First Referenced:
'I was told that everyone I'd served with in the military died shortly after I left. (Part 5)'
The Branch Worlds are parallel realities, which appear to have been derived from and grown by the Brownshirts while assisting The First World in building the fortifications of the Inner Shield and Outer Shield. These realities serve to disperse forces exerted on the two shields and provide structural support, similar to the supporting structures within any typical building.
The Branch Worlds are classified as being read-only, and little is known about the Branch Worlds, other than that they also contain smaller variants of the vast machinery required to generate and maintain the two shields. Heath is able to read information from the systems within such realities which has shown that the inhabitants are relatively safe from The Crushing Fist and its effects, however he was unable to project information into these realities.
Since his connection to the Capital Temple, Heath has been able to establish links to the various Branch Worlds.
Since the destruction of The First World, many of the Branch Worlds (such as Amber Five) has suffered damage to the shielding that ensured they remained read-only. As a result, electromagnetic radiation (radio waves) have begun leaking out, signifying that contact is possible, and transit to the realities within the shields is now also be possible.
Cristina Thompson, Alek and an army of duplicated Noah Fulmers successfully accessed the ten Branch Worlds, where Cristina sought to use their shield generators to rejuvenate the Outer Shield. After determining the true nature of The Crushing Fist, Cristina then ejected the Branch Worlds from within the primary Outer Shield, saving the realities within the Outer Shield at the cost of the Branch World realities and those living within them.