Nexus Points, Roads, and Double Hops in BREACH | World Anvil

Nexus Points, Roads, and Double Hops

Some general notes on Breach Physics. All rules subject to change.

Nexus Points

One of the important breakthroughs in Breach Physics occurred in 2019, when a mapping of known breach paths showed there were hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of potential dimensions with to/from access to Baseline... but the majority of those dimensions could not, as a practical matter, connect elsewhere. The energy costs were too high. Baseline was a "Nexus Point", a place at the near-center of a meta-reality with relatively low-cost access to uncounted other worlds. The math implies other such Nexus Points might exist.

Bridges and Roads

A few worlds were part of "bridges" or "roads", where they had potential to link to one other world at a reasonable cost. That world had the same potential, and so on. The math breaks down eventually, but the assumption is the end of a "road" is a another nexus point, or sometimes, a fork.

Forks and Roundabouts

A "fork", a term occasionally used, references a "road" where one world can connect to two others. A "roundabout" refers to the occasional case where a world connects to 3-5 others.

Double Hops

So far, no one has (publicly, at least) exploited these possibilities. It's far easier and more useful to go Baseline->World A->Baseline->World B than to go Baseline->A->B. If things go wrong on B, it's that much further from home. More, there's a fear of "leaking" breach stabilization technology to other worlds. Even the "fortean" breaches have sometimes disgorged dangerous enemies; no one wants a bunch of Romans with AK-XLVII's plowing through London or Denver.

For this reason, while "bridges", "roads", etc. are interesting mathematically and are likely the key to a fuller, deeper understanding of breach physics, they're not particularly targetted.

Landing Zone

Another factor yet to be solved by engineers is where a breach opens. The first controlled breach was opened in Canada but led to an alternate Paris. It seems that the strength of inter-universal barriers varies according to yet-to-be-understood field equations of incalculable complexity, and a breach will open at the weakest point - akin to putting pressure against a wall, until one part finally gives. There is no way, as yet, to "focus" the pressure on a preferred point; you hit the target as a whole and whatever breaks, breaks. This also seems to create a "permanent" weak spot; successive breaches take less power.

Earth's constant, world-girdling Fortean Events are a symptom/aspect of its "Nexus Point" status; it has tens of thousands of "weak spots", so it's random what breaks through. This is why Breach Stabilizers are so important.

General Rules

It seems that landing zones are almost never in solid ground, or miles in the air, or underwater... mostly. A few have been in shallow (3-5 feet) water near islands or beaches, which is not too bad unless you have delicate electronic gear, paper, matchbooks, etc., or unless the region is full of something resembling army ants crossed with piranha. Others have opened in caverns, basements, or subway tunnels.

BREACH G2

CERN has developed prototypes of what's been dubbed, by the press, 'G2' BREACH technology. (Rumors that national oranizations did so clandestinely years ago, and that the publicity about G2 is to cover up they're already moving to G3, abound.) These new generators can find anywhere from 2-6 additinal breach landing zones on a world, once the first has been established. They are still relatively fixed, with 200-500 yards being the most anyone can adjust them (and that with extreme difficulty and a high chance of catastrophic failure), but it's better than nothing.


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