The Building Blocks (CB)

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To truly understand Temporal Prime, one must first understand linear existence and the way in which linear organisms are represented in this pseudo-reality.
==Linear Existence==
Born at point A and dying at point Z, living organisms experience every point in between as a separate event. Shrink the points down to the smallest observable unit, and still no two points ever occur simultaneously.
Now consider an inanimate object, such as a rock, which does not observe its environment. It may be eroded by the weather, moved by a passing animal, and fall into a stream with other rocks and help divert the stream's course. These events can be established as different points in the rock's existence. Therefore, an inanimate object also interacts with its environment in a linear fashion.
This creates the basis for motion. Any form at rest with its environment still progresses through linear time. If looked at from the reverse view, time flows past the form in a single direction. This motion is one current in the stream of time.
A timestream is developed from an endless number of these currents, some stronger than others, and the way these currents interact with each other. The main difference between living and inanimate forms is that life deliberately acts upon its environment, while lifeless matter is acted upon. A plant has a limited form of intelligence that drives it to extend roots and seek nutrients in the soil. A creature operates on instinct and cunning, other times with logic and reason, to decide where to hunt, how to hunt, and what to hunt. In either case, an event has occurred and time is altered downstream. Possibly, in the case of the creature that just hunted down a less intelligent creature for food, time has been altered for more than one lifeform. This ability to make decisions and influence other lifeforms, other currents, makes living organisms important variables in time-space.
At a higher level, consider a humanoid creature born at point A who becomes powerful. At point V, this humanoid dies, but the current does not immediately dissipate. Through others with whom this being has left an impression, the humanoid's influence is still felt a hand reaching from beyond the grave to interact with the living. The current, and therefore time, has momentum that drives it beyond the humanoid's death.
At point Z, the current dissipates. The direct influence of the humanoid is no longer felt (the dissipation takes longer with those who make stronger impressions), but its driving force has added strength to those about it. The momentum has not been lost but spread among nearby currents. The stream's overall momentum builds toward infinity in this way, downstream currents shaped by the upstream ones. This temporal force is what people call destiny. It does not remove free will from any creature, but it resists radical changes to the flow of time-space. If the child of a peasant wished to follow a political life, that child would encounter heavy resistance. It might seem to come from those nearby, but it is the driving force of time, its momentum, that is the underlying cause.
Motion, current, momentum-these are the basics of the linear temporal existence of most lifeforms, laws that govern the planes of reality, as does gravity. These basics also shape the physical existence of Temporal Prime.
==Physical Traces==
With a basic idea as to the mechanics of interaction between time and linear organisms, the next step is understanding the representation of linear life on Temporal Prime.
As any lifeform moves through reality, the temporal current sweeping around it marks a physical trail on Temporal Prime. This is similar to a worm burrowing through the earth; however, the entire wormhole is present from start to finish, and the worm moves along it. The worm has had free choice of which turns to make, but on Temporal Prime, all of these decisions exist at once, so the trail looks completely formed. These trails are known as lifelines, and their characteristics approximate the importance of that lifeform to time-space.
Lifelines appear as cablelike lengths from a quarter-inch to several inches thick. Thickness represents the elevation of the lifeform above others, separating general groups by their potential for greater influence. Humanoids and the more intelligent or dangerous creatures, for example, leave some of the thickest lifelines, while the lines of domestic animals are thin. Plant life leaves the thinnest lines of all. In fact, these lines usually have no substance to them. Called ghostlines, they are distinguished by a hazy edge and can be passed ﻿through without disrupting them. It takes a very important plant, such as one that prevents a person from starving, to have a line of substance. There are no documented cases of a humanoid having a ghostline until after death. The ghostline exists for as long as the humanoid's momentum affects others. It grows thinner as the momentum spreads its driving force to nearby lifelines, finally disappearing as all its momentum is transferred.
Lifelines range from a normal pale silver, almost translucent, to a rare bright silver. This indicates the importance of the individual organism at that particular time. A common peasant might have a pale lifeline for most of her life, but it can run bright silver at certain points. She might think up a better design for a harness or walk within 20 feet of the emperor. The new harness might never be invented, or she might not say anything of consequence to the emperor, but the potential still exists, even if not acted upon. By contrast, a king would probably have a brighter line his entire life, since the slightest event could inspire him to great changes. By definition, a person who travels Temporal Prime is important to time-space-because of the changes they could make and always has a thick, bright silver line.
Chronomancers use these telltale signs to know where the action is.
Category:Chronomancer Book