The Boring Bits - Everything you need to know about this odd place.
Here comes the most delightfully patchy conglomeration of the ideas in my head. Do sit back, grab some
popcorn/sweets/ship's biscuit and enjoy the show.
About The People:
You may have noticed some of my characters seem to be able to time travel. Like how that 1917 Russian
can happily complain about the whole Russia vs Germany disputes like he lived 'till the Second World War.
This is all due to the fact that the majority of my characters belong to a fictional race called the Avang'racht,
or as they much prefer to be called, the Timekeepers. Consider them an improved version of humans, if you
like. Not aliens like that BBC Time Lord nonsense. They really dislike being compared to fiction...
Proper Time Travel:
Contrary to popular belief, you don't need a little blue box or a machine that requires the same energy input
as the Large Hadron Collider to travel through time and space. Well, you might, but my Timekeepers certainly
don't. They don't lead linear lives like normal people, but rather exist in a state of movement and change, much
like time itself. This is why they never quite die, which I'll go on to explain later. Since they are so in tune with
time and it's relative dimensions, they are quite able to move through the odd mess that is reality. Most of the
time, they travel through Doors, which are exactly that - a door in time and space. Imagine opening the door to
your bathroom and being able to step out into wherever and whenever you want. Now make that door of yours
invisible. That's exactly how my charries can get around! However, this is quite taxing, and requires a great
deal of experience and concentration. Imagine getting hold of the wrong thread of reality and ending up in the
Somme instead of Cardiff 1977!
Weigh Anchor:
OMG time travel! That means they can visit the future, right? Nope. Since time is such a fiddly thing, and
Timekeepers are quite fiddly as well, they've got to have one set timeline to follow and hold onto, so to
speak. This ensures that they can instinctively judge their movements based on fixed points, so as not
to get lost in the shifting mess of parallel universes where Canada rules the world. This fixed reality
happens to be ours - right now 2015. This timeline is described as the Anchor, from the beginning of the
universe to this second. Any year within the anchor timeline is written as [yy/mm/dd/hh:hh]^Á (stands for
ártztagh - anchor). So the fifth of May 2013 at seven forty-three pm would be [2013/05/05/19:43]^Á. I never
ever use this system, it's just cool to come up with. Since the Timekeepers lives and island are directly linked
to this reality, they can never travel into our future, making it way easier for me to deal with.
But It's All Fiction:
Of course! But I value imagination far above accuracy (though that's pretty high up too). My fictional world
recognises other fictional worlds, in a thing called The Literary Shift, or just Shifts for short. This doesn't apply
only to literature - any person's published works are fair game. In my character's world, the human imagination
is far more powerful than one might think, capable of creating entire universes and timelines all as the result of
a shared idea. Memories and thoughts fuel the Shifts - a forgotten world is as good as no world at all, and will
simply die out. Think of it like a tree: the anchor timeline as the trunk, and below it all the roots are the parallel
universes that crop up randomly. The canopy is the multitude of imaginings coming from the anchor timeline.
The same way that roots don't grow leaves and vice versa, a Shift will never create a parallel, and a parallel will
never make a Shift.
If yore having trouble with this, that's fine! I'm a crazy person, and I have crazy thoughts. Just imagine one of my
Timekeepers stepping through a door into the Dr Who universe, and telling that Time Lord just how daft his notion
of zooming through time in a phone box really is.
Complicated Stuff:
So basically, my Timekeepers never die (yay!) They are connected to time itself, which continues for all eternity
(hopefully) Though they're a little harder than normal humans, they can be 'killed' in the usual conventional ways.
The only difference is that the body will disappear after a day or so, and the Timekeeper will pop up someplace and
sometime random, all good as new and ready to head back home. There is a a set number of Timekeepers supposedly
in existence, but nobody quite knows what this number is. They are never born to two Timekeeper parents - actually,
they can't have children at all. Timekeepers are born to normal human parents and in a completely different parallel
universe, and lead a normal life right up to their 'death,' when they are forced into the true reality. It is believed that a
Timekeeper's soul travels through all eternities and realities before choosing a moment to become physical in form.
