Forbidden Knowledge

Time travel is normally not possible as the forces of Paradox mecilessly punish any Mage who engages in an act of Hubris to travel forward or backward in time.  There does exist a collection of Rotes known by a small handful of individuals which allow one to avoid the punishments of Paradox and travel safely.    The rules are:

1. A single person traveling in Time requires Time 3, with multiple people it requires Time 4.

2. The amount of change possible will be fluid depending on the needs of the story, but as a guideline a PC's past as experienced cannot be changed.  This applies whether a PC goes forward or backwards.

-- This rule does not apply to Scrying spells.

3. Time traveling requires a specific rote to be used, which must be learned in game AND purchased with XP using the Rote personalization rules.

-- While this requiring a specific Rote does go against game rules, so does Time Travel with so little paradox so I feel comfortable insisting.

4.  Successes needed will be modelled off of teleportation spells.  Scrying a place and time first can lower the number of successes needed down to 1.  

5. One point of paradox is always generated time traveling, modeled off of Spirit magics.

Traveling to alternate timelines requires a separate rote be learned: Time 3 or 4, Entropy 2
Mages skilled enough can also create or destroy timelines with a third rote: Time 5, Entropy 5

The Rotes in question open an interdimensional passageway to other worlds, and is inspired by the Interstitial Byways from the video series Archives of the Inbetween.

These passageways can take many forms  Two examples are:

Topiary Garden

Indoor Play Center

However, these byways also take the forms of graveyards, shopping malls, libraries, etc.  Each one requires a specific rote to enter, and is limited by Paradigms.  For example, Danielle could learn a rote to enter one that might an 80's shopping mall but Aurora would likely have difficulty with that, though entry the Topiary would be much easier.

Anyone capable of some sort of Sorcery can learn the spells to enter these places, so it includes vampires, mummies, sorcerers, etc.  What sets Mages apart is that while other splats need these byways to travel to other worlds, if Mages know their destination then they can use Spirit magics and take a shortcut to go straight to the world they want, bypassing these roads.  

As a result Mages don't often travel these paths unless they are exploring or trying to find a location that they haven't been to yet.  

Knowledge of the spells to get here aren't too difficult to find and learn, but for most spellcasters the trip is one-way without some sort of guidebook or journal to decode the glyphs which have been used by past travelers.  The symbols aren't part of a known language so the only way to learn them is with a text or trial-and-error.

These journals do occasionally pop up in our world, and are highly prized, but seldom remain for long as people who get their hands on one quickly leave for new horizons.  So while knowledge of these pathways is known in the occult world, and people could even figure out how to cast a spell to enter, most are wise enough to the blindly explore a maze when they have no way of knowing if they'll be able to arrive at a safe destination, including their point of origin.