Post by Staff on Aug 7, 2013 20:25:55 GMT -6
DEFINITIONS
THINGS TO KNOW
JUMPER a person capable of utilizing the Time Device to jump to different time periods
TIME DEVICE in the shape of a small object, allows the user to jump to a different time period; We want these to be generally small and easy to conceal but be creative and if you’d like something a little bigger and more flamboyant, just make sure it is something your character can grab at a second’s notice.
EX: pocket watch, dish sponge, necklace, skeleton key
**In very rare instances, small animals have been known to act as Time Devices, giving them unnatually long lives. However, most of the times that this occurs, the animals tend to find their way to Jumpers who don't know about their gift and the animal jumps them to another time period. Usually the animal Time Devices don't stick with one person very long. They stay long enough for you to find your own device and then they leave.
THINGS TO KNOW
If you are not a Jumper, you're stuck in your birth era unless a Jumper carries you into a new era. Animals and people can be carried with a Jumper but it will take it's toll on the Jumper's energy and strength for a while. The more they carry, the less functional they are after a jump.
Aging happens as normal, no matter what era you’re in. So, if you jump from the Old West to the Future, spend 3 years in the future, and jump back to the Old West and don't specify a date, 3 years will have passed in the Old West since the last time you were there. However, if you do want to jump back to the minute you left, you can but your body will still be 3 years older.
When visiting an era you've never visited before, you are likely to end up in a random place unless you can conjure up a solid, accurate thought of the place you want to go. This is because, as you haven't been there yet, you don't really know the places that you can jump so your Device picks one for you. However, you can be as specific with the time and date of your jump as you want. If you ever want a surprise, think "Surprise me" and let your Device take you somewhere random.
To jump, a character must be holding the Time Device in their hand and thinking the title of the desired place. For example, if a Jumper wanted to go to their home in the Victorian era, they need only hold their Time Device in their hand and think "1840 my home on Delaware Ave” and the Device will carry them there. Be as specific as you like. Think “inside the second floor linen closet” if you like.
When jumping around in time, keep in mind that sometimes Time and/or your Device can have a mind of it’s own. You may be thinking of the tavern in 1348 but maybe Time or your Device think you should help out the servant girl being abused in 1840 at a country manor, that is where you’re going to end up.
Jumping is different for each person. Examples include tightness (like apparating in JK Rowling‘s universe), short dizziness, a tornado of images surrounding the jumper, a sudden flash of heat or coldness, or the jumper could hear a loud pop. Take some creative license here and your character can experience whatever you can think of.
If the time period does not have the technology yet, you cannot bring it there -- it will disappear on the jump and reappear upon returning to the item’s original era; Or, it may ‘transform’ into something more subtle such as a cell phone turning into a fob watch in 1840 or a block of wood in 1348. Money carried with the jumper will convert itself to the form of payment fitting that era -- as will clothing.
The longer you stay out of your birth era, the sicker/weaker you become -- going back to your birth era will help you feel better temporarily but your body will still have the ‘scars’, so to speak. Each progressive time you get sick, you will be a bit sicker than you were the last time until you just don’t get better. Jumpers who don’t leave their time periods age and are healthy like any other average human. On average, Jumpers don’t tend to live long lives. The oldest any active Jumper has lived was 67. Most don’t live much past 50. Depending on how your character acquired his/her Device, he/she may not know about the shortened lifespan and sickness.
When you leave a time period, the people of that time make assumptions that you died, moved, got kidnapped, etc.
You cannot contact your relations in the other eras. Nor can you contact yourself. Meeting yourself in a time period, though plausible, is highly unlikely. Even if you did meet yourself, you would not know it, as the You that belongs in that time will appear as another person entirely.
Babies born to parents from two different eras rarely make it past 5 years; usually dying around 3 or 4 years.
Time Devices are passed generation to generation because the Jumper ability is genetic. Though, there is a 1:3 chance that a Jumper will have a non-Jumper child. It is also possible, though, very unlikely, that a Jumper may be born to two non-Jumper parents. These children somehow tend to stumble upon other Jumpers who can then help then learn what a Jumper is and help them find their Time Device--this is a similar process to finding one’s familiar.
No vampires, werewolves, super-powers, mythical creatures, etc unless specified.
Dragons, witches, and other mythological creatures exist only in medieval times; everywhere else they are myth. These witches are generally just people with knowledge beyond their era, whether they‘re a Jumper or are fed information or have a genuine Seeing ability. Get with Trick to check if you have a certain creature in mind you want to make or have involved in a thread/plot.
If you have any other questions about Jumpers or their world, or you would just like something clarified a bit better, please feel free to make a post in the Customer Service board and we'll get you an answer ASAP.
