The point at which the future becomes the present is known as the Frontier.
A precipice overlooking the unknown future, it holds a strange fascination for the younger members of the Oblivion Order who are drawn to the temporal forces that weave the possible into reality. They travel through the past to hang out near the edge of time, staying at the House of the Hundred, the last Chapter House in Continuum.
The older generation, on the other hand, prefers to keep a safe distance – regarding the Frontier as too close to chaos. Their fear of uncertainty and the complex calculations that go into their prediction algorithms are far too sensitive to be near the Frontier and so they are kept back in the 16th Century, a period thought to be chronologically stable, and free of chaotic oscillations.
The Colonel is the Watchman of the Frontier, overseeing an era that no one else wanted, his tenure having been imposed upon him as a punishment.
The time before the Frontier is known as the Recency, and there are specific rules about the actions and conduct of members during this period. The Archivistic Department of the Copernican guild is dedicated to recording the Recency and updating the Continuum, they are commonly known as the ‘Watchers.’
No one has ever been able to go beyond the Frontier, although many have tried (see Belsarus) – the future has remained an undiscovered country. Something that has fascinated the younger members of the order, whose imaginations a fired by tales of the Paradox – a legendary figure who will travel back from the future to take over the Order, and the Fatalists – a mythical group who are alleged to be undoing the work of the Order.