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The Multiverse is the collection of all the alternate universes (or altiverses) in Superguy. It is essentially an infinite number or infinite universes, making up an infinite number of infinities.
An Altiverse refers to an alternate universe. Every subtopic on the list has its own altiverse where base stories are set. This way, although we can have (for example) Sfstory and Superguy crossovers, the history of Sfstory and Superguy are completely different.
In different Altiverse, different rules apply. Different physical laws might hold sway, different histories might have happened, and so on and so forth. Absolutely no two altiverses are identical. However, Altiverses in the same Milliverse (see below) tend to have certain common ties.
3) How do the Altiversal numbering conventions work?
Each Altiverse is numbered through a series of three numbers and an indeterminate number of letters. The Altiverses start with the basic Altiverse, Altiverse 000. If you make a single Quantum shift forward, into the next Altiverse in the sequence, you enter Altiverse 001. Another Quantum shift forward brings you to Altiverse 002, and so on and so forth.
This system suffices for the first thousand Altiverses, or Altiverses 000-999. This grouping is called a Milliverse -- or the thousand altiverses identified with a given suffix. Those first thousand altiverses, having no suffix, are called the Basic Milliverse.
One Quantum shift forward from Altiverse 999 moves you into the next Milliverse, which is designated by adding a single letter A to the previous Milliverse. Thus, you shift from Altiverse 999 in the basic Milliverse to Altiverse 000A in the A Milliverse. When you reach Altiverse 999A and take another Quantum shift, you enter 000B. This continues until you run out of letters in the alphabet (Altiverse 999Z).
At this point, the next Altiverse is Altiverse 000AA -- a double A. This takes you through to Altiverse 999AA. From there you enter Altiverse 000BA. The pattern should be apparent, at this point. Altiverse 999BA leads to Altiverse 000CA, Altiverse 999CA to Altiverse 000DA, and so on. When you reach Altiverse 999ZA, you move to Altiverse 000AB. When you reach Altiverse 999ZZ, you next reach Altiverse 000AAA.
This Multiversal convention is infinite. Eventually, you discover that you are spelling words with the Milliverse suffixes. These words tend to identify what sort of Altiverses they are. For example, Altiverse 994CHOCOLATE is an Altiverse made out of Fudge Ripple Ice Cream. Altiverse 995CHOCOLATE is an Altiverse made out of Jello brand instant chocolate pudding, and so forth. Remember, when you reach altiverse 999CHOCOLATE, the next Altiversal skip is 000DHOCOLATE, not 000CHOCHOLATF (which is an extremely long way away).
At the very top of the Altiversal chain is the Author's Altiverse. This Altiverse is numbered Altiverse 223DON'TTRYITAUTHORSONLY. The careful observer will note the existence of an apostrophe in the suffix. In Cosmological terms, this apostrophe forms an utterly unbridgeable gap. As a result, no resident of the Multiverse can reach the Author's Altiverse.
The space 'between' Altiverses is called Netherspace. It is as infinite as any altiverse itself, and has many features. Most of Netherspace is a formless gray void. However, there is a beach inhabited almost exclusively by nymphomaniacs somewhere in Netherspace (which this chronicler did not invent, so he doesn't want to hear about it). There is also a Casino and the Home for Forgotten Sfstory Characters. Characters from the Sfstory Altiverse who find themselves in Netherspace can escape Netherspace through a Green Door marked Exit. However, no one ever notices that door unless someone points it out to them. Why this happens to be is uncertain.
4) What are the basic Altiverses the list uses?
There are several Altiverses that are associated with the various Subtopics that enjoy regular usage. This includes the Superguy Altiverse, the Sfstory Altiverse, Hell Incorporated, the Round Robin altiverse and the Metaworld Project.
In order:
You are seeing retconning in action, folks. As the base altiverse, the Superguy Altiverse was originally Altiverse 000, following the creation of the mailing list. However, people continued to refer to it as Altiverse 000SG, Altiverse 001SG, Altiverse 000SUPERGUY and Altiverse 001SUPERGUY. So it has officially been retconned to 000SUPERGUY, and if you read any other reference to the Superguy Altiverse as being anything but 000SUPERGUY, pretend it says 000SUPERGUY and relax.
