[Oliver]

Originally Posted by Renall

It seems possible for meta-characters to perceive the board directly however. Battler and Beatrice do it all the time, especially in ep2 where they're constantly pausing the events to wander around the frozen scene and talk to each other about it.

It should be. But it's possible we're dealing with a much thicker layered cake:

1. Where things really happen. Where Piece-Battler lives.
2. Where interpretations happen. This is what Meta-Battler sees and where Virgilia and Ronove live, peeking one or two layers up from time to time. Virgilia, in particular, practically ascends in Ep5.
3. Where interpretations are constructed. This is where Meta-Battler actually is drinking tea with Meta-Beatrice, somewhere very virtual.
4. Where the interpretations can be judged to fit or not fit the truth and are focused into a complete theory. This is where Lambdadelta seems to live and normally a layer where the Gamemaster is.
5. Where the first layer of the readers, us, should be, but instead, Bernkastel seems to be sitting alone, reading about what she herself is doing one level below.
6. That's where us the readers are.

Bernkastel is on level 5, but is normally seen on level 4, and never sees the board directly at all. Erika 'dips down' one level further, and is on level 3 while being seen on level 2, never actually getting down to the bare metal. Battler and Beatrice actually exist simultaneously on the first three, which is why their meta versions can interact with the board sort of directly, but Erika can't.

Or some other convoluted mess along those lines.