Grimoire VI.ii
A Timeline for Andre Norton's Multi-verse
by the Sorceress Maureen S. O'Brien
by the Sorceress Maureen S. O'Brien
The following post is an attempt on my part to provide a coherent chronology of the events chronicled by Andre Norton in her historical, science fiction, and non-Witch World fantasy works. (An accurate Witch World chronology containing otherwise unpublished, canon Year names can be found in the GURPS game supplement “GURPS Witch World”; far less up-to-date ones in several other places.) Since I have not been able to find and read all of Norton, this chronology is still incomplete. However, I believe that it should be helpful in indicating the breadth of Norton's interests and the scope of her imagination. The page numbers are based on the editions I own or have read; these editions will be indicated in the last post.
HERE BE SPOILERS! So let the reader beware.
I am afraid, also, that mere mortals make both mistakes and misinterpretations. In some cases, Norton would mention a historical event which existed in our universe but whose exact date I was unable to ascertain. In other cases, the archaeological dating which Norton uses may have been adjusted by later discoveries or more accurate techniques, and\or my sources for such dating may be themselves dated. I would be happy to provide anyone who corrects such information with a credit at the end of this chronology. Maureen S. O'Brien
It should be noted that this is more of a "reading" document than a research document. At 24,500 words it's long but very informative. ~ Lotsawatts
Forerunners, Star Lords, and Ancient Ones
In the Cryptozoic:
(“Garan the Eternal”) Before most of the continents had emerged from the sea, primitive life existed in Antarctica. Krand, a planet near Sol whose humanoid inhabitants' scientists had seen Earth's beginnings, was destroyed by an asteroid, comet or something similar. It would have missed them, but Krand's orbit had been slowed thanks to Kras' experiments with 'solar energy'. [I presume this is a reference to something like fusion or gravity control, since its use was forbidden, its power inexhaustible, and solar panels don't slow planets in their orbits.] Since Krand had only begun to develop interplanetary flight, most of its people were doomed. However, a ship powered by this 'solar energy' was loaded with a handful of Krandians led by Thran and Thrala. They survived and landed on the young Earth. Unhappy with the swampy, barren Antarctica that they found, they carved out caverns to live in, terraformed the part of the land they called Tav, and geo-enegineered plants, animals and sentient creatures to share the land. The people of Tav called them 'the Ancient Ones'. They could live up to 200 years in eternal youth, thanks to their 'ray'. They lived in Tav during the eons of Earth's history, hidden by the mists of the 'Veil' they created, and guarded by psi machines.
(“Firehand”) Terrans are taken from Terra by a star civilization (possibly the Star Lords) and planted on the planet which will become known as the Dominion of the Sun-Star Virgin.
Thousands of years ago: A Forerunner star empire existed. In (“Merlin’s Mirror”), Myrddin and Nimue refer to them as the Star Lords, Sky Lords, and Sky People. [These are not the same Star Lords as those on Gorth in (“Star Gate”); Norton explicitly imagines those Star Lords as Terrans.] It was a people who were once great star travelers (“Merlin’s Mirror”) In their traveling, they had come to Earth. Recklessly, the Star Lords used the primitive Terrans as playthings and tools in their disputes, teaching them their Star Lord science so that they would be more useful. [Apparently the Sky Lords also visited ancient Egypt (“Wraiths of Time”).]
(“Merlin’s Mirror”) When the Earth was nearly destroyed as a result, the Star Lords warred among themselves and ended by swearing that never again would they rule another species. The Star Lords vanished and left only legends behind; the things they had taught were forgotten or became myths.
Before the Star Lords left, however, a beacon was set; it was so well-made that it worked on while the continents moved and changed. Andre also refers to a moon falling from the sky and another taking its place. [Since the Moon is older than this, one assumes this refers to some kind of space station.]
(“Merlin’s Mirror”) The beacon's creators had engineered for every eventuality except politics. Apparently, the Star Lords gave up travel except among their own worlds. First the empire of the Star Lords fell into weakness, and then it fell entirely. As one of its final acts, six unmanned ships were sent out, with the desperate hope that what they held important might be preserved if only one of the ships reached one of the planets in the old records. They sent off the ships just before their enemies conquered them. These ships contained robots for building a secret base, computers for the preservation and teaching of their science, psi machines, coldsleep boxes, and genetic material to implant in the natives and thus create people capable of understanding and using the materials. Their intention was apparently to create a sanctuary which would preserve their knowledge and a civilization which would be capable of using that knowledge to return to the stars and remake the empire.
In the Paleolithic:
Circa 40,000 BC:
(“Time Traders Series”) In a glacial age, the Soviets find a wrecked globe-shaped Forerunner spacecraft in what would become Finland; they plunder it for technology. When Ross Murdock is captured and left to die in its time, he makes his way into it and is saved by its lifeboat's medical equipment. While exploring it, he is cornered by Soviets; so he punches buttons in the control room at random and accidentally manages to communicate with another alien ship on a sort of brown-and-cream television. One alien has a triangular face covered with dark skin and down; large round eyes; a curved, shining nose; and a cockatoo-like crest on top of its head. Most have a more human appearance with cream-colored skin and a hairless face and head; Ross calls them "Baldies". The aliens see Ross getting captured, realize something is wrong, home in on the transmission and attack the Soviet outpost to destroy these 'pirates'. Ross, Ashe, and MacNeil escape; the aliens travel through the Soviets' time outposts, capture them all, and destroy their contemporary base. They also track the blue alien suit Ross wears and attempt to use psi against him. The US, encouraged by the Soviets' success, begins to hunt wrecked starships in the past.
[Zacathan civilization begins somewhere around this point.]
Circa 10,000? BC:
(“Time Traders Series”) The time of the Folsom culture. An alien spaceship crashes on Earth in what will someday be the Canyon of the Hohokam in Arizona. Project Folsom One (a continuation of Project Retrograde) comes to that time to salvage the ship by transferring it through time as a whole. Unfortunately, the force of the transfer sets off the engines as soon as they arrive at their home when.
Circa 8000 BC:
(“Time Traders Series”) "Baldies" arrive on the planet Hawaika and begin to conquer it, but are thwarted by the mysterious Foanna, the piratical Rovers, and Terran time-travelers Gordon Ashe, Ross Murdock, Karara Trehern, and the dolphins Tino-rau and Taua.
In the same year:
(“Time Traders Series”) Eveleen Riordan comes through a time gate to pick up Gordon Ashe and Ross Murdock. She does not bring back Karara Trehern, Tino-rau, or Taua; they do not want to go, and they are known from records found in the future to have stayed in the past.
Some years later:
(“Time Traders Series”) Karara Trehern writes a history of happenings on Hawaika which is accurate enough to allow a time gate to rescue Ashe and Murdock. Tino-rau and Taua have many descendants [though it's a pretty small genetic pool to work with] - enough that the Hawaikan colonists of later days find a bunch of telepathic dolphins inhabiting the seas.
About 2000 BC:
(“Time Traders Series”) Gordon Ashe and Ross Murdock travel to ancient Britain disguised as Beaker traders. They find that their outpost has been destroyed by a Soviet bombing run disguised as the wrath of the god Lurgha. They return home and report the incident, which (from the plane's heading) hints at where to find the Soviet time base. Ashe, Murdock, and McNeil are sent back to search for the exact location of the base, but they are caught by the Soviets. Ross is left for dead, but is nursed back to health by a woman of the axe people. He finds the Soviet base (despite the handicap of believing he really is a Beaker trader). The Soviets send him back in time as a prisoner.
(“Time Traders Series”) When Ashe, Murdock and McNeil escape from the Soviet base in the past (just ahead of the aliens), they become separated during an attack by the axe people. Murdock escapes but the aliens track him by his commandeered clothing. He manages to resist their mental coercion by burning his hand with his torch. He strips off his alien clothes as soon as his people arrive in their whale-shaped submarine and returns to his own time to find Ashe and McNeil there before him.
Parallel world, planet Vallek, circa 1700-700 BC:
("Long Live Lord Kor!") One of the Kor-Kings of Lanascol defies the Orm priests and takes a force to invade the Orm Temple. Only a few of his rear guard survived.
Circa 1590 BC:
(“Shadow Hawk”) Rahotep and his troop of Desert Scout bowmen help drive the Hyksos invaders out of Egypt.
Parallel world, planet Vallek, circa 1500\500 BC:
("Long Live Lord Kor!") Creed Trapnell of the Bureau of Time Exploration and Manipulation takes the place of Lord Kor Kenric of Lanascol as he attempts to keep the Orm Prophet from prophesying holy war against the Kor-Kings, which will lead eventually to nuclear war and a burned-off Vallek.
Circa 1490\490 BC:
("Long Live Lord Kor!") 10 years after they destroyed the Kor-Kings in a holy war, the theocracy of the Orm priests collapses, making way for a conqueror from the south who established a line which later developed high technology.
Circa 1290\290 BC:
("Long Live Lord Kor!") 200 years after a southern conqueror established his line in Lanascol, they develop a nuclear technology.
Circa 790 BC\210 AD:
("Long Live Lord Kor!") 500 years after the establishment of a nuclear technology, Vallek gets burned-off into a nuclear cinder.
Circa 538-530 BC:
(“Dragon Magic”) During the reign of King Cyrus (aka Xerxes) of Persia, King Sherkarer and the Sirrush-lau (an African swamp-dragon) are sent to Babylon. Sherkarer helps Daniel prove that Bel is a false god and the dragon is mortal. A modern boy sees all this in a magical vision. [This is the story "Bel and the Dragon" from the Apocrypha - neither Jews, Catholics, nor Protestants include it in their Bible canon, but it's not regarded as actually heretical - just not inspired].
53 BC:
(“Empire of the Eagle”) Crassus' campaign in the East ends disastrously for Rome when a horde of Syrian lancers and mounted archers kills 20,000 men and captures 10,000 more. Crassus goes to a peace conference with them; he is murdered. The captured Roman legions are sold into slavery.
Some of the legionaries find themselves going to China as an exotic gift for the Emperor of that land. But when they enter the desert, they are attacked by evil wizards who herd them into a fortress in the middle of the desert. For centuries, the demons have been using hapless travelers and their descendants as food. Fortunately for them, the centurion of the legionaries is also the reincarnation of Arjuna from the Mahabharata (a bit disconcerting for him) and with the help of his sorceress wife (the reincarnation of Arjuna's love Draupadi) he leads the enslaved people to victory against the immortal wizards.
Circa 25 BC:
(“Imperial Lady”) Lady Chao Chun (aka "Silver Snow") is packed off to the Hsiung-Nu to marry their chief, Khujanga. She ends up marrying his heir Vughturoi also and probably dies about AD 18 (Afterword).
Circa AD 200?:
(“Dragon Magic”) During the last days of the Roman occupation, of Britain, the boy Artos meets the Pendragon (Arthur of Britain). A modern boy named Arthur sees this in a magical vision. [Incidentally, this version of Arthur doesn't necessarily preclude the version in (“Merlin's Mirror”). This may just be another view of his reign; or as scholars have suggested, many Arthurs may have contributed to the final form of the legend.]
Circa AD 300?:
(“Merlin's Mirror”) A Star Lord beacon on Earth is answered after thousands of years by a ship sent out at the end of the Star Lord empire. The ship sends out a flier to impregnate a suitable native with Star Lord genetic material. It is sensed by an ancient installation of the Star Lords' enemy empire, who also activate a beacon, a ship and an impregnation flier. Thus, Myrddin, Arthur, and the Lady of the Lake, Nimue, are all children of the Sky Peoples' gene banks but fated to oppose one another. Myrddin tries to bring the Star Lords and their knowledge back to Earth while Nimue attempts to destroy this knowledge, believing it will bring about horrible wars on Earth as it did before. Myrddin tries to raise Arthur as a Star Lord, but Nimue locks him inside a forcefield. Myrddin goes into a coldsleep box for 16 years. When he comes out, he helps Arthur win the throne and aids his projects. [There is also a nasty reference to the historian-monk Gildas; he is our only contemporary source, and he had to return to Britain from his studies in Ireland because Arthur killed his brother.] In the end, Arthur is nearly killed. Myrddin brings him back to the small Star Lord base and puts them both into coldsleep until the beacon is answered by a Star Lord ship. Since "The Sky Lords do not measure time as we do...", it "...will be perhaps a hundred centuries more before that beacon will have an answer, if it ever does."
(“Dragon Magic”) In early medieval times: Sig has a magical vision that he is in Scandinavia. As Sig Clawhand, he tames Dapplegrim and fights the dragon Fafnir. [The legend of Sigurd, in other words.]
771 - 814 AD:
(“Huon of the Horn”) Charlemagne (Charles the Great) rules over the Franks (parts of France and Germany). He is served by good knights like Sir Roland, Sir Oliver, and Sir Huon of the Horn.
The book (“Huon of the Horn”) is a translation of the medieval French romance of “Huon”. It tells the tale of how Sir Huon was discredited by treacherous political enemies, of how he saved his honor by achieving an impossible quest among the Saracens, how he wooed and won Clarimonde who was a princess of those Saracens, and how he achieved so much favor with the Lord Oberon that he was made his heir when Oberon chose to go bodily to Heaven, and how he dealt with Arthur's claim to the land of Avalon by dividing its wardship between them two.
About the same time:
(“Rogue Reynard”) Sir Reynard (the fox) uses his wiles to gain unfairly from his fellow nobles (the animals). Eventually his evil catches up with him, and he must face King Lion's judgement. [The cycle of beast fabliaux which Norton retells in this book is based (or at least seriously influenced) by the series of legends about Charlemagne and his knights, with King Lion as King Charles and Sir Reynard as Sir Ganelon (the bad guy).]
Circa AD 1096:
(“At Swords Point”) Prince-Bishop Odocar of Sternsberg goes on the First Crusade with his twelve faithful followers. Their adventures become legend. Prince- Bishop Mangus, who later became Duke of Sternlitz, has jeweled figurines made of the famous thirteen. They are known as the Bishop's Menie, and are considered the luck of the Sternlitz house. Treasure hunters become an occupational hazard for the Dukes; even Napoleon is rumored to have searched for them.
Parallel world, in the 1200's:
(“The Crossroads of Time”) The Mongols conquer Europe. Norman, Breton, Norse and Saxon refugees flee to the Icelandic colonies in Vinland. Their descendants will intermarry with Indians from the Anasazi empires of the southwest and found the nation of Ixanilia, which still thrives in the 20th century.
Circa AD 1286:
(“Firehand”) The planet Dominion of the Sun-Star Virgin, parallel timetracks: In the 'original' track, the inhabitants of an island area settle into a stable feudal society; about 200 years later they have developed a psi gift to such an extent that they can fight the Baldies. In the 'second' track, which leads to Dominion's burn-off, the most powerful local lord conquers all the other lands under the stimulus of the Baldies. His children cannot hold his conquests; local society disintegrates; and the psi gene is present in too few persons to make a difference. In the 'third' timetrack, the legendary guerrilla leaders Rossin 'Firehand' A Murdoc, Eveleen EA Riordan, and the great healer Gordin O Ashean warn the other lords of the ambitious one, lead the forces of Sapphirehold for 2-3 years, and aid the final victory. [Their names live in story into modern times.]
Parallel world E625, England, AD 1485:
(“Quest Crosstime”) Richard III's last charge at the Battle of Bosworth breaks through Lancastrian lines. He kills Henry Tudor with his own hand. Once his throne is secure again, Richard shows himself again as the ablest of Plantagenets.
Circa AD 1486?:
(“Firehand”) The planet Dominion of the Sun-Star Virgin: In the 'original' and 'third' track, the Baldies invade Dominion, but the psi-gifted inhabitants are able to resist. Eventually the Baldies retreat, and since their empire is in decay, they never return. The Baldies' ships and tech are destroyed by the irate inhabitants; Dominion scientists regret the loss of information. However, this enables the Dominion to develop its own tech. In 500 years, they have developed their own stardrive. It is slow, but does not require journey tapes for navigation. In the 'second' track, they are turned into a radioactive cinder for resisting.
Parallel world E625, England, AD 1487:
(“Quest Crosstime”) Richard III remarries two years after Bosworth. His Scottish princess provides him with a secure border and (finally!) an heir. Richard and his immediate successors provide England with prosperity and the good parts of the Renaissance 150 years before the Tudors did. Richard also supports trade (he had learned its importance in his youth when a refugee staying with English wool merchants). Ships go from Bristol to new markets in Iceland; eventually they send 2 ships to follow traders' tales to Vinland.
[During the Reformation: Prince-Bishop Mangus, head of an old military order, breaks from the Roman Catholic Church and creates himself Duke of Sternlitz. He marries and founds the Sternlitz family.]
Parallel world E625, AD 1505:
(“Quest Crosstime”) Under Richard III, the 1st English furtrading station is planted on the North American continent. Fur traders are followed by fishermen, who are followed by settlers. The colonists spread down the coast and eventually form the Nation of New Britain, a loosely held member of England's empire.