This is a more legitimate retcon. When the Sfstory Subtopic was integrated with the Superguy Mailing List, it had its universal and altiversal constants altered. Further, the same confusion of Altiverse suffix attacked Sfstory as Superguy, so there are lots of references in the logs.
When you see an Altiversal number in the logs without a suffix, pretend it is that number in the SFSTORY Milliverse (000SFSTORY, 719SFSTORY, or what have you). That should keep everything clear.
Finally, 'Realspace' is a scientific term used on 000SFSTORY to refer to 000SFSTORY. It is the Real Universe (or as real as it gets, anyhow).
7)Altiverse 223DON'TTRYITAUTHORSONLY' implies a DON'TTRYITAUTHORSONLY Milliverse. Is there one?
Actually, yes. There actually does seem to be a thousand Altiversal counterparts to the Author's Altiverse, with each one apparently having a variant of the Authors. Each counterpart seems to have a Multiverse connected to it as well. It is worth nothing that those alternate multiverses have no connections to our Multiverse at all.
8) Does the LNH Looniverse have an Altiverse in Superguy terms?
Not that we know of. The LNH Looniverse, as indicated in Part 2, is a separate shared universe project from Superguy. Of late, there has been some crossposting between Superguy and the Legion of Net.Heroes, sort of on the level of a cultural exchange. LNH posts are not 'official' LNH posts until they're sent out over the various channels the LNH and their related organizations frequent.
If there is an LNH Altiverse in the regular Multiverse, it is not known, and the LNH Authors inhabit a section of the Author's Altiverse far, far from the Superguy Authors (which, considering what the Superguy Authors have been up to, is probably a good thing.)
9) What other Superguy Altiverses are known?
There are several Altiverses in the SUPERGUY Milliverse that have been discovered in the past. Each Altiverse has essentially the same cast of characters involved in the same struggles, but each Altiverse has some specific Assumption that is different. This Basic Altiversal Assumption pervades the characters, history, and society of the altiverse, causing the Altiverse to be familiar, but profoundly different, from Altiverse 000SUPERGUY.
Some known alternate Superguy Altiverses are:
000SUPERGUY:The basic Superguy Altiverse. The one you read about whenever you happen to be reading the Superguy Subtopic.
333SUPERGUY:Golden Age Superguy. On this world, the heroes of the present from our world were active in World War II. As of the present, those Golden Age superguys are in their seventies, and their children are the primary heroes of their world.
621SUPERGUY:Teen Superguy. This world is made up of Teenage versions of our heroes.
954SUPERGUY:Evil Superguy. On this world, the heroes of Superguy are twisted into evil versions, and the villains of the list are heroes. In January of 1993 in Altiverse 954SUPERGUY, the entire planetary biosphere was destroyed by that Altiverse's version of Dangerousman. The only known survivors (who now live on 000SUPERGUY) are the Awe- Inspiring Force -- evil versions of the Awesome Force.
___SUPERGUY:Fantasy Superguy. This is a pastoral, feudal land, where all of the scientific and pseudoscientific heroes of our world have magical bases instead, and the magical heroes and villains of our world have scientific bases.
___SUPERGUY:Gender Reversed Superguy. Exactly the same history as our Superguy, except that men are women and women are men.
___SUPERGUY:The Superguy Wrestling Federation: Our heroes are all Professional Wrestlers. Don't ask.
10) How do I create a new Superguy Altiverse?
To create a new Altiverse in the SUPERGUY Milliverse, one must decide what the Basic Altiversal Assumption is and apply it.
A Basic Altiversal Assumption should be a true difference between Altiverses -- something that could reasonably change every character on the list. The Altiversal system is not conducive to What If style stories in the SUPERGUY Milliverse (those sort of stories -- 'What if Radian had not killed China,' or the like, should probably be set in Altiverses completely away from the SUPERGUY Milliverse -- 001WHATIFSUPERGUY or the like). Instead, these are worlds where everything is essentially different.
