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For those not used to thinking of places without times, or times without places, describing when and where Chronos Academy was founded can be a little difficult. In one measure, it was founded in 1311 AD, or at least that is where the Time Masters Esh-kadesh, Gregorious Comnenus and Zhang Chen met outside the Irish village of Ballymote. As to the location, one might also say that it is located on the shoulders of Wildspitze, a mountain in the Austrian Alps. But just as correctly, one might say that is neither in a place or a time.
Chronos Academy was built in a temporal bubble, a sort of pocket dimension, which, while it sits beneath might Wildspitze, occupies no place in ordinary time. Travelers will see no sign of its great stone walls nor of the fabulous Dome of Ages that sits atop the highest tower. If you cannot travel between the streams of time, it has no more existence for you than, say, an infinitely narrow line on a piece of paper.
Chronos Academy is the home of the majority of Time Masters, and a place where new generations are trained in the lore and science of time travel. Before its founding, the Time Masters were a disorganized bunch, rarely meeting and frequently working at cross-purposes (as some still do). It also serves as a place of protection, and woe to even the most skilled traveler of time who tries to break through those mighty walls.
Usually, there are about forty Time Masters present, most of which are either teachers or working on private research. There are no more than about 400 students, ranging from Initiates to Apprentices and finally Journeymen, waiting their final trials before achieving the rank of Time Master. There is also a small population of the ungifted who, for various reasons, have given up life in the world of Time to serve the Time Masters as cooks, domestics and laborers.
The Academy is governed by the Temporal Council, of which the nominal head is Esh-kadesh, who holds the self-proclaimed title of Time Master Extraordinaire. Other members of the Council are Gregorius Comnenus, Henri le Brun and Abdullah al-Ya'qub. It must be noted that though the Temporal Council is respected by most Time Masters, only those attached to the Academy are in any way subservient to it.
Though Esh-kadesh has, on occasion, strongly suggested that he was among the first Time Masters, in reality individuals capable of stepping between Times have been around for perhaps tens of thousands of years. If Esh-kadesh can be credited for anything, it was for recording the first treatise on time travel, and for expounding the basic rules of conduct, known as the Laws of Temporal Movement, that all Time Masters should adhere to.
Most Time Masters have, if for no other reason than their own safety, voluntarily accepted the Laws. These are the main Laws in brief:
- Never overtly attempt to change any period of history, whether for one's own gain, or for the perceived greater good of humanity.
- Never interfere with the Lawful activities of other Time Masters.
- Never begin training a person without first convening a council of at least three Time Masters to test the merits of the individual.
- Never attempt to entrap, harm or kill another Time Master or Journeyman without first convening a council of at least five Time Masters.
- Immediately intervene or alert as many Time Masters as possible when a rogue temporal traveler (someone cast from the order of Time Master or who is self-taught) is moving through Time.
- Never, on pain of eternal imprisonment beyond Time, reveal the secrets of temporal travel to anyone who is not at least an Initiate.
There are time travelers who do not abide by the Temporal Laws (either out of ignorance or because they're just not very nice). These are called Rogues, and a great deal of effort is put into tracking down these individuals. Some Rogues are simply self-taught, discovering how to travel time by accident. These make up a good majority of the recruits (when they are discovered). Others are rebel Time Masters,
such as the infamous Zhang Chen, and these are the kind that are the most trouble, as they have enough knowledge to be more than minor nuisances.
There is another kind of time traveler as well, so-called temporal entities. These are intelligent or animal-like beings who live completely or largely in temporal dimensions. Most are little more than animalistic predators that, while exceptionally dangerous to the incautious time traveler, pose no risk to history. There are some beings, however, that have proven to be great hazards, most notably the infamous Zomroch, a highly intelligent temporal race that was capable of seizing control of the minds of certain humans and using them to alter history. The Zomroch were all but wiped out by the Time Masters, and if any are left, they are very careful not to show their face.
Time Masters may seem ageless, but that is an illusion, due to their movement through time. They are as mortal as any man or woman. Exposure to time streams does have something of a preservative effect,
extending the active years to about 100. Still, in the end, they grow old and feeble.
