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Post by dans on Oct 4, 2021 11:46:48 GMT
I'm trying to come up with a backstory for the Book of Answers originally carried by Doc Yale and now in the possession of Gareth Galloway. We don't know much about it, but Gary says that it contains everything ever learned by humanity, and Doc Yale used it as part of his heroic persona.
How about... an alien seeking knowledge came to Earth in <time period to be determined> and set up a device which continuously scans the minds of all humans on earth, and captures knowledge from those minds, collates it, records it, and then evaluates it. This device exists mostly in another dimension; the Book of Answers is actually the 3 dimensional extension of this gigantic other dimensional data gathering device.
Some undetermined time later, the device sent a signal that ALL human knowledge had been gathered and collated. The alien returned, hoping to learn no things, then threw up its tentacles and stormed off in a huff when it discovered that in the sum total of human knowledge recorded in the Book, there was no new knowledge that it didn't already know. It left the device behind and running. The device has a signal function, when some tiny but NEW datum of knowledge is recorded in the Book that is not already known to the alien, it will send a signal to let the alien know.
To human senses, the device appears as a book, maybe the size of an issue of Time magazine and maybe 1.5 inches thick, with hundreds of pages. The pages are incredibly thin. The whole thing is pretty much impervious to harm; it has survived avalanches, fires and floods.
The book's contents appear differently to each person who opens it. One reader might see millions of fairy tales, each teaching a lesson. Another see a history book, with events recorded as they actually occurred. A third might see a ledger. Still another might see only illustrations.
None of this is writ in stone (much less into the Book of Answers). I'm interested in hearing other possible origins for this Book...
Note: Doc Yale exists on Earth 1. I thought of having him originate on another Earth and somehow cross over to Earth 1. I wonder if the origin above might be better suited to another Earth? And then somehow the book's cross-dimensional properties tossed him from his original Earth to Earth 1, so I wouldn't be adding yet another mysterious ancient alien species to the Earth 1 continuity?
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Post by johnreiter902 on Oct 4, 2021 13:25:53 GMT
I really like this idea. It is very believable, almost like a super-advanced version of the Absorbascon
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Post by starskyhutch76 on Oct 4, 2021 19:10:56 GMT
Could its origins somehow be tied to the New Gods? Maybe a handy scholastic version of the Mother Box or a teaching device using Mother Box technology?
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Post by dans on Oct 4, 2021 19:47:22 GMT
ooohhhh.... I could do that. I never liked the New Gods, but I guess they are part of our continuity. And they were definitely around in the WWII years even though they didn't interact much with Earth before Superman. Maybe an earlier version of the mother box left on Earth long ago...
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Post by dans on Oct 4, 2021 21:26:40 GMT
When dud Himon invent the Mother Box? It seems like it has been a staple of life for the New Gods for a long time... I wonder if maybe 200,000 or so years ago, he was on a quest throughout the galaxy for Element X, and he landed on Earth and left behind a prototype...
On the other hand, I think it would be fun to have a knowledge gathering device left on Earth by an alien during prehistory, who came back to collect it in the 1930s but left it behind because the device had already gathered all the knowledge mankind had ever created up until then - and the owner determined that there was no knowledge saved in that collection that the device's owner didn't already know...
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Post by dans on Oct 4, 2021 22:46:35 GMT
Maybe a human mage (such as Merlin) cast a spell on a book, causing it to accumulate knowledge, and then he let it run, and expected to return to pick it - and never did, for whatever reason. Then the question is, how did Doc Yale find it? Maybe he found it in ruins somewhere during his world travels...
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Post by DocQuantum on Oct 5, 2021 0:49:34 GMT
I don't like the pseudo-scientific/alien origins at all, personally, for such an object that is obviously magical in nature.
I'd rather it come from a mystical source, such as an actual book created eons ago by gods or angels during the Age of Legends... or possibly its origin cannot ever be known and can only be theorized or just guessed at.
