Aeternus

Time marches on and Fate waits for no man. These are the insurmountable truths that neither mortal nor god can refute. At least, that is what most believe. Such is not true for those who wielded the powers of Aeternus, the Rune of Time and Fate for with it, they had a friend in both. More than that, they could become masters of both in their own right.

Origins

Aeternus was gifted to the Hytori in ancient times by the twin Dragon Gods of Time and Fate, Velar and Vicis. It was a gift that allowed the ancient elves to shape not just the world around them but their very destinies. Using the power of Aeternus they built a wonder the likes of which the world has not seen since, they built a garden, they built a home, they built Erosya. The Dreaming City, it was called and it was the capital of what would one day become the Boundless Empire. Wonders never ceased in this city where the gods and elves first walked. Through the manipulation of Time and Fate, the Hytori crafted a vision of the world that suited their every whim.

Erosya, the Dreaming City

No place is like Erosya. This city, where the gods both Dragon and Mist first set foot upon the mortal realm, was the birthplace of all things in Ransera. This was where the dragons first soared through the skies. This was where mortals took their first breaths. This was where magic first bloomed. It was a timeless place with a glory all its own, the Jewel of an Infinite Empire. Using the power of Aeternus, the ancient elves transformed this city into a hub of wealth, knowledge and wonder that stood at the crossroads between realms mortal and realms divine. Expanding out from this sacred place, the elves built their empire and ushered in a golden age of utter paradise.

It was not to last.

The Doom of Erosya it was called. In their pride and avarice, the ancient Hytori sought to explore the final frontier: the Aetherium. Believing themselves capable of harnessing the very essence of the gods in all of its glory, the grand Archmages of Erosya sought to build one last Rift Gate. They were woefully unprepared for what they were about to unleash and the backlash that followed their great ritual was immediate and terrible. The foundation of the Boundless Empire buckled and the many Rift Gates that connected their vast domain sparked a chain reaction that destroyed their kingdom in an instant. In a last ditch effort, the mightiest of Erosya’s archmages attempted to harness the power of both archmagic and Aeternus in order to undo the devastation that was unleashed. Erosya vanished but the fallout of its great folly was not stopped.

The magic of Time and Fate has been lost to the ages ever since and it is a wound that the elves have never quite recovered from.

Initiation and Threshold Sickness

Like all Runes of Magic, the Rune of Aeternus must be given by one who is already in possession of it. The Rune of Aeternus marks one as unique across the flow of Time and Fate. They become a fulcrum upon which the axis of both spin, as the individual is divorced from the sands of Time and the threads of Fate. As a result of this expulsion from the forces of Time and Fate, the individual who receives the rune of Aeternus must rebuild their connection to their own. The threads that link them to the great tapestry of Fate and the flow of Time are cut. This results in the initiate being thrust to three key places across Time.

Beginnings. The initiate is thrown back in time to a place earlier in the history of Ransera to an event of monumental importance in the grand scheme of the world and its events. The role of the initiate is simple. They will be forced into a role that proves instrumental in pushing along the event toward its intended conclusion. No matter how much they might resist. No matter how much they might want to alter the course of this event, regardless of what that event is, every action they take will only assist in propelling things toward the decided outcome. This is pivotal in teaching the initiate the difference between Destiny and Fate. Where Destiny is that which determines something’s role as important in the grand scheme of things and can be changed, a force that is malleable according to the decisions of the individual, Fate is unavoidable. It cannot be changed, merely embraced as inevitable. The initiate can either be a force that helps prepare those destined to face this Fate or they can leave them woefully unprepared, forced to fend for themselves.

Choices. Following their involvement in this moment in the past, the initiate is guided to a path leading up to one of Ransera’s most recent major events in the present. As they walk along this path, they are that of an observer who is shown the consequences of the choices of those involved in the event they are shown. For better or worse, they are given knowledge of the events leading up to that singular moment in time that has been chosen for them. While observing, they are given a display of the threads of Fate and the ripples of Time echoing across every decision, bouncing from one to the next until they are brought to a moment in the direct present. In that moment, they are presented with the power to influence the present, a chance to pull at the threads of Fate and send a ripple across the flow of Time.

