Cardinal Break

Known among Paradise Agents and their associates, a **Cardinal Break** is a phenomenon that temporarily causes time to split and become non-linear. This creates parallel timelines, where events may be altered, before the break corrects itself along a new linear, yet altered, course. It is a response to an event which renders the normal continuity of reality impossible, and thus cannot be corrected by timeline management.

The cause usually has its origins in the Fringe Dimension, and is almost certainly attributed to the borders between the Public Dimension and the Fringe Dimension breaking in a catastrophic way, thus altering the Public Dimension unnaturally, across all timelines and possibilities.

Smaller, manageable breaks that ultimately have a minimal, if any, effect in the public dimension are called *Cardinal Fractures*. Fractures are often causes for deja vu or similar phenomena, but are caused by the same circumstances under a much, much less serious proportion.

## Effects

Since the Cardinal Break splits the timeline from the moment the break occurs, it creates parallel timelines stemming from that point. Within those parallels, events may unfold differently, if at all, and new events may be created. There have been some notable cases where the break effects entirely separate timelines, thus creating duplicates of people, objects, locations, or events with different origins than the original.

When the break attempts to reconverge into a singlular timeline, every possibility that happened in the parallels truth, even though they may contradict eachother. This can lead to mass confusion among those in the Public Dimension, who may find history to have suddenly changed or vanished entirely. It can also be cause for sudden pits or surges in economics or population as the break tries to reorder the timeline to a possible format.

## Examples

### Classic Cardinal Event

The first, and possibly most harmless Cardinal Break is called the Classic Cardinal Event, notated as CCE. It effected primarily animals within the Public Dimension, with four in particular facing extreme changes in their populations, and landmarks within the Fringe Dimension. The cause behind this Cardinal Break is believed to be the founding of the Paradise Accosiation, as they were the first to break through the boundaries between dimensions.

* Komodo dragons, originally mythical before the break, became a real species.
* Plesiosaurs, before the break, were rare but very much alive. Their extinction came after the break.
* Peacocks, before the break an endangered species, experienced a population surge after.
* Kongamato were identified in the fossil record before the break, though after faded into myth.
* 12th Landing and 23rd Landing of the Fringe Dimension spontaneously came to be, though needed to be furnished.

To commemorate this event and the species effected, Paradise had built five machines to match those effected, as well as naming them after the four pillars of their organisation.

### Target Event

A lesser, multi-faceted Cardinal Fracture occurred during a robbery at a chain store, where a Paradise Agent was held hostage by an armed robber. Against protocol, the agent tore open the border to flee into the Fringe Dimension, exiting again at a gas station. The robber followed the agent, and pursued the agent through multiple truck stops, gas stations, department stores, and graveyards, leading to these areas being weaker and less resilient than others and thus easier to rupture. Due to this fracture, these areas have a higher incidence of odd happenings even in the current day.

### Ixalen Extinction Event

> *Main Article: Ixalen Extinction Event*
>
>

The Ixalen Extinction Event is shortest yet most damaging Cardinal Break to date. Caused immediately after the war with the Ixalen armies, a blast from the Cardinal Automatons within the Fringe Dimension ruptured through the boundaries of the dimensions, specifically planned to hit Ixal in the Public Dimension. Once the timeline re-converged, some of individuals who were at the source of the blast were found to be duplicated, as well as Ixal rendered uninhabitable.

In this, many places and individuals were effected.

* Francis Wheeler was duplicated twice, with a copy that supports Ixal and one that supports Paradise.
* Terakawa Iwao was duplicated once, with a copy that is part of a cult.
* Rhystel Yinvyre was duplicated once, with a younger copy of himself.
* Tlil'anqui was created.
* Citlal'quimo was created.
* Unity was destroyed.
* The Global Axle was restabilised.
* 23rd Landing was destroyed.
* Ixal was destroyed.