Subject: On Worlds and Echoes Thereof
Author:
Posted on: 2014-05-31 13:14:00 UTC
NOTE: I am not a physicist but I play one on the internet and so can't really comment on the accuracy of theories and whatnot. Everything I'm about to talk about is from my perspective as a writer and a consumer of many kinds of speculative fiction.
First off, I'm quite glad to see something like this being written for the PPC. There's always a part of me that is curious about the nitty-gritty regarding how a universe functions. Yes, I know, "just repeat to yourself it's just a show/book/game/whatever," but sometimes it's really hard. I like facts, dammit!
Multiverses and how the PPC fits into them is something I've been thinking about for a while now -- going all the way back to before my departure from the Board, actually. I even had a draft of a mission where several of my agents encountered versions of themselves from an alternate PPC. While the story ultimately foundered and was abandoned, I knew I still wanted to touch on the concept of multiverses. That little bit with the Department of Improbable AUs in my first post-return story was meant to sort of set the groundwork for future stories running along those lines.
I like how the theory you've presented here seems to use both the idea of the conventional comic-esque multiverse (big different worlds) as well as the Trousers of Time ("for want of a nail" types of changes). It explains a great deal but still leaves room for possible expansion. It's definitely not the neatest implementation of alternate universes, but let's face it: as soon as the concept of alternate universes comes up, things are going to get messy regardless.
I'd always seen the PPC as an entity existing in its own Word World/pocket dimension, but I think this is the first time I've seen it really (sort of) confirmed. Does that mean that the in-universe concept of the PPC being threaded through other Word Worlds has been, like the theory of a geocentric earth, debunked? Or is there some other explanation? Or am I possibly misinterpreting that (which I suppose would be another explanation)?
I can't say I'm too keen on the Void between Verses. I can't quite put my finger on what about it bothers me. I guess it seems oversimplified, like you (or the IC writer of this document) are trying to force our rather limited perception of matter and space onto a concept that is already doing some pretty crazy things with accepted science. But again, I'not a physicist.
I have a few more points I'd like to touch on, but as they pertain to some of the things that doctorlit brought up in his comments, I'm going to redirect them to that portion of the thread.