Our Timeline or OTL, refers, in the Alternative History fiction genre, to events, situations and figures that exist in the history we know and live in, contrasted to the historical events, situations and characters of an Alternate Timeline (ATL), in which some thing or things have been changed. In fictional works, the phrase is often used as a "baseline" to illustrate changes in history caused by characters in a novel or story. This is especially true in "Time Patrol" stories in which changes are made either deliberately or as acts of criminality.