Circa 1500s:
(“The Opal-Eye Fan”) The Spanish take over the Florida Keys from the Indians. The key later known as Lost Lady Key, however, is occupied by an Aztec-like civilization which the Indians join with the Spanish to destroy. [This culture is inspired by ruins on Sanibel.]
Parallel world E625, July 7, AD 1520:
(“Quest Crosstime”) Cortez, driven out of Mexico City by angry Aztecs, is killed by an arrow during a battle near the village of Otumba. Cortez' men, demoralized by La Noche Triste and the retreat that followed, are defeated. Most of them die as sacrifices. Quauhtemoc rules on. The Spanish presence in the New World is held to a few of the West Indies, which Spain eventually abandons for lack of gold. The Aztecs, hated by all their neighbors, were defeated by an alliance of their subject peoples. Some Aztec survivors flee to what in our world is the southwestern US.
Circa AD 1540:
(“The Sword is Drawn”) The first Lorens van Norreys goes East with his possibly-unwilling bride.
Parallel world E625, AD 1560:
(“Quest Crosstime”) A leader arises in Central America who unifies the tribes and revives legends of the 'white god', calling himself Kukulcan the 2nd.
Circa AD 1570:
(“The Sword is Drawn”) The first Lorens van Norreys comes home to the Netherlands to die, bringing back a Malaysian boat, twelve sons, and a huge fortune earned from his trading empire in the East Indies. [Apparently, this was the beginning of the wealth of the House of Norreys.]
Circa AD 1580-1707:
(“The Sword is Drawn”) Hendrik van Norreys travels in India during the reign of "the Great Mogul". Although the name refers to Babur (d. 1530), the whole dynasty of kings is often known as 'the Great Moguls'. Andre may be referring to the famed Akbar (in the 1550's - this woul make him one of Lorens' sons, working on the original trade empire) but he probably came in the 1600's, when the Dutch presence became more heavy and the East India Company was formed. Presumably, Hendrik was a son or grandson of Lorens van Norreys.
Circa AD 1603-1625:
(“Red Hart Magic”) During the reign of King James I as the Pursuivants hunt down Catholics, in a dream Nan and Chris find themselves working against the persecutions.
Parallel world E625, AD 1624:
(“Quest Crosstime”) The Civil War in the area of the Toltec Empire ends, and Kulkulcan the 2nd becomes undisputed ruler of the Toltec Empire. He, his two sons, and their descendants rule an empire far greater than the Aztecs. Mayan traders spread north, Aztec refugee colonies were taken over, and most of western North America is slowly brought into the Toltec Empire. New Britain and the Empire clash in two inconclusive wars, with the Mississippi as their natural border.
Circa AD 1660-1668:
(“Follow the Drum”) A seventeenth century romance/swashbuckler. Johanna Lovell (aka van der Lynn) goes to Maryland to find her missing brother. She cuts a swath through Maryland's society gentry, who are not quite sure how to take such a venturesome young lady. She ends up establishing a flourishing household and finds both true love and spiritual independence.
Circa AD 1660-1688:
(“The Sword is Drawn”) The Duke of Monmouth orders a necklace made for Princess Mary of England, consort of William of Orange. [This is before she took the throne with him as Mary II of England, so either Charles II or James II is still King.] It is made of soft gold flowers set with rubies, emeralds and topaz, and known as "the Flowers of Orange". The necklace is ugly, heavy, and rumored to bear a curse.
Circa 1710:
(“Scarface”) The story of Justin Blade, aka Scarface – a boy pirate. Captain Jonathan Cheap battles Robert Scarlett. The final plot twist is that Scarface is Scarlett's son.
Circa 1737:
(“The Opal-Eye Fan”) The pirate Satin- shirt Jack kills off the Spanish settlers, takes over a key and claims a Spanish woman as his prisoner. She kills him with a dagger disguised as a fan and disappears. The key is named Lost Lady Key after her.
Circa AD 1762:
(“The Opal-Eye Fan”) Augustin Rooke is born.
Circa late 1700's:
(“At Swords Point”) The House of Norreys checks and cleans the Bishop's Menie for Duke Ludwig of Sternlitz; then they lend him money with the Menie as security. He pays part of the money back; the rest was probably forgiven for some service which does not appear in the records. The Menie was returned to Sternlitz.
Circa AD 1777:
(“Iron Butterflies”) Lydia Wyllyses marries Joachim von Harrach, a young officer of Hessian mercenaries, after the Battle of Saratoga. He is also the youngest of the Elector of Hesse- Dohna's heirs, although the number of heirs preceding him make his succession unlikely.
(“The Opal-Eye Fan”) In the Revolutionary War: when the British withdraw from New York, Amos Rooke leaves for the Bahamas with his sisters' dowry and sets up as a wrecker. Augustin Rooke, his nephew, is incensed when he hears; he has been obtaining supplies for the Continental Army. Also, one of Amos' brothers (Augustin Rooke's father) is killed by the British as he fights for the Continentals; and Augustin's grandfather died of fever in a British prison.
Circa AD 1781:
(“Iron Butterflies”) Lydia Wyllyses Harrach is separated from her husband Joachim when the elector's older heirs die and he is called home to Hesse-Dohna. The elector declares his marriage to Lydia null and void according to Hesse- Dohnan law (it remains in force in America, of course) and forces him to marry a more politically influential wife.
Circa late 1700s:
(“Noble Warrior”) Lord Jeffery Ashely of Hob's Green got on the wrong side of the resident hob and broke his neck shortly thereafter when his horse stepped in a rabbit hole. His widow offers the hob sugar cakes, cream, and apologies at his stone; the hob forgives them and all goes well.
Parallel World, End of the 1700's:
(“The Crossroads of Time”) In a world where the Mongols conquered Europe, the enamel artist Ming-Hawn flourishes in the North American nation of Ixanilia.
AD 1793:
(“The Sword is Drawn”) During the Revolution of 1793, the "Flowers of Orange" necklace passed from the House of Orange (the royal house of the Netherlands) to the House of Norreys to settle a debt.
AD 1795:
(“Ride Proud Rebel”) The Mattock house is built on their farm, Red Springs, in Kentucky.
Circa Napoleonic Times
(“Red Hart Magic”) In yet another dream, Chris finds himself the son of a Riding Officer in the days when smuggling was approved.
Parallel World, 1805:
("The Shadow of Albion") When young Sarah Cunningham's father dies, she is left alone in the world. At the behest of her aunt, she leaves behind her few friends and heads across the ocean to the hope of a new life in England with a distant relative. Little does Sarah suspect that her journey will carry her much farther than a mere ocean's width. For as she crosses the Atlantic, powerful magics are being worked by Lady Sarah Roxbury. Lying on her deathbed, Roxbury casts a spell that will summon her counterpart form the universe-next-door...Sarah. Waking, Sarah finds herself in a world not her own, a world where the Stuart kings still rule England, where Baltimore and the original thirteen United States are still British colonies, where Napoleon runs rampant on the European continent, a world where she is the Lady Roxbury. Under the influence of a steady supply of drugs and insidious manipulation, Sarah comes to believe that she is Roxbury, and soon finds herself embroiled deep in the machinations of court intrigue and scandal. She also comes to despise her intended, the Duke of Wessex. As the threat of a French invasion grows, the only hope for England is a peace treaty with Denmark. But when the Princess of Denmark goes missing and France's agent, the Marquis de Sade, is found in council with Denmark's king, it is up to Sarah and Wessex to put aside their differences. Together they must find a way to rescue the princess from her captivity deep in the black heart of Imperial France before Napoleon can cross the channel and utterly destroy England.
Parallel World, 1808?:
("Leopard in Exile") Under King Charles II, England's New World colonies are flourishing, as is France's colony Louisianne. Napolean is the dreaded Master of the European continent . . . And Sarah Cunningham, a woman from our own world, knows all too well what a difference this makes, for not long ago she was ripped from her life as a United States citizen in our history. Sarah, now the Duchess of Wessex, journeys to North America with her new husband, the Duke - but this is no pleasure trip. The fate of the world - New and Old - rests on her saving her friend Meriel, rescuing Louis, rightful King of France, from the clutches of the Marquis de Sade, and finding the Holy Grail. But she and her beloved Duke are beset by perils that will test their strength and spirit to the utmost.
Parallel World E625, AD 1810:
(“Quest Crosstime”) England's parliament passes the Diversification of 1810, which gives New Britain the power of home rule.
Circa AD 1812-1814:
(“Iron Butterflies”) Amelia's father is killed in the War of 1812.
(“The Opal-Eyed Fan”) Also, Augustin Rooke runs a line of privateers against British shipping. When the “Eagle” takes one of his uncle Amos Rooke's ships, Amos' son James is accidentally killed. Amos blames Augustin.
Circa AD 1825-1830?:
(“Iron Butterflies”) Amelia Harrach is called to Hesse-Dohna to claim what meager heritage her grandfather (now the elector) can grant her. When he dies, she is imprisoned by his enemies in a castle haunted by an evil electoress\sorceress also once imprisoned there. However, she manages to escape with a little good magic and Pryor Fenwick, a Tory-descended officer who was imprisoned for his loyalty to her grandfather. They marry and return to Amelia's estate in Maryland.
Circa Victorian Times:
(“Red Hart Magic”) As smuggling becomes less respectable, Chris dreams that he is the son of the Red Hart's innkeeper.
AD 1837:
(“The Opal-Eyed Fan”) When Persis Rooke and her uncle Augustin are shipwrecked on Lost Lady Key, they are rescued by licensed wrecker Captain Crewe Leverett. Then Augustin Rooke succumbs to his injuries and Persis is forced to confront the witch Askra, a challenge to her inheritance by a cousin she never knew, an attack on the Key by Ralph Grillon, and the ghost of a Spanish lady who gives Persis an opal-eyed 'fan'.
Circa 1840-1850?:
(“The White Jade Fox”) Saranna Stowell is sent to take care of her cousin Damaris Stowell. There she confronts the legacy of her uncle, a successful trader in the Orient, and meets his secret wife, a foxwoman (kitsune) who helps her save the house and family from those who would destroy them.
AD 1859:
(“Stand to Horse”) Set in the American Southwest.
Circa Late 1800s:
("Hob's Pot") Emmiline is staying with her great-aunt, Lady Ashely, at her estate of Hob's Green while her father is in Siam. She is happy there until Miss Wyker comes to stay; Wyker and Dr. Riggs drug Lady Amelie Ashely, isolate her from her friends, plot to declare Emmy insane, and rule the house. But Emmy's luck changes when her father sends her Thragun Neklop 'Noble Warrior’ a princess-guarding Siamese cat who senses the evil in Miss Wyker, and when the cook summons the hob to 'clean house'. Emmy manages to get into her great-aunt's room and tell her what's been going on. Lady Ashely writes a note to her vicar, but just as she finishes, Miss Wyker comes in. She sees Emmy and takes her downstairs to lock her in the cellar, but Thragun Neklop attacks her and makes her unhand Emmy, and the hob pulls her skirt so that she falls downstairs and breaks her neck. [The story begins with ("Noble Warrior") and continues with ("Noble Warrior Meets With a Ghost"), ("Noble Warrior: Teller of Fortunes") & ("Noble Warrior and the Gentleman")]
June 23, 1861 AD:
("The Long Night of Waiting") Lizzy and Matthew Mendal disappear in plain sight in the middle of an open field from directly under the eye of their father and the local doctor. A year later, Mrs. Mendal hears Matthew's voice in the field. Later, Mr. Mendal hears it too. Then his voice fades away. They never hear it again.
May, AD 1864:
(“Ride Proud, Rebel”) Drew Rennie rides in Morgan's cavalry and is joined by his cousin Boyd, while the rest of his family supports the Union. (This is after Morgan's Raid on Ohio and escape from prison there, during the latter part of his campaign in Kentucky.) The book covers Morgan's crossing of the Tennessee River and follows on to the end of the Civil War. At that point, Drew finally learns that his father is still alive and living in Arizona; so he goes to find him.
Circa AD 1865 - 1866:
(“Rebel Spurs”) Drew Rennie goes out to Arizona and finds his father, presumably.
Circa AD 1870?:
(“Velvet Shadows”) Tamaris Penfold is hired by Alain Sauvage as a companion for his half-sister Victorine. Victorine proves to be leagued with D'Lys, an evil voodoo priest, in an attempt to control San Francisco through blackmail and threats. However, they find that Mary Ellen "Mammy" Pleasant (an actual historical figure) is already doing this in a more neutral manner and is angered to encounter rivals. Tamaris, aided by Pleasant and Sauvage, manages to defeat their evil. Victorine and D'Lys flee San Francisco; Pleasant continues to rule San Francisco; Tamaris marries Sauvage.
(“Sword in Sheath”) About the same time, Datu Cooms, an ex-Confederate naval officer, begins to be a power of both trade and piracy in the islands of the Sulu Archipelago.
(“At Swords Point”) Also about the same time, in the aftermath of the Franco- Prussian War, the Duchy of Sternlitz is annexed by Belgium (it was formerly an autonomous part of the Netherlands). Duke Ludwig Carlos, an explorer, does not seem heartbroken to be relieved of the responsibilities of rule.
Parallel World, Empire of Amun, Circa AD 1876?:
(“Wraiths of Time”) Chaka rallies the people of the Nome of the Elephant in a rebellion which lasts two years before it is suppressed by the Pharaoh Unie. [Chaka rallied the Zulu to resist the English in our world.]
Circa AD 1890:
(“Sword in Sheath”) Abdul Hakroun, believed to be a descendant of the Sulu sultans, also becomes a power in the Sulus. He only lost a trading war once - with Datu Cooms.
Circa AD 1890-99:
(“At Swords Point”) Ludwig Carlos, the Duke of Sternlitz, disappears somewhere around the Gobi Desert. He is rumored to have been killed by natives. Since no descendants of his are known, the line is declared extinct. In reality, he had married the Lady Mei, a Manchu of the old Imperial House, before he died. His son rules the local clans more by virtue of his mother's blood than his father's.
June 23, 1900:
("The Long Night of Waiting") The Mendals erect a stone where their children disappeared, hoping still that they will come back.
Parallel World E625, Circa AD 1910:
(“Quest Crosstime”) The end of the second war between New Britain and the Toltec Empire. A period of armed neutrality follows for the next 50 years, during which the Empire has trouble with the frontier in the north and Russian colonists in the West.
Parallel World E625, AD 1912:
(“Quest Crosstime”) The lords of the Toltec Empire attempt an uprising, which is quickly suppressed.
Circa AD 1934:
(“The Prince Commands”) Michael Karl, raised in America, learns that he is really the Crown Prince of Morvania. He goes there, is captured by the Werewolf (a bandit), then escapes and is rescued by "Frank Ericson" - whom he tells only that he is a member of the Crown Prince's court. Soon he learns that 'Frank Ericson' is not the American writer he pretends to be - he is actually a leader of the Royalist party which is secretly planning to make the previous Crown Prince Urlich Karl, whom they believe is still alive, the King of Morvania. Michael Karl joins their cause (with some reluctance); but just before the day of the planned uprising, the Royalists in the capitol learn that one of their supporters has sold them out. Michael Karl rides out to warn the Royalists in the countryside of the danger. He finds them in the camp of the Werewolf, who turns out to be no other than the missing Urlich Karl - who Michael Karl knew as 'Frank Ericson'. Michael Karl leads the regiment which is his hereditary responsibility through the battle to capture the capitol, and manages to capture the greatest of the King's enemies. After a great deal of clean-up, King Urlich Karl is crowned, the bad guys are legally dealt with, and Prince Michael Karl decides to stay and serve his new country and king.
(“The Jargoon Pard”) The werewolf legends which are capitalized on by Urlich Karl in this book (and which are probably courtesy of Montague Summers' famous book of werewolf lore) show up later in other were stories.
Circa Late 1930's:
(“The Sword is Drawn”) Both in our world and Andre's, the Cleveland Press World Friends' Club was founded to create understanding among different cultures by having children from Cleveland, Ohio become pen pals with children from around the world.
Circa AD 1936-37:
(“Sword in Sheath”) Abdul Hakroun 'retires'. His sons carry on the business on a smaller scale, under their father's watchful eye. The Japanese do not interfere with them.
Circa AD 1938:
(“Ralestone Luck”) A down & out family move back to their ancestral home (Pirate's Haven in Louisiana) and search for their lost family talisman.
March 10, 1939:
(“Witch World”) Simon Tregarth enlists in the US Army. He will rise through the ranks, receive a battlefield promotion from sergeant to lieutenant, and eventually reach the rank of lieutenant-colonel before being court-martialed.
September 1939:
[Germany invades Poland, and World War II begins.]
May 19, 1940:
(“The Sword Is Drawn”) Rotterdam falls, Joris van Norreys dies, the necklace called "the Flowers of Orange" is placed in a safe which cannot be opened for two years, the ancient mansion of the Norreys family burns after a German bomber crashes on it, and Lorens van Norreys, heir to the wealth and power of the House of Norreys, sets off for Java, a Dutch territory which is still free.
