Otherverse

The Otherverse (or Pactverse) is the fictional universe in which Pact, Pale, and some other shorter works by Wildbow are set. As per the usual conventions of the urban fantasy genre, the Otherverse is mostly identical to the real world with supernatural elements added.

Supernatural elements

The Otherverse contains a number of supernatural elements, all of which are intertwined. In the Otherverse, supernatural elements tend to form out of the patterns and experiences of human beings.

The most notable supernatural element is the existence of Others, a blanket term for various types of supernatural creatures of various levels of intelligence. Many types of Other are based on supernatural creatures from real-life folklore, but some are entirely original (or, like Angels, differ significantly from their folklore equivalents). Most important of these are the Spirits, the fundamental animistic entities that inhabit and embody all things.

Under the influence of Spirit and Other, reality can become altered, resulting in supernatural locations (Realms and knotted places). Objects can also be affected, resulting in magic items.

The boundary between mundane and supernatural is enforced by the Seal of Solomon, an ancient contract that ensured that Innocents are protected from Others and supernatural forces. Humans who have perceived this boundary are called the Aware, and those who perform the ritual of Awakening and are able to interact with Others directly are called Practitioners. These individuals form the magical society within the Otherverse.

Mundane differences

The Otherverse does differ slightly from the real world in a few mundane ways.

In addition to various fictional towns, the Otherverse contains a few locations that exist in the real world, but are significantly different. For example, the towns of Swanson and Tripoli are real places in Ontario, but in reality they are not much more than rural train stations with a few nearby resorts and amenities.<ref>"Swanson, Ontario" on Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia</ref><ref>"Map of Tripoli, Ontario" on Canada Geographical Names, Maps</ref> Some businesses are also renamed or substituted, such as "Wooble" (Google)<ref>“My dad just gave me this book from the 90s and told me to ask if I had any questions,” Verona said.  “I didn’t ask, I just wooble-searched stuff.” - excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.8</ref> and "Killaloe Dough" (Beaver Tails),<ref>Killaloe Dough made flat, fried pastries, and could be topped with sugar and cinnamon, or savory stuff. - excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.6</ref> though other companies appear unsubstituted such as Canadian Tire<ref>“I have a flashlight.”
“I would be much obliged if you’d give it to me.”
“Give, not lend?”
“That, or we stop by a Canadian Tire on the way.” - excerpt from Conviction 5.5</ref> and the Hudson's Bay Company.<ref>The coin, tin, was old, stamped with HBC 100.  They’d covered some of this in their homework, a week ago.  Hudson’s Bay Compay.  Fur trading. - excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.9</ref>

The climate in the Otherverse is notably warmer than in reality. In the Otherverse, the presence of a baby opossum (Snowdrop) near Kennet is unremarkable. In reality, northern Ontario is too cold for opossums to survive in the winter, and their natural range ends much further south. Similarly, the temperature in Kennet exceeded 40° in 2019<ref>It was too hot, and it was only May.  If this was like last year and the temperature zig-zagged its way to forty-plus degrees Celsius by mid-summer, she was going to die.  No, worse than die.  She’d overheat, her brain would stop working, and she’d say or do something practice-wise that doomed her. - excerpt from Stolen Away 2.7</ref> and 35° in 2020 (which was considered a "pretty warm day by Kennet standards");<ref>It was a pretty warm day by Kennet standards.  She hadn’t been putting her hair into a ponytail lately, but she’d done it today, just to have more of the skin on her neck exposed.  She’d stopped by home to change because the idea of wearing a t-shirt and jeans was death when it was thirty-five degrees Celsius out. - excerpt from Shaking Hands 9.6</ref> by comparison, 40°C is the highest recorded temperature ever recorded in nearby Thunder Bay, with average summer temperatures being only around 17°C.<ref>"Thunder Bay, Ontario" in Weatherbase.com</ref>

The 2019-2021 COVID pandemic does not appear to have occurred in the Otherverse.

Works set in the Otherverse

Wildbow's writings that are set in the Otherverse are as follows.

Web serials

• Pact
• Pale

Short stories

• Poke

Unreleased stories

• Plex<ref name=":0">- Discord message</ref>
• Pyre<ref name=":0" />

Tabletop RPGs

• PactDice
  • Mile End

References

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