Sigma Guidebook

A work in progress. If there are any questions, feel free to ask.

[sigmaguidebook]

The Non-Humanish

Across Sigma, humanish are the dominant species, generally speaking. Only in new Gamma, Lambda (arguably), and Omega is this not true, and both new Gamma and Lambda have unique reasons why. In every other universe, the humanish are the ones in charge. However, this doesn’t mean that there isn’t anything smart enough to resent that fact.

In fact, races that can be described as on the same level as the humanish are very widespread. Alpha has many non-humanish that live in secrecy, Zeta has a few, Lambda had a few develop after the Last War, Nu has quite a few, and Rho has some in the Skylands. However, these do not compare to new Gamma and Lambda, where the humanish are in a small minority, compared to the huge number of other races that live in their respective worlds.

The non-human races of Sigma tend to differ wildly, although there are a few races that resemble others from other universes, due to inter-universal trends at work. Some are friendly to the humanish, some are hostile, but many are apathetic. Some possess giant empires, others are interspersed with other races. It’s not possible to blanket every one of the non-humanish races as you can with the humanish; after all, the humanish are essentially just one single species, with a bunch of subspecies spread across Sigma.

It took a loud outpouring of indignation from these races, as well as the appointment of non-humanish representatives by Zeta and Psi, for the Sigma Council to begin considering them when talking about the beings of Sigma. However, even then, the Council has been dragging its feet as far as representation for the non-humanish aspects of Sigma.  

When talking about non-humanish as a whole, they are often separated into different Class designations. Each Class signals the level of development each non-humanish race is at, intellectually, culturally, and socially. However, the Class designation system is often decried by those of non-humanish races, as it’s seen as needlessly segregating, as well as too simplistic and too ‘humanish-centric’, as it is based off humanish metrics. Nonetheless, though, it is the system most frequently used by those in Sigma.

The Class designations are as follows.

Class I “Reaching” is used to describe ‘non-humanish species that are of notable sentience, although do not seem to meet the humanish’. These are species such as chimpanzees, where, while particularly intelligent, are nowhere near humanish levels. Often, basic tool use is observed, as well as basic socialization and organization.

Class II “Loner” is used to describe ‘non-humanish species that meet humanish level sentience, although are deficient in either culture, intellect, and/or socialization’. In a sense, you can meaningfully communicate with a Class II, and it is possible to integrate Class IIs into humanish society, but they do not really have a society or cultural history otherwise. Class IIs are seen as the baseline for ‘humanish-level sentience’, and it signifies that a member of its race is roughly on-par with a member of the humanish.

Class III “Tribal” is used to describe ‘non-humanish species that meet humanish level sentience and possess a basic social structure’. Essentially, a Class III is similar to a combination between Class I and II, where a race at the sentience level of a Class II forms basic groups, such as a tribe. Here, more advanced tool use can be seen, as well as a shared culture between members of the race.

Class IV “Kingdom” is used to describe ‘non-humanish species that meet humanish level sentience, and form larger, more governed societies’. A Class IV race is one that is considered to be one where a group of them are on par with a sovereign state of humanish. At this point, Class designations become less about how intelligent a race is, and more how far their reach is. Class IV races often possess intricate cultural, sociological, and scientific histories.

Class V “Imperial” is used to describe ‘non-humanish species that meet humanish level sentience, and possess large amounts of cultural, sociological, scientific, or political influence of not only their territory, but that of other species as well’. Effectively, Class V races are more than regional powers, but global ones as well.

Class VI “Galactic” is used to describe ‘non-humanish species that meet humanish level sentience, and possess cultural, sociological, scientific, or political influence in territory extending past the planet of their origin’. Class VI races are spacefaring ones, and there are several non-humanish races that meet this designation. However, none of them live on any of the Earth-likes.

Class VII “Universal” is used to describe ‘non-humanish species that meet humanish level sentience, and possess cultural, sociological, scientific, or political influence in territory extending past the universe of their origin’. Class VII is a tricky class, as, in theory, this would represent the current level that the humanish are at now, but the humanish in the different universes were the products of inter-universal trends and alternate timelines. They only found out the existence of one another after the Great Unification. There are no known races that meet this designation, and this one serves as more of a hypothetical class.

[sigmaguidebook]

The Sigma Council

When you have ten (well, more like eight) universes, linked together, there comes the question of how these universes with conduct business with one another. Diplomacy is to be expected, of course, but how do you organize a way to connect these universes together, in order to cooperate with your neighbors? This is what elicited the creation of the Council for the Representation of the Assorted Universes of Sigma, also known as the CRAU, or the Sigma Council.

The Sigma Council is effectively a United Nations sort of deal, where a collection of representatives from the universes of Sigma meet and talk. Here, diplomacy is handled, as well as organization, decisions, and research in metacontext and Sigma fields is had. Each universe is represented by two representatives, an assistant representative, and a diplomat. Due to Lambda and new Gamma’s peculiar situations, neither are represented, while old Gamma still possesses a representative and a diplomat (who represent the ‘displaced, surviving populace of the Gamma Cascade’), meaning that the Sigma Council is comprised of 34 members.

Just how each of these members is picked is left to the universes that they represent, which can prove to be difficult to handle, as this requires cooperation between the members of the Earth-like of that universe (at least, for full representation). As a result, things can get nasty when picking representatives, which occasionally leads to conflict. However, aside from a few prolonged vacancies here and there, the process typically works out in the end.

However, as to be expected, the Sigma Council receives criticism across Sigma. Many believe that, with just four members for each UNIVERSE, it’s not in any way representative. Others see the council as a shadowy cabal, unbeholden to anyone, and that they are free to pass whatever measures they want, which could lead to the stripping of rights and liberties of the people across Sigma. A large source of discontent comes from non-human races living in Sigma, as the vast majority of representatives of the universes are humanish. This indignation is especially loud from Omega, where the humanish only possess a thin strip of land but have an all-humanish team of representatives. Only Nu and Zeta possess non-human members of the Council.

Despite all this, though, the Council is generally seen as a good thing, as it fosters diplomacy, good will, and cooperation across the ten universes. As well, its sponsorship of research has led to many benefits, such as the prediction of the Portal Storms and the Chronosync (which saved countless lives), as well as study into Anti-Energy, innovation in teleportation technology, in-depth research into metahumanity, deep space travel, and the sharing of technology and scientific discovery.

[sigmaguidebook]

Cain and Abel

Sigma’s a mess, and there’s really only one person to blame. Well, actually, two, but the AM’s only at fault through her inaction. If there’s anyone who can be called the root of all problems, it’s Cain, although there’s a bit more nuance to it than simply him being ‘evil’.

