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[Putnam]

wow Lord English's eyes cycle the same way as Quarter's quarters

[Graknorke]

wow Lord English's eyes cycle the same way as Quarter's quarters

Wasn't that explicitly stated at some point?

[Arcvasti]

As Doc Scratch said, "The alpha timeline is defined as the one which contains both my birth and my death, which are circumstantially simultaneous."

So THAT'S why he's such a good manipulator. Because, if he fails to manipulate them properly, they end up in a doomed timeline and die. Viewed in that light, lots of thing seem different. How many doomed timeline Aradias were there? A thousand? The entire Troll cycle of revenge plotline was literally because they had no other choice. Anything else would have invalidated Doc Scratch's birth and death and been non-alpha.

[Sergarr]

As Doc Scratch said, "The alpha timeline is defined as the one which contains both my birth and my death, which are circumstantially simultaneous."

So THAT'S why he's such a good manipulator. Because, if he fails to manipulate them properly, they end up in a doomed timeline and die. Viewed in that light, lots of thing seem different. How many doomed timeline Aradias were there? A thousand? The entire Troll cycle of revenge plotline was literally because they had no other choice. Anything else would have invalidated Doc Scratch's birth and death and been non-alpha.

That also explains why there's so much Random Plot Shit and Weird Time Shit going around. It's literally the result of random-pathing to a fated destination. I can just see Doc Scratch going "let's do this we're makin it HAPEN oh shit I just made my birth impossible oh fucking well let's try AGAIN for the 413th time! ... for the 612th time! ...for the 1025th time!"

[Putnam]

Doc Scratch's birth and death both require the existence of Lord English.

It can be drawn from that fact and Doc Scratch's definition of the alpha timeline (though perhaps he's using a different definition than usual, the cheekless bastard) that the alpha timeline is defined by Lord English's continued existence; were an event to happen that would prevent his existence, that timeline would not be the alpha anymore. If this is true, that makes Aranea seem pretty batshit, but then she never had the... pleasure of speaking with Doc Scratch. This could also be why he's indestructible save for glitches in space-time; if you destroy him, the timeline is not the alpha!

Also note that Lord English, despite his guarantee of continued existence ("unconditional immortality"), still does stuff in the most batshit, convoluted manner possible. This is because... you may notice that Caliborn seems to enjoy doing everything in the most batshit, convoluted manner possible, such as drawing circles with straight lines.

[MDFification]

Holy shit.

If the Alpha is defined that way, then perhaps that's where Lord English gets a good chunk of his shit; he cannot be in a doomed timeline. Where he is alive, that is the Alpha. It's how he's always already there; he can time travel and whatever he does proactively changes the timeline to suit him, with no fear of paradox. This even fits with the fact that he used the Weapon; when John used it, he got the ability to retroactively change the timeline rather than proactively.

On the other hand, I'm pulling the majority of this out of my ass.

He has unconditional immortality. Taking that literally, that means there is no condition in which LE cannot exist. It's not even possible for him not to have been born or to have died as Caliborn since he won his session.
LE being unconditionally immortal in effect means that the existence of LE is one of the base conditions of reality.

[Putnam]

Apologies to Darkling users.

uu: SOMEONE COMMISSIONED JACK. SORT OF.
uu: PuT OuT A HIT ON YOuR ENTIRE uNIVERSE. AND ALL ITS INTERNAL ITERATIONS.
uu: DON'T YOu THINK THAT'S FuCKING AWESOME?


Goddammit Lil' Cal told Jack to destroy Universe B.

Goddammit Lil' Cal can only tell people stuff because Caliborn put his soul into that through juju bullshit.

NOTHING BAD CAN HAPPEN THAT DOESN'T INVOLVE LORD ENGLISH

[Kilojoule Proton]

Update!

[Elephant Parade]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Wait, the timeline is doomed? Do we have any idea when it happened?

[Kilojoule Proton]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

If it's the grown up Calliope, it may have something to do with this chain of reasoning:

• Doc Scratch never lies but doesn't always tell the truth either
• Doc Scratch states that the Alpha timeline is one containing both his birth and death
• Caliborn is Lord English (high confidence but may be wrong)
• A grown Calliope means a dead/inactive Caliborn means no Lord English
• No Lord English means no death for Doc Scratch and possibly no birth either (high confidence but may be wrong)
• Any timeline containing a grown Calliope is a doomed one

[Gatleos]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Wait, the timeline is doomed? Do we have any idea when it happened?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

At the very least when Jane died, removing all chances of reviving Jade and recovering Earth from her sylladex.

[Arcvasti]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Wait, the timeline is doomed? Do we have any idea when it happened?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

At the very least when Jane died, removing all chances of reviving Jade and recovering Earth from her sylladex.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Depending on how abstract this is, there might be a way to take someones sylladex after their death. Or maybe that just applies to the Wallet modus?

[Rose]

What makes a timeline doomed, anyway?

[Arx]

If Scratch's birth and death do not occur, it seems.

I swear, this thread is more and more like the Religious Discussion thread all the time. People making references to a vast work of literature that very few people can be bothered to read through, people disagreeing with other people based on fan speculation, things that are fundamental but really not clear...

[Putnam]

There's a crapload of discussion about that at some point or another in A6I3 or so, IIRC.

Anyway, a timeline is doomed if conditions are in such a way that Lord English will not be created, if I were to guess.