Breach

For the in-game Note called "The Breach", see The Breach (Note).

Description

The Breach refers to a vast, nebulous storm that exists between and links universes together. Though not fully understood, the Breach has proven to be passable, and many individuals have successfully navigated it to enter another universe. However, traveling through the Breach is highly dangerous and, without some form of protection or means of conveyance, such as a Breach Elevator, can be fatal. Though travelers have claimed to be able to see the Breach with the naked eye, the Breach itself may be invisible, and the effect seen in the sky is a jumbled molecular layer — a collection of random, glitch-like particles that fill the gaps where the Breach ends and another universe begins.

Axiom Verge

Long ago, the people of planet Sudra were amenable to aiding travelers in their passage through the Breach using their advanced technology and by manipulating a device called the Breach Attractor. They built an elevator that would allow passage through the breach. However, the Sudrans' descendants over time became more and more religious, less knowledgeable of their own technology, more superstitious, and less amicable towards worlds and sentient species outside their own. As a result, the Sudrans became isolationist, using the Breach Attractor as a barrier to keep outsiders and intruders away and leaving the inhabitants trapped on Sudra. Rusalki cannot approach it, and with the Breach Attractor active can not pass the upper atmosphere. Elsenova mentions during the Power Filter cutscene that "There are two sides to universe - Worldstream and Breach. Breach is like storm - deadly, cannot be pass.". Eventually, the Sudrans lost almost any understanding of what the Breach is, instead perceiving it as a meteorological phenomenon.

Breach is like storm - deadly, cannot be pass.

Axiom Verge 2

In the second game, the Breach is a physical area, rather than just a link between worlds. Indra's drone is able to pass through small gaps in reality to enter the Breach and utilize it to travel between areas.

File:Breach map rkNoltem.webp

The Breach as seen in Axiom Verge 2.

On Kiengir, the Breach is mentioned in several notes as a storm descending from the sky in bursts of fire, or as a great flood overtaking the land. As seen in notes, as well as gameplay, the Breach houses demons known to the Sagiga as Udug. At some point in Kiengir's history, storms opened up in the sky to allow the Udug to pass through the Breach and enter the world of Kiengir. They seemed to be complacent with the Sagiga's presence, but at some point, the Lamassu decided to send the Sagiga to war and vanquish the Udug. After utilizing upstream technology for this purpose, the lattices between worlds began to shift and collide, the Breach slowly descending on the worldstream. This can be seen in the breach portals honored by the Sagiga, put onto pedestals.

It is possible the Sagiga traveled through the Breach, travelling to a place they called Engur, a former home of the Udug. It was described as being a great watery cavern. Given its name, it's possible that this was Absu, a land on Sudra.

Scientific Theories

Athetos theorized that the Breach is a mesh that links adjacent universes, and through his revolutionary development in a new branch of physics, he is able to traverse the Breach, leaving Earth and reaching Sudra on the other side. Athetos Variant 7 further hypothesized that the visual effect of the Breach which can be seen in the upper areas of Kur and Edin is actually invisible and that "a protective field of microscopic elements covering the frayed ends" is being seen.