A ring is, so to speak, a universe or a complete world. First, a ring is a set, so it contains something. Matter, energy, void, anything like that. In addition to the something, it has a physics, which are the principles under which the something acts, relates to itself, changes, etc. The something is the raw material, while the physics governs what happens in the ring.
In summary, a ring is a set of something with a governing physics.
Our universe, our ring, has a lot of something and a rather nice physics that allows us to exist. As for the knowledge of other rings, we mostly know about rings similar to ours. It’s hard to know about rings where matter as we know it can’t exist. It’s not even a question of survival; how could you send a probe or visit a place where atoms can’t exist, the matter is fundamentally different, or the physics would cause us to instantly fly apart?
Consequently, almost every ring described will have a physics that is close enough to ours. You can safely assume that there will be things different about it, like the science might work different, or the humans might need different internal organs to survive, magic might exist, etc., but fundamental concepts like “time moves in one direction” and “2+2=4” will still be true. Many rings’ physics would only be distinguishable from ours if you know advanced physics. Not important for day to day living, but possibly important if you want to make sure your organs will still work if you move there.
Useful Notes
- I choose the term ring instead of universe because universe is a really incoherent term across scifi. It’s a loose adaptation of the mathematical concept of a ring, a set of objects with two operators comparable to addition and multiplication. The set is our something and the operators are our physics.
- A ring may be infinite or finite. A ring need not be ring-shaped.
- A ring’s something could just be nothing. This is an empty ring and is useless to consider in most contexts. No one lives in an empty ring, nothing happens in an empty ring, etc.
- A ring can contain a ring. The contained ring would be a subring, while the container ring would be a superring. The subring may have more refined, complicated, or strict physics that don’t apply to the superring.
- A ring is as extensive as its physics allows its something to go. Nothing can leave a ring by the ring’s own physics. However, a substance not native to the ring may be able to enter or leave it based on a higher physics from a superring. Even native substances may be able to leave a ring with the help from something outside its ring. This is referred to as closure.
- Material trade between rings is important. While something might be physically impossible to create within a ring, it might still be able to exist inside the ring so long as it is created somewhere else (where it is physically possible).
- Travel between rings is frequently possible and becomes more common as superring materials proliferate. For lifeforms, the outward appearance is usually preserved, while the internal organs may be refactored. Certain highly-accommodating rings are travel hubs, where magic allows the organ-refactoring to be done painlessly and the person can survive both before and after the refactoring. However, the rules for interring travel depend entirely on the rings and superrings in question and may only connect specific locations, involve arcane methods, or be otherwise obtuse.
Other World Concepts
- An ideal is a type of subring, distinguished by a sort of capturing mechanism. If an object in the ring containing the ideal interacts with something from the ideal, then the object will also find itself within the ideal. That is to say, an ideal absorbs anything that interacts with it or its parts from anywhere in the broader ring.
- Many things are almost closed, like planets: consider how escape from Earth was impossible until very recently. It certainly seemed closed. By this analogy, the pragmatic limits of a civilization are called a range. While expansion beyond a range is technically possible, it requires incredibly advanced technology for marginal benefits. A range is not necessarily the full expanse a species could theoretically reach, nor does a range need to have a clear boundary. As mentioned, a range can also expand as technology improves.
Recognizing World Type by Name
For interring societies, the type of world is often indicated within the name by prefixes, suffixes, or other modifiers. Place names are usually translated to represent the ideas the names are based off of in the original language. This avoids issues like unpronounceable names (if the name is even communicated through sound). Adding these modifiers to names helps mitigate repeating names somewhat and helps distinguish place names from words.
- Ring: feld, rng, vers, dom
- Ideal: ide, arche, arch, sur
- Range: welt, velt, mundus, mundi, ran, ester, astr