The Great Clock
"For the last time, it is not a time machine! You idiotic mortals have never understood that time is a gift, and must not be tampered with by anyone! Including myself. Now leave at once. Before I'm tempted further to break the rules and undo your fragile existence." - Tempus
The Great Clock, or just 'The Clock' as some mortals call it, is a massive mechanical construct large enough to be deemed as it's own realm. While the clock executes various functions, such as creating the mechanical owl like constructs that act as its guardians, its primary directive is to act as a time keeper for the entire universe. While the Cosmic Archives may hold the records of history, the Great Clock maintains the flow of that history, ensuring that no temporal anomalies or paradoxes threaten the fabric of creation at any point in time.
Tempus acts as the clock's caretaker, and knows only too well the true extent of the Clock's power over the time continuum; it has been sought after by numerous parties who wished to use it to change history. As such, scholars often have either the most or the least amount of theories regarding the clock, as there are very few surviving records or accounts of any mortal venturing into the clock itself.
According to a few carvings dating back to the First Age, The Great Clock has over 4.3 trillion moving parts, making it the most complicated piece of machinery in the known universe. It's inhabitants are also mainly constructs native to the clock, which may suggest they predate Tempus herself.
Due to the continued use of Temporal magic by a number of arcane practitioners, some theorize that mortals were once entrusted with the gift of time manipulation by the Creator in the hopes that their lives would be enriched by the experience. However, the blatant misuse of that power began to break down the space-time continuum, resulting in the need for the Great Clock.
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