Talk:Multiverse Theory


 * I think I've solved the Two Multiverses Theory for the Mirror Multiverse problem. I should really have visual aids for this, but I'll do the best I can with words.


 * Perhaps most universes, such as the canon worlds, exist in isolation from each other. If you can imagine each universe as a piece of dry spaghetti or something, suspended parallel to each other in a grid, you've got AUs existing next to each other on the axis of width-time and other canons above and below each other on the axis of height-time. If you were to zoom in on any one, you'd have a plane instead of a line, but never mind.


 * Now say that some universes exist at 90 degrees to the other ones, so that they intersect, and travel is possible between them. That's the kind of universe that contains the PPC. Now, the EPC is just like the PPC in that it's perpendicular to the other universes, but it's separate from the PPC in the way that the canon universes are separate from each other, hence the difficulty of travel between the two. Crossovers can be explained that way, too, except that they only intersect with a select number of universes. Furthermore, this is why time seems so screwy in HQ: Our depth-time axis is perpendicular to the depth-time axis of the other universes.


 * Does this make sense to everyone else?


 * ~ Neshomeh 04:22, 23 August 2008 (UTC)


 * I think I'm following you. So the PPC universe is *literally* parallel to that of the EPC and the reason we can't get from one to the other easily is because they don't intersect ... but each may intersect with the same other universe, for instance Arda? Does that mean that though it's hard to get from the EPC to the PPC but equally easy to get to either from Arda? Trojie 04:45, 23 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Well, it makes at least as much sense as the other two versions. It gives us easy travel from the PPC to AU canon 'verses, while making travel between AUs difficult independently; however, it enables universe-manipulators (such as authors) to move characters between AUs and even canons with ease. That's two points for it. The only one I can think of against is that, while it keeps PPC AUs separate fairly well, it would allow easy travel between them via other 'verses, as Trojie says. Which doesn't appear to be the case. Also, while crossovers are probably formed by perpendicular universes dragging characters aside, rather than requiring Agents to travel into perpendicular 'verses themselves, it would make reaching for instance the world of those Jasper Fforde books as difficult as reaching the PPC. Still, it's as good as either of the other two -- feel like writing it up as a new section, "Perpendicular Multiverses Theory" or something?


 * But wait! I'm trying to think this through. If we look at this as a 3D grid of lines, we have the PPC's timeline running, say, horizontally left to right. The canon worlds -- including the Real World -- are coming straight out towards us, with their AUs stacked vertically, and the different canons pushed together, left to right. Thus, the PPC intersects with one version of each canon (presumably the 'verse which is referred to in HQ as /the/ Canon). You can't travel between AUs this way, nor can you reach the EPC. /However/. We can postulate another set of 'verses, running vertically through the grid. These are known as Portal Space, and allow travel /between AUs/. This is the axis referred to as probability. Portals allow travel through it, as well as between touching 'verses.


 * So, Agent Jay wants to go into the story Rambling Band, LotR verse. She opens a portal. Deep inside her console, the portal generator does two things. First, it opens a doorway into the LotR 'verse, which is easy, since the PPC intersects it -- part of HQ is built under the Misty Mountains (this, incidentally, is /why/ the PPC's personal dimension intersects all the others). Second, it connects that portal into Portal Space and seeks out the AU that is Rambling Band. One doorway does two jobs. Jay can also visit Earth easily enough, and plotholes are able to open between Earth and HQ with alarming regularity.


 * Now here's Agent Lux. She wants to go back to /her/ 'verse, an AU PPC. She tries to open a portal. What can it do? It can link her to LotR. It can take her through Portal Space to any LotR AU. It can take her through a crossover to another 'verse, because crossovers are also horizontal, but further down the plane. What it can't do is take her to her home 'verse, because... er...


 * And that's where it falls apart, because if it's wandered up to the right AU, it /should/ be able to travel along that to where the 'shippyverse, or the EPC, or whatever, is found. So it's still not perfect. Still and all, it's a good theory. You should write it up. Huinesoron 22:54, 23 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Can I suggest an idea? That just beyond these parallels and intersections, different frequencies or such might also be involved that would require the proper tuning or whatever for portal generation to where you wanted to end up? I'm not very familiar with this, so I'll just stop here and grin madly. JulyFlame 02:35, 24 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Question (which I should have asked in the first place): Where does it say that it's necessarily difficult to get between the PPC and the EPC, anyway? That doesn't really make much sense except as a plot point, and we all know that Legal forces these things on us more than the actual structure of the 'verses.


 * Also, before this goes any further, I want to stress that the spaghetti grid is merely a physical metaphor for an abstract concept. By definition, the metaphor shouldn't be taken too literally, and it will fall apart if pushed too far. It may be possible that some things Just Are, and can't be represented in a logical way. Like I said, each piece of spaghetti (line) in the grid is actually a 3D space containing a universe, perhaps better represented by a plane. They can be represented as lines only because existence is infinite, so you can pack as many separate planes next to each other as you like. Also, they're not really straight. They're so inextricably tied up with each other in places that they twist and bend in ways that are impossible in normal 3D space. And they probably do have frequencies or other intrinsic characteristics that I'd represent with colors. And now I have described the space that I call the Void and is where Jenni comes from, which is not at all what I intended to do. ^_^;


 * Anyway, in the original model, the PPC universe was meant to be visualized as a plane such that the lines of every canon and AU intersected with it, so it would be just as easy to get to an AU as the original canon of a given universe. I'm not sure that was clear. It would be easy enough, then, to get to the EPC through any other 'verse, but to go directly from PPC to EPC or vice versa would be very difficult. Neshomeh 04:31, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

the PPC? I mean, who would have had any reason to *try*? Trojie 21:10, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Just out of interest, has it ever been explicitly stated that it's just as hard for a PPC agent to get to the EPC from Arda as it is for a PPC agent to get to the EPC from