A "Timeline" for Andre's expansive
Multi-verse: pt 4 of 5
By Maureen S. O'Brien
NOTE: Due to the size of this document we have split it into 5 parts.
Index to Multi-verse part 01
- Forerunners, Star Lords, and Ancient Ones
- Circa Napoleonic times
Index to Multi-verse part 02
- AD 1957 - 1975: The Space Age Begins
- Time Travel and the First Starships
Index to Multi-verse part 03
- The Big Blow-Up, Central Control and the Pre-Solar Queen Era
- The Second Atomic War
Index to Multi-verse part 04
Index to Multi-verse part 05
- The Four Sectors War
- The Second Galactic Empire Begins!
From the Solar Queen to the Dipple on Korwar
[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.
Circa 4430 ASF (After Space Flight):
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 yrs 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
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.]
