Chronomancy

Introduction

Chronomancy is a magic so 'Lost' that few believe it ever existed, with even the most aged of arcane wisdom denying that a mortal could ever wield power so closely correlated to the dominion of Gods. It is the power to wield time, though perhaps not to control it: rather, a Chronomancer is one who filters and adjusts through timelines and steps through them non-linearly. While it is not their dominion to arbitrate, it is theirs to coerce, distort, and guide time to play into their favor, capable of tugging at the strings of universal memory with the most fragile of arcane limbs.

The Origins

It is beyond dispute that Chronomancy was given to mortals by Saren, the Living God of Time. Brynshal Ilan, an Ald'norai clothier, was the first Chronomancer according to old Elven legends and he acquired the magic through devotion to Saren, who regarded him fondly. Brynshal would utilize Chronomancy for the simplest of purposes; he would undo mistakes in his craft, pulling back time to amend his missteps that came incredibly often as a result of his naturally thin and shaky hands, and therefore poor dexterity. Brynshal, supposedly, quickly learned that he was very skilled in the magic... and then magic in general.

The clothier became a mage, and then a powerful one. He became an Ascendant Chronomancer, and then a Lich, keen on avoiding the encumbrance of age and the reality of death. He and Saren grew mournfully distant, and as Brynshal never initiated any other into the art, Saren became content to allow the craft to die upon the Lich's disappearance... which will be elaborated upon below.

The Loss

What came with even the mere suggestion of Chronomancy's existence was wide-scale inquiry by the Ald'norai elite. The nobility of Silor sought desperately to understand and acquire the art, sending inquisitors throughout the Kingdom in search of Overseer Ilan. Of course, regardless of the resources committed to these royally-mandated sojourns, the Chronomancer could never be found and the quest itself began to appear more like a crusade for myth and prestige, common among the Elven aristocracy. If there was ever a desire to return to Ald'norai society by Brynshal, it had been lost in the furor of the hunt, and the mage can only be assumed to have lived in imperiled fear.

Seasons were mounded by isolation, though before long, companionship found its way to him again. Brynshal supposedly found love in a human woman, dark of hair and possessed by brilliance, who knew of the Runic affliction Saren had given him... and did not pay it particular mind. The Lich offered her the chance to build a new life with him; to give her a child, and she accepted. And supposedly they lived in harmony for some time afterwards, a decade, longer. Silor began to fall and the Unbroken Empire rose, but amidst these moments the Overseer remained gleefully adrift from the carnage around him.

Until one day, Brynshal was allegedly found... not by Ald'norai or by Silor, but by the fractured remnants of his old home: Sil'norai, they called themselves now. They sought the world from him, and when he could not deliver them their desires, their greed inspired brutality. They grated him upon a Necromancer's sinew-twine and crafted arcane perfection from his bones, unable even on the precipice of death to coerce his initiation. Brynshal was slain, his wife was brittle and old, her mind no longer sharp. She watched with quiet, confused horror as her lover was slain, and could not and did not move to recover him. The Overseer's daughter, left to deal with his remains, did so and receded from historical record all on her own.

With the death of Brynshal, it is known even to those hopeful of these tales that the magic no longer exists within Atharen. With no practitioners alive, and Saren keen to let his bitterly remembered gift fade, the magic of time may yet never be seen again.

Concepts

Chronomancy is founded upon a multitude of central concepts that affect how the alteration of time is performed. These concepts are all-encompassing and entirely limiting, with a time mage (often called an Outlier for reasons depicted below) unable to alter the flux of time nearly to the level of their patron, Saren.

Linearity: To begin with, while it is unknown whether Atharen exists as one branch of a non-linear timeline, it is known that a Chronomancer can only move through one: the one that forged the present. Time appears to be something of a long hallway, with its doors only at the very end, and once one door has been opened all doors alternative to it are closed for good.

