Time

Time is a progression of instants. This movement is ordinarily perceived by mortals as regular and determinant, functioning much like a clockwork; yet perception does not dictate reality: time is chaotic, always in flux, and completely malleable, flowing like the sands of an hourglass. While there is an infinite number of timeways known as the Sea of Time, according to Myriad, there is only "one true timeline" that dictates existence, although some would have it otherwise, and without the truth of time as it is meant to unfold, the fabric of reality will unravel.

In all known realms of the cosmos, time flows forward, ever forward. Chaotic energies in places like the Maelstrom or the First World can affect how quickly it flows, but it only flows forward. Once an event happens, it cannot be changed. These events and choices, made up of all creatures and forces in the cosmos, join together like a sea, sharing the same reality. Different choices and different possibilities naturally spin off the sea of time like small creeks and estuaries, ebbing and flowing for a while. If these shades of what could have been are left alone, they will eventually dissipate into nothing. If efforts are made to preserve them (or alter them), they can indeed remain in existence indefinitely. They can even be made to feed back into the main "sea"—dead creatures can seemingly "live again," and the past (or future) may literally come back to haunt you. This is not a natural phenomenon, and the inhabitants of the main timeway will often find these experiences to be quite alarming and are relentlessly pursued by Myriad's forces. But the only timeway that has a permanent effect on the cosmos is the main timeway.

Creatures like the Fates, who have command of temporal energy, can see all the countless tributaries of alternate universes and timelines, and they can even move back and forth within the sea to observe the past and the future. If that main flow is disrupted, it could spell doom and disaster. All life in existence depends on time to flow ever forward. Without the surety that the sun will rise and set each day, the seasons would not pass, the cycle of life would become meaningless, and all living creatures would eventually die from being unable to sustain themselves, as the planes began to lose their form... Or this is what is told by the Fates anyway.

When asked, one of their members; Either a static fate or a potential one give the following example for time:

One followed the most common idea of a sequential series of events, while the other was one of predetermined history. They used the comparison between a clock and a hourglass as a metaphor to explain time passing. With a hour glass, all the events in time are there, what order in which they are determined (passing through the neck) is random while the clock is not, but that which we experience and see will appear to be in order, and still have the same outcome either way. Both theories share the idea that nothing people do can change the future, they need only play their part to lead up to it.

## Dangers of Time

### Chronoshock

When a creature moves through or around time, they must make a Fortitude Save equal to (7 + 1 for every week of dilation [1 day equaling 1 week is a single dilation, 1 day equaling 4 weeks is 4 weeks of dilation) though this does not apply to the Material Plane, the Outer Planes, the River of Souls or Demi-Planes attached to stable planes that share their time. A creature with Suspended Chronoessence instead must make a Fortitude Save equal to (7 + 1 for every 4 years of dilation). If you fail this save, you take a point of temporal damage for each week (year) that you moved through.

### Severe Chronoshock

If a creature ages an age category or more in a plane where time moves faster, and then comes back to one of the natural planes they must make an additional Will save equal to the same Fortitude save of Chronoshock or suffer permanent temporal dysphoria.