Realmspace
Realmspace is not just a backdrop—it is the infinite causal topology in which realms, rifts, and meaning itself unfold.
Realmspace is not just a backdrop—it is the infinite causal topology in which realms, rifts, and meaning itself unfold.
Realmspace is the meta-reality framework in which all Holoset games and stories take place. It is also the fundamental infrastructure of all existence—extending far beyond the reach or awareness of the InterRealm Defense Force (IRDF), the InterRealm Polity (IRP), or any localized structure known to date. Realmspace is not a singular universe, nor a multiverse, nor a dimensional shell encasing other realities. It is the total web of structure that supports, separates, organizes, and connects all realms and localities across all possible ontological strata.
Within realmspace, there are only two primary defined elements: realms and localities. A realm is any bounded structure of experience with its own internal laws of causality, perception, and identity. A locality is a structured segment of realmspace that contains one or more realms. These are not abstract categories—they are literal. Realmspace is composed of these parts and nothing else. Anything else—such as recursion loops, symbolic states, or sealed stasis—is a property of a realm or locality, not a third category of existence.
Realmspace does not contain realms the way space contains planets. Realms do not "float" within it. Each realm is anchored within a locality, and each locality is positioned within the larger realmspace structure. These positions are fixed unless forcibly altered by rift behavior, collapse events, drift anomalies, or massive-scale operations by entities with realmspace-level authority or reach.
Realmspace itself is not directly navigable. There is no traveling through realmspace except via the infrastructure of realms and rifts. You cannot move from one realm to another by passing through an undefined between-space. You must pass through realms, and you must do so using rifts. The same is true of localities: to move from one locality to another, you must find a realm within your current locality that houses a rift to a realm in the next locality. There are no exceptions.
This rule defines how all traversal, communication, expansion, and threat migration occurs. From the IRDF's perspective, realmspace is a vast, causally stable latticework of entangled localities and realms, separated by real distance—not measured in space or time, but in the number of localities that must be crossed through rift-linked realms. Travel across this lattice is not freeform—it is bottlenecked by rift access, structural compatibility, and whether a realm exists to host the transition.
Awareness of realmspace is rare. Most realms are unaware they are within a larger framework. A realm is only considered "realmspace-aware" if it has developed reliable knowledge of rifts and of the existence of other realms beyond its own. Membership in the InterRealm Polity requires this awareness, but the IRDF monitors and protects many unaware realms regardless.
Realmspace is not a void, a metaphor, or an illusion. It is the total substrate of existence, vast beyond measure, older than any realm that has ever mapped it, and organized by a logic more foundational than time, dimension, or narrative. It does not explain itself. It simply is.
A realm is a bounded structure within realmspace that contains a coherent framework of existence. It is the most fundamental unit of experience, identity, causality, and perception recognized within the greater structure of realmspace. A realm may contain a single universe, a complex multiverse, or any form of internally consistent existence so long as it is bounded and structured as a singular unit. Realms are not dependent on scale, complexity, or content—they are defined only by their boundedness and internal coherence.
Each realm operates under its own laws—its own time structure, physics, logic, dimensions, memory behavior, and narrative potential. These laws may be consistent or variable, predictable or recursive, deterministic or mythic. They may allow entities to become aware of their own structure or keep them permanently unaware of the boundaries of their world. Realms are entirely self-contained from within, and the existence of anything beyond the realm may or may not be observable to those inside.
Realms do not exist independently within realmspace. Every realm is anchored within a locality. A realm’s position in realmspace is defined by which locality it inhabits and its relationship to other realms within that locality. Two realms in the same locality may or may not be aware of each other, and may or may not be reachable—this depends entirely on whether rifts exist to bridge them.
Realms do not contain localities, nor are they subsets of other realms. A realm is a top-level unit in realmspace—bounded, but not subordinate. However, realms may contain internal subrealities, nested dimensions, simulations, or recursive narrative structures. These are considered internal features of the realm, not realms in themselves. If a structure can only be accessed through its parent structure and does not exist independently in realmspace, it is not classified as a realm.
Some realms contain only a single dominant species or culture, while others contain billions. Some have developed advanced technology or metaphysical insight capable of perceiving and utilizing rifts—others have not. Realmspace-aware realms may eventually seek membership in the InterRealm Polity. However, awareness of realmspace is not a requirement for being a realm, nor for being protected by the IRDF.
Realms are permanent unless destroyed. They may collapse, be sealed, rewritten, or recursively inverted, but unless erased or removed from realmspace entirely, they remain identifiable and fixed in position within their locality. A realm’s history, laws, or dominant culture may change—its status as a realm does not.
