Layered World: Difference between revisions

A setting where our comfy material world is just the tip of an iceberg, the very top layer of many; [[Muggles|our puny human senses]] are simply not trained to perceive the rest of them. With certain magical rituals, you can move down into deeper layers... but there are ''[[Eldritch Abomination|things]]'' down there you might not wanna meet.

 

 

Possible layers include:

* Sufficiently large [[Mental World]]s

 

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* It doesn't get touched upon much at all in the anime, but the world and general cosmology of ''[[Berserk]]'' is [http://skullknight.net/encyclopedia/universe/ something like this]. Recent events of the manga have resulted in {{spoiler|the supernatural worlds being fused with the normal world, which is seriously bad news for everyone in an already [[Crapsack World]]...}}

* One interpretation of the ''[[Black★Rock Shooter (anime)||Black Rock Shooter]]'' OAV is that both "normal" story and the Otherworld plot are the same event at the same time. Two friends dealing with loneliness and jealousy in one world are a [[Magical Girl]] fighting a possessed [[Dark Magical Girl]] in the Other at the same time.

** Far, far more apparent in the ''[[Black★Rock Shooter (anime)||Black Rock Shooter]]'' TV series.

* The universe of ''[[Slayers]]'' has an astral plane, in which the spiritual projections of mortals exist. Contrariwise, the (already very powerful) physical manifestations of supernatural creatures like demons can best be described as a mere projection of their ''astral'' body. Bundled together, said universe is but one of four parallel “worlds” separated by the golden sea of chaos, A.K.A. {{spoiler|The Lord of Nightmares}}.

* The world of ''[[Bobobo-Bo Bo-bobo]]'' is like this, with the material world, along with multiple dark worlds (including one that acts as a [[Tailor-Made Prison]] for the emperor's brother, and a [[Bizarro Universe]] with an evil Bo-bobo and Beauty) and lots of [[Cloudcuckooland|bizarre]], [[Widget Series|nonsensical]] mental worlds.

 

== Film ==

* In ''[[Inception]]'', the protagonists use the concept of layers to plant an idea into someone's head. They kidnap him in a dream, rescue him in a [[Dream Within a Dream]], team up with him in a [[Mind Screw|dream within that dream...]]

** Which is necessary as for the inception to truly work it needs to be planted very deeply in the target's subconscious so that they will believe that it's their own idea.

 

== Literature ==

* ''[[Night Watch]]'' features the Twilight, a {{spoiler|seven-}}layered reality accessible to sorcerers. Each level makes you incorporeal at higher levels (though you can still see and interact with objects and people in them) and gives you a speed boost, but also continuously absorbs your life energy until you either leave or are dead.

* The Nevernever in ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' is a reality layer underlying our common reality. Although the laws of common physics don't apply to it, the geography of Faerie (the closest part of Nevernever to real world) is such that you can, for instance, enter it in one place, then exit it in another, [[Dungeon Bypass|bypassing any defenses or traps set in real world]]. You can also directly affect the real world from the Nevernever (though not the other way around), as an angry ghost in the beginning of ''Grave Peril'' demonstrates.

** It's not that people in the real world can't affect the Nevernever, rather that most denizens of reality lack the juice. It takes Faerie Queens, über-ghosts, or a seriously pissed-off wizard to send something through.

* ''From Beyond'' by [[H.P. Lovecraft]]. The main character's acquaintance invents a machine that makes it possible to see the creatures that lives in the different layers, but unfortunately, it works both ways.

* ''[[Labyrinths of Echo]]'' has the Dark Side, or "backing of the World". Which looks suitably weird - colored winds, glowing cobblestones, transparent trees and so on. It doesn't accept everyone, is subjective enough that visitors may see the sky in diferent colors at the same time and unstable, especially where [[Narnia Time|time intervals in it and "real" world]] are concerned, but provides nice perks to those who can get there. For one, personalities created in interaction with other people fade out and one's [[Beneath the Mask|true nature comes to surface]], which usually feels good and performs better. More practically, enchantments become obvious: a magicked up area will ''somehow'' visibly manifest, and if someone e.g. under a spell forcing to keep a secret is pulled there, it will look like an ugly bug sticking to the victim's neck, which can be simply squashed; in the "mundane" world removing such things usually requires a tricky gamble with countering magic out of sight of the victim, who can messily explode or something at any moment. Conversely, the most efficient way to enchant a large area with effects more interactive than a blanket curse involves creation of a huge web on the Dark Side. Invisible or non-corporeal monsters become more noticeable, palpable and sometimes less deadly. What's even better, instinctive understanding is everything, so whether any phenomenon is benign, malicious, and so on can be rather reliably determined simply by paying attention to how one feels about looking at it.

 

== Role Playing Games ==

* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' cosmology has this with Border Ethereal Planes. A Border Ethereal Plane is an extra plane attached to Prime Material one, from which you can see and interact (''via'' magic, not physically) with the contents of the Prime Material Plane. An object or person in the BEP is not visible or tangible in the PMP, so ''ethereal'' traveler can just walk through the normal prime walls. On the downside, ethereal can be seen by some people... including [[Taken for Granite|medusae and basilisks]]—and prime walls don't block this either.

** In the magical theory of the [[Forgotten Realms]], the Demiplane of Shadows has Shadow Fringe and Deep much like the Ethereal Plane has Border and Deep Ethereal. I.e. the Fringe is linked to every shadow in the given world, but being made of shadows, it's severely distorted. It's used almost exclusively for shadow-walking.

** The [[Ravenloft]] setting's Border Ethereal is more tangible than most, as a phenomenon called "ethereal resonance" allows ambient emotion in the Material plane to impose mood-appropriate motifs upon the Ether. Places where the Ethereal has been permeated by darker emotions can become sinkholes of evil, where malign forces fester and grow even nastier than is usual for the Land of Mists.

** Of the various dimensions that converge on the ''[[New World of Darkness]]'', the Shadow, the [[Spirit World]], is the one that best fits this trope, being the spiritual reflection of the material world.

** And now, we have the Underworld, which works a hell of a lot like this. When you first enter, you're in the Autochthonous Depths, the area of the Underworld closest to the surface. After that lie the various Rivers, which take either power or sacrifice to cross, and after each one lie several Dead Dominions which go deeper and deeper into the Underworld.

* ''[[GURPS]] Cabal'' features a world divided into four layers, based on kabbalistic cosmology: Assiah is the material world, Yetzirah the world of spirits, Briah the world of deities and archetypal entities, and Atziluth is the home of capital-G God.

 

== Video Games ==

* The ''[[Mega Man Star Force]]'' series has the EM world, which consists of the [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|EM waves]] of the normal universe. Geo Stelar can see it from the normal world with his [[See-Thru Specs|special goggles]]. To get in, he has to find a portal and become Mega Man.

* ''[[Silent Hill]]'' is a many-layered world, which [[The Movie]] is most explicit in showing.