The parallel universe in which they were born is destroyed at the moment of their death, since it was only by their
power it was created. Timekeepers don't know how or why they make an entirely new universe to bring themselves up
in. It's just one of those things, I suppose. Unfortunately, this means they have to learn everything about the Anchor
timeline which is most likely a completely different history to the one they experienced. It's also rather sad to find out
your entire life and all your friends now don't exist :c
Oh Noes, I've Met My Past Self!
All this time travel business - won't it cause some serious problems if you just go back in time and mess up everything?
For you as a normal person, it probably would. For Timekeepers, they could go and have tea with King George III if they
so pleased, and they're would be no mention of it ever. This is because no matter what they do, time comes behind them
and basically erases their presence. Of course, sometimes things are left behind, but for the most part, they can never
actually be in two places at once. You might say they live only in the present. Now, if a Timekeeper were to take a normal
person like you to meet yourself, there would be a problem. This is called an Inversion, where a complex issue or a paradox
is formed. These have varying level of severity, with an Inversion of the First Degree being the most trivial of things, and an
Inversion of the Twelfth Degree being the worst.
And Then The Anomalies:
Home, Sweet Home:
No, We're a Colony:
Short explanation here! Why is my island a British Overseas Territory you ask? Surely the Timekeeper's want
independence? The answer is simple; I live in a BOT, and I'm proud to be a part of it. So sassy nationalistic
prats better deal with it.
Here's a better one that's not so selfish: The Timekeepers want protection and surety in their lives. It's far better
to visit a country and hand over a real(ish) passport than bluff your way through it and somehow trying to convince
everyone you're from an island that doesn't quite exist within their reality. Britain didn't conquer/discover them, in
fact Eswitch bullied itself into the Empire. The USA wasn't an option due to distance, and European countries like
Germany were just... well, too unstable, for lack of a better word.
popcorn/sweets/ship's biscuit and enjoy the show.
About The People:
You may have noticed some of my characters seem to be able to time travel. Like how that 1917 Russian
can happily complain about the whole Russia vs Germany disputes like he lived 'till the Second World War.
This is all due to the fact that the majority of my characters belong to a fictional race called the Avang'racht,
or as they much prefer to be called, the Timekeepers. Consider them an improved version of humans, if you
like. Not aliens like that BBC Time Lord nonsense. They really dislike being compared to fiction...
Proper Time Travel:
Contrary to popular belief, you don't need a little blue box or a machine that requires the same energy input
as the Large Hadron Collider to travel through time and space. Well, you might, but my Timekeepers certainly
don't. They don't lead linear lives like normal people, but rather exist in a state of movement and change, much
like time itself. This is why they never quite die, which I'll go on to explain later. Since they are so in tune with
time and it's relative dimensions, they are quite able to move through the odd mess that is reality. Most of the
time, they travel through Doors, which are exactly that - a door in time and space. Imagine opening the door to
your bathroom and being able to step out into wherever and whenever you want. Now make that door of yours
invisible. That's exactly how my charries can get around! However, this is quite taxing, and requires a great
deal of experience and concentration. Imagine getting hold of the wrong thread of reality and ending up in the
Somme instead of Cardiff 1977!
Weigh Anchor:
OMG time travel! That means they can visit the future, right? Nope. Since time is such a fiddly thing, and
Timekeepers are quite fiddly as well, they've got to have one set timeline to follow and hold onto, so to
speak. This ensures that they can instinctively judge their movements based on fixed points, so as not
to get lost in the shifting mess of parallel universes where Canada rules the world. This fixed reality
happens to be ours - right now 2015. This timeline is described as the Anchor, from the beginning of the
universe to this second. Any year within the anchor timeline is written as [yy/mm/dd/hh:hh]^Á (stands for
ártztagh - anchor). So the fifth of May 2013 at seven forty-three pm would be [2013/05/05/19:43]^Á. I never
ever use this system, it's just cool to come up with. Since the Timekeepers lives and island are directly linked
to this reality, they can never travel into our future, making it way easier for me to deal with.
