Rift

Parallel is characterized by rifts between dimensions. The mechanics underlying rifts are still largely unknown, though the NPCs Niall, Jess, and Lane have made efforts to study and manipulate the rifts. Rift openings and closings are major events in the server's history, having enabled travel between Parallel Prime, the Sky Kingdom, and Otherside.

History

Pre-opening

The first recorded appearance of rifts in Parallel history is in the teaser trailer "Linearity'" for the opening of Parallel as a multiplayer server. The video was uploaded to Youtube channel DiamondBackPlays and the #announcements channel in Discord on Monday, March 30, 2020 at 4:10 PM EST. [1]

Nomenclature

The Parallel University Physics Department advises the use of a standard nomenclature for identifying and cataloguing individual rifts discovered in Parallel. The style is as follows (Rift Category Symbol)-(Subtype Symbol)-(Location Initial+Destination Initial+Rift Color initial)- (MM/YY of date discovered)

Categories

Linear Rift

Linear (λ-class) rifts occupy one dimension. The appearance of multiple parallel linear rifts appears to precede the opening of a larger spherical rift, as was the case when the Sky Kingdom rift formed on Parallel Prime.

Planar Rift

Planar (𝜎-class) rifts form a two-dimensional shape in space and are oriented parallel to a horizontal or vertical plane. They have been observed in the outer islands of the Sky Kingdom.

Nether portals formed with an obsidian container are planar rifts oriented on either the XY or ZY plane. Nether portals must be activated with flint and steel, and are stable while undisturbed. Their size varies but they are always rectangular in shape. The lorebook An Unfamiliar Past alludes to the mystery of how nether portals like the one in Parallel Prime Spawn Town were formed.

End portals are 3×3 planar rifts occupying the XZ plane and connecting to the End, occurring exclusively in Stronghold structures. No other XZ-aligned 𝜎-class rifts have been observed.

Spherical Rift

A spherical rift (𝜋-class) is comprised of many individual rift blocks arranged in a spherical shape. Spherical rifts have varying radii and are stable even when disturbed when they reach a sufficient size. Five have so far been observed.

A variant (𝜏-form) was observed in the Otherside Spawn Town. It is a spherical rift that consists of a mixture of nether portal blocks and inert purple and magenta stained glass blocks.

Mechanics

In-game Mechanics of Rifts

When playing in-game, rifts are physical sites where players may access different dimensions. In all cases, players must be physically present in a given area of the rift in order to go to a different dimension. Rifts generally connect to one dimension only, and players are generally able to return to their previous dimension by accessing a corresponding rift in the new dimension. There are some exceptions, however. The Sky Kingdom is accessible by two different dimensions: a π-class rift in Parallel Prime, and a π(τ)-class rift in Otherside. However, players who enter the Sky Kingdom from Parallel Prime are unable to return to Parallel Prime from the π-class rift in the Sky Kingdom. Instead, that rift will return players to the π(τ)-class rift in Otherside.

Theoretical Physics of Rifts

The underlying physics of the rifts in Parallel has been a popular object of speculation since the inception of rifts. Much of the technology researched by the NPCs Niall, Jess, and Lane are derived from applications of the science behind rifts.

At the present there is not enough information obtained to construct a rigorous formalism on the mechanics of rifts. However, with the observations the community has made over the past two years, there are some theories offered. Most of these theories are based on relating the observed characteristics of rifts to their mechanical behavior, such as the geometric size of the rifts, orientation in space, material composition, and color.