June 2, 1940:
(“The Sword Is Drawn”) Lorens writes to his friend Lawrence in America, telling him the combination of the safe in which the Flowers of Orange is hidden and asking him to tell the Free Dutch about it if he should be killed. He then heads for Java, a Dutch territory which is still free, where his cousin Piet van Norreys manages the Singapore-Java Airline.
May-June 1940:
[Dunkirk.]
Parallel World, August 1940:
(“The Crossroads of Time”) Germany begins round-the-clock air attacks [The Battle of Britain]. In this world, almost all British airfields are destroyed by the end of September. The English used their fleet to attempt withdrawal to Canada; some soldiers and civilians escape.
Parallel World, October 1940:
(“The Crossroads of Time”) The US sends some ships to aid the British withdrawal. But on October 10, the Battle of the Channel began, along with the battle for the Channel Islands. On October 15, Japan attacked the US with waves of carrier- based planes all along the West Coast. San Francisco, Seattle, and Los Angeles were laid waste. The US attempted to bring back its naval ships from England. Japan took the Pacific. Australia was invaded and its forces driven to the outback. Southern California and Alaska were invaded as well. The US drove Japan back to the sea, only to be attacked on the East Coast by German raiders.
Eventually, the Nazis bombed and invaded Canada and New York. Americans and Free British fought the Nazis street by street. When Hitler conquered London, he flew there with Nazi leaders and made a victory speech. In the middle of the speech, Hitler was interrupted by a massive no-return Allied bombing raid. He never did get back on the air....
December 8, 1941:
(“The Sword Is Drawn”) On the same day as Pearl Harbor (across the international dateline), Java is invaded. Piet and Lorens van Norreys destroy their secret airfield in Sumatra.
April 8, 1942:
(“The Sword Is Drawn”) Lorens writes from Sydney to tell his friend Lawrence how he reached Australia back in December or January; he'd been too weak to write till then.
April 21, 1942:
(“The Sword Is Drawn”) Lorens writes from America to Lawrence as he races from Sydney to Rotterdam to retrieve the Flowers of Orange.
June 1942:
(“The Sword Is Drawn”) Lorens writes from London to tell Lawrence what happened and that he is going back to the Netherlands again to join the resistance.
Circa AD 1945:
(“At Swords Point”) The Soviets take Manchuria from the Japanese. The Duke of Sternlitz and his heir attempt twice to escape to the coast but fail.
Spring, AD 1945:
(“Sword Series”) Lorens van Norreys is released from a German prison camp by Allied forces. He writes to his friend Lawrence Kane, but his letters are returned because Kane is part of Operation Lincoln. Norreys assumes that Kane is dead ("The Sword Is Drawn"). At the same time, Captain Boone, his second-in command Lieutenant Lawrence Kane,Master-Sergeant Sam Marusaki, and others participate in Operation Lincoln, the brainchild of Colonel Thurston. They successfully liberate a secret Japanese POW slave camp and sub base in the Sulu Archipelago (“Sword in Sheath”).
Circa 1945-46:
(“The Sword Is Drawn”) Lorens van Norreys helps restore art treasures looted by the Nazis to their rightful owners. The records of the House of Norreys, which contain exact records of many famous gems, are a great help in this work.
(“Witch World”) At about the same time, many famous war criminals disappear, evading capture thanks to the peculiar services of Dr. Jorge Petronius.
Circa AD 1946:
("By a Hair") After the Soviets take over a small Baltic country, Dagmar Kark betrays her husband Ivor, a Resistance leader, to Colonel Andrei Varoff. When she goes to Mald and the Countess Ana for help in getting a son for Varoff, they use their magic to ensure that she bears her dead husband's child. Varoff kills Dagmar and himself, but the boy survives to be raised by the Countess Ana, his true mother.
(“Sword in Sheath”) About the same time: 6 months after their discharge from the OSS at the end of WWII, Lawrence Kane and Sam Marusaki travel to Malaysia to find a downed pilot and (unofficially) to be another set of eyes for the US. Kane is astonished to find that his pen pal, Lorens van Norreys, after working for the resistance and getting sent to a camp, is alive, well, and trying to start up the new House of Norreys. Piet died in his plane on a mission to Arnhem. Kane, Marusaki and Norreys travel together on the “Sumba”, a Dutch freighter. After learning the fate of the pilot and rooting out a nest of holdout German and Japanese higher- ups, they form a company with Abdul Hakroun, the native islanders and the crew of the “Sumba” to exploit the pearl beds and other wealth of 'the Forbidden Place'. Kane and Marusaki ponder Norreys' job offer.
Circa AD 1946-1954:
(“The Sword Is Drawn”) Kane and Marusaki accept Norreys' job offer; Lorens van Norreys moves to New York and re- establishes the House of Norreys as a force in the world of gems. His success is due in large part to his skill as a jewelry designer. One of his most famous designs, the cupid and imp, was conceived while in hiding on his quest for the Flowers of Orange. Meanwhile Norreys, Marusaki, and Kane draw upon old Resistance contacts both shady and respectable to create a new, unofficial organization which fights the Cold War.
Circa AD 1950?:
("Through the Needle's Eye") Miss Ruthevan sews herself into her own private world.
Circa AD 1953?:
(“At Swords Point”) The Duke of Sternlitz and his heir attempt to escape from Communist Mongolia through Tibet. They fail and are captured. The Duke is killed while being questioned as to the hidingplace of the Bishop's Menie. His son Frederick Floris Pieter Sternlitz, unaware of his father's death, is told that if he gives the Soviets the Menie his father will be spared. He agrees and goes with them to the Netherlands and Belgium.
Circa AD 1954?:
(“At Swords Point”) Quinn Odocar Anders planned to go to the Netherlands and finish a book left unfinished by his dead father, Dr. Wilson Anders. Before he can leave, his brother Stark, an intelligence agent for the US, is killed suspiciously. At his dead brother's request, Quinn Anders brings Lorens van Norreys a souvenir sent just before his brother was killed. When it proves to be part of the Bishop's Menie, a famous collection of jeweled figurines from the forgotten Duchy of Sternlitz on which his dead father was writing a book, Anders persuades Norreys to help him find the men who killed his brother and the rest of the Menie. He is aided in his quest by Marusaki and Kane, as well as the secret organization of which the House of Norreys is a part. He also ends up restoring the rightful Duke of Sternlitz to his kin as well as finishing his father's book on Prince-Bishop Odocar.
(“Witch World”) Around the same time, Colonel Simon Tregarth is tricked into dealing with the black market while a part of American occupation forces. He is court-martialed, put in prison, and stripped of his commission. When he is released, he returns to Europe and becomes involved in organized crime there. [Possibly the same organization with which Lorens has connections.]
Circa AD 1956:
(“The Crossroads of Time”) Blake Walker, a native of Columbus, Ohio, travels to New York City [where else would they name a street Patroon Place?] to go to art school at Havers. He has a premonition of danger and opens his hotel room door to find a man about to be shot. Blake saves the man's life and is led to believe he is an FBI agent. Eventually he learns that the man and his fellows are actually Wardsmen from Vroom, an alternate Earth which has the secret of crosstime travel. Blake assists them in countering the megalomaniac plans of the renegade Wardsman Pranj, is captured by Pranj, and escapes crosstime to several different parallel worlds. He eventually finds the Wardsmen again; they capture Pranj and bring Blake back to Vroom. Blake enters into training as a Wardsman.
AD 1957 - 1975: The Space Age Begins
October 4, 1957:
“Sputnik I” is launched. A month later, “Sputnik II”
(“The Time Traders”) 'Muttnik', is launched with a dog named Laika on board. The US answered the Soviets and a space race began. But in the Andreverse, there were two huge crashes on the Moon (probably caused by the fact that mechanical pilots or ones inferior to Armstrong were used) and a space station that didn't stay in orbit. After that, both the US and USSR stayed out of space for the next 25 years Spaceflight was largely discredited However, atomic energy seems to be more widely used than in our universe for all sorts of things. Also atom-jets that look like rockets are used by the military for speedy intercontinental flights.
Circa AD 1959?:
Infra-red photography is developed 20 years before (“Galactic Derelict”) takes place; its development is skewed towards using it to photograph the past. By (“Galactic Derelict”) time, the infra-red Vis-Tex machines' film was so sensitive that it could pick up objects removed from the area a week before.
Parallel World Vroom, Circa AD 1960?:
(“Quest Crosstime”) 3 - 4 years after Blake Walker arrived on Vroom, he is sent on a routine crosstime run to a barren level to deliver supplies and check on the Rogan sisters for his superiors. There his danger sense flares. He meets Marfy Rogan and learns that her twin Marva has disappeared and the station scientists are hiding things. When Marva is taken to another level, he flees to Vroom with Marfy. Then the Wardsmen send Com Varlt, Pague Lo Sigue, Blake and Marfy to New Britain to search telepathically for Marva. They end up tangling with the radical Limiters who attempt to take over Vroom.
Vroom's economy depends on trade with parallel worlds; so much of it was blasted in the atomic wars that only a string of habitable oases remains. Vacations on empty levels are allowed to ordinary citizens.
New Britain (parallel world) tech: electric vehicles, lowflying 'wings', sonic barrier, light rods. The current Toltec Emperor is the boy Mayatzin.
Circa AD 1963?:
(“Witch World”) After seven years outside the law, and after getting into very deep trouble with the crime organization to which he belongs by crossing Hanson, Simon Tregarth is marked for death. Then Dr. Jorge Petronius, the contemporary Guardian of the Siege Perilous, offers Simon a way out - passage to the world most suitable to Simon through the gate of the Siege Perilous. Simon finds himself in the Witch World and passes out of this chronology. [A similarly powered Siege Perilous has appeared in the Marvel Universe, courtesy of Chris Claremont. But it made the X-Men lose their memories and their powers as well as transporting them to places suitable to their character. And did it ever occur to you that when Simon fights evil in the Witch World, he is symbolically fighting evil in his soul?]
Circa AD 1965?:
(“Fur Magic”) After his father is posted to Air Rescue in Vietnam, Cory Alder is sent to Idaho to spend the summer on his Nez Perce' foster-uncle's ranch. After he touches a medicine beaver skin by mistake, a Nez Perce' shaman sends him into a spirit dream where he is a beaver in an alternate world where only talking beasts live. He fights the Changer (Coyote) and wins back to the world. This book also mentions that the Changer is due to 'turn over the world' around the year 2000, so that's probably the year of the Big Blow-Up. I have reckoned by the Mayan calendar's "end of the world" for this part.
Circa AD 1967?:
(“Operation Time Search”) A secret US government project called Operation Atlantis attempts to travel between universes at an old Indian mound in Ohio. Unfortunately, photographer Ray Osborne blunders through it into the past of an alternate universe where two world powers, Atlantis and Mu, fight for the world with science and psi. The project attempts to find and draw him back to their 'window' with a mind-seeker beam, but Osborne has become too much a part of that universe and cannot return. The project is suspended for fear the same thing would always happen, as Mu and Atlantis pop back up from the sea. Later, the cross-universe experiments apparently led to time travel.
Also In That Year:
(“Steel Magic”) Sara, Greg, and Eric Lowry are staying at Tern Manor with their Uncle Mac while their father is in Japan on special duty with their mother. Tern Manor was built by the rich Mr. Brosius, and they are drawn through a castle-shaped folly he built and into the land of Avalon. There they meet Huon of the Horn, the Lady Claramonde, Arthur Pendragon, and Merlin Ambrosius. They go on separate quests to retrieve Excalibur, the Horn, and Merlin's Ring, and thus win back the three lost lands of Avalon from the forces of the Dark.
Circa AD 1968:
(“Octagon Magic”) Lorrie Mallard, a Canadian, is sent to stay with her Aunt Margaret in the US while her grandmother recovers from an operation in England. She sees the same boys who bully her tormenting a cat, rescues it, and escapes into the yard of Octagon House. The cat's owners, Miss Charlotta Ashmeade and Hallie, invite her to come over; they mend her antique china doll when the neighbor girl breaks it. She learns many things there; but she also finds that through a dollhouse replica of the house, the past and present can mix. When a thruway comes to demolish the house, Miss Ashmeade, Hallie, and the other inhabitants of the house shut themselves into the pocket universe of the dollhouse, which is given to Lorrie to keep until she has a house of her own for them to live in. [Miss Ashmeade's magic is similar to that of Miss Ruthevan in ("Through the Needle's Eye"), but much brighter in intention.]
Before the End of the Vietnam War:
(“Lavender-Green Magic”) Three siblings are sent to live with relatives in Massachusetts. There they go through a hedge maze into the Pilgrim\colonial past and meet an herbalist\witch who helps them. They have various adventures there that ensure their town's survival in the present.
Parallel World Circa AD 1970:
(“Sea Siege”) 25 years after Hiroshima, Griffith Gunston wants to go to the Air Force Academy and learn to fly jets. [Atom-jets?] But he is still stuck on the Caribbean island of San Isadore with his father's scientific team when the first big atomic war occurs. Then they learn that the mysterious disappearances of ships and subs and destruction of coastal cities which helped touch off the war were caused by hostile kraken, 'sea serpents', octopi and other mutant sea creatures. They manage to survive storms and the sea's attack, rescue the survivors of a Russian sub, find safe ways to fish and travel in this new world, plan to find ways to communicate with the kraken, and hope someday to find out what happened on the mainland. [In this world, the US is part of the "Western Confederation", not the "Western Alliance\Conference". Atomic generators and floodlights are available, though high-tech.]
(“The Stars Are Ours!”) Somewhere around this time in the mainline Andreverse, scientists and techneers frustrated by security regulations which approached a form of 'peonage' created a secret underground movement. They eventually formed "Free Scientist" teams, high-tech mercenaries who impartially sold their services to any industry or government that offered.
Parallel World AD 1971:
(“The Long Night of Waiting”) Lizzy and Matthew Mendal find their way out of the Folk's world and back to Earth. There they meet Lesley, Rick and Alex, who show them the modern world. They are appalled to see developers preparing to build an apartment house right over the gate. Lizzy and Matt do spells they learned beyond the gate to prevent the developers from doing this (to prevent all those people slipping by accident into the Folk's world). Then Lesley, Rick and Alex are made carriers of the Folk's world into theirs, so that eventually their world and the Folk's will be become one again and the rule of iron will end. [If this was attempted in the mainline Andreverse, obviously the Folk's plan must have been thwarted.]
Circa AD 1972:
(“Dragon Magic”) Each of four boys who are teased about their ethnicity go into an old house and assemble a dragon jigsaw puzzle. When they do, each has a vision of a legend from his ancestral culture connected with dragons. At the end, they are better able to appreciate their heritage, and thus able to respect each other enough to be friends.
Circa AD 1973:
(“Here Abide Monsters”) Nick Shaw, Linda Durant, and a Pekinese named Lung Hsin pass through a strange fog and into an alternate world where legendary monsters and the 'Gentry' are real. They find other humans, some of which have been there since the turn of the century, and fight with them against this hostile world. They then find that this land is called Avalon, but this is not the same Avalon as that inhabited by Huon and Arthur in (“Steel Magic”). They also find aliens, strangers to the land who are drawing off the power of Avalon. They help Avalon to fight off the aliens and win the freedom of Avalon while still remaining human.
Parallel Universe Circa AD 1974:
(“Knave of Dreams”) Ramsay Kimble, a part-Iroquois man, has strange dreams. His friend Greg Howell was part of the local university's Dream Project, which is experimenting with dream telepathy; he encourages Ramsay to write down his dreams. Then Ramsay is killed in a car accident caused by psi and drawn into the parallel universe of Ulad, a world where Indians set up their own kingdoms, to take the place of his twin, Prince Kaskar, who is controlled by the unscrupulous High Chancellor Ochall. When Ramsay dies, so will Kaskar, without any sign of foul play. However, he is rescued by the Duchess Thecla of Olyroun, a small independent country which the Empress wants joined to Ulad through marriage. He aids Olyroun against Ulad and Ochall.
Time Travel and the First Starships
Circa AD 1975:
Seven years before (“The Time Traders”): begins, the US rescued an agent from East Berlin. He was almost dead, but he lived long enough to tape-record information about the Soviets' time-travel experiment and the starship they had found. It was almost dismissed, but the scientists who analyzed his data thought it might be true.
The Same Year:
(“Wraiths of Time”) A rod of office is found in a strange Meroean site near Lake Chad by Dr. Lewis Brooke. He dies later - an 'accidental' death caused by meddling from an alternate universe where the Empire of Amun (descended from the Nubian kingdom of Meroe) rules Africa with great knowledge of science and psi.
