So the question remains, what is Herogames' OFFICIAL explanation?

Mr. Long? Mr. Thomas? Are you listening?
We are. My official explanation is I don't want to say anything now that would tie my hands later. It may take a while, but I do want to get around to publishing those other settings at some point. Even if I wanted to delve back into it right now and come up with a quickie quasi-plausible answer I could back off of later, I don't have the time right now -- gotta finish up HC. But I'll see if I can find the time after that.