Are there any unbundled extended universes that don’t bother with standard containerized units like novels, comic books, or movies? Just a break-bulk curated garden of world-building and narrative fragments? Cc
Neal Stephenson’s Mongoliad project kind of fits the bill. They did a book trilogy to kick it off (written by committee) but then has been all side short form since then. Extended universe was originally planned in public on a website with reader input.
It’s surprisingly good! It’s about 12th century Europe and the Mongol invasion. And then other niches and stories in that milieu. Stephenson and Greg Bear built the core spine then brought in experts for eg period sword fighting and to carry various side stories.