But the world should be familiar. The same primary characters should still be around. For example, Andy Awesome is the most prestigious Superhero aside from Superguy himself in Altiverse 000SUPERGUY. Correspondingly, Andy Awe-Inspiring was the most reviled villain in 954SUPERGUY, Andrea Awesome is the greatest Heroine of ___SUPERGUY, Andrew Astounding is the greatest legend of 333SUPERGUY, and so on and so forth.
Within this guideline is a strange multiversal constant. The character of Ramrod should stay as close to his 000SUPERGUY archetype as possible. Evil Ramrod was pretty much the same as Good Ramrod, for example. Female Ramrod, Fantasy Ramrod, Teen Ramrod, Golden Age Ramrod -- they all are more or less Ramrod as we know him. Why is this? It's hard to say. Perhaps Ramrod is a linchpin of the cosmos. Perhaps it's just one of those things.
Once you have your constant, and you've mapped out a basic alternate society and history around it, choose an unassigned Altiverse in the SUPERGUY Milliverse and hop to it.
Please note, there is little to no reason to create different Altiverses in the SUPERGUY Milliverse that have the same Basic Altiversal Assumptions as some that have already been created. If you feel the need, for example, to create your own Golden Age Superguy, without using 333SUPERGUY's assumptions, go right ahead, but call it 100GOLDENAGE or something. This cuts down on confusion in the Milliverse.
11) What is an alternate dimension, and how is it different from an Altiverse?
The four known real world dimensions are length, height, depth and temporal -- these are the measures of Space and Time that we can perceive with our senses. They are directions and states of being. A three dimensional object exists in height, length and depth. Add the duration of its existence and you reach the fourth dimension of time. One can travel through these four dimensions -- moving from one set of space/time coordinates to another (only forward at a constant rate, for time).
All of the above is self evident. What is not self evident are the other directions, measures and coordinates in Space/Time -- the ones we cannot perceive. These alternate dimensions are as much a part of a given Altiverse as height, length, depth and time are. They exist everywhere, but a being who can only perceive the four basic dimensions cannot see or interact with them.
But in the Superguy Altiverse and some others, those alternate dimensions can house power sources, objects, creatures, and applications of the laws of physics we can barely understand. And in the Superguy and other Altiverses, some beings can perceive and access those other dimensions via technological or parapsychological means... and some beings from those dimensions can access normal space. These Alternate Dimensions can and often do manifest in the normally perceived universes (called Realspace herein).
This is different from an alternate universe, because these dimensions are part of the universe in question. Every Altiverse has these dimensions, and they are not the same dimensions.
Some of the more commonly accessed dimensions are:
The Silly Dimension:The silly side of the Universe. This is a dimension of the boffo, the confusing, and the just plain stupid. Realspace Manifestations center around the Three Stooges, Warner Brothers Cartoons, and Congressional Politics.
The Television Dimension:The realm where the television shows which make up our Cable Access world are given form and reality. It is not known if the act of writing, casting, producing, directing, editing and broadcasting television programs reflects that so-called reality into the Television Dimension, or if the Television Dimension manifests itself in RealSpace through the television producing process.
The Unorthodox Dimension:A barely understood place. The Unorthodox Dimension is the seat of the Unorthodox Method -- the way of doing things that violates the normal route. Realspace Manifestations of the Unorthodox Dimension are Bumblebees in flight, so-called Idiot Savants, and pretty much any of the inventions on Mystery Science Theater 3000.
The Kitsch Dimension:Not much is known of this place, besides the fact that Green Slimy Aliens live there and they once tried to invade Earth.
Hyperspace:An alternate dimension which invokes mathematics far too complex to replicate on a vt100 terminal. Suffice it to say, this is a dimension where Physical Laws differ. The normal use for Hyperspace is to make a so-called Faster than Light craft appear to accelerate faster than light, though in fact it is merely taking a shortcut. There are actually many different Hyperspace dimensions, and different applications of this technology will reap different results. The Hyperspace Dimension most often used in the Round Robin Altiverse is WraithSpace. RealSpace Manifestations of Hyperspace are unexplained particles which seem to be generated or dissipate without explanation.