Echoes of Tomorrow. The final stage of the initiation will take the initiate into its most dangerous phase, the future. Exactly what awaits them there? Consequences.

Upon concluding the business they have in the future, the test of the initiate’s ability to finish the process is brought to the fore. They are presented with the threads of their own Fate that must then weave back into the flow of Time in order to return to their present. Failure to do so will result in the initiate being Displaced, forever adrift as a husk that slowly loses their sense of identity, purpose and control over the power that they attempted to grasp.

Upon successfully weaving themselves back into the flow of Time and Fate, the initiate will be returned to their own time as a fully realized Aeternus mage.

Overstepping

Aeternus mages must always be aware of the extent of the influence they exert over the flow of time and fate. If they push too much and too far they risk becoming Displaced. It takes various forms but in its lesser form it can result in a feeling of being unmoored, purposelessness, depression and general malaise. Given rest, the mage will recover from this over time and return to their normal state. If they push forward, they begin to experience what can only be described as a gradual flaking of their form as it disintegrates into grains of sand that fall from their being. The further that they push, the more this phenomenon comes to the forefront until portions of their body become incorporeal and they are able to see the very threads of fate flaying away from them.

At its final stage, the mage becomes completely divorced from Time and Fate, their form swept up in the passage of time, becoming dust. They lose all sense of identity, all sense of purpose, or any ability to truly find their way back to both where they were and who they were. They become one of the Displaced, doomed to wander the passages of Time, forever searching for something they cannot remember and cannot find.

How It Works

The powers of Aeternus are twofold. On one side, there is the manipulation of Time. On the other side, there is the manipulation of Destiny. In many ways, the manipulation of them follows a similar train of thought as the manipulation of the Aether Flux as found in Kinetics, suggesting that there is some correlation between the two. Regardless, the Aeternus mage opens up their senses to the awareness of the passage of Time or the threads of Destiny depending on which power they wish to tap into. From it is a simple matter of exerting their will upon the forces at play and extending it outward into the area they wish to affect. It should be noted that while there are an infinite number of alternate timelines wherein choices are made leading to differing outcomes all the time, there is only a singular continuity. The manipulation of time and destiny cannot change an event that is Fated but it can change how things leading up to that event and how things after it are formed.

All of Aeternus magic stems from this fundamental concept. The universe and its events spin around each Fated event and while these mages cannot change those specific events, they certainly have a wide range of laterality in messing with things leading up to them and things that occur after them.

The Flow of Time

When invoking the powers of Time, the Aeternus mage must determine whether they are attempting to coerce the sands of time into flowing backwards, forwards or remaining in a static state and thus unchanging. By extending their awareness and influence into the flow of time, they are able to bring about their desired change by either using their aether to pull it in motion in the reverse, halting its progression or accelerating it forward. But the mage should be warned, the further they extend their influence, the more demanding this effort becomes.

The Tapestry of Fate

Fate cannot be changed but Destiny can. Something the Seers of Galetira are profoundly aware of and while they work to guide those they approach with their visions, the Aeternus mage takes the threads of Fate into their own hands. For more information regarding the difference between the two, refer to the Foresight page. Upon awakening their senses to the Tapestry of Fate, the mage is able to perceive its ebb, flow and pattern. Fate is an unchangeable design within the greater Tapestry as a whole, a point where all other threads interlock and are drawn to. However, the warp and weft of the many patterns leading up to that particular Fate can be rewoven and tampered with. In this manner, the Aeternus mage can reshape the Destiny of themselves and others to suit their whims. Minor things are relatively easy to do, reweaving the Tapestry so that an arrow does not meet its mark can be a simple thing but undoing a person’s death can be fraught with pitfalls. This is especially true where an individual’s death might have been tied to a greater pattern within the Tapestry itself. Aeternus mages must always be mindful that the slightest change to the Tapestry of Fate can have far reaching consequences. They are often poignantly aware that the greater impression a person, place, or thing has on the overall Tapestry…the more dangerous it is to tamper with.