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Post by DocQuantum on Oct 5, 2021 0:58:48 GMT
I'm not sure if CSyphrett based it on this or not, but I've always thought Doc Yale's book was somewhat similar to one that appeared in Alan Moore's Supreme series and was owned by one of the members of the Allied Supermen of America, the pastiche of the JSA from that series. A character named Storybook Smith, obviously based on Johnny Thunder, had a magical book that he used to bring to life characters from fairy tales and such, but actually had the power to rewrite reality simply by making edits and changes to the book. The mini-series Judgment Day (which you can read here or the trade paperback here) is Alan Moore's creating out of whole cloth an entire universe with a history in several comic book genres based on a murder trial that involved the ownership of Storybook Smith's magical book, passed down through several hands throughout many centuries. Despite the very 1990s artwork, the story was fantastic and very inspired. I don't think we need to copy that origin, but I think it's a step in the right direction. |
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Post by DocQuantum on Oct 5, 2021 0:59:22 GMT
Maybe a human mage )such as Marlin) cast a spell on a book, causing it to accumulate knowledge, and then he let it run, and expected to return to pick it - and never did, for whatever reason. Then the question is, how did Doc Yale find it? Maybe he found it in ruins somewhere during his world travels... That sounds a lot like Merlin's Eternity Book from Kirby's Demon series. It would be great if the Eternity Book was the same book as the Book of Answers, but if the latter is currently owned by Gallowglass they cannot be the same. They do sound almost identical, though. |
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Post by DocQuantum on Oct 5, 2021 1:08:11 GMT
Could its origins somehow be tied to the New Gods? Maybe a handy scholastic version of the Mother Box or a teaching device using Mother Box technology? While I do like the connection to the New Gods, I think given its apparent ancient and magical nature, could the Book of Answers be a surviving artifact from the Old Gods? Kind of a magical predecessor to the Mother Boxes from an earlier age, sort of like Lonar's horse. |
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Post by redsycorax on Oct 5, 2021 1:21:12 GMT
It almost sounds like Destiny of the Endless' Book of Destiny, except for the fact that they appeared post-Crisis and might not be available here.
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Post by dans on Oct 5, 2021 1:30:44 GMT
Maybe a human mage )such as Marlin) cast a spell on a book, causing it to accumulate knowledge, and then he let it run, and expected to return to pick it - and never did, for whatever reason. Then the question is, how did Doc Yale find it? Maybe he found it in ruins somewhere during his world travels... That sounds a lot like Merlin's Eternity Book from Kirby's Demon series. It would be great if the Eternity Book was the same book as the Book of Answers, but if the latter is currently owned by Gallowglass they cannot be the same. They do sound almost identical, though. The Eternity Book is an Earth 1 Artifact? Could the Book of Answers be the Eternity Book from another Earth? How about the first edition of the Eternity Book?
I like the idea of the Book of Answers not having a known (or maybe even knowable) origin. Doc searches the book for information about its origin and that is the only subject that is not covered in the book...
So how does he get hold of it? I have some ideas about that based on what Doc said about Doc Yale's showy character but iId be interested in hearing some other thoughts.
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Post by redsycorax on Oct 5, 2021 1:36:15 GMT
Would the Book of Eternity then possibly reflect historical details that might not gell with knowledge of local history, politics, society and culture if it was from another Earth? Say, for instance, it's from an Earth where there was no Salem witch panic in 1692?
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Post by DocQuantum on Oct 5, 2021 2:14:06 GMT
It almost sounds like Destiny of the Endless' Book of Destiny, except for the fact that they appeared post-Crisis and might not be available here. Destiny is Pre-Crisis. Long before Neil Gaiman made him one of the Endless, he was a host of some of DC's mystery/horror titles and even met Superman once. I do like the idea of having a connection to Destiny as well. So many possibilities. |
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Post by redsycorax on Oct 5, 2021 2:46:17 GMT
Hmmm. Well, that could help matters. What say we enlist Roderick Burgess here, the magus who ended up inadvertantly imprisoning Dream of the Endless in post-Crisis continuity and instead of having him capture Dream, have him appropriate a copy of his brother's Book of Destiny instead?: sandman.fandom.com/wiki/Roderick_Burgess |
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