Calling Cain evil is like calling the tree that falls on your car evil. Yes, it’s a pain to deal with, and yes, you might feel slighted by some kind of higher power, but there are forces at work that go beyond good and bad here. Cain’s simply on a higher level, devoid of empathy or morality, because it doesn’t apply to him. Although, it was never supposed to, since Cain was never supposed to interact with anyone.

Cain is a demigod, but don’t think that it means that he’s any less powerful than what are typically known as ‘gods’ in Sigma; for all intents and purposes, he’s the most powerful being in Sigma that isn’t the AM. However, all that power has a purpose, and it’s manipulating the energy within the Nexus or the Anti-Nexus, which demigods are supposed to do. In Cain’s case, it was the Anti-Nexus.

Demigods are supposed to regulate the power in their particular megaverse, but they aren’t allowed to leave. They must stay in their megaverse, forever, working with the other demigod in order to ensure that the Cloud energy flows consistently, where it needs to. That way, everything works as it should, and the Nexus, Anti-Nexus, Aether, and Quarter can all function harmoniously, like a well-oiled machine.

This wasn’t something Cain wanted. Well, the ‘stay in the Anti-Nexus’ part, anyway. While he was fine with the chaotic nature of the Anti-Nexus, he still wanted a change of scenery, as well as someone to talk to. Simply put, he thought his job, the one thing he was created to do, was boring. So, he figured out a way to siphon himself out of the Anti-Nexus, and into the Quarter.

This immediately led to disarray. The AM, who could simply just erase Cain and make a new demigod, felt too much ‘motherly love’ towards him, towards her creation, which gave Cain enough freedom to go and do whatever he felt like doing, which tended to be ‘sowing chaos everywhere’. It wasn’t until the demigod of the Nexus became upset at the unmanaged flow of Anti-Nexus energy that someone tried to deal with Cain.

If Cain was a patron of chaos, then his counterpart, Abel, was one of order. The lack of control over the energies of the Anti-Nexus was throwing the process of creation and manipulation of Cloud energy into disarray, which was definitely having adverse effects on the rest of the metaverse, but, most importantly, it was irritating Abel. So, using a similar method as Cain, Abel was able to flow into the Quarter, in order to confront Cain.

As can be expected from actual godly beings, the two fell into conflict, a battle that lasted for centuries, a fight that launched itself through countless universes and timelines, destroying entire galaxies through the power unleashed by the two. However, although the two were more or less equal, Cain was the one who played dirty, and eventually obtained the upper hand over his ‘sibling’. It was after he consumed his sibling that he asserted his total, absolute freedom.

Ever since then, both the Nexus and the Anti-Nexus have been unmanaged, through Cain’s apathy and Abel’s consumption. While the two still produce Cloud energy, it’s at an erratic rate, tainted with differing ratios of Nexus and Anti-Nexus energy. Due to this, the AM’s ability has been severely limited as well, and, even if she did decide to do something about Cain, it would come at a level of difficulty that might even be too much for her to handle.

So, Cain goes free, and continues to live freely. Since the development of sentient life in the Quarter, Cain often plays the role of a metaphorical devil, offering deals to others in exchange for objects and services, though, usually, taking their ‘soul’ for him to consume. As well, Cain occasionally takes on ‘assistants’, who do things for him, usually for his amusement, though often working as middlemen between him and others.

Cain comes off as a very malicious, smug, selfish, unpleasant being, but that mostly stems out of his inability to consider others as being anywhere on the same level as him. After all, he is a demigod, something without equal, only second to the Ultima. This, coupled with his tendency of easily becoming bored, as well as his love of stirring up chaos and disarray, makes him seem like an evil being, but, again, he doesn’t particularly have any way of understanding what he does is bad. Doesn’t mean you can’t think he’s an awful little thing, though, nor does it stop anyone from loathing him.

Appearance-wise, Cain can take any appearance he desires, but the form he chooses as his default looks as otherworldly as you would expect an ascendant being to look like. Roughly the size of a small cat, he resembles a cloud with a small, egg-shaped head, with a permanently affixed grin, and two, small, knife-like arms. 

Here is a crude artist’s interpretation: 

Notably, though, he looks sketchy and crude-looking even in-person, as if he truly doesn’t belong in reality. 

[sigmaguidebook]

The Agents of the Agency

The Agency is nothing without the people who work there. Scores of people, enough to handle the load of multiple universes, are employed by the Agency, those who have effectively given up their life to do something greater than anything they might have been doing otherwise. While there are many different positions at the Agency, such as researcher, developer, administrative positions, there is none as iconic as the agent.

The agents make up the Agency’s presence ‘in the field’, normally involved with investigation, field research, conducting missions and operations, capturing, containment, neutralization, anything that the Agency might need to do outside of their facilities. When not undercover in plainclothes, these agents are recognizable through the agent standard: a black suit, black tie, sunglasses, and earpiece. However, agents in higher rankings are less strictly held to the standard, and many of the higher-level agents usually deviate in a slight way, usually wearing a different style of sunglasses than is provided by the Agency.

Agents are trained, skilled, and disciplined, and, in order for them to reach the point of being sent out in the field, they must pass training. As a result, many agents, even a lower ranking one, are dangerous. While agents are expected to possess at least a basic level of proficiency in many skills, agents can ‘specialize’ if they want, which can prove to be a way of letting them stand out from the rest of the agents and prove their worth, meaning better chance at being promoted. If you’re one of the best at infiltration, then you’re going to be the Agency’s go-to for infiltration, after all.

Agents first enter the Agency through the Agency’s ‘talent scouting’, where the Agency looks for people who show true agent potential. This can be highly subjective, and, ultimately, up to the Agency’s scouts, but once someone is selected, they’re put through a process where they are interviewed, and, if they seem appropriate enough, they are given the job offer. Becoming an agent means discarding your former life, eschewing every relationship and person you’ve ever met, ridding yourself of everything you own, and shedding your identity, to be ‘reborn’ as a new agent. If you decline the offer, that’s dealt with easily with some amnesiacs administered, but an acceptation means that you officially become an agent.

Every new agent is provided with a number and a codename. The number represents their ranking as an agent, and their codename is used as a codename is often used for, although many agents have taken to utilizing their codenames as a ‘personal name’ when associating with their coworkers. The codenames are seemingly given at random, and there doesn’t seem to be any meaning, choice, or thought put into them.  The main unifier between codenames is that they are often a single word, one that is a noun or a name. Examples of codenames are “Branch”, “Roosevelt”, “Helvetica”, “Conch”, and “B Minor”.