WarpSpace:Essentially another Hyperspace, but accessed a different way. WarpSpace is an alternate dimension which is accessed when a matter/antimatter reaction is channeled and controlled so that Space/Time is warped into a bubble, which the faster-than-light craft then manipulates into projecting the stationary point the craft is sitting in through WarpSpace to a different Realspace point. If this sounds like this is stolen from Star Trek, you're right. WarpSpace manifestations in Realspace include the Event Horizons of Black Holes.
The OtherRealm/the Fey Dimension:A Magical, chaotic world where the various mythical beings and faeriekind of legend live and draw their power off of. It is not a Realm that most inhabitants of RealSpace can enter with impunity. OtherRealm manifestations in Realspace include rainbows, perfect spring mornings, mist-covered fields of green on mountainsides, and of course the singing of Kate Bush.
R'lyeh/The Realm of the Elder Gods:The other worldly dimension described by H.P. Lovecraft. Cthulu sleeps here, Father Dagon comes from here, and the horror of this Realm slowly pervades us. Manifestations in Realspace are too horrible to describe here, other than saying they include Tom and Rosanne Arnold and Barney's control over children.
The Safety Dimension:If you've ever wondered where all those billions and billions of warning signs and industrial safety devices come from, you need not wonder any longer. Little is known about the Safety Dimension, except that its essence slowly leaks into our reality, in the form of OSHA regulations, bright orange paint, and steel-toed boots. Currently, the villain known as the Lawn Sprinkler Man is trapped in the Safety Dimension, where, we assume, he is properly protected.
There are several others, of course.
12) How do characters travel from one Altiverse to another?
There are several methods. Most methods used on 000SUPERGUY involve Pseudoscience or magic, which is used to breach the Transaltiversal barriers and directly pass through from one Altiverse to another. Any Altiverse can be reached by that method, although the farther the quantum shift (from one Altiverse number to the next), the more traumatic the journey, and even a simple single quantum shift (000SUPERGUY to 001SUPERGUY, for example) by such a direct method will cause the travellers to vomit, no matter how hard they try to buffer the journey.
A far gentler method of Altiversal travel involves entering the Netherspace between Altiverses and then going to the target Altiverse from there. The only practical way of doing this is to use a Spam powered device (see "Spam" in Part 5: In Jokes), which can enter and leave Netherspace easily. Spam powered devices (typically the Automatic Beet Peeler and Sub Atomic Re- Integrator, or ABPSARI) can make this trip very easily, with no apparent side effects. However, the misuse of a Spam Powered device -- even a small one -- could conceivably decimate the Multiverse, so it remains a catch twenty-two).
Finally, using considerable power, two Altiverses which have a certain affinity can form temporary gateways either naturally or artificially. This is accomplished by merging certain corresponding points so that they effectively are part of both Altiverses at once. This method is largely impractical.
13) How does Superguy time work?
Time in Superguy is something of a fluid thing. The past is set into a continuity -- the terms of our shared universe do not allow for permanent retconning when it would significantly alter characters an Author does not have control of. Therefore, the rule of thumb is -- once an event, occurring in the past or present -- is posted to Superguy, that event is set in stone. It did occur.
Future events, on the other hands, are subject to various probabilities. Sometimes they will occur when the 'real' event gets posted and sometimes they won't. For example, the 1995 Storyline Dominic White ("the Artiste") and Bill Paul ("the Man with Two First Names") posted in 1990-91 is unlikely to come to pass in the real Superguy History -- but will instead remain a possible future which didn't end up happening. The 2035 Storyline written by Eric Alfred Burns ("Lord Sabre") is another possible future storyline that might or might not come to pass.
Some Authors might post future events in their storylines which do end up coming to pass. This is not a violation of the 'no locked in future' rule, but an extension of it. Sometimes, the possible futures happen.
If a character travels through time and alters the past, the present and future is altered as well. The nature of Superguy, however, implies that time will be restored to its original configuration by the end of a plotline. For example, when Bill Paul posted a Defense Squad post where the wheel was never invented, all of history was altered. But by the end of the storyline, the wheel was returned to its rightful place in history, and history itself returned to normal.