History is contingent, as Stephen Jay Gould wrote. If we could "rewind the tape" of Earth's history, and run it forward again, there's no reason to suppose the same events would occur again. Life on Earth might be inevitable, but the familiar five kingdoms of Archaea, Protista, Plantae, Fungi, and Animalia are not, much less the evolution of the species we know from history and the fossil record. Human beings are not inevitable; apes are a very fragile bush, and the surviving African apes (humans, chimps, bonobos, gorillas) are all very closely related.
Even in a history where the familiar living things evolved, it's still not a given that human beings, leaving Africa, would make the same migrations, evolve the same languages, invent the same technologies, found the same cities, raise the same empires, and invent the same societies with the same customs, arts, literature, music, and, by no means inevitably, science.
Nothing is inevitable! Nothing that ever happened in our world, had to happen, either in our world or in any other. The speakers of Proto-IndoEuropean didn't have to travel west, instead of east. Egypt didn't have to stagnate; neither did China. The Roman Empire didn't have to fall. Ships from advanced American civilizations could have visited, and colonized, a New World where the Africans, Europeans, and Asians were either totally stagnant, or howling barbarians. They didn't, of course. But it could have happened.
In my thinking and my writing, I've assigned certain labels to certain sheafs of possible historical outlines. In a "Roma Eterna" timeline, for instance, Julius Caesar put the Roman Republic on a Constitutional basis, which established the Triumvirate of the Emperor, the People (represented by the Plebs and the Senate), and the Judiciary. The Empire conquered all of Europe (including the Germans, Thulians, and other northern peoples), and expanded south into Africa, eventually ruling that continent, too. By the 27th Century A.U.C., in some of those time lines, they fight a World War against the other great powers, the Chinese and the Inca.
A "Murphy's Law" time line, by contrast, is very much like our own. As you probably know, "Murphy's Law" states that "Anything that can go wrong, will." It's a pretty apt description of a history where the U.S. had a Civil War over slavery, where the world had two world wars in the Twentieth Century, where the Soviet Union was created and threatened the world's peace for eighty years, where we got to the Moon and then gave up without going to live there!
But even that's better than an "O'Toole's Corollary" time line. "O'Toole's Corollary" says, "Murphy was an optimist," or, more fully, "Even things that can't go wrong, will manage to do so anyway." These earths involve constant overseas wars by U.S. troops, for no reason except to make the rich people richer; the concentration of wealth, political power, and corporate power in the hands of a tiny percent of the nation's population, who wield it openly, without shame or remorse, for no purpose except to get even richer and more powerful; the total helplessness of the American public, let alone the populace of the rest of the world; and a total disregard for the environment, all other species of living things, and all standards of decency, morality, and law. Thank goodness we don't live in such a world, right?
A "Sleep of Reason" is called that after Goya's print, "The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters." When reason sleeps, or is put to sleep, you get "Murphy's Law" and "O'Toole's Corollary" time lines, and others even worse. When reason guides Imagination, things go right. You get a unified Iberia which lets its Jews and Moslems stay, for a price, and lets its colonies have their freedom, for a price, and thus becomes the richest kingdom in the world, even richer, perhaps, than the Maharajah's India or the Shah's Persia. You get enlightened Kings and Queens of Iberia who rule wisely, and invest their money in good causes such as lending the U.S. the money to free all their slaves, thus no Civil War. You get Zamenhof starting the New Latin movement, instead of Esperanto. You get the Childe mutants, deliberately bred for genius. You get no World War I, because Latin diplomats keep it from happening. You get only one World War in the 20th Century, and a United Nations which becomes a federal world government, the colonization of the Solar System under U.N. auspices…
Again, these things don't have to come out this way, but in a typical "Sleep of Reason" Earth, they do. The exact timing may differ from Earth to Earth, and individual people may be born or not, or live a particular life or another one, but here's an outline to give you an idea.
Not the beginning…
c. 2080-2047 BCE: The Oldest Man, under the name Utu-Hegel, meets the goddess Ishtar at her temple in Uruk. At her urging, he defeats the barbarian Gutians in battle, restoring the Mesopotamian city-states to native rule. After the victory, he mysteriously disappears, and his son-in-law Ur-Nammu founds Ur's Third Dynasty. Story: "Ishtar and the Morning Star".
c. 1700 BCE: The Oldest Man, calling himself Raven, lives a life in a lakeside village in the far north of Europe. Events of this life contribute heavily to the legends of the later Norse Gods. Story: "Odin".
255-218 B.C.: The Oldest Man, under the name Wang Jian, fights in China's Warring States period as a general for the Qin. He's instrumental in defeating Chu, Zhao, and Yan. His personal emblem of a wingless yellow dragon with five toes on each foot influences the emperors of the new unified Qin empire to declare it to symbol of the Emperors. Story: "The First Dragon."
30 B.C.-10 A.D.: The Oldest Man, having crossed the Bering Strait and made his way into Mesoamerica, inspires the worship of the feathered serpent, due to the lion on his shield, and his scale armor. Later generations will refer to him under various names, and worship him as a deity. Story: "Quetzalcoatl and the Feathered Serpent."
