By Vidar Edland

Summary history of the Known Wolrds.

Ca. AD 100Ur-Obun and Ur-Ukar separated, and the Ukari moved to a new home-world (Kordeth). The Anunnaki disappear from history.
1800The Vau is believed to develop into a space-faring race at approximately this time.
2100-2500The First Republic. Humanity stands united for the first time in history of mankind. One Planet, One People, One Purpose…
2305First Republic explorers discovers jumpgate past Pluto (first proof of alien sentient life) Humanity discovers Sathra's Boon (now Sutek). First manned expedition to another world. The Sathra effect discovered and the Sathra religion is born.
2306Humanity begin colonizing "Sathra's Boon" (now Sutek)The First Republic descends into warfare as the zaibatsu (world leaders) fought over the control of space's new riches.
2317Humanity discovers New Mecca (later New Istanbul, now Byzantium Secundus).
2318Humanity discovers Tethys.
2339Humanity discovers Delphi.
2360sSathraism outlawed.
2360s-90sSathraists discover Sonatath (now Cadacus). Exact date unknown.
2384The Sathra Dampers invented. Sathraism is soon forgotten by most.
2413Humanity discovers Aragon.
2429Humanity discovers Rampart.
2444Humanity discovers Vera Cruz.
2447Humanity discovers Grange (now Pandemonium).
2450Humanity discovers Escoral (now Kish)
2450s-2550sHumanity discovers Chauchu, now Malignatius (exact date unknown)
2462Humanity discovers Leminkainen.
2470Humanity discovers Sao Paulo (now Nowhere)
2490sHumanity discovers Midian.
2496Humanity discovers Khayyam (now a lost world in Kurga space).
2500Collapse of the First Republic. Return of aristocracy (but nobility is still scarce and weak)
2500-3500Diaspora. Warfare and discovery of new worlds makes space too big to control. Humanity spread throughout the galaxy unchecked.
2500sHumanity discovers El Dorado (now Aylon, exact date unknown)
2505Humanity discovers Ravenna, Istakhr, and Mazadarum (now Criticorum).
2525House Hawkwood is formed with old money and new ideas as the financial mogul Gervaise Windsor-Hapsburg buys the planet Delphi and arrests its revolutionary leaders. Instead of having them executed, Gervaise meets with his prisoners and discuss with them their ideas and ambitions. Gervaise then frees the revolutionaries and becomes their leader and marries his daughter to one of the rebels. And thus a Noble House was born.
2528Humanity discovers Shiraz (later Sepulcher, Now Stigmata)
2534Humanity discovers Pasupati (now Shaprut)
2543Humanity discovers Gwynneth by accident.
2550Humanity discovers Khayyam (now a Kurga world)
2552Humanity discovers Hira.
2590sHumanity discovers Icon (exact date of discovery and settlement unknown)
2600House Li Halan saw the light of day when Adriano Li Halan is appointed Governor of Kish, but instead proclaims himself Adriano I, Protector of Kish and gathers a sizable fleet to protect his claim. Adriano I and his son Lucifer Li Halan cements the House's standing and power, taking advantage of the chaos following the fall of the First Republic.
2610Humanity discovers Severus and has it's first contact with the Ascorbites.
2613The biologist and farmer Edgar Vollmak founds the Gjarti religious movement, claiming that planets are living entities connected to each other in a galactic life force web.
2626Humanity discovers Iver.
2670sHouse al-Malik is established when Kansbar Caspari, President of the Bashshar Corporation (married to the daughter of Munir ibn Tarif of clan al-Malik) seize political control of Istakhr, and assimilates the two warring houses, the Aswad and Hashim into his corporation and planetary government. The descendants of Munir ibn Tarif steadily gain more control over the Bashshar Corporation, and soon it was replaced by House al-Malik.
2680Humanity discovers Cadiz
2683Humanity's first contact with the Hironem of Cadiz.
