Decimation was a form of Roman military discipline in which every tenth soldier were to be executed by his cohort. The Cohort(s) would be divided into groups of 10 who will then draw straws to be the "lucky" winner. The remaining nine recieved barley rations and must encamp outside for a while.
>be me, tittius maximus oneesanarius IV
>spend time and money to train loyal citizens
>make 90% kill the other 10% to toughen them up
>get invaded, they have 11.11% more men than we do
>die
The moment time travel is created it becomes completely worthless.
For example:
If time is straightforward then if you go back in time to stop something from happening, then the fact it never happens means you never needed to go back and thus it happens because you never went back. This loop continues forever.
If time splits then all you did was throw yourself into a different timeline where the event never happened. The friends and the family you live your life with are all clones of the other version you left behind. Their presence and your experiences from now on are all artificial. Your true friends and family will never see you again and you will be a fond but small piece of their memory.
Any practical application of time travel simply causes more problems than it could ever solve.
@Richman That's right, princess-villain-sama! Your redemption arc means nothing, and the crown prince who was also a vicious-murderer-turned-love-sick-puppy will never truly be yours!
@Hitspark
Actual changes can only take place if at least one entity is traveling through the fifth dimension.
Placing meaning on which people have a 'true' connection to you is illogical; the inhabitants of your destination dimension could be effectively the same as the ones from your starting point.
@bigtiddyoneesan True enough but when I said "true friends and family" I mean you're leaving them behind. You become a memory to them because they'll never see you again. To you everything is fine enough to ignore it, potentially. But in the back of your mind you'll always be reminded of the loved ones who probably had to hold a funeral for you. I think that would wear on you bit by bit as time goes on.
@Hitspark
Side note, but I should add that the familiarity with your original universe's people might actually be beneficial, as minor past (or yet to happen) occurrences may be different from what you've experienced. So by extension, being unsure of the potential differences would give your 'true' connections a plus.
And sure, most people would feel at least something for the people they left behind, myself included. But my destination universe of a world filled with big tiddied onee-sans would make it all worth it.
"Big Tiddor" was a reference to John Titor, the supposed time traveler from the year 2036.