718: The Iberian Reconquista begins with the founding of the first Christian kingdom south of the Pyrenees since the Moslems conquered the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania in 711. The Kingdom of Asturias (718–924) later evolves into the Kingdom of León.
824: The Kingdom of Navarre is established and expands north and east into Aragon and Catalonia.
1035: The Kingdom of Navarre becomes the Principality of Navarre. Aragon becomes a Kingdom. The County of Catalonia becomes the Kingdom of Barcelona.
1072: Alphonso VI becomes king of Castille, León, and Galicia, and takes back large portions of Iberia both by war and by diplomacy.
1139: The Kingdom of Portugal is established.
1170-1220: The Oldest Man in present at the Battle of Hattin, where Saladin's forces defeat the forces of the Kingdom of Jersalem, and at the siege and fall of Jersusalem the city, both in 1187. Subsequently he joins Richard the Lionheart's forces and serves as a knight emissary between Richard and Saladin. Story: "Saladin".
1415: The capture of the Moorish port of Ceuta by King John of Portugal and his sons, including Prince Henry the Navigator, greatly hobbles the raids where Barbary pirates kidnap entire Portuguese villages and sell their inhabitants into slavery. Further expeditions down the African coast damage the slave trade, rescue enslaved Portuguese citizens, and lead to the Age of Discovery, as Christian Europe calls it.
1230: Castile and León become a unified kingdom.
1469: Isabella of Castile and León and Ferdinand of Aragon marry and establish the Kingdom of España (Spain in English).
1492: Spain conquers Granada, the last Moslem territory in Iberia. Christopher Columbus, an Italian working for the Spanish crown, discovers the Caribbean and thinks he's reached the Indies.
1495: Spain allows Jews and Moslems to remain, provided they pay a tax for not being Christians. Portugal and Aragon follow suit. Barcelona also passes such a law, but the tax is lower, and the non-Christians are allowed to practice their own religions openly, and maintain synagogues and mosques. The King of Portugal amends the Portuguese law to match that of Barcelona.
1500: The War of the Taxes begins, also known as the War of the Jews and Moslems, with Portugal and Barcelona fighting Spain over the rights of Iberians who aren't Christians. Aragon fights Barcelona, an old rival, but not Portugal. Navarre and Granada remain neutral.
1512: Portugal and Barcelona are victorious. The Queen of Portugal and the King of Barcelona, married the previous year, announce the Empire of Iberia, uniting all of Europe south of the Pyrenees, the Balearic Islands east of Valencia, and all the Spanish and Portuguese possessions overseas. Madrid, Lisboa, and Barcelona are co-equal imperial residences and capital cities.
1640-1652: The English, illegal occupiers of Ireland, put down an attempt by the Irish to get their independence back. Subsequent laws call for the mass execution of Irish who fought in the "rebellion", mass executions of Catholic priests, banishment of Catholics to the West Indies as indentured servants. The obedience of Christians to the Pope ("Papacy"), and "Papist" sacraments such as the Mass, were punishable by summary execution. The use of Irish Gaelic was banned, and the ancient bardic schools were shut down. These genocidal policies were largely successful in stripping the Irish of their culture, their language, their property, and often their lives. Unknown to the British, however, some 30-50 families adopted Latin as their home language, rather than Irish, which gave them a link to the science and learning of their day as good as, if not superior to, mastery of the provincial English language. Among themselves, these families identified themselves by constellation names, such as Orionis and Arietis. Over the next two centuries, their adherence to Latin as their first language weakened, and many of them stopped speaking Latin at home and using their secret names. Only about 10-12 Irish Latin families survived to the rise of the Latin Movement in 1880, q.v.
1776: Thirteen British colonies in North America declare their independence from England.
1783: The Treaty of Paris between England and Frances recognizes the independence that the United States of America has won, with the help of the French navy.
1810: The Empress of Iberia, unhappy at spending lives and money to put down rebellions in North America, South America, and the Caribbean, informs the inhabitants that they may purchase their independence, either with a one-time payment, or with installments over time. After a few more battles and naval actions establish that this policy doesn't arise from weakness, and after the Pope endorses it, the offer is accepted by all the Iberian possessions in the New World, including Brasil. A few small, impoverished colonies, notably Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Hispaniola, are granted independence by the Empire without making any payment.
1833: The United Kingdom abolishes slavery throughout the British Empire, and pays 20 million pounds in compensation to slave owners.
1836: Pope Francis II forbids Catholics to own or purchase slaves, under pain of excommunication, and urges the kings and emperors of Catholic countries to make slavery a thing of the past.
1838: Emperor Alfonso XII of Iberia, "El Manumisor", abolishes slavery throughout the current and former empire, and compensates slave owners for the loss of their "property".
1845: U.S. President James Polk negotiates a loan from Iberia that would allow the United States to compensate slave owners, free all slaves in the United States, and avoid a civil war over the slavery issue. The U.S. has just taken California, New Mexico, and Texas from Mexico; Alfonso and the cortes, the Iberian parliament, agree so that slaves in those territories will be freed, as they would have been had they remained part of Mexico.
