【 The Wonder 】

The newest Wonder of the world aka The Wonder is a giant mysterious mechanical portal structure found deep under the mountains the town sits on. Its origins are unknown.

【 Exploration & tourism 】

People come from far and wide to see the wonder, but it's mostly locals who actually explore it. They need to pass difficult tests and get certificates. The badges they wear are like ID’s. The job of the explorers is to explore the worlds of The Wonder. They need to bring back information and take objects of interest they find during their travels referred to as Artifacts. They get paid based on the amount of artifacts they retrieve and don’t have strict work hours.

Explorers are divided into parties of usually 4-8 people. Sometimes more, but less than 3 is rare. There is always an assigned team leader. Parties usually have defensive and offensive specialists too. Other common specialties are gathering specialists, mechanic specialists, and for bigger parties usually a secondary leader that acts as the “second in command” kinda in case something happens.

Of course having something so fascinating around gets the town a lot of attention. It is swarmed by tourists. Most tourists come to join excursions. A guide takes a group of people into the wonder and takes them along a predetermined safe route.

【 The Worlds of The Wonder 】

The Wonder has a seemingly infinite amount of dimensions referred to as Worlds. When you first enter The Wonder you will enter a world called the entrance world. It is explored to hell and back and has purely docile Beasts and Creatures. It looks a bit like a wild jungle. Right at the entrance point is a small gathering point usually used for excursions but also used by Parties as a meetup spot. The further you go into The Wonder, the stranger and less natural the worlds become.

To enter other Worlds you will need to basically no-clip. There are what are believed to be some sort of weak points that act as invisible portals. These weak points referred to as pathways are usually behind things or in cracks. It’s not like phasing through the floor or a wall. These pathways are marked by little signs that are visible from each side of the pathway. They are usually color coded by party.

【 The Pocket Dimension 】

The pocket dimension is a world only James has access to unless he drags people in with him. This world consists of an endless tunnel. It has a strange texture to allow wall climbing and has portals showing pathways to all the worlds. The more pathways there are in a spot, the more color the tunnel will have (pinkish) otherwise it's grayish or white.

Nobody really understands what it is and all they know is James is practically stuck there. Very little people know it even exists. James is able to leave, but not with his human appearance. As stated earlier James is the only one able to access this world. He doesn’t need to rely on pathways and can slip in wherever he wants whenever he wants. He can drag people with him if they make physical contact, but when he's gone through there's no way for them to go after him.

【 Artifacts & Clouds 】

Artifacts are strange mechanical objects found all over The Wonder. HQ is incredibly interested in them and they have researchers to study them. They sometimes have mysterious abilities far beyond anyone's mechanical skills. Most of them don’t do anything special though.

Clouds are another type of artifact. They have recently become HQ’s main interest. These Artifacts all look incredibly similar and definitely do something but what is unknown. They have the vague and varying shapes of clouds and emit a dull glow. They're basically impossible to break unless a lot of force is applied. They were first discovered by Sanders when he was little on one of the first excursions.

【 Life inside The Wonder 】

There is both Flora and Fauna inside The Wonder. The fauna is divided into 2: Beasts and creatures. Beasts are the most well known inhabitants. They are usually larger than humans and look “monster-like/ beast-like.” Hostility depends on the world, and not how far you go. There are worlds you can enter from the entrance world that are very dangerous.

Creatures are fauna that aren't classified as Beasts. They are smaller and tend to be docile. Flora and Fauna become rarer the further you go into The Wonder. The Fauna is never humanoid and never reaches the intelligence of a human. They mostly act on instinct and its rare to find fauna with higher intelligence.

Flora are all the plants of course. They can be more sentient and dangerous than real plants, but aren’t that different from plants back on earth.