The Dreck

Dreck is the collective term for Gri’xian citizens, settings, narratives, and other elements created by ‘Nodians which bear so many amateur qualities that they are noticeably "less-than" other, more refined content. In the ongoing battle between the Consensi and...well, everyone else...the Dreck and their creators are often on the front lines. They don’t have to be perfect—they just have to be.     From the journal of Daniel Booth, Order of the Quill and ‘Nodian Ambassador to the Gri’x at Hemming Ridge:   The 'Node is full of creators with a lot more enthusiasm and dedication than talent.   And I can say that, because I'm one of them. Ideas always look so much better in your head than they do on the page. It takes time, and practice, and patience with yourself and your work to even get close to the level of excellence that you want to see, and even then, your creations—if you're doing it right—will seem to gain a mind of their own and start making their own choices about what direction they want to go and you'll just end up chasing them around trying to keep up, because, you know, screw your meticulous outlines and all those notes you made; they’ve got their own stuff to do.   Your ideas will come alive.   If you're doing it right.   But just because they come alive doesn't mean you've made a masterpiece. You've probably produced a pile of Dreck.   That's not necessarily a bad thing, or at least, it shouldn't be.   I mean, are you perfect? I bet your life is a mess. Doesn't mean you're not alive and conscious.   Who's judging, anyway? Who decides what gets to be Great Art and what doesn't?   There's a faction of Gri'xian citizens who think they get to sit on that judging panel. They want to return to the old ways, to uphold the standards set by the “Great Masters” of ‘Nodian creators. These purists would really like for the whole dimension to be reserved for only the finest, most exemplary, most established masterpieces of the ‘Nodian art world.   But nowadays there are a lot more ‘Nodians with a lot more leisure time, a lot less training, and a lot of different ways of thinking about art—and more often than not, whatever they churn out winds up in the Gri’x.   The purists see the Dreck as an invasive species. Substandard, second-class (at best), embarrassing nuisances. But the thing about the Dreck that these snobs don't seem to understand (or won’t accept) is that you don't get masterpieces without starting somewhere. Every creator, even the Great Masters, has to produce a whole lot of Dreck. It's unavoidable.   Not every amateur creation even makes it to the Dreck stage, of course. No matter how technically shitty or perfect something is, it's got to have a bit of soul: a seed of consciousness that can grow and take on a life of its own.     There are two ways to imbue a thing with soul:   One, its creator can pour some of their own soul into it. That's what usually happens.   Two, someone else sees it and it touches them just right, forming a meaningful connection with that viewer. Maybe the creator didn't care enough, but the person who sees the creation sure does, for whatever reason, and boom, part of their soul goes into it.   The quality of the work doesn't matter. Once it develops a soul, it appears in the Gri’x.   And the Dreck aren't necessarily bad. They're just rough around the edges. Unformed or over-planned, perpetual works-in-progress. Beginner's class exercises. Derivative, repetitive, over-worked, practice runs. Kid art. Fanfiction. Long, rambling stories that don't go anywhere until the writer figures out what they're trying to say. Simple scales and arpeggios with an experimental flair...   ...all the stuff a beginner has to produce and keep producing if they're ever going to become any good at all at what they want to do. If they have any hope at getting to the wondrous, perfect thing that's stuck in their head, they've simply got to churn out a lot of Dreck. There's no way around it.   Anyway, as you can imagine, this whole Dreck business is an ongoing sore spot for a lot of people in the Gri'x. Everyone has an opinion. Some think that the Dreck should be segregated into their own areas and kept away from the Common Grounds until they mature, improve, grow into their potential, if they ever do. Others believe that they deserve to live right alongside the Masterworks, because art is art is art and as long as it has a soul and can speak for itself, it's all Masterworks.   The Dreck are under the protection of the Knights of Agamus, who are sworn to uphold the rights, privileges, and dignity of all besouled creations and their creators. But as for the rest of the population, not everyone is on the side you'd think they would be, so don't make any assumptions. Best not to bring it up in mixed company unless you're spoiling for a fight.   That can be fun, too.   Underneath all this is the fact that the Gri'x itself (which, according to a lot of philosophers, has its own consciousness and makes its own decisions about what it is to whom) seems to be willing to let anyone live anywhere they want.   Is that because most Gri'xians think that's the right thing to do? How much is the Gri'xian consciousness influenced by consensual reality and majority opinion? Is there even such a thing as a base consensual reality in the Gri'x? There doesn't seem to be.   It's a whole big thing.   So far, the Dreck still have access to all the public places. So either a lot of Gri'xians are rooting for them, or the Gri'x itself wants it that way.