Infraworld

The Infraworld (also sometimes referred to as the Beyond) is a plane of existence that appears to exist parallel to or partially in tandem with our own. Its exact nature is unknown, but it is believed to be the location where lost souls and other entities reside.
The Department of Paranormal Activities has studied the Infraworld for some time, and apparently coined the term (according to Nathan Dawkins). Its campus contains the ADA Condenser Facility, which it uses to research and conduct experiments. In "The Condenser," this facility is the site of a horrific accident after a rift into the Infraworld is opened, permitting entities to slaughter most of the personnel. Since at least 2014, Cole Freeman has attempted to research and classify the various entities residing in the Infraworld.
Jodie Holmes has been haunted by entities hailing from the Infraworld since childhood, and one (known as Aiden) serves as her protector and constant companion. Her paranormal abilities allow her to see entities and communicate with souls from beyond, attracting the attention of the DPA. Nathan claims in "Norah" that the DPA believed Jodie could be the link between the human world and the Infraworld, and wished to study her abilities to this end.
The American military expresses interest in the Infraworld as a source of alternative power, conquest, and military advancement. General McGrath provides funding for the DPA's research on the condition that it be used to discover possible military applications, such as linking entities to soldiers to be used in combat. Prior to 2014, the DPA builds a much larger and more powerful condenser called the Black Sun, which is housed in a secure facility beneath the Pentagon campus. To avoid a repeat of the tragedy at the ADA facility, a containment field is constructed to keep entities within the chamber. At the same time, other countries like China and RussiaThe Russian condenser is never encountered in the final game, but concept art of it exists and it can still be seen marked on the map in "Briefing." Jodie would have destroyed this condenser in the deleted chapter "The Shaman." begin conducting their own research into the Infraworld and building their own condensers. McGrath sends Jodie to destroy these condensers and keep the technology from falling into foreign hands.
Nathan develops a years-long obsession with the Infraworld after his wife Helen and daughter Laura are tragically killed. In an attempt to see them once more, he builds a miniature rift, which he keeps in a private section of his office. He is able to see them, but more modifications are needed to allow them to communicate. When reunited with Jodie, he attempts to use her abilities to speak to his family only for them to plead with him to let them die, as they are imprisoned between worlds. In his grief, Nathan convinces himself that allowing the Infraworld to cross into our dimension will create a world without death. He deactivates the containment field, allowing entities to attack the facility. Jodie, Cole, and Ryan enter the chamber in order to destroy the Black Sun and close the rift.
If Jodie successfully deactivates the condenser, she briefly sees Aiden's spirit in a field. She is then given a choice between entering the Beyond or returning to life. If any characters died over the course of the game, they appear in the Beyond to greet her. (Shimasani will always appear, since her death occurs regardless of the player's actions.) If she chooses to return to life, she receives premonitions of another incident involving the Infraworld at some point in the future, causing destruction on a much larger scale than the Black Sun. If she chooses to enter the Beyond, she becomes an entity and watches over her loved ones from the other side.
If Jodie fails to deactivate the condenser, the Infraworld spreads through the human world, destroying it. Her soul remains trapped, forced to reflect on her failures forever.
==Residents==
* Aiden
* Nathan, Helen and Laura Dawkins
* Shimasani
* Paul (determinant)
* Cole Freeman (determinant)
* Norah Gray (determinant)
* Ryan Clayton (determinant)
* Jodie Holmes (optional)
* Jimmy (determinant)
* Walter (determinant)
* Jonathan Nichols
==Trivia==
* Infra- is a Latin prefix meaning "below, underneath." While not explicitly described as such, this combined with Jodie referring to it as "another world" suggests that the Infraworld is another dimension.Infra Definition and Meaning - Merriam-Webster
* In the Heavy Rain chapter "The Mall," the video store inside of the mall has a poster with the word "INFRAWORLD" and the Quantic Dream logo displayed at the bottom. The background of the poster is similar to the background of Beyond: Two Souls' logo, which indicates that Beyond was in production when Heavy Rain was released.
* Infraworld was initially the name of a game announced as in development following the release of Omikron: The Nomad Soul in 2006, but it was canned only a few months later as "the concept did not appeal to its publishers." The name became the working title for Beyond: Two Souls. This can be seen in the game files, as they contain the abbreviation "IW" for Infraworld.
* Though the game itself never clarifies this, the Infraworld appears to be comprised of two planes of existence. The terms "Infraworld" and "Beyond" are used interchangeably to refer to the ethereal realm seen in the "Beyond" ending, but the black void seen in the "Death" ending is only referred to as the Infraworld. The lost souls in the Black Sun chamber all appear to have died with some form of regret and retain their human appearances, while those that appear in the Beyond look content and appear as particles of light when they move on from the Infraworld into the Beyond. Jodie also describes the Beyond as "a whole universe of forests and lakes, mountains and rivers," which heavily differs from the empty void the human world becomes when it is consumed by the Infraworld in the "Death" ending. This would suggest that there are indeed two planes.
==Gallery==
===Infraworld===
File:Infra1.png
File:Infra2.png
===Beyond===
File:Beyond1.png
File:Beyond2.png
File:Beyond3.png
===Other===
File:Infraworld-concept.png|Concept art of the Infraworld
File:Benoit_beyond1.jpg|Concept art of the Beyond by Benoit Godde
File:Benoit_souls1.png|Concept art of souls by Benoit Godde
File:Benoit_souls2.png|Concept art of souls by Benoit Godde
File:Infraworld-plotki 4b8g.jpg|Infraworld poster, as seen in the Heavy Rain chapter "The Mall"
==References==
ru:Инфрамир
Category:Locations
Category:Entities