But It's All Fiction:
Of course! But I value imagination far above accuracy (though that's pretty high up too). My fictional world
recognises other fictional worlds, in a thing called The Literary Shift, or just Shifts for short. This doesn't apply
only to literature - any person's published works are fair game. In my character's world, the human imagination
is far more powerful than one might think, capable of creating entire universes and timelines all as the result of
a shared idea. Memories and thoughts fuel the Shifts - a forgotten world is as good as no world at all, and will
simply die out. Think of it like a tree: the anchor timeline as the trunk, and below it all the roots are the parallel
universes that crop up randomly. The canopy is the multitude of imaginings coming from the anchor timeline.
The same way that roots don't grow leaves and vice versa, a Shift will never create a parallel, and a parallel will
never make a Shift.
If yore having trouble with this, that's fine! I'm a crazy person, and I have crazy thoughts. Just imagine one of my
Timekeepers stepping through a door into the Dr Who universe, and telling that Time Lord just how daft his notion
of zooming through time in a phone box really is.
Complicated Stuff:
So basically, my Timekeepers never die (yay!) They are connected to time itself, which continues for all eternity
(hopefully) Though they're a little harder than normal humans, they can be 'killed' in the usual conventional ways.
The only difference is that the body will disappear after a day or so, and the Timekeeper will pop up someplace and
sometime random, all good as new and ready to head back home. There is a a set number of Timekeepers supposedly
in existence, but nobody quite knows what this number is. They are never born to two Timekeeper parents - actually,
they can't have children at all. Timekeepers are born to normal human parents and in a completely different parallel
universe, and lead a normal life right up to their 'death,' when they are forced into the true reality. It is believed that a
Timekeeper's soul travels through all eternities and realities before choosing a moment to become physical in form.
The parallel universe in which they were born is destroyed at the moment of their death, since it was only by their
power it was created. Timekeepers don't know how or why they make an entirely new universe to bring themselves up
in. It's just one of those things, I suppose. Unfortunately, this means they have to learn everything about the Anchor
timeline which is most likely a completely different history to the one they experienced. It's also rather sad to find out
your entire life and all your friends now don't exist :c
Oh Noes, I've Met My Past Self!
All this time travel business - won't it cause some serious problems if you just go back in time and mess up everything?
For you as a normal person, it probably would. For Timekeepers, they could go and have tea with King George III if they
so pleased, and they're would be no mention of it ever. This is because no matter what they do, time comes behind them
and basically erases their presence. Of course, sometimes things are left behind, but for the most part, they can never
actually be in two places at once. You might say they live only in the present. Now, if a Timekeeper were to take a normal
person like you to meet yourself, there would be a problem. This is called an Inversion, where a complex issue or a paradox
is formed. These have varying level of severity, with an Inversion of the First Degree being the most trivial of things, and an
Inversion of the Twelfth Degree being the worst.
And Then The Anomalies:
Home, Sweet Home:
No, We're a Colony:
Short explanation here! Why is my island a British Overseas Territory you ask? Surely the Timekeeper's want
independence? The answer is simple; I live in a BOT, and I'm proud to be a part of it. So sassy nationalistic
prats better deal with it.
Here's a better one that's not so selfish: The Timekeepers want protection and surety in their lives. It's far better
to visit a country and hand over a real(ish) passport than bluff your way through it and somehow trying to convince
everyone you're from an island that doesn't quite exist within their reality. Britain didn't conquer/discover them, in
fact Eswitch bullied itself into the Empire. The USA wasn't an option due to distance, and European countries like
Germany were just... well, too unstable, for lack of a better word.