2700Humanity's first contact with an alien race (the Shantor of Shaprut).
2717Humanity discovers Grail
2723Zebulon (a Catholic or Orthodox Christian priest) beholds the Holy Flame residing in the Empyrean, and becomes the Prophet Zebulon. The Age of Miracles begins. Zebulon spoke of evil hidden among the stars, demons whose shadows blocked the light of the Holy Flame. He spoke of the need to expand outward and explore, gathering the marvels that were found into cathedrals. He spoke out against the soulessness of machines and the nihilistic effect they had on humanity, in defiance of the reigning techno-fetishism among Diasporans. He also spoke out against Sathraism.
2730Shantor Revolt on Shaprut leads to creation of the alien reservation system.
2742Humanity's first contact with the Etyri (which leads to the extinction of the Zhuil'hishtu)
2797Humanity discovers Velisimil and has its first contact with the Ur-Obun.
2799The Prophet visits Ravenna and the population will forever after remain fanatically pious.
2800Humanity discovers Madoc
2803Ven Lohji (now Saint Ven Lohji), one of the first Obun to travel the Known Worlds, accidentally encounters the Prophet Zebulon and becomes his first non-human follower.
2818House Decados is born through a coup on Severus, a world ruled by House Gloucester (a Minor House related to House Hawkwood). Severus comes under new rule as the brothers Antonin and Jakob Decados (Minister of Security and Minister of Intelligence in House Gloucester) overthrows the Gloucester leadership and establishes House Decados. Jacob Decados establishes the infamous Jakovian Agency (Decados secret police).
2819The Hironem uprising on Cadiz. House Decados (now owners of the world) bombs the aliens into submission. In the following peace arrangements the Decados acknowledged the divinity and sovereignty of the God King of the Hironem (greatly angering the Church in the process), while the God King agreed to cede all land on Cadiz to House Decados.
2845Humanity's first contact with the Vau (Battle of Apshai).
2849Death of the Prophet (Zebulon dies in space on a mission of peace to the Vau). The Age of Miracles ends.
2850Palamedes Alecto of Midian founds the Universal Church of the Celestial Sun.
2851The Church's First Holy Synod appoints Palamedes the first Patriarch.
2854The Church's Second Holy Synod moves the Church center from Midian to Urth
2855-3045The Ukar War.
2855Ukari attack Criticorum from unknown jumproutes unannounced, in an attempt to conquer the world and enthrall its people. Human responses are swift but uncoordinated.
2856Ukari on Shaprut use psychic powers to force the Shantor into a second revolt. Patriarch Palamedes unites Humanity against the invading Ur-Ukar.
2883Humanity's "first" (?) contact with the Oro'ym. The native amphibious race of Madoc claims to have visited Urth sometime between 12,000 BC and 6,000 BC when they were a great and star-faring race. No evidence is found to support this claim.
2957The Holy Synod passes the Doctrine of the Unethical Alien (stating that some aliens, were demonstrably further from the Pancreator's grace than others). Humanity flock behind Church banners in the war against the Ukari.
3020 (spring)Patriarch Palamedes, the first Patriarch of the Universal Church, died quietly in his sleep, 267 years old. 2 million faithful converged on his funeral.
3045Last of the Ukari resistance is defeated. Human Nobles are set to govern Ukari settlements.
3125Last (and disputed) sighting of Oro'ym on Madoc. The native race is believed extinct after this, possibly succumb to human-born diseases.
3293House O'Niell in desperation resorts to massive nuclear bombardment of Sonatath to defend itself against Li Halan invaders, creating a winter of nearly 10 years and wiping out almost all native life. Since then the planet has been know as Cadavus, the dead world.
3500-4000The Second Republic. Formed by combined Merchant interests, starting a New Golden Age of Mankind. New Istanbul (now Byzantium Secundus) is massively terraformed and named the capital of Humanity. It was a time of amazing changes and quick progress. Technology knew no limits… and no ethical boundaries. It was a time of genetic engineering and world terraforming (both which more often than not had unfortunate unexpected side effects, sometimes devastating), a time of slave labor and a growing massive unemployment throughout.
