Cause of Chronus

Cause of Chronus would be an RPG Adventure video game based on time travel and forking plot paths with some sandbox elements. It is similar to games such as Mass Effect, Fable, and Grand Theft Auto with a time travel theme.

Chronos is the Greek embodiment of Time, and Cause refers to Causality.

Plot and Setting
Cause of Chronus would start in the very distant future, where an organization called Chronus has invented time travel and maintains secrecy and prevents other societies from developing it.

When a time traveler enters a different part of the timeline, his consciousness immediately takes hold of his nearest DNA match. This may be his ancestor or if he goes back to a time where he existed, it will be himself. This phenomena is called "Merging." Upon exiting the timeline, his consciousness is separated from the host. The process of time travel involves a sort of portal, where the body is passed through the portal and the "spirit" is separated. To the time traveler, this process takes exactly as long as when he enters the timeframe up to when he exits. To an outside viewer, his body simply passes through the portal but any changes made to the timeline take effect when the traveler exits the portal.

The time traveling machine projects a "Quantum Bubble" which actually removes those inside from the timeline temporarily. Once the Quantum Bubble is exited, those inside will immediately merge with their DNA matches but retain memories of events inside the Bubble. This is how the machine can remain in existence in spite of any sort of tampering with the past, and why Chronus can still function as an organization. The Bubble extends all around the confines of the massive Chronus facility. Some Chronus members who have not left the Bubble for long periods of time actually have alter egos walking around in the outside world. When some agents leave the Bubble, they occasionally find themselves suddenly destitute and on the streets or in control of massive fortunes, though Chronus is always a phone call away. Chronus has a contingency plan for sudden changes in life style.

Chronus' goal (the "Cause of Chronus") is to change the world to put themselves in power and advance society but they can only do so very slowly and carefully for fear of butterfly effects. Occasional scientific expeditions are taken to parts of the far flung past but they are careful to make minimal changes to the timeline. The real work is done in the past 50 years.

Chronus would follow the exploits of a rogue agent, who has taken the plans for a Time Traveling machine and built his own. He plans on toppling Chronus and completely destroying the organization, and ultimately plans on allowing all humans to time travel. The protagonist believes that by allowing all people to time travel, it will eventually turn the entire universe into a single constant, a single point on a line or a graph, and allow the discovery of higher dimensions which is the ultimate purpose for humanity.

Gameplay
The player would choose to travel back in time on a timeline. Each time point would be pre-determined.

When the player enters the time point, he would then have to actually make it to his physical destination. A small map of the starting zone of the player's ancestor would appear, and a mini-game where the player goes across the world to the desired destination would commence. The player could make this easier by going to previous time points and having his ancestors move around the world, but this would be limited to a circle around that ancestor's hometown (so that the ancestor could eventually meet their mate). Furthermore, some decisions could allow the player's ancestors to amass a large fortune that would stay in his family and make later travel much easier.

The player would merge with a different avatar, and would have to use the technology available to that time. For instance if he were to go to World War I, he would be fighting with Lee-Enfield Rifles and Maxim Guns. If he traveled to Sumeria, he would make use of Copper Swords.

Based on certain choices the player makes in past events, future events would be altered.

One event would take place in the mid 600s, where the player would encounter the famous Muslim general Khalid ibn al-Walid. If the player kills him, then this would prevent the Arabs from conquering Persia. Before assassinating Khalid, the city of Ctesiphon would be a ruin in the medieval era. Upon eliminating the general, Ctesiphon would be a powerful metropolis, a continuation of it's former glory. The player could then go back in time again before he fights Khalid, then Ctesiphon would become a ruin again.