Laytami Loop Theory

The Laytami Loop Theory is a concept developed during the Fourth Age. It is frequently credited to Herbet Patric Galactis, but he had no part in it. According to Herbert: "the whole thing originated from some throw-away line in one of my books, some comment about how Laytami seemed prescient, as if he'd been there before".

The theory postulated that the mysterious Gudersnipe Army, which appeared suddenly at the start of the Second Chaotic Period, had actually traveled back in time from a more advanced age. According to the theory, all of history from that point forward until some date in the distant future, is a loop. Laytami Gudersnipe himself is theorized to be tens of thousands of years old, and, by virtue of having completed the loop so many times, has lived longer than time. [Knowing the Author, there's probably some story in which Laytami is a time-traveler from a post-apocalypse, who came back in time to prevent the apocalypse itself].

Evidence

Gudersnipe Army Ships

Loop theorists have very little solid evidence. The Foundation has always been closed about the origin of the Gudersnipe Army and has never made any firm statements as to its origin. What IS known is that they controlled extremely massive spacecraft, larger than modern Mercury Ships. The existence of ships like the G.S.S. Geomancer, and the top-secret but well-known Motherships, lend credence to the old stories.

Mercury Ship construction takes decades, and requires a highly industrialized solar system. Where, precisely, the army got these ships is a serious question. Again, the Foundation has made no official comment, and, when pressed, denies the existence of the Geomancer and other such vessels.

Cyclops Sighting

Deep-space explorers trade rumors of a massive ship called the G.S.S. Cyclops, which lies wrecked on a now uninhabitable planet far beyond the edge of known space. The ship is said to be so large that its name is visible with the naked eye, from orbit.

While not on the official registry, declassified documents do mention the Cyclops, though whether the vessel listed in the records is the same as the one wrecked on the planet is a source of much debate. It certainly seems plausible, the ship listed was said to carry a billion soldiers and was designed to siege and occupy an entire solar system. The Foundation states that the Cyclops was not an individual starship, but the designation of a fleet.

Technology

Certain technologies, like the Python Reactor and GATE system, were clearly in use long before they are said to have been "invented". The Foundation explains this away as parallel development; the Python Reactor, for example, has been independnantly invented hundreds of times in recorded history. But the fact remains that the Gudersnipe Army was building and using Python Reactors centuries before the reported birth of Dr. Python, and his discovery of faster-than-light Python Particles.

In Aspect of Death, Hunter Jusenkyou remarks:

'the Gudersnipe Foundation has honest-to-God video of Eieber. They documented dozens of his battles, [with] certified combat observers and everything. The Alliance was still using hand-made paper scrolls and accusing people of witchcraft for inventing movable type. The Foundation already had computers'.

Historical Anomalies

The aforementioned Dr. Rupert Python is a favored example. Foundation records place his birth at 102 B.G.A., but contemporary accounts state that he was a young man at that time. Python also lived over five hundred years, but was reportedly human. Such a lifespan would only be possible by means of a Gudersnipe Symbiont, which the Foundation states was not invented until the early Golden Age. Within Python's life, but not before he would have died naturally as a human. Surviving images from the era also show him appearing as a young man until close to his death.

Python is one of a number of prominent and obscure figures who were very important in the early Foundation and who appeared to have been alive when the Army first appeared.