🌌 Project Samsara

Oct 18, 20255 min read

The Samsara Reading Guide

How to get through the canon and come out through the other side unscathed.

Tracker

This reading guide is up to date as of Update dot1.6 - DARKSTAR, which launched on May 28th, 2025.

Preface

At over half a million words, the Samsara writ is a large undertaking to build, and even more to trawl through as someone not nearly as intimate with it as the creator. As such, it is greatly advised that the whole writ not be tackled in one jaunt, but rather different topics be engaged with as needed or desired.

To facilitate this, there are two major reading guides in this document, both denoted as ‘runs’. Completing one is effectively completing a run of the Samsara writ. These are;

  • The General Competence Run, a run that breaks down important documents by heading and arranges headings in a manner that allows for maximum information uptake and understanding. Slightly cumbersome to go through, but exists for instilling maximum grasp of Samsara’s pivotal world mechanics in those who complete it.
  • The Topical Competence Runs, various runs that focus on specific aspects of the Samsara canon. These are meant to be read sequentially and further elaborate on various facets of the writ.

Additionally, some documents are tagged to give more information on them, such as whether they are essential for a grasp of the run’s topic, or in-development and thus less necessary for a grasp of subject matter.

  • (C) - Critical for understanding the subject of the run
  • (ID) - In-development, and thus can be safely ignored

Run: General Competence

A rather long document, this is self-contained in RUN_GEN_COMP.

Runs: Topical Competence

Run-throughs of Samsara writ focused on various topics. These runs are loosely arranged in the order I believe they should be undertaken - factoring in a General Competence run completed beforehand - though this can also be ignored if one wants to jump to subjects that seem more interesting, or refresh their knowledge on certain topics.

Run: Chalk - 74k words

Perhaps the single most important thing to grasp, the mechanics of chalk.

Read Order

Run: The Praximechanics - 16k words

One of the stranger bits on how Samsara works, the praximechanics are a sort of meta-mechanical ruleset that the Samsara canon operates under. Grasping them can take a few rereads, but they are arguably one of the most interesting bits of mechanical worldbuilding. I owe it all to the good doctor.

Read Order

Run: Miscellaneous Mechanics - 85k words

A run for grasping various flavors of applied calcic mechanics, tackling technology, biology and information communications.

Read Order

Run: Weftcraft - 111k words

This run is focused on the subject of Samsara’s world mechanics as they are applied as powers. Focusing on the application of chalk in matters of utility and combat, a solid grasp of calcodynamics is recommended before venturing into this section.

Read Order

Run: Arsenal Cards - 20k words

Ideally completed after a run of Weftcraft, these are example arsenal cards that illustrate the subject in practice. This run isn’t particularly essential to complete.

Read Order

Run: The World - 50k words

A run that is meant to convey information on the Switchboard as a world, spanning the largest stars and planets to the tiniest insects.

Read Order

Run: Void 5 - 20k words

The Void is a subject in Samsara that deals with a locale occupying the fourth spatial dimension in the Switchboard. Existing effectively ‘below’ the Dancirah, it is subject to its own ruleset and mechanics, which have been the source of extensive contention and thus reconstruction. Currently, we are at the fifth revision of the Void’s canon, following the consolidation of old ideas into a more cohesive whole, and introduction of new ones. This is also the final state of the fundamentals of Void, as all that I have sought to establish with it has been established.

Read Order

Run: The Great Families - 171k words

A run that teaches on the Switchboard’s great families. As of now, really only the Fel-Arcad have been committed to writ, but they are still categorically the longest subject to pursue by sheer word count.

Read Order

There is also a final document here titled ‘The Subjects of Red’ (9k words), which deals with topics not for polite company, as it were. Access to it can be granted on special request, though granting such is at my discretion.

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