World Compass



The World Compass is a way of describing worlds and mapping them into a multiverse. In Every Heart a Doorway, it's also referred to as the Great Compass as a book title, and Seanan McGuire has referred to it as the Alignment System. In Beneath the Sugar Sky, it's referred to as The Compass.

Description
The compass is explained by Jack Wolcott in Every Heart a Doorway:"'Here in the so-called 'real world', you have north, south, east and west, right? Those don't work for most of the portal worlds we've been able to catalog. So we use other words. Nonsense, Logic, Wickedness and Virtue. There are smaller subdirections, little branches that may or may not go anywhere, but those four are the big ones.' "Whether a world is nonsensical or logical is divided into three parts, described as: Whether a world is wicked or virtuous is described as: Seanan has also said that a world being described as Wicked is more to do with it being dingy than inherently evil.
 * Nonsense 3 = Environment completely pliable and redefinable. Change motivated by personal whim. Near-chaos. Examples include: The Dreaming from Neil Gaiman’s  Sandman.
 * Nonsense 2 = World on the tipping point between fantastical chaos and realistic environments. Examples include: Oz.
 * Nonsense 1 = Reality is pliable through wish fulfillment, but cause and effect actions are still most effective. Examples include: Neverland from the Peter Pan tales.
 * Nonsense/Logic 0 = Stasis, no change occurs in world.
 * Logic 1 = Most things follow rules of cause-and-effect but there is still doubt as to how many things follow rules. Examples include: Lyra Silvertongue's world from  The Golden Compass.
 * Logic 2 = Everything can be explained eventually, but there will always be unique exceptions. Examples include: Our own world!
 * Logic 3 = Everything can be explained, no exceptions to rules. Examples include: Narnia, and most any other world where its god/creator has a direct influence.
 * Virtue 3 = Pure and providential, world provides everything you need. Is in an “ideal” state. Examples include: Narnia once Aslan’s control is restored.
 * Virtue 2 = Overriding harmony in world, active championing of human/being rights, but still threatened. Examples include: L. Frank Baum’s Oz, after the Wicked Witch and Wizard are taken out of power.
 * Virtue 1 = World provides for its denizens but in a limited capacity, passive promotion of human/being rights. Could be seen as only slightly better than our own world. Examples include: UnLunDun, from China Mieville’s book of the same name.
 * Virtue/Wicked 0 = Balance between virtuous and wicked desires, but not harmony. Examples include: The Dreaming from Neil Gaiman’s  Sandman.
 * Wicked 1 = Unbalanced. Passive or secondary limiting of human/being rights. Examples include: Our own world!
 * Wicked 2 = Overriding disharmony. Active limiting of its denizens. “Crapsack World” but livable. Examples include: Narnia when the White Witch is in power.
 * Wicked 3 = Actively malevolent, apocalyptic, near-unredeemable, near-unlivable. Examples include: The Dark Tower.

It should be noted that there are other directions: Seanan McGuire has said that "The alignment system is actually intentionally a little bit blurry because [the characters] are trying to figure it out and unify a system that does not unify, where different worlds will have different applications of the same words and mean different things."
 * Loriel's Webworld is described as high Rhyme and high Linearity.
 * Lundy tells Nancy during her orientation that there are also Whimsy and Wild minor directions.
 * At the end of Every Heart a Doorway, Kade says that they are planning to add Vitus and Mortis as minor directions for worlds connected to the dead.

Doors
Portals to other worlds are referred to as doors, though they can also take the form of mirrors, wishing wells , staircases, towers, gaps between tree roots , etc. In Beneath the Sugar Sky, Kade explains that doors always lead to worlds that suit the traveler, as they were born in the wrong world originally. However, in Every Heart a Doorway, Eleanor offers to take some of the students to her world for safety, proving either that you may suit several worlds or that you can go through doors that aren't yours. Some doors only appear once, some are passed down through generations, and yet others are constant.

The appearance of Doors is very unpredictable. The only particular thing they have in common is that they only appear for children; at the least, the Moors do not summon doors for anybody over eighteen. The exceptions to this are a few documented stable doors, such as the one to Eleanor's World and the mirror that led to the Unnamed Mirror World before it was smashed. Some Doors appear only once, drawn by the need of children who don't belong in their birth world; the doors will belong to worlds that better suit the children and bring them to a place where they can be free. Webworld apparently chooses its inhabitants, and can sometimes hold doors open for children through magic , for about two years and six months. The Lady of the Dead says that she is aware of when the doors to the Halls of the Dead are opened or closed, which is why she was suspicious of Cora, Kade, Christopher, Nadya and Sumi when they arrived.

If a traveler should return to their original world, it is very unlikely they will find their door again. Travellers are usually children, because at a young age, you are more malleable and can adjust to things better.

Types
Different worlds can also be separated by type. The ones we know of are:

Fairylands

 * Prism
 * Webworld

Mirrors
A classification for Nonsense worlds
 * Confection
 * Eleanor's World

Lakes
Underwater worlds
 * Belyyreka
 * Trenches

Underworlds
A type of world connected to the dead, usually Nonsense
 * Halls of the Dead
 * Mariposa
 * Unnamed mirror world

Netherworlds
A type of world connected to the dead

Afterlives
A type of world connected to the dead. Unlike Netherworlds and Underworlds, once you've been to an Afterlife you cannot come back.

Nonsense 1

 * Seraphina's World

Nonsense 2

 * Eleanor's World

Nonsense 3 / High Nonsense

 * Confection
 * Unnamed Mirror World

Logic 2

 * Reality

Logic 3 / High Logic

 * The Moors
 * Prism
 * Goblin Market
 * Halls of the Dead

Unknown value

 * Mariposa

Virtue 2

 * Confection
 * Prism

Virtue 3 / High Virtue

 * Eleanor's World

Wicked 1

 * Reality

Wicked 2

 * Halls of the Dead

Wicked 3 / High Wicked

 * The Moors
 * Goblin Market
 * Seraphina's World

Rhyme 2 / Moderate Rhyme

 * Eleanor's World

Rhyme 3 / High Rhyme

 * Webworld
 * Seraphina's World

Unknown value

 * Mariposa

Linearity 3 / High Linearity

 * Webworld

Trivia

 * The Graphic of the chart was created by Jamie Stafford-Hill.