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The original version of this milieu appeared as a worldbook published by Yarf! The cover artwork was intended to reflect the diverse elements that took center stage at one time or another throughout the timeline.
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Wormholes
Now, my suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer
than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose. . . .—John Burdon Sanderson Haldane, Possible Worlds, 1927
I met Ken Pick at my first science fiction convention in 1981. He immediately captured my interest with his drawings of individuals he called Double Helixers, a concept he’d been toying with since the late seventies. They combined a mostly human physique with animal traits such as muzzles, tails, and fur, and were supposed to be the result of advanced genetic engineering technology of the early twenty-first century. Today, of course, similar characters are common in art and literature, but at that time the idea was relatively rare. I badgered Ken with endless questions, and found that only the sketchiest of development as yet existed.
Over the next couple of years, inspired by the new environment in which I found myself—science fiction fandom—I began to outline my own vague notions of a future history. Eventually, I realized that my assumptions were parallel to those behind Ken’s work. We merged the two into a new timeline that benefited strongly from hybrid vigor, becoming suddenly more energetic and exciting.
At the same time, I was meeting a great many other people through fandom, some of whom showed great interest when I mentioned this newborn milieu. Suggestions appeared and multiplied, accelerating the weedlike growth of what was rapidly becoming—almost entirely by happy accident—a shared universe. Some were minor grace notes that lent detail and depth. Others changed the very face of what we had come to call “the Wormholes universe” for lack of a better name.
By the mid-eighties, I had cobbled together a rough manuscript for a booklet to be published as a supplement for science fiction role-playing games. It never reached publication but, like a snowflake forming around a mote of dust, notes and ideas continued to accumulate. That version of the timeline ended—rather abruptly—in the early twenty-second century with the Colonial War.
At about this time, Ken and I were considering running a new role-playing campaign to replace an earlier one we had finally decided to wrap up after about five years of play. Naturally, we decided to make use of all the raw material we already had at our fingertips. Our players, however, were interested in something that looked a bit more like “conventional” space opera, with elements—like aliens and privately owned starships—that simply didn’t exist in the timeline as it stood.
Once more we found ourselves at the proverbial drawing board. I had created only one alien race, one wholly unsuited to our purposes. Ken, on the other hand, had written several stories starring aliens and had contributed a number of species to another cancelled gaming product. We dusted these off and found that, with a little sanding and polishing, they dovetailed neatly into the existing history.
Now the timeline was a panorama sweeping two full centuries. It continued to grow, albeit more slowly. The framework was fully established—which would cause some difficulties later—so creative energies turned to refinement and expansion.
One of the greatest dilemmas faced by all science fiction writers is that the passage of time invariably warps history in a direction completely different from the one projected for a story (or series of stories). After ten years, this had already started happening to our milieu. The state of the Human Genome Project and genetic engineering, though progressing rapidly, was clearly not going to reach the peak necessary to sustain the creation of Double Helixers at the close of the twentieth century. The breakup of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact at the end of the eighties changed weltpolitik completely. Space industrialization still seems to be a non-issue in most if not all nations.
Some discrepancies we wrote around, sometimes imperfectly, such as the political shifts. Others proved insurmountable, such as genetic engineering and space development; our only recourse was to shrug and leave things as they are. We do not claim to predict the future; instead, we have attempted to create a plausible, if no longer possible, future—“realistically lumpy” in the words of one observer, meaning that the history is not unnaturally tidy and symmetrical. Efforts are still made to hew as closely to possible to the world as it is, however.
Now, more than twenty years after its tentative beginnings, Wormholes is a rich, varied landscape, textured by the contributions of dozens of minds, each with its own experiences, viewpoint, and knowledge to contribute. It is a world of distant, exotic new places and ancient traditions; of destruction and savagery unmatched by previous wars; and of dreams and hopes impossible in earlier ages.
This writers’ bible is a work in progress, just as is Wormholes itself. It is neither complete nor exhaustive—which is as it should be. There is always room for more ideas, more stories, more art. Constructive, creative input from others is welcome, and contributions both literary and graphic are encouraged. (Of course, editorial privilege is reserved; copyright of specific portions devolves to the creators of those portions.)
Welcome to Wormholes.
Acknowledgements
Dozens of people over the last two decades have shaped Wormholes into a living, intricately detailed history. To them, I offer heartfelt gratitude and hopes for much more—more art, more stories, more characters, and more ideas. Thanks to you all.
