The Courtroll isn't a singular event, but a resonance. It begins with the fracturing. Not of stone, though that occurs with a predictable viscosity. No, this fracturing is of temporal strata. Imagine a sheet of iridescent parchment, meticulously layered with the accumulated moments of a location - its births, deaths, joys, sorrows, calculations, dreams. The Courtroll is the tremor when that parchment begins to unravel, not linearly, but in a chaotic, overlapping fashion. Each fracture generates a 'chronometric shard' - a localized distortion where the past, present, and potential futures bleed into each other. These shards aren't visible in the traditional sense; they manifest as subtle shifts in perception, echoes of conversations long ended, phantom sensations. The more intense the initial fracturing, the denser the collection of shards. Ancient sites, places of concentrated emotion or ritual, are particularly prone to generating complex Courtrolls. Think of the ruins of a forgotten civilization, not just as a collection of stones, but as a trapped reservoir of temporal energy.
The fundamental principle governing the Courtroll is not causality, but recurrence. It's not about *what happened*, but *what is likely to happen again*, given the specific configuration of shards. The Courtroll doesn’t so much *predict* the future; it reveals the pathways of highest probability, the echoes of events that will inevitably repeat themselves. This isn’t deterministic – the shards are constantly shifting, creating new possibilities – but the underlying pattern of recurrence demands attention. Individuals particularly sensitive to the Courtroll – we’ll call them ‘Resonants’ – develop an intuitive understanding of these patterns. They learn to ‘read’ the echoes, to identify points of heightened recurrence, and to subtly influence events to align with these patterns. The act of attempting to actively change a Courtroll, however, is incredibly dangerous. It generates a feedback loop, amplifying the distortion and potentially unleashing catastrophic temporal anomalies. The Courtroll resists alteration; it will always find a way to reassert its established sequence.
The Courtroll isn't simply a collection of fragmented moments. It’s infused with a quality we term ‘Veridicient’. This isn’t necessarily truth, but a heightened state of probability, a resonance with the most likely outcome. Objects affected by a Courtroll exhibit a subtle sheen, a faint coloration that shifts depending on the dominant temporal sequence. A weapon forged in the presence of a strong Courtroll will retain a 'crimson echo', increasing the probability of bloodshed. A song played near a fractured temporal zone will subtly alter the listener’s perceptions, amplifying feelings of longing or regret. Resonants can manipulate this Veridicient quality, focusing it to enhance the effects of an object or situation. However, prolonged exposure to a Veridicient state can erode one's own sense of self, blurring the lines between past, present, and potential futures. The most severe cases result in ‘Temporal Dissolution’ - a complete loss of identity, absorbed into the chaotic flow of the Courtroll.