Other Worlds

**Spoiler warning!**
Ahead are significant plot details from the InCryptid novel, Spelunking Through Hell (2022). Read at your own peril!

There are other worlds that exist beyond Earth, dimensions that run parallel to our own and can be accessed with the proper tools or abilities. Alice Price-Healy, Sarah Zellaby, and several others have experienced the multiverse firsthand.

## How It Works

### Pneuma

(**new**-muh). Also called anima mundi (uh-**nee***-*muh **moon**-dee), world soul, crossroads

Every world has a pneuma of its own, a living spirit that allows it to sustain smaller life than itself. That spirit can be benign, such as the anima mundi, or malignant, such as the crossroads. A malignant pneuma will slowly kill the biome within it until it either destroys itself or becomes a *bottle world.*

The *anima mundi*, so named by Antimony Price, is the pneuma or spirit surrounding Earth’s dimension. It was overtaken by the malignant pneuma known as the crossroads, and remained dormant until Antimony was able to destroy the crossroads and allow the anima mundi to return.

### Membrane

If the pneuma is the eggshell around a dimension, the membrane is the thin barrier protecting the yolk within it. The membrane is imbued with significant energy and power, which the pneuma uses to keep its contents healthy and thriving.

Dimensional travelers can magically permeate the membrane. Internal transdimensional charms are powered by the wearer’s own magic or a charm that is powered by the user’s own glucose supply.

When a traveler passes through a membrane, some of its energy clings to the traveler like a film. The more worlds the traveler passes through, the more power they carry with them. That power can be harvested for external uses.

When snake cults manage to summon a being from another world, they are able to harvest the pneuma energy clinging to the snake-being. Presumably the ability of snakes to shed their skin makes this easier.

### Bottle World

A bottle world is the result of a pneuma sucking the energy and life out of a dimension. It becomes a one-way-in, no-way-out destination. Few travelers have ever had the determination and magical ability to punch themselves out of a bottle world.

The crossroads infected and then abandoned the bottle world of Lemure. It then used Lemure as a dumping ground for any bargainers it wanted to dispose of.

### Modes of Travel

Most travelers use some form of dimensional keys to travel between worlds. According to Alice, the keys are often best tied to relative locations, such as “a beach somewhere,” or broad ideas, such as “home.” She avoids calibrating her keys to something as specific as an unique location.

Every dimension contains hundreds of worlds, and approaching them from the wrong angle may mean missing them entirely.

* Alice’s keys are embedded into her tattoos. These keys cause vivid flashbacks every time she pushes through a membrane. External keys do not seem to have the same side effect.
* Naga provides her external keys through beads on a necklace.
* Ithacans use runes etched onto rings of stones.
* Johrlac use math to calculate portals with a fine precision.
* Thomas Price can create portals using sorcery, for as many as a hundred people to pass through, but it exhausts his magical resources to do so.

## Known Worlds

### Earth

Once a member of interdimensional trade, Earth was cut off after the crossroads infected it. Most of Earth’s residents don’t know that the multiverse exists, although pockets of snake cults still exist and attempt summon “gods” through the barrier.

Neighbor to Empusa and Helos.

### "Hell" Dimension (name unknown)

An underworld-like dimension adjacent to Earth, inhabited by boundary imps. Trains sometimes enter it when the large mass of iron makes a hole in the membrane and sends it through. Jonathan and Frances unintentionally enter it on their way to Michigan.

### Pteracercus (aka Bug World)

Sarah accidentally transports an entire college campus to an unnamed bug world when the Johrlac pressure her to complete her final instar. It also contains giant jumping spiders such as Greg. The local sentient population is feline in nature, and has cross-bred with Lilu. They ride giant mantises as their flying mounts. Thomas, Alice, and Sally visit this world during their journey to rehome the refugees from the dead bottle world.

### Cornale

(Kor-**nail**) A dying world that is home to flying, cannibalistic, many-toothed residents. Includes wide open scrubland in addition to Victorian-style city architecture. Their clothing resembles Meiji-era Japan with long, loose, kimono-like garments.

Alice has been to Cornale twice before: once with Naga, and once by herself on accident. The third time she visits, she is detained by guards and taken to a courthouse-like building that appears to house the local government. The architecture also accounts for the residents’ ability to fly, with lots of open windows and airy spaces.

Neighbor to the bottle world Lemure. The residents resent Lemure and its circumstances: before the Crossroads invaded the bottle world, Cornale has a thriving trade with surrounding worlds. Now, it has been cut off from inter-dimensional relations due to the blight that trickles over from its dying neighbor.

### Empusa

(Em-**poo**-suh). One of Earth’s direct neighbors, and home to Naga. It was originally dominated by the Empusians, but the lamia colonized it and turned the Empusians into servants after the lamia’s home world of Lemure was destroyed by the crossroads.

Neighbor to Earth, Helos, and Ithaca.

### Helos

(**Hee**-lohs, **Hee**-loh) Home to violent lizard men who like to ambush inter-dimensional visitors and steal their stuff. Alice visits Helos to collect a bounty, but is ambushed and must flee to recover. When she next returns, she finds their stash of stolen traveler goods. The stash includes books and maps of Aikanis, an inter-dimensional cartographer.

Neighbor to Earth and Empusa.

### Hríðarbylur

A frozen world that is aware of inter-dimensional travelers. Alice arrives in a heated shelter house with a note of hospitality, though she does not encounter any of the locals.

Neighbor to Mul and unnamed world(s). "Hríðarbylur" is Icelandic for "blizzard".

### Ithaca

(**I**-thuh-kuh). One of Earth’s close neighbors, and home to the satyrs Helen and Phoebe. Ithaca strongly resembles ancient Greek culture and architecture. In Ithacan culture, food is love and some of its residents have significant healing abilities.

Ithacan historical figures include the original Odysseus and Persephone, and the cartographer Aikanis. Ithaca’s deities include TBA.

Neighbor to Empusa and Mul.

### Johrlar

Home to the Johrlac. Those Johrlac who were too individualistic for the hive mind society were exiled to another dimension en masse, eventually reaching Earth.

### Lemure

(Leh-**myur**). A bottle world once invaded and abandoned by the crossroads, then used as a dumping ground for people the crossroads made deals with, including Thomas Price and Sally Henderson.

Lemure was originally home to the lamia, Naga’s people. The leader on Cornale implies that the lamia meddled with things they should not have, perhaps attracting the crossroads, which infected the world. Many lamia died, and the survivors fled to colonize Empusa.

Neighbor to Cornale, but only if approached from a specific angle.

Possibly named for Lemuria

### Mul

A world with a monsoon season, a roiling sea, and boardwalks. The locals are aware of inter-dimensional travelers but not particularly hospitable; it is advised to leave them alone as much as possible. Connection between Ithaca and Hríðarbylur.

## References

* Imaginary Numbers
* Calculated Risks
* Spelunking Through Hell

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Spelunking Through Hell audiobook
2. ↑ Backpacking Through Bedlam
3. ↑ Calculated Risks
4. ↑ Backpacking Through Bedlam Ch. 4