Time Masters can essentially be divided into two very broad categories; Temporal Mages and Temporal Engineers. Temporal Mages, as the title indicates, use various rites, incantations and other sorts of spells to travel through time. These spells are most often passed down from master to apprentice, having been tested and perfected over thousands of years.
Temporal Engineers use technology, rather than magical powers, to move through the streams of time. Various sorts of devices can be used to move objects and people, or to peer into certain times and places. A Temporal Engineer need not have any mystical abilities, and many proudly do not, feeling that their methods are purer and more skilled. Some of the more powerful Time Masters are Temporal Engineers. Most Temporal Mages have at least some ability as Temporal Technicians, able to operate temporal machines, though not build or repair them.
There are a number of stages before one achieves the rank of Time Master. At the very bottom are Initiates. Most Initiates spend between four and eight years of study, and are almost never permitted
any large excursions. When they have passed the First Trials, they become Apprentices, and are sent in the field along side a Time Master.
Time Masters often have two or three Apprentices, though some Time Masters have no desire for Apprentices at all.
Every two years, an Apprentice is permitted to attempt the Second Trials, and if the Apprentice succeeds, he or she become a Journeyman. Journeymen are permitted to travel to a limited number of times and places, particularly historically calm periods. They are not permitted to go to times or places of great historical upheaval, unless in the company of a Time Master.
Journeymen typically spend three or four years mastering their techniques (either as a Mage or Engineer) before taking the Third Trials. A Journeyman only gets one chance at the Third Trials, and if he fails, he remains at that rank. Some choose not to go on, but those that do, and pass the Third Trials become Time Masters, with only the Temporal Laws to limit them in their activities.
A special class of Time Masters are the Troubleshooters, whose job it is to fix history when some temporal entity has altered it. Troubleshooters are usually trained with great detail in particular
historical periods, so that they can speak the languages and blend in with the times and places they have to go. It is a dangerous job, and deaths among Troubleshooters are distinctly higher than among other
Time Masters.
Whether its through arcane mystical forces or via temporal machines,
time travel boils down to piercing the barriers that keep a physical
entity (living being or inanimate object) in its present place and
moment and moving it up or down its own time stream. History (past,
present and future) is the sum of all these time streams.
There are some important limitations to all of this. The largest is traveling into the future. Traveling up the time stream from the moment the entity came into existence (if a person, the moment of the birth, for an temporal machine, the time of its creation) requires a larger amount of energy than moving back in time. Only truly Legendary Time Masters can move centuries into the future past the time of their birth, or tens or hundreds of millennia into the past. For the average Time Master, the range is no more than about five or six thousand years before their birth time, and about seventy years after.
The greatest danger, and the whole reason that the Temporal Laws were accepted by so many Time Masters, is interference in history. Doing so can have grave consequences. The Time Masters have become skilled
enough, particularly since the construction of the Dome of Ages at the Chronos Academy, to spot trouble before it gets that serious. However, the Troubleshooters are always on call, because a serious interference might alter history beyond all recognition.
Many scholarly skills, such as history, literature, archaeology and anthropology are important to Time Masters. There are a few specific skills however. It must be remembered that using temporal devices becomes increasingly difficult the farther one attempts to look or travel from the device's creation. Moving into the future increases the difficulty by +1 for every 20 years, moving into the past increases the difficulty by +1 for every 500 years. Well-designed temporal machines may give bonuses that can mitigate these difficulties.
Temporal Technician - This skill permits an individual to recognize and operate temporal machines. The character cannot repair or build such machines. Almost all Time Masters possess this skill.
Temporal Engineering [Hard/Non-existent] - Temporal engineering includes the abilities of the Temporal Technician skill, but also allows the character to repair damaged temporal machines and design and build new ones.
Temporal Physics [Very Hard/Non-existent] - This skill gives an in-depth understanding of the movement of temporal dimensions, of the various variables that can influence Time, and of the underlying temporal forces.
The following are sample spells. Temporal Mages are not limited to just these spells. Common magical spells such as Fireball are often part of the Time Mage's bag of tricks, though training and interest will concentrate on spells that permit movement through time, space and alternate dimensions.
