Spec, also known as the Specworld or Otherworld, is, to put the matter simply, a parallel Earth.

For the most part, Spec is exactly like our home timeline (also called Home-Earth or RL).  Both planets orbit their middle-aged, G-class stars at a single astronomical unit, possess seven continents in similar configuration, and a single moon.  Both planets are clothed in a layer of atmosphere (mostly nitrogen and oxygen), and, although RL is rather warmer and more generally chaotic in climate, both have similar global weather.  In short, RL and Spec are virtually the same planet, and in fact were the same planet until quite recently in their geologic histories.

Given the inexactitude of the fossil record, it is difficult to determine exactly when Spec diverged from our Home-Earth.  However, we can be certain of one thing: no asteroid hit the planet 65 million years ago.  While there is a thin layer of volcanic iridium to mark the KT boundary, there is no crater off the coast of Spec's Yucatan, nor the shocked quartz and micro-diamonds spawned by the impact in our home time-line.  As far as anyone can tell, the Chixulab impact, and the subsequent rise of the mammals throughout the Tertiary, failed entirely to occur.

While on Earth, the Tertiary was marked by the ascendance of mammals, on the Specworld, the tectonic activity at the end of the Mesozoic was not quite enough to destroy the dinosaurs.  The mammals did not spread across the land and sea as the largest animals in existence; whole swaths of Mammalia, including dolphins, horses, and humans, failed entirely to evolve.  Instead, the dinosaurs rule, and have for some time.

The story of how humans first came to Spec is an interesting one, but the exact mechanics of the process are outside the scope of this publication and should be addressed elsewhere.  Suffice to say that, now that we have lived on Spec for some little time, have seen the sights and arranged our work into some sort of order, the explorers of Spec now feel the time is appropriate to introduce the public to our new world.

The bestiary of Spec is, in some cases, wildly different from that of Home-Earth.  However, both worlds respond to the same laws of nature.  The study of one will, we are sure, illuminate the other.
 
 
 

(Text by Daniel Bensen)