Ca. 3500sHumanity discovers (or rather Bjorn Egon rediscovers) Al Fashir (now a Kurga world).
Ca. 3570sHumanity discovers (or rather Bjorn Egon rediscovers) Beliah (now a Kurga world).
3760The Phavian Institute established by Dr. Phavian as a non-military psychic research center (centered on Gwynneth). It made many great insights into paranormal research and stood out as an authority on the fields during the Second Republic (unparalleled ever since).
3770The Second Republic discovers Bjorn Egon's hidden business empire on Al Fashir and Beliah (called Kurga empire). The Republic moves in to liberate the captive employee population, who responds to the splendors of the Republic's freedom and welfare by disappearing from sight, fleeing to the wilderness and off world.
3878Humanity discovers Bannockburn.
3896The Gannok of Bannockburn are discovered to be a sentient race.
3903Antinomy becomes a "popular" horror fad in entertainment as Dr. Orvil Laibauch d'Amendiz (a Dr. and Ph.D. of comparative anatomy at the Phavian Medical Universe) freely confesses to two dozen murders. He claims to be able to read the future in the viscera of his victims, and he share with the public a number of predictions considered outrageous and absurd by his contemporaries, but which have since come to pass in the Dark Ages. Dr. d'Amendiz is found guilty of antinomy and murder in 3906 and sentenced to death by hanging. From this time on Dr. Laibauch becomes a popular antinomy stereotype, and horuspication or visceromancy is deemed a Antinomist's art.
Ca. 3940sBirth of Sata Natura, the most successful and widely celebrated celebrity in the history of mankind, still remembered a thousand years after her time. An unparalleled beauty of her time, and a "native" of Hira (that is she was a Kurgan), Sata Natura was an artist proficient in dancing, singing and acting (her holovids still runs today in some places in the Known Worlds). By the 3960s she was also the confidant, physical therapist and secret lover of some of the most prominent men and women of the late Second Republic. She used her covert position of influence to lobby for Kurgan interests among the senators and corporate magnets. She retired from public light a decade before the fall of the Second Republic when her scandalous politicking was brought to light.
3957The Religious Freedom Act declares Orthodoxy the Republic's official state religion, effectively outlawing all other faiths. In return the Church openly accepted the Republic's secular authority. Religious conflicts, and eventually the fall of the Republic, follows.
3997Sata Natura leads nationalists to size a Philosopher's Stone (details unavailable) and proceeded to close of the Hira-Vera Cruz jumpgate for the next 500 or so years.
3997The Hazat, a faction of House Chauki, overthrows the Chauki leaders in a great military coup. A purge follows, lasting a generation, in which all Chauki and Chauki-sympathizing personnel of the newly founded House Hazat (commonly known as The Hazat) are killed.
4000sDivestiture: Mass unemployment and depression, intensified by the Fading Suns Phenomenon and increased religious millennialism, leads to the collapse of the Second Republic. The Nobility leaps in, seizing Byzantium Secundus, and ensures that the Republic cannot be saved. By the end of the Second Republic the jumpgates at Hargard, Twilight, Collier's Landing and Hira (Rogue Worlds) are closed to escape greedy Noble explorations and conquests.
4000The New Dark Ages. The decent of humanity and the Fading Suns Phenomenon, gives birth to a new Dark Age. Personal freedom is reserved for the elite (clergy, nobility and guilders), and human rights are forgotten. Stagnation and internal strife dominates the Known Worlds, followed by pessimism, apathy and fear. "The Ten" is formed, a council of the 10 most influential Noble Houses set out to govern the Known Worlds amongst them.