Circa AD 1976:
(“Wraiths of Time”) A year after Dr. Lewis Brooke discovers the strange “Rod of Office”, an ankh emitting an unknown form of radiation is found and brought to a university for evaluation. Tallahassee Mitford, a young archaeologist, is pulled into the parallel universe when the Princess Ashake draws her and the two artifacts are brought together; she is unable to return.
In The Same Year:
(“Red Hart Magic”) When the parents of Chris Mallory and Nan Smith marry each other, they go to visit their 'Aunt Elizabeth'. Chris buys a model of the Red Hart, an English inn, and it gives both dreams of working together in adventures in the English past. In the present, they both face peer pressure and learn to fight it.
Circa AD 1978:
(“The Defiant Agents”) Tales began circulating about coyotes near the White Sands atomic testing grounds which had near- supernatural cunning. Zoologists investigated and found mutant coyotes with improved eyes, ears, noses and intelligence - coyotes which were no longer just animals. They brought back six cubs which were raised and bred to help humans. Their grandchildren were sent to Topaz. [This date is based on my estimate of the length of time it would take a coyote to be old enough to mate.]
Also In That Year:
(“Quag Keep”) Certain Dungeons and Dragons players were brought to the world of Greyhawk by special figures made by a group of amoral cross-universe psychic travelers; they were put into the bodies of the actual people who had given them the idea for their characters. The purpose was to draw as many gamers into Greyhawk as possible, thus bringing Greyhawk and Earth (already close enough that Gary Gygax could psychically perceive and thus 'create' Greyhawk) very close together indeed – probably with the purpose of drawing power from the magic of one and the science of the other. The gaming group succeeded in throwing off the control of the evil travelers, journeyed to Quag Keep, and overthrew them; but they never returned to their own world, and what happened to their bodies is unknown.
Circa AD 1979:
Five years before (“The Time Traders”), the USSR comes out with its first rootless discovery.
Circa AD 1979?:
(“Snow Shadow”) Erica Jansen is invited to stay at the Austins' beautiful house, Northanger Abbey, but finds herself enmeshed in a web of greed, intrigue, revenge, and murder.
That Same Year:
(“Garan the Eternal”) A plane of the Verdane expedition, of which Gregory Farson is a part, goes off-course and sees a thick bluish haze off in the distance which rises from the ice-plain to the sky. They are too low on fuel to investigate. They note that the haze affects radio, creating strange static that sounds almost like someone speaking a foreign language.
Circa AD 1980:
(“Galactic Derilict”) Submarine frames are transferred whole through time to various outpost-times. This is the biggest transfer until the alien starship two years later.
In The Same Year:
(“Star Ka'at”) The Ka'ats send a mission to Earth to retrieve "kin" who had earlier colonized the planet; they foresee a disaster [probably nuclear war] and want their people well out of the way. Tiro and Mer make mental contact with Jim Evans and Elly Mae Brown. The children eventually see too much and must be taken back to the home planet. There they are reluctantly accepted as 'mind-kin' to Tiro and Mer. [This may take place closer to the Big Blow-up; until I am able to read this, I will assume it took place at its copyright date.]
AD 1982:
(“The Time Traders”) At this time, multiple offenders can be assigned to the new Rehabilitation Service for the 'treatment'. Ross Murdock is given a choice between that or 'volunteering' for a secret government project. Being sane, he volunteers and finds himself traveling up to the Arctic in an atom-jet (a low- flying rocket) to join Project Retrograde and explore the past. He is persuaded by another 'volunteer', Kurt Vogel, to escape together; but when he realizes Kurt is a spy for the USSR, Ross knocks Kurt out and drives their 'cat' back to the project base.
(“The Time Traders”) The project leaders then inform Ross that they had begun the project because, after a long stalemate, the USSR had suddenly begun using new technology within the past five years which had no traceable prior developments behind it. They were able to duplicate and use one piece of technology; the others they could not. When put together with a dying agent's recording from seven years earlier, they had concluded that the Soviets had contacted a past civilization more advanced than their own. Operation Retrograde was intended to find this source and either use it for the US or close it from everyone.
(“The Time Traders”) When Murdock finishes training, he travels with Gordon Ashe through time to approximately 2000 BC where they found a Soviet outpost and traveled further back in time to a wrecked alien starship from the civilization of the 'Baldies'. Later, they learned from tapes they captured that the Soviets had first excavated a small spaceship in Siberia. Since they already had the basic idea of time travel, and probably as a development of travel into parallel worlds, they went into the past to find other crashed starships. When the aliens found out, they tried to destroy the Soviets' time travel program because they wanted to prevent others from learning the secret of interstellar “FTL” travel. Of course, “FTL” is exactly what both the US and USSR projects decided to go after!
Circa AD 1983:
(“Galactic Derelict”) A few months after (“The Time Traders”), the action moves to Arizona in one of the few deserts which have not been turned into farmland with irrigation. Travis Fox can't remember when there wasn't a 'war scare' going on, but after a big explosion in the Baltics (the Baldies blowing up the Soviet time-travel project), new tension was felt and new fuel rationing begun, so that 'copters [apparently the pick-up truck of this time] were replaced by horses except in emergencies. Fox goes to visit the Canyon of the Hohokam and finds Ross Murdock and Gordon Ashe there. He recognizes Ashe as one of his old prof's friends; Ashe tests him and finds out he's a "time-guesser". Fox knows of the existence of experimental time viewers like the infrared Vis-Tex, but is startled to learn that practical time travel has been established. A wrecked alien starship has been found 12,000 years ago in the canyon; and Fox is recruited to come with Ashe and Ross to retrieve it from the past. Unfortunately, when the starship is returned to their time, it sets off the starship's engine and previously set course - with Fox, Ross, Ashe, and a technician on board. They travel “FTL” to the ship's base, meeting scavenger creatures which are either the mutant descendants of the Baldie empire's people or their rats along the way. At the base, they meet sentient flying creatures which they believe to be descended from the Baldies' pets. They see many wonders of science and art in the ruins as well. Finally they manage to refuel the starship and go back to Earth.
Circa AD 1985:
(“The Defiant Agents”) The landing of the starship could not be hidden. [Publicly, it was probably explained as the first flight to Luna and credited to the stimulus of the Free Scientists, since the first successful flights to Luna, Mars and Venus are so credited in an excerpt from the “Encyclopedia Galactica” (“The Stars Are Ours!”). Or Free Scientist stimulus may have been needed because the powers were focused on a 'time race' and ignoring space.] Since the intelligence data collected by other governments would obviously disprove this, necessity dictated that the existence of the alien wrecks be revealed to them. The course tapes were shared by lot among several nations, including the USSR. [This was perhaps the forerunner of the later Survey auctions run by the Galactic Patrol.] Using the course tapes from the alien base and the “FTL” drive principles of the alien spaceship, the US begins to explore and colonize the stars. Unfortunately, they don't realize until it is almost too late that a sleeper agent in the program has transmitted the same information to the USSR. (By this time, there is a 'Star Laboratory' - perhaps the site known later as the 'Star Hall' - and the 'Western Conference Space Council' controls the project's budget and planning.)
(“The Defiant Agents”) So, in an attempt to prevent the Soviets from taking over a prospective colony planet, a crew of Apache colonists is hurriedly shipped to Topaz in what is called Operation Cochise. Unfortunately, it is agreed also that they should be treated with the Redax, a machine which reproduces ancient attitudes as well as ancient knowledge in its subjects. They also bring along mutant coyotes, descendants of coyotes who wandered into the atomic test areas at White Sands. Fox later names them Nalik'ideyu (Maiden Who Walks Ridges) and Naginlta (He Who Scouts Ahead).
(“The Defiant Agents”) Upon arrival, the pilots find that the USSR has left killer satellites in orbit to guard the planet. Thanks to an experimental feature of the ship, the colony ship survives, but a bad landing kills all the crew and 27 of the colonists. The coyotes promptly escape to the outside, but the colonists (thanks to the Redax) experience extreme mental problems. Travis Fox discovers that the Soviet colony is already present on Topaz; they were similarly Redax'd and believe themselves Mongols of the Golden Horde. A psi machine was used to control them, but they escaped its range. The Apaches and Mongols join together to defeat the Soviet forces and agree to guard the Forerunner ruins from either side until such time as all are wise enough to deal with them.
Circa AD 1986:
(“Key Out of Time”) When the colony ship does not return from Topaz, the colonists are presumed lost and Topaz is abandoned. Ross Murdock, guilt- ridden, almost leaves the project. He and Gordon Ashe insist upon joining the second group of colonists as they head for the planet Hawaika six months later. When they get there, they find that time and tectonics have so changed the place that it is unrecognizable from the maps found with the course tapes. Also, no intelligent beings live there, although they were supposed to be. So Ashe, Murdock, Karara Trehern and her dolphins search for a place in which a time probe would be useful. Unfortunately, they end up falling through the gate into the past of that world and change that past. They fear they have created an alternate universe by their actions, and prepare to live out their lives there. [The Hawaika colony survives, and is mentioned in later books (“The Zero Stone”)].
Slightly Parallel World? That Same Year?:
(“Firehand”) When an entire alien civilization suddenly appears from nowhere in the middle of the Hawaika colony, the colonists figure out that it's the result of time agents at work. [And how you can shield your memories from time changes that happened upstream is not explained, but then it wasn't explained in the original books either.] They send a message to that effect on the transport ship, and the US sends back a team including Eveleen Riordan to rescue Ashe and Murdock. Karara and the dolphins had to stay, since Karara had written a history that told what happened, enabling the Corps to find their missing Time agents - and since a race of dolphins swam the waters of the new version of Hawaika.
(“Firehand”) Ashe, Murdock, and Riordan are then sent on a mission to the Dominion of the Sun-Star Virgin, a planet populated by the descendants of primitive Terrans snatched from Earth by a pre-Baldie star civilization (possibly the Star Lords). Terra (or at least the US) had begun trade negotiations with the Dominion; their technology was not as high as Terra's in some areas, but they had psi and a stardrive developed independently of the Baldies which could travel (slowly) to destinations without a journey tape. In the middle of negotiations, however, the Terrans found themselves standing on a burned-off world! The Baldies had destroyed the planet several hundred years ago, instead of (in the original way of things) being beaten off by the psi- gifted population.
(“Firehand”) So, the mission assigned to Ashe, Murdock, and Riordan was to go back 710 years to an area of the planet where the psi originally developed and prevent the local gene pool from being destroyed by a war begun by the most powerful of the local lords. Murdock finds himself in command of the mission as he convinced the locals that guerrilla warfare would allow them to survive, with Eveleen as his second and Ashe posing as a physician. He gets the name 'Firehand' because of the scars left on his hand from his method of resisting Baldie mind control in (“The Time Traders”). The Time agents spend 2-3 years on Dominion, with Murdock finding himself more and more comfortable with the role of leader instead of follower, picking up a new father figure in the local lord he serves, and discovering that he loves Eveleen. Finally their side wins; then they find and face the Baldies who turned out to be behind the whole war. They find that the Baldies (who are hundreds of years in the future of their civilization) are using copies of the Russian time grids they captured. Now they are in a war against the Baldies throughout time as well as space.
[It seems that until the Big Blow-Up, the Corps seems to be paralleling the development of the Bureau of Time Exploration and Manipulation. Also, there are hints in (“Firehand”) that international tension has decreased and colonization increased greatly. It is possible as the series continues that there will be no Big Blow-Up in this future; then again, the Blow-Up may just be later than I have proposed.]
Circa AD 1986:
(“Garan the Eternal”) The Kattack expedition is ordered by the Dictator to seek oil in the Antarctic. It reports seeing a thick bluish haze rising from the Antarctic plain to the sky.
Circa AD 1987:
(“Garan the Eternal”) During the Great War of 1985-88, Captain Garin Featherstone leads a bombing raid into Central Asia to destroy "a vast expeditionary army" gathering there. [This was probably a fighter\bomber action similar to the Doolittle Raid but much more destructive.]
In The Same Year:
(“The Gate of the Cat”) Kelsie McBlair, a veterinarian's assistant from Evart, Indiana, inherits a house in the Highlands of Scotland from her Great-Aunt Ellen, whom she has never met. When she attempts to tame a local wildcat, she is discouraged by the locals. When she finds Neil McAdams out hunting it, she fights him and falls with the wildcat through part of the stone circle on Ben Blair. It is a gate which takes them both to Escore and Witch World.
Circa AD 1989:
(“Garan the Eternal”) 6 months and 3 days after the signing of the Peace of Shanghai which ended the Great War of 1985-88, Captain Garin Featherstone, ex-fighter pilot for the United Democratic Forces, is hired by Gregory Farson to join an expedition into the Antarctic. Farson plans to penetrate the bluish haze seen by two previous expeditions. When they go through, Garin finds his mind examined and controlled by some alien intelligence. When he is free again, he finds that he has crashed in Tav, an artificially green part of Antarctica where the Folk, the Gibi, and the Eron (sentient lizards, bees, and squirrels) live and fight the Black Ones. The Ancient Ones, a people from the stars who carved out Tav, made the mists and created the sentient animals through genetic experimentation, have all left Tav or lie dormant, except for Thrala of the Light. Garin rescues Thrala from the Black Ones, halfbreed descendants of the Ancient Ones who live in the Caverns of Darkness in the far south of Tav. [The Ancient Ones are certainly Forerunners; but since they did not generally interfere they cannot be the Star Lords themselves.]
(“The Stars Are Ours!”) During the years between 1957 and the Big Burning, there were open landings on Luna, Mars, and Venus. Since they had little wealth and could not be colonized without great expense, interplanetary flights were few and far between, and only for research purposes.
[However, other interstellar colonies may secretly have been founded. The "Star Lords" who colonized Gorth and taught science to the Gorthians certainly had Terran names, a well- equipped fleet of ships, a reliable stardrive, knowledge of the making of gates to parallel worlds, and – what later spacegoers did not have - both total freedom to settle on already-settled worlds and total ignorance of the effect on Gorth's civilization which their meddling would have. Their long lifespan might be so only in comparison to the short- lived Gorthians. Gorth is mentioned in (“Moon of Three Rings”).]
Three space stations were constructed to refuel interplanetary ships and for astronomical and meteorological observation.
The Big Blow-Up, Central Control and the Pre-Solar Queen Era
Circa AD 2012?:
[Well, that's when the Maya said the end of the world would occur, and that Atlantean heritage, should have taught them something. Besides, it gives more time for the colonies to be established and makes it more likely that 2250 would be described as more than 200 years after, instead of 250 years after.]
(“The Stars Are Ours!”) One of the three space stations around Terra is invaded, captured and occupied by mercenaries employed by nationalist forces pretending to be Free Scientists. By chance or plan, certain installations on the station were used as weapons against Terra. Apparently these men themselves had no idea of how much power they unleashed, and that it immediately went out of control. [In the confusion, isolated units probably unleashed ground-based atomic and conventional weaponry as well, since the EMP would knock out most communications.] Most of the high population areas were completely devastated. The loss of life was uncountable, according to the “Encyclopedia Galactica”.
Arturo Renzi, the sole survivor of his family, declared that science was evil and humans should return to a simple farming life to save Terra and themselves. He gained many followers. When he was assassinated (supposedly by a Free Scientist), there was a 3-day purge of scientists and techneers. Saxon Bort assumed control of Renzi's followers and organized the world dictatorship of the Company of Pax.
Circa AD 2019?:
(“The Stars Are Ours!”) It is "....7, almost 8 years...." after the "Big Burning" and the purge of the Scientists. The Free Scientists and freedom fighters based in the Cleft, unaware of the previous and highly secret interstellar colonization by means of the "Baldie" empire's stardrive, build a starship with a stardrive and coldsleep method of their own devising and take off in it just as Pax forces break into the Cleft.
AD 2250:
(“Star Man's Son”) The story begins more than 200 years since the chaos following the Big Blow-Up (the name of the atomic war). The people of the Eyrie are governed by "the Council" as in (“The Defiant Agents”) & (“Key Out of Time”). (They and the others of the story live inside radiation- scarred land that the rest of the world leaves alone. Note that later the Big Burn was so shunned that people assumed there was no life there up until the time of (“Plague Ship”). This would explain why there's no Pax around in this story.) Atomic cars existed just before the Blow-Up.
(“Star Man's Son”) A primitive lizard civilization exists, as well as "the Beast Things", mutated humans with animal intelligence and cannibalistic habits. The Plainspeople are nomads, something like Vikings in culture, who travel north and south around the valley of the great river. (the Mississippi?) The people of the Eyrie live in the Smoking Mountains. (the Smoky Mountains?) The Dark People are descended from black pilots who landed in a (Mexican?) valley at the end of the war that caused the Blow- Up; they moved north after volcanoes & earthquakes drove them out and the rising sea drove them into the great river's valley.
AD 2250?:
(“No Night Without Stars”) This is also a tale that takes place in radiation-scarred land after the Big Blow- Up. Here Sander the smith, his koyot Rhin, Fanyi the spirit- talker and her fishers Kai and Kayi face a computer of the Before Men with mind-control psi powers. [It is similar to the Soviets' machine in (“The Defiant Agents”). Also, Jak's Mob, which has always been connected with the 'koyots' and hailed originally from the Southwest, are probably descendants of the mutant coyote handlers from the same book.]
