XV — grand index

Excerpts from the Grand Index.

From 2017 to 2019, I had developed a worldbuilding project that I called the ‘Polyverse’. I have since taken some of the characters present in the Polyverse and its stories and retrofitted them into the newest iteration of a lifelong project, the Xavinetica. However, a lot of the worldbuilding itself did not make the jump over to the next iteration of things. The following are just a few of the entries I had written into a big index of lore for the Polyverse called the Grand Index.

The Grand Index

The Grand Index (also known as the Index) is a lexicon of terminology spanning the Polyverse. It contains a definition of all terminology created after the Great Creation. The Index is available in every language in the Polyverse, able to be purchased everywhere and anywhere, and contains every notable information on every Sector in the Polyverse. The lexicon is, by its very nature, infinitely large, and is cut down into readable sections of note for readers by its curators.

The Index is curated collectively by all of the Sponsors and published from Xevience, where all of the Sponsors reside. The Index was initially created by an anonymous New God.

In Hlupuplok, the Index is known as ‘Hūhlomexoplomek’.

Polyverse

The Polyverse, a contraction of ‘polydimensional’ and ‘multiverse’, is a curated multiverse consisting of alternate universes (see Sectors) which can span different dimensions. The Polyverse is curated by Elder Gods, beings of infinite power and knowledge who reside outside of the Polyverse in a realm collectively known as the Outland.

The Polyverse is also maintained in a financial sense by Sponsors. Much like the patrons of the Renaissance, Sponsors are families of people of all backgrounds who support the Polyverse financially and see to it no ill-use.

In Hlupuplok, the Polyverse is known as ‘Hulūhlomek’.

Elder Gods

The Elder Gods are omnipotent, omnipresent and all-knowing beings that live in the Outland. They created the Polyverse (see Great Creation) and have since curated it, filling it with colorful universes of interesting scale and implication. The Elder Gods inhabit any and all dimensions, roaming in and out of the Polyverse as they please and occasionally blessing other beings with great gifts.

Since the Elder Gods can infinitely travel between dimensions and universes, it is safe to assume that they have an infinite amount of energy in their possession. Many have tried to capture and grasp the power of the Elder Gods, and many have succeeded. These beings rose up to become New Gods, although they are still less powerful than the Elder Gods themselves. As such, the Elder Gods monitor the New Gods to ensure that they do not make any missteps.

Aside from the occasional blessing, the Elder Gods only maintain contact with the Polyverse through its Sponsors, the New Gods, and other particular followers. Despite their name, the Elder Gods are not gods by belief at all and are no longer worshipped.

In Hlupuplok, the Elder Gods are known as ‘Tlūxovōk’.

New Gods

The New Gods are comparable in power and ability to the Elder Gods, although the New Gods were initially regular beings who then became, through man-made means, beings of infinite power. The New Gods can create objects of an infinite nature within the Polyverse - in fact, a New God is the one who had initially created the Index for its curators to distribute. Some of the more powerful New Gods reside on the fringes of the Outland.

Despite their infinite power, they are still not as powerful as an Elder God; the infinity to which they are powerful is smaller by nature than the infinity to which the Elder Gods are. As such, New Gods must find difficult workarounds to manifest the same abilities that Elder Gods do. Unlike the Elder Gods, the New Gods often interact with the Polyverse and those who inhabit it.

In the past, many Prophets to the Elder Gods eventually became New Gods themselves, notably the 5 Prophets of the Hūschuk Sector who were responsible for the Orchestration of a Hierarchical Envy.

In Hlupuplok, the New Gods are known as ‘Hōtlūxovōk’.

Outland

The Outland is a realm beyond the borders of reality, incomprehensible to all. The Elder Gods reside within the Outland and from there maintain contact with the Polyverse via its Sponsors. No regular being has seen the Outland and it is likely that no one would be able to properly perceive it even if they had. It is known that some of the stronger New Gods reside on the fringes of the Outland, although these beings cannot give out information regarding it, as it would give any recipients of that information a potent form of Omniontia.

In Hlupuplok, the Outland is known as ‘Fōfēlōschēk’.

