Prophecies: Time Is A River And Baby, We're Throwing Rocks

Time is a river that flows only one direction. We are leaves carried on an eternally-flowing current until the water eats us away.

Time travel backwards is impossible. Physical things, as a hard rule, can only go in one direction. You can certainly speed up your passage. Many wizards are capable of moving forwards in time. Beings from the past have reappeared in the present, but travel backwards is impossible.

Except, of course, if something truly major happens.

When you throw a pebble into the water, it creates a ripple. That ripple is itself swept along by the current, the motion extending infinitely into the future and influencing the flow of everything that comes after it. Butterflies and hurricanes. This is causality.

But, right at the moment of impact, for a very short period of time, the ripple extends upriver. A leaf may, perhaps, flow over it and for just a brief second, touch the future.

 

Prophetic Rules

The degree to which a ripple extends backwards is always a fraction of how far it extends forwards. The death of a hermit alone in the woods may only be noticeable in the seconds before his death. If you can tell the future in a fight, you might be able to see your own death a couple seconds ahead, but little else. Even the greatest of kings may learn of their death no more than a few weeks in advance.

Hard knowledge is impossible. A ripple is affected by the motion of the river it spreads backwards into. It will become distorted and unclear with time. Telling the future a second beforehand is near-crystal-clear. Look a week earlier and things may be distorted and blurry. 

Paradoxes are possible. Free will does exist, ever since Rumen broke the back of fate and locked him in a coffin above the Door to Deepest Dark. Larger stones are harder to shift when you cannot touch them, but a small pebble may be slipped around entirely simply by knowledge of its coming.

Mechanics

Fortunes are measured in Chronological Distance and Abstraction. Chronological Distance causes abstraction.

Chronological Distance	Abstraction
Seconds	No Abstraction
Minutes	Minor Abstraction
Days	Moderate Abstraction
Weeks	Major Abstraction
Months	Unreadable Abstraction

Abstraction	Description
No Abstraction	A clear and informative view of the event.
Minor Abstraction	A hazy view of the event, cut off or limited in its perspective
Moderate Abstraction	A view of the event told through related metaphors
Major Abstraction	A view of the event told only through the vaguest symbolism
Unreadable Abstraction	A view of the event that only can tell you something will happen, with no other information

Examples: Charles will find his wife Edith in bed with his best friend Mark, which will cause his friend to kill him to keep it quiet

• No Abstraction. Charles sees Mark in bed with Edith, sees himself walking in on it, and sees Mark kill him
• Minor Abstraction. Charles sees Mark in bed with Edith, but not the murder/Charles sees himself being killed by his wife’s lover, but does not know that it’s his best friend
• Moderate Abstraction. A knight is stabbed in the back
• Major Abstraction. A man walks in the forest. He picks a flower and takes it with him. A serpent bites his foot, poisoning him, causing him to drop the flower.

Telling the Future

When you look into the future, choose a fortune-telling method or make one.

1. Palm reading: Moderate abstraction for any chronological distance if done to a babe at the moment of their birth. Otherwise unreadable abstraction.
2. Tarot cards. Moderate and minor abstraction is told through a consistent set of metaphors, allowing common events (deaths, births, betrayals) to be easily taught
3. Astronomy. Always major abstraction, regardless of chronological distance.
4. Haruspicy. Lowers abstraction by 1 category but requires an animal sacrifice.
5. Bone-Casting. Maximum abstraction is moderate when predicting deaths
6. Warrior’s-Divination. Never goes beyond a few seconds of chronological distance, but can be practiced while fighting.

Prophecy Beasts

If there’s a river, some things cannot be moved. They’re so set in the riverbed that a leaf caught on them will be stuck, unable to move forwards.

Prophecy Beasts do not move backwards or forwards in time, existing in their own instant-infinity. Encountering one will trap you with them until they are dislodged. They exist in a sole instant of time, alone for eternity, unless you touch upon them in the perfect place at the perfect moment.

Prophecy Beasts can be locations, objects, creatures, or concepts. They are above death and must be given a fate to re-enter time where they became stuck in it. This can be done by giving them a new soul, trading them your fate, or successfully changing their form into being unstuck.