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A finite ring ideal with accomodating physics characterized by its unusual methods of entry and naturally misty environment.

The defining feature of the Convergent Mistlands is a blue-to-white moss. This moss grows in carpets across swathes of the Mistlands and facilitates the generation of mist. Mist generated by the moss has a unique property. When the mist becomes adequately dense, entry into the mist will transport a person into, out of, or around the Mistlands. The shifting boundary of the Mistlands is one such location.

As an ideal, it is possible to enter the Mistlands from many points outside it. Indeed, the Mistlands can be accessed from many rings. People from outside of the Mistlands will almost always leave it eventually; this is because objects nonnative to the Mistlands, including people, have a chance of leaving the mistlands each time the mist teleports them. They will usually track a small amount of moss with them outside of the Mistlands. The moss will then grow, if possible, in the new location. If this moss receives enough water to produce a dense mist, the moss patch will serve as a new entryway to the Mistlands.

Relatively small for a ring, the Mistlands feature a homogenous geography and ecology. The Mistlands are probably a created ring, based on its homogeneity and use of magic to simulate normal life-supporting environs. However, no potential creator is known.

The Mistlands are terribly wet. There are many lakes, rivers, deep aquifers, glaciers, wells, etc. The moss is an essential part of its water cycle, reintroduced a great deal of water into the atmosphere. The whole region is mountainous and stony. Soil is thin. The glaciers are magically maintained; a certain quantity of water becomes snow. The region is not cold enough for snow otherwise and outside specific snowpacks, there is no snow to be found.

Weather is dominated by mist and rain. While the mist often thins or opens large gaps, the sky is never clear altogether. The sky is magically illuminated during the day, but at night, a buoyant, bioluminescent species resembling a balloon replicates the effect of stars.

Two species of shortgrass appear in the Mistlands: one white and one green. Trees are rare. Every tree species in the Mistlands grows as an isolated cluster of trees that form a single individual. Both grasses and trees compete for resources where moss doesn’t grow, generally wetter areas, including lake edges, intermittent rivers and lakes, and the like. The stony landscape and poor sunlight mean most flora does not grow too large. Brush is not common.

Fauna are small. Terrestrial fauna are mostly burrowers, with a few grazers and animals that live in tree patches. One large predator-scavenger exists, which is somewhat reminiscent of a long-legged yak. It uses brute force to kill prey, but mostly scavenges dead grazers. Aquatic life is more varied, with many amphibians, salamanders, and fish.

Notable Locations: 8Sanctuary

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

List of Rings

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