RPPR Illustrated - The Mirrored Glass Slab

Origin

A targeting system created by the flying polyps in their war with the Yithians. It defeats causality to create a new timeline so that a ranged weapon kills its target on all time lines. When used on a non time-traveling entity though, it creates a splinter time line in which the target is alive and seeks to undo its fate by reversing the cause of its death. 

Appearance

It is a thick glass slab that looks like it was part of a larger window or screen that was destroyed in an explosion. It has a flat surface on one side with alien inscriptions etched into it. The flat surface is about 6 inches high by 4 inches wide. It is approximately 10 inches thick, 8 inches high and 6 inches wide. Normally the glass is opaque, even when viewed through the flat surface. 

Usage

Any character sufficiently skilled in mathematics and physics can interpret the inscriptions after 2d6 months of study. The inscription states that infrared light activates the mechanism. When infrared light is shone through the slab, the flat surface becomes a perfectly transparent viewing screen. It shows the complete movement of any moving object on the other end, overlain with the object’s current position. This view is traumatizing to most humans, who are not used to viewing the future and present at the same time. 

Causal Ghosts

Non time traveling  sapient beings who die as a direct result of the glass slab become causal ghosts. They are thrown back in time and space near the original causation for their death. They are no longer visible, except when exposed to infrared light. When an infrared light is shined at them, they look like a gray, faded, version of they did in life. 

Casual Ghosts can manipulate causality in minor ways, which manifests as bad luck or improbable events happening on their own. They can also briefly appear or communicate with anyone who has seen the glass slab.  The more of them appear in an area, the more powerful the manifestations become. 

They are filled with an overwhelming desire to prevent their own death. They can be stopped or disrupted by using the glass slab and hypergeometric weapons or rituals.