- "Those with my specialty are chosen as infants in order to develop their minds to specifically serve the Traveler program. Some days I felt like an experiment, other days like a super-human [...] The Director has kept watch over my entire life, knowing the outcome of every decision, crafting my path forward, but here, I see people every day who still believe in free will. They don’t know any better."
- — Philip Pearson
Historians are modified humans capable of memorizing massive amounts of information. Their abilities prove vital to adaptation and survival in an unfamiliar time: they are able to finance the team's operations by knowing the outcomes of sporting events and market trends, locate incoming Travelers by remembering host candidates, and relay complicated messages from the Director.
Updates[]
- "Update" redirects here. For the episode, see Update (episode).
As the Traveler program continued over the years, the future began to change. Many of the Historians who had arrived previously found that much of the data they'd memorized had become obsolete. For example, Philip Pearson won every bet he placed shortly after arriving. After a few months he noticed that sporting event outcomes were starting to deviate from the historical record he'd memorized. Ultimately the Core Traveler Team's investments began to suffer, imperiling their ability to finance missions. (S2E08: Traveler 0027)
To counter the growing information discrepancies, Historians are periodically ordered to attend an Update. It is a screening of new historical data from the future that will be relevant to the Historian's team's place in the Grand Plan, shown as flowing Traveler code accompanied by classical music but incomprehensible to outsiders. To begin an Update, Historians are instructed to open memory chain 1A, like a computer. Update data can include further historical information on the Historians' own associates up to their deaths, though the dates of their own deaths are omitted from the presentation "for obvious reasons." The venue is any secluded place large enough to accommodate a group of people and can support a projected screen at one end, like movie theaters or abandoned classrooms.
Historians who receive an update are bound by Protocol 2H never to discuss the Update with anyone. Should they have to explain to their teammates how their information became accurate again, they can simply claim messengers arrived and gave them "very detailed instructions". Updates are supervised by Archivists, a separate but related Traveler role. Historians from the same region are ordered to attend the same Update; Philip attended Regional Updates 4 and 5 in Washington state. While the attendees all view the same thing, the information is likely compartmentalized and only the relevant bits are clear to the concerned Historian.
The attendees receive medication to cope with unavoidable side effects of the Update. Green pills restore chemical imbalances in the brain, and two of them are to be taken immediately after the Update. Yellow pills are used to anchor the Historian in the present timeline: because they received memory not acquired through conventional means, they may see visions of alternate timelines called projections. The pills are to be taken on a regular basis going forward, and Historians are instructed to request for more if they run out.
Experiencing an Update can be lethal. An unnamed Traveler died at the fifth Update and was overwritten by Traveler 5782. Non-Historian Travelers can also view the Update: Grant MacLaren briefly glimpsed one, but was pulled away before further exposure, so any effects other than a small nosebleed and being mesmerized by the information flow is unknown. (S3E06: Philip)
Mass Kidnapping[]
The Faction did not have access to any Historians, preventing them from ascertaining the effects of interference in the 21st century. With assistance from the turncoat Historian Kyle and his teammate Luca Shun, they kidnapped every Historian present at Update Five, along with Archivist A-18. The Historians were rescued by MacLaren's team.