Timeline

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History is incongruous and full of holes. This document will attempt to address it, but there are no guarantees of clarity. In this timeline, history is broken into eras, or Ages, each of which has its own sub-page.

Eras

A basic list of the known or recognized eras of historians, arranged from oldest to newest:

Recorded History

This table represents all of recorded history within the era where the Course Books take place.

EraLength
The Mage Wars3,800 Years
Ages of the Alliance5,908 Years
Age of the Dragon50 Years
Long Night3,115 Years
New Day???

Pre-History

There is, of course, considerably more to history than is recorded. These are described in detail in the book Where Ancients Dare Not Tread, by Hunter Jusenkyou (Note: this book does not actually exist; it's a book within a book, written by a character in a book;–– though 'excerpts' from it may appear in the future). Several eras, some more myth than fact, are known. This includes Antiquity, the era of the Progenitors, the Mythical Age (talk about more myth!), and of course the pesky Age of Darkness.

The length and exact order of these eras are not widely agreed upon. Up until the late Sixth Age, Antiquity was held to be the dawn of time and to have lasted only a few millennia at the most. This all changed when Jason Bur'I published a paper called Where Ancients Dare Not Tread, which eventually became a book published in Hunter Jusenkyou's name, and revised throughout the Age of the Dragon. The lengths and order are not accepted by all scholars, and many disagree with the published statements of the Gudersnipe Foundation, known as "Doctrine". While the Foundation is always revising its doctrine, they were somewhat miffed at Hunter and Jason's publication. Because Hunter and Jason are the heroes of the Course Books, their histories are nearly always right.

This table describes Pre-History according to the eras and the accepted length of each according to the different historians involved:

Key:

  • H&J = Hunter and Jason
  • DOC = Foundation Doctrine
  • CP = Common Perception, as held before the publication of H&J's book
  • DNH = Did Not Happen, according to Common Perception
  • ~ = "about"
Length in Years
EraH&JDOCCP
Era of the Progenitors~7,50010,000DNH
Mythical Age12,00010,000DNH
Greater Antiquity25 or 35,000See DoctrineDNH
Classic Antiquity10,00010,000~3,000(inc Greater)
Age of Darkness~2,0002,000~1,500-2,800

The only era not in dispute is the Age of Darkness, which everyone accepts happened, but no one will agree on the length of.

Timeline

The complete timeline of the verse, according to Jason Bur'I


EraLength
Era of the Progenitors~7,500
Mythical Age12,000
Greater Antiquity25 or 35,000
Classic Antiquity10,000
Age of Darkness~2,000
The Mage Wars3,800 Years
Ages of the Alliance5,908 Years
Age of the Dragon50 Years
Long Night3,115 Years
New Day???

Foundation Doctrine Interpretations

While not widely published before Jason's book, the Foundation did in fact acknowledge the existence of all of the aforementioned eras, but had severely wildly different interpretations of them.

  • In one version, Classic Antiquity and Greater Antiquity happened concurrently, and together lasted only 25,000 years (making Classic 10,000 yrs., and Greater 15,000).
  • Another version of events places the Progenitors and the Myth era within Greater Antiquity, but separates Classic. In this version, pre-history lasts 35,000 years.
  • In a third version, there is no Progenitor civilization, only the Mythical Age, Antiquity, and modern recorded history.

Barondy Timeline

Barondy Calman was a historian who lived during the Golden Age and was the first scholar in recorded history to propose the age of Myth. In Barondy's account, a second age is added, the Age of Legend, & he ascribed ten thousand years to each age and thus listed: the Age of the Progenitors, the Age of Myth, the Age of Legend, the Age of Antiquity, and the Age of Mages. In Barondy's version of events, the Age of Darkness is part of the Mage Wars, and while the wars were over, he still counted the Golden Age as part of the Age of Mages.

Codex Lahyum