Editing Setting:The Editors (section)

==Metaverse==

:::''The forest was still, and it felt as if it was a world-between-worlds. MAN resided in the tree of Earth, but could not see, for their world was still shielded. Lo, and War came, and broke the shield, and MAN fought valiantly and lived. MAN then looked forth from Earth and saw the forest, and learned of the wood and the hills and the valleys and the paths, and MAN learned the paths of the forest, and could wander and tend the forest, and MAN rejoiced.''

The Metaworld, or Meta, in its most essential aspect, is a corner of infinity that has a deep connection to the subconscious of humankind in the "real" world. It is believed that it is the collective creativity of mankind, considered the lone sentient race in the "real" universe. The analogy of the Meta can be that of a great forest, according to Meta-Earth's understanding and experiences of interacting with it. As humanity continues to create works of fiction, this "forest" will continue to expand.

Canons, or other worlds of fiction, can be described as trunks with unique frequencies (or coordinates or addresses depending on the meta-faction in question). Fanons, expanded universes, alternate timelines/permutations of events can be analogous to branches. 

A canon can be disrupted by crossovers and invasions by SUEs. It is also possible for a canon to become sick, "burnt down" or "chopped", as well as being planted and transplanted as well as heal and regrow. A crossover can be understood as the intersection of two branches on the same or different tree, or two trees (canon trunks) growing into the path of each other. 

Canons can also take damage and distortions to their reality by outside forces beyond SUEs, if they have enough capabilities to intrude and interfere. Destroying a canon will saddle an Author (on the "real" Earth side) with lost creativity and drive. It damages canons related to it, and nearby canons as collateral.

===Crossovers===

Crossovers can occur naturally, or by outside forces. Naturally, canons might hit themselves with their own branches, or hit other canons. SUEs and other extra-dimensional forces can cause crossovers. These crossovers show up as reality distortions and may have the potential to affect nearby canons as well. One symptom of the effects of large distortions are the weakening of dimensional boundaries between worlds.

=== Finished Works ===

Finished Works refer to canons that are considered completed series and Public Domain. These canons are extremely stable and can snap back from distortions very easily. It is such that interventions are only required when actual SUEs appear in them. 

One way of defining a Finished Work is if it is a seminal work of fiction, and/or that this is a work that has a fundamental basis in some way to the formation of other canons. Works such as that of Shakespeare, or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, pulp fiction, the Barsoom series, the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Robert Heinlein's writings etc., would be considered "Finished Works".

===PseudoHeisenberg's Literary Uncertainty Principle ===

The Uncertainty Principle refers to the concept that one cannot know the location and velocity of an off-focus character at the same time. "Off-focus" means that the narration or "camera" of a canon moves away from that character at a certain point. What this does is that it allows for respawns of background characters in a canon. "Nameless" characters and seeming "redshirts" are recruited this way. As a result, the application of this principle with regards to recruitment, makes asking what is real or not in MetaEarth's multiverse a subject of debate. For some, the principle creates a moot point with the fictional nature of characters.

A corollary to this principle is that other characters in a canon, even up to a main character at times, can be subject to recruitment. "Death" in a canon is almost equal to a character's removal from it. Hence, recruiting a character and staging his death as canon dictates, is fair game. If a character dies permanently off-screen, then the recruitment of that character at the point where the canon goes off-focus, or the death is staged according to canon, will not be destabilizing either.

''WARNING: This theory has its own unforeseen shortcomings.''