Outlier: Chronomancers are often called Outliers, as that is what they are. They are capable of moving their physical body, soul and non-living objects connected to them through time, interacting with the past and the present. An Outlier is able to alter previous events, unleashing something theoretically called 'temporal chaos', though they are advised to remain a literal outlier for the exceptional repercussions they can perform upon themselves and the unfolding of reality. Outliers move through linear time non-linearly, able to go as far as the present, as events beyond it have yet to be recorded. This means they are capable of existing at any point in time, though by movement they accept the risk associated. If one were to step back to the moment of the Bleeding, for example, they would be doing so with understanding of the likelihood of their death.

Chaos: When the past is altered, each alteration results in an intense reverberation to correct the present. Rather than an alternate timeline being created, the present timeline shifts based on the adjustments made; this is an incredibly profound affect, essentially allowing the Outlier to arbitrate the 'future' to some extent, by adjusting the events that shaped the present. As a result of how impacting this can be on the unfolding of events, an Outlier is limited in their adjustments; they can only change very recent events, as each correction needing to be made to change the present outcome directly whittles their ether in some way. While Chaos is a result of the natural outcome of changing history, responsibility for it is directly placed unto the Chronomancer themselves.

Feedback: When a Chronomancer is to perform a deed, in the past, that is too consequential for them to survive Chaos' drain on them... they will experience something known as 'feedback'. This is an inherent property inlaid within the Mark by Saren to both protect an Outlier and the cohesion of reality. Feedback is comparable to violent illness; it will trigger almost immediately upon the mage seemingly as a result of their intentions alone. An example is that if an Outlier wishes to go back in time and kill someone, the moment their mind engages with the thought, their body will react violently and they will begin to rapidly overstep. If they continue to attempt to perform the action, they will die before the action can be completed, protecting the timeline from severe temporal chaos.

In general, an Outlier quickly learns to understand a few things:

• Firstly, that interacting with their prior self is likely to lead to severe overstepping and almost certainly even death, due to the degree of change this is likely to inflict on the present reality. Feedback triggers violently when an individual is in danger of interacting with their past self, and their Mark is likely to force them to return to the present timeline.
• The destruction of life almost always has severe outcomes. If an Outlier kills someone, they are altering the lives of all of those associated with them, and the ripple of changes upon the present timeline are boundless. Any attempt to kill or even harm someone in a previous position in time will result in certain death through feedback. The apparent exception to this is the individual rare enough to have no connections, and no impact on the world. According to some sources, Brynshal Ilan once lamented that he had killed a man who lived forlorn in the woods, just to see if he could; he felt no feedback, as the man was likely to die alone without performing any significant impact upon the world, from that point on.
• Creating life is equally as problematic, and must not be done.
• Even saying certain things to others in the past can result in extremely consequential results. An Outlier will sometimes find that they feel completely unable to say certain things; they will feel a sort of bile in their throat, a tension in their jaw. Feedback will often follow, leading to feelings of severe nausea and weariness. Any further attempts to speak the words will result in the rapid drain of ether.
• Generally, once feedback begins to occur, virtually none have the ability to surpass the sickening inhibition it inflicts on them. Their body will immediately stop, as if their brain is betraying its own intentions. A passive acceptance of their limitations is the likely result, with further resistance likely to incur death as retribution.

Mechanics

Migration: Moving through time is not an easy feat to perform, and it is where much of the difficulty of Chronomancy presents itself. In order to properly wade through the timeline, an Outlier must learn to move through the current of time and navigate towards blips within the past. This is an exceptionally dangerous feat to perform and so much of a Chronomancer's early learning focuses on attempting to migrate non-living objects, so as to prevent their own demise. Eventually one will grow capable enough to move through time, but often at random and with no direction.

Learning to 'Migrate' is a near-impossible feat and requires practiced skill. When an Outlier first attempts to step into the flow of time, they step out of present reality. Before them exists a chronological stream, but it is often warped and difficult to transcribe. Rather than visual displays of particular moments or individuals of import, a Chronomancer views a smashed or often stretched tapestry often obscured, in some parts, by darkness.

