- "Traveler" redirects here. For other uses, see Travelers (disambiguation).
Travelers are people from the future inhabiting host bodies in the past. Utilizing consciousness transfer and time travel technologies, these people overwrite the hosts' original personalities, then use the bodies to undertake missions in the 21st century. These missions are done in service to the Grand Plan under guidance from an entity known as the Director in order to rectify the mistakes of the past and ultimately undo the post-apocalyptic future they originated from.
Travelers are usually assigned in teams, usually in groups of five, each contributing their own specialties for the benefit of their assigned missions. While their goal is to ensure a better future, they must still adhere to a set of Protocols to minimize unintended consequences of meddling with the past.
Host[]
The Director selects hosts for Traveler missions depending on certain factors.
Firstly, there must be a historical record of the host that survives into the future. The bare minimum is a T.E.L.L. of the host's historical death. Cellphones and other location-tracking technologies have only become ubiquitous by the early 21st century that T.E.L.L.s for a wide selection of candidates are available; earlier eras in time are difficult to transfer to, if not impossible. (S1E01: Travelers, S3E10: Protocol Omega)
Secondly, the host body must be healthy. Missions can be physically demanding. However, the Director can make mistakes based on incomplete or misleading historical records: Marcy Warton was allegedly a librarian, but Traveler 3569 transferred into a host with severe mental disabilities as her social media profile was a complete fabrication. Philip Pearson was listed by his family as a first-time heroin user, not an ongoing addict. (S1E01: Travelers) Health stipulations can be disregarded on purpose if the mission is more paramount: Traveler 0117 transferred into Bloom, a terminally ill woman, and her only purpose is to oversee the installation of the x-ray laser that should prevent the asteroid Helios-685 from striking Earth. Likewise, The Church of Our Rapture are all composed of elderly men and women who have been tasked with providing security for Bloom's mission. (S1E06: Helios-685)
Thirdly, the host body must be about to die of a preventable cause. The Director is prohibited from ending a life too soon. Marcy was beaten to death by some hooligans in the historical record, but Traveler 3569 transfers to her moments before that happens and beats her assailants instead. Carly Shannon was also beaten to death by her domestic partner Jeff Conniker, but Traveler 3465 changes her fate and beats Jeff instead. Gower was considered a host candidate, but he has an unavoidable heart attack before he can be used for any missions and thus rejected. (S1E01: Travelers)
Hosts can be reused depending on the situation. Traveler 3569 transfers into Marcy twice, the second time to avoid the damaged parts of her brain, although at the cost of forgetting her 21st century memories as from her point of view she just arrived from the future the first time. (S1E11: Marcy) Aaron Donner became host to Travelers 4022 and 4024, with 4022 overwritten by the latter because of his betrayal of the Grand Plan. (S1E08: Donner)
Training[]
Before transferring to the 21st century, Travelers undergo extensive training, both in general skills and in their fields of expertise. Medics, for example, are experts in 21st century medicine. Historians memorize information perfectly. As operatives in the field they often have martial training, both in unarmed and armed combat. (S1E01: Travelers)
Future society is radically different from 21st century norms. Travelers must also relearn the social aspects of living in the time period through formal training programs. The subtler points are sometimes overlooked because of the gulf of centuries; Trevor Holden has difficulty parsing text lingo while Marcy has no problems answering her door naked before David Mailer tells her it's inappropriate. (S1E01: Travelers, S2E07: 17 Minutes)
Because they sometimes have to transfer to hosts with chaotic final moments, their training may also include how to surmount their hosts' demise. Aaron Donner practiced countless times to defuse a bomb his host brought, but he failed at the actual scenario: Donner was among the original casualties, but Traveler 4022 ran away and left his teammates to die instead. Ellis historically died by getting tangled up in farm machinery, but Traveler 0014 had the presence of mind to cut through the wiring. (S1E08: Donner, S1E11: Marcy)
Transfers[]
- Main article: Consciousness transfer
Travelers can only transfer into the body of a host who is destined to die soon. The justification is that the host is already dying but the transfer of consciousness will save the host's body, though kill their consciousness. It will also result in the loss of all memories from the host's previous consciousness, which is why research into the host's life before the Traveler is important: to find out who was in their life and what they did as much as possible. (S1E01: Travelers)
Transfers are sequential and can only happen after the previous one. Messengers or Travelers cannot be sent further back than the most recent one due to ripples in the timeline.
Teams and Roles[]
Traveler teams are typically made up of five members. If they lose members, someone may have to step up and take on multiple roles, unless the Director deems it necessary to send replacements. (S1E05: Room 101, S2E09: Update) Some Travelers have specialized missions and operate alone or with a more focused team composition.
Team Leader[]
- Main article: Team Leader
Team leaders are in charge of their teams and hence responsible for their actions. They lead missions and are normally the ones who receive messages from the Director about their next mission. Team leaders have to make the tough calls on behalf of their team.