AD 2312?:
(“Moon Called”) This is also a tale that takes place after the Big Blow-Up. The story begins 10 generations after the Before Time ends. When the Craigs are destroyed by pirates, Thora the Chosen and Kort the dog travel away together. They save Malkin, a familiar, from the remains of a raided trader caravan, and take her back home as she requested. Home turns out to be the Valley of the Windriders, and there Thora meets Makil, bearer of the Sword of Lur and Malkin's blood-bound. They fight against the forces of Set, using war machines hidden in the Before Times, and learn that Malkin's kind were genetically engineered in the Before Times to drive war machines into battle and thus spare humans.
Circa AD 2307\2407?:
(“Star Born”) The dictatorship of the Company of Pax falls, and the story of the Free Men's starship is found among their records. This inspires the newly freed world to concentrate its scientific efforts on space. After the space program begins, a new experimental starship in the “RS” series is sent out every five years.
Circa AD 2362\2462:
(“Star Born”) The “RS 1” leaves Earth & doesn't return.
Circa AD 2367\2467:
(“Star Born”) The “RS 2” leaves Earth & doesn't return.
Circa AD 2372\2472:
(“Star Born”) The “RS 3” blows up in Mars orbit.
Circa AD 2377\2477:
(“Star Born”) The “RS 4” leaves Earth & doesn't return.
Circa AD 2382\2482:
(“Star Born”) The “RS 5” leaves Earth & doesn't return.
Circa AD 2387\2487:
(“The Stars Are Ours”) The Free Men's starship arrives at a habitable planet (“Star Born”). They name it Astra. They learn that it is inhabited by the Others (authoritarians who at one point engaged in atomic war; they have a small population & less power than formerly, but still have higher tech than the Terrans) and the seafolk (former slaves of the Others who revolted and ran). The “RS 6” leaves Earth & doesn't return.
Circa AD 2392\2492:
(“Star Born”) The “RS 7” goes out of control while still in contact with Earth. Its fate is unknown.
Circa AD 2397\2497:
(“Star Born”) The “RS 8” leaves Earth & doesn't return.
Circa AD 2402\2502:
(“Star Born”) The “RS 9” leaves Earth & doesn't return.
Circa AD 2407\2507:
(“Star Born”) The “RS 10” leaves Earth. It reaches Astra. The crew meets the Others and is tricked into helping them. When they see the Others' evil, they help the seafolk and Terran colonists to defeat them. Then they begin their return to Terra, promising the Astrans that their existence will not be divulged. The Astrans reveal something they remember - that before Pax took power, there were at least two galactic expeditions. [Of course, the AS 10 might never have reached Terra to keep the promise of silence. But Astra survived, and both it and the duocorns are mentioned in later books (“Plague Ship”) & (“Postmarked the Stars”).]
[When the starships repeatedly fail to return, or when the worlds they find do not appear to justify the expenditure, Earth burns out on its dreams of space. At some point, the political union dissolves into nations, the nations begin to war, and someone uses atomics.]
Circa AD 2956:
1000 years before (“Star Guard”), atomic wars rage across Terra. North America is hit hardest, but Europe and Asia also suffer. Most of the survivors live underground; they call those from before the wars 'the Old Ones'. Thanks to the Big Blow-up and these wars, it becomes unthinkable for Terrans to use atomics. [It is possible to interpret "....the Big Blow-Up and the wars which followed. Those had occurred 1000 years before...." to mean 'this is 1000 years after the Big Blow-Up'. In this case, however, the Big Blow-Up would not have taken place until AD 2956. This doesn't make much sense to me; so I am interpreting "those" as a reference to "the wars which followed". The resulting cycle of brushfire and major atomic wars is horrifying but consistent with human nature.]
Parallel World AD 3450:
(“Long Live Lord Kor!”) El Zim makes the discovery which makes time travel possible. Strong regulatory measures are imposed, though Zim and his assistants had already promised to take care.
Parallel World AD 3465:
(“Long Live Lord Kor!”) After time travel is organized, controlled strictly by bureaucrats, and explored by trained and screened operatives, the newly organized Bureau of Time Exploration and Manipulation is allowed to meddle in history as long as it is done by the book and not in home systems of groups in power. On worlds burned off by war, they attempt to prevent the burn-off from occurring.
Parallel World AD 3500:
(“Long Live Lord Kor!”) ZAT, a master computer, supplies data to the Bureau. With this help, Creed Trapnell is sent into the past of Vallek, a burned-off planet, to prevent the Orm Prophet from prophesying war. He finds himself inside the body of Lord Kor Kenric, thanks to the machinations of ZAT's secret decision that it needed a permanent agent in that identity.
Time travel takes place by mind transfer to persons with severe enough mental handicaps that they have little personality, except in the case of permanent agents who are transferred differently.
Communications: TV screen, wall screen, computer, briefing helm, spy ray.
Transport: time travel, send-sling.
Weapons: blazer, stunner.
Psi: mind-see, sleep search, mind-thrust, mind-shield, mind-sleep.
Circa AD 3656:
(“Star Guard”) Central Control, noticing Terra's entrance into its starlanes, decides to take Terra as a member. It believes the starship it intercepts is Earth's first successful starship; so do the Terrans, even those of Hidden Prime later [perhaps thanks to the fact that no previous starships got home safe]. (Terrans do remember legends of ships with cold sleep that fled the atomic wars and the ages of political\social confusion after.) Central Control's psycho-techneers rule that Terrans are too warlike to be allowed into space except as regulated mercenaries; this will kill off the venturesome, reduce the number of humans around, and generally keep Terra from getting uppity. Terrans are forbidden to trade. However, they promised that when Terra was ready, it would gain a more equal status. Prime, a city built on the banks of the East River (Manhattan Island was covered by the sea), becomes the capital and sole spaceport of Terra.
(“Star Guard”) Combatant forces are made up of teams, which are composed of doubles (2-man partnerships). There are two kinds of Combatants: Arch (archaic) and Mech (mechanical). Arch are organized in Hordes; their uniform is green-gray; they wear helmets; their most advanced weapon is the stat-rifle but they also use swords and knives. Mechs have Legions; their uniform is blue-gray with crossed rockets on their dress tunic; they wear bubble helmets; they use the most advanced weapons available and their best tactic is to frighten opponents into backing down without war. Arch rank runs: Swordman 3rd class (S-3), S-2, S-1, Swordtan, Blademaster. Mech rank runs: Mechneer 3rd class (M-3), M-2, M-1, Mechtan, Mechmaster. Number of stars on tunic indicate rank of Mech- and Swordmasters.
Service uniforms: The Galactic Patrol wears black and white. Central Control Agents (bureaucrat rulers) wear red cloaks trimmed with gold.
Circa AD 3706:
(“Star Guard”) The first remembered operations of Hidden Prime against Central Control.
Circa AD 3856:
(“Star Guard”) One in every 20 Terran troop transports is actually a colony ship from this date on.
AD 3951 - 3956:
(“Star Guard”) Twenty Legions lost in fighting, according to one Mech.
AD 3956:
(“Star Guard”) Kana Karr, just out of training as an Arch (archaic) Combatant, is hired by Yorke Horde and sent to Fronn. The Horde has been hired as mercenaries to fight for a Llor prince in a war of succession. However, Kana soon discovers that Central Control has sent Mech (mechanical) Combatants to get rid of the Horde. After a dangerous march through hostile country, Kana and others try to get word of this reachery back to Terra; but they are captured and condemned to the labor camps by Central Control. Kana escapes and is rescued by the Hidden Prime, a resistance organization which works to get Terrans in the stars.
1000 planets have secret Terran colonies by this point, of which 30 fail and 6 are struggling. Twenty X-Tee worlds have been taught the Hidden Prime pattern and are also colonizing in secret. Terrans hope that someday they will work on exploration teams with friendly X-Tees. [Compare with the later Star Trek.]
Planets: Vega 3, Capella 2, Nevers, Fronn, Procyon, Rigel 6 [home of the Rigellian in (“Sargasso of Space”)], Mars [Martian sand mouse also in (“Plague Ship”)], Moon, Caq, Sansifar, Wolf II, Cephas, Zacan, Sirius II, Arcturus, Polaria, Lydia I. Also X-Tees: Yabanu (feline), Trystian (avian).
Communications: record-pak (on wire) read in sleep or by portable reader, speecher (key-punched), visa shots (photos), tele-cast. [Archs play cards and Yano and bet on fish-fights, but star-and-comet apparently has not been invented.]
Transport: shuttle (air vessels), land jopper, 'copter, surface mobile, transport (cargo truck), track- running truck, crawler and land fortress (war vehicles), coaster (air vessel), wing (plane), antigravity belt, jet (on suit), starship with Galactic overdrive that travels in warp.
Weapons: sword, Grace knife (for giving comrades the coup de grace), needle knife (deadliest Arch combat form), stat-rifle (used only by Archs), fire cartridge (burning explosive), crawler and land fortress (war machines), blaster, spouter, flamer.
[It is revealed that Terrans and other 'minor systems' have been secretly resisting the will of Central Control. Shock and dissension spreads.]
AD 4130:
At the Galactic University of Zacan, Hist-Techneer Zorzi lectures on the events recounted in (“Star Guard”). He says that it "changed history for their species, and perhaps for the Galaxy as well. Whether this change will operate for the general good of us all remains to be seen."
[The dissension and shock caused by the revelation turn into rampant hostility and civil war. Races are wiped out, planets are burned off and suns are left dead in desperate attempts to maintain control or win freedom. Eventually, Central Control falls, but the civilizations of the Galaxy fall with it -- and forget their previous voyages to the stars.]
[Civilization rises again fairly quickly.]
1000+ Years Before (“Sargasso of Space”):
"There are Terran colonies over a thousand years old...There were those who went out to cross the gap in frozen sleep, and those who lived for four, six, and eight generations in ships before their far off descendants trod the worlds their ancestors had set course for. And there were earlier variations of the hyper-drive, some of which may have worked, although their inventors never returned to Terra o report success." Some, like the ancestors of the Khatkans, fled the atomic wars or the chaos that came afterward.
The Second Atomic War:
(“Voodoo Planet”) A race war. One side tried to take over Africa, herded most of the Africans into one giant concentration camp and started killing them off. [They also may have used them for labor and as shields for their secret projects, ala the Nazis using slave labor in the rocket factories.] When the camp's keepers were bombed toward the end of the war, some survivors staged a revolt with the help of the enemy. They captured an experimental station in the middle of the camp, kidnapped the white technicians to pilot them and took off for the stars in the two starships hidden there. Most of the people died on the way, but enough survived to found a colony on Khatka. Technology is forgotten, since survival is the immediate goal. The highest status belonged to the darkest skin.
The Last of Terra's Atomic Wars:
(“Plague Ship”) The Big Burn, a high-radiation area scarring hundreds of square miles, is created in North America. The only safe ground left is in the far west and south. It covers 3\4 of the continent; the damage extends up to the arctic regions.
(“Wizards’ World”) Psi, which popped up after the atomic wars, is respected by most people. Even as extensive colonization of the Moon and Mars began, the Espers were increasingly oppressed. They were not allowed to crew spaceships or go to the colonies. After a while, they were forced into E-camps to do slave labor or 'brain-twisted' into becoming Hounds that hunt psychically for E-camp escapees. The only safe havens were the deserted barrens created by atomic wars. Craike, smuggled out of an eastern E-camp, is sent to explore the area that used to be Reno. But he was tricked into revealing himself and tracked by an Esper hound. Fortunately for him, he accidentally dived into an parallel universe where the Esper Black Hoods ruled. He helps Takya, a woman whose power is new to the Black Hoods, fight their power. ['Hounds' with the same name, powers, and purpose were used by Ahab in the dark Marvel Universe future created by Chris Claremont.]
500-800 Years Before (“Sargasso of Space”):
A Class Three, Asteroid Belt ship with an experimental stardrive crashes on Limbo. At the time, humans were confined to the solar system, "except for a few crazy experimenters."
[A reliable stardrive is developed.]
50 Years Before ("All Cats Are Gray"):
The “Empress of Mars” passengers are killed by an invisible alien. It orbits the solar system as a derelict for the next 50 years, its warning lights red.
20 Years Before ("Mousetrap"):
Black Spragg finds a cache of Martian crown jewels.
("Mousetrap") Two years after Sam Levatts finds a 'sand monster' shaped like a woman with wings, Len Collins persuades him to show her off. Collins then tests a glue on her and runs off when she crumbles anyway. Levatts plots revenge. Having figured out that 'sand monsters' were created in self-defense by a Martian animal, Sam tricks Collins into kicking the animal. This time Collins' glue works, so he sells the new 'sand monster' to the Interplanetary Museum, buys a stellar ship, and goes looking for the winged race.
The main Martian starport is known as Terraport. The city once called Prime is being called New York once more. Star Stones and gormel ore are found on Mars, and the prospectors who find them are called "desert spiders". There are canals on Mars. The Space Marines guard the sand monsters. Martian sand mice live there. [mentioned also in (“Plague Ship”) and (“Catseye”)]
Planets: Earth, Moon, Mars.
Communications: TV, flat pictures, shock fields.
Transport: sandmobile, wind plane, rocket, stellar ship.
("All Cats Are Gray") Steena (a computer operator), her cat Bat, and Cliff Moran board the “Empress of Mars”, a derelict interplanetary pleasure liner, and kill the invisible alien that had killed the passengers and many would-be salvagers. Steena and Cliff get rich and married.
"Venaport" is Venus' starport. Natives live on at least one of Jupiter's moons. Free spacers and others wear spacealls. Slitite is valuable. Vernal juice is an intoxicant.
Planets: Rigel, Jove (Jupiter), Moon (quarantine station even then).
Communications: Stellar-Vedo spreads, 'the big calculators' (computers), photo-reg cards (old).
Transport: stellar ships.
Weapons: blaster (has exploding shell).
[As Terrans pushed out into space, Trade was made into a Service, similar perhaps to the Merchant Marine. Apparently they meet up with the "Styor", who dominate two-thirds of the nearby planets inhabitable by humanoids.]
200 Years Before (“The Sioux Spaceman”):
The Plan and the Policy begin to govern Trade. According to Policy, Trade does not interfere with the Styor. According to the Plan, Trade winnows out the more defiant people, teaches them to be sneaky, and gets them to work on the slow undermining of the Styor Empire. [This may be an alternate universe - but as this chronology shows, there's plenty of time for the Styor to come and go. Also, there is precedent for the double government in (“Star Gate”) Hidden Prime.] Service tests are used which fit the right person to the right job. [These are probably the forerunners of the Psycho tests of the Solar Queen's time.] Failure in the Service sends one to the labor gangs.
(“The Sioux Spaceman”): Kade Whitehawk, a Lakota of the Northwest Terran Confederation, kills a Styor lordling on Tadder. As punishment, he is taken from Tadder; but he finds himself re-assigned to a Mixed Team on Klor – an elite group. There he learns that his predecessor, a Lakota, was murdered. Kade puts his skills with animals and his empathy with the enslaved Ikkinni natives to good use; he imports Terran horses and teaches the Ikkinni to ride and use bows in guerrilla warfare against their hated Styor masters. When his operation ends, Kade expects to be punished. Instead he is informed of the Plan and told to keep up the good work. [The Spirits of Outer Space are referred to by the Traders.]
Planets: Lodi (Offworld Trader Base), Tadder, Klor, Venus, Qwang-Khan
Tech: Hypo-trainer, stunner, perma-steel, ear-reader,tri- dees, dura-steel.
"Styor" tech: sonic, slave control box and collar, hop-ship, private-flyer, inter-atmosphere cruiser.
Circa 500 Years Before (“Plague Ship”):
The First Martian Rebellion. Refugees from this conflict leave Mars on the “New Hope” for the stars, but a plague kills its passengers. The ship floats on forever, its 'dead' lights seen (by legend) only by similarly unlucky ships.
[The "Styor" Empire falls.]
Alternate World, Circa '23:
("Secret of the Lost Race") Fifteen years after being left in '07 at Kern's SunSpot, an illegal casino in the Port of N'Yok's JetTown, Joktar is hunted by those who have learned he is the first descendant of humans and an alien race that can only have female children unless it mates with another species. The child produced by such a genetic mix is known as a Ffallian. Joktar flees Earth to the Alpha Lupi 'Wolf' system, where he manages to live despite the icy environment. He gets off Wolf, pursues his hunters in the Patrol, and manages to make a deal with them to be left alone. Then he finds the Ffallian world and is reunited with his extended family. [This is clearly an alternate world, since the sentient races known do not correspond at all to those of the mainline Andreverse. However, star-and-comet is played here.]
Circa 400 Years Before (“Sargasso of Space”):
A century after it left, the derelict “New Hope” is sighted for the first time.
