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The Verse
alt title(s): Verse
The Verse is usually referred to with a show or franchise identifier (such as "Buffyverse", "Whoniverse", "CSI-verse", etc.). It is a crafted combination of setting-elements that define the rules for how the world works and sometimes provides for sharing of characters and continuity across more than one series. A Shared Universe refers to a fictional universe with multiple authors.

In terms of how things work within the universe, the Buffyverse is set up by Mutant Enemy in such a way that Our Vampires Are Different in a (fairly) uniform fashion, and certain characters can move back and forth between shows and refer to events on the other show as if they are in the same world. Such things are often defined in the Universe Bible, the one true repository of canon. These bibles may be condensed to a Universe Compendium, or published as a Universe Concordance. Some universes, the shared variety especially, have a pretty strict and orderly Canon. Others, especially those with many authors, spread across different media and over a long period of time, go all over the place. Most of them reside somewhere in-between.

Many 'verses have a thriving life in Expanded Universe form and spawn books, movies, comics and fanfic. However, these spin-offs may or may not count as Canon.

It is interesting to note that Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction credits Orson Scott Card as the inventor of this term. He, however, says someone simply put the word Enderverse on a book jacket, and Card was credited for it. "The thing is, I hate that word. I didn't coin that word. And yet because it's on the title of a book of mine, my name is attached as if I made it up."

A Shared Universe refers to a fictional universe written by more than just one or two people. Expanded Universe means a kind of secondary canon to the main Canon, in other media. See also the closely related term Canon. See also The Moorcock Effect and Alternate Continuity.

