Hello!
This story is a jumpchain fanfiction that involves a protagonist who goes from setting to setting. Over on Questionable Questing, this story's main posting place and Reddit, there are over sixty chapters (as of the day this is posted; January 6th, 2026), and there have been multiple "Jumps"; stints in a distinct setting that usually (though not always) last a decade. So understanding the very basics of a jumpchain is helpful to maximize your enjoyment of this story.
This auxiliary chapter exists to help explain what a jumpchain is for those unfamiliar with the… subgenre, I suppose. Jumpchains are a subtype of CYOA; Choose Your Own Adventure. One's "Chain" is their entire adventure, all the settings they've visited and stuff they've gained. A jumper is a player character, usually the central protagonist of jumpchain fiction (though snippets that tell a story from the point of view of someone affected by a jumper, or even full stories from the perspective of their companions, exist), the person who goes from setting to setting, acquiring new powers, items, and all that jazz. Oftentimes, a jumper is the in-universe figure who determines where they go on their chain and decides their build. That is not always the case, and it is not the case in this particular jumpchain story.
One of the big ways that a jumpchain CYOA differs from other, non-jumpchain CYOAs is that jumpchain CYOAs (jump-docs) are meant to be compatible with each other and follow a BASIC underlying structure that allows someone who has read a jump document and studied it to be able to predict the basic contents of and make use of other jump documents. A jumper; the player character of a jumpchain, goes from setting to setting, acquiring perks (abilities, knowledge, skills), items, making friends, and gaining new abilities in each setting they visit. When they leave one setting they take their perks, items, and any companions they have attained into whenever they go next. The basic narrative setup is pretty customizable but by default a jumper will spend a decade in a given setting before moving onto having a choice as to whether or not to go home, to stay in the jump forever (or at least until they die), or to keep their chain going and go to another jump.
Many popular franchises have jump documents, with plenty having WAY more than one. Minecraft, Marvel Comics, The Elder Scrolls, and Warhammer (both 40K and Fantasy) have anywhere from 5+ to dozens of different, unique jump documents keyed to specific installments in the franchises they cover, or even different factions within said series. I'll now go ahead and provide a super-simplified summary of some of the terms you can reliably expect to hear in a jumpchain story, such as this one.
Jump document: The real-world CYOA that a player, not a player character, fills out to determine their jumper's origin, perks, and items, as well as the drawbacks a jumper will have to overcome during their time in a given setting. This is the process of creating a build for a jumper using the options outlined in the jump document itself. In plenty of jumpchain stories jump documents are readily available to the jumper and the jumper can even fill them out in-universe. In real life I am a jump document creator and have created over 150 jump documents for a sometimes shockingly varied number of different places. It's worth mentioning that a jumper typically gets whatever their build determines they get from the very second a jump begins, but not everyone does this and plenty of perks and items require training to really get the most out of them.
Jump: this term can have a bunch of meanings but I'll focus on the specific one that is the most relevant for this story. A "Jump" is a stint in a specific setting, governed by a jump document. Jumps typically, though not always, last a decade. If a jump document is meant to keep you in a setting for a different amount of time assume it'll say so. Some drawbacks can keep you in a given jump longer or reduce the length of your stay.
Drawback: A challenge or unpleasant thing of some sort that whoever devises a jumper's build selects for them to have to grapple with during a jump. In exchange for the increased risk or at least unpleasantness of a drawback, the build maker gets extra points to spend on behalf of their jumper. Different drawbacks instill different challenges in a setting with some affecting the jumper directly while others alter the world in some way. Drawbacks have a form of fiat-backing that makes them overcome the fiat-backing of perks, items, etc, though most drawbacks can be triumphed over or at least endured. Different drawbacks give out different numbers of points proportional to the risk associated with the drawback. Drawbacks, with very very few exceptions, do not persist across jumps and those that do say so ahead of time and in their descriptions.
Fiat backing: A special property that allows certain things from a jump document to become a permanent part of a jumper and persist across jumps. This term is most often associated with perks and items, but it also applies to alt-forms and the abilities of said alt-forms. Typically this property is associated with choice points and it is generally said that things you spend choice points on get fiat-backing.
Origin: the given background of your entry point into a world at the very start of your time in a jump. This can have a lot of different, complex parts, but basically an origin is an identity of some sort. Some jumps offer a jumper the chance to enter as a "Drop-In"; someone who is just inserted into a setting with only what they have from past jumps AND their current builds, so no new names, no new memories, no identifying papers (unless you'd have those as a part of an item, perk, or what have you), etc. SOME origins offer a jumper a whole new identity, with new connections, new memories, a whole lifetime as someone else, and some origins given a jumper an entirely new species. And that's where stuff gets weirder.
