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World find themselves in the zones, where they are greeted by one of the ambassadors and then sent through a gateway. During this initial transit, the Well World computer transforms the traveler into a member of one of the many races, and sends them on to the associated hexes. From that point, the traveler is treated as a native of that hex. Since the only way to enter/leave Zone is through a Zone Gate, and exiting through any Zone Gate always takes one to their home hex, it is generally impossible for
Southern and Northern races to travel into the other hemisphere. An InterZone Gate allows Northern and Southern ambassadors to travel between opposite Zones, and most materials can be transported via Zone gates, so there is some limited trade between North and South; for example, "universal translators" are grown in a Northern hex, and allow almost all races to communicate, at least within the limits of common ground. A very few instances of travel from North to South (or vice versa) have occurred, but these were exceptional.
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and any device using electricity will not work. Low-tech hexes allow no machines to work, and all effort has to be created by muscles. Even then, there are exceptions; Gedamondas is low-tech, but the
Gedamondans can use naturally occurring steam from their volcanic vents, and the Agitar can electrocute people in any hex, regardless of tech level. Also, while chemical firearms do not, as a general rule, work in nontech hexes, matches and certain kinds of chemical explosives will, although the explosives can be dangerously unstable in nontech hexes. In some of the hexes, however, the Well World computer allows the inhabitants access to limited manipulation of reality, or "magic" (this is most commonly in low- and semi-tech hexes, but high-tech magic hexes have been mentioned). Vehicles that travel from hex to hex need to be equipped with multiple forms of power.
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crystal model of the Well World, but is, in fact, a separate control computer which regulates and stabilizes the Well World itself. This allows the main computer to be shut down and restarted without destroying the Well World. Any person who carries the "Original" pattern is converted into "Markovian" (also "Ancient", "Creator", or "Maker") form to solve design problems, as only this form possesses the capacity, knowledge, and capabilities necessary to interface with the main Brain. Also, any such personnel are recognized during Well processing, and treated as individuals of the race from which they originated. For this reason, Nathan Brazil (and, later, Mavra Chang) is translated to
Glathrial, the home of type 41 (humans), without even being normalized to the Well-specific form.
140:, known as the Markovians, who felt they had reached a dead end in their evolution. The Well World houses a planet-sized, reality-shaping computer that creates an artificial universe layered on top of the much smaller, original Markovian one. The Well World exists within the original Markovian universe, and can only be accessed through gateways on a number of Markovian planets scattered through the artificial universe. The Markovians experimented in species design on the Well World, sending the more successful ones into the new universe to populate one of these planets. By the time of the stories in the series, the Markovians have vanished, leaving behind the Well World, continually maintaining the new universe.
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there is no normal way off the Well World's surface from the hexes to either the original
Markovian or the new artificial universe, every story has to incorporate an "escape from an escape-proof laboratory" of some kind for the characters to interact with the external universe. Furthermore, the nature of the Well World as a set of laboratory environments, whose technology levels and ecosystems are forcibly computer-controlled, limits what can potentially occur therein.
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214:(1955), which would be outside the domain of a science fiction story) or inexplicable "hypertechnology". Rather, they travel under their own power from hex to hex. (With many hexes, it is possible to travel from one border to another in a matter of days, or sometimes weeks.) Since each hex not only has different environments and species—ranging from conventional classical mythological species such as
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The Well World also introduces extra plot elements. Since every person apart from Nathan Brazil, a major protagonist of several of the stories, is transformed into one of the Well World's own 1,560 species by the act of passing through the gateway on a
Markovian world to the Well World, they have to
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The Well World is the planet that houses the Well of Souls, and it exists within the original
Markovian reality. Its surface was used as an experimental site where the Markovians tested their species designs before sending the successful ones into the new universe to populate planets. Humans are one
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The Well World computer also maintains a "tech level" for each of the hexes, making equipment of a higher level simply fail to work. High-tech hexes work as in the "real" universe, allowing any device to work. Semi-tech hexes allow simple machines to work, up to about the level of the steam engine,
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The Well World forces the introduction of two additional plot elements into every story. Since the only routes to the Well World from the outside are the gateways on the now-deserted and forgotten
Markovian planets, every story has to incorporate their rediscovery in some fashion. Similarly, since
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Writer Max P. Belin observes that as a plot device, the Well World has its advantages and disadvantages. It enables the protagonists of the stories to travel "across mountains, grasslands, oceans, deserts, and forests" without the use of any magical means for moving from world to world (such as
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In addition to the hexes, the two polar regions, or "zones" contain maintenance areas, including a series of ambassadorial offices. These can be reached via gateways near the centers of each of the hexes, allowing easy transit from hex to pole for meetings and other duties. Newcomers to the Well
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The books mainly follow a mysterious character known as Nathan Brazil, who has an (initially) unknown connection to the Well World. The books are adventures that follow Brazil and a changing cast of secondary characters through a series of visits to the Well World over a period of hundreds (and
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The
Equatorial Barrier contains six "Avenues" on either side of the barrier; each avenue leads up to the naked barrier. These are the only authorized entry points to the Well of Souls computer which controls and regulates the entire universe. The main control room contains what appears to be a
163:-breathing life. The North is made up of exotic species which are often so alien that no common ground exists between them and the Southern races, and, often, their Northern neighbors as well. Since the Northern hemisphere contains, for example, seas of oxygen,
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hexes through to highly advanced technology that closely resembles outright magic (plus actual Well magic)—and since there are 1,560 of them, the author never need repeat situations and locations through the entire series of books.
