Codex Entry

The Geban Chronicle

The complete recorded history of Geba. Read the timeline, or choose an era.

IEarly DominionIIImperial ConquestIIIAbsolute ExpansionIVEarly StagnationVLate ConquestVIFractureVIIShadow RuleVIIIWarlord ErasIXModern Geba

The Geban Chronicle

The complete recorded history of Geba
Span
~6,000 years before Modern Geba to MG 45, the present day
Eras
Nine, with the seventeen-year Post Warlord Period between the last of them and MG 0
Population
~900 million at the founding, ~71 billion today
The arc
One empire, forged and then fractured, and the hidden Shadow Rule that followed
The shape of the whole history, drawn wide. The line is the state of the empire, solid while it rules, broken at the Fracture, faded under the Shadow Rule, and red through the five centuries of the Warlord Eras; the ridge beneath is population, from roughly 900 million to 71 billion; the numerals mark the nine eras and the dots are the turning points, each with its year. The later ages are drawn wider than their years so the last millennia can be read. Scroll sideways to travel the full six thousand years, and click any marker or numeral to open its era.
IIIIIIIVVVIVIIVIIIIX~900M12B40B71B peopleTHE EMPIRESHADOW RULEWARLORDSFirst empire forged ~5,238 BMGNgorrhal joins the empire ~5,187 BMGFirst relays raised ~5,194 BMGVaer'yinda crowned ~5,099 BMGWar with Thazvaar ~3,398 BMGBerinu and Jeyrha join ~3,148 BMGChild emperor ascends ~3,203 BMGKharan's Gulf falls ~3,108 BMGFirst Doctrine written ~3,069 BMGFirst mega-spines ~2,806 BMGRaeth's expedition ~2,677 BMGVessels understood ~2,666 BMGEmperor's Shadow founded ~2,638 BMGMidreach Lira founded ~2,371 BMGGeban Calendar formalized ~2,327 BMGThe Varethis Advance ~2,118 BMGLongevity treatments ~2,089 BMGFirst Engineered ~2,053 BMGEngineered gain citizenship ~2,004 BMGAuren assassinated ~1,998 BMGFirst Recursion Bomb ~2,001 BMGPermeance founded ~1,987 BMGShadow Rule begins ~1,447 BMGEnergy Wars begin ~1,206 BMGWarlord Eras begin ~498 BMGThe embed begins ~451 BMGBessona ~118 BMGZairen Vaul is born ~39 BMGRecursion Bomb deployed ~21 BMGLast warlords purged 17 BMGThe Entity appears MG 3Church of the Maw founded MG 6Infinite Maw Conflict MG 20Energy Wars persist MG 456,000 BMGMG 45 · NOW
The timeline
  1. First empire forged
    ~5,238 BMG · Early Dominion
  2. Ngorrhal joins the empire
    ~5,187 BMG · Early Dominion
  3. First relays raised
    ~5,194 BMG · Early Dominion
  4. Vaer'yinda crowned
    ~5,099 BMG · Early Dominion
  5. War with Thazvaar
    ~3,398 BMG · Imperial Conquest
  6. Child emperor ascends
    ~3,203 BMG · Imperial Conquest
  7. Berinu and Jeyrha join
    ~3,148 BMG · Imperial Conquest
  8. Kharan's Gulf falls
    ~3,108 BMG · Imperial Conquest
  9. First Doctrine written
    ~3,069 BMG · Imperial Conquest
  10. First mega-spines
    ~2,806 BMG · Absolute Expansion
  11. Raeth's expedition
    ~2,677 BMG · Absolute Expansion
  12. Vessels understood
    ~2,666 BMG · Absolute Expansion
  13. Emperor's Shadow founded
    ~2,638 BMG · Absolute Expansion
  14. Midreach Lira founded
    ~2,371 BMG · Early Stagnation
  15. Geban Calendar formalized
    ~2,327 BMG · Early Stagnation
  16. The Varethis Advance
    ~2,118 BMG · Late Conquest
  17. Longevity treatments
    ~2,089 BMG · Late Conquest
  18. First Engineered
    ~2,053 BMG · Late Conquest
  19. Engineered gain citizenship
    ~2,004 BMG · Late Conquest
  20. Auren assassinated
    ~1,998 BMG · Fracture
  21. First Recursion Bomb
    ~2,001 BMG · Fracture
  22. Permeance founded
    ~1,987 BMG · Fracture
  23. Shadow Rule begins
    ~1,447 BMG · Shadow Rule
  24. Energy Wars begin
    ~1,206 BMG · Shadow Rule
  25. Warlord Eras begin
    ~498 BMG · Warlord Eras
  26. The embed begins
    ~451 BMG · Warlord Eras
  27. Bessona
    ~118 BMG · Warlord Eras
  28. Zairen Vaul is born
    ~39 BMG · Warlord Eras
  29. Recursion Bomb deployed
    ~21 BMG · Warlord Eras
  30. Last warlords purged
    17 BMG · Warlord Eras
  31. The Entity appears
    MG 3 · Modern Geba
  32. Church of the Maw founded
    MG 6 · Modern Geba
  33. Infinite Maw Conflict
    MG 20 · Modern Geba
  34. Energy Wars persist
    MG 45 · Modern Geba

The Geban Chronicle is the complete recorded history of the planet, told in nine eras across six thousand years. At its heart is one empire: forged by Vaer'karesh out of five warring nations, expanded until it could expand no further, and then broken, the throne shattered by the assassination of Emperor Auren into the Fracture and the long chaos that followed.

What rose in its place was stranger. Hidden rulers came to govern unseen through the Shadow Rule while the world decentralized beneath them. New peoples appeared, the Engineered built from Frost Sentinel blood and the Vessels who carry the cosmos inside them. Technology climbed from the first relay towers to the ancient mega-spines that hold civilization together, and on to the Recursion Bombs that can erase it. And through all of it the population swelled from under a billion to seventy-one billion.

The timeline above reads the whole arc at once. Pick a turning point, or an era, and drop into the full record.

On the dating. Years before the modern era are counted in BMG and run backward to the founding. The Warlord Eras close 17 BMG, and the seventeen years that follow are the Post Warlord Period, the stretch with no standardized dating, which ends at MG 0. Everything after is counted forward in MG. The present day is MG 45, fixed by Vinscel having worked for more than six decades since the final years of the Warlord Eras, and by Vohk’tirrel being 97. Where a date carries a tilde it is approximate, and the long gaps inside the early eras are held by successors the record does not name. Ages read long by the standards of a shorter lived species because they are: an uninterrupted Geban life already ran close to two hundred years before the longevity work of the Late Conquest pushed the upper end toward four hundred. A commander of ninety is in his working prime, and a generation between father and heir commonly runs sixty to eighty years.