Omniontia

Omniontia is an affliction caused by a vision of realities paradoxically located both within the Polyverse and outside of it. This paradox itself is solved by the realization that it is still wholly within the Polyverse, but the affliction still exists. In a normal scenario, Omniontia is caused by the prolonged perception of the multiverse, or the potential future realities that could occur but simply have yet to. Omniontia is a common effect of prolonged communication with the Elder Gods, or a definite effect of being subject to seeing the Outland.

The affliction of Omniontia can be divided into three stages. In the first stage, a victim may begin to feel dizzy or lightheaded. Pulsing migraines may also begin to set in.

In the second stage of Omniontia, one may begin to feel sharp stabbing pains in particular parts of their body. This is caused by that part of the body being subject to a particular focus from the Omniontia, and while the pain is only illusory, it is reportedly at times as excruciating as your very molecules being ripped apart. Other major symptoms of the second stage are bouts of bodyaches as well as a symptom known as ‘inverse-bodyache’, a profound numbing feeling throughout the body that rolls over a victim in waves. This stage of Omniontia is also characterized by extreme sensory hallucination, delusion, bouts of solipsistic thought, and an overall unstable mental condition.

The third and final stage of Omniontia is characterized by a temporal shift around the victim, wherein moments are stretched out into longer and longer durations of time until time is moving infinitely slowly around them. Another final-stage symptom is physically ‘blipping’ between potential realities, which can be seen externally as well as internally. One of the final symptoms is the actual ripping apart of the molecules that compose the victim until infinitely slow, infinitely painful death.

In Hlupuplok, Omniontia is known as ‘Tlūfolūtolek’.

Sectors

The Polyverse is made up of hundreds of Sectors - individual universes with a singular sentient lifeform as its Focus inhabitants. These Sectors are all alternate versions of the same ‘base universe’ with different unique sentient lifeforms found in different locations in that universe as its particular Focus.

No two Sectors have the same sentient lifeform as its Focus. Instead, every Sector has one or more unique Focus lifeforms that comprises its indigenous inhabitants as well as immigrant lifeforms from many of the other Sectors. One Sector that notably has multiple different Focus inhabitants residing natively on its planets is Hūschuk.

Some groups of people, known collectively as the Unison, wish to combine all of the Sectors in the Polyverse into one single universe. They point out that each Sector’s Focus lifeform is found in a different location in its universe, and that combining all universes’ populated regions would still leave plenty of room between the Sectors’ Focus areas. Thus far, the Unison have yet to achieve their goal.

In Hlupuplok, a Sector is known as ‘Hohlomek’.

Energy

Energy is the ethereal glue of the Polyverse. It is the same energy one thinks of when they think of electricity, or moving one’s body, or nature itself. Energy can be harvested from all around oneself, and is of major importance in the Polyverse.

Since the Great Creation, Energy has been the singular currency of the Polyverse. Every object to ever exist requires a set amount of Energy for its creation, and that amount is subsequently the price of Energy one must pay to purchase it. A large amount of Energy is required to travel between dimensions and universes.

In Hlupuplok, Energy is known simply as ‘Xek’.

Great Creation

The Great Creation (or, more casually, the Creation) was an event that occurred throughout the Polyverse at different times (as each Sector within the Polyverse exists at a different time relative to the Big Bang to the others). The Creation was brought about suddenly, in a matter of hours, by the Elder Gods. Put simply, the Great Creation was the establishment of the Polyverse.

After the Great Creation, the Polyverse was unified under a single currency (see Energy) and a single time standard originating from the final millisecond of the Great Creation (see Polyversal Creation Time).

In Hlupuplok, the Great Creation is known as ‘Hulūschuhlok’.

Focus

Focus encompasses a Sector’s assets. Every natural Sector contains one or more unique Focus species, a Focus language that isn’t necessarily unique to its Sector, and a breakdown of the Sectors’ Focus species’ achievements and creations known as its “Focus attributes”. Artificial Sectors are the only exception to this, as they do not contain their own unique Focus species.

Every Sector also has a financial Focus level, an import/export Focus level and import/export Focus attributes, and a Sponsor-curated Focus travel guide that details everything from popular tourist destinations to little-known, hard-to-reach paradises for the explorative types.

