Settings/Multiverse Info

A few questions have come up now and then in comments about how the settings of the various long-running stories are organized, and I thought it would be a good idea (instead of re-typing the same or similar answers each time) to just have a page that outlines that information, along with some other multiverse/setting info. Bear in mind that none of this is essential information to enjoy the stories, although it may help explain a few easter eggs or references here and there.

World Listing

The majority of stories take place on the same Earth, which I'll call the "Midas Earth" after the first of my stories that takes place there. However, most of them take place at different points in time. The exact timing is partially ambiguous, and especially so for some one-offs, but this is more or less the order of things:

-Midas Journal / Summoning take place at the same time, in two different locations. There may be some point in the future where I need to write an event that belongs in "both" stories.

-Vixen Society is the next story chronologically after those two, and probably not very long after, either.

-The various Halloween series start up probably a few years after that, and each successive series takes place the year after the previous one.

-Omega Zeta Kappa probably belongs after the Halloween series.

-Aetuornos Beta is the latest in the "Midas Earth" timeline at the moment.

Apart from these major stories, the Midas Earth is also the setting of the majority of captions and standalone stories—basically any of those at all that don't have some detail in them contradicting their taking place on that world. There are way too many for me to go through and name every single one, but examples include the "Beach" series of captions, the "Miranda" mini-series, all of the "Collar" captions, and so on. Since deciding on this Earth as a "consistent" setting a few years ago, I've often dropped small hints or references to things in the captions or standalone stories for fun, and of course those also tie them to the setting slightly more.

Apart from the "Midas Earth", the multiverse I use has a large number of other Earths. Long-running stories other than the above that involve "an Earth" generally each use a different one. So, the following "Earths" are all distinct from each other and from that one:

-The "Battle Vixens" Earth

-The Earth that the "player characters" of "The Best RPG Ever" are from

-The Earth that the "Ring" series takes place in (magic just works too differently in that series from how it does on "Midas Earth")

-The Earth involved in the very, very old "Explanations" and "Apprenticeship" stories

Aside from that, of course the fantasy world that "The Best RPG Ever" takes place on is distinct from all of those Earths, as well as any other non-Earth world that gets mentioned in the future. The only other thing I can think of of note is maybe the "Changing Island" from the series of the same name. It's intentionally ambiguous in-story, but I think the island might be some kind of pocket dimension and/or afterlife that multiple different Earths feed into or something? I don't know.

Other Multiverse Notes

Apart from just saying what world various stories take place on (and whether any two are in the same one), I feel like this is also a good place to mention certain details that have cropped up in one or more different stories. This shouldn't exactly be spoilers for any particular story, but the parts of the relevant stories that mention these concepts are rather far in.

The Space Between

The medium or location that's not inside any particular universe, but "between" the universes, is referred to as the "Void". Traveling through the Void is very dangerous, and not in completely predictable ways; it requires very different kind of protection from outer space, but you can think of it as being at least that hazardous. An unprotected person floating around in the Void might just suddenly lose body parts, spontaneously cease brain function, or slowly fade out of existence altogether.

The Void has been described as being separated into at least two "regions", one of which has "Breach" and the other of which doesn't. "Breach" is an additional hazard above and beyond the properties of the Void itself, which has been described (in TBRE #99) as "immensely powerful, undirected magical energy whose full force annihilates most things, and even small amounts of which can twist and warp living creatures". However, the also Breach provides a form protection for worlds occupying its section of the Void from certain threats capable of traveling between universes. So, occupants of worlds in the non-Breach part of the Void (particularly the extremely powerful ones like gods) need to be more vigilant about protecting themselves.

The "Breach" and "non-Breach" portions of the Void are each vast enough that people in a universe in one of those regions, even if they're very familiar with the Void and cross-universal travel, might not even be aware that the other region exists, and will therefore believe that the entire Void is just like the section nearest to them. This can lead to inconsistent descriptions of what the Void is like and why it is so dangerous, in addition to its dangers already being very unpredictable in the first place.

The Fae

The Fae are extremely powerful, immortal and possibly near-invincible magical beings capable of more or less traveling between worlds at will, in defiance of all of the danger involved. The drawback to their power is that they are, as a race, bound by certain rules and restrictions on the use of their abilities; for example, a Fae has to abide by the stipulations of any contract he or she signs, or any higher-ranking Fae signs on his or her behalf. They're extremely tricky and good at finding loopholes, of course, but often find it more "fun" to play by certain rules in each world they choose to visit. As of right now, the only world the Fae are confirmed to have any involvement with is the Midas Earth; they feature very obviously in one standalone story and much more subtly in a few particular captions. I just felt like saying something about them here; I have no specific plans of any Fae playing a major role in any of the long-running stories at this time.

Travelers

A few stories have made reference to beings who regularly travel through the Void and are capable of visiting different universes. Such people are necessarily either very powerful and/or very well-equipped, since otherwise the hazards of the Void would have torn them apart long ago. However, they don't have to be anywhere near as powerful as the Fae just to travel between worlds. At present the references have only been oblique, but some of my plans for the futures of a few stories may start to present an increasingly clear picture of certain specific beings, in which case I might add their profiles here. It might veer into slight spoiler territory if and when I do, however, so I'll try to include an appropriate warning beforehand.