The underlying metaphysics obviously don't line up, but I was assuming something along the lines of "Ami has catapulted hersel(f|ves) clear of the Vale of Dreams into the Far Marches, specifically a Domain reflecting the archetypal Nightmare Of Being Hunted". (It's In Nomine again. The Ethereal (cognitive) realm is divided into the Vale of Dreams, which is where human dreamscapes appear, and the Far Marches, which contains the Domains that are home to Ethereal spirits created and empowered by collective human belief.)
In the old version of the quest, the metaphysics were based on some
wonky stuff from a novel called Schild's Ladder.
We've still gotten no confirmation on whether Schild's Ladder is still a thing in this version of the quest, but bottom line is that it involved using its "Quantum Graph Theory" system as the overriding level of physics, to serve as the metaphorical glue between the different metaphysical systems of Exalted and SMT in order to facilitate the whole crossover (since Exalted's Creation was supposed to be in a wholly separate sub-universe from SMT's Amalaverse, at least in that version of the quest).
The "layers of physics" in that version went as follows (Exalted first, SMT second):
Actual physics (quantum graph theory) -> Shinmaic laws -> Essence -> Primordials, etc. -> Loom of Fate, Creation -> "Humanity".
Actual physics (quantum graph theory) -> planck-scale "lifeforms" -> Magatsuhi -> Kagutsuchi -> Earth -> Humanity?
And now.... here's my current suspicions about the metaphysics of this version of the quest.
Firstly, I'm going to make some assumptions here. The biggest one is that Schild's Ladder no longer applies, or if it does, only applies in such an abstract way as to be functionally irrelevant to the quest (i.e. no observable feat will ever directly touch upon the "Quantum Graph" layer of physics, nothing will ever get in or out of the Novo-Vacuum and if Charas were based on Exoself technology, it has been so long since anyone has ever used that name for it, there's nobody left who knows where it originated from or cares).
.....The reason I think it's safe to make this assumption is because in this version of quest, the Humpty Lock has been referred to as a "divine artefact" in the High Council interlude, with no indication of it being some Exoself-related piece of tech as we saw when Amu's Exaltation Shard communicated with it in the previous quest version.
Second, that the Amala-verse and the Exalted universe are not exactly entirely separate from each other. It might not be a "Novo-Vacuum" that they share, but I assume there is some sort of shared space between them, regardless. I make this assumption because we know the Shard appears to be physically travelling between the Exalted universe and the SMT one - the kind of journey that isn't just ripping a wormhole open, but apparently has a quantifiable movement component to it that takes a measurable (and relatively significant) amount of time.
This throwaway line:
Well, I'm pretty sure the exaltation shard already got trucked! Transit in progress, at least it's got company.
Might've only been a half-serious response to a joke about getting isekai'd, but if the Shard actually needs to hitchhike onboard the truck for any appreciable distance to get to the other world instead of just dying and instantly waking up there, there's a strong implication there exists a shared space that needs to be crossed, which is somewhat further supported by the interludes. The alternative is that God is just taking his sweet time to decide where to send the dead guy to, which I guess is still possible - it could be that Luna really could just snap her fingers and instantly teleport the Shard(s) where it needs to go and is merely waiting for the best time - but on balance of what we've seen so far, I am inclined to think otherwise.
So the 2 sub-universes are in a shared space that can be traversed - and if it's no longer a "Novo-Vacuum", then what's the shared space now?
We got some hints about what it might be in the interlude "In the distance: 0.2":
Beyond the Shinma lies the Outside.
The Outsiders have many names, and many forms. They are proscribed. To acknowledge the Outside is to invite disaster, as the slow fall of Creation has shown time and again. The most powerful among the Outsiders can be contained by the will of the gods and their followers, but the weakest have been known to slip past the watchful eyes of the Shinma and infest Creation with their poison. It was not by their hands that the Primordials became the Yozi, but it was their whispers that led to the battle that created the Wyld.
Two things to note - firstly, in that interlude, everything bounded by the Shinma was refered to as "Creation" and the interlude lumps Wyld into this. However, the Exalted guidebook on Raksha cites 2 things in the Exalted-verse that could be considered "outside Creation". The first is "Pure Wyld"/"Pure Chaos", which is bounded by exactly 1 Shinma (Advaita Iraivan) and none of the others. The other is "Elsewhere"/"Void", which is bounded by no Shinma at all.
So the shared space is either going to be Void or Pure Wyld.
In context, I think it's likely that "Outside" in the interlude here refers to "Pure Wyld" rather than "Void", with the portion of Wyld referred to in that interlude referring solely to the portion of Creation seized by the Balorian Crusade, since it references Outsiders being responsible for the battle that formed it (the Raksha Balor was beyond the boundaries of the Shinma Nirakara prior to the invasion).
Now, that still means the shared space between universes
could be "Void", if it's "outside of Exalted's Outside".
But personally, I don't think it is.
Going back to the previous quest, the differences between the SMT verse and Exalted verse started past the Quantum Graph level, where the Exalted-verse was delineated by the Shinma and the Amala-verse was delineated by "planck-scale-lifeforms". But if Schild's Ladder doesn't exist, neither do any "planck-scale-lifeforms".
So what's the replacement for it here? My first guess would be, it's the "Axiom"/"Great Reason" from SMT4/5 as that's supposed to be the thing all the SMT worlds and beings in the Amala-verse comes from. However, we don't have confirmation that SMT4 is actually canon to this quest. Furthermore, the Axiom sometimes gets conflated with the Great Will and the Great Will itself also conflated with YHVH and Kagutsuchi in SMT3, which was the main SMT entry being used in the last version and probably also this one. YHVH and Kagutsuchi are pretty much straightforward villains - the equivalent of Exalted's Primordials/Yozi - and like them, Kagutsuchi already had his own tier of physics on the previous system below Magatsuhi.
So my second guess that I'm putting my money on is.... it's the Shinma. Again. Maybe a whole different set from the ones used in the Exalted sub-universe. Or maybe just one - Advaita Iraivan. Because the Shard is sure taking its sweet time traveling between universes and Advaita Iraivan governs the concept of time - it literally couldn't be taking time to travel, unless Advaita Iraivan was in effect in the shared space.
Added to that, we've also been given some warnings about breaking the concept of time, which might be more literal than it seems if the only thing keeping the SMT universe in cohesion on the level above Magatsuhi is the one single Shinma of time.
So everything else is only being kept in shape by Magatsuhi and Kagutsuchi. Outside that is "Pure Wyld", known in the Amala-verse as "Makai" or the "Expanse" and demons are literally Raksha by another name.
Which begs the question of what exactly humans in the SMT Amala-verse are, since unlike Exalted humans, they probably weren't created by the Great Will/Kagutsuchi like the Primordials created them in Creation.
My personal guess?
SMT humans are the equivalent of Exalted's Mountain Folk/Dwarves. Ex-Raksha, shackled by Kagutsuchi/Great Will for so long the nature of their existences are now substantially different from the other demons.
Well, unless you happen to be Demi-Fiend, in which case the shackles came off.