As with temporal machines, temporal spells that allow a caster to look or travel through time increases in difficulty; moving into the future increases the difficulty by +1 for every 20 years, moving into the past increases the difficulty by +1 for every 500 years.
Temporal Scrying [Difficulty: Fair] - This spell allows a Temporal Mage to view events in the past or the future.
Temporal Doorway [Difficulty: Good] - The primary spell of any Temporal Mage. It allows the caster to create a temporary doorway to another time. This can also allow the caster to move to another place as well, though the further in physical space the caster wishes to go, the more difficult it becomes.
Extra-Temporal Dimension [Difficulty: Superb] - An exceptionally difficult spell that allows the caster to create a pocket dimension outside of the normal streams of Time. The combined power of many Time Masters casting this spell was used to create the Chronos Academy. Normally, this spell creates a bubble no larger than a small house, linked to a physical location, but outside of Time.
Even by the standards of the most seasoned Time Master, Gregorius
Comnenus is considered exceedingly well-traveled and well-learned. He
is also shrouded in mystery, which he perpetuates as best he can. He's an old man now, but the tales found in the vast archives of the Chronos Academy tell of a man who has dedicated his life to preserving Time from those who would seek to undermine it for their own nefarious ends.
Comnenus's origins are murky, but some believe that he was born in the
10th century AD (perhaps around 945 AD) in Constantinople to a wealthy
Byzantine family. The first verifiable records of Comnenus have him in France as an advisor to Hugh Capet around 990 AD. For the next
thousand years, Comnenus kept popping up all over Europe and the Middle East, always as advisors to princes, kings, emperors and sultans.
It was in the 12th century that Comnenus founded the Chronos Academy
with two other Time Masters; Zhang Chen and Esh-kadesh. All three were equals (though Esh-kadesh as the elder became nominal head of the
Academy), sworn to keep history intact and to seek out like-minded time travelers to aid in their cause.
Despite the betrayal of Zhang Chen, who turned to away from the Time
Laws and sought to alter history for his own ends, Comnenus has stuck
to his task. This is becoming harder to do, however, as Comnenus has
become increasingly ill. Even traveling into the far future (as far as he will dare), Comnenus has found no cure, and his physicians guess
that he has no more than a few months of real time left. Though often
bedridden, when he is able to be active, he is, despite his advancing
years (he looks to be around 80), a tall man with long white hair, a
thick beard, and keen, almost prescient eyes. Quick to anger at those
he deems foolish, he is also a fast friend, even to those who may have
wronged him.
Comnenus is a Good Temporal Technician and a Legendary mage practiced in spells dealing with temporal and dimensional travel. He is one of the few Time Masters able to open permanent gates between time periods. It was he that fashioned the Dome of Ages atop Chronos Academy, from which dozens of historical and future epochs are accessible. He is also a Great swordsman, a Fair writer and musician (particularly with the lyre) and knows at least thirty languages from Mediocre to Superb.
The only weapon Comnenus ever keeps near him is a long sword of blue
Damascus-like steel with an ODF of +2, due to the enchantments of a
long forgotten smith. He wears no armor, but wears a thin diamond-studded belt that can raise a temporal displacement field granting a +3 DDF (built for him many years ago by Zhang Chen).
- Though Comnenus is seldom strong enough to travel through time, the search for a cure to his debilitating illness goes on. Perhaps it is some strange temporal disease, or some long-extinct virus. Teams are frequently sent out to search for clues to the nature of this illness, and hopefully a cure.
- At times Comnenus seems to recover some of his strength, and uses these opportunities to head out into the field, particularly to pursue the plots of Zhang Chen. He knows his limitations, and will often pick Time Masters, and even Journeymen, to go along with him.
- Even when bed-ridden, Comnenus still keeps an eye on the flow of Time, and sends out agents to keep an eye on historically critical periods that he suspects the enemies of history may be trying to alter. He keeps an elite team of Troubleshooters at the ready, prepared to leave for any time at a moment's notice.
The power to travel through time, like all powers, all too
often leads to corruption. Even high-minded idealists may be perverted and fall into evil. Zhang Chen is just such an individual, a brilliant engineer and physicist who joined like-minded Time Masters to found Chronos Academy before betraying his solemn oaths by altering history and murdering a fellow Time Master.