The ranking system of the Agency is done by tiers, which the number assigned to an agent points towards. However, agents with higher numbers than other agents within the same tier aren’t any higher ranked. Agent 34 is not any higher ranked than Agent 74, and neither are ranked any higher than Agent 99. Additionally, there is a set amount of numbers for each rank (barring Agents in Training), and, in order to keep onto your rank, you must prove your worth in your work. If a Veteran Agent doesn’t prove his worth, he risks switching numbers (and ranks) with a regular Agent, the rank below Veteran.

The lowest rankings are the numbers above 10000, which represent Agents in Training. Agents in Training is comprised of newly recruited agents, as well as anyone who was demoted enough to fall back into the Agents in Training pool. Here, Agents in Training are, true to their name, in training, which means that they are typically kept out of field work. However, whenever there aren’t enough agents for missions, or not enough agents with a specific skillset, Agents in Training are the ones pulled out for field work. Additionally, Agents in Training periodically are brought along for field tests, in order to see if they can adequately operate and function when on a mission. If someone stays within this rank for too long a period, they must go under reevaluation, and, if they are deemed not good enough to be an agent, they can enter another occupation under the Agency. If not that, then they get disposed of.

The rank above Agent in Training is the Agent, who makes up the bulk of the actual manpower utilized in the field. The Agents are usually led by their superiors when on missions, and are often not in leadership positions. Most of the footwork and labor that doesn’t require high skill are done by the Agents. Agents make up numbers 1001 to 10000.

Above the Agent is the Veteran Agent, who, through either their skill, presence in the Agency, or both, are chosen to operate in a senior position. The Veteran Agents are typically used to conduct investigation, and often are used as the Agency’s scouts. Veteran Agents are usually paired up, and often are under the command of an Elite Agent, but, occasionally, Veteran Agents are allowed to take up the reigns of leadership. Otherwise, though, they often boss the Agents around. The Veteran Agents make up numbers 101 through 1000.

The Elite Agents are above the Veteran Agents in rank. Elite Agents are usually the ones in charge of operations, and they also handle most solo missions. These agents are often not closely managed, and are frequently left to handle missions in any way they like. Numbers 11 through 100 are reserved for Elite Agents.

The highest-ranking agents within the Agency are within the Top Ten, numbers 1 through 10. These agents often do much less fieldwork than the other agents, and are often in charge of administration of the Agency, but are occasionally selected to do missions that others cannot handle.

Within the Agency, there are rumors that there is an Agent 0, the absolute boss of the Agency, but the Top Ten firmly maintain that these are just rumors, idle gossip that is completely and totally false.

[sigmaguidebook]

Elementals and the Nexus

While the Anti-Nexus is the primary source of the Cloud energy spilling into the Quarter, don’t think that the Nexus is clean of seepage. Cloud energy is made up of anti-energy and Nexus energy, it would hardly be considered Cloud energy if the Nexus wasn’t providing at least a little bit. The Nexus only provides a small trickle of energy compared to the Anti-Nexus’ output, but what it does provide is potent.

The Nexus starkly contrasts the chaos of the Anti-Nexus. Whereas the Anti-Nexus is a constantly-shifting, irregular hellscape, the Nexus is tranquil, calm, and still. The Nexus is a black void, an endless expanse resembling space, with a single, inconceivably large ball of energy within the middle of it. Those who have been to the Nexus and lived describe it as having an aura of stillness and peace, one that, although unnatural, instilled within them a sublime sense of tranquility.

However, people aren’t supposed to access the Nexus. The human body reacts poorly in open contact with unfiltered light emanating from the Nexus, and this is where elementals come from.

While it’s a very general, basic way of putting it, it’s fair to say that demons come from the Anti-Nexus. And, in turn, elementals come from the Nexus. However, whereas demons are usually born from the Anti-Nexus, elementals are born from people going into the Nexus. As a result of the exposure to Nexus energy, the human body often mutates savagely, along with anything in, around, or on it, and what results is the elemental.

The name ‘elemental’ is a bit of a misnomer, as, while they do typically possess metahuman-esque abilities, they do not strictly involve any sort of ‘element’, whether chemical or mythological. However, elementals do embody one thing, which their appearance and abilities are often based around. This can be anything, and, if the stars align, one can be a cake elemental or something of that nature, but normally, an elemental embodies a simple, basic concept. Usually, this does involve something like fire, or water, or metal, hence why the name elemental is used.

In a normal metaverse, anything that came from outside the Nexus would instantly disintegrate into raw Cloud energy, and elementals wouldn’t be something to worry about. However, as Sigma is in the state it’s in, this doesn’t always come into play. Entrance into the Nexus shouldn’t even be possible, yet a surprising number of things just so happen to make it in. The process of becoming an elemental is a horrific, mind-warping, metaphysical nightmare, an inconceivably awful process to go through. It twists and changes the victim on a quantum level, and this typically leads to elementals being driven completely mad, or onto a completely different plane of understanding altogether. However, lucid elementals do exist.

Due to their harnessing of the Nexus energy imbued within them, elementals are powerful, extremely so. Whenever they do crop up, they’re seen less as beings, and more forces of nature. An elemental is like a demon, in the fact that their appearances and potential abilities can be wide-ranging, though most elementals are humanoid. As well, the typical elemental features a unique trait: within the elemental lies their vast power, which is dampened by their ‘outer shell’, their body. In most cases, elementals become more and more powerful as they become more damaged, which can lead to catastrophes when dealing with one.

[sigmaguidebook]

Demons and the Anti-Nexus

In any normal metaverse, there are four megaverses: the Aether, the Nexus, the Anti-Nexus, and the Quarter. While there is interaction between the four, crucial interaction that helps keep everything in check, they’re still fairly separated off. The Aether is the ‘administration’ area, and the Quarter is where everything typically perceived as existing lies. The Nexus and the Anti-Nexus, while critically important in their creation of Cloud energy, are ‘stowed away’, like a generator in a basement. Unless you’re the Ultima in charge, you shouldn’t be able to access any other megaverse from where you are. This is how it’s supposed to be. This ensures everything runs smoothly, and without crisis.

Naturally, this means Sigma’s got it all turned around.

The Nexus and the Anti-Nexus are supposed to be in a state of balance, equilibrium, that forms the Cloud and ensures that everything can, well, exist. However, for Sigma, the balance is in absolute disarray. The demigod of the Nexus was consumed by the demigod of the Anti-Nexus, who fled to the Quarter, rather than deal with maintaining the Cloud. This led to the primary issue that makes Sigma so unusual, a trickle of Cloud energy into the Quarter, and, by extension, the universes of pre-Sigma (and, after the Great Unification, Sigma).

