Catalog of the Weird Parallels

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

If the present won't change from alterations to the past, what makes it actual time travel? ?

Perhaps the past will change the present eventuially. It simply isn;t doing it any faster than normal. Suppose that the time jump for 2026 is back to 1935 i.e. 4 years later after the 2022 jump went to 1931 and the changes from that 1931 are in effect in 1935?

It would raise the stakes enormously as it suggests that all chnges will become real. They just won't propagate through time faster than 1 year per year.

[Flyndaran]

It still seems arguable by the PCs and NPCs if not the players, who of course have access to GM fiat.
But that idea would make time travel a more prevalent theory on WTH is going on.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Perhaps the past will change the present eventuially. It simply isn;t doing it any faster than normal. Suppose that the time jump for 2026 is back to 1935 i.e. 4 years later after the 2022 jump went to 1931 and the changes from that 1931 are in effect in 1935?

It would raise the stakes enormously as it suggests that all chnges will become real. They just won't propagate through time faster than 1 year per year.

It could be the "Past" years are historical echoes which now diverge because of the contact.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

If the present won't change from alterations to the past, what makes it actual time travel? Wouldn't it make more sense as a strange skerry of parallels?

I never said it didn't. I described it from the local point of view.

[Flyndaran]

Rereading, it seems like you strongly implied single timestream time travel, but didn't say anything as concrete as I initially thought.

[PTTG]

Concave is a clunkily named series of worldlines where Earth's habitable surface is the inner face of a planet-sized sphere. They often have some level of mana, but have a great deal of other weird features.

Concave-1 is 40% larger than Earth's radius, and has portals in a number of locations connecting it to subterranean locations on a number of near-echoes. This particular worldline is lit by a vast, red-glowing orb approximately the size of Earth's moon, casting a bloody, dim sunlight on the rocky inner terrain. It has been inhabited by humans for centuries, their societies often a dark reflection of the surface equivalents of their world.

Concave-2 is about earth-sized, and has a smaller, brighter sun. Unlike all other Concave worlds, gravity pulls towards the star at the center, and the cities and societies built in the rock use ingenious engineering to reflect light into gardens and living spaces. Temples include offering spaces whereby ritually purified sacrifices are dropped to the God Below.

Concave-3 has night and day due to the sun brightening and dimming. The surface is mostly indistinguishable from normal surface worlds, and is crowded in thick jungle and towering mountains. There is an incredible diversity of life here, and it is said to be the spawning grounds of several world-jumping beasts.

Concave-4 has no center star, though naturally-occurring luminescent crystals are extremely common, providing islands of light where foliage thrives. The shallow oceans, too, are lit by submerged crystal reefs.

Concave-5 is about 1 AU in radius. Homeline knows virtually nothing about the vast majority of its surface, as all portals and conveyor jumps bring one to a single earth-sized area of the sphere. It is lit by a mysterious, complex phenomenon that is best described as high-energy physics happening in an overwhelmingly magical environment; it casts a blue-green light on the vast shell, shifting occasionally (due to speed-of-light effects, the fluctuations in color and brightness always seem to start at the viewer and spread across the sphere in all directions). Atmospherically, the inner surface of the world is earthlike, at least within the general area Homeline has access to. There are signs of habitation, but nothing younger than 1200 years -- but that might merely mean that locals have left this portion of the sphere as a historical preserve...

Concave-6 is, in contrast, only 25 miles wide. Its portals are proportionately very close together, possibly providing a shortcut to some terrestrial destination. It is inhabited by a very aggressive, isolationist magiocratic state. It's possible to slip by, but difficult. It has about the same area as Delaware, but the mages have built it up dramatically to the point that it houses more than a million people, mainly in six great cities and a densely farmed countryside. It is lit by magical orbs that skim around about a mile above the surface, causing a complicated pattern of light and darkness visible anywhere on that surface. The worldline is dense with gates which the mages sometimes use for conquest and sometimes seal off entirely.

[doctorevilbrain]

When I clicked on 128 or the right arrow, it doesn't do anything.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Rereading, it seems like you strongly implied single timestream time travel, but didn't say anything as concrete as I initially thought.

My fail on the Writing Skill Roll then.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by doctorevilbrain

When I clicked on 128 or the right arrow, it doesn't do anything.

When we have a few more postings this Weirdness will go away.

[Dalillama]

Originally Posted by doctorevilbrain

When I clicked on 128 or the right arrow, it doesn't do anything.

Yeah, that's a glitch the forum does sometimes. There is no 128 yet.