List of fictional universes

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This is an incomplete list, which may never be able to satisfy certain standards for completeness.
Revisions and sourced additions are welcome.

This is a list of fictional universes, organized by genre and by sub-genre. The term universe can be misleading, since some of them are supposed to occur in our own world, but in a fictional future (sci-fi) or past (Hyborian Age) timeline. Because one author's universe may produce stories in different genres, it may be listed in more than one place.

Contents

[edit] Fictional Earths

Stories taking place on an Earth that varies from ours in a few details.

[edit] Fantastic Earth

An earth much like ours, but with some fantastic twists.

[edit] Archaic Earth

A fantasy world that is asserted to be Earth in an imaginary age of the distant past.

[edit] Alternate history Earth

The past or present of an Earth where history diverged slightly from our experience.

[edit] Future Earth

Earth as it may be in the future.

[edit] Dying Earth

Main article: Dying Earth subgenre

Earth in the distant future, when the shapes of lands have changed.

[edit] Lost Lands

A land which is asserted to exist somewhere on Earth and which can be reached, usually with difficulty, by travelers. See also Fictional country and List of fictional countries.

[edit] Extraterrestrial

A science fictional universe consists of multiple stars and planets where the fictional action takes place, usually linked by some form of space travel, or in some cases by teleportation. The universe may or may not contain Earth (or some version of it, past, future or alternate).

[edit] Other planets

Stories that take place entirely on other planets, with little or no reference to Earth:

[edit] Solar system

Main article: Solar System in fiction

Our solar system in the near future, at a time when interstellar travel is impossible, unknown, or very rare.

[edit] Universes including Earth

These universes usually are set some hundreds or thousands of years in our future, at a time when mankind has spread to the stars. They mention or imply the existence of the Earth, the Sun, or other familiar stars.

[edit] In print

[edit] In film and television

[edit] In games

[edit] Universes excluding Earth

These stories describe settings with no connection to our existing chronological framework, in which the Earth, the Sun, and other familiar stars are not mentioned. They tend to be science fantasies.

[edit] In film and television

[edit] In games

  • Dragonstar
  • The universe of New Eden in EVE Online (inhabitants of New Eden originally came from Earth via a wormhole, but there is now no connection between the two universes)
  • Final Fantasy, in all of the Final Fantasy video games, There exists a wholly different world, where vicious creatures roam free and medieval yet fantasy weapons are used to fend them off.

[edit] Fantasy

Fantasy universes usually exist on single worlds; these worlds are typically earthlike, but differ from Earth at least in geography; they also frequently host animals and intelligent life-forms not found on Earth. They can be found in a variety of fantasy genres, e.g. high fantasy, heroic fantasy, sword and sorcery, etc.

[edit] Parallel worlds

A fantasy world resembling our Earth, forming part of a multiverse with Earth and reachable by magic, dreaming, or similar devices.

[edit] In print

[edit] In games

[edit] Other worlds

A world that resembles our Earth in a general sense, but exists entirely independently of it, and never includes any humans from Earth. Many, but not all of these worlds allow magic.

[edit] In print

[edit] In art

  • The country of Iblard and its surrounding universe, as depicted in the paintings of Naohisa Inoue

[edit] In film and television

[edit] In games

Main article: List of campaign settings

[edit] Multiverses

Some stories take place in a series of connected universes, which may or may not include Earth, including:

[edit] In print

[edit] In film and television

[edit] In games

[edit] Other dimensions

[edit] See also

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