Iterations

An Iteration is a galaxy, or universe in some cases, with an inhabited planet. When a new Iteration forms that may be able to support life, the Abidan select a new population of human pioneers and send them to inhabit a suitable planet.

Every Iteration has a destined progression. A world is born, it lives out its existence, and then it quietly dies, breaking into fragments. These fragments float through the void, crashing and combining randomly until they form into a new universe.

They are called "Iterations" because the thousands of universes currently in existence are thought to be different versions of the same original world or worlds, spun out in different combinations again and again for eternity. Even the Abidan judges do not know when this cycle began.

The Iterations are described as fruits that hang from a vine that links them all together; this vine is known as the Way. On its own, an Iteration could exist for billions of years, except for a certain underlying requirement: each Iteration is anchored to the Way by sentient consciousness. As long as beings are around, the world is tethered to the natural law and order of the Way. The fewer beings there are, the looser that connection becomes.

When sentient life dies, the world dissolves.

The Way

The influence of the Way anchors worlds in reality by providing structure. Consistent, recognizable rules. In some of these worlds, even forces like gravity or time work differently, but they do work consistently within the world. That's the influence of the Way. The Way is the source of order. Its presence protects against the destructive and corruptive influence of chaos, and its nature sustains reality.

When the Abidan first started exploring the "shape" of the Way, they found it like a branching river, with Iterations like boulders in the stream. Outside the Way was the void: a hostile emptiness dotted with the fragments of broken worlds and populated by strange, unknowable creatures that sought to break rules and disrupt order.The farther you travel into the void, the more recognizable reality crumbles, until you cease to exist. Even these fiends of the void, incomprehensible nightmare beings, can only exist somewhat close to the Way, because existence itself is a function of order. However, when the Abidan organized, they determined that they would explore the scope and breadth of the Way. They followed each branch to its ending, until the power of the Way grew too thin to sustain them. Then they turned back. They found that the Way WAS finite. It had an end. They've mapped it like a three-dimensional spider web, like a branching skeletal ball. In and among its branches is the endless, infinite void. But their theory says that the Way should be infinite. There's no reason it should ever be contained, and indeed they've never seen it end; they've only followed it as far as they could. Some believe that the Way stretches across an endless cosmic darkness, and this is the only place it has pooled thickly enough to sustain life. Others believe that our Way is only one of many, and that there are other collections of reality out there. Perhaps an infinite number."