1848: The Republican Party, a U.S. party proclaiming the "natural superiority" of "white men", and urging the preservation of slavery, if necessary by overthrowing the U.S. government, is born. (It dies out in 1972, with some local electoral successes, but without ever having elected a President.)
1860: U.S. Constitution amended to make freed male slaves full U.S. citizens, including the right to vote. Slave owners compensated with the "Spanish money", and all slaves emancipated, by 1865. (Freed female slaves are citizens, but can't vote, any more than their "white" sisters.)
1868: West Virginia petitions Congress to become a separate state from Virginia, and is granted statehood.
1870: The Oldest Man discovers the existence of another immortal, known in the 15th Century as the Wallachian prince Vlad Tepes. The two talk, argue over Vlad's treatment or non-immortals, and eventually fight to the death. Story: "Dracula and the Dragon".
1872: U.S. Constitution amended to make women full U.S. citizens, including the right to vote.
1880 (2630 A.U.C.): The book "Nova Latina Pro Mundo Novo" ("A New Latin for a New World") is published in Poland, under the pseudonym "Doctor Sperosus" ("The Hopeful Teacher"). This launches the "Latin Movement" with New Latin taught in schools, and spoken as a native language in increasing numbers of homes around the world. Members of the movement, called "Latins" (Latinus/Latini for men, Latina/Latinae for women), choose Latin names and use the Latin calendar, based on the founding of Rome in 753 B.C.
1881-1888 (2634-2641 A.U.C.): By 1881, most of the English-speaking nations of the world have passed laws enabling women to vote, including New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, and Canada. Iberia and her former colonies have done so by 1886. Finland, Estonia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland follow suit the next year; by 1888 all of Europe has also passed female suffrage laws. Slavic countries, Moslem countries, and Asian countries have not, except for India and Sri Lanka.
1901 (2654 A.U.C.): Socialist Party founded in U.S., begins enjoying electoral success at all levels right away. Also begin "enjoying" mass beatings, lynchings, and other mob violence at the hands of Republicans, and sometimes Democrats.
1909-1945: The Oldest Man wakes up, adopts the name Steve Bradley, spends time traveling in Europe. In 1935, claiming to be 21, he returns to the United States and joins the Army as an officer. He serves in the European theater, where his knowledge of the people and the languages serves him well. In 1942 his company is captured by a Russian brigade, and the survivors marched to Moscow. There they're imprisoned in Rasputin's headquarters and taken away, one by one, to be murdered by the tyrant. Steve, left for last, confirms his suspicion that Rasputin in an immortal, but far younger than himself. He kills the monster and all of his supporters who don't run away fast enough, bringing about Allied victory on the Russian front. Story: "Rasputin".
1905 (2658 A.U.C.): The Communist Party of the United States is founded, propounding many of the same principles as the Socialists, but more extreme and more authoritarian. Where the Socialists call for the state to support its people, the Communists call for the people to serve the state.
1910 (2663 A.U.C.): First Childe mutants are born, with oversized heads and very high intelligence. They're all raised by Latin families, educated in Latin schools, and speak New Latin as their first language.
1914 (2667 A.U.C.): Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, assassinated by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo. Total war seems imminent, due to long-standing European enmities and a complex web of treaties pledging mutual aid. Diplomats with plenipotentiary powers, most of them Latin-educated, send countless telegrams and make innumerable railroad trips between various European capitals, including Moscow and Istanbul. By the end of the year, the crisis has been averted.
1915 (2668 A.U.C.): The League of Nations is founded, and begins shoring up feeble national banks, making peace between nations, and steering Europe towards unity. Imperial Russia rejects its overtures, as does the Ottoman Empire.
1917 (2670 A.U.C.): Russia, Greece, and Bulgaria attack the Ottoman Empire, hoping to take control of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus, which link the Mediterranean to the Black Sea. Greece and Bulgaria, who are members of the League of Nations, block aid for the Ottomans or action against Russia, who aren't.
1918 (2671 A.U.C.): The Ottoman Empire falls. Russia, Bulgaria, and Greece declare victory, and begin quarreling over the spoils. A colonel of the Ottoman Army, Mustafa Kemal (1881-1938), organizes the remaining Ottoman military and fights back against the invaders.
1923-1938 (2676-2691 A.U.C.), Turkey: Mustafa Kemal's army defeats the western invaders of the country and founds the Republic of Turkey, with its capital in Ankara, not the old Ottoman capital of Istanbul. Kemal makes education free and compulsory, founding a secular government run by a secular parliament. The power of the Moslem clergy is greatly diminished, though the majority of the population remains Moslem. A new alphabet is introduced, based on the Latin alphabet, replacing the old Ottoman Turkish alphabet. Women get the vote in 1930, making Turkey the first nation with a Moslem population to recognize women as citizens. Kemal is given the title "Atatürk", which means "Father of the Turks" (compare "Father of His Country") by parliament in 1934. His funeral in 1938 is a state occasion.
