Cataclinal

The Premise

Cataclinal isn't simply a story; it’s an exploration of temporal collapse – the unraveling of causality, the fracturing of reality itself. Imagine a world where moments don't adhere to linear progression. Where echoes of past events bleed into present realities, and futures shimmer with unpredictable distortions. It’s a universe perpetually caught in a state of flux, a slow-motion cataclysm driven not by external forces, but by the fundamental instability of time itself.

The core concept revolves around "Chrono-Resonance," a phenomenon where intense emotional or traumatic events leave indelible marks on the timeline. These resonances amplify over centuries, creating pockets of temporal dissonance – zones where past and future collide with alarming frequency.

Temporal Anomalies

• 1847 - The Weaver's Lament

  A young weaver, driven to madness by the loss of her family in a sudden, inexplicable storm, inadvertently triggered a resonance. The village she lived in began experiencing phantom repetitions of that event – not as a memory, but as a literal replay, slowly consuming its inhabitants.

• 1923 - The Static Echo

  During the height of the Jazz Age, a radio broadcast inadvertently captured a snippet of a battle from the Roman Empire. This ‘static echo’ manifested as violent seizures and hallucinations across major cities, linked to the original event's emotional intensity.

• 2077 - The Chronarium Shift

  A clandestine research facility attempting to harness chrono-resonance for energy production triggered a catastrophic chain reaction. The entire facility, and a significant portion of the surrounding metropolis, was erased from existence – not destroyed, but shifted entirely into an earlier point in its own timeline.

Characters - Fragments

The inhabitants of Cataclinal are rarely whole individuals. They're fractured echoes, displaced memories, and phantom projections – remnants clinging to the edges of a collapsing reality.

• Silas Thorne: A “Chronosculptor,” tasked with containing temporal anomalies. He exists primarily in the liminal spaces between timelines, a ghost-like observer struggling to maintain order.
• Eira Vane: A ‘Resonance Weaver,’ capable of manipulating chrono-resonance - but at a terrible personal cost – each manipulation further unravels her own existence.
• The Collector: An enigmatic entity that gathers artifacts from shattered timelines, seemingly obsessed with preserving the fragments of what *was*.

Themes & Exploration

Cataclinal delves into several key themes:

• The Nature of Memory and Trauma: How past traumas can distort reality, and how memory itself becomes a weapon in the unraveling of time.
• Causality vs. Correlation: Exploring whether events are truly causally linked or simply correlated due to the inherent instability of temporal mechanics.
• Identity & Fragmentation: The struggle for self-preservation when your very existence is predicated on a constantly shifting reality.
• The Illusion of Control: Characters attempting to exert control over chaos, ultimately realizing that true agency may be an illusion.