Upon awakening their senses to the Tapestry of Fate, the Aeternus mage is shown the many threads that are tied to the individual and the world around them. By plucking, tugging, severing or reweaving those threads, they can alter the course of events around that which they perceive.

Fateblind

Following their initiation, Aeternus mages are blind to their own threads in the Tapestry. As a result of their status of being an Aeternus mage, they have only an awareness of their connection to Destiny as it relates to others. They are thus incapable of perceiving their own threads and manipulating them. They must do so indirectly by manipulating that which is around them. As mentioned in the example of an arrow meeting its mark, if the arrow is directed at the Aeternus mage, the destiny they alter is that of the one who fired the arrow.

Powers and Abilities

Slow - Acquired at Novice. Extending their influence into the aether around them, the Aeternus mage is able to cast a net into the world up to a certain radius. Within this field, the flow of time is slowed to a crawl. People and objects that enter the space are affected by the field for as long as they remain within it.

Quicken - Acquired at Novice. Extending their influence into the aether around them, the Aeternus mage is able to cast a net into the world up to a certain radius. Within this field, the flow of time is accelerated allowing movements, perception, and reaction times to be quicker. People and objects that enter this space are affected by the field for as long as they remain within it.

Glimpse - Acquired at Novice. By opening up their senses to the Tapestry of Fate, the Aeternus mage is offered a brief insight into events that have transpired in the past or will transpire in the future as related to things in their vicinity. This glimpse will not reveal alternate paths of time or destiny but rather what is immediately in front of or behind the mage in the timeline.

Chronal Lance - Acquired at Apprentice. Reaching into the flow of Time, the Aeternus mage calls upon a bolt of corrosive temporal energy that they then unleash upon the chosen target. Releasing this bolt of temporal power, the mage can cause Time to become destabilized upon that which it strikes. Inanimate objects can suddenly be rapidly aged and succumb to the ravages of time resulting in rust, decay or crumbling to dust or conversely revert back to a previous state. An example of this might be a person’s cloak unraveling to become nothing more than loose threads, or their boots falling apart to become strips of hide and the like. It should be noted that sentient targets, as things with much greater awareness and control over their own destinies are far more difficult to destabilize than inanimate objects. As a result, the living subject will simply become a victim of the weight of time’s passing, resulting in severe exhaustion. In terms of interacting with magical objects, because of the high concentration of aether and the state of being magical, the magic is simply disrupted as opposed to functioning properly. This effect ends after a period of time.

Sidestep - Acquired at Apprentice. The Aeternus mage quite literally sidesteps into a timestream that is parallel to the current one in order to go around, avoid or perhaps approach a situation differently than what is presented in front of them. By suffusing themselves into the flow of time, the mage is able to perceive parallel timelines and then briefly step into that timeline in order to approach a situation from a different angle and then reenter their main timeline. An example of this could be that in the main timeline, the mage is approaching a fortified wall but needs to get to the other side unnoticed. They open up their senses to the perception of time and sidestep into a timestream where that wall does not exist, for whatever reason, and then reenter the main timeline on the other side. The mage is incapable of interacting with anything in that alternate timeline, merely utilize it as a means of transport.

Unweave - Acquired at Apprentice. The Aeternus mage sends a sharp dissonance across the flow of time and within the tapestry of fate, focused on a single person, place or thing. This creates a phenomenon where the mage is able to perceive multiple timelines and destinies at once within a certain radius. While experiencing this phenomenon, the mage can then take hold of one of the threads of destiny and unweave it, redirecting the flow of destiny, helping to shape time and destiny in small ways. Through this, the mage can influence small things such as making a person trip where they might have caught their balance or having them brush against a rock causing it to roll into the way of a door, preventing it from closing and thus propping it open allowing entry.