Verse Pages

Examples

  • The universe centered on the CLAMP school
  • The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy, which is more like a multi-media set of alternate continuities.
    • Lampshaded in Mostly Harmless, which explains away all the different continuities by talking about how the universe is just one path through 'The Whole Sort of General Mish Mash', constantly changing position. A similar solution was used by Discworld in Thief of Time.
  • The South Park Universe contains it & Thats My Bush.
  • The Space Ghost Universe contains Space Ghost & Dino Boy, Space Ghost Coast To Coast, Aqua Teen Hunger Force,The Brak Show, Perfect Hair Forever, Harvey Birdman Attorney At Law, & Twelve Ounce Mouse. Maybe a Multiverse. Adult Swim -Verse? Williams Street-Verse?
  • The Fuzzy Door Universe contains Family Guy, American Dad, & The Cleveland Show.
  • The Firefly 'verse (series, movie Serenity, and upcoming MMORPG. Notable for the fact that the characters refer to their own universe as "the 'Verse".) The terms "Jossverse", "Whedonverse" and "ME-verse" (ME = Mutant Enemy, Joss Whedon's production company) have been used to refer to both this and the Buffyverse, despite there being no connection between the two in canon.
    • Oddly enough everything takes place in one really big solar system.
      • According to maps of the 'Verse you can buy, it's actually several systems consisting of a total of five stars.
  • The Duniverse, setting of Dune and its sequels.
  • The Tommy Westphall universe (More properly a multiverse — see Crossover.)
  • The Tenchiverse — home to the Tenchi Universe TV series, Tenchi Muyo GXP and, reportedly, Parallel Trouble Adventure Dual.
  • The universe of Jhonen Vasquez, creator of Invader Zim And Johnny The Homicidal Maniac.
  • The Transformers franchise has an odd sort of 'verse, in that it's a multiverse rather than a universe.
  • An interesting variation on the Verse is found in Matt Groening's animated series The Simpsons and Futurama — each series is fictional within the universe of the other.
  • The laws of physics and various cultures depicted in the Myst games and books is often called the D'niverse (pronounced done-ni-verse) after the most prominent race in the storyline. Technically, it's actually a multiverse, connecting smaller universes called Ages...
  • Robert A. Heinlein had The Future History, a chronology spanning from the 1950s to many centuries into the future. It was written from 1939 to 1987, meaning parts of it were Alternate History by the end. It turned into a multiverse (The World As Myth 'Verse) near the end, with a set of crossovers that brought some of his non-Future History stories into The Verse. (Not to mention crossovers with The Wizard Of Oz, Alice In Wonderland, and all fiction ever written. It got weird.)
  • Stephen King's 'Verse, which spins around The Dark Tower. Almost every novel he has ever written makes some small mention to at least one of his others.
  • The Wotchiverse, setting for the Web Comic The Wotch and it's various derivatives (Cheer!, Triquetra Cats, and possibly Abstract Gender). It is also shown to share continuity with webcomics with different authors (Accidental Centaurs and possibly more).
  • The PG Wodehouse verse in which the gentlemen of the Jeeves, Lord Emsworth and Psmith series know each other, often through the Drones Club.
  • The Order of the Gray Demons, centred on Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Fan Fic Birds of a Feather by Solid Shark. Somewhat notable amongst Fan Fic 'verses for having multiple authors and contradictory accounts.
  • Final Fantasy XII, its sequel Revenant Wings, Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy Tactics Advace and Final Fantasy Tactics A2 (The latter two primarily due to character overlap) and Vagrant Story all take place within the world of Ivalice.
  • "The Compilation of Final Fantasy VII". And Squeenix is trying to emulate that success with the "Fabula Nova Crystallis" project.
    • The above Final Fantasy examples may actually be examples of a multiverse spanning the entire Final Fantasy series, if you subscribe to that theory.
      • Well, given that they're making a PSP game where all the main heroes fight all the main villains, centered around that precise idea...
      • And there is also the ending of the sequel to Final Fantasy IV where the last boss is the Creator goddess who apparently made both the worlds of Final Fantasy I and Final Fantasy IV as well as having the power to summon creatures from the other Nintendo-era FF Games.
      • Don't forget that hints have been dropped by writer Nojima that Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy VII are connected, with the former happening thousands of years after the latter. And these examples haven't even touched on things like the Final Fantasy II and Final Fantasy IV dragoon parallels or Gilgamesh of Final Fantasy V being a dimensional traveler.
      • Oddly, Final Fantasy X-2 seems to imply that the latter happens thousands of years after the former. Either there's a compendium error somewhere or quantum physics is even squishier in the world of Squeenix than aforethought.
  • The Breeniverse, the setting of lonelygirl15, KateModern, LG15: the resistance and numerous spin-offs of uncertain canonicity.
