Multiverse

When I was a kid, I loved those crossover episodes of TV shows where a character in one show would turn up on another show one week, and then the other character would return the favor the following week. The characters would have to work together to solve a two-episode plot. My favorite was the Magnum PI/Murder She Wrote crossover where Thomas Magnum showed up in Cabot Cove and Jessica Fletcher went to Hawaii.

Because of that, I’ve always wanted characters in my stories to bump into each other. Would they get along? Would they work together? Would there be friction?

As I write, I can see in my head the eye roll that a superspy Kenna Wolfesdaughter would give an analytical writer like Jo Lee Reilly. Talk about a pantser vs. a plotter. My stories take place in completely different universes with completely different evolution, history, and rules. Mashing those rules up with fusion is my passion.

But how does the Multiverse of Fusion work?

Enter the Cosmic Dragon – Uchu no Ryu. Every one of the dragon’s scales holds a universe, and where those scales touch or rub together, one might find a door from one to the other. On a scale where one of the civilizations has developed dimensional bridge technology or high magic, one might cross many scales at once.

OK. Great. But what does the dragon look like? If he’s a legend across all the worlds, he needs to be consistent, and show up in architecture and works of art across my stories.

I didn’t want a destructive dragon or a dragon with wings like Smaug or Vermithrax, so I went a different direction. Dragons of the east sing to me, and they often hold a pearl of wisdom in one claw.

I liked the idea of Uchu no Ryu being the Guardian of Knowledge and Wisdom. And the idea of unique architecture. putting the two together, I did a mosaic of the Triumvirate Council Hall in the Port Liberty Mysteries universe. Not bad for a first depiction!