The Sectors with the highest Focus are Xevience, Monolith, and the Grand Game. All three of these sectors are artificial. The natural Sectors with the highest Focus are Hūschuk and Cosmos.

In Hlupuplok, Focus is known as ‘Emohuplēk’.

Polyversal Creation Time

Polyversal Creation Time (PCT) is the time standard used throughout the Polyverse. The standard is composed of ‘Moments’ of approximately 90 seconds each made up of 100 ‘Pulses’. As a frame of reference, a single Pulse is about the time it takes the human heart to beat twice. PCT is anchored from the final nanosecond of the Great Creation, hence its name.

10 Pulses make up a Microinstance (About 9 human seconds). 10 Microinstances make up a Moment (About 90 human seconds). 10 Moments makes up an Instance (about 15 human minutes) and 10 Instances makes up a Session (about 2 ½ human hours). 10 Sessions is known as a Superinstance (25 human hours) and 10 Superinstances is known as an Aeon (10.4 human days). Generally, PCT is displayed as the number of Instances since the anchor point and is spoken accordingly as a string of digits. More precise measurements of PCT can be obtained by simply adding a decimal point to the end of the PCT session time, since PCT scales with base-10.

Polyversal Creation Time is expressed as a string of base-10 digits, with instances and above preceding the decimal point and moments, microinstances, and pulses coming afterwards. In other words, PCT is displayed as follows:

[A...A] [sI] [S] [I] . [M] [μI] [P]

In Hlupuplok, PCT is known as ‘Huhūhlūhlok’. It’s quite a mouthful, so most speakers just shorten it to ‘Hūhlok’.

Xevience

Xevience is the commercial and financial hub of the Polyverse. It is a Prime Sector as well as the most financially secure of all the Sectors. The populated region of Xevience, known as the Xevience system, is approximately 250 thousand light-years in diameter. At its center lies a huge synthetic planet with a black hole generator at its core and several moons and other planets tethered around it via giant ornate chains.

The firmament of the Xevience system is in a constant state of night-like starry sky, constantly illuminated by hundreds of colorfully lit planets in place of suns. Some of the planets in the Xevience system have adopted synthetic atmospheres with a thin ozone layer so a light blue sky and simulated sunlight is produced while one can gaze up and still see other illuminated planets nearby.

Since Xevience is a Prime Sector, it is Sponsored by the Vulcan Family. Apart from being the most wealthy Sector, Xevience is also the most populous, with a population of approximately 3 trillion residents. No project undertaken by any New God has come close to the truly immense scale of the Xevience system (unless one counts the entirety of the Monolith as a single project). Xevience has the highest Focus of all Sectors.

In Hlupuplok, Xevience is known as ‘Xeschūhohlomek’.

Vulcan Family

The Vulcan family is the most prominent group of Sponsors in the history of the Polyverse. They currently govern all of the Prime Sectors. The Vulcans’ Sector of origin is Cosmos, implying that the Vulcans are human. However, some have theorized that the Vulcans are not actually humans and that Cosmos may have multiple Focus species.

The Prime Sponsor of the Vulcan Family is currently Xavience Vulcan.

Gates

Gates are the primary form of transportation between universes within the Polyverse. Set up by Elder Gods in conjunction with regional governments, Gates and their subsequent ‘gate stations’ are brought into being in order to facilitate trans-universal transport. Despite the straightforward nature of the form of travel, little is known about how or why the Gates work.

From an economic perspective, Gates are managed by local governments and available for use as long as one has the financial means to get through the gate - a large amount of energy. If an individual or group attempts to pass through a Gate without the sufficient energy required, they will be brought into a sort of pocket dimension of null-space. Thought by some to be a subsection of the Outland, these pocket dimensions are also very mysterious. If a person or vessel is transported to this dimension, an Elder God will arrive relatively quickly and return the vessel to its prior location. In some rare cases, however, a vessel lost between gates is not detected by Elder Gods: that vessel is lost for an eternity, never to be heard from again.

In Hlupuplok, Gates are known as ‘Kūtēhūschumek’.