This tapestry is the wall of the hallway within which the Chronomancer walks, and they quickly learn that the most turbulent of times shine out to them like a beacon. Perhaps the Bleeding will appear so vivid and clear that it will draw an Outlier in, only to immediately result in their death. It appears that what emphasizes a certain point in time during a Chronomancer's journey is the amount of possibilities that may have emerged from it, or have been altered by it. Each drop of water is essentially recorded, and so a storm stands out clearly within the temporal journey.

Singular Uniformity: Only one of the same object or person may exist at the same point of time, with Outliers being the sole exception as they are not technically tethered to any individual point in time. Therefore, in order to mend a torn shirt as Brynshal did, an Outlier must regress the time of an object or thing to its previous state; they return the current, broken or changed object to an earlier state of being. This is done via 'singular uniformity', replicating the state of an object from previous periods of the timeline to the present moment. This is important conceptually to the magic, as it is the foundation for many abilities.

Abilities

Reversion: Acquired at Novice. Revert objects

Retrogress: Acquired at Apprentice. Regress time slightly

Diverge: Acquired at Apprentice. Move through the linear timeline

Interval: Acquired at Journeyman. Move a magical ability to a later point in time, delaying it

Stasis: Acquired at Journeyman. Freeze something in time to prevent its consequences

Chronosphere: Acquired at Journeyman. Manipulate a levitating orb that slows or advances time within its space

Diffuse: Acquired at Expert. Alter the size of the Chronosphere; larger = less effect

Premonition: Acquired at Expert. Predict the immediate future as it is transcribed; counter and avoid consequences

Refusal: Acquired at Master. Return to a previous physical point and state within the same part of the timeline; defy death

Coil: Acquired at Master. Trap someone in a time loop

Initiation

It is unknown how the Mark of Chronomancy's initiation process unfolds, as it has never been done. All that is known is that the Mark of Chronomancy is, unlike other Marks, not glyph-like in appearance; it is a scattered series of symbols across the mage's body, most often faintly translucent in color and volume.

Mutations

The mutations of Chronomancy often involve things closely related to the passage of time, such as memory. There is no magic more celestial than Chronomancy, some would say, and so the changes in appearance upon a mage tend to appear somewhat divine in nature: ornate, opulent, as if designed by a sculptor. Chronomancy's mutations often do not affect the magic much, but rather the lifestyle and the potential of the mage in question, changing how they interact with the world around them permanently.

Ascension: The Overseer

While Brynshal Ilan was often called Overseer Ilan, he was - in fact - not an Overseer. There has never been an Overseer in all of Atharen's history, but Brynshal knew what was intended for it, and so he spoke of this power to friends and scholars who then went on to record the information given. While far beyond the pale of public knowledge, it is known that Saren wished for the Overseer to be one who could see beyond the linear construct of time, much like himself. They were called the Overseer for their ability to see all doors -- even those closed by the progression of time -- and even what's behind them. An Overseer could never look into the future, but they could see the many branching paths of closed realities. Whether linear or alternate it is unknown.

In some way it is within these branching realities, Saren would say, that he is at his greatest; they are constructs formed of universal truths but seen only by him. An Overseer would in some way be instilled with that same Godliness, given sole authority among mortals to experience the full breadth of potentiality. Theoretically an Overseer could interact with and impact these alternate realities as much as desired, as they are dead potentialities with no way to impact the current time. Feedback and Chaos therefore become meaningless concepts within them, theoretically, though much of this is vague and not fully known.

It was also known to Brynshal that an Overseer could passively navigate linear time and affect it much more easily, capable of sustaining the effects of Chaos and performing more prominent changes without succumbing to Feedback. For now the true breadth of the Overseer can only be called into question.

For more information, see: The Ascendant.

Notes

• Only an Architect, through a modded plot, can re-introduce Chronomancy to Atharen. There are no exceptions.
• Initiating another mage into the magic, once acquired, requires Architect permission.