed done.

Revisions

These are mostly parity additions and changes made for heightened understanding. Nothing added warrants a reread, to speak on how tangible these additions are.

Migrations

Expansions

Meta

  • Retroactively changed the version of ‘dot1.5’ to ‘dot1.5.1’ to reflect the commencement of the Interlude series of patches. ‘dot1.6’ will follow likely after the release of Weftcrash Zero. This change is also reflected in the TIMELINE document.

27/11/24 - dot1.5.1 - ‘Interlude 1’

A lighter update as work on the core worldbuilding slows down to work on narrative.

Additions

  • Added some more writ to the Life Span section, including a breakdown of life stages by years to SB_Physiology.

Became necessary after realizing - during character development for WCZero - that I couldn’t reliably tell you what an adult was as judged by the Fel-Arcad.

  • Added a note on how taking a spoke manifests on Fel-Arcad in SB_Physiology.

For WCZero.

A snap thought.

  • Wrote on FOPL.db, the largest body of knowledge in the Switchboard under SB_Technology.

Long overdue.

  • Wrote on the ‘Writ and Spirit of Teks’ under Teks.

Something that struck me while working on WCZero.

A very left-field revision of an aging concept in the canon. I simply could not resist giving denizens of the Switchboard what is aesthetically their own Duel Disk.

  • Moved Danseer Incarnons out of the drafting tables into the public documents, under SB_Physiology.
  • Wrote on the maiming combat methodology employed in the Switchboard in Limbs Must Fly under Weave and Warfare.
  • Expanded on the nature of Spyndl Operator arsenals under The Firefly Arsenals in The Spyndl Academy.

The beginning of something large and long-term, tied to background development concerning the Spyndl Academy and what followed Dancirah’s Dawn.

Revisions

  • Revised some of the writ in SB_Physiology under ‘Life Spans; specifically tweaking the numbers.
  • Rearranged and renamed various headings in Weave and Warfare. I wanted to achieve a more cohesive, logical reading experience through what is one of Samsara’s larger and more complex documents.
  • Revised ‘quikasting’ under SB_Technology to reflect the introduction of spynjacks, deprecating qui-wheels.
  • Similarly, revised all arsenal cards to replace mentions of qui-wheels with spynjacks.

Migrations

Expansions

Thanks Mel.

Meta

  • No major updates to speak of.

25/09/24 - dot1.4 - ‘Sojourn’

A massive update with nearly seventy thousand words of new writ. We expanded on everything with a dense update that delves into hardcore worldbuilding, abstracts, parables, and a butchery of all that is blessed.

Additions

Adven Ventura can now use the domain expansion.

A fun, short read that talks about the Sign of the Star Corridor.

  • Added a section discussing true damage types and how they affect the Switchboard’s combat doctrines to Extended Disciplines

Under here. it felt necessary after adding perforant damage to have a fairly robust breakdown of how the three physical damage types differ from each other in more interesting ways than the types of wounds they make.

This doc can actually very much be ignored, as it is pure Samsara and science fiction technobabble. If you’re into that though, you’ll have a swell time.

  • Added new doc The Spyndl Academy to tackle some things related to the Spyndl Academy pending when the proper document is completed.

This doc is for publicizing some writ on the Spyndl Academy that helps explain a couple other things in the canon.

  • Added new doc Pantheon for the discussion of the Switchboard’s various divinities.

A dedicated doc for the subject was long overdue.

We’re talking a little about gods this patch.

Felt like a needed part of the document considering the ramifications it has throughout the canon.

  • Added the VMD.Misc document to collate various visual media without exact categories.

Thanks, Juke.

  • Added some graphics to the VMD.SamsaraGeneral and especially the VMD.TheFel-Arcad documents, the latter depicting some truly great wart of what arcologies would look like.

Thanks, Mel.

Revisions

Bullets, spears and arrows no longer do slash damage.

Migrations

  • Moved the heading The Switchboard’s Greatest Secrets from the backend to the newly-created The Spyndl Academy document.

A necessary migration due to additions made to SB_Physiology

Expansions

  • Added notes on EPIT weight classes and mercurial morphologies under SB_Biota.

The result of a shower thought after playing a lot of videogames. This is also tangentially related to development of WCZero.

Meta

This is a new section for tracking various updates to the site.

