Interesting concept. We could use positions on the double helix to
represent behavioral aspects (intimate conversation, public speaking,
financial management, domination, submission, etc.) and the memes to
represent the ways that these behaviors may be modified.
re: Magic the Gathering, Illuminati, et. al. versus Tarot...
I think this thread has splintered into the development of two
separate decks (or at least a deck with two separate purposes...). Possibly
we could unify them by making a Tarot-style deck that incorporates
superiority and inferiority relationships in regard to the positions in
which the cards come up. For example: "experimentation & testing" in a
position of "metaphysical speculations" might cause another card, such as
"replication" in "financial management" to increase by a strength of 3
(just like tapping a manna card in Magic gives the player that much energy
to use...). Divinatory meanings could be interpreted by the relative
strengths of the cards, after the effects of other cards are calculated,
compared to others... for example, a score of 2 in "metaphysical
speculations" and one of -3 in "submission" would have the interpretive
meaning of "Reexamine your concept of what reality is and is not. You may
be undervaluing yourself because of ideals that exist only in your mind."
The interprative meanings themselves could be listed as verses, with
the positional relationships as chapters, forming a "Virion Bible" -- it
would be an application of bibliomancy with a memetic slant. The double
helix could even be sectioned so as to make different books in this "Bible."
Of course, this would require an intense amount of effort, including
knowledgeable game design (players could take turns placing cards drawn
from their deck on chosen places of the double helix, to create the most
effective meme-complex; this could be applied by attributing point scores
to the Virion Bible verses), appropriate art, effective choice of included
memes, and affective writing.
The tricky part would be to make the set expandable, but we may be
able to do this through expansion sets that only modify the existing
memes.... We would have primary memes (the base set and Bible), secondary
memes (infinitely expandable), added texts with commentaries on the Virion
verses [akin to the Talmud, &c.], "secret" texts [akin to the Apocrypha,
&c.] and their appropriate meme-cards, "grimoires" which would allow
combinations of memes from different sections of the DNA structure, if only
the player had the requisite memes to do the "spell"....
When played solo, the game would be a divinatory process as opposed to
an actual game....
Thoughts?
Toward the accumulation of useful information,
Noctem