Divergence - Acquired at Journeyman. The Aeternus mage invokes a divergence in the timeline. Similar to Sidestep, the mage is able to enter the flow of time, perceiving it and parallel timelines that run beside it. They then expand that influence to the area they wish to affect. The mage then pulls this alternate timeline into the main continuity and overlays it on top of the main timeline, creating a space where this alternate course of events exists. In this way, a mage who was perhaps faced with the situation of a boat being overturned and people may potentially drown, the mage can pull into this space a timeline where perhaps the lake upon which the boat sat had dried up. The people inside this space would then find themselves on dry earth as opposed to drowning. The space will last as long as the mage has the means of concentrating and continuing to maintain it.

Impasse - Acquired at Journeyman. The Aeternus mage creates a point in time centered on themselves, that comes to a complete standstill. This is achieved by extending their influence over a certain area around them and bringing the flow of time under their control. They then grind the flow of time to a complete halt. Anything and everything within this sphere of influence is brought to a standstill with the exception of the Aeternus mage, who may move freely within this space. Time remains frozen in place for as long as the mage has the means of maintaining concentration and the strength to do so.

Echo - Acquired at Journeyman. Extending their senses across the expanse of their own timeline, the Aeternus mage is able to tap into the collective knowledge of their alternate selves for a short duration. While maintaining this technique, the mage can borrow the knowledge of one of their alternate selves, allow for a single skill to be effectively accessed at one tier of mastery higher than their current skill level. Upon ending this technique, the mage reverts back to their default level of skill.

Timewalk - Acquired at Expert. The Aeternus mage steps into the flow of time and physically walks to a point in the past or the future. Upon stepping out of the time stream, they are deposited into the exact spot they left behind in the present time. Aeternus mages should be warned however, the further from the present one chooses to walk, the more demanding it is on the power of the mage and upon exiting the timestream, they are there in that moment in time as though it were (for them) the present moment. Additionally, if the Aeternus mage Timewalks to a point in the timeline before they received the Rune of Aeternus, or even further, before they were even born, they exist in a state that deprives them of any magic they otherwise normally have. When this occurs, it is only at their exit/entry point of Timewalking, that the Aeternus mage is able to return to their present timeline. It should be noted that they retain all of their knowledge and anything they bring with them into the past, but as they have traveled to a point in time where they have either not received those powers or have not yet been born, they are unable to access them normally.

Loop - Acquired at Expert. The Aeternus mage extends their influence over the expanse of time and destiny, creating a space that is divested from the main timeline of events. Within this space, anything and everything can play out but at some point in time, the loop will reset itself back to the beginning of when it was established. This creates a bubble wherein events that play out within it are self-contained. People, events, and objects might pass through this loop, entering and exiting but it is a place that has been unjoined from the main stream of Time and Fate until such time as the loop is ended. Only when the loop is ended will the final events of that particular play-through rejoin with the main timeline and thus create the rippling effects of its aftermath, whatever those consequences might be.

Tempest - Acquired at Expert. The Aeternus mage tears open a rift within the span of time and in the tapestry of fate, creating a storm of chaos that ravages the world around them. Time acts in weird and unpredictable ways. The threads of destiny are thrown into flux, creating a nexus of infinite possibilities that becomes impossible to navigate. This terrible conflux of time and destiny is manifested as a terrible sandstorm whose grains of sand bite through and eat away at everything in their path, altering all that they touch.

Displace - Acquired at Master. The Aeternus mage grasps a hold of the threads of destiny for an individual and unweaves them all, they then coerce the flow of time to subsume the individual creating a space wherein the individual is incapable of stepping back into the main timeline, imprisoning them in a space with neither destiny nor time.

Re-Destined - Acquired at Master. The Aeternus mage, dissatisfied with the outcome of the destiny that has been woven before them, sends a powerful rippling cascade of magic across the stream of Time and the Tapestry of Fate. In doing so, the two are thrown back into flux. While in this moment and across this space, the Aeternus mage has complete control of the flow of time and the destiny of the individuals within it. They can rewind time and overlay a new outcome according to their desires, they can push time forward, they can stop it entirely and even grant others the power to walk with them in this moment. The space becomes completely subject to the mage’s opinions with regard to the manipulation of the forces of Time and Destiny.