Circa 200 Years Before (“Voodoo Planet”):
Psi gifts suddenly appear in five clans among the people of Khatka. After a period of turmoil, these Five Families form a oligarchy to lead a loose tribal confederation over all Khatka. Under their leadership, a new technological civilization evolves.
100 Years Before (“Plague Ship”):
The population of Earth, drained by atomic wars and the colonization of the solar system and the Galaxy, begins to increase for the first time in generations as retirees and tourists from colony worlds move back to Earth.
Almost 100 Years Before (“Plague Ship”):
Volcanic action followed by tidal waves sinks Japan beneath the sea in two days and a night (“Sargasso of Space”).
75 Years Before (“Voodoo Planet”):
Khatka is found by a first- in Scout. The Combine buys the trade rights to Khatka at the Survey Lottery and proceeds to set up with Khatka as purveyors of luxury safaris.
"Some Planet - Years Back":
(“Postmarked the Stars”) Vegan Trosti, a billionaire with a mysterious past, disappears as mysteriously as he appeared. Under orders in his will, his men dissolve his holdings after a set amount of time has passed and form the Trosti Foundation.
10 Years Before (“Sargasso of Space”):
The Crater War is fought when Mars revolts. Mars' cities are devastated by atomic attack. As a child, Ali Kamil survives the horrifying massacres; his family does not (“Plague Ship”). Ali attributes his survival to a psychic sense for danger, past, present and future; and staying loner enough to be able to act on such a warning without waiting to explain it to others (“Redline the Stars”).
8 Years Before (“Postmarked the Stars”):
In the year '21, the Trosti Foundation sets up a lab in the hinterlands of Trewsworld. Pioneer holdings in that area do not expand much after that year.
[Mara Ingham, assistant cargomaster of the “Solar Queen”, is hired as cargomaster by Teague Cofort's “Rising Star”. (“Redline the Stars”)]
(“Sargasso of Space”) Dane Thorson, an apprentice cargomaster, is assigned to the “Solar Queen”, a 12-man Free Trader ship. The Queen's crew participates in a Survey auction and buys the right to exploit the planet “Limbo”. Accompanied by a team of archaeologists, they find Forerunner ruins. Then they find out the 'archaeologists' are actually criminals, using a Forerunner installation to wreck ships onto Limbo and then looting them. The Queen's crew manages to survive, helps the Patrol capture the crooks, and haggles the Patrol into granting them the trading rights to Sargol in exchange for letting the Federation take Limbo.
A Few Months Later:
(“Plague Ship”) After the “Solar Queen” has begun to trade with the people of Sargol, they are angered to find that Inter-Solar is trying to trade with Sargol in violation of the Queen's sole trading rights. They manage to defeat Inter-Solar and do good business with the Salariki of Sargol. When they leave, however, the crew begins to fall into comas, apparently as a result of some alien disease. When the Queen comes out of hyper, the conscious crew are angered to learn that they have been posted as a plague ship by Inter-Solar. Dane and his friends catch the alien critter that was causing the 'disease', borrow a medic to create an antidote, land in Terraport's parking lot and take over the Video, all to prove their innocence. Since the Queen was too slow to make up the time they'd lost to the disease, they sell their contract with the Salariki to the Combine in exchange for the right to a small but profitable mail run between Trewsworld and Xecho.
A Year Later:
(“Voodoo Planet”) Kort Asaki, Chief Ranger of Khatka, invites Captain Jellico and the medic Craig Tau to Khatka to defeat Lumbrilo, an evil witch doctor; Dane Thorson goes along as cover. Their flitter malfunctions mysteriously and they are affected by hallucinations; but they manage to survive in the wilderness of Khatka and discover an Inter-Solar man involved in Lumbrilo's plots.
Two Weeks Later:
(“Postmarked the Stars”) The year is '29. On the Solar Queen's first mail run between Xecho and Trewsworld, Dane Thorson is shanghaied and poisoned; he struggles back to the ship to find a man wearing his face dead in his bunk of a heart attack. He had come on board to retrogress lathsmer chicks for the settlers into savage reptiles; but brachs from Xecho are also retrogressed into their former intelligent state. The Queen cautiously lands its cargo in the hinterlands, but a ranger has already been sent to arrest them! Eventually they negotiate with the brachs, learn how the Trosti foundations are being used as a cover for a conspiracy which secretly rules at least four planetary governments, and help the settlers of Trewsworld keep their colony. They also claim the Trosti veeps' ship and thus start their own line. The Solar Queen's crew is divided and more crew are hired on Trewsworld to run esperite ore from Riginni (the next planet in the system) to Trewsworld.
[According to (“Redline the Stars”), the second ship is named the “Space Wrack” and Jellico's first name is Miceal (Irish spelling).]
(“Redline the Stars”) [This may be a slightly alternate world - the nomenclature and slang are often different - but if so, BM did use the X of Y planetary nomenclature in Storm's paperwork, and the major events of (“Redline the Stars”) probably occurred in the main track as well. As for the rest - it's retcon on a major scale, but who am I to complain about that? And ("All Cats Are Gray") does provide some foundation for women in space on a greater scale. I just wish Rael Cofort wasn't so darn Lt. Mary Sue.]
(“Redline the Stars”) When the Solar Queen's mail contract with Xecho and Trewsworld is about to run out, Jellico worries that the Queen will have to renew the boring mail contract to keep the Wrack. But Teague Cofort buys the Wrack through his sister Rael Cofort, and the Queen is free to go Trading again. Rael signs aboard to learn from the Queen and to get a working passage off Trewsworld to Canuche of Halio. On Canuche, she deduces a murder- by-rat scheme, helps Jellico photograph some elusive lizards, and warns the inhabitants of the dangers of ammonium nitrate. Unfortunately, her warning comes too late to prevent a major disaster; Canuche Town is devastated when a ship carrying rope and ammonium nitrate catches fire and explodes. The crew of the Queen act heroically to save the victims of the explosion, and Rael signs on as a permanent member of the Queen's crew.
(“Redline the Stars”) Terra and its colonies are ruled by the Federation, and the Services by 'Central' (Central Service). Galactic trading is well-established; Trade is already becoming a closed clan. There are many big Companies: Inter-Solar, The Combine, Deneb- Galactic, and Falworth-Ignesti. Placement in the Services (Trade, Survey, and the Patrol) is determined by the Psycho, a computer which analyzes the psychological information on one's ID wafer and matches it to the best vacancy available Free Traders were considered romantic by the public, but a dead end by non-Free Traders of the Service. Terraport\ Terraport East is the major Terran spaceport, though there is a Patrol base at Stella. Ecology and the Grand Department of Immigration exercise authority over colonies. If a colony does not make appreciable gains in settlement and\or exports every year, the rights can be taken away and put up in a resettlement auction.
(“Redline the Stars”) An entire urban folklore has developed among human spacers: cats are the descendants of genetically-engineered alien space pets; to sight the doomed ship “New Hope” is bad luck; the Whisperers are sirens heard by men too long in space; Sanford Jones welcomes all spacers who die in action onto his ghostship, the “Comet” and spacers speak of 'the luck of Jones'. [Sanford Jones is believed to be the first man to attempt interstellar flight; his lost ship came out of hyperspace over a planet of Sirius, three hundred years after leaving Terra. Compare this to all the 'first' explorers of the New World.]
(“Redline the Stars”) Only one Forerunner civilization is known; it ended hundreds or even thousands of years before humans are known to have gone to space [so it may be the Central Control civilization], in a war which burned-off planets (ex: Hades, Hel, Satan, Sodom, Limbo) and even killed suns. Limbo is the first one found which is not entirely burned-off. Many human races have been found (descended from Terran colonies); eight nonhuman races are known (incl. the reptilian Sliths, the semi-feline Arvas, the brachiopod Fifftocs, the insect Kanddoyds and Mimsis, and three chemically different races including the Rigellians and Salariki) and none know anything about the Forerunners. The Rigellians and the now-gone race on Angol Two are known to have had interstellar travel before Terrans.
Planets: Naxos, Limbo, Hades, Hel, Sodom, Satan, Corvo, Gorbe, Rigel, Angol Two, Baldur, Ombur, Karmuli, Poldar, Sargol; Astra, Venus, Terra, Camblyne, Luna.
Asteroid colonies; Lamor, Samant; Deneb, Lithe, Sitllith, Barbarrossa, Asgard, Riginni (“Postmarked the Stars”), Canuche of Halio, Loren.
Communications: com-units, tel-video, t-cameras, tela-screens, visa-screens, visaplates, ship-com, helmet com (short wave receiver), tri-dee prints\ paintings\photographs, steelo, distance vision lenses, ident disks, deep probe, hypo techniques, esper talents, micro tapes, translator, personna com, sight-distort, ground beam, com tower, esperite.
Transport: crawlers, scooters, flamers (war machine), flitters (planes), individual flyers, speeders, Patrol mobiles, 'copters, anti-grav belts, stass belts (powered by feeder beam), rescue flitter, grav-jump belts, and hyperdrive 'spacers' (starships).
Weapons: stun rod, stun rifle, sleep ray rod, blaster, force blade [illegal for civilians: (“Sargasso of Space”)], hand blaster, needler, flamer, portable flamer, sonic screamer (rips a man apart), thorlite sticks (explosive), bopper (gas grenade launcher), tangler, fire ray, hand beamer, force field, sleep gas, burner, agitator, gas ball, implosion bomb.
6 Years Before (“Star Hunter”):
The “Largo Drift” disappears near Jumala with the heir to the Kogan fortune, Gentlefem Tharlee Kogan Brodie, and her 14 year old son Rynch Brodie aboard.
(“Star Hunter”) Ras Hume was a star pilot until he was forced to kill a gratz-chewing partner in the Kogan-Bors-Wazalitz starline. He found a job as a member of the Out-Hunters' Guild, but he still wanted revenge. He found it in a scheme to counterfeit a claimant to the Kogan fortune, persuaded Wass, a Veep of the Thieves' Guild, to assist him; and found Vye Lansor, a State Child from the Five-Hour-Fever epidemic, to be conditioned as the claimant Rynch Brodie. Vye's planted memories allow him to survive on Jumala, but he soon realizes that he is not what he has been conditioned to be. He finds a trap set by Forerunners and saves Hume from it, only to learn that Hume's scheme with Wass had been carried out with Patrol assistance to get evidence on him. Lansor gives evidence against Wass and becomes Hume's apprentice in the Out-Hunters' Guild.
Takes Place in Ten Sector.
Psycho-techs are generally still respectable, though some work for the Guild. Verifiers which detect intelligence determine whether a world is free of native sentients. X-Tee matters are handled by the Patrol. Compulsive conditioning is given to those who are fired from too many state jobs.
Planets: Nahuatl, Xipe, Sargon Two, Alexbut, Jumala, Flang, Sargol, Al-tar-Ishtar, Vorm, Eucor, Ozak (“Spider Silk”).
Communications: com device, voyage record tapes, tri-dee box, T-Casts, dictation mike.
Transport: L-B, flitter, air-car, flyer, spacer (hyperdrive ship).
Weapons: force field, electric pole (for electo-fishing), needler, protection stunner.
[At some point, knowledge of the past civilization of Central Control is recovered - possibly from some remote planetary pocket of learning. In tribute to past glories, Central Service is renamed Central Control.]
Circa 1104-1204:
(“Ice Crown”) Clio is settled by the Psychocrats, and its colonists mind-controlled into accepting the feudal society they are given as part of an experiment by one of the Hierarchy of the Psychocrats. At least two other 'closed worlds' are settled in this manner - probably more.
1404:
(“Ice Crown”) The Psychocrats' domination of the Confederation is broken in the Overturn of 1404.
2195:
(“Android at Arms”) Elys of Posidonia, the Demizonda of Islewaith, is duplicated by a Mengian android whose memories date from the day before she sings in the full tide of Qinguam.
2200:
(“Android at Arms”) Lord Yolyos, head of Sargol's trade mission to Framware, is duplicated by a Mengian android whose memories date to a time just before a treaty between Sargol and Framware is finally negotiated.
2230:
(“Android at Arms”) Andas of Inyanga, Imperial Prince of the Dinganian Empire, is duplicated by a Mengian android whose memories date from the day before he is to be crowned heir to the throne on the day of Chaka.
2246:
(“Android at Arms”) Iylas Tsiwon, a High Chief of Naul, is duplicated by a Mengian android whose memories date from before he was to speak against an alliance with the Upshars, on a day when he had contact with the Central Control commissioner.
2250:
(“Android at Arms”) Iylas Tsiwon gives the orders which bring the Jauavum Empire fleet first to Naul. He is hated and regarded as a traitor for this on every world of the Eighth Sector.
2265:
(“Android at Arms”) Turpyn, a Veep of the Thieves' Guild, is duplicated by a Mengian android whose last memories are of the Jack port called Wenditkover.
2273:
(“Android at Arms”) Hison Grasty, Chief Councilor of Thrisk, is duplicated by a Mengian android.
2275:
(“Android at Arms”) When a power failure releases six android duplicates from a Mengian installation, they attempt to return to the lives their stolen memories tell them they possess. When the android-Andas goes to Inyanga and attempts to win 'back' his throne, the android-Yolyos and he fall through a gate into an alternate universe where the Old Woman of Bones rules and the Emperor (several years back) lives a perilous life in hiding. The Emperor Andas had called for help, and the android-Andas agrees to replace him. Then the Emperor dies. His wife is reluctant to accept this new Andas, but as they work and fight the enemy together, they fall in love. Andas finally defeats the Old Woman of Bones.
3949:
(“Uncharted Stars”) Thax Thorman has trading rights on Rohan after outbidding the Bendix Combine with his syndicate of 5 Free Trader ships. Thorman makes a good profit on mossilk there for about 4 planet years until the thrinx plague (possibly planted by the Bendix Combine) wipes out the spinners. 3 of the other captains are also wiped out.
(After Space Flight)
Circa 4430 ASF:
Korwar is first colonized - 200 years before (“Catseye”). Arzor is first colonized also, almost 200 years before (“The Beast Master”) & (“Lord of Thunder”).
Circa ASF or Earlier:
("Judgment on Janus") A Class-C Rover Five spacecraft crashes on Janus, drawn there by the confused computer called “THAT WHICH ABIDES” by the Iftin.
4450 ASF:
("Judgment on Janus") Pate Sissions, a First-in Scout, lands on Janus.
Circa 4490 ASF:
Over 100 years before (“Storm Over Warlock”), Terrans first encounter the Throgs, a race of sentients in an intense period of expansion in competition for the same colonization-suitable planets. After efforts at communication fail, the Terrans and Throgs begin a combined war and race to claim the needed planets. (1 perfect out of 6 possible planets found in 25 years.)
Circa 4560 ASF:
("Judgment on Janus") Ladim Torry, a medico for the Karbon Combine, lands on Janus.
4570 ASF:
("Judgment on Janus") Rahuld Urswin, a stat-comp reader for the Karbon Combine, lands on Janus.
(“Storm Over Warlock”) When Throgs attack a Survey planet exploration camp, the only survivors are Shann Lantee, who does odd jobs for Survey, the mutated animal team wolverines Taggi and Togi, and Ragnar Thorvald, a Survey commander. Lantee and Thorvald have odd dreams caused by the psi-gifted Wyverns, a sentient sea species. They convince the matriarchal Wyverns that although they are males, they should be respected. Then the Wyverns and Terrans join together to throw the Throgs off Warlock.
Exploration [and “Beast Master” combat\sabotage (“Ordeal in Otherwhere”) teams] of mutated animals are in use, but psi animal teams are not used. Teleportation is still unknown. [The great advances in practical psi between (“Storm Over Warlock”) & (“Ordeal in Otherwhere”) and (“Forerunner Foray”) are notable. Probably things learned from the Wyverns made these advances possible.]
Planets: Tyr, the Circe system: Warlock, Witch, Wizard; Odin system, Kulkulkan system, Rama, Ajax.
Communications: call beam, tri-dee.
Transport: rocket scoutship (have weapons thrice as deadly as their size), plate- shaped Throg ships.
Weapons: grids (destroy unauthorized ships), stunner, blaster, dumdum (Throg weapon), force beam.
Misc: field kit, bravo tablets, atomic torch, immunity shots, purifiers, mind- controlleds.
Circa 4597? ASF:
(“Ordeal in Otherwhere”) Several months after a Believer colony is established on Demeter, the plague of 'the white death' hits. It kills 80 out of 100 adult men and all but 5 teenage boys, but does not affect the women or children under 12. After all the government people are dead, a Free Trader ship lands. The colonists sell Charis Nordholm, the daughter of the education officer, to them in exchange for contract labor from Gonwall. The Free Trader takes her to a Jack port, where her contract is sold to Jagan. He takes her to Warlock to contact the Wyverns for trade, but she is teleported away by the Wyverns and the Free Trader post is destroyed by Company men. When the Jacks arm the male Wyverns with blasters to overthrow the females' rule, Charis finds herself allied with Shann Lantee, Taggi, Togi, and the curl-cat Tsstu to help the females drive off the males and Jacks.
