This document will provide a brief, vague timeline for the Age of Corporations, and will be further completed and detailed as more is discovered about this unique time in Varius's history. Thus far, only these things are known:
- C.E. 2000 January 1, 00:00:00 - A soft, snowlike substance covers the entire earth. Worldwide, it is reported that humans are suddenly exhibiting supernatural powers, some are changing shape. Flora, fauna and objects are suddenly transformed into new shapes. Entities previously existing only in fairy tales suddenly become a reality. Humanity reels, struggling to find a grip on a new and dangerous world.
- C.E. 2005 - Hero Alec Gainsborough appears in history for the first time with the toppling of the evil corporate conglomerate Vector Inc. Gainsborough's organization, previously unknown, becomes a stepping stone for the mercenary trade, slowly replacing the more-and-more defunct governmental law enforcement.
- C.E. 2007 - The man-machine known as “Vanguard” is created, designed to be the ultimate cybernetic law-enforcement officer. It is poorly-received by the public, as the humanity of its subjects is forever destroyed during the process, turning them into miserable robots. The prototype malfunctions and is defeated in combat by Alec Gainsborough. The project is scrapped.
- C.E. 2008 - Alec Gainsborough founds the Shadowflame mercenary organization. Gainsborough disappears from history entirely two years later, and is never seen again.
- C.E. 2032 - Scientists report unusual seismic activity and unnatural melting at the Earth's poles. There is no connection to global warming reported.
- C.E. 2035 - After many years of criticism, the government funds a project to privatize police forces, providing funding, personnel, and a legal carte blanche to any corporation willing to sign a restrictive law enforcement contract.
- C.E. 2037 - An entity most calling itself “The Mad Magician” declares 'war' on modern culture and begins a wave of destruction starting from Chicago, IL and headed rapidly toward the East Coast.
- C.E. 2040-2046 - The coastline begins to rise, and cities are hurriedly evacuated. By 2046, when the flooding flows and stops, the water level has risen nearly 100 metres. Casualties are reported worldwide in the millions. Meanwhile, areas worldwide blossom into uninhabitable wilderness patrolled by savage monsters. Humans persist in their society, but many civilizations are destroyed. Nearly the entire United States is devoured by wild lands.
- C.E. 2044 - Elven Archmage Orelyn-Neimuth faces and defeats The Mad Magician in the state of West Virginia, but not before The Magician unleashes his power on a 50-mile radius area, killing everyone and everything within it save for the Archmage himself.
- C.E. 2046 - When it is discovered that the area of The Mad Magician's destruction remains largely uninhabited by monsters, a city begins construction in the ruins of West Virginia left from the legendary mage battle. Many of the refugees from nearby cities and states migrate to the “safe place".
- C.E. 2063 - The Virginian refugee camp is named New Washington, registered as a city-state independent from the rest of the Americas. By now, the midwest has been reduced to a number of nomadic cultures and coastal cities, the only other 'true civilization' remaining in the former USA is on the west coast.
- C.E. 2073 - Melchior Emmerich, Orelyn-Neimuth and five other Archmages attempt to form a Wizard's Enclave. The concept fails due to the conflicting nature of modern magic and the conflicting personalities of its founders.
- C.E. 2076 - Dr. Nathan Gerson, a monkey Zoomorph engineering graduate of MIT and a subsequent Doctor of Attunenement magic (so declared under the authority of Melchior Emmerich, who has been discussing the possibility of a magical University), publishes a book known as “Gods of Machines". It is a series of essays concerning a type of magic that he refers to as “Technomancy"; he refers to it as a form of natural attunement similar to that of his race, but emphasizing the connection between humans and machines. Humans are capable, Gerson postulated, of attuning themselves to the inventions they create so keenly that they are capable of creating inventions beyond their reckoning.
- C.E. 2097 - Trans-Di, Inc. is established in New Washington. It begins as a magitech company, but soon spreads; it remains the largest umbrella corporation in New Washington for several centuries, due in part to its immortal founder and CEO, Tenec Alyn.
