SporeWiki:Fiction Universe/Important Topics/Time

"Time. Space. Difficult to confuse, but not too different in fact."

- An old Taldar writing Time, or the Space-Time Continuum, is one of the most important aspects & fabrics of reality itself. It is used as measurement, to measure duration of events, the intervals between them and to quantify the motion of objects.

The descriptions here describe Time in SporeWiki:Fiction Universe & it's surrounding omniverse, which happens thanks to the Gyronic and Gyronic Conflict. It is Gyronic that moves things forward, allows the Course of Time to function as well as safe Manipulation of Time.

Space and time as a frame of reference
Spacetime itself is simply a mathematical expression, it is not made of anything, and can be percieved differently. Spacetime is only experienced by objects with mass. Most bilateral symmetrical species percieve time and space in much the same way, as dual, but some life forms evolve wth different perceptions. At a glance it easy to seperate space and time, and its speed, and its past, present and future course. However, the reference frame of time and its speed is really irrelevant to the universe. An easier example is that some lifeforms, like Earth plants seem static, but are alive and in contast activity, to plants, animals appear to exist in an almost invisibly fast state. Another is that the Mayans believed time created space.

Passage of time
However, under mathematics, most species come under the agreement that space and time are the same, and that the feeling of "now" is an illusion. If space is the same as time, then if all of space is out there then the same can be said of time. But certain forces are influenced by time, such as entropy and motion. Objects take time to reach each other, if a star exploded it would take some duration before the inhabitants of a planet would notice. Spacetime can also be curved and warped, these can be sensed as a force - gravity. Anything with mass exerts influence in the third dimension between each other, curving the perception of space and time. Time slows down in the presence of mass, noticible with very heavy objects such as neutron stars and black holes. To move fast into space, is to move quickly into the future. Even angle in space can change reference frame.
 * Spacetime is relative

Advanced species learn ways of manipulating their reference in the presence of other mass objects (such as star travel), and learn ways of changing the course of time, or warping space. Most commonly are forms of time dilation and warp drives, but many more complex technologies and abilities exist (see FTL Propulsion devices and Forms of technology). Spacetime has a geometry and has certain sets of mathematical conditions, called boundaries (related to how mass works). It is distinct from a self-aware life form's percption of time (past, present and future). A Time-like seperation is like cause and effect. If someone throws a ball at someone else, and causes the other to fall, this is time-like (it cannot happen any other way). A space-like event is far stranger, an observer moving very quickly past an exploding star could see a planet orbiting it after it exploded, and on other side, before it exploded. The two observers would never communicate because they are seperated by space. This is important to certain forms of time travel, effect can be reversed from cause...
 * Spacelike and timelike events

There are also horizons. A cosmic string is a one dimensional spacetime defect, in space, it is seen as a line from A to B but it also has a timelike line, back and fourth through time, something opne unlucky crew discovered... Time in the quantum world is very different. Spacetime is a frame of reference between objects with mass, and to subatomic particles, many are extremely light or have no mass at all. In the quantum world, spacetime becomes very violent like a froth, a "quantum foam" of wormholes, fluctuations and even rips. This is because in the quantum world, particles do not have definate positions and speeds and can only be probablities and waves, giving rise to strange phenomena (like a particle being in many places at the same time). This causes spacetime to be chaotic. One reason for these chaotic events is the Many-worlds interpretation. In this theory there is more than one timeline. There is many, this is important to the The Legacy and Realities Altered.
 * Spacetime in subspace, extra dimensions and quantum physics

These other forms of spacetime, such as other timelines exist in higher dimensions with bigger frames of reference. The Omniverse article details at least then or eleven of these spacetime dimensions. Time in the third dimension might be percieved as a duration of past, present and future, because it is seen as one dimensional in comparison to space. But in the 4th spacetime dimension time is more like a plane. Further more, in the 5th dimension, the Taldar can view multiple timelines, and even manipulate them.

Outside time - "Temporal immunity"
Temporal Immunity is when something is immune to the effects of time. This means they are not timelike, and cannot be affected by altering time yet still have the ability to alter spacelike events. An example is the Quantumhorde; when the Nanohorde evolved this far, they existed outside time, yet in space, this is because they exist in worlds of probabilities and have no certain future. Gyronic, to some extent, can cause temporal immunity.

But most important aspect is that spacetime is merely a reference inbertween objects with mass. For massless objects like light not hindered by mass, exist outside the bounds of spacetime. They cannot carry it either, and have no real motion in a photons perspective. It is thought that if mass suddenly vanished leaving only light, with no spacetime left, everything would beceome equivilent to a new Big Bang. To things with imaginary mass or unusual forms of mass, also exist in very different spacetime, where the light speed is a lower limit they can't break and travel faster despite losing mass, this is how Tachyonic Shift drives and ghost phasing works.

Natural phenomena and paradoxes
Massive objects can not only slow time down, but some spacetime defects and anomalies can actually disfugure the topology of spacetime. If two cosmic strings sweep by each other for example, then time is bent into a loop, an observer passing through can arrive before they depart. Wormholes offer passage through time, and anomalies can cause certain paradoxes.

Luckily, for the most part, paradoxes can never happen, because in the quantum world, several different outcomes can be created, different timelines budd off of each other, and are unlikely to meet again. Time's direction can change shape. But this is not always the case is localized spacetime, so travel through time is still risky.
 * Mad scientist paradox
 * Bootstrap paradox - Exist without or before being created.
 * More paradoxes
 * Times Terminel

Manipulation of Time
Time can be manipulated or modified in two seperate ways, by altering what events have happened in the past. However, since any events changed in the past will influence many more events in the future, with the amount of change increasing as time goes by, this can be very dangerous and have many unexpected results.