1933 (2686 A.U.C.): The so-called National Socialist Party is founded in the U.S. They aren't actually Socialists at all, but right-wing fascists and racists even more extreme than the Republicans. Their goals, openly stated, is to make the United States a "white" nation under a Christian god, expelling all "non-whites" and non-Christians, and banning immigration completely. In public they say that only peaceful means will be used to achieve these ends; but secretly they attack people at night who aren't "white" (especially "Negroes"), who aren't Christian (especially Jews) or are the "wrong" kind of Christian (especially Catholics), people who immigrated from other countries (especially Italians and Iberians), labor organizers, officials of other political parties (especially Socialists), etc. The Republicans have always done these things when they fancy themselves provoked, but the "Nazis" don't wait to be provoked.
1937 (2690 A.U.C.): First computers built, by German engineers, for designing high-precision aircraft parts.
1939 (2692 A.U.C.): German aircraft company Messerschmidt begins producing jet fighter planes for the German Air Force (Germany has separate Army and Air Force services).
1938-1945 (2691-2698 A.U.C.), the World War. The Russian tyrant Rasputin and the Mandarins who rule China attack the whole world, claiming to be immortal, and apparently believing themselves invincible as well. Russia attacks Germany and Turkey first; China attacks Korea, Japan, and Manchuria. The United States enters the war in 1940, despite opposition by the Republicans, the National Socialists, and individual isolationist Senators in the Democratic and Socialist parties. The combination of German engineering, Iberian money, and American factories turns the tide. Moscow falls, and Rasputin is killed, in 1944. China is defeated in 1945. Peking isn't captured, but all the conquered lands are freed, as well as nations subjugated by China before 1938: the northern third of Korea, Tibet, and western Manchuria. New nations, mainly Turkic-speaking, emerge from China to Turkey, some freed from Russian rule, some from the Chinese. An estimated 50-80 million people die all over the world, both military and civilian, from battle, from disease, from starvation, and all other causes. It's the second-greatest killing event of the 20th Century A.D., and the worst killing event of the 27th Century A.U.C.
1945-1989: The Oldest Man, under the name Adam Evenson, lives in San Francisco, starting as a "young man" and dying of "old age" at an apparent 60+ years old. Story: "The Lion Sleeps Tongiht" ("Graciela").
1945 (2698 A.U.C.): United Nations formed, as an international peacekeeping organization. The United States of America, the Empire of Iberia, the Republic of Germany, the Triple Kingdom of Korea, and the Republic of India have permanent veto power in the organization's Security Council.
1948 (2701 A.U.C.): Latins everywhere celebrate the beginning of the 28th Century A.U.C.
1949 (2702 A.U.C.): Luther Hawley, polymath, and perhaps the greatest genius who ever lived, is born in Columbus, Mississippi.
1950-1954 (2703-2707 A.U.C.): China attacks Korea, claiming the northern third of the Kingdom as a province. The United Nations defeat the Chinese and occupy the country.
1952 (2705 A.U.C.): David Mackie, best-selling science-fiction and fantasy author, is born in California, United States. See "Werewolves Are Bunk."
1955 (2708 A.U.C.): The Libertarian Party is founded in the U.S., a right-wing party falling between the Republicans and the National Socialists.
1957 (2710 A.U.C.): The Medieval Recreation Society is founded in the U.S., in northern California (Arcata, Yreka),open to anyone who wants to dress in medieval costume for a weekend. The focus of the group, however, is on horse owners who want to learn to joust, sidelining anyone who can't afford a horse, or to have it trained for jousting.
1960 (2713 A.U.C.): Alarmed by the power of the Socialist Party, including its ability to win Presidential elections, the Democrats rename themselves the Social-Democrats, and move to the left politically.
1964-1968 (2717-2721 A.U.C.), smoking: The Surgeon General of the U.S. announces that smoking causes lung cancer. Further annual reports by the Surgeon General's office in 1965 through 1968 reaffirm these results through more studies, announce other diseases caused by smoking (cancers throughout the body, emphysema, heart disease, damage to DNA, etc.), and detail the cost of smoking in public health dollars, worker days lost to illness, worker hours lost each day, and so forth. Smoking is labelled the leading cause of preventable deaths around the world, 5.5 million people every year, between 400,000 and 500,000 in the U.S. alone. Other studies show that tobacco companies knew about these medical results as early as 1956, and not only suppressed the findings, but deliberately spiked the tobacco in their products with additional nicotine. Nicotine, one of the deadliest nerve poisons known, is produced by plants as an insecticide. From 1964-1968 the tobacco companies have "disputed" the medical science about smoking, stepped up their advertising around the world, and lied to Congress under oath. House members and Senators of both sexes, across the political spectrum from Socialists to Greens to Social-Democrats, hold hearings to deal with the problem. They can't agree on whether to outlaw smoking outright, or just tax it to death; whether to break up the tobacco companies, or outlaw the sale and purchase of products containing nicotine; or whether to charge tobacco executives with crimes up to negligent homicide, or simply hit them all with huge fines for lying to Congress. This failure to decide exactly what to do allows the Republicans, the Libertarians, and the National Socialists to prevent anything from being done at all. After this, the Libertarians and "Nazis" will never elect a candidate to Congress. (The Communists never could, and never will.)
