Multiple Time Traveler Immunities?

[Duke Serkol]

I've been wondering about a particular case of time travel. We probably don't ever get to see it in the game, but I'd like to know what the general consensus is on such a hypothetical situation.

Consider the case of Robo staying behind to grow a forest.
He does this for a number of years until four centuries later the heroes come by to pick him up.

Then they travel back to the past with him and the two Robo can meet one another.
According to the Time Bastard theory, the Robo we see in the past will be whisked off to the Darkness Beyond Time when four centuries later the time comes when the heroes originally recovered him.

The thing here is... Robo has already been traveling through time, so shouldn't he be covered by time traveler immunity?

To further exemplify this, here's the hypothetical situation I was thinking of...

Suppose that the following happens: the heroes, Robo included, go back to the distant past and they get captured without hope of escaping. They do however manage to leave behind some kind of message that the Robo who is growing the forest can find.

Upon getting the message, this Robo decides to find a way to travel back in time and save the heroes. He does. What happens now? Do we have two Robo that exist as completely separte entities within the timeline? Or does one of them get time bastarded? And if so, which one?

@_@

[Acacia Sgt]

The Robo left behind does have Time Travel Immunity (TTI). However, that only covers for his arrival at 600 AD. That Robo is bound to get Time Bastard (TB) once all the time it spent until it's next time travel happens.

Should by whatever reason that Robo Time Travels before the deadline, TTI will ensure he appears in that new era now. However, he is still a TB. So the Robo of 600 AD will now be TB at the new point he decided to time travel, while the one to appear in the new era has the deadline of 400-X, where X is how much time he spent in the Middle Ages before time traveling again.

Hope this cleared it out.

[Duke Serkol]

Not really, I'm afraid I got lost in there ^^"

I seem to understand though that TTI does not protect from the effects of Time Bastard, is that right? (Meaning no matter how much the timeline is changed, the Robo that was left in 600 will always appear there when he did, but he'll still be whisked into a black gate when his time comes). Though I have to wonder what would happen if the timeline was to change in such a way that Fiona never existed (would Robo appear and not know what to do?)

But about my previous example, let's try to make this more comprehensible (to myself) by labeling the Robos and providing actual dates.

Let's say the Robo that is picked up by the group in 1000AD (after being left in 600 AD) is Robo A.
The Robo we then meet going back to 600AD would be Robo B.

Robo A and the group go to 12000 BC and are captured by Dalton (for the lulz). They can't get away with their lives, but are able to pass a message that eventually reaches Robo B in 600 AD.
Robo B is able to travel back to 12000 BC and save his friends. To put an extra spin on it, let's say however that in the escape Robo A falls into a gate leading to some other time where the heroes can't follow him (let's say 2400).

What would happen then to Robo A and B?

[Acacia Sgt]

In that case, Robo B will have a TTI for entering 12000 BC, but would still get TB when his 400 years are up, regardless of when he is. He can make as many time travels he could think of, but all will still yield a TB-susceptible Robo any time he does, with the same deadline 'time-wise'. Robo A will not since he is the 'current' version, so he isn't susceptible to TB. He will have TTI for 2400 due to time traveling there.

Therefore, unless Robo A finds a way back or the party find a way to travel to 2400, the party will now be forced to go on without Robo once Robo B gets TB.

[Duke Serkol]

Mh, so essentially, TTI and TB are completely separate phenomenons that do not influence each other right?

In that case, if a solo time traveler was to meet his former (already) time traveling self, within a group of companions, is the whole lot made time bastards by the encounter, or by whatever altered the past to make the encounter occur? (Since from the point of view of the solo time traveler, the other travelers did not meet his future self)

...okay, I think I'm starting to figure it out, thanks ^_^

[Acacia Sgt]

If the guy truly went solo, then no. As long as they have yet to time travel again, they aren't TB as they're their 'current' versions. It doesn't matter if the circumstances previous to their arrival by TTI is changed, as long as they don't time travel again, then it's up for grabs whatever they happens to them once they enter via TTI.

[Duke Serkol]

Ah, but I mean... what if the entire group had time traveled with the solo time traveler before he went off on his own but both before and after the moment he returns to when he meets them?

In that case, they will all be whisked into black gates the moment when they were supposed to embark on their next time travel, right?

[Acacia Sgt]

I don't think I get what you're talking about there. What do you mean with...

but both before and after the moment he returns to when he meets them?

In any case, it doesn't matter the circumstances. If they're not their current versions, then they're bound to TB when their future selves time traveled out of the era they are in.

[Duke Serkol]

I guess what I meant to ask there is how we determine "current versions".

In the example above the flow of events would be:

A ) Group travels through time together
B ) Group does not meet one of their future selves
C ) Group time travels some more
D ) A member of the group continue to travel alone
E ) The solo time traveler changes the past (sometime between A and B ), altering the previous time travels of the group
F ) The solo time traveler meets his past self and the other time travelers at point B, then they each go their separate ways

But yeah, I think I'm getting the hang of it.
The entire group become time bastards when the solo time traveler changes the past at point E, and regardless of where/when they time travel they will disappear when the time of point C comes, right?

Thanks, this has cleared things up ^_^

[Acacia Sgt]

You got it almost right. The group doesn't become TB because the guy traveled solo at point E, it's because they time traveled again at point C. Not exactly them, but their versions of A through C.

But yeah, that's mostly how it works. 

[Duke Serkol]

Mh, and how would time traveler immunity come into play if they had not traveled again at point C?

Would they not become time bastards but still have their actions rewritten by the changes that occur at E?

I guess this goes back to the "but what if Fiona was removed from history question", what would happen to the Robo that was left in 600 AD and is still protected by time traveler immunity?

...this should, hopefully, be the last clarification I need on the subject

[Acacia Sgt]

If they don't travel at C, then yes, after arriving in A, whatever they do would depend on how's the time line, as they're their current versions. And as such, until they time travel again, they would not gain a set memory of events as it would be ever changing thanks to other time travelers.

For the Fiona question, it depends. For such situation it would need Robo to not have been in the party when they visit her and fight that boss. That way there is a Robo entering 600 AD knowing about helping regrow the forest.

And that would complicate things big-time. Makes me think it was for the best there never was such situation. As having a Robo with 400 years of existence would be complicated if it decides to do something like returning to the End of Time.

[Duke Serkol]

If they don't travel at C, then yes, after arriving in A, whatever they do would depend on how's the time line, as they're their current versions. And as such, until they time travel again, they would not gain a set memory of events as it would be ever changing thanks to other time travelers.

Ah, so Time Traveler Immunity only applies to events that occured to a time traveler before their last time travel and not also after that? I see, I didn't realize that (I thought it applied to their person at all time and in any facet, hence my initial confusion as to how a time traveler could become a time bastard).
Now it makes sense.

For the Fiona question, it depends. For such situation it would need Robo to not have been in the party when they visit her and fight that boss. That way there is a Robo entering 600 AD knowing about helping regrow the forest.

Wait, what I meant was that the change which causes Fiona to not exist could occur after the heroes killed the boss and left Robo behind and after the go pick him up in the future.
What would happen then?
Would Robo and the heroes that went to talk to Fiona becaome time bastards and find themselves not knowing this and whatever may have cause Fiona to disappear?