Physics of the Abode

Page is under construction and text not finalized (probably will never be in this reality)!

The layout:

The Abode is, or is part of, a nexus situated between alternate realities, and connected to a multitude of them. It's important to know that it is only the core of the abode that is in the nexus, most rooms and living areas are extension into different worlds or alternate realities, at least those that have a stable connection with the nexus. There are some rooms where only a window, or a door, are connecting to another reality or time, and there are those where the connection is temporary and hazardous, if you go through one of those doors, you might never find your way home.

Nobody knows how many worlds the Abode connects to, many of the doors and windows are barred, blocked or impossible to open, and others disappear and re-appear randomly. The abode seems to be steadily anchored in little more than a dozen worlds, and most of its extended floor plan goes into these worlds.

The central layout can be confusing, I'll try to explain it using a simplified model of the layout: Think of yourself entering a hallway with two rooms connecting on each side, and one straight ahead, the door is behind you, all rooms have windows and are obviously part of the outer shell. If you go to the right room and then turn left and go through to the next door, and repeat this, normally when doing so you would end up where you start after four turns, and pass the room that was straight ahead when you started. But that is not the case in the Abode. You would need to round eight corners before you, hopefully, would end up in the same place as before, and it is quite possible, or rather probable, that you would never pass the room that was in front of you while doing so. Feel confused yet, you would be more confused when seeing that the view from every room, and sometimes every window, differed from the last, often the difference is subtle, but occasionally it is quite dramatic. To add to the complexity, the Abode have stairs as well, and going up one set of stairs and going down the next does not necessarily, even though it occasionally happens, bring you to the level you left. To add even more to the confusion the rooms are not evenly spaced and seldom does the doors or openings between the rooms come in any regular order, some rooms may have just one entrance, others are corridors with rows of doors (and sometimes windows). Altogether it is not a house you want to get lost in. Some say that if you locate the centre of the Abode (some say it is somewhere in the vast library) and spin around, you would need two full turns before you face the same view you started from...

A note of importance, the dozen worlds that the Adobe is anchored in are also apparently synchronized in time, which is, one hour in one is also an hour in the Abode and in other anchored worlds. Other worlds that are only briefly connected, like our own, are not synchronized in time between the connections, a fact that allows for time-travel, although with some precaution, since it is very hard to gain any control of when the next connection will be made.

And you never know whom you might meet....

"Dark elf encountered in the Labyrinth"

Worlds between worlds:

Several similar places to the Abode exist, but no two are alike. A good example of a totally different nexus would be the "Wood between the Worlds", where the portals are ponds in a large timeless forest. Surprisingly often, or perhaps due to the fact that it makes living easier, the known used nexuses are, or appear to be, constructs of some kind. Some of these are truly bizarre, connecting like the lithography Relativity by M. C. Escher's with orthogonal gravity wells arranged in multidimensional layout, or like a labyrinth of mirrors reflecting different realities. There might even exist pathways between the nexuses and all realities, but little is known about this and exploration of these paths is almost impossible for any ordinary being.

The original creators behind these constructs are obscured by time, they are ancient and as every new denizen usually adds their own layer of constructs and items to the place it might be almost impossible to know where the core construct is.

Alternate realities:

For every true decision, with more than one outcome, the universe will divide into two possibilities. There is a universe where you who read this text will find it nonsense, and continue to a page of greater interest, and another where your interest is awakened, and you'll continue to read this page. By now you would know which you are in...

The different realities created thus are like tightly packed thin lines of a wave (the wave is for several reasons better to begin with than a line, if you should ever delve deeper into this), with small variations, making them barely inseparable and each will merge with the main line again, when the deviation makes no difference. Thus the reality in which you decided to stop reading this text above will join your current reality again when you forget about it all, if no other lasting impression would cause the realities to continue to be separate.

