Cosmoria exists in a dualist state, with two fundamental kinds of energies within it. One, Sarkic Energy, is the stuff of the four fundamental forces and physical matter. Ousic Energy comprises all Minds, also known as souls. Ousic Energy is the foundation of the Noosphere, Cosmoria's conceptual half. The Noosphere is governed by two Ousic Forces—the Thaumic Force and Meta-Potential. Unlike the much more strict fundamental forces, the piecewise laws of the Noosphere are infinitely complex. Most theories accounting for the Noosphere describe broad patterns instead of strict mathematical models.
Most intelligent animals, and even a handful of unintelligent ones, exist at the intersection between the Ousic and the Sarkic; they are physical beings with souls. This intersection is responsible for subjective experience and free will. However, to limit the effects of the Noosphere to individuals is highly inaccurate. Residing within the center of Cosmoria is the Lux Aeterna, a portion of physical space that has taken on the two Ousic laws to create a dreamlike region of space. Other Noospheric phenomena include Noospheric Disturbances, Spirits, and Planes (Cosmoria), all of which have been and remain immensely important for Cosmorian civilization.
Ideals, Axioms, and Concepts
An Ideal, or Form, is the fundamental building block of the Noosphere. Like atoms, they interact according to a set of rules. Unlike atoms, whose laws are stagnant and clearly defined, ideals interact via meta-potential. This force is impossible to model with a single equation. The infinitely many rules of meta-potential, called Axioms, only apply under certain conditions. Meta-physicists are still researching the nuances of axioms with ever more precise measurements.
A Concept, in the context of the Noosphere, is a collection of ideals that come together to create a unit that minds can consciously grasp. Like individual atoms compared to an entire organism, ideals by themselves are too simple for minds to process. Ideals are so "small" compared to proper concepts that billions comprise even the simplest ideas. The most abstract thoughts require thousands to millions of times as many.
The "Planar Concepts," because of their unique composition, can exist outside of a mind. They emerged as ideals randomly collided, accumulating size over time. In effect, planes are miniature "Noosphere's" containing vast numbers of ideals but dedicated entirely to one concept. This is the origin of the planes, the bedrock of Esoteric Thaumaturgy.
Planar concepts are universal across intelligent species. Everyone in Cosmoria can understand them by definition. Mind-created concepts, of which there are perhaps infinite, are hazier. Even so, the same concept will interact with a mind differently based on the architecture of the mind, meaning that different minds, such as those between species, will have wildly different but still fundamentally similar perceptions of reality.
Minds
One step above concepts are minds, conscious collections of concepts. Every mind in Cosmoria "rhymes," a metaphor for each mind having fundamentally similar architecture. Despite minds independently evolving dozens of times, they have all converged to a single common template. Minds come in two forms, tethered and untethered. Tethered minds require brains to keep them coherent while untethered minds are their own brains.
Components
Minds can be organized into several components. Each component serves a different purpose and interacts with the others. Many components can be strengthened with use.
The Ego is the self. It determines identity and personality as well as making decisions. The Ego may be degraded, damaged, or even destroyed by certain threats, such as prolonged unreality, thaumic illness, and attacks of Ousic energy.
The Nous is the mind's eye. It allows for a mind to perceive the Noosphere. It can be see beyond its own location but only allows a mind to connect to a plane with contact.
The Para-nous is a point of interface with other minds. Information can flow from mind-to-mind through a connection. If a connection grows strong enough, minds may fuse into one. The para-nous can connect to multiple minds at once, but it can be straining.
Pylons are the gateway between the sarkhic body and ousic mind. An individual can have any number of pylons.
Though called a pylon, Invocative Pylons are a severed portion of the ego, devoted to a certain concept. It permanently connects to the para-nous.
The Anti-nous is the mind's anchor to the material world. The anti-nous contains the pylon as well as
Minds interact with brains via the Thaumic Force, a force related to but distinct from Meta-Potential. It is the only way for physical matter to interact with the Noosphere. Minute fluctuations of thaumic energy can influence the neurons and transmit information to the mind.