1965 (2718 A.U.C.), political: The Green Party is founded in the U.S., championing ecological preservation and restoration, protecting the environment from pollution, saving species from extinction, cleaning up the atmosphere, the oceans, and fresh-water sources, replacing fossil fuels with wind and solar power, etc.
1965 (2718 A.U.C.), recreational: The Medieval Recreation Society becomes the Professional Jousting Association. Membership is limited to horse owners with the armor and costumes for jousting, and horses properly trained for the sport. Members make money off their skills in movies, parades, and demonstrations. New members have to prove their financial ability to participate, and submit their horse(s) and themselves to training by the Association.
1967 (2720 A.U.C.): The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) is founded in Berkeley, California, on May 1. Their first event is a backyard "tournament", followed by a march down Telegraph Avenue. Almost all the members are amateur medievalists, and more interested in playing dress up and fighting with tournament weapons than with learning about the actual Middle Ages. Despite that, they enjoy great popularity, especially in college towns. They spread all over the U.S., and even start a few groups overseas, before dying out around 1985, replaced by another group called the Society of the Golden Unicorn.
1969 (2722 A.U.C.): First manned landing on the Moon, by a U.N. spacecraft using American booster rockets and German computers, with a crew of three. The American pilot and the Korean space medic are male; the Iberian co-pilot is female.
1970 (2723 A.U.C.): The Green Cold. An unknown party engineers a variant of the rhinovirus that causes the common cold, and releases it in airports all over the world. After it becomes endemic in the human population, smoking isn't addictive, nor does it give any pleasure; nor is heroin, which activates the same receptors in the brain, in the same way. The tobacco problem and the heroin problem are solved, at the cost of hundreds of millions of deaths all over the world: most smokers, but also anyone with chronic lung problems, many infants, and many elderly people. Many people not killed directly die from social collapse of the villages, towns, cities, regions, or countries in which they had lived. The final estimated death toll (a body count was impossible) was 561-640 million people, or about 100-116 times the annual number of deaths from smoking, but all in a single year. The Green Cold kills more people than the 80 million casualties of the War, military and civilian alike, 30 years before.
To view it from another perspective: The population of the world was 3.7 billion in 1970. 600 million people was 16 percent of that, about one person in every six. U.S. losses were in proportion, about 18.5 million people out of a population of 209 million. This was almost as much as the total population of California in 1970 (about 20 million before the Green Cold struck), or almost the same as New York, the second most populous state. One of the most advanced nations on Earth, the U.S. should do better; but its medical "industry" gives priority to profits, not patients. The Empire of Iberia reacts to the Green Cold at once, and spares literally no expense to save its subjects, losing "only" about 10 per cent of its population. The Republic of Germany, and the Scandinavian nations, which have free universal health care, do almost as well as Iberia, 12 percent dead across Scandinavia, 13 percent fatality rates in Germany.
1970-1976 (2723-2729 A.U.C.), political reform: Universal healthcare, at no cost to the patient, is established in most of the countries of the world, including the United States. Laws passed by the U.N. and its member states to protect the environment from pollution, protect endangered species, encourage labor unions, and protect consumers from predatory financial and business practices. In the United States, the top tax rate is 90% for individuals and corporations alike. The minimum wage is tied to the cost of living, so that people working full time can't be paid less than it costs to live. Age requirements for Social Security are abolished, and the benefits set equal to the minimum wage of a full-time working person, or actual benefits earned by deductions over a person's working life, whichever is greater. Laws are passed which require that any law passed by the House or Senate must have a single purpose, clearly and honestly stated in the bill's title, which a federal judge must approve before the law can be voted upon. Other anti-corruption laws are passed, such as sharp limits on Congressional immunity from prosecution for crimes. The Electoral College is abolished, and Americans elect Senators and Presidents by popular vote for the first time. The voting age is lowered to 18, automatic voter registration and voting by mail becomes universal, and the right of every American to vote is enshrined in the Constitution. The U.S. economy soars, despite the predictions of rich people, big corporations, and the Republican party. Unemployment falls to record lows. People have more money to spend than ever before, and businesses make record profits.
1972 (2725 A.U.C.): The colonization of the Moon begins, with the construction of the first Moonbase module in orbit, its transit from Earth orbit to Lunar orbit, and its soft landing in the center of Mare Serenitatis. The U.N. flag is planted, and the Moon is claimed for all of mankind. The module holds atmosphere, after a couple of patches, and serves as a base for exploration of the surrounding area. The Secretary-General predicts that one day the Republic of Luna will be a member-state of the United Nations. Other modules follow, one every 18 months at first, later one a year, until 1992. After that, all construction is local, using materials mined on the Moon.
1973 (2726 A.U.C.): The SCA groups in southern California secede from that organization. A new one, called the Society of the Golden Unicorn, is incorporated. By-laws are passed, directors are elected, and annual Board meetings are established, with all members of the Society having a vote in all matters. The Baronies of Calafia, Dreiburgen, Failte, Isles, and Terra remove the SCA laurel wreaths from their arms and found the Kingdom of Patria, Latin for "Fatherland". Sir Armin von Bergen, a retired Lieutenant General of the Army of Germany, and a veteran of the War, wins the kingdom's first crown tourney.
