A theory on Sanctuary's ... uneven ... approach to timelines, both internal and relating to our world. Mostly for giggles, not for any attempt at plausibility. *grins*
Sanctuary Braided Time
The Theory runs thusly: The Sanctuary timeline/universe is in fact not so much a timeline as a cable of braided smaller timelines, each centered around individuals and determined by the subjective experience of time of those individuals. There is a central global timeline, essentially the real or 'our' world, which underruns all of them and provides the thrust of passage into the future, but key figures, like the Five, or Gregory, or Adam, or Praxis, or the vampires, figures and civilsations that over-run their normal span of time, separate out somewhat into the braided strands.
Once separated out, those timelines converge for shared events, where the dominant timeline overwrites them, and then out again at varying speeds to their own lines, which can vary in length compared to the main one. Thus, people like Gregory and Adam have different experiences of a century's worth of time, and the time between the vampires disappearing seems different depending on whether you a Praxian, a vampire, or a surface-dweller. Events may happen slightly differently in the braided timelines to the main one, and events may be shared by the braided strands without impacting the main one. Thus, Helen and Nikola may be in Egypt in 1922 in their shared strands, but the main timeline may think Nikola was, for example, in a hotel room in New York, and as far as the main line is concerned, he was.
The shared events, such as the vampires falling, Praxis retreating, the birth of the Sanctuary network, the Ripper murders (though maybe not all of them), Nikola's electricity and death ray, the World wars, etc: these events are where all the timelines converge, and the impacts of all of them are briefly written onto the main one. The shared events are where the effects of the braided lines are imprinted onto the main one, and the effects carried forward even if the timelines temporarily braid out again.
In short, each of the problematic timelines in Sanctuary is not so much contradictory as self-contained, braiding back into the main timeline only as necessary. Sanctuary is not a single world, but a loosely collected series of worlds bound into a braided timeline.
*grins, snickers at self* Well, that's what I tell myself, anyway. Otherwise my head hurts, when I try to figure it out. Heh. *waves head* Going away now, to be insane somewhere else. *shakes head at self, smiles*
The Theory runs thusly: The Sanctuary timeline/universe is in fact not so much a timeline as a cable of braided smaller timelines, each centered around individuals and determined by the subjective experience of time of those individuals. There is a central global timeline, essentially the real or 'our' world, which underruns all of them and provides the thrust of passage into the future, but key figures, like the Five, or Gregory, or Adam, or Praxis, or the vampires, figures and civilsations that over-run their normal span of time, separate out somewhat into the braided strands.
Once separated out, those timelines converge for shared events, where the dominant timeline overwrites them, and then out again at varying speeds to their own lines, which can vary in length compared to the main one. Thus, people like Gregory and Adam have different experiences of a century's worth of time, and the time between the vampires disappearing seems different depending on whether you a Praxian, a vampire, or a surface-dweller. Events may happen slightly differently in the braided timelines to the main one, and events may be shared by the braided strands without impacting the main one. Thus, Helen and Nikola may be in Egypt in 1922 in their shared strands, but the main timeline may think Nikola was, for example, in a hotel room in New York, and as far as the main line is concerned, he was.
The shared events, such as the vampires falling, Praxis retreating, the birth of the Sanctuary network, the Ripper murders (though maybe not all of them), Nikola's electricity and death ray, the World wars, etc: these events are where all the timelines converge, and the impacts of all of them are briefly written onto the main one. The shared events are where the effects of the braided lines are imprinted onto the main one, and the effects carried forward even if the timelines temporarily braid out again.
In short, each of the problematic timelines in Sanctuary is not so much contradictory as self-contained, braiding back into the main timeline only as necessary. Sanctuary is not a single world, but a loosely collected series of worlds bound into a braided timeline.
*grins, snickers at self* Well, that's what I tell myself, anyway. Otherwise my head hurts, when I try to figure it out. Heh. *waves head* Going away now, to be insane somewhere else. *shakes head at self, smiles*