Alternate/Nested Realities

There's been a lot of thoughts lately about alternate realities. Recently a new event of the Mandala effect has been discovered with the Shazaam conspiracy. I saw a theory on the internet that noticed the majority of the Mandala effect discoveries that have been found after the Large Hadron Collider started up about eight years ago and that this caused some sort of reality shift. I don't really hold to this theory or that there's much/any reality to the Mandala effect in real life, but it does make an interesting story.

In addition to that, just looking at the news some days lately brings up a dissonance from reality. Certainly, people on opposing sides are seeing and reporting events/facts in ways that are so opposed it is as though they are living in different realities.

Since I'll be talking about alternate and nested realities, I figure it'd be good for me to tell you what I mean. These are not necessarily official definitions. By alternate realities, I mean realities that are similar to our reality/based on our/the main character's reality but with differences that make it stand out. By nested realities, I mean realities that are completely different from ours/that of the main character, but are accessed through our world and/or are found as a connected subset to it. I do not simply mean a world that is different from our world, but rather a reality that is in contrast to another that exists within the realm of the story in question.

So, with this, I give you some examples of alternate realities or nested realities that I find interesting.

1. Timelines

One of the popular ways that alternate realities seems to be messing with time to have different results. This usually leads to an alternate history type reality based upon whatever happened differently to have a different timeline. There are two primary ways that I've seen this done.

a. Multiverse of Choices

The theory is that every choice that anyone makes spawns a new reality where they made a different choice. Of course, these new realities will have ripple effects from that choice and branches based on every choice everyone else makes after that. In an alternate reality based on this, characters will find that someone did something differently. The changes can range from being minor/localized to being globally different depending on what choice or choices were made differently in that world.

A popular alternate history choice here is "What if the Nazi's won WWII?," as can be seen in The Man in the High Castle.

Note that once again, alternate histories, while interesting, are not alternate realities unless they are shown in contrast to a reality where things happened differently.

b. Time Traveling Meddlers

Time travel is a dangerous business. Anything you do has a risk of changing something, and any change and ripple outwards. Any person who died before that lives could have children that go on to be movers and shakers in the world that never existed before. Likewise, if someone dies who lived before, then all their descendants suddenly no longer exist.

Time travelers will often return to their present to find that their actions had incredibly unexpected consequences, leading the world to be very different from the one they left, from one they can no longer go back to.

c. The Past Itself

It's been said that the past is a different country. Even though the past of someone's reality is technically the same reality, the vast differences allow it to function much like an alternate or nested reality.

2. Magical Realms

This would be places line Narnia, Oz, Wonderland, Fillory, etc. These places are incredibly different from our own world. Often times, they are fantastical, with great magic and creatures that don't exist in the world that the main characters came from.

This creates an interesting device for storytellers, as it allows them to establish connection to the main characters and the audience, especially if the main characters are from a world similar to our own, as the main characters and audience will be exploring and learning about the world together. The main characters have no advantage having a lot of information that they take for granted that the audience isn't aware of.

This tactic often uses a degree of symbolism, with different parts of the fantastical world representing ideals, lessons, or things that directly relate to the main character's lives in the real world.

3. Digital Realms

Like magical realms, but with a sci fi twist. The characters find themselves transported into some other place-finding that it is all a simulation inside a computer somewhere. The only limitations are the imagination of whoever programed it. And just because it isn't "real" doesn't mean you can't get hurt or killed.

4. Imagination

The "alternate" world isn't real. It's all inside the imagination of the characters. This is particularly common for stories with children, like Rugrats. However, it could also come up with a story about a group of roleplaying gamers, or other ways. Just because it's imaginary, doesn't mean it's not important to the main characters and to the development of their story arcs overall.

What's your take on alternate realities? Do you like them in stories? Do you think they're overplayed? Can you think of other ways in which alternate or nested realities could be used in stories?

I do have to mention an idea I was discussing with my roleplaying group recently. I call it the reality nesting doll. You start with characters in a world not unlike our own. Then they get sent back in time. While back in time, they find a portal to another world. They get sent forward in time within that world (still probably not the same time they started out in, but still a different world anyway). They come across a computer that sucks them into a simulation where they meet with people who insist on playing a roleplaying game. (These could be done in any order, I just like the effect of continually going deeper into the layers of nested realities, especially if it's done in such a way that you can't just skip back to where you started, but have to go back through all the layers. It's an amusing idea, but I imagine audiences could tire of it pretty quick.)

Sidenote

I am now over 100 sales between my two cypher system adventures. I know that this isn't a lot for how long they've been out, but it still feels like a good milestone and I'm happy about it.