When activated, the Artifact of Chaos will transport the bearer a minimum distance through both time and space. That new location is chosen by the XP, but from the player’s perspective, it is random. (And perhaps randomly determined by the XP in any case).
Artifacts never take a bearer to the same time and same place twice. Even so, some locations, perhaps due to a nexus of ley lines, or some such phenomenon, seem to draw more traffic than others. Both England and Japan, for example, seem to have such a nexus. The Artifacts, however, will never take a bearer too close to when and where he’s already been. This is governed by the Law of 1000.
The Law of 1000
The sum of the time, in years and the distance in miles must be greater than 1000 (from any previous point visited). The smallest distance possible is one mile. The smallest time difference is one year. Therefore, a transport of 10 years must put the characters at least 100 miles away, and vice versa. You could get as close as one mile, but be a thousand years removed. You could get as close as one year but be a thousand miles removed.
This is a minimum. Obviously the transport can, and usually is, much farther away.
The Law of 1000 remains in effect no matter how many episodes have passed. The law remains in effect even if the Artifact changes hands. It is the Artifact that cannot transport within the 1000 mile/year barrier of any of its previous coordinates.
Setting stitches
There are two types of stitches – forward and backward. A backward stitch, as discussed, must be set in the character’s future, but the event’s past in order to justify a fate point.
A forward stitch can be set by character to be used in the character’s future. The most obvious form of this is hiding some sort of treasure.
Anomaly
Anomalies are created if a character misses a Stitch - meaning that he has used a fate point for a stitch, and then, when the XP presents an opportunity to set up that stitch, the character, for whatever reason, fails to set it. The character always has until the end of the episode to set the stitch – not simply when the XP, or any attentive observer, would expect him to set it.
If feasible, the solution is to return the character(s) back to the point in that previous episode before the stitch was activated, and play it out as if the stitch never happened.
If this is not possible – or doesn’t sound at all fun – treat it as a paradox.
Alternately, the character could be fined twice the original fate point cost.
Paradox
If a character alters the natural flow of history, she has created a Paradox. History, particular science-fantasy history is surprisingly elastic, so this usually involves some deliberate effort on the part of the character.
A Paradox can have any of the following effects, as determined by the XP:
Given a chance, history tends to correct itself, so changing it requires some deliberate effort. Adjudicating a Paradox is a lot of work for the XP – so leave history alone whenever possible – OK?