- C.E. 2103 - The first experimental “Guardian", a cybernetic officer based on the previous “Vanguard” model officer, is created. Using the mysterious human ability dubiously labeled "Technomancy", human and AI are melded into a single unit that is at once efficient and human. The test officers are integrated effectively into the force, as they lead well, empathize with their fellow officers, and are incredible fighters that can withstand even powerful munitions and magicks.
- C.E. 2116 - The world's first Major Magical University, Ethertech, is founded by Melchior Emmerich.
- C.E. 2121 - In an act later termed “the Moreno Incident", a woman named Allison Moreno claims that her husband, Gregory Moreno, was wrongly incarcerated and executed due to the revocation of his status as New Washingtonian citizen when he was unwillingly turned into a vampire. Moreno's plight, natural charisma and networking skill garner international sympathy. The monster races use the opportunity to push monster rights within New Washington.
- C.E. 2123 - The Amnesty Act is passed, many say in response to the Moreno Incident. Under the Amnesty Act, monsters of certain registered phenotypes may gain citizenship as New Washingtonians without a breach of standard process. Monsters without a registered phenotype may apply for an Amnesty certificate, complete with a license that they must carry on them at all times. While the initial requirements to qualify for citizenship are steep, they are relaxed over the years.
- C.E. 2124 - Trans-Di establishes the patent for bulletshield technology.
- C.E. 2126 - The Honorable Academy of Corporate Knights is founded. By this time, the 'CK' style established by Trans-Di's Tenec Alyn has firmly taken hold.
- ~C.E. 2150 - The Age of Corporations officially begins (retroactively) with the end of the European Dragon war. Displaced dragon immigrants migrate in droves to America, and an upstart company named Trans-Di, inc. begins to make a name for itself. By this time, the Shadowflames are a wholly media-based group, with effective mercenaries who are also darlings of the press.
- C.E. 2203 - A mysterious figure calling himself Rogue Jaguar launches, completely unexpectedly, a vast media blitz concerning New Washington that the corporate censors are unable to suppress. He pervades all facets of media fluidly and effectively, employing a wide range of liaisons in a nigh untouchable fashion.
- C.E. 2257 - Rogue Jaguar publishes a transcript of the world's first public Netcast concerning New Washington and the modern world, and titles the transcript “The Age of Corporations". It reveals a stunning amount of heretofore unknown corporate and governmental policy that much of the populace was entirely unaware of, as well as everyday knowledge that was kept from other countries for unknown reasons. Corporate censors are unable to effectively suppress it, and it distributes and is archived widely. It is at this time that the era since the European Dragon War is dubbed The Age of Corporations, and the phrase has become synonymous with Rogue Jaguar's political agenda.
- C.E. 2378 (does this sound good, Mysterio?) - The PicoGen/ViaCode War begins and ends in a violent series of battles that span the whole of the year. The Government subsequently places a ban on the mercenary trade. The Shadowflame organization disbands publicly, but its elite agents remain under its employ. The mercenary trade does not, of course, end.
- C.E. 2643 - Technomantic researchers discover the concept of Minutiae which is the key concept to creating a true AI.
- C.E. 2710 - AI researchers discover The Revised Meaning of Entropy
- ~C.E. 2840 - Scientists at NeoDyne Industries invent a powerful weapon exclusively for use against Guardians named “Doubt's Shard."
- ~C.E. 2850 - The first true AI created, Eliza, begins her program of social initiative and enforced domestic peace. She spends the next hundred years engraining herself in hundreds of computer networks and enacting changes that effectively dismantle the rule of corporate government.
- ~C.E. 3000 - The ruthless Artificial Intelligence Eliza begins to enact her plan to take over the world and destroy all organic lifeforms. The Age of Corporations ends and the A.I. Wars begin.
Comments:
I'm making this into an editable 'comment-style' page. I think it'll be easier to add things that way. ~~Dog