|
Author(s): Harken, Thieryn, Aderyn
Date Added: 5/27/09
Last Modified: 7/22/09
Overview Within the world of Aedolyn there exist five gates. These gates were created during the Days of Aratar (the first age) when the Forgotten Gods returned to their world to discovered what it had become. Out of fury and disappointment, the five Gods ended the thousands of years of war by splitting their beloved world into three continents. In order to offer Aedolyn a ‘second chance’ they constructed five stone arches and sealed away the divine power of magic and offered this warning:
Within five gates rests the future of this land
A chance to return things to how they once were
Hope and prosperity you will command
If our warning you confer:
Sealed these gates must forever remain,
If it’s peace and order you wish to reign.
Unlocked these gates grant you our power,
Yet yield your realm for chaos to devour.
These actions resulted in the elimination of the Forgotten Gods and the creation of the nine deities of Aedolyn. As the ages went on the gates were unlocked, releasing the power of magic into the world and the mortals learned to harbor and control its power. Consequently, the age of prosperity was ended and the world was thrown into utter turmoil. Years of non-stop war ravaged Aedolyn until the world could no longer take any more beating. The denizens of Aedolyn beat it to its death at which point (during the sixth age) the five gates released yet another secret power: the gift of time travel.
SynopsisAs of now, in the Sixth Age, all of the Gates except Sharrum (see below) serve as portals into the past. All four gates lead to one specific point in time, which is determined by the administration (with input from the member-base). Time travel itself is a very delicate issue and so here at GoA we regulate time travel by providing rules which can be viewed below in the Time Travel Regulations section. There is where the Golden Rule is discussed as well as the specifics of what we allow at GoA. An important concept to note is that the gates, being a creation of the Forgotten Gods, have unlimited power that is beyond the comprehension of mortals; essentially, the gates have a ‘mind of their own’. This acts as a check on the actions of characters in the past to ensure the preservation of history etc.
Gate Theory There are four main concepts that define the Gate System or GoA’s system of time travel and they are described below:
Gate Rotations A rotation is when the administration at GoA decides to change the destination in the past to which the gates transport characters. This occurs approximately every 6 to 12 months (which is not always the same amount of time-in character). Fair warning is always given and a counter exists on the forum to mark how many days we have been in one rotation. When the gates officially rotate, all of the characters who are in the past at that point in time are automatically transported by their Gate Keys (concept explained below) back to the present time. If a thread is ongoing within one rotation and the players of that thread wish to remain within that time period, they have to submit a request for admin approval in order to do so. To do this, simply send Harken (administrator) a personal message explaining the situation. The new destination is usually selected in tandem with the members of GoA through a process of nominations and polls conducted on the forum.Rolling Time The concept of rolling time is very important technicality to time roleplaying at GoA. It means that the point at which the gates transport a character to runs parallel to the present. (For example, say Aedolyn is currently in year 10, day 2 and the gate destination is year 7, day 45; as present time goes on to year 10, day 3 the destination of the gates becomes year 7, day 46.) Basically, a character cannot use the gates to transport to the same point in time twice.Time Sickness Time Sickness is the most important concept to understand in order to fully grasp the Gate System. Time Sickness is how time travel affects the mental and physical wellbeing of characters. There are two ways time sickness can affect a character: (1) the duration or quantity of trips and (2) actions characters commit while in the past (i.e. History Altering Action (HAA)). According the time travel regulations below, time sickness is what limits the duration of stays and quantity of trips. The longer the trips, the more severe the effects of time sickness become and the same hold true for an increasing number of trips, the more times a character goes back, the more painful each trip is. Also, time sickness acts as an in-character check on characters. If a character’s action results in the changing of time, however severe, they will feel the effects of time sickness whether it be revealing a key piece of information to an NPC (non-player character) or killing someone. There are three stages of time sickness:
- Mild – (3 months) migraine headaches, physical exhaustion, mental instability (more difficult to cast magic spells or concentrate fully on anything), and body cramps.
- Moderate – (4 months or minor HAA) intensified symptoms of mild time sickness: intense migraine headaches that commonly result in aneurysms, complete exhaustion to the point of hyperventilation, faint spells, and comas, critical mental instability (characters start thinking and acting like they’re 3, even though they’re 30. This is a result of their brain trying to adjust itself to the time period that it is in. Imagine having severe jet lag here.), and body cramps that render the character completely immobile or cause excruciating pain.
- Severe – (5+ months or major HAA) severe symptoms are in a category of their own. Not only are the moderate symptoms intensified, but severe symptoms usually always include physical deformations and accelerated aging (basically cutting 5 to 10 years off a characters life at a time). In the most extreme cases (usually due to extreme HAAs or stacking trip durations) severe time sickness results in the death of the character.
The recovery period for time sickness is 1/4th the amount of time one spent in the past or its HAA equivalent. This is in place to prevent characters from taking long trip after long trip; time travel is taxing and recovery periods are necessary. It is also possible to stack time sickness, meaning that incomplete recovery from previous trips will only intensify and quicken the time sickness during the next trip. Time sickness is a key principle to GoA’s Gate System.
Gate Keys Gate keys are in the form of stones with the power to transport a character back to the specific gate which they used to travel to the past. Characters are given a gate key as they pass through the gate and it automatically dissolves into nothing as the character returns to the present. Gate keys are also enchanted so that they cannot be lost because they always stay on your person. In order to invoke the powers of the gate key to be transported back to the appropriate gate, a character must recite the incantation inscribed on the stone (there are four different stones/incantations, one for each gate). The four incantations and key descriptions are as follows:
- Sharrum – defunct
- Tolerian – (yellow/silver)Toleriani Ostium ut Aetus, Aperio!
- Iminye – (green/gold) Imiyetas Ostium ut Aetus, Aperio!
- Ravmin – (red/orange) Ravminus Ostium ut Aetus, Aperio!
- Elspeth – (blue/purple) Elspethi Ostium ut Aetus, Aperio!
|