A big part of the Cloud energy leakage stems from the Anti-Nexus. A constantly-shifting, chaotic, erratic, eclectic, enigmatic, almost sentient landscape, anyone unlucky enough to find themselves there might expect to encounter a place devoid of life, physics, and sense. Geometric impossibilities, optical illusions, repeating patterns, the Anti-Nexus is seemingly a place engineered to be as off-putting and disorienting as possible. Energy from the Anti-Nexus, known as ‘anti-energy’, flows freely into the rest of the metaverse, but especially the Quarter, where it seemingly pools into.

Occasionally, through an alignment of many different factors, variables, and events, the Anti-Nexus focuses itself and spits out something that can often be described as a living, sentient being. This is what is known as a demon. A rude and presumptive name, but it’s the one that stuck.

Demons are hard to generalize, as they can look like pretty much anything, sound like pretty much anything, feel like pretty much anything, and have the potential to do just about everything. However, most demons lack color to them, and possess a monochrome appearance, as if they fell straight out of an old silent film. However, there are exceptions to this rule, with some demons possessing some color. Usually, this color dominates their entire palette, and it’s often a very bad sign, as chromatic demons have a tendency to be absurdly powerful. Though, whether or not you’re dealing with a monochromatic demon or a chromatic one, one should always proceed with absolute, unerring caution.

[sigmaguidebook]

The History of the Agency

As the Agency had its claws in so many universes, before the Great Unification, that brings to mind a question of exactly when and where it was created. After all, even somewhere as overwhelming as the Agency had to start somewhere, right?

Well, yes…and no. Where the Agency came from is irrelevant, since they came from everywhere.

The Agency’s existence is a special example of an inter-universal trend. Among an incalculable number of universes, at some point in humanish history, there would be groups, organizations, teams, institutions, all dedicated to a wide array of different metacontextual matters, that would develop. Who would create them, exactly what they were dedicated to, where they got their money from, it would range massively. However, every single one of these entities would be known, at some point in their respective histories, as the Agency.

It’s not clear who made the first contact, but, ultimately, it didn’t matter. Across the megaverse, slowly, like a row of lights illuminating one by one, different universes would stumble upon the discovery that there were multiple universes. Through this, again, one by one, they would discover something known as the Ridovii Method, a way to communicate between universes. Granted, the Ridovii Method would offer poor quality, easily corruptible, sensitive communication, but it allowed legitimate, actual communication between different universes.

From there, it took little time for all of these Agencies to find out that the common thread linking them was their name, and this led to the Standardization of the Agencies, a great effort between the Agencies to share their technologies and discoveries. From here, as well, the mission of the Agency was born. The discovery of the megaverse was huge, so huge, that it made the Agencies feel rather small. This, coupled with the new knowledge of just how different the universes could be, and the sheer amount of anomalies that resulted from the Cloud energy leaking within the megaverse, gave the Agencies a sense of duty. As they were the ones who knew all this, they had an obligation to keep everything in check, to do their part in maintaining peace and harmony within the megaverse. And so, the Agencies consolidated into a singular Agency, with branches across universes.

After some time, though, this proved to be not enough for the Agency. After they began their quest to deal with anomalies, they found themselves perturbed by the sheer amount of them cropping up, as well as how the amount seemed to creep up over the years, across just about every universe. Agency think tanks began to take on the role of metaphorical oracles and doomsayers, coming up with all sorts of potential anomalies that could end up affecting more than one universe, thinking of ways that the megaverse could potentially meet its end.

All of this was happening while the Agency was in a severely decentralized, loosely-managed state. Since the branches could only communicate with one another, they mostly did whatever they felt like, and there was no oversight across the Agency (as it was impossible). Fearing an anomaly occurring on an interuniversal scale, this is when the Agency launched Operation Rainbow. The operation was one that spanned multiple universes, a huge research project headed by a scientist known as Dr. Aotumns, created with the goal of finding some way to allow better communication and unity between the Agency’s many branches.

It took years, but eventually, through mysterious means, the operation bore the sweetest fruit of them all: a teleportation system, one that allowed teleportation between universes. The creation of this system launched an organizational effort that allowed for the proliferation of teleporters between the many branches, and led to what was deemed the ‘Golden Age of the Agency’. With the help of Aotumns, the Agency vastly increased its reach, through both greater organization, and the creation of many technologies that bolstered the efficacy of the Agency’s efforts. Agency’s unseen reach over many of the universes within the pre-Sigma megaverse was huge, with millions of branches and billions of employees, and, while it was still a fool’s errand to ensure total containment of all anomalies that pop up, the Agency was doing pretty good work, all things considered.

Then the Great Unification occurred.

In what seemed like an instant, those millions of branches were pared down to eight (Lambda and Omega didn’t have Agency presence before the GU), and, suddenly, the majority of the Agency’s employees just disappeared. Nearly all of the Agency’s leadership were in non-Sigma universes. The greatest of anomalies had struck, and the Agency had absolutely no idea that anything close to it was going to happen.

Predictably, the Agency was thrust into chaos, and it seemed like there was going to be a total collapse of the Agency. The eight branches were filled with people who were from universes that were now gone, much of the leadership had vanished, and anyone on field duty was now left in the dark. It took the efforts of what little of the leadership that was left, along with the efforts of a handful of agents with the Agency’s best interests in heart, to steer the branches back into a stable state.

It took over a year, all while the Agency continued to conduct ‘field work’, but now, the Agency is back in a form resembling its pre-GU state, although more a shadow of its former self. Leadership struggles, along with the difficulty of managing the seemingly exponential increase in anomalies that the GU brought and the increase of containment breaches, plagues the Agency to this day, but, as the Agency licks its wounds and works on better handling these issues, they work closer towards achieving their former glory.

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The Agency

When the Great Unification occurred, that was seen as the confirmation that there were multiple universes, and it represented the beginning of communication between these universes. Before the GU, there were occasionally ripples and holes that would open up within pre-Sigma universes, acting as portals to other universes, but these were rare, and very few people knew about them. People getting swallowed up by these portals and getting spit out somewhere else occasionally happened, but it was rare, and most people who were affected were often just treated as if they were delusional or insane in the universe that they landed in. Aside from that, there was no evidence, no knowledge, that there were other universes before the Great Unification.

At least, that’s what everyone thinks. The Agency is happy to let people believe that.

By the time of the Great Unification, the fact that there were multiple universes was old news to the Agency. In fact, at that point, the Agency already possessed methods of inter-universal transportation. In fact, the Great Unification was one of the worst things that happened to the Agency, as the loss of so many universes meant the loss of an inconceivable amount of personnel, as well as greater difficulty in containing that which needed to be contained.

