On the Recursion Rites of 13Magnus

They did not call it Recursion in the times of lore.

That word is a convenience added later, a label to make the act survivable in conversation. The original term does not translate as cleanly. In the fragments attributed to 13Magnus, it appears as a gesture, not a noun. A turning inward that continues past the point where identity usually resists.

The Recursion rite begins with subtraction.

Name. Rank. Factional certainty. These are set aside first, not ceremonially, but practically, the way one removes metal before entering a strong field. What remains is an Agent-shaped attention, still capable of choice but no longer protected by habit.

Witness accounts agree on this much: the Portal selected for the rite was never special on the Scanner. No unique visual signature. No historic density. Always ordinary. This was deliberate. Magnified places introduce noise. The rite required a Portal that would not compete for meaning.

The candidate stood within range and waited. No glyph hacking. No deployment. No Scanner interaction beyond passive presence. The rite depended on stillness long enough for XM to stop reacting and begin responding.

At thirteen minutes past the hour, the first shift occurred.

Not externally. Internally.

Memory loses sequence. Events rearrange themselves into themes instead of timelines. The self becomes a diagram that can be folded. Those who endured this stage reported a sensation like standing behind their own eyes, watching a familiar Agent make choices that now seemed optional.

At the thirteenth breath after that realization, the dangerous part began.

13Magnus believed Recursion was not a reset but a re-threading. The same awareness, pulled back through the lattice at a slightly different angle. This required consent, but consent could not be spoken. Language collapses at that depth. Instead, the candidate had to release the need to remember.

Those who failed here did not die.

They returned unchanged, except for an enduring discomfort near active Portals, as if something expected them to finish a sentence they had abandoned.

Those who succeeded experienced what the records call the thinning.

XM ceased to feel external. The distinction between thought and field blurred. Identity did not vanish. It became negotiable.

When the Scanner reasserted itself, the Agent was back at Level 1. Inventory empty. Statistics reset. But the field logs showed anomalies. Actions taken before Recursion now cast longer shadows. Links thrown later aligned too cleanly. Glyphs learned faster, as if the hand already knew what the mind pretended was new.

13Magnus warned against repetition.

Recursion was never meant to be routine. Each pass through the rite loosened something that might not tighten again. The thirteenth recursion, theoretical at the time, was believed to result in an Agent who could no longer fully localize themselves. Present everywhere they had ever acted. Owned by no single now.

Whether this was ascension or dissolution remains disputed.

One final note appears in the margins of the last surviving Magnus text, written in a hand that does not match the rest:

If AntiMagnus exists, then Recursion is not escape.

It is bait.

If you are considering the rite, ask yourself a simple question before you begin.

When you return, who will be doing the remembering?