Of course larger events cause larger differences, the events deciding human history, will converge at latest when humanity and its traces are gone. Thus the important decision with two possible outcomes (creating two different time lines) taken in ancient times will probably have merged today, when there is no major trace left. Nature in itself is conservative and minor differences may be equalized into one without a trace if no one is looking. Possibilities created in beginning of the universe, or history, will create more solid lines of reality that will merge first when the universe, or history, as we know it, is nearing its end. And among these there exists realities that are much different from our own.

To make it even more complex it is not universal (unless it happened when the universe was born, which answers for a large part of the 10 to the power of 500 existing universes) but very local. Even if most sentient races cause a uncountable alternate realities for the planet they live on and possibly it's surroundings, they will not be noticeable from another star far away, unless these observers have found a way to see the bulge of possibilities that has developed in the space around us (there are a few beings who actually have found out how to do this). One would think that if two sentient races originating from different places would multiply the number of realities, but strangely enough it evens out. There are probably a lot more connections to figure out and I could go on to rant about string theory and hidden mass and energy, which all plays its part in this, but that would take a lot more...

Travelling between realities is not possible by normal means, and direct contact between planes of existence could be catastrophic, in worst case including total annihilation of the planes involved. However there are possibilities of creating a medium between planes, a space between spaces, or reality in-between reality, that can be used to connect them. And true to many things, that what can exist, will exist, and sooner or later creatures who can use this will evolve and make use of it.

Most of you would never think about quantum mechanics and what it does, and even less realize that it has an influence on everyday life. The fact is that we could not exist if life itself did not make use the probabilistic workings of quantum world. Without the added quantum states, everyday biological processes (like photosynthesis), and even thought would be impossible. The same thing is true in the alternate realities and multiverse, it is there, and without it, we wouldn't be. But we are far from discovering its secrets, which would be like magic to most us (and most important, we will never understand it all, and there is no being evolved in the multiverse that could even hope to gain a full understanding of it all).

There is a close relation between propositions and possible worlds. We note that every proposition is either true or false at any given possible world; then the modal status of a proposition is understood in terms of the worlds in which it is true and worlds in which it is false. The following are among the assertions we may now usefully make:

• True propositions are those that are true in the actual world (for example: "Barack Obama became President in the US 2009")

• False propositions are those that are false in the actual world (for example: "Clint Eastwood became President in the US 2009")

• Possible propositions are those that are true in at least one possible world (for example: "Hillary Clinton became President in the US 2009")

• Contingent propositions are those that are true in some possible worlds and false in others (for example: "Barack Obama became President in the US 2009" is contingently true and "Hillary Clinton became President in the US 2009" is contingently false)

• Necessarily true propositions (usually simply called necessary propositions) are those that are true in all possible worlds (for example: "2 + 2 = 4"; "all bachelors are unmarried")

• Impossible propositions (or necessarily false propositions) are those that are true in no possible world (for example: "Melissa and Toby are taller than each other at the same time")

The only "special" property that the actual world has is a relational one: we are in it.

Now, to get into the complications: Have you ever felt that the world around you is different from what you remember?

If you answer yes, you might be, although unlikely, one of few who can cross between realities close to each others. If you could control this (which is fewer still) you might over time come to stranger places... This would prove that we have ability to transverse the boundaries of realities, something uncommon in our world, but being possible, there are some worlds where it is far more common. Those we would call demons, angels and sometimes gods, are beings born with the ability to manipulate the borders between realities, most of these beings are secluded and keep away from interference, some however, curious, or driven by desire or other interests, travel between realities and use their powers to influence and steer other realities to their own satisfaction and need. Some of these gave the knowledge on how to do the simplest of manipulations, and thus what we would call magic was born, the ability to channel energies between planes, and thus creating something out of what most would see as nothing.