But, wait, hold on. What is the Agency? Who’s in it? How and why did they have such intimate knowledge and access? These are question few people ask, and even fewer people get answers to. Disregarding the amount of [REDACTED], access clearance required, and black tape, the Agency’s best interest was, and still is, ensuring as few people as possible are aware of them and their work.

The Agency is, simply put, the quintessential shadowy, behind-the-scenes organization that exists within Sigma, and their goal is to ensure the continued function and stability of the megaverse. However hard that may be. The original work the Agency did, and still does, for the most part, is in the containment and/or neutralization of aberrances and anomalies across the megaverse, which, essentially, meant dealing with anything that wasn’t ‘normal’. While a subjective term, it was still based on a universe-by-universe basis.

However, despite the Agency being a fairly well-oiled machine for most of its existence, nothing lasts forever. After the Great Unification, though, everything went haywire. Between ‘abnormal’ metahumans seemingly just popping up where they shouldn’t have, the loss of an immense amount of personnel and locations, people (and metahumans) emigrating between universes, and such events as the Portal Storms, the Chronosync, and Daybreak sowing havoc across Sigma, it’s been a constant process of realigning interests and ‘catching up’ with the developments of the brand-new Sigma.

[sigmaguidebook]

Omega

Discounting new Gamma, all of the universes of Sigma have shared a similar paradigm, as far as the humanish experience goes. An Earth-like, populated by humanish, who more or less make up the dominant race of the planet (or, in Lambda’s case, used to). Even on Psi, where the people aren’t necessarily the masters over their domain, they’re still the ones making the technology and talking to other universes.

Despite all their various differences, this trend seems like a rule among Sigma. Naturally, though, where there’s a rule, there’s gonna be some kind of exception, tossing a wrench into such a hypothetically cut-and-dry comparison. Omega is this exception.

Within Omega, the humanish, who are called facsians, are not at all the dominant race. Not even close. On Omega Earth, a planet named Lorid that’s quite a bit bigger than the other Earth-likes, facsians are fairly irrelevant when compared to the multitudes of other races that live there. So irrelevant, in fact, that they had to be uplifted by a godlike being known as the Primordial Witch in order to not be used as slaves and bred into farm animals by the much older, much more advanced, and much much more powerful races surrounding them. 

The influence of the Primordial Witch, and her success in leading them to defend against and strike at the other races of Lorid is what led the facsians into civilization. Through teaching them and guiding them, the Primordial Witch was able to fast track facsimity through social, cultural, and scientific revolution, from berry picking dirt farmers that would be hunted for sport into people who could defend themselves and prosper. And, after all this, her magical bloodline was introduced into facsimity, through the children she had with facsians. 

Even after the Primordial Witch disappeared, the witches, those who were descended from her children, had a hand in the rest of facsian history, although not all of it was good. Through their further meddling, a unique system was created by the facsians, one known by the other members of Sigma as the Class-Based System.

Rather than the Class-Based System being related to socioeconomics, it is more based around occupations and abilities. In addition to the witches, there are knights. Paladins. Mages. Barbarians. Rangers. Dozens of classes, with sub-classes and regional-specific classes, across the facsian territory of Lorid. As the CBS developed, it changed facsian society, pushing the facsians into a more dynamic, less ‘tied-down’ way of living. Sure, there are definitely large countries, states, even empires, and those who live in them, but the wanderer and adventurer way of life remains a staple of life, even after the Great Unification.

However, this isn’t to say facsians live in some Generic Western Medieval Fantasy land. While different areas of facsian territory have different levels of technological advancement, and there are pockets of territory separated from the ‘main’ territory (think islands of facsimity in a sea of other race territory), generally speaking, facsians did keep up with the ‘standard’ of the rest of Sigma. While a lot of areas did slack with scientific innovation and technology (as, with magic on their side, they could just stick with that), the ‘average’ level of scientific progress for the facsians is roughly on par with the mid-20th-century, with technological havens scattered here and there.

With the access to the other universes, through the Great Unification, Omega has been experiencing the greatest level of change in Sigma. In addition to the tech flowing into Omega, facsians have taken a great interest in the culture of the other universes, as well as the societies and worlds. In these other worlds, the humanish are the dominant races? Some don’t have magic (or, as the others call it, metahumanity)? Some don’t have any other races, aside from the humanish? Likewise, there’s great interest in Omega from the other members of Sigma, but it doesn’t compare to the facsians’ extreme curiosity. 

Naturally, there’s some indignation from the other races of Lorid, as they mostly get ignored by the other universes. The rest of Sigma only seems to be interested in talking to the facsians, who only have a, relatively speaking, tiny amount of territory, and nobody else. However, most of the other races have ignored the developments of Sigma in turn, though it’s mostly due to the fact that they don’t like the facsians they have. Why would they want to deal with more of them, that don’t even live on Lorid?

[sigmaguidebook]

Psi

One of the most important players in Sigma politics is Psi, who, due to the people within it, have been in the center of many ordeals that have befallen Sigma, including being the cause of the Great Unification. As well, they’re responsible for a lot of the post-Unification diplomacy between the Sigma universes, and exist as a ‘central hub’ for the bulk of the research for Sigma fields. It’s an important universe, arguably the most important, and, ultimately, that all happened on accident.

Psi separates itself from other universes in the fact that, seemingly, rather than have metahumans, its wildlife is what aberrated. The wildlife in Psi, even if they don’t have seemingly magical abilities, is incredibly dangerous. It’s almost as if the world of Psi created plants and animals that can feel hate, especially against the humanish, and the sheer, overwhelming power of the wildlife of Psi is the reason why large parts of the Psi world are uninhabited, uncharted, and unmapped. Once the people of Psi sent up satellites, they ended up discovering parts of Psi Earth that they didn’t even know existed, since exploration is so dangerous. 

However, as bad as this makes humans look, the humanish of Psi did what humans do best, which is, simply, persevere and overcome. Even though there are less people on Psi Earth than other universes, and less settlements, the humanish of Psi are very advanced, with technology and scientific discoveries rivaling that of Zeta’s. However, this amount of technology, and drive to be better than nature around them has led to something of a scientific and ethical nightmare.

Despite being surrounded by ‘metalife’ of all types, the humanish of Psi drew the short straw, in that the universe possessed a low Metahuman Factor. However, roughly 20 years before the Great Unification, a special type of metahuman began to appear, a man-made type of metahuman: half-breeds, people made through genetics gone awry. Half-breeds were varying combinations of man and the various creatures within Psi. While the original half-breeds were created from one lab, the concept of cranking out half-breeds turned out to be a popular one, and, even though the original lab (appeared to have) shut down, half-breeds still continue to be born, even though the creation of half-breeds is outrageously illegal.