Tier Progress

Novice (0-24)

The neophyte chronomancer is just stepping into the understanding of how to manipulate Time and Destiny. They are only vaguely aware of the rippling consequences of their tampering but they understand that their powers can have lasting effects far beyond their immediate intentions. Whether invoking the power of Slow or Quicken, the mage can only extend their influence into a space that is up to a 15 ft. radius. They are able to safely maintain concentration upon this space for up to (1) minute. When tapping into the power of Glimpse, the mage is only able to peer into the Past or Future for up to (1) minute in either direction, revealing only what has transpired or will transpire within the next 60 seconds.

Apprentice (25-49)

Becoming more acquainted with the powers of Time and Destiny, the Aeternus mage expands their understanding of how to manipulate the two. The mage is able to summon the unstable manifestation of Time’s ebb and flow in the Chronal Lance. The mage can accurately control the direction of the bolt of time magic for up to 30 ft. The mage is capable of enacting Sidestep, enabling them to quickly step into an alternate timeline and exit that timeline at a point of their choosing within their field of view. Upon gaining the power to Unweave, the Aeternus mage can extend their influence into a radius of up to 30 ft., concentrating for up to (1) minute at a time. The mage is able to perceive the many threads of destiny within this sphere of influence and can tug on any individual thread at a time, but are incapable of manipulating multiple threads simultaneously.

Journeyman (50-74)

Stepping into their own with a much greater understanding of the powers at their disposal, the Aeternus mage takes a great leap in the evolution of their powers. At this stage they are able to create spaces wherein they can make alternate timelines manifest within certain spaces as exemplified by the power of Divergence. In this way, the mage can create an area where they are able to pull an alternate timeline of their choosing into the space created and overlay it on top of the current one. This sphere of influence extends up to a radius of 60 ft. They cannot yet overlay multiple different timelines simultaneously but must select a singular one wherein they find an acceptable course of events according to their whims. They are now able to create an Impasse within the flow of time, bringing all time within a space of up to 60 ft. to a complete standstill centered on themselves. At this stage, they are able to tap into the Echo of their alternate selves across varying timelines for up to (1) hour.

Expert (75-99)

A formidable savant when it comes to the manipulation of Time and Destiny, the chronomancer becomes imbued with the power of Timewalking. In this way, the mage is able to walk forwards or backwards through Time. Aeternus mages should be advised that walking to various points in time is a dangerous thing fraught with pitfalls. Caution should be used, lest the mage find themselves incurring the wrath of either Velar, Vicis or one of their dragons. The establishment of a Loop grants the Aeternus mage a great boon, creating a space where they can reset events back to a designated point, irreverent of the outcomes that took place within the course of the Loop. At this stage the Aeternus mage is capable of establishing Loop on their own, with a radius of up to (1) square mile. The mage can designate at what point in time during the day the Loop resets itself or they can reset it at any time of their choosing. At this stage, the chronomancer gains the power to unleash a Tempest of temporal magic. This terrible storm of unpredictable possibilities is the nightmare of anyone and anything caught in its wake. The storm can rage for a radius of up to 120 ft. centered on the mage themselves.

Master (100)

A Master of Aeternus is a mage who understands well the dangers and benefits of tampering with the forces of Time and Destiny. So immense is their grasp on the forces at play that they have gained the power to completely Displace an individual across the timestream, ejecting them from the flow of their current time and destiny to a point of their choosing. So powerful is this individual that they are capable of creating a space wherein they dominate the flow of Time and the threads of Destiny in order to twist and tug them into a shape that suits their whims simultaneously, crafting a timeline that is to their liking.

Can I begin with Aeternus?

No. At this time, only those authorized by the Chief Author of Ransera will be granted permission to utilize Aeternus.