Zhang Chen was born to a peasant family in China in 184 BC. His
brilliance was such that he mastered reading, writing and mathematics
on his own, finally entering the court of the Han emperor Wu. There,
despite his caustic personality, he gained favor, due in large part to
his clever inventions. But he had much larger plans than bridges or
canals, as he began work on a marvelous machine that could travel time.
His work was never completed, for his personality made him many
powerful enemies, who poisoned the Emperor against him. The machine
was destroyed and Zhang imprisoned, accused of stealing from the
Imperial treasury. Zhang was rescued by the Time Master Esh-kadesh,
who recognized his brilliance, and the danger of having someone of
Zhang's knowledge and skills working uncontrolled. So Zhang became
Esh-kadesh's apprentice, and in due course became a Time Master
himself. When Esh-kadesh formed an alliance with Gregorius Comnenus,
Zhang joined as well.
Gregorius became Zhang's only friend, and the two, unlike the somewhat
aloof Esh-kadesh, worked closely, defending Time and building the
Chronos Institute into a place of learning and research, finally
uniting many Time Masters and giving them a place of peace and refuge.
Zhang's brilliant mind, however, was eventually corrupted. His lust
for knowledge had always been his weakness. The other Time Masters,
even his friend Gregorius Comnenus, demanded that he stop research into the forbidden knowledge of the Zomroch, the evil race that Esh-kadesh had all but destroyed thousands of years before. Zhang refused and was cast out of Chronos Academy. In angry rage, he turned his devices upon his one-time friends and allies, and killed a young Time Master. He utterly repudiated his oaths, vowed revenge on the Academy and Gregorius in particular, and went back to the time of his youth to murder the Emperor Wu of China. Though Gregorius prevented that, two advisors were slain and much effort was required to restore the time line.
Zhang's actions angered the Time Masters, many of whom threatened to
disband the Academy. Zhang, knowing himself to be in mortal danger,
simply disappeared. It was many years later that it was discovered
that he was uniting forces in opposition to the Time Masters. Since
then, Zhang and his allies have been waging a war to alter history and
destroy the Time Masters.
Unlike many Time Masters, Zhang is not an arcanist and not versed in
dimensional magic. He is a brilliant engineer and physicist thousands
of years ahead of his time. He is Legendary Temporal Engineer (able
not only just to operate such devices but also to invent his own), with a Superb understanding of physics. Little interested in history for history's sake, he is Poor in English, and Fair in Greek. He has never interested himself much in weapons, considering them crude, but has a Fair ability with a knife.
Zhang's offensive and defensive abilities are devices of his own
design. He wears long white robes, with molecule-thick fibers woven in which generate temporal displacement fields which can be used for
defense (DDF +4) and to create dangerous, even deadly temporal waves
(ODF +3). He also carries a plain metal staff which serves both as an
escape device (can shift him five minutes in the past or the future),
and as a weapon, emitting a high-frequency laser (DDF +2).
- Adventures around Zhang Chen are numerous. Keeping track of his
movements, trying to penetrate his deceits to learn his plans, and repairing
the alterations he makes to history increasingly occupy the Chronos Academy.
- Zhang, being a Temporal Engineer, is keenly interested in any device, mechanical or mystical, of a temporal nature. For those characters on the dark side, finding these sorts of objects of power can lead to great rewards, and great danger. Zhang is a dangerous and increasingly paranoid individual.
Esh-kadesh may very well be one of the oldest Time Master. Ancient
even when he rescued Zhang Chen from imprisonment in a Han dynasty
jail, Esh-kadesh is revered even by his peers as one of the earliest
formulator of the lore and sorcery of time travel. At least, that's
the way Esh-kadesh would like everyone to see it. If he has a flaw, it is an almost intolerable conceit.
Esh-kadesh was born in the ancient Sumerian city of Eridu around 2800
BC. His early training was as a priest of the sun god Anu, and it was
at this time that he began studying lore and learning the ancient
magical rites of the Anu cult. He claims that he developed
incantations and rites that allowed him to move back and forth through
time, though others (quietly) state that various forms of temporal
incantation had existed for thousands of years, and that Esh-kadesh was merely the first to organize and codify what was known until them.
