Action Principles

Action principles are the rules that define abstract theoretical spaces. Rather than working only in ordinary x, y, z coordinates (and their velocities), theors can choose a space whose rules better fit the problem at hand.

First appearance and context

Action principles are introduced when a senior student explains to a fid how to move beyond Saunt Lesper’s x–y–z framework toward spaces that make an orbit’s character easier to see.

Description and use

• An action principle specifies the rules of an abstract space in which a problem is represented and manipulated.
• In cosmography, practitioners favor a six‑dimensional space with one axis for each orbital element. In that space, properties such as whether an orbit is polar or equatorial are apparent at a glance, unlike when using six raw components of position and velocity.
• The approach is contrasted with working directly in Saunt Lesper’s coordinate system, which yields component lists but may hide the stable, visual character of an orbit.
• A more general framework for such spaces was developed early in the Praxic Age by Saunt Hemn and is referred to as Hemn Spaces or configuration spaces.
• In a later dialog among Edharian avout, an action principle was glossed as the technical basis for tracing “coherent stories” from one moment to the next: the world’s path through Hemn space is constrained to internally consistent sequences, which helps explain why minds focus worry on plausible outcomes and ignore an unbounded profusion of unconstrained hypotheticals. This line of thought was connected to the tradition of Evenedric.

Related concepts

• Saunt Lesper’s coordinates (x, y, z positions with corresponding velocities), a teaching tool that precedes the shift to action‑principle spaces.
• Orbital elements, the six‑number description used in the cosmographers’ space.

Status

Action principles are presented as standard theorics used by specialists (e.g., cosmographers) and as a milestone in a fid’s progression from rote calculation to more insightful representations.