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In addition to the Well World, some of the action in the stories, typically the introductions, takes place in the multi-stellar human empire. In the early books this largely controlled by the
Community of Worlds (the "Com"), where
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societies. In later books the
Community has been replaced by the Realm, a confederation of over forty races. In the Watchers at the Well trilogy, the action starts on contemporary Earth long after the reset of the Well Computer.
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of many such designed species who now live in the "real" world. During the time period of the novels, the Well World has been abandoned and left on its own for an unknown length of time.
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The Well World's surface is composed primarily of 1560 large hexagonal regions—called "hexes"—each with an independent and often dramatically different climate and ecosystem, that
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to more esoteric science fiction species such as giant carnivorous insects and mobile plants—but as well a different, fixed, level of allowable technology—from
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known as the Well of Souls that builds reality on top of an underlying one of greater complexity but smaller size. The computer was built by a now-extinct
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Belin, Max P. (1989). "Infinity in your Back Pocket: Pocket Universes and Adjacent Worlds". In Slusser, George Edgar; Rabkin, Eric S. (eds.).
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The series is largely set on a fictional planet named Well World. The Well World was constructed by an ancient
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Jacob, Merle; Apple, Hope (2000). "Chalker, Jack § 240. Well World".
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Langford, David (2005). "Games". In Westfahl, Gary (ed.).
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Series of science fiction novels by Jack L. Chalker
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532:To be continued: an annotated guide to sequels
513:Mindscapes: the geographies of imagined worlds
557:. Vol. 1. Greenwood Publishing Group.
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151:boards used in "hex-and-counter" forms of
581:Twentieth-Century Science-Fiction Writers
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79:Learn how and when to remove this message
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387:(May 1993), Del Rey, trade paperback (
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584:(2nd ed.). St. James Press.
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572:Smith, Curtis C., ed. (1986).
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610:Fiction about artificial life
327:Twilight at the Well of Souls
263:Midnight at the Well of Souls
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645:Fiction about megastructures
630:Novels about virtual reality
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640:Science fiction book series
615:Fiction about shapeshifting
399:Shadow of the Well of Souls
385:Echoes of the Well of Souls
311:The Return of Nathan Brazil
295:Quest for the Well of Souls
279:Exiles at the Well of Souls
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536:Greenwood Publishing Group
401:(February 1994), Del Rey (
359:Ghost of the Well of Souls
346:(December 1999), Del Rey (
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413:Gods of the Well of Souls
343:The Sea is Full of Stars
208:those in C. S. Lewis's
443:Jacob & Apple 2000
247:Well World book series
189:genetically engineered
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211:The Magician's Nephew
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377:Watchers at the Well
159:-based (or similar)
128:millions) of years.
95:Jack Chalker in 2003
620:Fictional computers
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153:tabletop wargaming
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575:"Jack L. Chalker"
415:(1994), Del Rey (
362:(2000), Del Rey (
330:(1980), Del Rey (
314:(1980), Del Rey (
298:(1978), Del Rey (
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69:March 2018
428:Citations
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