(“Ordeal in Otherwhere”) The Confederation sends every colony a Ranger, medical officer, port officer, and education officer (to keep fanatical colonists from warping education and cutting off outside communications). There are Five Tongues known by educated persons, 2 of which are Zacathan and Danther (presumably Gal- basic is another). Only Patrol and Defense forces are allowed to carry hand blasters in the Confederation [though Traders were once permitted]. The only war waged in centuries has been against the Throgs.
Service uniforms: Survey (brown-green), Patrol (black & silver), Medical (gray & red), Administration (blue), Rangers (green), Education (maroon).
Planets: Varn, Demeter, Gonwall, Sallam, Kraken, Askra, Scandia, Bran, Minos.
Communications: tape reader, visa-screens, com-beam, sweep- beam search, cook unit, duty tape, scan-plate, keyboard- operated com unit, com mast.
Transport: rocket, copter, Patrol scout, atmosphere flyer.
Weapons: blaster, stunner.
Misc: quaffa, thumbprint locks, 'freeze', emergency rations, take- off belt webbing, refresher, bubble dome, plasta, snap-down table, pull-out seat, hot ration tray, glow-track, identity card, permit cards, credit tokens, Sustain tablets, nullifier, sterile paint pencil, plasta-board, fire tube, tri-steel, brain-locked, scanner (scans minds), search-beam, plasta-skin, revive ration, sensatator (psi registering device), Eazi-rest.
("Toys of Tamisan" and "Ship of Mist") Tamisan, a ten-point action dreamer, is leased out to Lord Starrex of Ty-Kry to provide him with dreams at the urging of his scheming brother Kas. When she creates a dream of an alternate Ty-Kry and both Starrex and Kas join the dream, they find themselves caught in the alternate Ty-Kry with no chance to return. With no other chance to survive, Tamisan jumps them into yet another alternate Ty-Kry where she and Starrex live out their lives.
("Get Out of My Dream") Itlothis Sb Nath, a Per- Search agent, is sent to Ty-Kry to return Oslan Sb Atto, heir to the Atto holdings, to Benold and his duties. She finds him engaged in a dream of the past of Yul, a Forerunner city on his land. In the dream, they defeat an evil which was almost due to hatch. Then they return to Benold, to find that Yul has been cleansed in truth.
("Nightmare") Two members of the Corps are sent to Ty-Kry to check out a suspicious string of rich off- worlders dying inside dreams. Their action dream is sabotaged to kill them, but they resist the other dreamer who is trying to control their dream and wake up. The dreamer ends up as drool bait - and the corruption of Ty-Kry is dealt with.
(“Perilous Dreams”) Espers are common. The Corps is a covert crime fighting agency which is not supposed to interfere in local rule (but sometimes does). Androids are used as bodyguards by most; men by the 'multi-credit' rich. There are also personal-care androids.
Planets: Ty-Kry, Benold, Terra, Trystia, Melytis, Avalon.
Communications: tri-dee projector, information tape, personal recording, vision-message, erase, reading screen, Basic.
Transport: flyer, spacer (hyperdrive ship).
Weapons: burner beam.
(“The Zero Stone”) Hywel Jern is 50 yrs old: sector boss of Thieves' Guild, Veep Estampha, is killed by Borer plant. Jern, his prime assessor, buys out of the Guild and retires to Angkor, a backwater planet. He marries a hock-lock owner's daughter & inherits the business. Plague ship crashes, plague kills father in law & port folk.
5 Years Later:
(“The Zero Stone”) Vultorian star cluster brought into cross-stellar trade by Fortuna Combine; Angkor prospers as a shipping port of exchange; so does Jern.
From the Dipple on Korwar, to the Second Galactic Empire
(After Space Flight)
Circa 4622 ASF:
10 years before (“Catseye”):
Sattor-Commander and Council Lord Varan Di decides Norden should be evacuated and made into a Sattor-class battleship depot. As it proved, the depot was never needed during the War of the Two Sectors.
Circa 4627 ASF:
(“Judgment on Janus”) The War of the Two Sectors between the Confederation and the Council ends. (Naill was 6-8 when he lost his home, & he was old enough to contract out when (“Judgment on Janus”) began.)
Circa 4625 ASF:
(“Catseye”) The Fauklow expedition to Ruhkarv on Korwar ends disastrously. Later the plans to Fauklow's time viewer show up in captured Jack records and inspire Histechneer Zurzal to make his own (“Brother to Shadows”).
An epidemic of the Big Cough hits the Dipple on Korwar. The displaced people from Norden almost all die.
Circa 4632 ASF:
(“Catseye”) Troy Horan, son of a Norden range master, has lived in the Dipple on Korwar most of his life before he finds a job with an exotic pet store. He quickly realizes that the Terran animals his employer imports are psi-gifted and used to spy on the powerful people living on Korwar. He also meets a Ranger. He ends up allying himself with the animals and fleeing with them into Korwar's wilderness. [The War of the Two Sectors which created the Dipples ended 5 years ago.]
The Confederation was fractured by the war into three smaller "rulerships". The Council and the Octed of the Rim are now the major powers. Terra, which used to be the Confederation's center, is now a 2nd-3rd rate world. Psi-controlled animals are a new idea, a secret of the Confederation.
Planets: Korwar, Norden, Midgard, Terra, Wolf Three, Lydia, Hathor, Cynus, Panare Five, Qwan, the Sweepers (6 minor solar systems), and Sidona (a once powerful matriarchy which governs a 3-planet system).
Communications: tri-dee, claim disk, recorder, journey tape, Gal-basic.
Transport: flitter, van (cargo vehicle), flyer, truck (motor platform), Sattor-class battleships.
Weapons: masked solar batteries, stunner web, sleeper cube, force screen, person-protect, blaster, tonal barrier, nerve needler, pinner beams.
Misc: eazi-rest, psychocheck, plasta-foam, thumb-lock, Quik rations, carbite, meta-plast, recaller, summoner.
4635 ASF:
(“Judgment on Janus”) Naill Renfro lands on Janus as contract labor (VJ). When he finds alien artifacts hidden in a tree, they infect him with a virus that changes his DNA and psychically transfer the memories of an Iftin warrior. He is hunted as a demon by the colonists, but he escapes into the forest and encounters other new Ift. They learn of the evil of “That Which Abides” and fight it to a standstill.
Later That Year:
(“Victory on Janus”) Naill (now calling himself) and the other new Ift find robots disguised as Ift destroying settlements and killing colonists. They know this is the work of “That Which Abides” and attempt to convince the starport of this, but the emissaries sent to them are taken over by “That Which Abides”. Using both Iftin and human skills and knowledge, the new Ift learn that “That Which Abides” was a malfunctioning computer from an alien colonization ship. In its attempts to transform Janus and its inhabitants into the perfect place, it had only succeeded in devolving its colonists into beasts over thousands of years. The new Ift disable the computer and free its prisoners.
The three smaller "rulerships" of the Confederation splinter further, into four Confederacies. In the alternate world of (“The Beast Master”) & (“Lord of Thunder”), the Confederacy which contains Terra, Sirius, and 18 other solar systems (some Inner Worlds, some worlds like Arzor) is attacked by the small empire of the alien Xiks. [The war will last 10 years.]
Somewhere Around This Time:
(“Brother to Shadows”) Zurzal finds the plans to Fauklow's time viewer among captured Jack records. He builds his own viewer, gets some results, and decides to prove his case by traveling to Lochan, a planet whose past is unknown, and produce results which cannot be falsified.
2 Years Later:
(“Brother to Shadows”) When the force stone of his Lair dies and his Master does too, the Shagga priest of the ex-Lair expels Jofre, an offworld Brother, from the Shadows. Jofre survives and oaths to Histechneer Zurzal, a young Zacathan searching for archaeological treasure to prove the worth of his time viewer. When Zurzal and Jofre manage to escape the plotting of the Holder of Tssek (and inadvertently stop a revolution), the frustrated Shagga priest and others of his order plot to send Taynad, a Sister Shadow who had finished her mission on Tssek, to kill Jofre. But Taynad has already joined with Jofre to bond with Yan, a telepathic creature called a Jat, and agreed to help Zurzal to find a site on the planet Lochan. They all go through great difficulty on Lochan and are attacked by the Thieves' Guild before the Patrol swoops down on the Guild - and reveals that they have been using Zurzal's expedition as bait. Taynad then decides that her oath does not demand she kill Jofre; Jofre gives her a way to say she has fulfilled her mission. They swear to each other, and decide to stay partners with Zurzal and Yan.
Planets: Asborgan, Lochan, Reese, Homeward, Wayright, Alaban, Vors, Tssek, Varingholm, Grath, Lanker, Haren, Vega
Alternate World:
(“The Beast Master”) The Xiks invade the Confederacy. In their last desperate push, they burn off the Earth with nuclear weapons. One of the few surviving “Beast Masters”, Hosteen Storm, takes his Beast Team and goes to settle on Arzor, a pastoral planet. He is really going there to fulfill a vow of vengeance his grandfather made him swear to kill Brad Quade for killing Hosteen's father Nahani. When Hosteen gets to Arzor, however, he is surprised to learn that this 'murderer' has a reputation for compassion towards the native Norbies and his herd animals. But Storm, hired as a range rider, is soon busy trying to protect his employer's herd from the 'Mountain Butchers'. When the riders get the herd to the auction town, Hosteen meets Quade - who saves Hosteen's life. Hosteen, confused, goes with a Survey archaeologist to look for the Sealed Caves left by Forerunners. Most of the expedition is killed by Mountain Butchers who disguise their work as that of a Norbie tribe; but Hosteen, his Norbie friend Gorgol, and his Beast Team survive to find a Sealed Cave full of off-world plants (The Cavern of a Thousand Gardens), learn that the Mountain Butchers are really a holdout group of Xiks, and to rescue Brad Quade's son Logan from them. Hosteen manages to warn the settlers (including Quade) of the danger, despite being attacked by a Xik surgically disguised as human. Finally he learns that Nahani died of snakebite, for which his grandfather blamed Quade and Hosteen's mother, Raquel; he told Raquel and Quade that Hosteen had died of fever. Raquel married Quade and moved to Arzor; they had a son, Logan. Hosteen gives up his oath and claims his newfound kin.
Planets: Sirius, Terra, Arzor, Grambage, Wolf Three, Argol, Lydis, Altair Three, Lev, Astra, Sirius Three.
[In the main timeline, Arzor's Forerunner sites are also discovered at this time and named 'The Gardens of Arzor'. So it may well be that an alternate Hosteen Storm came to Arzor for far more peaceful purposes - simply to live with his kin - or that the Survey expedition had more success without the Xiks to contend with.]
Alternate World:
(“Lord of Thunder”) All of the Norbies have been called back to the hills by their religious leaders, despite the fact it's drought season. Then an offworlder comes looking for his son, whose transport exploded but whose LB is thought to have landed on Arzor - in a part of the hills where humans are not allowed. Reluctantly, Hosteen goes looking for the downed craft with his Beast Team, his brother Logan, and is Norbie friend Gorgol. They find another Forerunner site - but one of the survivors from the LB is using its machines to impress the Norbies into making an empire for him. The Norbie Drummers (priests) help Hosteen & Co. foil this would-be dictator's plan - and destroy the Forerunner installation.
There are only 20 solar systems in the Confederacy. The Zacathans are in a trading relationship only. This is quite probably about the same size as the Four Confederacies which were created out of the Confederation in the main timeline.
Planets: Astra, Allpeace, Mayho (in Arzor's system), Valodia, Cosmos, Raybo (Xik home planet), Zacathans
(“The Zero Stone”) Murdoc Jern, an apprentice gemologist, was raised by Hywel Jern, a gemologist for the Thieves' Guild. Hywel's biological children will inherit his shop and money, so Hywel gives Murdoc a mysterious alien ring set with a “Zero Stone” and sends him to apprentice with Vondar Ustle. Two years after Hywel's murder, Murdoc finds himself on the run on Tanth after the Green Robe priests 'choose' his master Vondar Ustle and himself as sacrifices. He finds refuge in the house of Noskald and passage with the free trader “Vestris”. He travels with them to the next planet on their route where Valcyr, the ship's cat, licks a black stone away to nothing. She gives birth to a mutant creature and Murdoc appears to contract plague. The crew seals him into his cabin, and he hears them say that they have been paid to bring him to some mysterious group. Murdoc, woozy with fever, takes a spacesuit and escapes from the “Vestris” with the mutant Eet's aid. He finds himself on a Forerunner craft; they use one of its LBs to get to the nearest planet where they encounter a Jack expedition which wants the Zero Stone and a Patrolman. They escape with the Patrolman in his scout; Eet uses the Zero Stone to power the scout. After a great deal of discussion, the Patrolman (who turns out to be a Double Star Commander) agrees to release Murdoc and Eet from all charges, give Eet sentient status, and compensate them for damages in an amount large enough to buy their own ship. In return, Murdoc gives the Patrol his ring and the locations of two caches of zero stones which Eet found. However, Eet cunningly keeps one zero stone for them, so that they can use the new ship to continue hunting zero stones.
Patrol legal formula: "In the name of the Council, the Four Confederacies, the Twelve Systems, the Inner and Outer Planets, this agreement shall hold by planet law and star law." [These must be the names of the major legal entities in the time of (“The Zero Stone”). So there is not just one Confederacy, but four - which indicates either civil war or a liking for the name. Also, there are twelve sovereign systems. The "Inner and Outer Planets" would include everybody who wasn't otherwise mentioned.]
Planets: Tanth, Hawaki (Hawaika?- (“The Zero Stone”)), Angkor, Loki, Iona, Zacathans, Trystians, Wyverns.
Later That Year:
(“Uncharted Stars”) Murdoc Jern and the alien Eet buy the “Wendwind” on Theba, but have difficulty finding a pilot until they meet Kano Ryzk, a down-on-his-luck Free Trader. They head for Lorgal in the remote Fathfar sector to buy zorans. They are anticipated by the trader Akki, so they head for Sororis where they trade for greenstones. When Murdoc tries to sell his greenstones on Lylestane (an inner planet), he learns that they have been listed as unreliable. He therefore sells his greenstones to the quasi-legal Wyvern, Tacktile. Eet learns from Tacktile's mind that a Forerunner site is being raided by Jacks; they go to the site and manage to save the Zacathan historian Zilwrich. Zilwrich pleads with them to follow the Jacks to Waystar so that he can recover the stolen finds. Eet, Murdoc and Kano do so, with Murdoc disguised as his father. When Murdoc and Eet return with some of the treasure, Kano takes advantage of the situation by taking them prisoner; he intends to turn them in to the Patrol and thus get himself reinstated. Murdoc contacts Zilwrich with esper and gets him to free them. Then Murdoc uses the zero stone to heal Eet. They use the coordinates on some of the treasure to find a site with more zero stones. The zero stones are destroyed but Eet is transformed into his true shape - a female of a Forerunner race. Kano gets his cash, Zilwrich gets a city full of new information, and Eet and Murdoc fall in love.
The Free Traders have their own confederation. Waystar, the Caverns of Arzor, and Limbo are listed as prominent Forerunner sites.
Planets: Tanth, Salariki, Theba (home of DC's pookhas (“Uncharted Stars”)), Regillians, Lorgal, Rakipur, Rohan, Sororis, Lylestane, Baltis, Amon, Thoth, Warlock, Zorastians, Trystians, Zacathans, Jangour, Sirenea, Waystar, Arzor, Limbo, Orbsleon, Faltharian, Sargol, Norstead, Rostand, Kamperel, Salod, Luar, Thalan.
(“Night of Masks”): Nik Kolherne, a teenager from the Dipple, has a burned face which medical technology has been unable to fix. When the Thieves' Guild offers him a new face in exchange for his service, he jumps at the chance. He helps the Guild kidnap Vandy by impersonating Vandy's imaginary hero friend,
Nik Kolherne has been in the Dipple for 10 years; Stowar has bought into the Thieves' Guild.
Planets: Korwar, Kali, Jigoku, Dis, Ebo, the Nebula worlds.
Communications: High Security ("HS") villa, com-cast, psi snooper machines, hypo-induction of information, psi-com, caster, circuit in brain to wipe information, mental blocks.
Transport: flitter, shielded LB.
Weapons: blaster, flamer, ground-based missiles.
Misc: eazi-rests, growth flesh, stass, cin-goggles (Ultra Violet), finger-heat seal (lock), scanner, radiation tracker, Sustain tablets.
