Subject: I think
Author:
Posted on: 2011-06-11 03:38:00 UTC
Time passes, but not at the same pace as the Real World. This is why we have HST, Headquarters Standard Time. Whether this is faster or slower, I don't know. I guess it's probably alternately either one.
This has been bothering me for a while, and I've finally found time to post.
So; Does anyone know how time works in the PPC compared to the real world?
Like...If an agent comes from the real world and goes to HQ, does the amount of time passed in HQ match the real world, or does it go at different paces? Is there time at all at the PPC?
Also, if/when the agent decided to retire back to the real world, would any time have passed?
It's like how navigating HQ works on a literalism: "It's kind of a maze, unless you hadn't noticed." If you really pay attention to the time—especially if you want it to go faster—it will probably slow down just to spite you. Otherwise, it can go really quickly or really slowly or really normally, depending on factors such as the dimensional location of the bit of HQ you're in, how much fun you're having (time flies when you're having fun, you know), and the like. Thus, for some agents it's almost exactly like Real World time, and for some it works like time in Narnia, and for some it changes daily.
The time spent in missions messes with things, too. You can spend a week's time in a fic but come back minutes after you left your RC thanks to portals. Similarly, how time passes in HQ is irrelevant to when you decide to pop back to the Real World. Though if you've aged five years, it's probably unwise to return the moment after you left.
Really, it all comes down to how you want to write your spin-off. Some folks like to write their missions as though they happen back-to-back, and some write them as though they're spaced out, assuming that the time between is filled with more routine missions and other stuff. In my case, Agent Derik's missions occur more or less back to back, and that's because he's distracted a lot. Lots of time passes between them for others, but not for him because he doesn't notice it; his aging is less obvious for the same reason. Nume and Ilraen, on the other hand, have a perfect memory and a perfect biological clock between them, so time for them is pretty much normal because they can't help but have a passing awareness of it. I have to keep track of how old they are.
Make sense? ... More or less?
~Neshomeh
I forgot to add this. Basically, HST is a relative timeline—it marks when PPC events happen relative to World One time. It has little to do with how the agents perceive it. Again using Agent Derik as an example, it's been over three years since he was recruited relative to the Real World, but as far as he's concerned it's only been one year at most. HST is far more for our benefit than the agents'.
~Neshomeh
... Agent Vemi spending a few years in the PPC while in World One, only a single summer holiday passed. So while HST is roughly equal to our time, people can jump around in it quite a bit.
The other thing HST does is partially synchronise different 'verses. If I have one agent from the year M41.241, and another from AC 379, which one is older? I'd take their ages when they joined the PPC and project backwards to give them HST birthdates. Of course, this means that any other Roman Empire agents will have different synchronisations of HST to AC (since the AC year they arrived will be their own baseline, rather than matching my agent's), but at least we know how old they are.
Or, in other words: HST exists for the sole purpose of letting us, as authors, keep it all straight in our heads.
hS
Time passes, but not at the same pace as the Real World. This is why we have HST, Headquarters Standard Time. Whether this is faster or slower, I don't know. I guess it's probably alternately either one.