Alt-Form: Short for "Alternate form", this is a complex topic in jumpchain communities and fiction. I'm gonna give you my rundown of this term and it's how it is used in this story. Plenty of jumps involve settings wherein significant non-human characters exist, such as jumps that send you to the multiverses of DC or Marvel where both sapient aliens and sapient earthly non-human characters exist. In those jumps it is often possible to select an origin, or sometimes even a perk, that makes you non-human for the duration of the jump.
For the duration of the jump your main form is that of the origin or perk you selected, such as going to DC and picking up a Kryptonian origin. You can still, barring drawbacks that lock you to a form, become human//become whatever other species/things you have gained access to over the course of your chain, allowing you to bypass a Kryptonian's weakness to Kryptonite by becoming a human and going and throwing the Kryptonite away. You can also go back and forth between forms freely, which can be very handy.
Continuing to use the Kryptonian example, in future jumps you retain access to your Kryptonian nature but you have to equip it to gain the benefits of it. Perks for mixing alt-form abilities and properties exist, but by default you can only have one alt-form equipped at a time and swapping between them takes a few moments of undisturbed concentration and will. By default you have the powers and abilities of whatever alt-form you have on at any given time, as well as the weaknesses. Alt-forms for everything from Pokémon to Saiyans to ghosts to Viltrumites exist, but generally speaking you have to go to the jumps SOMEHOW to acquire those forms. Typically speaking if you gain an alt-form you gain all of the powers tied to that species without any need for further purchases, allowing you to fly if you become a DC Tamaranean, at least while you have your Tamaranean form equipped.
Perks: One of the most important things that a jumper attains in every jump are their perks. Perks are knowledge, skills, and abilities that a jumper purchases in exchange for points or acquires through the completion of scenarios. Perks have fiat-backing; a property that ensures they work in future jumps regardless of the local metaphysics of wherever a jumper happens to be. This means that a jumper who has super strength via a perk can rely on that super strength in future jumps even in mundane worlds where no one is known to have superpowers. A jumper with fiat-backed access to 5e magic can use said magic in future worlds, taking the spells of a 5e wizard and using them even in the world of The Simpsons, The Elder Scrolls, or what have you. A character with fiat-backed access to Harry Potter magic would be able to visit the world of Modern Family and still use the Harry Potter magic they acquired without difficulty, barring something like a lockout drawback (drawbacks have their own form of fiat-backing, a form that trumps perks and items, and lockout drawbacks lock away one's powers, items, what have you, but barring those kinds of drawbacks you always have access to perks and the like). Perks do not have to be superpowers and can instead be things like "You're a little bit more lucky than most" or "You never have to worry about homework again". Perks and items should both be thematically appropriate to a given setting and typically are.
Items: Items in a jumpchain context don't refer to any old stuff you can find laying around on the floor but items that are for sale in a jump document (or acquirable via the completion of scenarios). Items have fiat-backing, ensuring they'll work as described within future settings within some degree of reason. For example a robotics factory you purchase with points will have the stuff needed to work in future settings but may lack raw materials until you supply them. Examples of items you can find in jump documents include things like the Harry Potter/Wizarding World series' Deathly Hallows, or a Pokemon Master Ball. Fiat backing for items also typically includes clauses that if you lose something it'll reappear in a safe place eventually, and stuff like self-repair from damage, as well as the ability to import similar items into new items to enhance something and give it the properties of the item that you purchased with points or otherwise gained via scenarios (you can acquire an enchanted sword in Skyrim and go to the Legend of Zelda and purchase the Master Sword, and then fuse them to have one cooler sword rather than two, a single sword that retains the properties of both swords), but these clauses are not guaranteed to appear in every jump document and should not be assumed to be universal.
Scenarios: Jumps are extremely freeform. A jumper, by default, just has to survive in a given setting for the amount of time that their benefactor; the creature or force that has sent them on their chain, wants them to survive for. Scenarios are missions that a jumper can undertake and that offer some sort of cool reward for completing them, usually in the form of points, perks, items, or companions, though other prizes can be acquired this way as well. It's not uncommon for a scenario to take the form of a series' plot, the main quest of a video game, or the like, though plenty of scenarios are unique. Scenarios are written out in detail in a jump document or in a scenario supplement. Some scenarios are not linked to particular jumps, but rather to a series and thus can be completed by anyone in a given setting on the right circumstances (such as entering a setting when the events of the scenario take place and simply going to the part of the setting where the scenario happens). Scenario rewards are typically considered fiat-backed by default.