Aside from the proliferation of half-breeds, the Metahuman Surge surprisingly didn’t take all too much in Psi, and the vast majority of metahumans living within Psi are the half-breeds, with a minority of immigrants from other universes.

[sigmaguidebook]

Rho

After the Great Unification occurred, and once everyone managed to take stock of the situation and was able to meet their neighbors, Rho was figured to be another Alpha/Beta case: very low Metahuman Factor, filled to the brim with regular, normal people. Really, not an exceptional place. Sure, there were some nice landscapes and cool places to go to, but that was true of every version of Earth. It took a few years before everyone, even the people of Rho itself, to realize what had been hiding just under their nose…or, rather, above their heads, the entire time.

Above Rho, hidden behind ‘phantom barriers’ that renders them more or less invisible and intangible, are the Skylands: great island chains and archipelagos, atolls, and keys that float in the air, rather than emerge from the water. Much like Alpha’s access points, the Skylands are a product of a universal ‘wrinkle’, something that doesn’t occur in the other nine, and had occurred rarely within pre-Sigma before the Great Unification. As the islands were virtually unreachable through normal means, there were areas that acted similar to Alpha’s access points, that allowed access to the Skylands, as well as methods that individuals (who lived within the Skylands) figured out that would allow free access. However, this was kept secret from everyone who lived on the surface of Rho Earth.

Up above, the Skylands are bountiful and beautiful, with wildlife and people unique to them, not found down south on Rho Earth. As well, the Skylands positively ooze Cloud energy, which causes many of those in the Skylands to either be born with metahuman abilities, or pick some up after being there for a long enough time. This especially affects the aforementioned people and wildlife, which have been changed quite considerably from their generations-long exposure to the Skylands’ Ambience (the term given to the Cloud energy).

However, despite humanish living in the Skylands for quite some time, there is very little governance. Anything resembling a government, or a state of any kind, is very reminiscent of old Gamma’s society, which was more oriented around single villages, towns, and cities. However, much of the Skylands are uninhabited. In fact, most of the Skylands are unmapped, and, after Sigma was made aware of the Skylands, a ‘rush’ to make it to the Skylands and map/‘colonize’ it began.

Life in the Skylands is rough. The lack of governance and authority means that there are brigands and plunderers abound, though there exists those who act as vigilantes, patrolling the Skylands in order to take out those who subjugate Skylanders. There are metahumans everywhere, and straying away from populated areas represents a danger, though there’s seemingly endless amounts of land and resources spread out, ripe for the taking.

Ever since the Skylands were discovered, due to a terrorist attack causing an entire island to fall out of the sky, the people of Rho’s surface have been less than pleased. Generally, they feel as if they are being overshadowed, and most people who come to Rho are just there for the Skylands. Additionally, even though it’s not their fault, they tend to be on the end of jokes about how they didn’t even notice the islands floating above them until one fell on their heads.  

[sigmaguidebook]

Nu

Nu falls on the more metahuman-heavy end of the Metahuman Factor, but metahumans within Nu aren’t as common as they are in, say, Zeta, or old Gamma. Even after the Great Unification, there wasn’t a particularly notable increase in metahumans, although the state of metahumans within Nu showcased a quirk of metahumanity within Sigma.

While metahumanity is still poorly understood, certain ‘types’ can be categorized, which is what happens when talking about the ‘native’ metahumans of each universe. A good way to describe it is to compare the metahumans of old Gamma and the metahumans of Zeta. Old Gamma metahumans possess their Arts, which are spread through familial bonds. Meanwhile, Zeta metahumans are typically conceived through improbable, unrealistic events. If you were to compare a metahuman from old Gamma and one from Zeta, there are perceptible differences when you look closely enough. Very small, very minute, metacontextual differences, but ones that exist nonetheless.

While most ‘native’ Nu metahumans gain their abilities through unexplainable reasons, there is a regional factor to it. When Nu metahumans sprout up, unless they were born to metahuman parents that emigrated, they’re from one of a handful of places around Nu Earth. And, despite the unpredictability of metahumanity, Nu metahumans usually share a handful of qualities by locale, meaning that one who is well-versed in Nu metahumanity can usually figure out where a Nu metahuman is from, just by knowing what their abilities are.

Aside from the whole metahumanity thing, Nu is a fairly reserved, grounded universe, more akin to Alpha and Beta, rather than somewhere as peculiar and outrageous as Gamma and Epsilon.

[sigmaguidebook]

Lambda

When talking about Sigma, or saying something like ‘the rest of Sigma’, it’s incorrect to assume that everyone is being represented. While it’s true that representation is key, especially when you’re putting into consideration ten different universes, lumped together into one megaverse, the fact of the matter is, there’s only eight members at the Sigma Representative’s table. One of those absences, of course, is Gamma, due to the Dogverse’s unreachability. The other absence is for Lambda. 

Before the Great Unification, Lambda’s world was locked in a state of diplomatic tension, extremely similar to that of the Cold War. Much like Alpha, there was a period of rapid technological breakthrough, although Lambda’s was one that was much more advanced. Almost every country on the face of Lambda Earth possessed some kind of weapon of mass destruction, be it a conventional (thermo)nuclear weapon, dirty bombs, biological warfare, chemical arms, terraforming weapons, zombie viruses/mutant parasitic fungi, a whole bunch of bats with dynamite strapped to them, you name it.

What also experienced a rapid level of advancement was distrust in your neighbors. As everyone began to stock up on horrific, country-murder-y weapons, everyone began to assume everyone else was planning to use said horrific, country-murder-y weapons on them. This is what led to the pot reaching an almost simmer, a finger on every button and a lack of critical thinking in every brain.

However, where there’s fear, there’s money. Many companies sprouted up over the decades, all promising one thing: the ability to make sure you survive, nay, THRIVE, when those bastards across the border finally pull the trigger. Millions of bunkers, shelters, vaults, silos, and other protective fixtures were built across the planet, in what was dubbed The Concrete Wave, and, with the sheer amount of profit that these companies were making, they were able to make sure that these things lasted. These bunkers could last for DECADES, with everything needed to make sure you could stay down there as long as conceivably possible. 

These protective installations were a form of ‘apocalypse insurance’, ones built and paid for with money tinged with fear, from the north pole to the south. During the height of the tensions, one man, a well-named entrepreneur named Bob Bunkerer, became the richest man in the world.

However, what Bob Bunkerer, and the rest of the apocalypse insurance racket, didn’t expect was for someone to actually hit the big red button.

