User:Keileon/Zero-Space

Zero-Space, also called Z-Space, is [...]

Geography?

White, featureless nothing that acts kind of like the Nether in Minecraft (where going one block in the Nether = 8 blocks in the overworld) So essentially, condensed space? Or at least what we perceive as space in the physical world Yes Actually, Z-Space might be the dimensional equivalent of pinching two ends of a foot-long piece of cloth together. Like, travelling down an entire foot of cloth would take much longer than piercing through a couple millimeters of it to achieve the same result.

Function?

A way to travel long, interstellar distances without it taking a lifetime

• Sort of like an antimatter dimension (matter can travel through it, though)
  • Q: How is there antimatter if it’s a “featureless nothing”?
    • I might just not completely understand how antimatter works tbh. There probably is actually stuff *in* Z-Space, but Z-Space itself is likely featureless.
    • Perhaps Z-Space itself is a nothingness, but the creatures that can actually survive in it without air happen to be made from antimatter.
• Accessed and left by “piercing” a hole in the fabric of space via specialized ships
  • How do these “specialized ships” puncture a hole in the fabric of space? Does this pertain to “the Fabric of Reality” as Shadow describes it?
    • I’m not sure yet. In Animorphs, the source material, they used special engines that were somehow able to cross dimensional boundaries or some shit like that, but I’m not sure I want to use that method.
    • Most likely has nothing directly to do with the Fabric, and can be equated to breaching to an adjacent dimensional plane by means of “piercing” the current physical dimension.
• Entry and exit points aren’t exact- you can get to the general vicinity of a planet, but you’re as likely to end up in the planet’s atmosphere as you are to end up two planets away from it
• Gets more unstable if you try to “pierce” Z-Space in the same general “direction” as you did before too soon (so return trips need to be handled carefully)
  • What causes this instability? Is it because reality has not fully mended itself with Excess just yet?
    • Basically. Think of it like repeatedly shoving a pencil through fabric. It’s fine the first few times, but you’ll wear a hole in it eventually.

Inhabitants

Teratocytes

Appear to be made of “dark light” to creatures from our plane; that is to say, they glow brightly and cast light, but the beings themselves seem to be made from dark-colored light

To us, they appear to be impossibly-built with shapes and anatomy that we can’t begin to comprehend. The best we can determine is that they seem to be made with at least a core *body* and multiple appendages, and can move fluidly through Z-Space.

When passing in the immediate vicinity of any non-living matter-based object, the object seems to warp and twist around them, sometimes appearing to merge with itself in impossible ways (such as the interior of a ship’s bridge suddenly being warped so that it covers the external engines, inside-out). This results in any ship they run across usually being rendered useless and the people inside dying from lack of air in Z-Space.

A similar effect happens with living matter on prolonged contact, different parts of internal anatomy often suddenly being outside the body. This is most apparent after death resulting from an attack.

The creatures are actively hostile and appear to actually hunt down intruders to Z-Space.

Their sapience is unknown but they are capable of planning and reasoning.

Energy-based weapons seem to be the most effective tool when fighting them. Attempting to fight them physically seems to be akin to touching solid light- the creatures will pass through one’s body as if a laser was being used, and while this immediately cauterizes the wound it can still cause heavy damage.

They tend to gather around areas where Z-Space has become unstable, as if waiting for the trespassers to come through again. At the same time, their presence also appears to cause the instability to mend itself more quickly

• Base-Class Teratocytes cluster around other Teratocytes, usually Hunter-Class and Defender-Class. They are the basic form of all Teratocytes, developing into other classes based upon necessity. As they develop, they retain “memories” of entities that Hunter-Class Teratocytes have eradicated to better defend Z-Space in the future. Nonsenient.
• Repair-Class Teratocytes travel in clusters and crowd around and repair rips in Z-Space, such as the ones created by ships entering and exiting. These develop from Base-Class Teratocytes and can develop into Alarm- and Defender-Class Teratocytes. Nonsenient.
• Alarm-Class Teratocytes emit an alarm or distress signal to other nearby Teratocytes when Z-Space is breached or they are attacked. This is done through the emission of chemicals into Z-Space that attract Defender-, Repair-, and Hunter-Class Teratocytes. Develop from Repair-Class Teratocytes. Sentient but nonsapient.
• Defender-Class Teratocytes remain in the Repair-Class clusters, traveling with them to nearby rips in order to defend the Repair-Class Teratocytes from intruders. Develop from Repair-Class Teratocytes. Sentient but nonsapient.
• Hunter-Class Teratocytes actively hunt down intruding ships and other foreign entities with the intent of destroying them. They are aggressive and highly receptive to Alarm-Class emissions. Develop from Defender-Class Teratocytes. Sapient and intelligent.
  • Cytotoxic Hunter-Class Teratocytes are a special variant of Hunter-Class Teratocytes that emit toxic chemicals that turn all nearby Teratocytes aggressive. They develop from badly damaged Hunter-Class Teratocytes responding to calls from Alarm-Class Teratocytes. Sapient, intelligent, and extremely aggressive.
• Leviathan-Class Teratocytes are enormous monsters that “clean up” the warped wreckage and remains of intruding foreign entities. They are the source of Base-Class Teratocytes, producing them as a side effect of a mitosis-like process. Leviathan-Class Teratocytes develop from the damaged remains of killed Teratocytes of other classes, essentially assimilating and then recycling the Teratocytes. Sentient but nonsapient, non-aggressive unless attacked.

Civilizations With Access To Zero-Space

The following planets are known to be able to access, traverse, and make use of Zero Space, with varying degrees of efficiency.

• Ceskion (Sarkiri, Litarians)
  • The Sarkiri like to hop in and out of Z-Space. Most Sarkiri ships aren’t going anywhere specific unless one of their own needs backup. Most of the time they’re just cruising, exploring, looking for new planets to investigate or non-Sarkiri ships to raid. Usually what they do is travel through Z-Space for a bit, quickly hop out to look around, and if they don’t see anything of interest they jump right back in. Like Daeova, the Sarkiri sometimes cross through an unstable section of Z-Space, but don’t go out of their way to risk themselves.
  • The Litarians may have been able to use Z-Space with a higher degree of accuracy, though I’m not entirely sure yet. They may have also had a way to deal with the monsters.
• Daeridune (Daeova)
  • Daeova likes being risky with Z-Space. Though they tend to explore as well, if they jump out of Z-Space too far from an interesting planet they often go right back in and try to get closer, disregarding the risks involved. Many Daeovan ships get lost this way, but the captains of these ships view it as a challenge to their technological ability to manage it without ill effects.
• Ferona

Questions

• Why does it get the name “Zero Space”?
  • It’s basically space that isn’t actually space. A human character (context: humans don’t learn about/discover it until late in the series) describes it as something like “a dimension that has nothing in it and doesn’t really exist”, but they can interact with it. The aliens in the universe also call it that for what I assume are similar reasons.
• How does a planet/civilization discover Z-Space?
• How do they *leave* it after discovering it?
• How advanced does their technology need to be and how does their technology even breach the fabric of space?
• How do exploring ships find their way back home? Is interdimensional GPS a thing?