Timeline Threading and Temporalism

Temporalism takes many forms in this series just as it takes many forms in the real world. There is, however, a baseline philosophy which most of the concepts in this series adhere to. And that philosophy is based on infinity. Without the existence of infinity, none of these concepts operate, and so it assumed that infinity exists. More importantly, this concept is applied to realities or "realms."

A realm is essentially a universe, and thus this novel encompasses the idea of a multiverse composed of infinte universes. Given that the number of universes is infinite, the odds of any particular universe existing is also infinite. Likewise, there are an infinite number of absolute duplicates.

Each universe (also termed "reality" or "realm") possesses its own timeline. A timeline is simply a list of events that take place in a universe. You can think of it as history.

Time travel, obviously, creates a problem in a timeline. The laws of the multiverse get around this issue through paradox. When a timeline is altered, a reality branches. For example, if an individual travels to the past, the very act of their arrival forces the universe to branch. There are now two universes, and two timelines, one in which you traveled to the past, and your original universe where you never traveled to the past.

For the Wu, time travel into the past is a problem. The Wu look at threads leading forward in time. The Wu call professional thread-watchers Temporalists, while the Drathraq call them Architects. Both distrust any form of timeline alteration and time travel as it can disrupt the skeins and ruin their calculations into the future. It can (and will) result in undesired branchings, and removes individuals from timelines where they were previously present. The transfer of information can also do this, and so can the transfer of energy causing specific effects. Thus, the Wu have outlawed time travel by their law. One is allowed to view the skeins and formulate specific actions leading to specific futures, but one is not allowed to travel back into the past and alter events and outcomes, largely because their theory postulates the threat of extreme thread instability which could lead to inaccuracies in their future predictions.

Some in the Wu see this as ridiculous, since any alteration in a timeline automatically creates a branching. But the law remains. Wu Temporalists believe that through thread-viewing, they have learned to "manage" their future. They believe that they are now "beyond fate" and have learned to filter chaos, providing stability to their realmhead.

The term "realmhead" applies to all those realms connected through the Tanathian skeins. Because they are connected and interact, their timelines are also connected, and thus part of the overall thread collective. In short, their destinies are linked.

Interestingly, because the Drathraq Architects and the Wu Temporalists both view and manipulate threads, and both exist in the same realmhead, they are at odds with each other continuously. The Drathraq seek a future where the Wu no longer exists and they rule the realmhead and all worlds of the Tanathian legacy. The Wu seek a future where they maintain control, and the same stability they have learned to enjoy remains intact forever. In a nutshell, this is the main conflict between them throughout the series. But at the same time they war with each other for control of the realmhead, another power watches them from beyond it. One so vast and incomprehensible that it can consume entire realms.

Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omega Timelines
This is how Kamboolii and Nappa Ree have classified the paradox-generated temporal branches.
 * Alpha Timeline:  The future timeline in which Quig is left behind. Merged with the Beta Timeline in the Paradox.
 * Beta Timeline: The timeline in which the first story takes place and the Beta Quig goes to Xull and Tolos.


 * Delta Timeline: The timeline in which Kamboolii fails to save Em and the Drathraq take over. Quig returns to Minth and stops the ember wight, but Em is lost, and the Drathraq are taking over the realmhead.
 * Omega Timeline: The timeilne the Beta Quig originally comes from in the first book. After Kamboolii leaves Minth, it becomes the Omega timeline in which the ember wight consumes Minth and there is no Quig left there to stop her.