Universes and Reality Layers
"This life isn't all there is."
Please note that this file is OOC knowledge. Characters do not generally have a clear understanding of this element of reality at this time.
The Shape of the Multiverse
Reality on SRTMOO consists of an arbitrary number of universes, each of which follows its own mostly self-contained loop. It is legitimately really hard for multiple universes to touch each other on purpose. It is so much easier to go between different looping cycles of your own universe than between other universes that there are few reasons to ever do the latter. Some characters are unstuck from being fully committed to a single cycle of the universe, but this is strictly an "if your canon really, really mandates it" for a handful of Feature Characters like Euzeth Gozzo and Kaworu Nagisa.
In plain language: That it's possible at all is a consequence of having Ultra Series, Evangelion Series, and Banpresto Originals content on the game; PCs are not intended to be moving between universes. For characters for whom it's themely, "leaving the universe to deal with another problem" is generally a great excuse to drop a character if one so desires.
Reality Layers
Within the universe, there exist several "layers" of reality that partially overlap and inform each other. These layers often operate under variant rules compared to material reality, and are reflected in our own by miracles and other impressive phenomena.
It is the general stance of SRTMOO thematically that the more procedural and sterile one's attempt to engage with dimensional science is -- that is, the more emphasis it places on making it into a repeatable and exploitable phenomenon -- the more antagonist-coded it is. Super dimension space tends to be more elastic on this point than most of the others, in part because most uses of super dimension space are fairly shallow and non-exploitative.
Sometimes it is best to accept that a miracle happened rather than painstakingly turning the miracle into something procedural; an understanding of miracles that does not respect their weight gives rise to things like the Spiral Nemesis, Getter Emperor, Triple Zero, Impact events, World War VII, the Yamsk-11 Incident, the Ragnarok Connection, the rise of the Great Jama Empire, the Phoenix Hunt, the end of the Prehistoric Martian Super-Civilization, the end of the Protoculture, and other civilization- or cosmos-ending phenomena. The idea that you can logic your way out of every problem by understanding the phenomenon more is not particularly attested in the fiction.
Similarly, pulling a miracle into its component procedures often ends up missing an element that's crucial (and yes, sometimes that element is love). As a result, it is essentially impossible to truly proceduralize a miracle. This does not stop people from trying, of course. Indeed sometimes it encourages additional, worse, dumber trying.
Chronological, Material Reality
Chronological, material reality is exactly what you would think it is. Material reality is things you can touch and taste and see, truly heinous Newtype tripping-balls moments notwithstanding. Time flows one way here unless you're interfacing with something else.
Prematerial Reality
Prematerial reality is where the impulses from 'deeper' or 'higher' layers of reality reconcile themselves and undergo unification before ending up influencing material reality. Every now and then someone tries to mess with this and the results are truly, comedically catastrophic, often turning off the effects of some layer or another or brute-forcing impulses from one to act upon another.
Omnisphere
The Omnisphere, C's World, the Computer World, and "sparkle space" all refer to a layer of reality primarily concerned with cognition and bonds. The relationships between living beings and concepts become the "distance" between them on each layer. What is usually measured as "quantum brainwaves" is specifically responsiveness to this realm.
The Omnisphere is at once one of the more 'powerful' layers of reality, in that it often gives rise to truly dramatic phenomena, and one of the least understood. This is one of the areas where a sterile understanding proves most dangerous; almost every effort to achieve such a thing has caused as much trouble as it's created and, ironically, given no particularly repeatable results.
Crucially, the Omnisphere does not care particularly much about linear time. It is in fact probably the layer that cares least about that.
The Omnisphere is indeed inhabited, and due to its close proximity to human reality and concepts, its inhabitants look relatively 'familiar' by human standards -- mimicking the appearance of humans, kaiju, et cetera, without any prompting.
The name originates from Full Metal Panic!!
Hyper World
The Hyper World comprises information-space; it very closely adjoins the Omnisphere but is technically a distinct world-feature. Rather than describing the cognition and bonds of living beings, however, the Hyper World tends to be more about simple, clear is-and-isn't, one-and-zero sorts of stored data about reality.
Because of its proximity to the Omnisphere and relative mutual intelligibility, some miracles and phenomena make use of both at once to achieve more than could be achieved with either individually.
Hyper World is indeed inhabited, though its inhabitants would likely seem alien to humans.
The name originates from the Ultra Series!
Evil Dimension
... It's pronounced 'eh-vil,' not 'ee-vil.'
The Evil Dimension primarily deals with energy. In ancient times, the Protoculture used energy from this layer of reality to create what eventually became the Protodeviln.
The Evil Dimension is indeed inhabited, though its inhabitants would likely seem alien to humans.
The name originates from the Macross Series!
Super Dimension Space
Super dimension space is the most comprehensible of the alternative layers of reality and primarily deals with spatial relationships between objects. The earliest freshly-invented-in-this-universe-by-conventionally-sentient-species form of space travel, Fold, makes use of the principles of super dimension space.
Super dimension space is a little wobbly. Fold faults and other forms of cosmic flotsam exist on this layer as a result of the tragic, violent end of the previous universe. As a result, sometimes traveling through super dimension space can take longer or shorter than expected across certain slices of space; wobbly dimensional behavior on this layer can lead to small variations in the amount of time taken to travel that add up over time. The Zentradi did not see this as a remarkable experience before the advent of culture, and as a result, maps of Fold faults are inconsistent at best.
The name originates from the Macross Series!
Cosmic Egg
The base layer of reality, where all time, space, matter, and energy is the same thing. Despite that, like, you can totally go here.
This layer of reality is prone to "flaring" out into other layers, venting energy. By far the best-known manifestations of this are The Power and Triple Zero.
The name originates from, somehow, both Anno Domini Gundam and the Brave Series!
Pockets
There are pocket dimensions/pocket layers! This is necessary to reconcile some elements of several themes that are expressed in an unclear or inconsistent way. Pockets are weird and do not necessarily adhere to the typical rules of layers; they may adjoin multiple universes or have unusual energy signatures. Note that this is sort of the nuclear option of design because as a rule SRTM tries to avoid adding excessive numbers of pocket dimensions.