1974 (2727 A.U.C.): Armin and Hilda von Bergen crowned first king and queen of Patria at 12th Night.
1974 (2727 A.U.C.): Commercial suborbital travel is established, both subsidized and tightly controlled by the U.N.; a suborbital spaceplane is a kinetic weapon that can kill cities, without poisoning the site with radiation. The UNOLE, U.N.Orbital Law Enforcement agency, is established, to enforce U.N. law out to stationary orbit.
1974-1976 (2727-2729 A.U.C.): Farside base is established on the side of the Moon permanently facing away from Earth, as a base for deep-space astronomy. The Hubble Telescope is built, named after Edwin Hubble. Being on the Moon, it isn't affected by the air temperature or the moisture in the air, and the light gravity reduces the weight of the mirrors and their mountings. The most advanced German computers yet built ensure that all 100 of the twelve-meter mirrors point at the same target, and stay on target despite the Moon's rotation, its orbit around the Earth, the orbit of the Earth-Moon system around the Sun, the Moon's libration, and so forth.
1976 (2729 A.U.C.): American genius Luther Hawley invents batteries that hold a greater charge than any before them, and can be recharged indefinitely. Hawley batteries replace emergency generators in hospitals and other critical installations. They also sign the death warrant of internal-combustion engines burning fossil fuels.
1978 (2731 A.U.C.): Luther Hawley demonstrates that an electric current can be forced into superbinary states, with no theoretical upper limits. Netcoms and omnicoms designed, though they can't be built yet. The King of Iberia announces to the world that his daughter, not his son, will succeed him to the throne.
1979 (2732 A.U.C.): The U.N. Supreme Court, ruling on a case appealed from the Court of Human Rights in La Hague, upholds the rulings of the lower court. All member states must recognize the rights of gay, lesbian, and transgender human beings, including (but not limited) their right to have sex, to raise children, to receive the same governmental aid as any other citizens, to vote, and to be employed. On the point specifically brought in the original suit, the rights of people to marry other people of the same sex is upheld, and all member nations must recognize same-sex marriages from all jurisdictions.
1980 (2733 A.U.C.): Electric automobiles are standard. The UNEPA has outlawed internal-combustion engines, drilling for oil is prohibited everywhere, and solar power, wind power, and tidal power, tied to Hawley batteries, provide the world's power. Burning coal is illegal, nuclear-fission plants have all been shut down, and experiments in nuclear fusion are only permitted in deep space, in zones north of the ecliptic, for future starships.
1980 (2733 A.U.C.), political: Imperial China invades the Kingdom of Tibet. The U.N. counterattacks. Indian and Pakistani troops go to the defense of Tibet, and Indian Air Force bombers attack military targets in southern China. Korean and Japanese troops launch an attack on eastern China, tying up the mandarins' military resources; Manchuria does the same. At the same time, with the assent of the Security Council, a B-56 flying-wing bomber lifts off from Andersen AFB, Guam, refuels in midair over Burma, and on August 11, 1980, drops the smallest atomic bomb estimated to wipe Peking from the map. It's the first use of atomic weapons in warfare. The U.N. occupies China.
1981 (2734 A.U.C.): Luther Hawley proves that androids can be built, as long as you don't expect them to be very bright. Using materials that contract when given an electric shock for muscles, lightweight composites for the skeleton, Hawley batteries, etc. he constructs prototype dogs and prototype women that look like the real thing, not mechanical robots. But while dog-droids and bim-droids can be built, the androids aren't smart enough to make cat-droids or women-droids
1984 (2737 A.U.C.): Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands become the State of Puerto Rico, the 51st U.S. state. Geneticists announce the sequencing of the human genome.
1985 (2738 A.U.C.): A new interstate highway system begins to be built in the U.S., with buried netcoms controlling self-driving cars. Spare capacity is used to store all the world's books, magazines, music, movies, etc., and disseminating it on request when higher-priority processes, like keeping cars from crashing, permit.
1985 (2738 A.U.C.): Elections are held, and the Republic of China is formed. The new nation joins the U.N.
1986 (2739 A.U.C.): Cuba, after watching how Puerto Rico does for a couple of years, gives up its independence to become the 52nd state of the U.S.
1987 (2740 A.U.C.): Three orbital hotels are built in stationary orbit, each one a third of the way around the world from the other two, and a new generation of spaceplane comes into service, that can take off from runways on Earth and fly out to geosynch distances. The hiltons were built with materials brought up by rocket, while the new spaceplanes were designed, built, and tested, but the day of the booster is now over, except for special circumstances. The new spaceplanes are the work horses of orbital construction, and the next generation will carry out those duties in circum-Luna space.
