Quantum Time-Lock

Quantum Time-Locks are an existence implicated in the culling of Adjacent Worlds (並行世界). Within Thaumaturgical Society, they are also referred to as Human Order Foundations (人理定礎).  

Overview
A Quantum Time-Lock is an event that manifests at regular intervals for the purpose of anchoring the average values of phenomena as absolutes.

This universe permits the birth of unlimited possibilities, numerous Adjacent Worlds, and divergent developments of history. However, as the unrestricted propagation of this process would exhaust the lifespan of the universe, at set intervals, those extraneous worlds (routes) removed of the category of "routes characterized by strength and stability" are culled (伐採), so as to prevent the needless expenditure of energy.

The Mooncell has concluded that the means by which our Universe of Awareness (認識宇宙) -- originally unstable by nature -- is stabilized across Past, Present, and Future lies in the execution of "culling" and the formation of "records" (記録帯).

If left alone, the great tree of Time will branch without restriction, and the behavior of culling serves to remove those divergences that are unnecessary, leaving only the "trunk" -- this is the simplest image by which to comprehend the process.

Any history that has been secured as a Time-Lock (固定帯) become as existence impervious to interference from the past and future; events or phenomena that exist within the purview of the anchoring band are utterly immovable. Hypothetically, if one were to move to a chronological position in the past of an "anchoring band" to the end of modifying history, as time progresses unto the "anchoring band," history will be forcibly realigned to its state of record.

In those universes wherein Quantum Time-Locks are imposed, the "outcomes" that have been registered to anchoring bands are categorically unchangeable. Thus, that which would be open for time travelers to modify would be restricted to "process."

For example, let us presume that the "outcome" that "Britain was destroyed" is secured as a matter of record.

In the circumstance that a process wherein "Britain comes to prosper; its wars are concluded; and happiness is granted to its people" is successfully brought about, in the moment that history advances unto the anchoring band, the outcome whereby "even so, Britain came unto its destruction" manifests.

One or two -- or any number of lives might be saved. However, modification to the overall course of the History of Man (人類史) is decisively beyond possibility.

To rephrase, it is potentially possible that by some immense undertaking, the course of the History of Man could be fundamentally denied by the successful revocation (破壊) of a "Quantum Time-Lock" -- but even by this method, that which is denied is restricted to "the History of Man that falls after the anchoring band."

The purview of a "Quantum Time-Lock" due to manifest may be dictated only those who live within the era. Intervention from the past or future is incapable of directly influencing the formation of a Quantum Time-Lock.

Terminology
In the Avant Title of the Fate/Grand Order - Accel Zero Order event, Lord El-Melloi II makes references to certain terminology pertaining to the cosmology of Adjacent Worlds and Quantum Time-Locks, available to his comprehension as a consequence of temporarily becoming one with a Heroic Spirit.   It is unclear if these terms are in general parlance within the Thaumaturgical community.

Adjacent Worlds

 * Adjacent Worlds (並行世界) refer to divergent timelines that advance adjacent to one another. This is as terminologically distinct within the canon from Parallel Worlds (平行世界), which refer to timelines that advance in perfect parallel with no relationship of divergence.

Primary Branch

 * The Primary Branch (大幹) refers to the cluster of Adjacent Worlds (並行世界群) that form the Great Tree Known as Time (時間という大樹), which comprises of the confirmed (確定) pathways of the History of Man; that which remains as of the completion of Culling (伐採) processes. The worlds of Fate/Zero and Fate/Grand Order are stated by Romani Archaman to "lie near the center" of this cluster, closely approaching one another in their historical course.

Items Permissible to Revision

 * Items Permissible to Revision (編纂事象) is a category name applied to the set of worlds within the Primary Branch. Refers to timelines wherein Processes (過程) may be modified outside of the Outcomes (結果) confirmed by a Quantum Time-Lock. Outside the circumstance that an "immense undertaking" overturns a Quantum Time-Lock, confirmed Outcomes within these timelines are immutable, regardless of interference from the past or future.

Items Designated for Omission

 * Items Designated for Omission (剪定事象) refers to divergent timelines that have come to exist as entirely distinct realities (完全に別世界になり) -- Adjacent Worlds designated for eventual elimination.

Fate/Prototype: Fragments of Blue and Silver

 * In the case that Manaka Sajyou succeeds in fulfilling Saber's wish of an eternal Britain, the Human Order Foundation collapses and the modern world is destroyed.

Fate/Grand Order

 * Solomon destroys the Human Order Foundation through his Singularities in the beginning of the story.

Fate/Extella

 * In Fate/Extella, the objective of Archimedes was to manufacture an Outcome whereby "Moon Cell is Destroyed" prior to the manifestation of the coming Quantum Time-Lock -- establishing a reality premised upon this condition.


 * Whereas originally, such a development could not occur, Archimedes repeatedly shifted between realities to the end of achieving his goal. From Archimedes' perspective, so long as the operation of Moon Cell could be entirely brought to a halt prior to the fall of the subsequent Quantum Time-Lock, victory would be his.


 * However, even if there were outcomes in which Archimedes was victorious, a route in which the complete termination of Moon Cell's processes occurred could not be reached. In the meantime, the Protagonist was able to confirm "an average world that bears the potential greatest" -- establishing the purview of the coming Quantum Time-Lock. Archimedes' machinations were consequently brought to ruin.


 * Incidentally, Quantum Time-Lock A manifested as of the start of the primary story-arc in Extella, when "the Protagonist enters the Stone Chamber of the Titan with Archimedes, and is split into parts"; Quantum Time-Lock B manifested as of the Ending of the True Nero Route.


 * Regardless of the actions taken by Archimedes between these two points in time, the "Outcome" was already decided.