You may wonder what it takes to divide a reality into two possible realities. First of all there must be a real choice and real chance, we might think that all decisions should produce at least one universe where the choice was other than the one we made, but that is not the case. In most case the outcome of a decision is necessarily true and this is enhanced by the wave structure mentioned earlier. The universes strive to harmonize, thus many choices, and even probable events, like throwing dice, will collapse down to one. Feel free to make a comparison on how the uncertainty principle works on atomic level. It's the same thing with lotteries and other events we think are random, they are in most cases predestined, the lottery ticket you buy already contain the number that was printed on it using a given algorithm, that surely will be the same in all realities close to yours, so the chance that you would win is not much greater in another reality (and therefore these realities will merge immediately, even if they separated from the start). However there probably is another universe where the designer of the printer decided to go for another algorithm (perhaps inspired by the nice but strange girl he met at the pub the night before) and suddenly a new branch forks off and grow strong as the whole chain of lottery wins will change for this reality.

But it can change (as you might guess from the above), if there is a real observer or manipulator, their observation or manipulation, of an event may cause a long-lasting division, or even change the flow of several realities. It takes some willpower and a lot of self-knowledge to be able to affect, and to really cause a bifurcation at least two such entities are needed. One type of observers and manipulators (but not the only ones) that may help to influence are those who can transverse the planes of reality or otherwise create flows, or leaks, between them. These are, in order of increasing strength, the "magic" users, daemons, devas, and ultimately, those we might call gods.

When it comes to the denizens of the Abode it might be noted that:

Opal and Tsuki comes from a plane of beings (demons) that have natural ability to move between and manipulate planes. They are true multi-planar creatures.

Shade is another multi-planar entity from a slightly different plane, and with somewhat different and limited powers.

Erendil and possibly Old Magician come from Avalone, which is a mythical world, Saber also originates from this world. Beings (at least some) from this plane are able to control energy, matter and probability by manipulating the borders of other planes, at least after some training and with the use of some quite advanced knowledge of their reality.

Alma, Bel and Lir come from a plane which contains the realities refereed to as the Hyperborean planes (at least here), where there are several creatures that have the ability to manipulate energy and mass between planes (Dragons are a good example, they fly due to this ability). This plane is also a good example where magic is considered as science and used in extensively by specialists. All three ladies have additional inherited benefits that make them exceptional even in their own plane.

Shinju is the "same" person from several different realities, Shinju (all) come from realities that we would think of as more "steam-punk" or possibly "bio-punk", where use of magic is not unknown, even if unusual.

Sus comes from a Sylvan plane, where humanity never overexploited the environment. And most of the others come from planes somewhat like ours, but with a much higher understanding of magic.

Li Nichang's origin is a reality that was parallel to ours up to the 19th century (although imbued with more "magic"), the great empires from the 19th century continue to rule (and fight), and the Chinese revolution never took place.

Evaleigh and Wotatease (together with Growf) comes from a plane that by many would be considered a fantasy realm of Dungeons&Dragons character, with high use of magic and an abundance of magical creatures.

Calandra and Palatyne are from the classical world where the Mediterranean culture flourished and was very real, although in its own way. Many events and myths in our own world actually came from this plane, told by those of this plane that can walk between the planes, like Calandra.

Tomomi is the only one coming from the world as the readers of this page.

Time and the Abode:

Time might seem intangible and even more so in the Abode. For those living in, or visiting, the Abode, time seemingly goes on as normal. An hour will be as short or long as you normally experience it, usually based on your mood and how much you have to do, your watch will tick away just as it will do everywhere else (at least in most case), but it can be a bit more elusive than in other places.

For those realities that the Abode is in sync with, an hour there will be an hour in the Abode as well, and you can go freely in and out and nobody will notice any glitch, and in most cases, the synchronization even works down to the level of season and daytime (although here are some exceptions).

Realities that are only partially synchronized with the Abode can be trickier, there might be gaps and irregularities, and you might miss a meeting with an hour, or even a day if you are not careful about how you use such connections. The rule is that frequent travelling to a certain reality minimizes the risk for time glitches. By the correct use of an “anchor” that works like a temporal bookmark, you can keep a quite good synch. The most common problem with this is that it gets stuck, which means that you might return seconds after you left, even if you were away days (a nice trick to research things quickly, if you manage it).