It’s not clear who began the end of the world, but, truthfully, it doesn’t matter. Everyone ended up contributing, since everyone didn’t want to be the only one who didn’t ‘react’ in some way. However, due to the constant awareness and expectations of death raining from the skies, as well as the bunkers littered everywhere, the people of Lambda wasted no time in taking cover.

There isn’t an exact number of people who survived the Last War, but the estimates are shockingly high. The worldwide exchange didn’t last long, but everyone was already on a hair trigger. Quite a few people even began the day in their bunker, they were that prepared.

The Last War occurred thirty years (give or take a few, converting times between universes is tricky, especially pre-Unification) before the Great Unification. Since then, roughly 99% of the people who went underground when the bombs dropped stayed underground. Part of the reason why Lambda isn’t represented for Sigma is the fact that, simply put, almost everyone within Lambda isn’t even aware of the Great Unification. They’re still either living in their bunkers, or live up top, where news is hard to come by. 

However, it’s not a bad idea to stay underground, with the shape Lambda Earth is in. As you’d expect, getting hammered with giant nuclear bombs can really ruin wherever it hits, but Lambda Earth possessed so much more. Terraforming weapons, which could shatter a continental plate and cause it to buck and splinter. Climate-changing weapons, which could turn a desert into an overwhelming, perpetually wet jungle, and a city into an icy wasteland. Chemical weapons and biological agents, ones that can lay waste to large swaths of life and land. Mutagenic weapons, ones that could mutate and twist whatever lives in ground zero into something completely different. Actual ‘zombie viruses’, that turn those affected into shambling monsters. Lambda Earth is a planet that was hit by ten different apocalypses, all at once.

However, there is always beauty in destruction. Thirty years after the fact, many places teem with life. Partially due to time passing, and partially due to humans not being present anymore. Additionally, landscapes, although twisted, are breath-taking and new, and plenty of plants and animals have changed as well. Through the chaos of the Last War, Lambda Earth was transformed into something new. Something that probably shouldn’t exist, sure, but something that’s new.

[sigmaguidebook]

Zeta

Of course, in the time after the Great Unification, there came about different ways to categorize different universe. It’s natural to attempt to lump items that exist in a set together, in order to find some commonality between them. One of the ways that has been used to separate universes is the Metahuman Factor: simply put, are metahumans a normal thing in this universe? Alpha, Beta, and Epsilon have a low metahuman factor. Old Gamma (even though they objected to the term) had a high metahuman factor. Zeta is a universe that exists on the latter half of the scale.

Zeta has so much metahuman activity, it pretty much defines the universe. However, unlike old Gamma, this activity distinguishes itself in how the people of Zeta utilize this metahumanity. Explaining just how is simple: Zeta has superheroes and supervillains. 

While the different universes of Sigma have humanish living in each of them, how each universe’s humanish act and feel can sometimes be generalized, in the same way that some cultures can be. Zeta’s people have a tendency towards being a bit more ‘exaggerated’ in behavior and demeanor, almost bordering on caricatures.

So, when you take unpleasant people who are suddenly scheming, greedy baddies, and good people who are now gallant, crusaders of the common folk, and give them metahuman abilities...superpowers...common sense goes out of the window. Now you have a universe defined by the constant struggle between good and evil (and every shade of morally gray in between), filled to the brim with superhuman weirdos.

A byproduct of the metahuman abilities, plus the demeanor of the people who live within Zeta, is the proliferation of SUPER SCIIIIIIEEEENCE, and, as a result, Zeta is actually quite a bit more advanced than most of the other universes in Sigma. Quite a bit of the technological advances made across the ten comes from Zeta, who has people who are often quite eager to share their super scientific breakthroughs.

[sigmaguidebook]

Metahumanity

A human in Sigma has most of the same qualities that you’d expect a human to have. Despite different experiences, different surroundings, and different hurdles to overcome, humans across Sigma have evolved into the same(-ish), squishy hunks of flesh and bone that we’ve grown familiar to.

However, in the Cloud energy-laden megaverse that the humanish have evolved in, some things still come out for a nice surprise. Metahumans are one of such developments. 

The term metahuman, much like any other term that’s used as an attempt to generalize things across Sigma’s universes, is one that is not completely agreed upon. For universes such as old Gamma, where a theoretical metahuman would not be seen as out of the ordinary, the term seems unnecessary. For universes such as Alpha and Beta, where metahumanity is minimal, the designation is desired. 

As a result, there are different qualifiers for metahuman status, depending on where you go. In every case, though, the status is more just a cultural one than an official one, as there is no real law or mandate regarding whether someone counts as a metahuman or not.

For simplicity sake, the term metahuman is given to those who exhibit abilities and traits that are not naturally attainable by humans within Alpha. If someone somehow gained the ability to shoot lasers from their eyes, for example, they’d be seen as a metahuman. 

Before the Great Unification, every universe had some amount of metahumans, but the amount varied immensely between them. Alpha and Beta, for example, had a very low amount of metahumans, and, most of the time, they were either denounced as fakes, phonies, con artists, magicians, psychics, witches, delusionals, false prophets, and so on and so forth, or treated as mystics, shamans, and actual messiahs. And a lot of them had a funny tendency to disappear in the night, never to be seen again. Just how many metahumans actually existed in these universes, though, is unknown, as there were plenty of fake metahumans, too. Old Gamma, on the other hand, had those with the Arts, and Epsilon, while eternally strange, had a shockingly low amount of what can be considered legitimate metahumans. 

After the Great Unification, though, a phenomenon began to occur in each universe: the Metahuman Surge. Different universes experienced the Surge in different ways, but in each universe, there was a sudden increase in the occurrence of metahumans. Sure, there were metahumans moving from one universe to another, but there was also an unexplained spike in metahumans being born, people gaining metahuman abilities, and metahumans seemingly coming out of the woodwork. 

In some universes, there haven’t really huge increases. In Alpha and Beta, for example, even after the Surge began, they’ve only seen a tiny trickle of new metahuman recordings. Meanwhile, in Epsilon, there’s been an abnormally large explosion in metahumans, although, to be honest, the people of Epsilon didn’t really notice.

 The study of metahumanity is one of many fields that have been labeled ‘Sigma fields’: new branches of study and research that were essentially ‘created’ by the Great Unification. Out of the various Sigma fields, the study of metahumanity is one of the more popular ones, because, c’mon, who doesn’t wanna study people who can shoot lightning bolts out of their hands? 

