Once upon a time there were four worlds. Each existed in their own dimension, separate from each other. Though relative neighbors in the multiverse, none knew any other.

In the first world, an evil wizard sought power, and turned to arcane magic, a dangerous corrupting magic pulled from outside space and time.

He tried to take over his world by force, but four heroes came together and defeated him. . . Before they could strike the final blow, he pulled from his arcane power and tore a hole in the dimensional veil of his planet to escape.

Not knowing what he was doing, he found himself in a higher dimension beyond his understanding, the tear he made mending behind him. The realm was not material, but collapsed into a more comprehensible state in reaction to the presence of his mind. The world was open, all beings consciously connected. The open-mindedness of the world flooded into the wizard, unconsciously dropping knowledge into his mind that had previously been beyond his understanding. The beings discerned a stranger among minds and turned their attention to it, first curiously, then angrily as they felt his darkness. The spirits closed him off from their minds and bore down upon the intruder. The wizard fled, tearing another dimensional hole, using his gained knowledge to flee back to a lower dimensional world.

Reaching his destination, he tried to take over another planet— failed— then another.

At his next failure to grasp control and power, he snapped. A weapon had been used on him that was finally destroying his body. As it burned away, he pulled on all his power, down to his very soul, and called upon knowledge gained from the spirit realm to cast a dying spell. If he couldn’t have these worlds, no one would.

Reaching out with his magic and mind, he tore the dimensional veils between worlds, ripping them to nothing. With no boundary, the worlds were forced to try and occupy the same place in space and time. Such a physical impossibility would destroy them all.

But the Spirit realm was involved, and the Spirits felt responsible for the knowledge the wizard had gained, so they acted at a speed incomprehensible to us. They entangled their world with each of the others, unraveling them and fitting them back together, preserving every life.

Even these higher dimensional beings are not perfect. In prioritizing the preservation of life, they gave secondary attention to the placement of the continents and oceans. Lands ended up mixed and matched, technological cities found themselves next to magical Kingdoms. Some people found themselves in unusual places; villages with half the houses somewhere on the other side of the world. But, despite this jumble, everyone was safe. And that is how Alienus— The Patchwork World— was born.