More important for time travel, was his codification of the Temporal
Laws.
Esh-kadesh may have inflated his place in annals of time travel, but he would still have a high place regardless. In his prime, he could pass from
century to century with little more than a wave of his hands. Two
thousand years before the Chronos Academy was founded, he and his
students waged the first temporal war against the Zomroch, a strange
god-like race that existed between the streams of Time, preventing
these terrible beings from wiping humanity from the history of Earth.
For many years, Esh-kadesh still sought out promising young students.
Zhang Chen was among them, but with his fall from grace, Esh-kadesh's
younger student, Olivia Baker, a Victorian woman of keen intellect and
of similar, though lesser gifts took his place. The rebellion of Zhang Chen was a deep blow to Esh-kadesh, who, despite a certain amount of self-serving arrogance, truly believed in the high ideals of the Chronos Academy. Since then, he has slowly withdrawn from his
responsibilities as head of the Chronos Academy, leaving it the ailing
Gregorius Comnenus.
Esh-kadesh is a Fair temporal technician, largely because he has never
shown much interest in the later discoveries of his pupils and their
pupils. However he is a Legendary +1 mage, even in his declining
years, and few dare bring him to anger. Oddly enough, he has taken an
interest in 19th and 20th century firearms, and is Fair a shot with the revolver and rifle (some say he likes guns purely from the dramatic effect of a large bang). He is a Good knowledge of history, and a Superb understanding of the mystical side of time travel, including various rites, incantations, summonings and enchantments.
- Like Gregorius, Esh-kadesh doesn't leave the Academy much, but when he does, it is with great fanfare. He generously invites the best Apprentices, as well as a Time Master or two, to come along with him. Protecting him from assassins and admirers alike is a full time job.
- The few Zomroch that survived Esh-kadesh's purges continually seek revenge. Esh-kadesh obviously takes a very special interest in any news of Zomroch at work, and will drop everything to lead expeditions against these temporal entities.
Olivia Baker had the misfortune of being born in an age when women were expected to do little else but bear children. If it had not been for the chance discovery of an abandoned temporal gate while with her father in Rumania in 1895, she might have ended up little more than a bright bird in some wealthy lord's gilded cage. Her skills with mechanical devices and mathematics allowed to reopen the gate and plunge her into the 7th century BC, where she was soon rescued by Esh-kadesh.
Olivia may have keen skills in Temporal Engineering, but she is also an unapologetic adventurer, always willing to drop everything to go out into the field, whether it be Imperial Rome or the Ice Age. This angers many of her elders, including Gregorius Comnenus, who considers
her irresponsible. Esh-kadesh, however, recognizes her as the first
Time Master of a new generation, more than just a stuffy bookworm,
interested in more than just filling in missing pieces of history or
sitting in dank laboratories trying to coax two more minutes out of
some temporal device. Esh-kadesh encourages her to go where her
instincts lead, and she in return has given an old Time Master's
twilight years a bit of joy where only private sorrow existed before.
Olivia is every bit as intelligent as Zhang Chen, but because she is
not so obsessive, is not his equal. Yet she is still a Great Temporal
Engineer. Her knowledge of physics and mathematics is Good. Despite
any great intellectual gifts, she has insisted that Esh-kadesh teach
her a little temporal spell-casting, though she has not moved beyond a
Poor ability in this area. Olivia is also Fair in sword, pistol, and
Poor in poled weapons.
- Olivia is a bundle of fun and trouble. She has many friends, even among the Apprentices and Journeymen, and often grabs them for a quick excursion through time. One thing one can be certain of about these excursions is that they won't be boring.
- Olivia is always building some device or another. Perhaps it is a pocket watch that can stop time, or a wardrobe that serves as a doorway between different centuries. Field testing is usually necessary, not to mention retrieving devices that have gone awry and have ended up in places where the locals might find them.
All articles copyright their original authors.
Fudge copyright Steffan O'Sullivan.
Fudge Logo Design by Daniel M. Davis.
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