Background Material
- Steve Corbett provided more firearm designs than we could have asked for as well as useful material for the early period.
- Brian Delaney has been a neary inexhaustable source of information on almost every subject imaginable.
- Mark Iennaco suggested “oscillating” wormholes and some details of paraphysics.
- Steve Marsh provided information on Mormon society and factions that helped shape the colony world of Deseret.
- Ken Pick deserves the title “co-creator”: Wormholes would not exist in more than a vestigial form without the tremendous volume of ideas, elements, and work he put in throughout the eighties.
- Wayne Shaw was a major influence in the early years; his contributions are subtle but pervasive, most especially in the area of the paranormal—he defined the difference between magic and psionics, for instance.
- Terrie Smith drew the now-infamous disappearing alien sketches. We’d love to see more to replace them.
- Jeff Stitt created the Stitt Lockless pistol action.
- Jefferson P. Swycaffer named Camelot.
Characters and Stories
- Bryan Feir opened up some intriguing new ground with his rabbit-Helixer character and her story.
- Mark Parker created dozens of Helixer characters—more than anyone else—a couple of stories, and lots of little touches adding to the early period.
- Gerald Perkins’ Helixer story, “Owner”, was the first actually to see print. (It appeared in Yarf! issue thirty-two.)
- Clint Warlick created yet more Helixers—and many fine meals.
Technical Details
- Baron Engel has profoundly influenced the look and feel of the technology and equipment.
- Charlie Luce Jr. assisted with the system of technological indices lo these many moons past.
Thanks also to . . .
- Chris Elario for being there.
- Cary Martin, whose role-playing rules set was considered as a basis for a possible Wormholes RPG.
- Richard Tucholka, whose early interest in possible Wormholes-related RPG material provided quite a bit of creative impetus.
- The staff of Yarf! for providing a venue.
Other folks who’ve contributed in some fashion include Kim and Mark Hartman, Sean Holland, Tom McDaniel, John Perchalski, “Sky” Rigdon, Lance Rund, Ken Sample, Tom Verré, Tracy Wagner, and Allen Wilson.
We’ve even had our own “cheering section” of sorts, without whose encouragement we wouldn’t have gotten this far: Roz Gibson and Dwight Dutton, Lia Tygger and Dean Graf, Chris Grant, Damon Hill, Kim Liu, Watts Martin, Waverly Pierre III, Melody Rondeau, Scott Ruggels, Mike Sagara, Phillip Smith, Susan van Camp, Anthony Waters, and Glen Wooten, and of course the Bryant and Daniels families—grandparents, parents, and brothers.
Last but by no means least, I would like to offer especial thanks to Maggie de Alarcon Hogarth for believing in me and offering one of the most wonderful friendships I’ve ever enjoyed.
Glossary
- Very Low: An unprotected human can survive indefinitely, barring accidents inherent in any physical environment, such as falls or collisions with objects. Example: a well-patrolled and -maintained fenced-off city park.
- Low: An unprotected human can survive for long periods, especially with use of wit and foresight; weather is relatively temperate, local life forms are mostly inoffensive, and landforms are not overly rugged. Example: regional parks or “open spaces” in which most significant predators are absent or retiring.
- Moderate: An unprotected human can survive for relatively short periods, but is unlikely to live long periods without serious injury or illness; weather is variable, local life forms include predators in significant size or numbers (in cities, those predators may be human), or landforms contain major topographical variation. Example: true wilderness on a world lacking extremely large life forms on the scale of dinosaurs or giant mammals.
- High: An unprotected human is unlikely to survive long periods; weather is frequently or always uncomfortable at best, local life forms are uniformly large or aggressive, or landforms are extremely rugged. Example: a mostly or entirely unsettled planet in the grip of an ice age.
- Very High: An unprotected human is unlikely to survive even short periods; weather is inclement year-round, local life forms are nearly always dangerous, or landforms are nearly unnavigable. Example: a mostly or entirely unsettled world actively hostile to human intruders.
- Extreme: Conditions by their very nature make effectively impossible survival of an unprotected human for longer than at most a few minutes. Examples: arctic ocean surface, deep underwater, upper atmosphere, magma chamber. (Such regions are often ignored for the purposes of formulating an index for an entire planet.)
Many characters, elements, and situations were created wholly by or in collaboration with others, most notably the Double Helixers and alien species, created by Ken Pick; other contributors are noted elsewhere in this site. All rights reserved.
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