Could the Alpha Timeline be considered as a sentient being? Kinda like the Genesis Frog but with Time instead of a new universe (Space) like a long sayyy centipede with its main body being the alpha and all the legs being branch offs/doomed timelines
I… guess that’s a metaphor you can use? The alpha timeline is mostly, like, this weird amalgamate of everyone’s wishes, every individual will pushing in different directions and whatnot. To the extent that it’s a physical thing it can arguably be equated with Skaia, also a big cloud of true information.
Mostly it’s evil and poisonous because it’s been twisted into that shape by the immense, overriding will and machinations of Lord English, who bludgeons reality into shape by his very existence (his complex, winding time loop of an existence). It’s unclear which shape reality would have without this will, but probably something more branching and complex.
Metaphoring Lord English as a caterpillar absolutely makes sense and I encourage this. Also useful metaphor for his winding existence: snakes, which are basically caterpillar-shaped anyway.
Other useful metaphors for reality would be trees (with their branches and whatnot) and circulatory systems, with arteries branching off of veins (Aranea actually uses this metaphor once).