Go crazy? Don't mind if I do!
Seriously; this is an interesting discussion. I tend to believe any alternate universes (branching from a primary timeline) won't merge back into the main timeline, but instead will eventually end in chaos.
The Marathon RED universe, with its crazy Jjaro/W'kkr Marine, in my mind is destine to be a "failure" timeline - but that's just my interpretation....
Something that's puzzled me is this: In any of the Trilogies "failure" timelines, that universe ends in immediate / imminent chaos (i.e: W'kkr release).
Do these Chaos universe(s) cease to exist, or simply continue onward in a state of chaos?
Also, do "failure" timeline(s) always have to end in [immediate] Chaos - or can they continue on for [trillions?] of years, only to end in entropy?
What I'm getting at is this; the players conciousness [usually] exits timelines after they become inhabitable failures (by Jjaros' standards anyhow). There is no more history to that timeline, it's chaos. Yet, could there be timelines where "time" continues onward after the player "leaves"?
In any case...
Where you go with Eternal's Jjaro timeline jumping craziness is up to you, but I found one thing through my work with WMaiD: The more complex a set of jumps between timelines becomes, the harder (and less fun!) your life as a designer becomes.
Keep things straight forward, and we'll all appreciate it Forrest.
Regards,
-Blayne