Logic
Meta-potential seems to adhere to the laws of logic in most cases, those being the impossibility of contradiction, that everything must either be or not be, and that everything is indeed identical to itself. The observed exceptions to these laws are the subject of ongoing study. Some believe that there are no exceptions and that they only arise due to flawed models. Others believe that these exceptions, called "logical singularities," mean that there is some set of foreign ideals exist which behave on an entirely different set of axioms. They propose "Esoteric Logic."
Contradictions, or what appear to be contradictions, manifest within Cosmoria as singularities, an event horizon "censors" them in most cases. When this censoring fails, info-hazards, or noohazards, are often reported. These are concepts that can harm the integrity of a mind that perceives them. Info-hazards are either the result of certain arrangements of ideals being harmful, analogous to prions, or the result of inherently toxic or foreign ideals that similarly destabilize minds.
Noospheric Disturbances
Any distinct object within the Noosphere is, by definition, a Noospheric Disturbance. Whether maintained by a physical brain or stable under its power, all Noospheric Disturbances are minds regardless of intelligence. Noospheric Disturbances are remarkably diverse, including everything from free-floating shades with no will to entities of cosmic relevance.
Media
There are numerous ways for Noospheric Disturbances to exist, with the most common medium being sapient organisms. Whether a soup of chemical signals, a highly structured web of nerves, or signals etched into silicon, there are countless ways for organisms to host their minds. During the first months of development, typically in utero, the minds of the host organism will split, granting the developing brain a small portion of itself. Minds can split an unlimited number of times as conservation of energy does not apply to the Noosphere. If this process fails, the unborn organism usually self-terminates. This class of Noospheric Disturbance, the everyday mind, is heavily tied to the biology of its host. Constant maintenance from the brain keeps the mind stable, while the mind supplies the brain with the abstract capabilities impossible for simpler organisms to achieve.
An uncommon but incredibly influential form of disturbance is spirit. Spirits are a self-reinforcing pattern of thought in the Noosphere. In other words, the brain and mind of these entities are the same. Spirits necesarily manifest in Cosmoria and will do so until their minds destabilize. The largest Noospheric spirit ever recorded, The Benefactor, is a behemoth with a mass of over 0.1 M☉. Most are smaller, such as Itiran Yutira, the Sentinels, or many examples of Overlords.
There is no reason for disturbances to be confined to a single brain, however. Large collections of minds are often suitable hosts. These "Cultural Minds" are distributed across billions to trillions of individuals. Minds can be thought of as moving randomly throughout conceptual space, like a diffuse gas. Under extreme conditions, however, when large numbers of minds begin moving in the same direction, it creates something like "wind." The patterns that form in this high-energy process, while usually meaningless, can become proper minds. Much like other types of Disturbance, these can affect change in the physical universe. They cause every member of the culture they affect to subconsciously work to manifest it in reality. Afflicted individuals contribute through their actions, thoughts, or even through thaumaturgy. The result is indistinguishable from something real but highly unstable. The Seekers are the most notorious example. An impossibly evil force bent on universal conquest, it formed in the tense cold war environment of Aylathiya in the early 9000s CE. They were a parody of the propaganda fed to trillions by governments. They caused the Inheritance War, creating a runaway increase in the intensity of their manifestation until overloaded the people of Aylathiya. The resulting mass die-off of Magi greatly hindered the activity of these kinds of Disturbances for millennia.
Another very rare type of Disturbance is the planes. With fewer than ten thousand in existence, this form of disturbance is permanent. Each one takes up a small portion of the wider Noosphere and is devoted to certain completely arbitrary concepts. While most represent abstract concepts, some are as simple as a chemical compound, seats in all forms, or even a single obscure fusion reactor design. Out of all of the forms of disturbances, these are the most poorly understood.
Physical Manifestation
Noospheric Disturbances are, fundamentally, made up of noospheric radiation. This form of energy always seeks to infiltrate Cosmoria in the pursuit of a lower energy state. For the stable disturbances, this results in a permanent release of energy into Cosmoria. Unstable disturbances typically release their energy all at once. There are no rules as to why certain disturbances manifest the way they do. There are some trends, however. Most Noospheric Disturbances are fairly amorphous or otherwise lack a single form.