In realmspace terminology, a realm is the smallest meaningful container of unique existence. It is not reducible to physics alone, nor to perception, nor to narrative—it is the indivisible union of all three, bounded and anchored in a structured cosmos that transcends any single internal reality.
A locality is a real, structured segment of realmspace that contains one or more realms. Localities are not conceptual, symbolic, or interpretive—they are spatially and causally anchored regions of realmspace, bounded and defined by properties that distinguish them from neighboring localities. Every realm is positioned inside a locality. Nothing exists "between" localities except realmspace itself, which is not traversable by direct means.
Localities are not realms. They do not possess internal laws, civilizations, or causal systems. Instead, they serve as the realmspace scaffolding that organizes the positions of realms relative to one another. The IRDF, IRP, and other interrealm agencies treat localities as the fundamental units of large-scale mapping, threat response zoning, observational grid partitioning, and logistical deployment.
Localities may vary in size and complexity. Some contain a single realm. Others contain hundreds, thousands, or even billions. The relationship between realms within a locality is not dictated by the locality itself—some may be linked by rifts, others may be completely isolated. Localities do not enforce inter-realm access. They simply contain the realms that exist within their defined boundary.
Localities are stable unless disrupted. While realms within them may collapse, merge, be sealed, or change internal structure, the locality itself persists unless affected by massive-scale realmspace distortion, S-class events, collapse cascades, or specific interventions by superintelligences or ancient structural forces. A locality’s boundaries may shift slightly over vast Uy, but these changes are rare and require catalog-level updates.
Localities are not shaped by the properties of the realms they contain. For example, a realm inside a locality may contain twelve spatial dimensions and reversed time, while another realm in the same locality may be flat and deterministic. The locality does not "average" or merge these properties—it simply houses both realms. What defines a locality is not the content of its realms but its structural position in realmspace.
Each locality is assigned an observational and dimensional profile for navigational and classification purposes. For example, a locality may be designated 3D/1T if its contained realms tend to follow that structure, but this is for reference only—it does not dictate actual entry protocols or behavior. Localities are tracked by the IRDF through unique identifiers, dimensional mapping, rift network overlays, and anchor-point registries.
Though they may seem abstract from the perspective of realmbound entities, localities are concrete at the realmspace scale. Travel from one locality to another is not symbolic, philosophical, or metaphysical—it is structural. And because of this, they define not only where realms are, but how far they are from one another and what traversal is required to reach them. That functionality is covered under Localities as Distance.
Realmspace distance is not geometric, symbolic, or based on conceptual similarity. It is literal, structural, and operational. In realmspace, distance refers to the number of localities that must be crossed to travel from one realm to another. These localities are bounded regions of realmspace that each contain one or more realms. You cannot pass through realmspace freely—there are no shortcuts or transitions between localities except through a specific mechanism.
To exit a locality and enter another, you must be inside a realm located within the current locality. That realm must contain at least one rift that leads to a realm located within the next locality. You cannot travel directly between localities without passing through such a realm. There are no “inter-locality portals” or abstract transition spaces between localities themselves—only realms and the rifts within them can serve as the path.
This means that all locality traversal is realm-bound and rift-bound. If no realm within your locality contains a rift that leads to a realm in the next locality, then the locality is effectively sealed. This may be due to natural closure, lack of contact, dimensional incompatibility, or strategic IRDF quarantine—but the result is the same: no crossing is possible.
To illustrate this: suppose you are in Realm A, which exists inside Locality 1. Your destination is Realm Z, located in Locality 6. To reach Realm Z, you must first locate a rift inside Realm A that connects to a realm in Locality 2. Once you enter that realm, you must locate a rift to a realm in Locality 3. This process continues locality by locality—Realm to Realm—until you arrive at Realm Z in Locality 6. If any link in this chain does not exist, the path breaks, and the destination becomes unreachable, regardless of proximity or awareness.
You cannot skip localities. You cannot jump between realms that are not linked by rifts. You cannot "phase through" realmspace or collapse the path into fewer steps. Even if you know where the destination is and how far it lies, you are still bound to traverse it step by step, locality by locality, using rift chains housed inside realms.
For this reason, the IRDF defines realmspace distance as the number of localities that must be crossed through rift-linked realms. This distance is objective and does not vary by observer, entity, or technology. Realmspace transit maps, emergency deployment routes, rescue protocols, and breach quarantines all operate on this hard structural model of locality-based traversal.
Realmspace distance is therefore not a matter of speed, power, or perspective. It is a question of whether a valid, chained, and continuous sequence of rift-connected realms exists between the origin and the destination. If it does, then travel is possible. If it does not, then the destination is sealed—no matter how close it appears on a map.
