Planetary and TORG

Moving right along.

A secondary theme in Planetary – and the major theme in TORG – it the multiplicity of realities. Both settings posit an almost infinite number of realities, in which our Earth is only one, although special for various reasons. The Earth of Planetary (that of the original WildStorm Universe, if you want to be picky), is simply another Cosm to be plundered by the High Lords and Darkness Devices of TORG. Or at least, that’s how they see it

Although it is clearly not the same Earth referred to as Core Earth in the TORG books, there’s clearly something special about the Earth of Planetary. In TORG, most worlds are allied to a particular genre. In Planetary, pretty much every genre imaginable exists in one world, each informing and informed by the others.

Of course, some of these genres do cross over Cosms. There are several major instances of this in Planetary.

The first is the creation of Monster Island, which seems to have been a failed cosm invasion from either the Living Land or Tz’Ravok, the home cosm of the Ravagons. Either way, Monster Island alone was transformed into a zone partaking on the characteristics of the invading cosm, now the home of giant monsters from a bygone era.

Another is the repeated incursions from the cosm-gate opened by Hark, Edison and Doc Brass in the Adironacks. (It is possible that the vast computer they created is actually Earth’s Darkness Device, which is otherwise conspicuous by its absence). The cosms seen here are not named in TORG, but appear to belong to a more superheroic genre than any known cosm.

Finally, there is the cosm-portal opened by Randall Dowling in his infamous space flight. The horrific technologies of this briefly glimpsed realm bear a striking resemblance to those of Tharkold, although the identification is not certain. And Dowling’s deal with the High Lord of that realm is a curiously short-sighted one – unless he has another plan.

Because it’s hard to imagine that Dowling would settle for anything less than being the High Lord of Earth. That seems to be the ultimate goal of his quest to learn everything he can – he’s desperately trying to find the Darkness Device of this cosm before the payment for his deal comes due.

Unfortunately for Dowling, he dies without ever finding the Darkness Device – and Snow, who has found the device, is now at liberty to pursue his more peaceful variety of inter-cosm contact.