With the basics of any character, I should point out that there is a first contact, an objective to be met. Each type of character proof is different, and the system creates a knowledge base, to resolve the problems in the world.
The time thief, is about the best example of both the cause of the problem and there dark destiny, being the cause of there own trouble. Stealing magic was only the beginning, and now that you have, it would have been better if you had not.
Confronted with visions of a future bound, to the design of war the incarnation, it seems there is no explaneation for there design. But it is not the hand of fate toying with humanity, it is the incarnations, and there use of the same resources being used over and over. Yes, even magic has.
The fade was like a life lived in reverse. Beginning from destruction, and then counting down time as lives, until the last of the arch demons was sealed away. By that time you might even sympathize with there attempt to exist as immortals. I say that it is sympathetic, because that is the result of time magic. They alone knew that angels appeared to deliver only destruction, and then existed as a final compensation, to those that are destroyed by there version of a heaven. Those that remain do not do so by choice, they become the forsaken, and the lost, who wander the west to this day.
Time is a trickster, a thief of magic, an evil god among those from another age. Unable to form meaningful relationships, and unless they become the arch-druid, the greatest of wizards, they are in constant danger. Danger of inquisition, Danger of heretical exile, and in danger of others who are not bound by the restrictions imposed by fates hand at work. There attempts to form relationships with mortals around them are very similar, I imagine, to the other incarnations. Constantly reminded of there failure to save others, even when they attempted to do so.
Eventually, the heavens interfere in the world yet again, the only defense against the angels of destruction are designed by war himself. So the world continues to ebb away the same resources. I am assured, that it is the same for every world, no matter how many milenium pass between habitable worlds. Humanity put up a hell of a fight.
The evidence is all around us, even more evident to magic. Looking into the stars and listening to the sound, has produced hell on earth. Thankfully, that is the one place the battleground is forbidden. Yet, it is gravity, that caused time to warp due to the red sword of war. If you look into the stars, you will see that nature would destroy humanity there, as well. The destruction of Crab, should warn us all, that not many things have the power of doom.
Magic may never fully halt the fade, but it has been stopped, however briefly. If there ever is a solution it will be on the brink of rift worlds, far removed from human experience. The greatest among us, would be forced to take sides in the conflict between demons and angelic creations. The only difference between these, is the outward image, when doom falls upon the world, it is always the most unstoppable form.
These powers are hardly in balance, far from it. They serve as a reminder, that humanity still has hope for the world. A hope they would use to alter fate, the stars, or even halt death. Imagine then a world where no one died, they are manipulated then by demons and angels, forced to take sides, and war results time and again. The earth is the last refuge from the creations of mankind, mined in the depths, and forced to endure unending conflict. What could be more aligned with the core plans of the incarnation war. Until final defiant acts causes the world to resort to time magic, (it has), any forbidden magic, except evidence left in the stars, is considered a willful result.
The time thief has no control over where and when he is sent, only what is shaped by fate, is to be removed. There own magic obeys law, from the point of gods who sealed the western states against there bloodline. Yet they return, to invoke powers and cause the very war among magic schools, that where slain from necrotic copies of there own spell craft.
One could delve into the depth of magic, and never be forced to contend with such a result from war magic. The sorcerer is condemned for survival, to begin with, but when people realize they do not age as a human would, they are forced to exile. Witches are real, and they continually refuse to produce magic aligned, to any that are not bound. Even when presented with undeniable evidence, they will not produce the tactic. I say it is undeniable, that it has been sealed and wands are the result.
This is not the state of the world as it should be, deception and mischief, is the order of nights obfuscations. I was as highly suspected as any of you, and further the target of necromancy. I simply will not abandon the surface world, for the mind of a shogun, who has no right to reincarnate them-self.
In the current system of events designed to respond on different levels of human experience, there are still problems. Due to a ship running at one system speed, and there ship’s star carefully in balance, technology from almost any time can be subject to the ancient order of the heavens. This gets a little more complex as time goes on.
Even though there are experts from each of the great houses, or mind gems that make up each barrier city, the resulting system fails some humans, as nameless fates intervene.
The nameless fates, are not incarnations. I should point out that these are humans, who are a minor oricle of the current fates. They gained powers from the various copies of the armor systems of incarnations, as humanity sought out minor powers from wars design. I can only guess what this is leading up to. They are not the incarnations though, and they use the powers they can gather or copy. Even average innocent people, are effected by those mercenary technologies, some are in the wrong hands.
“Are my hands the ‘wrong hands’?”.
If it is humanity forced to use the design of war, then it is. Exactly the point.
The time thief only balanced the errors left behind, by fates hand being played out, or so the story goes. It is because the incarnations do not agree to settle arguments between there own lot. They side with there own arguments, based on there own perception of fate’s hand being played out (which uses there powers). Once that is resolved, each incarnation is expected to balance the scales. Each one of them has attempted clever maneuverings, with there own abilities, to get out of any final resolution being reachable. Its a stand-off.
The time thief, was not an incarnation either, they where made aware, of one of the incarnations (In there mortal guise). Incarnations are well within there own rights, to give a mortal a power, to resolve there own lot in life (clever). Due to there own troubled past being named as an incarnation, the other incarnations made a mess of there mortal life. They play favorites to restore there powers.
Favorite arguments are often those they have won before with fate. What mortal is to be given a power, for example, or where they are to be sent.
The time thief has a very similar game, to work through. It is all about match-ups. This is how these defenders work, they match up each power level, and action against each other, that shapes the eventual outcome. That is one version of the heaven, based on the powers of each ship, etc. Fate’s Hand, is presumed to then play out unseen, however they include the actions of incarnations, (accurately). The matter was considered closed, at that point.
Except for the designs of time, as usual. They do not accept any loss, unless they believe there own illusions are as real, as the world at large. It is a known character flaw, that seems to aid there own process.
So, just who the current fates are, is unknown as always, and the incarnations seem to be the same, as always. They had once bound the time thief, until one of the incarnations admitted, they caused the entire thing; trying to get events to repeat.
A better description of the time thief, is that they are designed, in a way that made them difficult (impossible), to track down. They clearly by reason see the spirits around them, and have some ability to detect the magic objects, ‘that shall not be’. I take that to mean, that some objects are either connected to the use of incarnation powers, or directly effected there ability to do what they must.
That is as simple as it is, except for being on a first name basis with a few of the incarnations. Fate will try to win there game of match-ups.