I recently made a slight change in how I am designating the different
worlds in this story, as well as revising and adding to the pseudo-
science that supports this story in the Appendix included at the end
of chapter one. Here is that revised Appendix, and a brief list at the
end of it that shows the new coordinates of the different versions of
Earth that have been visited as of the end of chapter seven.
Chapter eight is already written, and I should be able to post it in a
few days after I hear back from my pre-readers.
Quantum Destinies
A Ranma � Fanfic
By Steven Thesken (jurai-knight@home.com)
Appendix:
Underlying this story is the assumption that parallel universes are real,
something that both quantum wave theory and the theory of relativity
predict the possibility of. Endless possibilities for alternate Earths
exist,
all contained within a structure known as Superspace. It is composed of
every universe, coexisting side by side. Each of these individual realities
will be referred to as a paraverse (contracted form for parallel universe)
or a tangent. Each tangent is a timeline, an alternate version of history.
Each separate tangent is like a thread, and the entire network of threads
make up superspace. Timelines branch apart from each other at various
points in their history, but threads also remain braided together in rough
groupings of similar tangents, forming clusters across superspace. It's
generally accepted that only truly significant events result in the creation
of new timelines, and truly massive events or catastrophes (such as the
Second Impact from Evangelion) serve as massive bifurcations of the
threads and can produce entirely new clusters. There is also a theory
(the one I am following in this story) that every action produces multiple
tangents, but that almost all of those tangents merge back together into
a single thread. Only a few of these tangents created cross over the
minimum temporal energy threshold that will allow them to sustain
themselves as separate from another tangent, but it is left to the reader
to imagine how significant an event would have to be to do this. Time
travel is an example of one of the ways that this might be done, but the
change done in the past would still have to be large enough to split off a
new tangent that would not simply fade back into one of the others.
Tangents are "grouped" together into clusters, all the of the paraverses
within a cluster sharing many basic characteristics with each other, and
they are all wound and braided around each other much like threads
forming a rope. Each individual cluster may hold anywhere from dozens
to thousands of tangents, maybe even more. Generally, the tangents
within a cluster bifurcated from each other relatively recently (anywhere
from a few moments to thousands of years ago), as they share many
historical similarities, but it is also possible for a tangent within a given
cluster to have originated within a completely different cluster and
"migrated" to its new location. For the purposes of this story, it can be
assumed that different tangents tend to be attracted to others of similar
attributes. An example of this is what could be called the "Nuclear
Armageddon cluster," which contains tangents where terrible wars were
fought between the Empire of Japan and the United States, or even
between high-tech versions of the Aztecs and the Babylonians, to name
a couple of random examples.
As another example of this, consider a tangent where the biology of the
Earth favored a sentient species of cats to arise to dominance over the
Earth instead of humanity. Events and even individuals could have
paralleled happenings in the timeline thread that is represented by the
manga or anime story of 'Ranma �', complete with the entire cast being
represented by catlike sentients who even bear the same names and
general attitudes as their human counterparts. Such a timeline could be
pulled into the "Ranma � cluster" of tangents, and the reader can then
imagine how events would be similar and different to that other timeline
thread. The dreaded "Cat Fist Technique" could be a tapping into the
primal drives and abilities of the race in that timeline, and might not
require as mind-warping a training method. Other possible, similar (yet
different) events are left up to the imagination of the reader.
Moving away from the cluster of his home tangent, the tangents will
grow more and more unusual, and I will classify them into four rough
"divisions" of timeline clusters: Historical, Biological, Cosmological,
and Fantastic. Looking at these divisions in cross-section, the picture
would be roughly a series of concentric rings, radiating out from the
center much like a bullseye. However, as was previously mentioned
above, the divisions are not rigidly fixed, and tangents originally from
the Biological division could become part of a cluster in the Historical
division (such as the tangent with the catlike versions of Ranma �
characters mentioned above). These divisions are also relative to each
other, as an inhabitant of different tangents will define the tangents that
surround them differently. For example, the "Slayers" tangent would be
in the Fantastic division as seen from our own Earth, but we would be in
the Fantastic division to theirs, since they would see us as a timeline
with greatly different physical laws from their own.
The Baseline cluster is the one that immediately surrounds the tangent
of Imperial Earth, the Baseline tangent. It is the reference point from
which all other tangents in this story will be looked at.
The Historical division generally indicates the millions of tangents where
the presence of humanity is the defining characteristic. The differences
in worlds will be determined by the numerous potential divergent events
and changes in human history. Different cultures may reign supreme,
unusual governments may rule, and the course of technology may be
radically different, but humans are still humans. Most of the trips taken
in this story will be to tangents in the Historical division.
The Biological division of clusters has seen evolution playing games. In
some, humanity exists, but is subtly changed. In others, humanity shares
the Earth with other sentient lifeforms. And in still others, the species
called man never arose (or perhaps not even mammals), and nature filled
the void with sentient apes, cats, or dinosaurs.
The Cosmological division represents timeline threads where the solar
system itself developed differently. For example, billions of years ago,
Earth itself never formed in some timelines. In others, Earth formed a
little closer or a little farther from the sun, and the whole biosphere may
be radically different, if life even took hold at all.
Lastly, the Fantastic division represents tangents where the very laws of
nature have taken on sometimes bizarre variations. For example, on
some of these tangents, humans exist bit possess strange abilities such as
magic or superpowers, while in others, the Elves still rule a pristine and
verdant Earth that is vibrant with magic. However, also possible are
worlds where various forms of undead rule supreme over a blasted and
dead Earth as the least powerful of the nightmarish servants of the elder
gods of madness and darkest evil.
There might also be divisions that lie outside the Fantastic, but the
incredible superspace distances make it difficult to determine what they
might be.
To make it easier on the readers to catalogue the different parallel
dimensions, I will be using a simple x,y grid to establish a coordinate
system for each tangent, using the home tangent of Imperial Earth as the
Baseline tangent and designated 0.000,0.000 for its coordinates. The
further a coordinate is from the Baseline, the more radically different it
will be from Imperial Earth. For the purposes of this story, the divisions
previously given (Historical, Biological, etc) will each be roughly ten
full spaces apart (for example, 0.000 to 10.000 along the x-axis is the
radius for the Historical division). With a grid of ten thousand tangents
by ten thousand tangents, that gives just the Historical division alone
over three hundred and fourteen million paraverses, more than sufficient
for my needs as an author.
Some sample worlds and their coordinates relative to Imperial Earth:
Earth 0.000,0.000 - The world of Scholar Ranma (Baseline cluster)
Earth +0.009,+0.027 - The world of Slave Shampoo (Baseline cluster)
Earth +0.016,+0.014 - The world of Scholar Ranko (Baseline cluster)
Earth +1.612,+1.509 - The world of Shampoo � (Ranma � cluster)
Earth +1.614,+1.496 - The world of Nabiki � (Ranma � cluster)
Earth +1.614,+1.502 - The world of Ranma � (Ranma � cluster)