Slipping into the Scene (CB)

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: Several small forays into this new world leave me with questions and new directions for study that overwhelm what little I learn. Hours spent within the same fragment of what I believe to be a dimensional plane are yielding few results.
:My plan is for a prolonged stay in this pseudo-reality. I have assembled the equipment I may need to keep myself safe and aware of my route of travel. Perhaps I may learn more of the larger picture and might begin to understand its secrets, only the slightest of which I have penetrated.
:: — Opening lines of The Second Journal of Kandalon
Anyone traveling Temporal Prime must understand that there is much unknown about it. Questions arise. How did Temporal Prime come about? Where did the creatures come from? How can linear beings exist outside of their natural time-space? Good questions, but if the chronomancers know, they aren't telling.
Many general aspects, and even some specifics, are common knowledge among those who study the phenomena of Temporal Prime: how to get there and back, the effect of gravity, how to travel through time, the hazards of this pseudo-reality. These are details which are easily discovered through a bit of testing by anyone traveling Temporal Prime.
==Slipping into the Scene==
Travel to Temporal Prime has been referred to as expanding one's consciousness. Since the planes of existence are reflections of this pseudo-reality, Temporal Prime must always be present within any plane, but at a level too basic for linear creatures to comprehend. In theory, instead of traveling to reach Temporal Prime, a character remains at rest and expands his Wisdom to overlay the reality about himself with Temporal Prime. In effect, he mentally forms Temporal Prime around himself.
Timeslip is the normal method of reaching Temporal Prime, but unless you are a chronomancer or know one, it is hard to come by. Chronomancers guard their secrets well, often to the point that it is amazing that they manage to ever trust an apprentice.
Timeslip is relatively weak, only a 2nd-level spell, which suggests that the barrier between reality and Temporal Prime is extremely thin. The spell manipulates the Wisdom of the recipient, making the caster more conscious of the flow of time. It is less like opening a doorway, and more a matter of shifting into a state of higher temporal activity or becoming less linear. If the highest state of temporal activity could be reached by a creature, it would exist much like a time dimensional (see page 94), its consciousness extending through time.
Create slipgate does establish a doorlike channel between reality and Temporal Prime, meaning that stepping across the threshold triggers a timeslip effect. Limited wish can duplicate these effects, and wish should open a channel to the pseudo-reality, but only if used by a chronomancer. Other spells make temporary contact with Temporal Prime, but only these that have been mentioned can actually get characters there and back.
If a magical item's effect is similar to any of the spells mentioned above, it should allow travel between reality and Temporal Prime. Lisker's portal key is the best known of such items. The weir of Kandalon and certain of the weir's gems also allow such travel. There have been rumors that at least one amulet of the planes has a setting for Temporal Prime, but it is unlikely, since travel between planes differs from slipping into Temporal Prime.
The temporal dog (see page 90) can slip between Temporal Prime and reality, but only the time dimensional (see page 94) can transport another being with it, and getting it to cooperate can be difficult. If the characters were inside an extra-dimensional space, such as a portable hole, fastened to a temporal dog, they would find themselves transported to the timestreams attached to that pocket dimension-not too useful.
The final way of traveling to Temporal Prime is the timestorm (see pages 36–37). Where a timestorm springs up, the chance that it takes "riders," and where "riders" are deposited on Temporal Prime are up to the winds of fate (or the DM). These storms are impossible to predict, and they are a one-way ticket. They do not occur on Temporal Prime.
==At the Starting Gate==
When you slip to Temporal Prime the first time, you always seem to be near the middle of the timestream-never dead center, but close. Reasons for this vary, but the truest is that when a creature is able to reach that higher level of temporal activity, it overlays reality with Temporal Prime. In a creature's mind, the center of the world is never too far away from it. That and the basic will to survive, the belief that its life is the most precious, focuses everything around itself.
This doesn't work perfectly, though. Other creatures slip to Temporal Prime, also for their first time, forming the timestream around themselves. A median range occurs that places all slipped creatures close to the same range from middle. Interestingly enough, if an observer on Temporal Prime watches a new creature slip in, the timestream does not rearrange itself to place the creature toward the middle. The dimension has apparently already adjusted the timestream to account for the various slips. A few lifelines can be seen to move-the lines the creature would have affected if it had remained in reality.