Tactician[]
- Main article: Tactician
Tacticians are in charge of the security of their team and hence are highly trained with weapons and in combat. They often patrol buildings when their teams are investigating in order to protect them from attackers and set up defences around the perimeter of the building if something or someone needs protecting.
Medic[]
- Main article: Medic
Medics are trained in an assortment of 21st century medicine. They are responsible for healthcare needs of those on their team, including giving vaccinations prior to epidemics, performing surgery, and checking up on the general health of their team members.
The only time a Medic isn't in charge of their team's healthcare is if the Director has decided that Doctors need to step in.
Historian[]
- Main article: Historian
Historians are the information specialists. With their perfect recall, they can supply financing to the team with memorized gambling outcomes, lotto numbers, stock investments, and the like. They keep track of potential host candidate T.E.L.L.s so the incoming Traveler can integrate more smoothly with their assigned team.
As the future is always changing the information Historians memorized sometimes become out of date. They are then invited to Update sessions with fellow Historians for the self-explanatory updates to their knowledge stores. However, they are forbidden to speak of these updates to anyone else via Protocol 2H.
Engineer[]
- Main article: Engineer
Engineers create the team's futuristic gadgets using 21st century supplies, and also do quality control on components passed along from team to team. One of their first tasks would be building subdermal comms for the team so they can communicate with each other at all times.
Specialist Roles[]
- Main article: Specialist
These Traveler roles are outside the defined composition of the standard team, but they are vital (if more so) to the functioning of the Traveler program.
Programmer[]
The Programmers are responsible for creating and maintaining the Director as well as the attendant systems and rules governing the entire Traveler program. Due to their highly important role, they have very low Traveler numbers.
Doctor[]
Doctors undertake missions of a purely medical nature, and thus comprise their own D-Team. The Director sends them to people whose survival is deemed important to the Grand Plan.
Archivist[]
- Main article: Archivist
An Archivist's job is to ensure the Director has a comprehensive store of historical information. They are infused with nanites that they regularly store in heavily guarded Archive blood banks around the world. They help Historians understand the changes to the timeline by organizing their periodic Updates.
Solo[]
Some Travelers don't have a specific team role and are sent to the 21st century for a single mission or purpose, outside of the roles listed above.
Nonstandard Teams[]
Some Travelers are organized into units that do not fit the typical five-person standard. The Director could have specific tasks for them that require they operate as a team. One group is dedicated to refining uranium for the Director's future use. Archives have dedicated support teams providing security and transport to the vital historical information in them. The Church of Our Rapture is a group of old evangelicals used as extra security during the Helios-685 mission. (S2E06: U235, S1E06: Helios-685, S3E08: Archive)
Some teams arise as an impromptu grouping. The Faction possessed an FBI task force headed by Wakefield in their bid to take over operations in the past after crippling the Director. When the Director turned back online, it overwrote all the Faction members it could find, the FBI members included. This FBI Team is now a group of Travelers ready to respond to manpower needs in addition to their regular FBI duties. Wakefield, in addition to heading this team, appears to be a member of another team, mentioning a separate teammate in the NSA. (S2E01: Ave Machina, S2E06: U235, S3E01: Ilsa)
Self-Regulation[]
Travelers are expected to follow local laws and customs like any other person unless superseded by orders or missions from the Director. Because there are always a lot of variables to consider in any given scenario, the Director allows for accomplishing missions that may deviate from specified instructions, and may let off erring teams with a warning. However, doing things that are seen as a threat to the Grand Plan is something that the Director and the Travelers take very seriously.
To that end, a Traveler accused of jeopardizing the Grand Plan is tried in a tribunal composed of their peers and streamed via the deep web backchannel for remote viewers. The accused is given the chance to defend their actions, and witnesses may be called to corroborate or refute their words. Depending on the severity of the "crime", other Travelers cast their vote if the accused is guilty or not, or the Director makes the final decision. There is only one punishment if the accused is found guilty: death by immediate overwrite. Thanks to surveillance recording everything for future posterity, the accused has an exact T.E.L.L. that can be used to transfer another Traveler consciousness into the body. (S1E08: Donner, S2E08: Traveler 0027)
The Faction[]
- Main article: The Faction
All Travelers were once unified in the goal of saving humanity under the Director's guidance. However, enough changes to the timeline occurred that Shelter 41, which originally collapsed and killed its occupants, now thrived and became a hotbed of people who rejected the Grand Plan. These people coalesced into the Faction, and instigated a rebellion against the Director in the future and attempted to take over Traveler operations believing that decisions about humanity's future should be entrusted to its own hands and not a machine. (S1E11: Marcy)
Travelers in the 21st century who came from a future without the Faction can become disillusioned enough to join their ranks. (S3E06: Philip)