The two forms of time modification are time editing and time travel. Time travel requires vast amounts of energy, more than any power source in the universe can create in any relatively short length of time, so it has rarely been used.

The more common form, time editing, takes much less energy. It does not literally result in any changes to time. Instead, it changes the state of the universe to how it would be had certain events gone differently. However, time editing still requires plenty of care and the ability to both influence the entire universe and work out what changes would have occured from the 'edited' event.

Time Anomalies
A Time Anomaly is when time is corrupted in some way or when the Gyronic Conflict ois somehow disrupted, allowing for unusual phenomena to occur.

Most commonly, anomalies are temporary disturbances in the flow of time.
 * Time locks (an area and everything caught in it being frozen in time)
 * Time loops (the same event occuring repeatedly, e.g. a building exploding, then being being suddenly rebuilt before exploding again, occuring several times over and over again)
 * Time reversal (when the course of time is disrupted, e.g. lava flowing backwards into a volcano or rain rising into the sky)
 * Time skip (when time skips either further to the future or further to the past, making events in the future erased from memory until time skips back to where it was before it skipped, e.g. someone just died, then time skips back and the person is alive again, though only for a short period before returning to the time before time skipped). This time anomaly is completely unnoticeable, as it erases memory if it goes back, and adds memory if it goes to the future.

Most commonly, things from alternate time-lines might appear. When time is edited so that some things happened that originally wouldn't have or vice versa, things from the previous timeline would suddenly pop into existance. People would appear claiming to be from nations that don't exist and speaking languages that nobody has ever spoken, and sometimes members of species that never evolved would start walking around planets with environments where they couldn't thrive. Planets and star systems would appear or disappear, and sometimes an entire intergalactic empire could suddenly enter reality from a homeworld in a lifeless galaxy.

'Portals' to events at different points in time might also appear. You could be walking down the street and find yourself in a tribal battle, or in the far future. Or you could look across the river and see people who died hundreds of years ago living their daily lives in a village that was abandoned and rotted away long before you were even born.

In addition, all of these things might be only temporary. The aforementioned intergalactic empire could appear, lay waste to thousands of worlds, and suddenly return to unreality leaving only the ruins of smouldering cities as evidence for their existance.

Another form of time anomaly is the anomaly that is the Xhodocto and Ravenrii. They were created out of the space-time continuum, so they cannot even be considered to be either ageless or having an age. This is, however, not a time anomaly like the others are.

Time across dimensions & The Course of Time
Time is linear and is always occurring, otherwise, things wouldn't happen. The Omniverse is traveling forward in time (without moving itself in space) which is exactly how things happen. This is called the Course of Time. However, species that weren't created along the Course of Time aren't affected by how time moves, but have their own Course of Time.

Time is measured in a very similar method to space, but it can never be narrowed down to an instant, for if some spatial object only lasted for an instant, it would not exist. The general consensus among physicists in the universe is that time can be split into two or three dimensions. It it still unknown what started the Course of Time, but it can be assumed it started alongside space. The Course of Time doesn't mean the omniverse is literally moving but more like progressing. Also, Time is like space- infinite. If you traveled a decillion years back in time, nothing would be happening, but you be still be in the exact same place in space and time would still be progressing.

The Destruction of Time
While Time in many universes is different to this, there is an event that occurred- the Destruction of the Space-Time Continuum.

Originally, the Space Time Continuum in the omniverse was very similar to other omniverses (such as the "real" universe), and had no need for Gyronic or Dark Gyronic. However, there was a race that abused the simple control of time- the original Taldar.

The Taldar were overzealous in their use of time, causing anomalies and paradoxes to the space time continuum. The space time continuum couldn't cope with this, and so weakened a little.

Then, during one of the ancient Scourges, Kamik'Shi destroyed Time. Time literally stood still for all except the Xhodocto.

Then one Goddess, Volzara, fought against Kamik'Shi, using most of her energy to prevent him from ever being able to damage time. While she, sadly, was unable to create the Vyroni-Narzyds she desired to, the Thirteenth Tribe stepped in. They created the Vyroni-Narzyds, using the souls of the old Taldar as their punishment, to watch Time while Volzara was still recovering.

Volzara put Gyronic in place of the old Space Time Continuum. She worked hard to put the Course of Time system into place, which is moved by the Gyronic itself.

When the Vyro'Ralza came into play, the Gyronic Conflict came into play. This balance allows things such as Wormholes and other dark energies, such as Demonic Energy or Dark Matter to occur without interferring with Time.

The Gyronic Conflict
Two energies, Gyronic and Dark Gyronic fuel the universe' Space Time Continuum, in the balance known as the Gyronic Conflict. While both energies allow for safe time manipulation, Gyronic moves Time forward in the Course of Time, while Dark Gyronic allows things such as Black holes to exist without interfering with Time. Should the balance be interrupted, Time Anomalies occur.

Theories of Taldar's significance on time
Some have tried to develop theories on why the Taldar view time as so important, and why they communicate with lesser intelligences, when nearly every other Tier 0 civilization doesn't. Various fields in physics explain how time can be affected by even sapients. Spacetime is like a construct which is narrowly percieved by three dimensional sapients, they view the passage of time as past, present and future, as one long line from birth to death, and everything thing else moves along time in the same way. However, in dimensions more than three, it becomes apparent that three dimensional beings view time through a narrow slit, it has many lines, many shapes, leading to many outcomes. Everyone obliviously navigates through time, thinking they are passing along one line of it when they are really entering many different lines of of time. Some learn of this, and realize they can explore of shift through timelines. It is by the view of some, including Dr.Kenders, that perhaps the Taldar, being in a higher dimension can see the affect of this, and are guides of these timelike navigators. Written by: Wormulon  Talk to me '''
 * As a guiding force