An Overview

In the distant past the people of Mars sent an expedition to Earth with the hopes of colonzing the planet. The mission was a resounding sucess and soon Martian civilization would be fully brought to Earth. However, the great civilzation would not thrive forever eventually resources began to run low and the civilzation was hritling towards the brink of total collapse. However, luck would conintue to be on the civilizations side. Several independent projects their scientists were working on came together unexpectedly giving them access to a technology that gave them access to parallel worlds. Few were even close to their own levels of technology and none were able to make cross timelines as they were. Using this technology they began to secretly siphon off resources from other timelines to sustain themselves. Home Time Line as they called it was saved but they knew they would have to protect the secret of their technology at all costs or risk destruction. The civilization of timeline hoppers was first introduced in a series of short stories written by Piper and later appeared as an important part of the background of Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen. They are highly advanced and a bit mysterious but Carr and Piper have done a great deal of work to illuminate the inner workings of Home Time Line and its struggles.

How Home Time Line Works

Technology

The most prominent piece of Home Time Line tech to appear is of course the 'conveyors' they use in order to move themseves throughout paratime. These vehciles can swiftly move either individuals or groups of people to different timelines as long as they are within the conveyor. Interestingly it is apparently quite easy to stumble out of these conveyors as many who are accidentally picked up by one can manage to just tumble out of it as is the case with Calvin Morrison and an unamed character in Police Operation. When two or more of these conveyors cross paths it weakens there protections enough to allow things to cross into the conveyors which does not happen frequently but often enough for it to be a known issue. In addition to conveyors Home Time Line boasts a vas tarray of technological advancements like flying cars, tracking devices, advanced weapondry, and machines that implant both information or false memories depending on the situation just to name a few. Home Time Line also has developed technology to allow them to expand their lifespans hundreds of years past other civilizations on different timelines.

Society

Home Time Line(HTL) has a complex and perhaps slightly contradictory social system. The citizens of HTL rely on a group of people called Proles as a source of labor. Proles are seen as beneath the actual citizens of HTL howevern there is a recent push to grant them citizenship though not everyone supposrts this. Naturally all of HTL has had to account for their existence as an unseen parasite-like people in their morality and many of them freely admit to the ambiguity of thier actions on other time lines. However, a dedication to avoiding contaminating or compromising other time lines is common among the more morally upright of the civilization. In addition the general society of HTL has a negative view of religion and is relatively non-violent compared to other timelines, though they will kill. In addition the people of HTL can come across as rather callous or self-absorbed. Many people on HTL view less advanced civilizations with a bit of condesention and antone who goes to other timelines or 'Outtime' as they call it is advised to getting attached to any of the people there. Of course, not all people on HTL are completely honest either, some of them engage in acts like slavery or endanger the Paratime Secret and for that the Paracops get involved. The Paracops are a police organization on HTL which deals with any crimes involving other timelines and is responsible for doing whatever is necessary to protect the Paratime Secret.

The Secret

The Paratime Secret is the most important bit of information HTL has, the knowldge of their very existence. Given that their operations on other timelines inevitably involve them taking some amount of resources from these places it is paramount that none of the othertimelines learn of their existence or how they learned how to cross timelines. Not only could it cause harm to the timelines they're on but would also endanger HTL's ability to sustain tiself if it were to begin losing resources or having to compete with another timeline jumping civilization.

Other Information

• Members of Home Time Line have their family name as their first name and their given name second.
• The two main politcal factions are the Managment and Opposition parties. Managment is curretnly in control of the Paracops.
• There is a Bureau of Psychic Hygiene responsible for dealing with people with undesirable tendencies.

Suggested Reading:

Paratime Universe [typescript]

Carr-05-15

21 leaves

Physical Description:

These files contain research or background material for stories or novels related to the Paratime Universe.  The notes cover information on: Commercial regulations, trading firms, commercial resident agents, citizenship, military, fourth level societies, first level societies, Bureau of Psychological Hygiene, cities, religion, and key characters.  There are written notes and check marks as well on many of the pages.

Paratime [Paperback]

Carr-10-23 (located on the bookshelf)

Physical Description:

Paratime edited by John F. Carr this is a collection of some of H. Beam Pipers Stories published August 1981 by Ace Books.

Kalvan/Paratime Notes [typescript]

Carr-18-09

Physical Description:

A large typed document containing notes pertaining to Lord Kalvan and the Paratime Universe. The document includes notes about characters as well as technology used in the universe.

John Carr Collection Homepage