  • Added the new DISCUSSION_BOARD for tracking subjects open to discussion among the wider Samsara community, before being implemented into the canon.
  • Update the Fel-Arcad section of ABOUT_SAMSARA, adding in some omitted pivotal motifs.
  • Updated the ATTRIBUTIONS document to reflect additional contributions to the Samsara canon and the development of the project.

9/08/24 - dot1.3

Looking to be a smaller update.

Additions

  • Added Perforant Damage (pierce damage) to the True Damage types under Weave and Warfare

Having bullets and swords do the same kind of damage - caedometric - was too inconsistent with observable reality. This will necessarily require a revision of the existing ACs though.

  • Added Fifth Generation ‘Gamma’ (G5C) Teks to Teks

Created mostly on the spot to justify a lore entry in an arsenal card.

Revisions

  • Revised the shorthand of Praxis Damage from ‘P’ to ‘X’, under Weave and Warfare

It conflicted with Perforant, and considering the true damage types are more common, they take precedence. Also, praxis damage being denoted with ‘X’ seems fitting.

  • Made additions to SB_Physiology as a result of adding perforant damage.

Just some necessary additions.

Migrations

Expansions

17/07/24 - dot1.2 - ‘Mindcrack’

Some new additions that are gradually building towards the next Samsara project. Much of this writ and the writ to come is highly relevant to this project.

To speak more on the actual contents of this patch, it is an overdue formalization of the concept of minds in the canon, as well as the surrounding and foundational concepts concerning their natural and artificial formation/synthesis, their behavior, and how they are harnessed from both mechanical and narrative standpoints. Much of the new and revised material is centered in SB_Technology.

Additions

  • Added ‘Mercurials’ to SB_Biota

A fun one, and relevant to something I’m cooking.

Another fun one, and this one in particular gives me joy in what I’ve built.

  • Added the heading ‘SBTech: Mind Engineering’ to SB_Technology.

A major addition that tackles a breadth of topics related to minds.

  • Added a section on ‘Bodily Thermals’ to SB_Physiology

Thanks Mel.

  • Added a concluding section on the ‘Kin-shape’ to SB_Physiology

A somewhat rambling section that explains my vision for building the unique physiology of the denizens of the Switchboard.

  • Added a concluding section on ‘The Building of All Things’ to Calcodynamics

If you’re a worldbuilder yourself or want some insight into the guiding principles of many of Samsara’s design quirks, consider giving this one a look.

Revisions

  • Revisions to the H#15 - ‘Technology’ heading in the The Fel-Arcad document, targeting the matters of crucibles and Purposed Minds
    • ‘Purposed Minds’ is now ‘Verdant Minds’, to focus on the Fel-Arcad specific application of the tech
    • ‘Crucibles’ is now ‘Sembleworks Crucibles’, for the same reason

These now call to the relevant sections in SBTech as their origin, rather than having them originate within the Fel-Arcad doc.

  • Revisions to ‘Output Maximization & Self-Impositions’ in Extended Disciplines
    • Now called ‘Apex Weaving’, the spirit of the concept remains, but it has been massively cleaned up and rebuilt in a manner that makes more sense and works better with the rest of the verse mechanics.

Migrations

It was more apt to place it there, as it was a technology that stood alone and merely depended on aspects of the original doc to function, rather than lending more weight to the subject discussed in the original doc.

Expansions

  • Expansions on various bits concerning the Mindspun, Purposed Minds, the New Thinkers, crucibles and canon that calls back to the Dawn of the Dancirah, all found in SB_Technology.
  • Touched on ‘Technique Collapse’ in Extended Disciplines
    • It has now been renamed to the ‘Collapse Function’, given more writ on how it works relative to mechanics outlined in The Astrolabe, and also has an example of it in action taken from Adven Ventura’s arsenal card (Ven_AC).

02/07/24 - dot1.1

The first post launch patch. Some clean-ups stemming from feedback following launch, and new and expanded writ.

Additions

I somehow forgot I revised this and didn’t ship it with U24dot1; my bad.

Sup Blakk.

  • Added the entry on ‘Recurve Strafers’ to SB_Technology

We have hoverboards now.

Revisions

  • Fixed a number of grammatical and punctuation errors.

Thanks Mel.

Migrations

They seemed more appropriate here, and DocPass is due for a large-scale revision sometime soon.

Expansions

Wasn’t satisfied with the launch version of this, so it’s been expanded upon.

26/06/24 - U24dot1 Initial Launch

  • Expanded Project Samsara in a manner previously unseen.
  • Diligent recording of patch notes begins.

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