1988 (2741 A.U.C.): First commercial omnicoms sold, providing American consumers with a handheld device that's a computer, a camera, a telephone, a music player and sound recorder, a TV, a movie player, and a way to send and receive mail without stamps or paper. The first models available are quaternary (each digit base 4 instead of binary) and have a fixed screen size. But even these models store all their data on satellites, and have no moving parts. Later models will come with soft screens that can be unfolded over and over, giving a screen and keyboard many times the resting size of the device, and base-8 (octal) and base-10 (decimal) software operations and circuit elements. Netcoms soon enter the market as well, and super-netcoms, the fastest, most powerful computers ever built, each one faster and more powerful than a roomfull of now-obsolete binary mainframes.
1990 (2743 A.U.C.): Construction of a permanent orbital habitat begins at L5, the point in the Earth's orbit 60 degrees behind the Earth itself, and at L4, 60 degrees ahead. These habitats test the long-term effects of microgravity, and ways to mitigate them. for manned expeditions to Mars and the rest of the Solar System. They also have large telescopes, which search for asteroids, in particular ones which might approach the Earth and Moon.
1991 (2744 A.U.C.): Construction begins in Earth orbit of Sperosus, "Hopeful", mankind's first starship. The project is funded by the Childe Foundation, not the United Nations, and the crew and passengers will all be Childe.
1992 (2745 A.U.C.): The United Nations begins to construct the first manned ship to Mars, in Earth orbit.
1995 (2748 A.U.C.): Female geneticists add the female X chromosomes to the human genome.
2001 A.D. (2754 A.U.C.): Beginning of the 21st Century A.D. The Childe starship Sperosus departs Earth orbit. First stop, Alpha Centauri.
2012 (2765 A.U.C.): First manned ship reaches Mars and begins exploration, expanding on what's known by unmanned orbiters, landers, and telescopes. Techniques of manned exploration of alien worlds developed. Locations of Martian resources mapped and evaluated.
2020 (2773 A.U.C.): Manned exploration of the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter begins.
2020-2050 (2773-2803 A.U.C.): The UNEC (United Nations Exploration Command) sends automated probes to all the G-type (sunlike) stars within 100 light-years that aren't giants or members of multiple-star systems, a total of less than 500 systems. Construction of the first UNEC ships begins, a fleet of fifty named after constellations: Orion, Hercules, Andromeda, Leo, Ursa Maior, Draco, Serpens, Taurus, etc.
2030 (2783 A.U.C.): Permanent bases eatablished on Mars at Syrtis Major (ice mining) and Aresopolis (reclaiming oxygen and iron from the sand).
2040 (2793 A.U.C.): Manned exploration of the moons and rings of Jupiter begins.
2045-2050 (2798-2803 A.U.C.), Mars: Martian colonists at Syrtis Major rebel against alleged U.N. misrule. After the revolt is put down by U.N. marines and army troops, some of the rebels flee to Olympus Mons and stand siege there, producing their own air and water locally. When their food runs out, however, they're forced to surrender. Actual crimes are committed by U.N. troops at Aresopolis, but the local military commander punishes the offenders harshly.
2048 (2801 A.U.C.): Latins everywhere celebrate the beginning of the 29th Century A.U.C.
2057 (2810 A.U.C.): New Bucharest colony established on Titan, largest moon of Saturn.
2060 (2813 A.U.C.): UNSS Auriga arrives at 82 Eridani, 19.8 light years from Earth. See "Relatively Speaking".
2062 (2815 A.U.C.): UNSS Corvus arrives at Delta Pavonis, 19.9 light years from Earth. See "Boy and the Shinyfaces".
2065 (2818 A.U.C.): UNSS Ophiuchus arrives at Alpha Mensae, 33.1 light years from Earth, and contact the inhabitants of the third planet, who call their planet Eo*lyrai. Eo*lyrai, therefore, is the official name of the world.
2075 (2828 A.U.C.): The Republic of Mars, with its capital at Aresopolis, becomes a U.N. member state.
2080 (2833 A.U.C.): The U.N. and the *Lyrē, the inhabitants of Eo*lyrai (unofficially Alpha Mensae III), negotiate a provisional colony of U.N. citizens on the world, as an experiment in interstellar relations. The colonists, Martians of Hispanic descent, privately call the world "Nueve Marte," or "New Mars". See "The Sound of His Wings".
2080-2100 (2833-2853 A.U.C.): The U.N. makes contact with approximately 100 inhabited worlds within 100 light years, most of which used to be ruled by a race of masters called the Verē, for whom they're in mourning, and living at a technological level best described as neolithic. Mostly indifferent in their grief, the locals permit colonies to be established on about thirty worlds. Many of the colonies, however, fall into regarding the natives as contemptible for their lasting grief, and their apparent level of technology, and begin treating them as inferior beings without rights to be respected.
2095 (2848 A.U.C.): Oldest Man employed as Colonial Manager for human colony on Eiomurai. Natives decide the humans have violated hospitality, and must leave. Story: "Daniela".
