Worlds of Freedom Design Journal #2
Types of Dimensions
The known dimensions of the omniverse fall into one of three major types, although the exact lines between these categories are sometimes blurry. Experts on the omniverse on Earth-Prime use these categories when dealing with other dimensions, although the scientific community focuses more on parallel dimensions, while the occult community deals primarily with the mystic dimensions.
Parallel
A parallel dimension is one similar, but not necessarily identical, to the universe containing Earth-Prime. Some believe parallel dimensions are all different in some fashion, but that in many cases the differences are too small to notice right away. A parallel dimension might contain an Earth where a particular person lived a different life, for example, but had so small an impact on the world that it seems identical to Earth-Prime (or another parallel).
Most known parallels differ significantly from Earth-Prime in some way. How significantly varies from world to world. For example, on Erde, the Axis powers won World War II, and the modern history of the world is considerably different from Earth-Prime, whereas the two worlds’ pre-war histories seem essentially the same. At the extreme end are worlds like Ani-Earth and Earth-Ape, where cartoon-like anthropomorphic animals or talking apes replace humanity! Still, these worlds bear uncanny similarities to Earth-Prime, far more than would be expected from such variant developments, right down to the existence of similar superheroes and villains!
The worlds described in Chapter 4 through Chapter 8 of Worlds of Freedom are parallel dimensions, while the historical settings from Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 may be parallel worlds as well, either in another dimension where time flows slower—and thus the world is in an earlier historical period—or in another world where those events occurred, if you decide not to include them in the history of your own Freedom City setting.
Mystic
A mystic dimension is a reality where magic, not science, is the dominant force. While some mystic dimensions are vaguely similar to Earth (at least from different historical or mythic sources), many are quite alien, since they do not even obey the same physical laws as Earth’s dimension. Mystic dimensions may feature gravity as a strictly local phenomenon, for example, limited to the plane or axis of a solid surface. Many have strange forms of life influenced by occult laws rather than those of biology or evolution.
In particular, mystic dimensions tend to differ in having powerful magic-workers as their most influential inhabitants, or even rulers. Each dimension has a Master Mage, its most powerful wielder of the mystic arts. In some, the Master Mage is a dedicated guardian of order, but in others, the Master Mage assumes control over the dimension itself, shaping it and its reality to suit. In time, the dimension becomes a netherworld and the Master Mage becomes a Dark Lord. Since magic naturally comes to dominate science in a netherworld, a great many mystic dimensions are netherworlds ruled by Dark Lords.
The mystic dimensions of the omniverse are discussed in detail in the Book of Magic sourcebook for M&M. They are beyond the scope of Worlds of Freedom and are included here only for comparison and completeness.
Interstitial
An interstitial dimension, by definition, lies “between” or “around” other dimensions, acting as a kind of bridge, gulf, or medium for different planes of existence. Many experts liken interstitial dimensions to a medium like air, water, or even the void of space, wherein other dimensions “float” or move like solid bodies, either suspended or orbiting in various fashions.
Theories abound as to the purpose of interstitial dimensions. The most common theory is that they function as some sort of “insulator” between different realities, keeping them at a safe distance and preventing them from colliding, which would result in some detrimental consequence (from the two realities merging haphazardly to an N-dimensional fusion chain reaction that would collapse the omniverse). Other ideas suggest the interstitial realities are “pathways” between dimensions (natural or artificial) or a natural dimensional “fluid” or medium, just as water surrounds the landmasses on Earth or the vacuum of space surrounds planets and stars.
The three main known interstitial dimensions in the omniverse each have different qualities to them. In particular, some have cited them as connected with the primal forces of creation, destruction, and stasis: the astral plane, the Terminus, and the Zero Zone.
