The Internal Operation of Acheron Cubes, A Brief Survey

By Jek Flathoof
Bariaur Guvner

written by [email protected]

    This award winning article appeared in Acheron Annual, a Sigilian Guvner publication detailing new discoveries on the plane of Acheron (there are three to four journals for each plane). Jek Flathoof is a noted bariaur scholar, in fact, he's one of the only known bariaur scholars. Tale of the Bariaur celebrates Jek's recent acceptance of The Hashkar Award for Excellence in Research with the re-publication of this article.

    Acheron is composed of cubes, and cubes within cubes. The people of Acheron are concerned with order, but not like the smooth running gears of Mechanus. Instead, Acheron order is similar to the behavior of the cubes, which smash into each other quite frequently, killing those who live on the surface. Therefore, it is not surprising that an extensive living space exists within the cubes to avoid such calamity. It is believed that only the privileged of Acheron society are authorized to live in this internal world, but little else is known of the social ramifications of internal cube life.

    We have learned a great deal about Acheron cubes from the modron who marched across the multiverse, starting with Acheron. Several modron who have gone rogue have volunteered this information, and it has been corroborated by Acheron sources, notably several priests of Lei Kung who have defected to the Athar. As a bariaur, it is quite impossible for me to visit the internal cubes of Acheron because of my size, but every source I have interviewed has confirmed the information in this study.

CUBE DESIGNATION

    In a society as ordered as Acheron, it is vital to have designations, ranks, and various schemes outlining the place of people and things. The key to this system are cube designations.

    All cubes have a designation. The designation is a binary number. For example, a cube may be 123.4.0.0.0.0.0.0. Note that the cube is one of a possible 65,000 cubes (possibly why Acheron is at war, to reclaim cube numbers?). The face of each cube is not important within the numbering scheme, although it is designated by color (see below). Those living on the cubes designate themselves by name, but also hold personal identification numbers.

Personal Designation

    All organized social units, such as various workers or military units, identify themselves by cube number, cube face, social division, rank, squad, and personal alpha-numeric number (although more commonly by name instead of personal ID). For example, a soldier may identify himself as: Cube one-twenty-three dot four, red face, rubick fusiliers, lieutenant first class, griffon squadron, 123-4-R-984512323 (or Afrin Mogslop).

Internal Cube Designation

    Within each cube are additional "internal" 40’x40’ cubes with their own numbers. For example, 123.4.232.1.43.100.222.34 is a cube within a cube. This number represents the home cube (123.4) and the six sides of the internal cube. Each internal cube has six portals, one on each side. Since the cubes can move around within the main cube, there is no designation for the actual location of the "internal" cube.

Also, there is no formal up or down in a cube. The portals are noted by color, which become visible only when the portal is activated. For example:

• Octet 1: Cube Address (123)

• Octet 2: Cube Address (4)

• Octet 3: Black (232)

• Octet 4: White (1)

• Octet 5: Red (43)

• Octet 6: Green (100)

• Octet 7: Yellow (222)

• Octet 8: Blue (34)
  
  Each internal cube has the cube number listed somewhere within it. To open a portal, align the eight spell crystals to form the proper binary number. Once you’ve aligned all crystals from all the portals, the room is "owned" by the occupants and the cube will move at will through the larger cube, provided the owners know where they wish to go.

    The problem with accessing this system is that you must know two facing colors to master the cube. For example, if you enter through the black portal, octet 3, you know the number for its corresponding white portal, octet 4 by checking the cube address, since it's the octets are always in the same order. However you do not know if the next portal over is the red/green or yellow/blue combination, as these are not assigned. This is thought to be a security design, to slow down the progress of invaders, while allowing inhabitants to traverse the cubes relatively safely.

THE PORTALS

    Each portal is a square opening 3 feet by 3 feet. This is the exact dimensions needed for a modron to enter a cube. However, this only works for modron servants on Acheron, who have their arms attached on the top of their box. Modrons from Mechanus may not enter without being "un-armed." Invading modrons adapted by re-attaching their arms to the tops or bottoms of their boxes.

    Portals are activated by sliding the relevant crystals into place. Normally, all crystals are in the "zero position," meaning they’re facing downward toward the portal. The "full up" position represents the number 255 (a total of 256 combinations, including zero). Crystals are manipulated to open a portal based on the portals binary address. For example, 231 would look like:

Improperly entering the binary address usually results in the activation of a trap or movement of the cube to a "safe" location.

Future Research

    Like most research, this work raises as many questions as it answers. For example, who controls the numbering scheme of the cubes? Mathematically, there is only the possibility of 65,025 cubes. What happens when this number reaches capacity? After all, the layers of Acheron are infinite. Does this not mean there are an infinite number of cubes? Could this limited numbering scheme have something to do with the wars that continually rage on Acheron? It has been suggested by several interviewed modron, who invaded a set of Acheron cubes at one time, that the power Lei Kung controls the cube numbers, denying new numbers to cubes that do not meet his criteria, or not allowing new numbers until another cube has been destroyed. If funds permit, I intend to answer these questions and many more.

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