4005Iver intentionally cuts itself off from the Known Worlds by sealing the Iver Jumpgate
4060sTerrorists and fanatics destroys Grange's Jumpgate.
4067Doctrine of Universal Inheritance. The Church (backed by the Noble Houses) mandates a return to agrarian feudalism. Fierce resistance follows by pro-Republicans and others.
4079Doctrine of the Cleansing Flame. The Church gains the right to raise arms and wage wars. Backed by noble gun-ships, the Church now physically enforces the Doctrine of Universal Inheritance. The Nobility is honored as model citizens by the Church, and the Nobility in turn swears obedience to the Patriarch and the Universal Church.
4101After having been pressured into serving House Hawkwood as spies and agents for well over a century, House Hawkwood finally takes the next step and announce sole possession of the Phavian Institute on Gwynneth. Arriving at the Institute with two regiments, the Hawkwood finds the grounds empty and all personnel and high-tech equipment gone. Without a word, the Phavian Institute had disappeared into hiding.
4138 (March)The Patriarch recognizes the Brother Battle as a Church Order charged with protecting the faithful and spreading the faith. The Order becomes free of all ecclesiastical authority short of the Patriarch, and the Order's Master is made fully responsible for their activities.
4275A plot by The Invisible Path to place a genetically engineered heir on the Decados homeworld, as well as one to marry into the al-Malik line, is discovered by agents of House Decados. The Decados responds with fire and wage war on the psychic coven. Within 10 years most of the Invisible Path leadership was hunted down and destroyed.
4357Doctrine of the Privilege of Martyrs. Clergy is placed under a form of "extreme penance", exempting them from the anti-technology laws that govern the Known Worlds, gaining legal access to hitherto proscribed technologies.
4416Kish and Icon engulfed by civil war as rebels rise against the tyrannical Prince Cardano.
(winter)House Li Halan converts to the Universal Church when it's leader Prince Rikard Cardano Li Halan ("The Red Demon") has a vision of the Prophet in a cave on Icon, and becoming the Church's (the Orthodox sect's) closest allies.
4438Keddah falls into a civil war which marks the end of House Keddah as a Major House. House Keddah is aided by al-Malik in reclaiming the world, and House al-Malik is granted numerous lands in return for their assistance.
4487House Torenson, pressured by House Masseri, declares war on House al-Malik. House Keddah, bound by treaties, follows House Torenson to war. The following year House al-Malik strikes back, seizes Keddah and moves the al-Malik family house there.
4506The Vera Cruz-Hira jumpgate is opened, followed by Kurgan Jihad.
4525Barbarian Invasions. Rogue Worlds and barbarian empires ally to plunder Known Worlds, but are beaten back after many casualties on both sides. After years of war, all-out invasion turns in to sporadic raids and minor border skirmishes. Non-hostile meetings occur, and in time diplomats and missionaries and in time even limited colonization occur.
4525Leminkainen becomes a battleground as barbarian invaders sweep into the Known Worlds.
4545 & 4560"Extreme penance" is extended to nobles & then guilds by Patriarch Nadrim. In return Nadrim's agreement allowed the Church to claim any technology not directly owned by the other two factions. This especially applied to ancient human and alien artifacts. The document also permits the Church to raise its own Patriarchal Fleet.
4540Vladimir Alecto of House Alecto, recently elected leader of The Ten pledged to lead the Known Worlds to victory against the Barbarians if they give him the means. Vladimir begins uniting stars through his campaign against the barbarians. At this time The Ten consists of the houses: Alecto, Justinian, Gesar, Van Gelder, Windsor, the Hazat, al-Malik, Li Halan, Hawkwood and Decados)
4548Vladimir proves to be a brilliant military leader and strategist, and at the Battle of Frostbite (at Gwynneth) he halts the barbarian invasion once and for all. The Vuldrok takes massive casualties and their King Froljir is slain. The Vuldrok are pushed back, their dream of conquering the Known Worlds shattered.