  • Dungeons And Dragons features not just multiple universes (called “Campaign Settings”) but multiple cosmologies… still, the potential for crossover is there (In one of the video games, for example, a group of knights from Dragon Lance end up trapped in the Forgotten Realms, while numerous references to the Planescape setting are made. In fact, part of Planescape's purpose seems to be not just to allow such crossovers, but to say that stranger things can and indeed do happen every day on the planes.)
    • The Spelljammer series of books had characters from one world travelling to others in 'spaceships', and Ravenloft had characters from different 'campaign settings' finding themselves in it's D&D world.
  • David Weber's Honorverse.
  • Larry Niven is noted for two popular settings in particular, Known Space, and The Magic Goes Away. His penchant for co-authors means that many angles on these settings have been written.
    • Niven and co-author Steven Barnes have created at least one distinct Verse together, that of Cowles Industries' Dream Park. The Descent of Anansi is set there, along with the three Dream Park novels and a role-playing game.
  • Tortall, home to (so far) Song of the Lioness, The Immortals, Protector of the Small, Daughter of the Lioness, and Provost's Dog quartet/quartet/quartet/duology/trilogy.
    • The Circle Universe, home to Circle of Magic, The Circle Opens, and Will of the Empress quartet/quartet/book. Ole' Tammy likes her quartets, she does.
  • David Eddings has several:
    • Belgariad Universe, home to The Belgariad, The Malloreon, Belgarath the Sorcerer, and Polgara the Sorceress.
    • Elenium/Tamuli universe, home to (surprise, surprise) The Elenium and The Tamuli.
    • The Dreamers Universe, home to God-knows-what.
  • "Turn A Space" as a way of uniting all Mobile Suit Gundam series preceding Gundam Seed into one continuity. Named after Turn A Gundam, which attempted to do this as a last hurrah for the franchise.
    • The name comes from the supposed original concept of Turn A Gundam, wherein creator Yoshiyuki Tomino intended to unite every anime he had created into a single universe; this is often used in lieu of the original nickname "Turn A Bang" (since Turn A was part of the "Gundam Big Bang Project" of 1999).
    • The "Turn A" in the title describes an inverted "A", the mathematical symbol meaning "For all", used in equations describing statements that apply to every member of a set.
  • There are a group of fans who believe that the Donkey Kong Country, Banjo and Conker series (and even Grabbed by the Ghoulies and Star Fox Adventures) all take place in the same universe, while the Mario games take place in an Alternate Universe that DK sometimes visits. Of course, them never being able to meet again due to DK being Nintendo-owned and Conker/Banjo being Microsoft-owned hasn't stopped them. Banjo and Conker first appeared in Diddy Kong Racing, then Tricky from the same game appeared in Star Fox Adventures, and Banjo's goldfish Roysten appeared in Grabbed By The Ghoulies. Also, there are a few Grabbed By The Ghoulies characters appearing in Viva Pinata, assuming they're all not just expies.
  • Oddly enough, a subversion, inversion, or straight play in a video game, depending on who you ask: Aquaria. In fact, whether or not the Verse is the world around the main character eventually plays something of a major point in the plot. Not really a fandom trope, so much as a nice twist of words, though sooner or later there's bound to be Fan Fic...
  • Holby City- Casualty, Holby City and Holby Blue.
  • The Third Imperium background to the science-fiction role-playing game Traveller.
  • The Pretty Cure multiverse.
  • Robert E. Howard's Conan The Barbarian and King Kull series take place in the same 'verse, with Conan's Hyborian Age forming after the great cataclysm that destroyed Kull's Atlantis. Kull has a guest appearance in the Bran Mak Morn story "Kings of the Night," linking it to Howard's historical stories. In addition, his modern day Conrad & Kirowan horror stories are linked, as Thoth-Amon's Ring of Set makes an appearance in "The Haunter of the Ring." It's arguable that all of Howard's stories occupy the same 'verse.
  • Nippon Ichi's games such as Disgaea all take place in one Universe, one that you actually explore and learn more about in Makai Kingdom and also includes non-demon worlds such as the one sseen in La Pucelle
    • Then again, La Pucelle includes plenty of references to the Netherworld, so...
  • All of Christopher Moore's novels take place within the same universe, with locations and characters (both major and minor) taking on new, often very different roles in other books. This reached a peak during You Suck (itself a sequel to Bloodsucking Fiends), where a scene from A Dirty Job was retold from a different point of view. This is also the first time where a crossover with one of Moore's earlier novels doesn't make sense unless you read the book in question.
  • Oddly enough, the brightly coloured, Hot Blood-filled Super Robot series Gao Gai Gar & its sequels are said to take place in the same world as the twisted Real Robot/horror hybrid series Betterman.
  • The Blameverse of Cyber Punk / Body Horror manga master Tsutomu Nihei. So far consisting of, in rough chronological order:
    • Biomega
    • Noise
    • Blame!
    • Blame^2
    • Netsphere Engineer
  • Strugatsky Brothers' Noon Universe (Мир Полудня)
  • The Warner Bros. Animated Universe, also known as the Looney Tuneiverse (or Looney Tune Land as it was named in Space Jam), is, in the eyes of at least this troper, the home of the characters from Looney Tunes and its spin-offs, as well as those from Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs and Pinky And The Brain, Histeria!, Freakazoid!, and Road Rovers.
