so TIME is the overall controlling force - like it's a river that everything proceeds down uniformly and branches are rivulets that the TVA quickly dams and drains?
i think my question would still hold that a branch timeline wouldn't alter the dna of a variant (at least that has not been hinted at in any way i can remember)
i think for that to work the infinity stones would be interdependent on the time stone, but we've seen them all work independently
i think we have to understand that, from what we've seen, the 'sacred timeline' is propaganda