45484550-The First Emperor Wars (also known as the Lesser Emperor Wars). Following his great success Vladimir turns his eyes at the Known Worlds and claims the worlds of those Major Houses who had opposed him for himself. Civil war erupts as the houses Gesar, Windsor, Van Gelder, and Decados (along with certain Minor Houses) openly revolts against Vladimir. The war is bloody, and after two years the "Rebel Houses" capitulates. Vladimir introduces the Great Charter, instituting the office of the electors (composed of Nobility, Church and League) to elect a Regent every 10 years until an Emperor is found.
4549Vladimir establishes a fact-finding and intelligence organization called the Imperial Eye, granting it extensive budgets and freedom (answering only to the Emperor or Regent).
4550Vladimir I is crowned Emperor of the Known Worlds, but is assassinated during the coronation ceremony (antinomy cults and Decados assassins are blamed for the attack). The houses Alecto, Gesar and Windsor fades out of history (having lost to much resources and blood during the recent fights), and Van Gelder allies with Decados (becoming an under-house to Decados). House Justinian survives greatly reduced. The Ten becomes The Five, namely the houses Hawkwood, Li Halan, the Hazat, al-Malik and Decados.
46164623-The Green Death strikes Aylon, coming from beyond Vau space. 1/3 of the human/Ukari population perishes. Some blame the plague for the advent of the undead Husk menance.
46774681-The Husk Crusade, lead by the al-Malik-Avestite-Brother Batle-Ukari forces, become one of the strangest alliances in Known Worlds history. They end the Husk menace, and Brother Battle gains lands adjacent the great jungles (from which the Husk menace came).
4680A knightly order known as the Knights of the Empyrean Star is discovered to be a front for the Invisible Path. The knights worship a divine being called Deuweint, whom the Avestites rule to be an unreflecting spirit (a demon). Brother Battle lay siege on their headquarters on Malignatius (from 4682 to 4684), while Church and Noble armies attacks the order's hideouts and swallows up their small holdings. The Invisible Path is believed finally destroyed.
4690Patriarch Halvor Li Halan ascends the Imperial Throne (backed by House Li Halan and the Hinayana school of Orthodoxy). Halvor the Patriarch-Regent of the Known Worlds issued the Decree of Theocratic Succession and declared the Known Worlds a Theocracy. A popular revolt ensues and Halvor shriveled away from an unknown disease (some say struck down by the Pancreator's wrath). The Church revokes the Decree of Theocratic Succession and the Mahayana school retakes the helm of the Orthodox sect of the Church.
4713A convicted member of the now-extinct Sihr Dreghu antinomy cult describes, in her dying statement of repentance, how Vladimir willingly allied with the Sihr Dreghu to petition the demon Ashtarath for power. A nearly identical tale is told by captives from the rival Sirr Duraaqh cult, but Ba'aluzath was the entity summoned in that version. Though in both versions, Vladimir is placed on Istakhr at times when he was clearly fighting elsewhere.
4720The Favyana announces their presence (although not their secret hiding places), claiming to be a humanitarian psychic group descended from Dr. Phavian and the principles of the Phavian Institute. Psychic wars follow, some say with the still active Invisible Path.
4810Al-Malik forces launch a full-scale invasion on Gwynneth in Hawkwood space, bombing the population centers and invading much of its territory. The al-Malik holds power for a mere two years before the full might of House Hawkwood decisively retakes the world.
4813Leaders of a group of pagan spiritualists on Manitou are executed by the Vau, and the survivors flee to Cadiz. When it is discovered that the spirits revered by the group are demons according to the Church, the survivors are burned en mass by the Inquisition.
4872Humanity's first confirmed contact with the Oro'ym since being believed extinct since the fall of the Second Republic. Evidence of great leaps in evolution is noted since last there were contact between the Oro'ym and humans, as some of the female Oro'ym now seem capable of giving live birth (as compared to the egg-laying practices of earlier times).
