Dawn of Ages (Act Infinity: The Warp) - OG Myth-Weavers

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Dawn of Ages (Act Infinity: The Warp)

   
Dawn of Ages (Act Infinity: The Warp)

Hi all,

I'm developing a fantasy campaign that centrally features time travel. Players will be transported into a prehistoric age of their native world (Act Zero: The Dawn of Ages), although individually they may have come from different regions and points along the timeline. Eventually they will travel onward through time again, and see the effects of their actions.

Based on this concept, I developed a portion of the setting that can facilitate travel between ages, while itself remaining 'outside' of time (Act Infinity: The Warp). The place is known as
A working title. I like the name but it draws too many comparisons to WH40K
the warp and is described in the spoiler below. PCs will travel along the timeline, using the warp as an intermediary space through which they must travel to reach the different parts of the timeline. By all accounts, it is a very strange place, where even gods can become lost. As time does not pass in the warp, when they return nothing will have changed, and it will be as if they never left. This is not to say things never change in the warp, simply that time does not exist in the way it does along the world timeline. While the warp can be entered from any time period, it is always "the present" inside the warp.




I could use some inspiration and ideas from others. I'd love to bounce around other aspects of the campaign with MW GMs (like handling paradoxes) but I'll start with the questions that have been on my mind the most:

-What would the 'landscape' of a timeless region outside of the world be like?
- Is there a better shape than a web for this place?
-What do the habitats of the natives look like? Are there cities?
-Other than the madness caused by a the combination of a mortal mind and an eternal life, what effects does the warp have on individuals?
- If gods can lose their way there, how can it be navigated?


Looking forward to a stimulating worldbuilding discussion!

I haven't had any bites so I'm wondering if this idea is a bit too abstract. I'm sure it's clear I have no scientific understanding of time travel, but this is of course a fantasy world. Still hoping someone will be intrigued enough to bounce a few suggestions forward. Otherwise this will just be an echo chamber for my ideas. I've added some new details after thinking about it more, maybe that will help others to enter into the conversation.

Originally I thought of the warp as a web that covered the globe. I imagined it as a space that is adjacent to, but outside of, the world.



Beings of the Warp







It seems actually writing these ideas out is giving me new inspiration.
If anyone has a critique or comment to offer I'd appreciate it!
Also welcome are any ideas on how these ideas could be expanded or refined.

Edit: Changed the second post to include one of the timeless nations (The Raedus Technocracy).

It seems this is turning into a personal writing thread...*shrug*

It's an interesting premise. Presumably the warp has some aspects of time and some aspects of space. However, since the shapers have created these terrariums for life to inhabit, presumably they infused these terrariums with the aspects of time as well. Therefore, it is easy to have time (and space) function differently in different 'parts' of the warp. There is the opportunity to have the experience be fairly mundane sometimes (wounds heal, hunger rises, hair grows), but not others. Perhaps there are parts of the warp which are truely outside of time and are thus imperceptible to mortals. Perhaps there are areas where time is mass related, so people can see into the bubble, but can't traverse into it, relativistically slowing down as they walk deeper into the time pool.

Similarly, beyond ocean environments, there could be all sorts of other options. High-pressure sulphur or molten rock environments with inverse-proportional time flow where you can walk on lava, but not burn because the heat doesn't transfer. Walking through sulphur hazes, but not suffering because in this environment there isn't metabolism, so you don't need to breathe.

What is the warp like when it has not been altered for mortal use? If it is truly timeless it is likely incomprehensible by mortals. Why spend time trying to develop analogies with singularities, overlapping realities, or alien causal relationships?

Some things to consider are: Can mortals predict or create the circumstances which allow entry to the warp? Do/how do these change? Do the inhabitants of the warp consider the physical world real, if it can be changed relatively easily? Do they fear leaving the warp with the concern that they could be permanently shut out? Do they have to get back to the oak by midnight, or forever be trapped in this barbarous timeline, possibly to be erased by another traveler? How robust is the timeline (ie. how does anyone make it back to the warp)? Is there just the one master timeline, or can one travel between multiple options?

@canjowolf

This is really helpful. I'll bounce something back when I have a bit more time, but thanks for all the input!





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