The reaction towards metahumans by Sigma as a whole has been mixed. Universes like Epsilon and old Gamma were fairly apathetic towards the Metahuman Surge, since it was all old news to them anyway. Other universes, like Alpha and Beta, have been understandably cautious about metahumans, seeing them as destructive at best, and capable of causing great harm in the hands of those who might want to use them for their own purposes. In fact, utilizing metahumans in warfare has already seen great success within Sigma, with the Sunlighters in Beta possessing in their congregation a metahuman that has been referred to as a ‘Nationbreaker’, due to his sheer, unparalleled power.

[sigmaguidebook]

Epsilon

At a first glance, Epsilon doesn’t particularly seem to have anything that sets it apart from something like, say, Alpha or Beta. In a sense, someone who makes a superficial judgement of Epsilon might think of it as a ‘boring’ universe.  

If you were to pass a judgement on Epsilon based on just looking at it, and those who live there, then yes, you might think it’s boring. And even if you were to stay there for a few days, you might not see anything that catches your attention. Immediately. 

But the unique qualities of Epsilon are more passive, more latent. Epsilon, much like the other universes, has an excess of Cloud energy leaking into it, and always has, but whereas that might manifest as the Arts in old Gamma, or the intra-universal connecting zones within Alpha, Epsilon’s differences manifest as what has been described as ‘a general weirdness’.

Of course, that’s an extremely subjective description of Epsilon, but think of it as, rather than concentrated oddity, like the Arts in old Gamma, it’s a diluted difference, a pervasive strangeness that has infiltrated all layers of reality within Epsilon, that has intermingled with the general being of the people there.

You visit a city within Epsilon, which looks like any normal city, and find a convenience store. The store looks regular enough, although they only seem to sell different brands of seaweed snacks. You pass by dogs, regular dogs, who appear to be legitimately browsing the selection of snacks. After picking up a Pepsi™ brand Teriyaki Pork flavored seaweed bar, you take it to the cashier, who seems to be some odd half-frog man, who’s wheezing as he watches the news on a nearby television. It’s talking about some war in another region going on, the latest of the ‘Wars of Abstraction’, and there seems to be a general, decked out in gilded, ornate gear, riding a horse and waving his sword around, as he leads a tank battalion. After paying for your bar, you exit the store, and notice two more of the same stores down the road. You watch someone climb into a nearby manhole, as he’s going to the Subterranean Quarter of the city, where he and his family lives. A gigantic seagull, the size of a car, swoops in, steals your seaweed bar, and flies away. Nobody bats an eye.

Epsilon is strange.

[sigmaguidebook]

New Gamma, the Dogverse

After the Great Unification, Gamma was a very popular destination for inter-universal tourists. The wild culture divergences, the small and secluded nature of the villages and town ‘states’, the fantastical Arts...it was all so interesting, to many people from all over Sigma. Then Dog came, and ruined it all.

Dog is the name taken by the ‘daughter’ and acolyte of the High Dark Lord Stephen L. Clawblade, and, while there’s plenty to say about her, she (and her ‘father’) deserve a post of their very own. For now, all that needs to be said is that Dog is someone with grand aspirations. One of which is, simply put, become a god. 

Now, in Dog’s own unstable mind, one of the more basic (relatively speaking, of course) things that a god can do is create a universe! That’s one of the hallmarks of being a deity, right? Lording over your own domain. One that you created. It’s all about creation.

However, Dog didn’t have the ability to just create a universe. And, further compounding her irritation was the reality of the Great Unification, which effectively halted the creation of any more universes that didn’t branch off of the ten chosen universes.

Though this didn’t deter Dog. No, where Dog lacked in actual godliness, she made up for in resourcefulness, as well as an intimate knowledge of metacontext, or how existence worked, thanks to her ‘father’. Instead of creating a universe from scratch, Dog could instead simply trigger a sort of ‘restart’ in a universe, which would allow her to help ‘guide’ the recreation. And all of this could be done, with the help of just a little bit of Cloud energy.

So, in much the same fashion that the Great Unification occurred under, Dog managed to pull off something that resembled her plan. Really, who was going to nitpick over it? 

Through just a random choice, Gamma was the universe picked for the restart, a process that caused the entire universe to convert back into Cloud energy, leaving an empty void behind. The process took about an hour and a half, time enough to allow some people from Gamma to escape, but most of the Gamma humans ended up perishing in the erasure. These people were not even necessarily killed, their entire beings were erased from existence. Billions of humans, and an inconceivable amount of beings that lived elsewhere in the universe, denied an entrance to the Aether. Gone.

However, Dog didn’t care. She was more focused on ‘her’ new universe, and she was giddy with excitement as she planted her own ‘seeds’ into the brand new, empty, blank slate that was soon to restart. But, as the universe bloomed anew, a dawning realization soon overtook Dog.

She was unable to go to her brand new universe. The one she had worked so hard to achieve, the one she had erased an entire universe to create anew. Despite her power, she lacked the ability to teleport between universes, and, due to the erasure of the access points between Gamma and other universes, there was functionally no way to access the new Gamma. After all that work, neither Dog nor anyone else could see what the fruits of her labor looked like.

In this new universe, due to both manual influence from a non-deity and the chaotic process of essentially ‘restarting’ a universe, creation ran amok. Time flowed erratically initially, speeding up and slowing down at different points, and the fabric of space would fragment and stitch itself back together, in a repeating, chaotic process that halted and restarted, over and over again. 

Eventually, though, this mess of a universe hit a period of fragile stability. And that’s where the Dogverse is now. Although there are still problems with how space and time works, it’s more sparse and localized within the universe now. For now, there isn’t the risk of everything just falling apart, at least, immediately.

In the Dogverse, there is an Earth-like planet, though it differs in many ways than the Earths/Earth-likes of the other universes. Dogverse ‘Earth’, which has no one agreed-upon name, is at least twice as large as the other Earths, and possesses two moons, each teeming with life. Something that distinguishes Dogverse Earth from the other nine universes is the excess of sentient, human-level socio-intelligent life forms that cover it and its two moons. So much so, that there isn’t really a ‘dominant’ being on the three, and there aren’t that many of the unum, the humanish of the Dogverse, across the planet.

To the rest of Sigma, new Gamma is completely unknown. With the access points destroyed, there’s no standard, practical, or safe way to access it, and, for the longest time, everyone had just assumed that it had just disappeared in the erasure. It wasn’t until contact was made by someone from new Gamma that people realized that there was still something going on in Gamma. However, while there is interest in making a connection between Gamma and the rest of Sigma, all attempts have been miserable failures, or, in one instance, an attempted invasion by a race living in Gamma. As of now, there still isn’t really any meaningful communication being made between new Gamma and the rest of Sigma.