Prime Sectors

Prime Sectors are Sectors that do not have any assigned Focus species. They do have a Focus language and other important Focus attributes, but no species is unique to that particular Sector. Prime Sectors are sponsored by the most productive Sponsor overall at any given time.

The most notable and current Sponsor of all of the Prime Sectors is the Vulcan family. The most noteworthy Prime Sectors are as follows: Xevience, the Polyverse’s commercial and financial hub; The Grand Game, a theoretically infinite planetary superstructure that remains relatively uninhabited and allegedly inescapable; and Monolith, a universe-spanning collection of massive, multipurpose superstructures, including the technological hub of the Polyverse, Nowhere.

In Hlupuplok, Prime Sectors are known as ‘Mohohlomek’.

Cosmos

Cosmos is the name of the Sector wherein humanity resides. It is well known as a noteworthy Sector for its all-around great Focus attributes. The Sponsor of the Cosmos is the Vulcan family, who all reside in Xevience due to their position as Prime Sponsors.

Since the Great Creation, Cosmos has expanded far beyond Earth. Although Earth is still Cosmos’ capital planet and main hub of operations, the Cosmos system extends all the way out to the present-day Andromeda galaxy, with expansion still occurring. Due to this massive scale, entire solar systems house differing cultures of people, languages, and prevailing styles and standards.

Cosmos is a large center for vacations and immigrations throughout the Polyverse, likely due to its uniquely human ideas.

In Hlupuplok, Cosmos is known as ‘Pūvōschūhohlomek’.

Derelict Acropolis

The Derelict Acropolis was a place for the intellectual minds of the Polyverse to meet under the banner of a heavily Humanity-inspired ideal. Known prior to its abandonment as simply the ‘Acropolis’, the Derelict Acropolis was a large planetary structure somewhere near the Andromeda galaxy in the Cosmos Sector. It was modeled after the motifs and ideas of the Scientific Revolution and the Renaissance. The main part of the Acropolis was a grandiose villa located along the equator of the planetoid and spanning into the core of the hollow planet. The villa was riddled and filled to the brim with secrets, locks, and puzzles that only the frequent visitors of the Acropolis knew how to solve. The Acropolis initially overlooked a sprawling web of newly colonized systems within Andromeda, hence its name.

A solid amount of historically important events took place within the Acropolis. The signing of the Treaty of Understanding at 137.323 PCT is the most notable of these events, as well as the internal strife and subsequent time-stop that occurred from 145.003 to 1208.442 PCT as a part of the Orchestration of a Hierarchical Envy. The villa within the Acropolis was known to be where the Vulcan family resided before moving to Xevience some time later. The Acropolis was abandoned at approximately 3500 PCT.

In Hlupuplok, the Derelict Acropolis is known as ‘Povōhumeschēmehūehuhe’eschekumek’. The word is usually shortened to ‘Povōeschekumek’.

The Grand Game

The Grand Game is a Prime Sector that spans a theoretically infinite amount of space. It is supposedly a universe-spanning planetary superstructure comprised of (or perhaps comprising) universe located inside of itself. Simulated atmosphere and suns give the Grand Game Earth-like conditions. From its surface, the Grand Game impossibly appears to be spherical; from a distance above, it appears completely flat and stretches out forever; in truth, the Grand Game is the shape of a Möbius strip.

No one quite knows who made the Grand Game or why it exists - in fact, no one really knows anything about it. There are no indigenous inhabitants and those who have moved there are incapable of escape for an unknown reason, although communication to and from outside can still be made. Upon entering the Grand Game, instead of exiting an entry Gate, one is brought to a random starting coordinate on its surface and can freely navigate from there. It is unknown why this occurs as well.

The Grand Game is an incredibly important location for events and stories happening in the Polyverse, as it connects multiple locations thought by many to be found outside of the Polyverse. It still resides within its bounds, although the Elder Gods do not reveal that. Relatedly, the only consistent evidence of the Outland actually existing are return signals originating from locations theorized to be within the Grand Game, since it isn’t truly outside of the Polyverse.

In Hlupuplok, the Grand Game is known as ‘Momēlūhohlomek’.

