Here you may revisit any of the alternate earth descriptions from the Plot Exposition. I will add others as I come up with them. I’ll post any updates on the News page, so check there every once in a while.
Alternate Earth Lexicon:
Alt: short for an alternate earth.
Bridge: Short for Einstein-Rosen Bridge. This refers to both the actual wormhole itself and the physical equipment that generates it.
POD: Point-of-Divergence. Where we think the alt’s timeline deviates from our own.
Main Sequence: The earth you know.
There is a two-tiered classification system to group alike worlds. Each Alt is categorized first by a number based on its physical characteristics.
Class 1: Indistinguishable from Main Sequence in almost all respects.
Class 2: Physical laws are exactly the same, but structural changes to the Alt exist (i.e. different topography, a certain mineral rare in Main Sequence may be common).
Class 3: Physical laws and topography are compatible with human life, but are recognizably different (i.e. slightly lower gravity, probability works differently).
Class 4: Hostile world. Humans may be able to survive short periods of time with special equipment (i.e. and all ocean world or ice-covered world).
Class 5: Completely incompatible with human life (i.e. any other planet in our solar system).”
Each Alt is then also given a letter that follows this number. The letter describes the cultural environment of the Alt.
A: Differs from Main Sequence in only smallest of details.
B: Significant cultural differences from Main Sequence.
C: Intelligent Life, but Main Sequence humans would be obviously out of place (i.e. an alt full of albinos or intelligent non-humans).
D: Life, but no recorded intelligent life.
E: No obvious life.
F: Quarantined. No contact or travel is allowed. Often, the existence of these worlds is classified, even to project staff.
Each world also has a code name. Barren worlds have their classification followed by a five digit contact number (5E00123, for example). A world which may be habitable will have the classification followed by a mission name (they retain the code, but it is only used by archivists). For example, 2BHIGHTECH (or 2B00001).
Statistically, most worlds are classed 4E or 5E. 9 of 10 worlds we contact are incapable of supporting human life. Of the ones that aren’t inhospitable, 90% of those are functionally indistinguishable from our own (Class 1A). They have only the smallest details different. A recent one has the White House address as 1601 Pennsylvania Ave instead of 1600, and this is the only difference we can find. So, that means that 1% of the worlds we come into contact with are novel and capable of supporting exploration (about three or four per year).
Click below to view information about known Alts.
