====== Timeline Varieties ====== Across the infinite complex of metaverses, there are a multitude of potential arrangements for timelines. Here i attempt to catalog the varieties. ---- ===== Quantum ===== In quantum timelines, there are a near-infinite number of divergences, caused by everything from rolling dice, to choosing what to wear. Timelines converge as well, when the right series of choices result in a net similarity between universes. These timelines are among the least interesting, as they are extremely malleable. ==== Examples ==== * [[trope>Minecraft]] * [[trope>Terraria]] ---- ===== Chaos ===== In chaos timelines, divergences are only caused by events that are above a threshold of chaos/significance. People are predictable and will do the same things, but rolls of dice will spin out and create alternate timelines. Essentially there are "soft spots" in the timeline, where things radically change. This is usually incredibly convenient for the author, as they don't have to deal with actual quantum reality. This gives a great "what if" potential, where you can say "what if this tiny thing changed!" without having to /actually/ account for all the tiny changes. ==== Examples ==== * [[trope>Community]] * [[wp>Marvel Universe]] * [[wp>DC Universe]] ---- ===== Ripple ===== In ripple timelines, the timeline is constantly correcting itself, removing errors and trying to trim itself down to a single chain of events. A side effect of this is that the timeline has a level of metatime; it takes time for time to correct itself. This may seem redundant, but it may make an amount of sense; the timeline does not //wish// to correct itself, and so it leaves time for anyone else to put things back the way they were. ==== Examples ==== * [[wp>The Journeyman Project]] * [[wp>Back to the Future]] ---- ===== Key ===== In a key timeline, the timeline is generally immobile, regardless of what people do, even if they time travel. The timeline autocorrects to such an extent that even if you save someone, you'll have to save them again the next day or else the timeline will find a way to kill them. That does not, however, mean you can't change it. If you work hard enough, you can perhaps get enough people together that, with great effort, you can create a divergent timeline. This is basically how the universe avoids paradoxes. The irony here is that, even if you change the past, you aren't guaranteed to //be// in that timeline. You may simply enable an alternate version of yourself to have a better/worse life. ==== Examples ==== * [[trope>LOST]] * [[trope>Fringe]] * [[wp>X-Men: Days of Future Past]] * [[wp>Star Trek]] ---- ===== Mono ===== A mono timeline is a timeline which never diverges. This does not mean that time travel is impossible; if it is, it merely means that any changes you cause will immediately change everything. Another way of looking at it is that any past events have already incorporated things your future self would do. In practice, mono timelines are the easiest to work with, as they are entirely deterministic. Even if free will exists, it works better with myths and gods, as Free Will becomes Actually Worthwhile. ==== Examples ==== * [[wp>Doctor Who]] (as best as I can tell) * It is arguable with Doctor Who is a mono timeline or not. We have seen that at least one parallel world exists, and that it is actually possible to exist outside the timeline. When these divergences occur is incredibly hard to track, but it could be assumed that it has something to do with the muckery of the Time Lords. * [[wp>Harry Potter]] * [[wp>12 Monkeys]]