Trans-Kalpic Hist, the Striking, and Argonian Perception of Time
The ideas presented here owe a lot to these particular threads by /u/IceFireWarden:
For this text, in line with my general model, I will take the assumption of the flower-petal model of kalpas. That is, one single moment of Convention, with many kalpas branching from that moment, some ending and some never ending at all. Within this model, one kalpa does not have to fall for the next to exist. The perception of kalpas being ordered is a product of perspectives being locked within them, experiencing them one at a time, even if they do manage to hop from one kalpa to another. As I have said elsewhere:
> To me, all kalpas branch from the singular Convention all at once, and are only arranged in terms of "next" and "prior" by reference to their causal influence on each other. For example, Umaril's father was in a "previous" kalpa only because Umaril (or his father) moved from that kalpa into this one. Say someone called Liramu also did the reverse: Moved from this kalpa into Umaril's kalpa. Then you could just as legitimately say that Umaril's kalpa is the "next" kalpa as well as the "prior" simply because they aren't obliged to order themselves in a linear way. You could also have multiple prior kalpas and next kalpas, again, solely because of causal factors interacting between them.
Now, in considering the Hist within this model, there's a bit of a hiccough. We don't have an indication that the Hist ever weren't in this kalpa. That is, they don't seem to have traveled from one kalpa to another, at least not under a flower-petal version of kalpas. To be in a kalpa from the start, one has to have been present at the original Convention.
And yet I am still inclined to see the Hist as trans-kalpic beings, and I am particularly enchanted with the way they can be both trans-kalpic within the flower-petal model and present from the moment of Convention.
A second point of background: I describe the Hist as simulating a universe within their networked minds, and the Argonians as offshoots of that universe.
> The point of Argonians isn't to conquer or be superior. > > What the point actually is, that's debatable, but my money's on gathering memories, the greater the variety the better. > > --- > > Along with /u/IceFireWarden's link, I would point you to these threads, particularly this bit: > > > Seems more and more like the Hist are actually simulating a universe in their little tree noggins, and sending pieces out into the outside world in the form of Argonians (mostly Saxhleel). They're Matrixing. If it weren't for all the violence they've done to the outside world, I'd say this is a more peaceful way of achieving the Endeavor, or an approximation of it. Note the whole "fragments of a whole" theme, like Ald-Anu and its subgradient issue. > > As well as this comment and its replies: > > > If I understand various hints I've seen but can never track down when I want to (aside from my own threads about ESO lore), they're attempting Amaranth via a different path. If I had to guess, I would say they're trying to make a Dream inside themselves that's so Dream-like it leaves Ald-Anu behind and takes them with it. > > So, to answer your questions: Memories of life and the universe around them, in order to make a universe inside themselves.
So now, with a little bit of inspiration from the question raised in this thread, I have come to the conclusion that the Hist are trans-kalpic in that at least some versions of them, in at least some kalpas, are able to communicate with each other through the universes they simulate. It may even be more accurate to suppose that each of these universes is, ultimately, the same universe, touching each kalpa through the embodied Hist.
This would be accomplished through the same principles of symbolic magic that enable continental trans-kalpic and trans-Amaranth travel, as I've described in detail elsewhere. Essentially, when the Hist of one kalpa simulate a universe, they can do so in a way that is symbolically linked up with the Hist universes simulated in other kalpas, allowing the inhabitants of those universes to travel between them, to the point that they may be regarded as regions of a single multiverse rather than independent universes altogether.
The magic symbolism doesn't end there. There's a very good reason the Hist might seek to do this: Kalpas can be seen as symbols of Amaranths. By making this universe independent of kalpas, they might be able to also make it independent of Amaranths. That is to say, if you are sufficiently trans-kalpic and understand kalpas to be symbolic stand-ins for Dreams, you can achieve the creation of a new Dream that is independent from your Dream of origin. This is what I now think of as "the Striking ('exact egg-cracking') of old Argonia." It is a method of achieving Amaranth without undergoing CHIM: Instead of achieving Will and leaving to transform yourself into a universe, you transform yourself into a universe and then leave.
And, just to hammer this home:
> Who ever said the Amaranth didn't have an antithesis? > > Antithesis > > Anti^thesis > > Like, I dunno, one set in a Hist..?
A reversal of the normal process of Amaranth, set inside the Hist? Fits the bill.
Something else that fits the bill pretty well is the notion that Argonian perception of time is weird. According to multiple sources, including firsthand, Argonians do not normally regard time as being ordered, at least not in the same way as other mortal cultures. From The Infernal City, from the perspective of Mere-Glim:
> The concept the Imperials called "time" did not even have a word in his native language. In fact, the hardest part of learning the language of the Imperials was that they made their verbs different to indicate when something happened, as if the most important thing in the world was to establish a linear sequence of events, as if doing so somehow explained things better than holistic apprehension.
Also from Mere-Glim is the knowledge that Argonians have a fairly strong mental connection to the Hist, sometimes receiving visions and instructions from them.
All of this is explained by the Argonians being pieces of the Hist, which Mere-Glim also believes: "It was generally believed that Argonians had been given their souls by the Hist, and when one died, one’s soul returned to them, to be incarnated once more." If we assume that the Hist have a universe that is independent of the kalpic cycle, of course the pieces of them that are projected out as Argonians, that are still mentally connected to that universe, would struggle to orient themselves to the local linearity. They can do it, but it feels strange to them when they are constantly, even if dimly, aware of a different time that they are connected to, one in which swims memories and people from times long after, long before, never-were, and never-will-be.
So there you have it. I don't think the Hist travel from one kalpa to another in sequence, surviving grim end after grim end. I think they're already in multiple kalpas, all at once, in pursuit of the Striking.