2 Years After (“Uncharted Stars”):
(“Forerunner Foray”) Ziantha, a psi with psychometric powers, is sent by the Thieves' Guild to find and steal specific data. When she does, she also finds a baked clay ball which she feels to be important. She cannot forget it, and after her theft is done she goes back to its vicinity and teleports it to herself with the aid of the telepathic animal Harath. Yasa, a Veep in the Guild finds out through Ogan, her Psycho-tech; she decides to send an expedition to the world where it was found. Yasa, Harath and Ziantha travel to Waystar where they encounter Sreng, the same Jack chief that was in US, see a Jack male Wyvern, and pinpoint the ball's origin. (Only Ziantha knows that the ball contains a focus stone.) They travel there in a ship which owes a favor to Sreng, only to find another Jack expedition (led by Ogan) and Ris Lantee. Their captain allies with Ogan. Then he uses Ziantha to find the Tomb of Turan before Ogan can get there. Ziantha finds herself in an earlier time, sealed in Turan's tomb with Ris Lantee. She occupies the still-living body of Vintra, Turan's enemy (left to die in his tomb for his glory); he inhabits the corpse of Turan. They travel to Turan's city, Singakok, and hunt for the source of the focus stone (which Vintra wore in the headdress which really belonged to Turan's chief consort Zuha. Zuha didn't want to die with her husband.) They learn that it came from the seacoast and use the stone to travel even further back into the past before Turan's body collapses completely. Ziantha learns that the stones (the Eyes) were used in ancient Nornoch by D'Eyree to control the Lurla (animals whose building behavior protected Nornoch from the sea). She returns to Vintra's time and she and Ris travel back to the Tomb of Turan; they return to their own time there. Ziantha learns that a Patrol ship has landed in her absence; she tries to escape and find Ris, whom she only knows by mind. When she learns that Ris is working for the Patrol, she fears that she will have her mind erased. But since Ris is only assisting the Patrol, he does not have to turn her in. When he finally persuades her of this, they join with Harath to defeat Ogan and leave planet X One to work for the Zacathans.
(“Forerunner Foray”) The Dipple has been on Korwar as long as Ziantha has been alive; Ris Lantee looks young but is "not a boy". The city in US was discovered two years ago; Mochican, Wotan, Ruhkarv on Korwar from (“Catseye”), Var, Llanfer, the Gardens of Arzor, and Limbo are mentioned as notable Forerunner sites.
Planets: Korwar, Lydis IV, Andros, Alaban, Warlock, Yiktor, Fennis, Zacathans, Terra of Sol, Archon IV, Wotan, Mochican, Romstk, Waystar, Var, Llanfer, Arzor, Limbo, Fenris, X One.
[After a period of chaos and warfare, trade and the Patrol begin to bind the many sectors of the Galaxy together. The League of Free Traders is founded to protect Free Traders' interests from the Companies and others. As the League grows in power, the Companies at first grow more hostile; but finally peace is declared between them. Ships are still extremely valuable and rare among Free Traders, however, and it would seem that the League can afford to build only a few. Ships' cats, whose population has been decreasing as they become more interbred, become too rare to risk on ships; Terra is a fabled though known planet, but the fact that it is also the cats' homeworld has been forgotten.]
(“Moon of Three Rings”)
One Year Later: (“Exiles of the Stars”)
(“Flight in Yiktor”)
(“Dare to Go A-Hunting”)
2301 ASF:
(“Dread Companion”) First-in Survey Scout Jorth Kosgro discovers Dylan; he wanders into the Folk's world and is lost.
2322 ASF:
(“Dread Companion”) 100 years before she arrives, Dylan is discovered by following the beacon of Jorth Kosgro's Survey ship.
After years of pollution on Terra - the pollut-die-off (“London Bridge”) most of the remaining Terrans are evacuated to Elhorn II and other planets. These colonists are extremely set against tech. Afterward, Terran scientists attempt to use a genetically engineered virus to help animals adapt to the changing conditions. Unfortunately, it affects humans by killing them, sterilizing the survivors, and driving many mad. Simultaneously the animals are made sentient. Insane humans often react by killing their pets and hunting down strays (“Breed To Come”).
6 Years After the Last Plague Attack:
("London Bridge") The children who survived the plagues work for survival in the ruined cities left behind. Both crazy Ups (grownups) and con-rats (upscaled rats, the ancestors of the Rattons) endanger them. But then the Rhyming Man shows up - a strange Up who claims to be able to take children Outside. When children begin to disappear, the gangs hunt him but learn that even burners bounce off him. Then they see children disappear into thin air. Eventually Lew follows the Rhyming Man (an old psi 'programmed' to find children and bring them outside the city through a psi teleporter) and manages to get Outside, where he and the other children begin a new life.
[After a planetary disaster (the one in “Breed To Come”) Terra's existence becomes shadowy. Even its location is a matter of dispute (“Dread Companion”).]
2405 ASF:
(“Dread Companion”) Kilda c'Rhyn born to the Survey scout Rhyn Halcrow and his Chalox planet wife.
2422 ASF:
(“Dread Companion”) Kilda arrives on Dylan as governess to Bartare and Oomark Zobak. Then she is taken by them into the Folk's world and lost.
Planets: Chalox, Talgrinn, Forsman, Lattmah, Firedrake, Korwar (Ruhkarv site mentioned), Xcothal, Dylan.
[A fleet of aliens ("the Snakes") makes a sudden attack on the outer ring worlds. They are defeated in battle near the Nebula, but turn out to have been only a scouting detail. The big fleet arrives; there are many sudden raids and attacks. They are defeated, but the galaxy is left in a state of chaos. Many planets are evacuated and\or have their garrisons withdrawn to fight elsewhere, as happened to Dylan.]
2483 ASF:
(“Dread Companion”) Jorth Kosgro, Kilda c'Rhyn, and Oomark Zobak arrive back on Dylan after escaping the world of the Folk. They meet the few settlers left on Dylan and spend some time there. Jorth and Kilda decide to take Jorth's scout ship and leave together.
Planets: Argol (Algol?), Nordens.
[After the war, trade is restarted. The Confederation gains in power; science and technology experience a brief period of fertility. However, internal strains quickly pull the Confederation apart.]
The Four Sectors War:
Four sectors rebel against the Confederation; the war lasts ten years and causes the Confederation to withdraw so many forces from frontier worlds that many are lost to it.
(“Dark Piper”): Beltane, a rim world settled 105 years ago to serve as a biological research station, is unprepared for the chaos that follows the Four Sectors War. The few surviving veterans who come home from the war are resented as militarists, so their warnings of danger go unheeded. One, Sector-Captain Griss Lugard, takes his veteran's land-pension in the form of an abandoned fort and sets it up as a refuge. When a shady ship full of 'refugees' arrives and the Beltane Committee lets it land, he is unsurprised when later the 'refugees' turn out to be Jacks looking for a safe base who have signaled their find to many friends - friends who won't take no for an answer. The children of the settlement, whom he has taken on a field trip, survive the ensuing bombing run and use of a biological weapon, but the rest of the humans on the planet do not. [This story is a re-telling of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.]
At this time, recruits learn the saga of The Cry of Yamar (a prophet of soldiers) to learn the difference between soldiers and civilians. Beast teams fought in the war.
[The Confederation and Council both disintegrate into smaller units. One such unit is the South Sector Empire, which apparently includes Terra, Sargol, Volsper, and Spica.]
Two Years Before (“Eye of the Monster”):
In a reaction against colonialism, the Council of the South Sector Empire decides that the frontier worlds, especially those inhabited by intelligent species, should be set free to set up their own governments. Therefore they begin to withdraw the Patrol from these worlds. [This seems to compare to the British Empire instead of the Roman Empire; possibly (“Eye of the Monster”) is inspired by the Mau-Mau revolt?]
(“Eye of the Monster”) When the Patrol begins to withdraw from Ishkur, Rees Naper is sure there will be trouble. However, his uncle and the other mission people do not agree, seeing his views as racist and hysterical. [If it is a religious mission, we never learn which religion. It seems to be more of a scientific\diplomatic mission.] The mission people, the Salariki traders, and most off-worlders are slaughtered. By luck, however, Rees manages to rescue the Terran child Gordy Beltz and the Salarika child Yannah; he is joined by Isiga, an adult Salarika whom the slaughter made Name-Head by Salariki law. They journey together to Wrexul's, a mining camp with heavy defenses; there they signal the few remaining Patrol members and fight off the Ishkurians until a robo flyer arrives to take them to the port. There is foreshadowing that Isiga brings them all to Sargol, where she calls on the Truce Court to help her bloodfeud against Ishkur and takes Rees and Gordy into her clan business.
The Services are hereditary businesses - children begin training at birth and enter cadet Academy at age 12.
Planets: Ishkur, Terra, Sargol, Volsper, Spica.
Communications: com unit, guide beam, recorder-reader, recorder (mental key words activate re-run beam into mind), mind-touch (humans can't do it with Ishkurians, but they can with each other), record tape box, field guide beam, ride-beam, Basic.
Transport: 'copter, robo-control of vehicles, jungle roller, hopper, spacer (ship).
Weapons: blaster, flamer, force beam, beamer.
Misc: sonic net (bug repeller), foam plasta mattress, survival kit, py-ri-ration, plasta bubble tent, sonic screen, spider silk, dura-steel, proxlite, hummer (lulls things to sleep), sense detector (detects intelligences above a set quotient), inhalant (powder which intensifies sense of smell temporarily), Viv-ra-packs, lift platform [anti-grav?], persona- locks (species' body-heat activated version), lift beam, time lock, floods.
(“Breed to Come”) 500 years after the First Ship arrived on Elhorn II, the “Pathfinder” (Elhorn's first starship) arrives on Terra. Its crew learns the fate of Terra's people and is confronted by sentient animals. The local animal tribes (the Folk, the Barkers, and the Tuskers) unite against their common human enemy (called the Demons), but the Rattons (rats) attempt to ally themselves with the Demons to get their technology. One crewmember goes mad (possibly he caught the disease), but others help to hold off a Ratton invasion. The “Pathfinder” crew returns to Elhorn II, promising not to return and warning the animal tribes not to follow the tech path.
(“The Iron Cage”) Rutee, a colonist kidnapped from Ishtar by aliens, and her son Jony manage to escape from the aliens' ship onto a strange planet - Earth. They are aided by the People, a tribe of intelligent animals. Eventually Rutee dies of the coughing sickness. Jony and the twins Maba and Geogee grow up among the people. Then a human ship arrives seeking Forerunner artifacts. They capture Geogee, Maba, and several of the People. Volney, an unethical sensitive, convinces Geogee that the People are just animals; Geogee helps them to find ancient artifacts. Jony rescues Maba and the People, destroys the artifacts and the ship, and allows Geogee and the humans to live as best they can. The People work to be ready for the next ship.
'Sensitive' is the term used for espers.
Alien tech: sleep gas, hyperdrive ship, controllers.
Human tech: grav-shaft, blaster rod, mind-control collar, flyer, stunner, visa-screen, laser.
[As the inner worlds grow in strength once more, they are shocked by the anarchy which has destroyed the frontier worlds in only a few hundred years. They dream of unifying the Galaxy into one peaceful, impartially ruled unit.]
(“Forerunner”): Simsa, from the Burrows of Kuxortal, meets Thom Chan-Li Yun, a ranger seeking his brother Thom T'seng, when she tries to sell artifacts to 'the sky men'. They run afoul of Lord Arfellen and the Kuxortal Thieves' Guild and end up following T'seng's route into the Hard Hills. There they find a hidden Forerunner city, where a Forerunner war fleet still sits on the field, plundered by Jacks and Lord Arfellen's Guildsmen. Simsa and Thom send a warning to the Patrol; Kuxortal and the League are saved; and Simsa is mentally joined with a dead Forerunner priestess.
The League rules many worlds. X-Arth is the term for things which came from Earth - only a few believe that Earth ever existed. Free Traders wear winged hats again. Zacathan Histor-Techneers work for the League. The Patrol still battles Jacks.
Communications: visa-picture, persona detect, distant vision charger, espers.
Transport: gravity nullifier, anti-grav belt, ship (hyperdrive).
Weapons: tangler, blaster, nuclear weapons.
[The League's Chain Worlds grow overcrowded, so the League begins to colonize empty planets again. Helman Horris Voor, a First-In Scout, finds an inhabitable planet. Since it is his last tour, Survey names the planet "Voor".]
70 Years Before (“Voorlooper”):
First Ship on Voor lands at Portcity.
(After Landing)
6 A.L. - 64 Years Before (“Voorlooper”):
The first babies born on Voor.
30 A.L. 40 Years Before (“Voorlooper”):
Lausur's expedition does an edge sweep of the Tangle. This reawakens the Shadows. That same year, Sanzor becomes the first human outpost to fall to the Shadow Death.
50 A.L. About 20 Years Before (“Voorlooper”):
The first major strike of the Shadow Death.
51 A.L. About 19 Years Before (“Voorlooper”):
More deaths from the Shadow.
52 A.L. About 18 Years Before (“Voorlooper”):
Voor's Grove struck. Three children and one old woman survive, including Illo.
54 A.L. About 16 Years Before (“Voorlooper”):
Mungo's Town struck. 220 die; 3 children survive including Bart s'Lorn.
Bart s'Lorn, a “Voorloper” (wandering trader), and Illo, a Healer, both survived major attacks of the Shadow Death as children. When they meet, they end up searching out the cause of the Shadow Death and defeating the Shadows.
Planets: Voor, Astra, Arzor, Kerdam, Slotgoth, Limbo, Zacathans, Trystians.
Circa AD 5054?:
The First Galactic Empire is founded as the whole of the Galaxy comes under Central Control's dream of impartial rule. [This date is based on Zinga's remark ("The Last Planet") that 'this empire' had lasted about three thousand years. He's a Zacathan; he ought to know.] It would seem to be an empire without an emperor, but with the cosmopolitan ideal of citizenship.
AD 8054:
(“The Last Planet”) The First Galactic Empire was breaking up. Dictators, Emperors, Consolidators wrested the rulership of their own or kindred solar systems from Central Control. Space pirates raised flags and recruited fleets...Here and there...a group of men tried vainly to dam the flood of disaster and disunion... among these last-ditch fighters who refused to throw aside their belief in the impartial rule of Central Control were the remnants of the Stellar Patrol, a law enforcement body whose authority had existed unchallenged for almost a thousand years ....Jorcam Dester, the last Control Agent of Deneb, who was nursing certain ambitions of his own...summoned the half dozen officers still commanding navigable ships and ordered them - under the seal of the Control - ...to locate...and re-map forgotten galactic border systems no-one had visited in at least four generations. One of these ships was the Vegan Scout “Starfire”.
The “Starfire” crashes on Terra.
Central Control falls, and the galaxy descends into barbarism.
Civilization rises again.
The Second Galactic Empire Begins!
The Following Books Have Been Excluded From This Chronology
All of the Witch World books (except when they touch on Earth)
Black Trillium and Golden Trillium
The Elvenbane Trilogy
Magic in Ithkar 1,2&3 (at least until I figure out what kind of spacecraft it was whose landing began the fair....)
Atlantis Endgame
Bertie & May
Beast Master's Ark
Beast Master's Circus
Beast Master's Quest
Caroline
Day of the Ness
Dragon Mage
Echoes in Time
Forerunner: The Second Venture
The Hands of Lyr
House of Shadows
Ice Crown
The Jekyll Legacy
Knave of Dreams
The Knight of the Red Beard
Knight or Knave
Maid at Arms
Mark of the Cat
A Mind forTrade
Mirror of Destiny
The Monster's Legacy
Moon Mirror
No Night Without Stars
Return to Quag Keep
Ride the Green Dragon
Serpent's Tooth
The Scent of Magic
Seven Spells to Sunday
Sneeze on Sunday
Stand and Deliver
the Star Ka'at books
A Taste of Magic
Ten Mile Treasure
Three Hands for Scorpio
Tiger Burning Bright
To the King a Daughter
Wheel of Stars
Wind in the Stone
The X Factor
Yankee Privateer
Year of the Rat
Yurth Burden
and all anthologies edited by her.
The Witch World chronology is easily found in several sources - most completely (and with information found nowhere else and given by Andre Norton) in the game supplement “GURPS: Witch World”
The following persons contributed information to the chronology: John George Brown, Henry Churchyard, Theresa Ann Wymer, Peter Donald, John C. Wenn, Ethan A. Merritt, Audrey Dorofee, and Mary McKnapp. They have my utmost thanks.
All quotes and information taken from Andre Norton's books are her property - if they weren't, why would you want to read this sucker?
The previous posts and the timeline arrangement they contain is copyright to me, Maureen S. O'Brien. If you want to use my chronology, you should send me some e-mail and ask me.
First posted January 29, 1995. Archived in the sf-lovers ftp site at Rutgers for many years.
Maureen S. O'Brien
ej613@ cleveland.Freenet.Edue (no longer active)
mobrien@ dnaco.net (no longer active)
(If anyone has a current e-mail for Maureen please contact me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )
Copyright ~ Andre-Norton.com
Edited by Lotsawatts ~ 2025
Duplication of this work for profit of any kind NOT permitted.
