List of fictional universes - Definition and Overview

This is a list of fictional universes, organized by genre, by sub-genre and/or by medium.

Science fiction

Novels and short stories

• Dorsai series of Gordon R. Dickson
• Eight Worlds of John Varley
• Ekumen of Ursula K. LeGuin's Hainian Cycle stories
• Noon Universe of Arkadiy and Boris Strugatski
• Instrumentality of Mankind of Cordwainer Smith
• Known Space of Larry Niven
• Polesotechnic League of Poul Anderson
• Riverworld series of Philip José Farmer
• Sector General series of James White
• Foundation series of Isaac Asimov
• The Culture series of Iain M. Banks
• Roger Zelazny's universe of Amber
• Michael Moorcock's multiverse
• Uplift Universe of David Brin
• World of Tiers of Philip José Farmer

Comic books

• 2000 AD (Judge Dredd et al.)
• The DC Universe
• The Marvel Universe

Television and movies

• Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek universe
• George Lucas' Star Wars universe
• Joss Whedon's Buffyverse and Firefly universe
• J. Michael Straczynski's Babylon 5 universe

Fantasy

Pseudo-medieval fantasy worlds

This is the most common type. Social conditions are modeled on medieval Europe although many stories have numerous gods and goddesses that suggest polytheism. See also High fantasy.

• Aventurien - Das Schwarze Auge
• Discworld - Terry Pratchett
• Earthsea - Ursula K. Le Guin
• Harn - RPG world
• Kelewan - Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar Saga
• Lenfell - Melanie Rawn's Exiles Trilogy
• Middle-earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
• Midkemia - Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar Saga
• Mystara - Dungeons & Dragons
• Narnia - C. S. Lewis
• Prydain - Lloyd Alexander
• Yrth - GURPS Fantasy
• Six Duchies/Jamaillia/Bingtown - Robin Hobb

Planetary Romance

Planets with fantasy trappings and usually magic and/or a pretext why swords and other melee weapons are necessary. Barsoom tales are close runner. Many of the earlier tales were fantasy thinly disguised as science fiction.

• Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
• Darkover - Marion Zimmer Bradley

Multidimensional fantasy worlds

Some stories take place in a series of connected universes (see: multiverse). Noted for this include:

• Roger Zelazny, see Amber (fictional universe)
• Guy Gavriel Kay, see The Fionavar Tapestry
• Everway of the roleplaying game of the same name
• Michael Moorcock, see Eternal Champion
• The Myst games and books, concerning magical books that travel you to other universes.
• The DC Universe depicted in comic books published by DC Comics has had multiple variant versions of the Universe. This concept was effectively eliminated in the series, Crisis on Infinite Earths but was eventually replaced with an equivalent concept called Hypertime.
• The worlds of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series
• CS Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia

Sword and sorcery and heroic fantasy worlds

• Athas - Dark Sun setting, Dungeons & Dragons
• Earthdawn - FASA roleplaying game
• Toril - Forgotten Realms setting, Dungeons & Dragons
• Glorantha, world of RuneQuest, Hero Wars and HeroQuest roleplaying games
• Oerth - Greyhawk setting, Dungeons & Dragons
• Hyborian Age - Conan the Barbarian stories
• Jaconia - Fantasy world of Finnish Graphic artist Petri Hiltunen's comic Praedor
• Krynn - Dragonlance setting, Dungeons & Dragons
• Talislanta of the roleplaying game of the same name
• Tekumel of Empire of the Petal Throne

Other

• Bas-Lag - China Miéville's Perdido Street Station and The Scar, major city New Crobuzon
• Beklan Empire - Richard Adams' Shardik and its sequels
• CLAMP universe, for the various interconnected works of the four-person manga collective
• Discworld of Terry Pratchett, parodies fantasy cliches
• The Dreamlands of H. P. Lovecraft
• Eternia - home to the He-Man and She-Ra series
• Fantasia - Michael Ende's The Neverending Story
• Flatland - Edwin Abbott's Flatland (a two-dimensional world inhabited by geometrical figures)
• Hybernia
• Kingdoms of Elfin - Sylvia Townsend Warner
• Lyonesse - Jack Vance
• The Leijiverse unofficial fan name for the various interconnecting anime/manga works of Leiji Matsumoto
• Neverland - J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan
• Oz - L. Frank Baum
• Viriconium - M. John Harrison
• Witch World - Andre Norton
• The World of Two Moons/Abode - Elfquest

Imaginary universes in literature

• Middle-earth in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien
• Discworld by Terry Pratchett
• Known Space (Ringworld) by Larry Niven
• Arrakis (Dune) by Frank Herbert
• Darkover by Marion Zimmer Bradley
• Trantor by Isaac Asimov
• Wild Cards series edited by George R. R. Martin
• Tlön by Jorge Luis Borges
• The Culture by Iain Banks
• Plainverse by Alexander_Dewdney
• Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott
• Gormenghast in the works of Mervyn Peake

Fictional universes in film and television

• Star Trek by Gene Roddenberry
• Star Wars

Fictional universes in comic books

• DC Universe of DC Comics
• Marvel Universe of Marvel Comics
• Valiant/Acclaim universe
• Image Universe, Wildstorm, Top Cow, and others in Image Comics
• Neverwhere - Richard Corben's Den series

Fictional universes in role-playing games

• Aventurien in Das Schwarze Auge
• Barsaive in Earthdawn
• Calypso in Project Entropia
• various campaign settings for Dungeons & Dragons, such as Greyhawk, Dragonlance, and the Forgotten Realms
• MageKnight universe
• Midgard (role-playing game)
• Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000 universes

See also: List of campaign settings.

Fictional universes in video games

• Arcadia, of Eternal Arcadia/Skies of Arcadia
• Norrath, of Everquest
• Terra/Gaia, of Final Fantasy IX
• Spira, of Final Fantasy X
• Vana'diel, of Final Fantasy XI
• Hyrule, of Legend of Zelda
• Britannia in the Ultima series
• Azeroth, of Warcraft & World of Warcraft
• Quendor of Infocom's Zork series