  • William Faulkner set most of his works in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County and often crossed over characters, making this Older Than Television.
  • Erich Maria Remarque also did this; characters from All Quiet on the Western Front appear or are referenced in his later works.
  • Bret Easton Ellis's novels. The narrator of Less Than Zero (Clay) appears in The Rules of Attraction. One of the narrators of The Rules of Attraction (Sean Bateman) appears in American Psycho. The narrator of American Psycho (Patrick Bateman) appears in Glamorama. Characters from Less Than Zero, The Rules of Attraction and American Psycho also appear in the short story collection The Informers.
  • While the Cthulhu Mythos is generally defined as an Expanded Universe, the "mythos proper", the elements that HPL (usually set in Lovecraft Country) himself wrote about, constitute a 'verse within the universe. Other writers have there own 'cycles' within it. Lovecraft himself just didn't care about continuity or consistency.
  • Don't forget the two distinct 'verses in the Tales series. The "Destiny" 'verse contains Tales Of Destiny and its direct sequel, Tales Of Destiny 2 (though not Tales Of Eternia). The "Aseria" 'verse contains Tales Of Phantasia, Tales Of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon, Tales Of Phantasia: Summoner's Lineage, Tales Of Symphonia, and Tales Of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World.
  • The main Pokémon games take place in different regions of the same world. This becomes obvious with the presence of two regions in Gold, Silver, and Crystal and references to regions of past games in later games.
  • Jim Butcher's urban fantasy series of books, The Dresden Files, is commonly referred to by fans as the Dresdenverse. So is the TV series of the same name (also referred to as "TV-verse"). Incorporating elements from both the books and the TV series in fanfic is referred to as "comboverse."
  • The Law And Order Verse, home to:
  • Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga is also referred to as the Vorkosiverse.
  • Alias, Lost, Fringe, and Flash Forward all seem to be set in a shared universe, sometimes called the "Abramsverse." Specifically, Charlie Pace's band Drive Shaft have been heard in a party scene on Alias, while on Fringe, a Massive Dynamic embezzler planned to flee on an Oceanic Airlines flight. At least one episode of Flash Forward contains a reference to Oceanic Airlines.
  • The "MUniverse" is the setting of Tales Of MU and its spin-off and side stories. Some readers are not shy about being more interested in the setting's history and cultures than the main storyline. Part of a multiverse, as artifacts lost in a teleport mishap showed up in the author's other stories.
  • Many of the fiction works of Andrew Greeley — including but possibly not limited to the Bishop Blackie, Nuala Anne McGrail and Angel books, plus The God Game — appear to all take place in the same shared universe.
  • The Lord Of The Rings. One of the best realized and most extensive Verses in history.
  • The Elder Scrolls has such a detailed and in-depth verse that it probably comes closest of almost any game to being the video game version of The Lord Of The Rings, when it comes to creating a well fleshed out and realized world.
  • Asmiov's Robot/Empire/Foundation 'verse. Contains nearly everything he ever wrote. And everyone's lost count of how much he wrote.
  • The various serial novels of LessThanThree Comics are all based in the <3-Verse.
  • Several of Sinclair Lewis's novels take place in the fictional state of Winnemac (surrounded by Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana).
  • The Akamatsuverse (aka the Negiverse), which seems to encompass Mahou Sensei Negima, Love Hina, and AI Love You.
  • Image Comics originally tried doing that. The first few issues of their early titles had ContinuityNods to other titles, and there were a few outright crossovers. But as time went on, every Image partner focused on their own titles, creating de-facto sub-universes that had less and less to do with each other. Marc Silvestri's and Jim Lee's titles maintained their connections longer then others, but eventually, even that feel by the wayside.In 1997, Wildstorm Universe, Top Cow Universe and Rob Lielfeld's Extreme Universe were written out of Image Universe via what can be best described as Reverse-Crisis Of Infinite Earths in the Shattered Image mini-series (not to be confused with the more tongue-in-cheek Splitting Image mini-series). Since then, there have been a number of Image crossovers, but each creator was free to decide just how much that counts in their continuity.
  • The Motterverse: Consists of Mr. X, Electropolis and Terminal City, all created by Dean Motter.
  • The Alternate History Sixteen Thirty Two by Eric Flint is often referred to as the 1632-verse, or the Ring Of Fire-verse, to distinguish it from the author's other alternate history series (including 1812).
  • The Humanx Commonwealth, Alan Dean Foster's best known Space Opera setting and home to the Flinx and Pip series of novels.
  • The Sprawl in William Gibson's first trilogy (and possibly his second as well) plus two short stories.
  • The Alien, Predator, Aliens vs Predator franchise is considered one "universe" by FOX, and consists of the movies, novels, comic books, and games.

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