Time Travel, Prophecies, and Fate in Fantastical Universes
This kind of started out as a generic taxonomy. Regardless of how well it works as a generic taxonomy, I plan on using it as a guideline.
In most fantasy/fantastical universes, you can barely throw a rock without hitting a prophecy.
Prophecies are a very special kind of predictions about the future. They tend to be incomplete, and able to be interpreted in many different ways. However, they pretty much always come true.
Now, this differs from fortune telling, which also happens to exist in fantastical universes. Fortune telling is different, in that it looks at the near future (minutes, days, hours) and is more chimerical. Sometimes it includes precise details. However, unlike prophecy, one's decisions can CHANGE the outcome of fortune telling.
In Other Words... one is prophesied to be king, they'll be king (in one way or another). If a fortune teller sees this same person sitting on the throne tomorrow, as king... that can be changed.
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This dovetails directly into what I've been calling Fate and Fortune.
Each person has a 'fate' which is kind of like prophecy. These things will happen (or at least it takes a lot of anything to ensure they don't). Some fates may be awesome, like "hey, you'll be a king." Some may be less awesome, like "hey, you'll be a bricklayer."
Each person also has 'fortunes'. Perhaps person X was fated to be king; then again, perhaps person X just wound up being king.
For some people, their lives are more fate-driven. For some people, their lives are more fortune-driven.
You see where Fate and Fortune can easily connect to Prophecy and Fortune Telling.
Indulge me in using Quantum Leap:
* Sam Beckett is traveling around, "putting right what once went wrong." In this, I imagine he is manipulating his target's Fortunes.
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OKAY! So how does (backwards) time travel fit into this? Here's some (suggested) ground rules for time travel in a fantastical world somewhat set up like the above:
I'm using 'time travel' specifically to reference traveling back into the past. Going into the future is something we're already doing, and if we go faster, that's just an acceleration. Getting BACK from the future... is backwards, and that's the kind of travel I'm referencing here.
*Time travel has a destabilizing effect on Fortunes and Fates. Destiny is somewhat self-correcting, but only on a large scale. Hence, interacting *directly* with time travel (or those who have traveled through time) will erode the Fortunes and Fates of the travelers.
This could be a simple interaction, like the time traveler buying a horse from a merchant, or a simply dalliance with a tavern wench. Or something more complicated, like changing the course of a battle.
Because it affects Fortunes, Fates, Prophecies, etc... one needs divine intervention to travel backwards in time.
Another good question, I think:
"When" is time travel noticed by prophecy? If it was noticed by prophets and fortune tellers, then time travel to change the past wouldn't really work. So, it needs to be at least somewhat limited in how it impacts prophecies and fortune telling.
So here's my proposal:
When one travels back in time... let's say I go from 2011 to 1911. It creates a 'ripple' that extends backwards further. How much further? Well, the simplest would be to say that the ripple extends backwards at the length of the travel. (So if I go from 2011 to 1911, prophets in 1811 could still sense it). I think it somewhat makes sense to tie whatever the size of the ripple is to the distance-of-time-travel, but I think just making it equal is too long.
So, time travel creates a ripple SMALLER than the length traveled back. How much smaller? I don't know, but it should be both consistent and dramatically appropriate. Physics seems to enjoy exponents, and logarithms.
If we went with ln(t) for 100 years, it would ripple back around 4.6 years. If we went with sqrt(t) that'd be ten years. If I was going to pick one of these, it'd be the natural log - I like the idea that time travel basically sneaks up on prophets and fortune tellers almost unannounced.
So if I went back from 2011 to 1911, then it would be around 1906 when the prophets would start going "wait wait, something's changed." Which, depending on how much people listen to prophets, might change the course of time between 1906 and 1911... (which might actually invalidate the reason the people coming back from 2011 to 1911 are coming back...).
In most fantasy/fantastical universes, you can barely throw a rock without hitting a prophecy.
Prophecies are a very special kind of predictions about the future. They tend to be incomplete, and able to be interpreted in many different ways. However, they pretty much always come true.
Now, this differs from fortune telling, which also happens to exist in fantastical universes. Fortune telling is different, in that it looks at the near future (minutes, days, hours) and is more chimerical. Sometimes it includes precise details. However, unlike prophecy, one's decisions can CHANGE the outcome of fortune telling.
In Other Words... one is prophesied to be king, they'll be king (in one way or another). If a fortune teller sees this same person sitting on the throne tomorrow, as king... that can be changed.
---
This dovetails directly into what I've been calling Fate and Fortune.
Each person has a 'fate' which is kind of like prophecy. These things will happen (or at least it takes a lot of anything to ensure they don't). Some fates may be awesome, like "hey, you'll be a king." Some may be less awesome, like "hey, you'll be a bricklayer."
Each person also has 'fortunes'. Perhaps person X was fated to be king; then again, perhaps person X just wound up being king.
For some people, their lives are more fate-driven. For some people, their lives are more fortune-driven.
You see where Fate and Fortune can easily connect to Prophecy and Fortune Telling.
Indulge me in using Quantum Leap:
* Sam Beckett is traveling around, "putting right what once went wrong." In this, I imagine he is manipulating his target's Fortunes.
----
OKAY! So how does (backwards) time travel fit into this? Here's some (suggested) ground rules for time travel in a fantastical world somewhat set up like the above:
I'm using 'time travel' specifically to reference traveling back into the past. Going into the future is something we're already doing, and if we go faster, that's just an acceleration. Getting BACK from the future... is backwards, and that's the kind of travel I'm referencing here.
*Time travel has a destabilizing effect on Fortunes and Fates. Destiny is somewhat self-correcting, but only on a large scale. Hence, interacting *directly* with time travel (or those who have traveled through time) will erode the Fortunes and Fates of the travelers.
This could be a simple interaction, like the time traveler buying a horse from a merchant, or a simply dalliance with a tavern wench. Or something more complicated, like changing the course of a battle.
Because it affects Fortunes, Fates, Prophecies, etc... one needs divine intervention to travel backwards in time.
Another good question, I think:
"When" is time travel noticed by prophecy? If it was noticed by prophets and fortune tellers, then time travel to change the past wouldn't really work. So, it needs to be at least somewhat limited in how it impacts prophecies and fortune telling.
So here's my proposal:
When one travels back in time... let's say I go from 2011 to 1911. It creates a 'ripple' that extends backwards further. How much further? Well, the simplest would be to say that the ripple extends backwards at the length of the travel. (So if I go from 2011 to 1911, prophets in 1811 could still sense it). I think it somewhat makes sense to tie whatever the size of the ripple is to the distance-of-time-travel, but I think just making it equal is too long.
So, time travel creates a ripple SMALLER than the length traveled back. How much smaller? I don't know, but it should be both consistent and dramatically appropriate. Physics seems to enjoy exponents, and logarithms.
If we went with ln(t) for 100 years, it would ripple back around 4.6 years. If we went with sqrt(t) that'd be ten years. If I was going to pick one of these, it'd be the natural log - I like the idea that time travel basically sneaks up on prophets and fortune tellers almost unannounced.
So if I went back from 2011 to 1911, then it would be around 1906 when the prophets would start going "wait wait, something's changed." Which, depending on how much people listen to prophets, might change the course of time between 1906 and 1911... (which might actually invalidate the reason the people coming back from 2011 to 1911 are coming back...).