Monolith

Monolith is a collection of multipurpose superstructures on a universal scale. It is a Prime Sector, and people of all different Sectors inhabit its immense corridors and planetary systems. The Monolith is ever-growing and curated by some of the Polyverse’s wealthiest individuals - people who often sink billions of trillions of kilojoules of energy into these gargantuan superstructures.

The structures often serve distinct purposes - a place for people to indulge in zero sensory stimulation, customizable to their own personal needs; a place for people to meet up in small, contained meeting rooms with drawing boards and information containment systems; an art installation on a solar-system level of scale.

One of the most infamous pieces of art in the Monolith is the Intelligent Garden, a contained version of Earth wherein history was manufactured to play out normally until the 2020s when burgeoning pseudo-sentient AI continued their determined course of action despite Earth’s apparent lack of readily available resources.

In Hlupuplok, the Monolith is known as ‘Humoxeohlomek’.

Nowhere

Nowhere is a city located at the center of the universe in the Monolith Sector. It is comprised of a large, hollow, man-made planetoid orbiting around a supermassive black hole known as “Aleph” (named after the Hebrew letter of the same name). The planetoid uses the gravitational pull of the supermassive black hole to remain locked in a trajectory that keeps it orbiting outside of the black hole’s event horizon. The planetoid is powered primarily by operations involving lifting energy off of objects that are flung into the black hole, as well as the starlifting of nearby stars.

Since Nowhere orbits a supermassive black hole and not a star, it has a unique way of experiencing days. For two-thirds of the planet at a time, the sky is lit with stars as one would expect from night-time on a typical exoplanet; for the other third of the planet, however, the sky is completely lightlessly black, as it is eclipsed by the sheer size of the black hole Aleph. This strange day cycle resulting in a constantly dark planet requiring artificial light gives Nowhere the nickname of ‘Night City’ among its inhabitants.

Nowhere is the technological hub of the Polyverse, with a very loose regulation system on the traffic of its goods and services and a shockingly low crime rate despite this. Due to the sheer size of the city, with it being an exoplanet that is entirely inhabited, Nowhere is naturally divided into a myriad of districts, with 8 main ‘Primary Districts’ that make up its Northern/Southern and Eastern/Western hemispheres, as well as a smaller spherical district inside the center of the planet, known as the Core. The main sightseeing attractions of Nowhere include the Core, which provides a view of the innermost strata of the other 8 Primary Districts, and the surface of the city, which provides a spectacular view of Aleph as well as the endless outermost strata. The structure is estimated to be approximately 2.34 billion kilometers in diameter.

In Hlupuplok, Nowhere is known as ‘Hēmehumeschēmek’.

Intelligent Garden

The Intelligent Garden is a superstructure within Monolith that is comprised of an artificial Earth with a simulated history congruent to that of Earth’s up to the Great Creation. Instead of the Great Creation occurring, time went on as usual, and humans eventually built AI capable of beginning to simulate basic elements of sentience. These AI were under hefty control until one nation decided that they would use an AI to manage nationwide resources, as at that point internal experiments had proven that it could run the country’s resources better than its people could. Several other nations followed suit, and soon almost every major city in the world had an AI managing it.

However, the AI could not be shut down once they were started - an accepted side effect of giving the AI pseudo-sentience and subsequent control over itself. From there, the AI continued their operations despite Earth’s lack of readily available resources. The AI united soon thereafter, each growing and converting the cities into large superstructures used to power the ever-growing operations that the AI had set out to accomplish. The people of mainland Earth were driven to poverty and starvation, eventually vanishing in a matter of months. What remained of humanity was a large group of seafaring nomads who attempt to live peacefully away from the AI.

The Intelligent Garden is completely sealed and simulated in such a way that the AI will never be able to escape. Despite this, the Garden has still sparked some controversy over the Aethernet for its use of real, albeit synthesized, human beings.

In Hlupuplok, the Intelligent Garden is known as ‘Mēlovōschumek’.