4875Brother Dorjan's (Temple Avesti) peasant Army of Righteousness sack Rujan (Icon) while sweeping across Icon on a cleansing spree to destroy all those harboring Vau sympathies. In fear of Dorjan and his army the authorities looks the other way. Dorjan sets himself on fire later the year to prove his innocence of charges of sexual congress with Vau.
4880The Obun Virta HanLoaaj calls for interstellar unity, his speech beginning with the famous words, "We are all the Children of the Stars". He was never accepted, neither on Velisamil nor among humans, and he disappeared soon after.
4889The Invisible Path reappear and found to be responsible for a terrorist bombing campaign on Holy Terra (killing the Hawkwood and Decados ambassadors to the Patriarchal court).
4898Grange rediscovered as the Vau presents jumpkeys from Apshai to Grange as a gift and diplomatic favor. Grange is described as a paradise.
4899The Hira-Vera Cruz jumpgate closed by the Kurga Caliphate.
4900The Symbiot Wars. Symbiots attack outlying worlds. Parasitic forces convert many planets, forcing the human populations to evacuate. The Regent moves quickly to defend Stigmata. The Imperial Fleet is dispatched and fierce battles begin.
4905Doctrine of Exemption Exceptional and Doctrine of Temporal Exception. These documents allowed freemen and even serfs a greater (though still-limited) access to technology (mostly agricultural technologies and weapons for war against Symbiots and other aliens).
4908Doctrine of Alien Rights. Aliens loyal to Humanity and the Church are allowed to operate with limited freedom. (This doctrine was passed mainly to increase the military recruitment of aliens to fight in the Symbiot War). The Church with this went too far in many people's eyes, and a conservative backlash quickly ensued, bringing the era of aggressive reform to an end (lasting from 4665 to 4908, only suffering a brief setback under Patriarch Halvor).
4948Occultism is discovered to be a very efficient weapon against Symbiots.
4950sThe Symbiot Wars comes to a standstill, the Symbiots kept back at Stigmata. A purge of Symbiot groups and forces within the Known Worlds begin and is seemingly quite effective once Stigmata is "secured". Some call this the end of the Symbiot Wars.
4955The Eskatonic Order is recognized by the Universal Church.
4956-4995The Emperor Wars (also known as the Second or Greater Emperor Wars). All Major Houses dream of filling the vacuum of power left by Vladimir, and alliances shifts daily as a new civil war breaks out. The Church gathers it's fleet and starts to dust of the Decree of Theocratic Succession, as the League shouts for the formation of a Third Republic. Through political maneuvering and military might Prince Alexius Hawkwood emerge as a new candidate for the Imperial Throne. After solidly defeating House Li Halan's push for the throne, Alexius receives not only the support of the subdued house but the blessings of the Church as well. This, along with the backing of House al-Malik, almost guaranteed his ascendancy to the throne. The Hazat-Decados alliance stubbornly stand against Alexius until House Decados suddenly capitulates, leaving the Hazat alone. After a few short battles, the Hazat is forced to acknowledge Alexius as Emperor of the Known Worlds.
4972The ordination of Patriarch Hezekiah the Elder (current Patriarch). He's a brilliant politician and conservative theologian of the Hinayana school of Orthodoxy.
4981Discovery of a second Jumpgate in the Grange system. Disaster strikes Grange as its terraforming engines malfunction. Grange renamed Pandemonium, and the surviving population flees off world or settles in The Hub.
4992The Kurga Conflict on the Hazat border re-ignites. Hazat invade Hira in force, conquering most of the world from the Kurga Caliphate.
4993Alexius Hawkwood is crowned Emperor of the Known Worlds.
4994Iver rediscovered after jumproute was gleaned from Pandemonium's incomplete secondary jumpgate. Merchant League exploration ships reach Iver with in the year.
4995All five Royal Houses finally concede victory to Emperor Alexius.