A rift is the only method by which any form of traversal can occur between realms or localities within realmspace. Rifts are structural discontinuities anchored within realms that allow transition from one bounded realm to another. They are not theoretical, metaphorical, or optional—if a realm contains no rifts, it is sealed. Realmspace cannot be traversed directly. All contact, travel, influence, or observation between realms must occur through rifts.
All rifts are located within realms. There is no such thing as a "free-floating" rift in realmspace. To exit a realm, you must locate and access a rift from within that realm. To exit a locality, you must be in a realm that contains a rift which leads to a realm in a different locality. There is no way to move from one locality to another without passing through realms and their rifts.
Rifts vary in type, behavior, and function. The most fundamental classification system recognized by the IRDF divides rifts by their directional properties and access rules:
Other properties include temporal distortion (e.g. asynchronous passage), energy filtration (some frequencies or forces cannot pass), memory resistance (entities forget traversal after passage), and dimensional translation (entities are altered to match destination structures). However, none of these secondary effects change the fundamental truth: rifts are the only bridges between realms and localities.
Some realms have multiple rifts. Others have only one. Some realms are heavily rifted, functioning as transit hubs. Others are nearly isolated, containing only a single unstable rift that may collapse at any time. A realm with no active rifts is considered closed. Such realms are unreachable, unobservable, and inaccessible until a new rift is formed or discovered from within another realm.
Rifts may be natural or constructed. Some form spontaneously under specific cosmological conditions. Others are the result of technology, rituals, realmspace pressure, recursive interaction, or S-class interference. Some entities, especially higher-order superintelligences or dedicated rift engineers, are capable of manipulating rifts directly—but even then, they must still operate within the rules of realmspace structure. You cannot open a rift unless the target realm exists and can support one.
From the IRDF’s standpoint, rifts are the foundation of all interrealm logistics, defense, research, and threat response. Every operational map is built around known rift networks. Every threat model is based on how rifts permit enemy migration or exposure. Every deployment, rescue, or reinforcement must calculate not only where the threat is—but what rift path exists to reach it.
Dimensional translation is the process by which an entity, structure, or signal is adapted for survival or function within a realm that operates under a different dimensional or temporal framework than its origin. It is not optional. Without dimensional translation, entry into many realms would result in immediate destruction, incoherence, or nonexistence. This applies equally to biological organisms, synthetic minds, narrative entities, energetic phenomena, and conceptual constructs.
Each realm possesses its own configuration of dimensions—spatial, temporal, causal, perceptual, memory-based, or otherwise. While many realms operate within familiar structures like 3 spatial and 1 temporal dimension (3D/1T), others may contain dozens or even thousands of interacting axes. Some may contain no time at all. Others may express time cyclically, probabilistically, or recursively. These differences are not cosmetic—they are structural. Any entity entering such a realm must be converted into a compatible expression of those rules, or it will fail to function or persist.
Dimensional translation is not just spatial compression or physical restructuring. It affects all aspects of a being's identity and presence, including memory architecture, sensory interface, continuity protocols, decision-making, body schema, energetic signatures, linguistic encoding, and subjective experience. A 17D/13T entity entering a 2D/1T realm does not merely flatten—it is translated into a new form that is mathematically and causally expressible within the destination realm's internal logic.
Not all beings can be safely translated. Some entities are structurally dependent on high-order dimensions or memory recursion loops that cannot be collapsed without fatal degradation. Others may survive translation but become severely limited or unstable. In some cases, multiple versions of a being may be generated simultaneously in order to preserve minimal continuity across incompatible zones. This is referred to as sharded translation, and may be permanent or temporary.
Dimensional translation may occur passively—through naturally adaptive rift architecture—or actively, through preprocessing systems maintained by high-level intelligences, artifact nodes, or realmspace-trained entities. Most IRDF operatives carry dimensional filters, reformatting protocols, or anchor glyphs to enable temporary compatibility across diverse destination frameworks.
Translation is not reversible by default. Once adapted into a new dimensional form, returning to one's original configuration may not restore the original identity or continuity. Memory gaps, behavioral fragmentation, or recursive collapse may occur. As such, all IRDF translations are logged with full pre- and post-state indexing, continuity locks, and emergency reversal signatures—though not all destinations allow recovery of form, even if return is possible.
Some threats exploit translation deliberately, using realm transitions to mutate, replicate, or circumvent defenses. Conversely, many high-tier defenses rely on dimensional mismatch to neutralize hostile incursions. A being optimized for 4T realm combat may be rendered inert if translated into a timeless or low-causal realm.
In short, dimensional translation is a fundamental prerequisite for interrealm operation. It is not a technology or spell—it is a structural necessity embedded into every successful traversal between fundamentally dissimilar regions of realmspace.