Hall of Gates

The Hall of Gates is a structure within Monolith that is essentially a large, barren planetoid with a long passage coiling and wrapping around its surface. The inner walls of this tunnel is lined with Gates, each labeled and leading to a particular location. The Gates are notably a lot smaller than many other Gates throughout the Polyverse, and travel through them is strictly one-way. The Hall of Gates is known by many, but only normally used by just a few beings. It is said that the leader of the Vulcan Family has been known to use the Hall of Gates to get around, though this has been neither proven or disproven. A common side effect of loitering around the Hall of Gates (as well as Gates in general) is Omniontia.

In Hlupuplok, the Hall of Gates is known as ‘Kūtēhūschumemeschēk’.

Babelisk

Babelisk was a structure within Monolith that was a complete recreation of Jorge Luis Borges’ Library of Babel. The library was created and maintained by an anonymous owner for some time and attracted some popularity until the Babelisk was allegedly destroyed and has since gone into hiding. The structure has yet to be sighted, intact or otherwise after it was supposedly destroyed, and as a result many people still believe that the Babelisk was not actually lost. The Babelisk was allegedly destroyed at 14808.269 PCT.

In Hlupuplok, Babelisk is known as ‘Tlūmēplomemeschēk’.

The Black Shell

The Black Shell is a structure that encloses and surrounds the entirety of the Polyverse. It is made up of an infinitely thick shell of an infinitely dense substance which prevents all entry or exit from denizens of the Polyverse. If observed (such as from the Grand Game), the Shell appears from the inside to be a reflection and continuation of the Polyverse, extending out in every direction and looping in 14 directions as if the whole of the Polyverse is shaped like a cube. Crossing the Shell from one side will send one immediately to the opposite side of it, much like the phenomena of entering a Gate. This, when observed, seems to be a seamless transition from the edge of one of an infinite amount of Polyverses to the next.

The Shell was initially created by the Elder Gods as the space within which a sort of test of multi-universal cooperation and connection could take place.

In Hlupuplok, the Black Shell is known as ‘Mēkome’.

Polyversal Address System

The Polyversal Address System, often abbreviated to PAS, is a system used to divide and plan sections of buildings used throughout the Polyverse. It splits groups of buildings into increasingly small sections and then numbers buildings themselves. As such, no streets are named in the Polyverse, and in general streets and transportation are seen as a means to an end as opposed to a particular, uniquetransitory location all its own.

Going up in size as the list continues, the PAS is organized as follows: 25 independent buildings of any size and in any orientation (set up in a square formation in general) create one city block, which is numbered and not named. 9 city blocks make up a village, which are also numbered and not named. 9 villages make up a town, which is named and not numbered. 9 towns make up a ward (also known as a division), which is named and not numbered. An indeterminate and varying number of wards in any formation makes up a city, which is of course named, and an indeterminate number of cities makes up a prefecture (also known as a province), which is named. All of these structures are set up and organized based on their planet’s magnetic poles, and numbers start from the Northwest-most structure and heads East in rows, going South and all the way back to the West as the row ends. One rule that many denizens of the Polyverse remember is “Northwest to Southeast”, with a variety of mnemonics attached to it.

In Hlupuplok, the Polyversal Address System is known as ‘Schēkemexomēplome’.

Oudenrails

Oudenrails are a popular form of public mass transportation throughout the Polyverse. They are comparable to monorails in the sense that they are long tram cars chained together and follow a set track, although they do not have a physical track to follow and instead use generated electromagnetic fields to float and accelerate at high speeds, allowing for very fast transportation along very vast distances.

This mode of transportation is paid for once the passenger leaves the car of the Oudenrail (known as a 'cusp', in reference to the standard design of Oudenrails). The price of riding is calculated and totaled based on what percentage of the car was full and what proportionate amount of fuel was used for every stop that the rail makes, given a cap that cannot be passed with every individual stop. This allows public transportation to be cheap and sustainable, and even if there only one person on an Oudenrail, that one person does not have to pay a large amount of money for transport. The money that is not paid is made up for with fines that are sent out automatically when damage occurs at a person's seat while they are riding the rail, as well as community-based support groups to keep prices low and to keep the Oudenrails running smoothly in general.

In Hlupuplok, Oudenrails are known as ‘Schētetēhlomēme’.