2100 (2853 A.U.C.): The North American Union formally created by the unification of the Republic of Canada, the United States of America, and Estados Unidos Mexicanos. Its co-equal official languages are English, Spanish, French, and New Latin. Its national capital is Denver; its regional capitals are Ottawa, the District of Columbia, and Ciudad Mexico. Its territory includes all of North America, most of the West Indies, and Hawaii. It's a parliamentary republic with a constitution that embodies all the rights and protections of the U.S., Canadian, Mexican, and U.N. Constitutions. As a U.N. member state, it retains the U.S. veto power, as well as three votes in the General Assembly.
2101 (2854 A.U.C.): The Kingdom of Titan, capital New Bucharest, becomes a U.N. member state. Beginning of the 22nd Century A.D.
2105: Robert Marius Augustus, son of NAU Senator Caius Traianus Augustus, born in Guadalajara, North American Union, Earth.
2105-2130 (2858-2883 A.U.C.): First Interstellar War between the U.N. Navy and all the alien worlds, armed with Verē ships and Verē technology that's been hidden away since the Verē departed. Through desperate effort and study of Verē technology, the U.N. barely manages to make it not worth all the other species' trouble to occupy or destroy U.N. worlds like Earth, Luna, Mars, and Titan. But they have to remove every human colonist from every alien world. Most of them get dumped on Eden, Sigma Draconis II, a U.N. colony world 18.8 light years from Earth without non-human sentients. See "The Last Governor of Eden."
2106-2163 (2859-2916 A.U.C.): Alana Maria Timisoara born in the U.N. Embassy compound in Gardena, Eden, to parents Josef and Irina Timisoara, immigrants from Titan in 2098 (2851 A.U.C.). Both parents die in 2116 (2869 A.U.C.) when the compound is breached by a large criminal street gang and the UNMC complement overwhelmed. Ms. Timisoara graduates from Marine OCS as a Second Lieutenant May 1, 2125 and is subsequently promoted to First Lieutenant (2128/2881), Captain (2132/2885), Major (2136/2889), and Lieutenant-Colonel (2146/2899). She is Commandant of the Eden marines from 2135-2162 (2888-2915 A.U.C.) retiring in the latter year with a retirement rank of Colonel of Marines and consequent retirement pay.
2140-2162 (2893-2915 A.U.C.): Robert Marius Augustus serves as U.N. Governor of Eden, Sigma Draconis II.
2148 (2901 A.U.C.): Latins everywhere celebrate the beginning of the 30th Century A.U.C.
2160 (2913 A.U.C.): The Childe worlds begin building a huge fleet of colony ships and preparing to emmigrate to Omega Centauri, a super-large globular cluster of stars in the galaxy's halo, 230 light years in diameter, and 16,000 to 18,000 light years away. As usual, no explanation is given for anything the Childes decide to do. They raise money for their fleet by selling their worlds, and anything else they leave behind, to the United Nations.
2162-2163 (2915-2916 A.U.C.): Robert Marius Augustus and Alana Maria Timisoara wed, after organizing a planetary election for Eden's independence and admission to the United Nations as a member state. The two of them are elected President and First Lady, and the U.N. accepts their membership.
2163 (2916 A.U.C.): Eden changes its name to Heaven, and the name of its capital to Farmington.
2170 (2923 A.U.C.): A spacecraft from a previously unknown intelligent species comes to Earth and breaks up in the atmosphere. See "Stowaway".
2195 (2948 A.U.C.): Oldest Man returns to Eiomurai. Beginning of immortality for all of mankind. Story: "Daniela".
2180-2200 (2933-2953 A.U.C.): The U.N. fights a war against an alien species expanding outward from galactic center, one star system at a time, whose time sense puzzles human beings and their computers. See "Fast As Thought".
2201 (2954 A.U.C.): Beginning of the 23nd Century A.D.
2248 (3001 A.U.C.): Beginning of the 31st Century A.U.C.
2250 (2903 A.U.C.): Subspace travel invented. Trips within 500 light years become practical.
2300 (3053 A.U.C.): Solar League founded. Henceforth the United Nations is the government of the Sol system only.
2301 (3054 A.U.C.): Beginning of the 24th Century A.D.
2348 (3101 A.U.C.): Beginning of the 32nd Century A.U.C.
2372 (3125 A.U.C.): Slipslider invented. Trips anywhere in the Galaxy become practical.
2410 (3163 A.U.C.): The Childes begin to move their best worlds from Omega Centauri to the Magellanic Clouds.
3000 (3753 A.U.C.): The Childes emigrate from the Magellanic Clouds to the Andromeda Galaxy, and set up a barrier so that non-Childe humans can't follow them. Permanent separation of the human race into two species.
3050 (3753 A.U.C.): United Planets founded as federal government for the Milky Way Galaxy. About 600 solar systems sign the initial charter, mostly in the Western and Southern regions of the Galaxy. About 200 of those systems are human systems, the rest aren't. All this is expected to change as the "far" side of the Galaxy is explored more.
5002 (5755 A.U.C.): Ishtar and the Oldest Man meet again. Story: "Astarte and the Evening Star."
5160 (5913 A.U.C.): A man is forced, by compulsions he doesn't understand, to leave his home and travel farther and farther away from everyone else. Story: "Alienation."
Never the end…