Unsynchronized realities can be far worse for any visitor to the Abode. Coming to the Abode through such a door or portal means you never know how much time passed on your original plane, it could be fractions of seconds, days or hundreds of years. As you might guess this gives rise to many strange tales and mysteries, as well as significant problems for those visiting the Abode this way. The denizens of the Abode are partially protected from these effects, but only in respect to the Abodes own temporal line.

The only rule that seems to be unbreakable is that you cannot travel to a point in time earlier than the one you left, so no time travel is possible through these connections. It is however possible to connect to a parallel reality close to the one you aim for in a time long before events in other realities, if there have been no later connections for that particular reality. This is also a main reason why you should be restrictive when exploring parallel realities (and why it is so hard to get hold of dinosaurs).

For the residents of the Abode there are several other effects of the way time is handled. They will age very slowly, although they still have an apparent normal metabolism and they will be synchronized with the Abode even when visiting other realities as described above.

Windows, Doors and Portals:

No, we are not technically speaking architecture, even though in the Abode there is a certain of the terms sometimes, it's about different connections between the possible worlds. To get one thing straight, the Adobe cannot reach all possible realities, only a small subset, and of these only a handful (around a dozen) are easily accessible.

So what is what?

Windows: These are simple connections that normally show a view of another world, without interaction or exchange, and often just one-way, you could call it a spying glass into another world. In the Abode these windows comes in all shapes and sizes, from small specks (makes beautiful jewellery), to what looks like normal windows. Most of these are time-synchronized when used, but may lapse when not. They are not necessarily fixed in space in the other world either, even though, for the comfort of the viewer, they remain fixed in some way when viewed. As with normal windows they may be opened, allowing passage, but caution should be taken, and it is highly advisable not to leave such a window open, unless you are well familiar with the world, and have set up appropriate dimensional seals. As long as they are closed, there is less chance that somebody, or something, may come knocking.

A popular variation are small "wormholes", often in the form of gems incorporated into jewellery, where a matched pair connects between the worlds (or between two places in the same world), transmitting light, sound or even smell between each other. They are fascinating, but be warned, they can be extremely dangerous as well.

The sylvan world Sus comes from is connected through a window (which was left open)...

Doors: They are a bit like windows, in that they open onto another reality, but without the view, so opening a door can be a surprise. A door might be connected to one or several different realities, where you will end up in the latter case depends on how you open it. Doors are connected to a specific point in the other world, and ca not be moved easily. They are usually not time-synchronized, even though there is simple magic that will synchronize them for a limited time, so using one can be hazardous. Due to this they are usually built very robust, designed to withstand time and forces of nature. As with windows, it is not advisable to keep doors open unnecessarily, even if it might be risky to close them behind you. To open, and sometimes also to close, a window or a portal, you need to be able to control them, which is a magic discipline in itself.

Our, and Tomomis, world is accessible from the Abode through a door connected to several locations in our "actual" world.

Portals: Portals are direct openings into other worlds or planes, they are far more powerful that windows and doors, and far more difficult to control. In the Abode there are two types of portals, the permanent and dormant. Permanent portals are open connections between the Abode and another world, synchronized in time and free to walk through in any direction. They cannot be closed without major magic, but may have physical doors or barriers to stop any unwanted crossings. There are around one dozen known permanent portals in the Abode. Dormant portals are guarded by strong seals to make them unusable and impenetrable, but may be opened by those able to manipulate or annul the seals placed. It might be wise to remember that those seals where usually placed there for a reason to start with, thus opening them, you should always make sure you also can close them again, before you start.

Hyperborea, the world Alma, Bel and Lir come from, is connected to the Abode through a permanent portal, leading to a large castle-like structure called Wizards Tower, in a desolated area in this realm.

Apart from the above, it is also possible to create temporary connections to summon, or grant access to, daemons, like Opal, or to use when scrying. And one should be aware that there are beings that can create their own connections to gain access to the Abode, at their leisure, like Tsuki.

Description of some selected planes of reality

There are several major time-line realities fixed to the Abode.

It is naturally possible to make connections to parallel realities of these as well, but this is generally avoided, as most "side-track" realities tend to fall back into one of the main realities again.

You will find more information on the next page -> Planes of Reality