==More on Timestream Formations==
﻿Careful deliberation on the mechanics behind the timestream turns up some discrepancies. If the timestream exists outside of linear time, why don't the characters meet themselves in Temporal Prime? Also, if linear time exists at a single point, eventually a chronomancer would be timeslipping to or from every point in a world. How does the timestream arrange for the characters to appear near the middle of the timestream?
It comes back to temporal activity. While the timestream may exist outside of linear time, the character does not. If the character became nonlinear, he would effectively be a time dimensional, and it's unlikely that he could again interact with the known world. So, time still exists on Temporal Prime.
With that in mind, it is understandable that, at any given instant, only a certain number of slips occur-very few, when the total number of chronomancers is considered. The timestream interacts along this limited form of time and shifts very subtly, beyond human detection, to ensure the slips take place closer to center. Though lifelines appear to run a straight course, they actually angle just enough to travel from the middle of the timestream out to the edge and back again. If a character could stand outside of linear time completely (as a dimensional), the lifelines would be seething in the timestream to keep the slippage from reality toward the center.
==Which Way Is Up?==
Temporal Prime is adaptable to the individual, as much of it is governed by perception. Time, air, gravity, distance-all of these normally fixed physical conditions are dependent on the observer. Technically, none of these except time exist on Temporal Prime.
Time Differential. Time exists here in forms never before imagined. This can cause some uncertainty about spell durations, how a character ages, and so on. Remember that any visitors here are still a part of the reality to which they belong; they are merely at a higher state of temporal activity. A round still seems like a round. Spell durations are treated the same, unless noted otherwise in Chapter 6, as are potions and magical item effects. Sleep is still required at normal intervals, as are food and water, and these indicate how much time has passed subjectively.
The amount of game world ("real") time that passes, however, is quite different. Being less linear while on Temporal Prime, characters can accomplish more than those in reality. The differential is about four to one. For every round that passes in reality, four pass on Temporal Prime. This is one of the greatest benefits of being on Temporal Prime. A chronomancer could slip from reality in the middle of a battle, spend four rounds on Temporal Prime fixing himself up (three rounds of drinking healing potions, one round to slip back), and return to reality to find only one combat round has been missed.
So why can't the chronomancer study the lifelines and slip back to reality directly after leaving? Even though the traveler's lifeline ended at the instant he slipped from reality, it continues to grow while the chronomancer spends time on Temporal Prime. This is referred to as a shadow line, and it's created by the ties between the chronomancer's body and his home plane.
This raises a better question. Why can't the chronomancer slip back in time before he left and have two of himself at a time? The material on pages 36–37 focuses on just that, but for now, there is a simple answer. Existing at the same time as yourself, a procedure called doubling a lifeline, is not possible for all intents and purposes. DMs should expect some whining from players over this, but should pay it no mind.
Air. A creature can breathe on Temporal ﻿Prime. Fires can be lit. Aren't these indications of air? Not exactly. It is thought that the medium needed for breathing is present through the creature's link to its reality. In this way, water breathers, oxygen breathers, and nonbreathers could all live together on Temporal Prime. Likewise, the materials needed to build a fire, since they must be brought from reality, retain a link that allows the process to work. Other chemical reactions that require an atmospheric element work similarly.
This effect fades with exposure to Temporal Prime. It is the only condition that operates in this way, and this can cause hardship.
Flammable materials become harder to ignite the longer they're on Temporal Prime. If there for 10 subjective days per pound of material, they cannot be ignited. If taken back to a plane of reality, the materials burn, but if brought back to Temporal Prime before another 10 days (per pound) have passed, they are still non-flammable.
