Policy Manual

Policy Manual

Department of Other Realities. Applicable to all Branches and all personnel in the field.

1Purpose and Authority

1.1The Department of Other Realities exists for the discovery, documentation and scientific study of realities other than its own.

1.2A reality is assessed for suitability over a defined period. The standard period is ninety days.

1.3A Branch is established in a reality once contact is confirmed and a Traveler’s assessment has been accepted.

1.4All Branch activity is conducted under the authority of Earth-1. A Branch may interpret the provisions of this Manual as local conditions require. No Branch may suspend them.

2Conduct in Host Realities

2.1All personnel assigned to a Branch, of whatever origin, are guests in a reality that did not invite them. Conduct follows from this.

2.2Personnel do not change the course of a host reality. Where the work cannot proceed without changing something, change as little as possible and record what was changed.

2.3Personnel do not form personal relationships with inhabitants of a host reality.

2.4Uninvited intervention introduces instability at the core of a reality. Such instability is not reliably reversible.

3Standards of Record

3.1Record what is present, not what was expected. A finding that contradicts the Department remains a finding.

3.2Nothing observed is too ordinary to be recorded. Significance is determined at Earth-1, not in the field.

3.3Where a reality’s account of itself conflicts with the record, both are retained.

4Submissions and Disclosure

4.1Under Protocol: ROOT, the public of a host reality may submit observations directly to a Branch.

4.2Every submission is read in full by an Intake Officer, who may approve it for the Live Catalog or deny it. A denial requires the agreement of no fewer than three Intake Officers.

4.3A submission is assessed on what it records, not on who recorded it.

4.4Questions from the public are answered where answering does not compromise an active assessment.