A creature that remains on Temporal Prime for longer than six months discovers that breathing is no longer necessary. If it returns to reality, a -1 is applied to its Constitution for one week. If a full month is spent in reality before slipping back to Temporal Prime, the condition does not repeat for another six months. Otherwise, the condition worsens. After another six months, breathing is lost as an autonomic function. The first round the creature spends in atmosphere, it is helpless while struggling for breath. For the next turn, it can do little but defend itself and work on breathing. A-4 penalty is applied to the creature's Constitution. One point is recovered every month spent in atmosphere. Unless the full four months are spent in atmosphere, the condition relapses immediately.
Gravity and Direction. There are no north, south, east, west on Temporal Prime, since it lacks the normal references. Instead, there are upstream, downstream, and cross-stream—directions referenced to the lifelines and the﻿ flow of the mist-smoke. Cross-stream is a bit vague, since it covers such a wide variety of directions, but a sensible group of adventurers can sort it out by staring downstream and establishing a high, low, left, and right.
A creature that slips to Temporal Prime feels as if normal gravity is acting upon it. Its hair (fur, feathers, and so on) lies flat. Weight seems to rest upon it. Everything seems normal, except for the mist-smoke sky filled with lifelines. About then, it notices that there is no ground beneath that interesting skyscape.
Gravity relies strongly on a creature's perception. Again, it falls back to the fact that the creature is still bound by the physical laws of its home plane. Whatever normal gravity would be for this creature (standard, weightlessness, or the neutral buoyancy of most water creatures), that is what this creature perceives.
There is no changing the strength of the gravitational field, but "down" may be any direction wished. Changing orientation does not mean falling. The creature simply spins slowly until its feet are pointing in the correct direction. The high, low, left, and right assignments could become meaningless if much of this reorientation is done, but it takes a small amount of concentration, so there should be no accidental changes in gravity. Besides, the trail of silver mist all linear creatures leave on Temporal Prime can be used to re-establish a proper orientation should an accident occur.
Gravity applies to each creature on an individual basis and extends to anything carried. An item picked up becomes a part of that creature's field, and weight is acquired accordingly. An item dropped and then picked up by a creature with a different gravitational strength becomes heavier or lighter as the case warrants. Two creatures that contact each other weigh according to their own physical laws concerning personal weight, and the other's laws when being acted upon.
An example: Creature A weighs 50 pounds on its normal plane. Creature B, which comes from a reality where gravity is twice as strong, weighs 100 pounds. In a struggle, they lock embraces and try to lift each other. Creature A still weighs 50 pounds, and its opponent seems to weigh 50 pounds as well. Creature B weighs 100 pounds, and to it, Creature A also weighs 100 pounds because B's stronger gravity is affecting it. In the end, it all balances out, since being from a stronger gravity makes creature B twice as strong.
Distance. There are two ways to measure distance on Temporal Prime, and it is necessary that both be understood. One is subjective the measure of feet, yards, and miles with respect to the creature. The other is objective—a preliminary topic that leads into time travel.
Subjective distances on Temporal Prime do not change. A yard is still a yard. If another creature appears to be 10 yards away, for all intents and purposes, it is. Subjective distance is used for combat range, area of spell effects, and dimensions of an item or creature.
Objective distance can be a difficult concept. It defines distance within the timestream with respect to the plane it corresponds to. If traveling among the lifelines, upstream or downstream, objective distance equates to how many days, months, or years are passing within reality. A character who travels alongside a single lifeline for a day might slip back to reality and find that he is six months into the future, but he is in the same building from which he left. This is because the lifeline belonged to the innkeeper who never left the place. Or, if the lifeline being followed belonged to a traveling merchant, it is still six months into the future, but the character might be halfway around the world.
If traveling cross-stream, objective distance is the measure of true miles passing in reality. The benefit here is not quite as clear. A character could leave reality at noon, travel crossstream for four days on Temporal Prime, slip back to reality and find that only one day has﻿ passed (remember the four-to-one differential) and he has traveled approximately 100 miles. This is not the instantaneous effect of a teleport, and is not nearly as accurate, since the character has no real idea where his path may lead to, but it's not a bad effect for the use of a couple 2nd-level spells.
Visibility. Visibility on Temporal Prime is limited by the mist-smoke to 60 feet inside a timestream, falling to 30 feet in the voids.
Category:Chronomancer Book