Timeline

by Otto on September 11, 2020 at 2:28 pm

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13.8 Billion Years Ago

–The birth of our universe.

–Baltim of the Firsts, punished by the timeless Archons of his race for his actions during the Blue Time 200 million years in the future, begins his endless cycle of reincarnation as the only living being within a universe the size of a particle. The Archons hope to break Baltim with aeons of isolation. But Baltim waits. He sleeps, he dreams, and his spirit laughs at the Archons. The first sound in the universe is laughter.

13.7 Billion Years Ago

–The sudden expansion of our universe known as the Big Bang.

–Baltim is not destroyed by the expansion. He expands with it and his body is stretched to the infinite-upon-infinite stretches of our universe. He is still alone, but instead of being within the universe, he is outside the universe. The universe grows within him, and though he can only experience the universe as a vague feeling within himself, it gives him hope.

13.6 Billion Years Ago, The Blue Time

–Called the Blue Time due to the stars of the universe being young and blue.

–The Firsts of the astral, the timeless reality outside physical reality, make contact with the first sapiens of our multiverse. Together, the Firsts and the first sapiens create a world where men are gods and gods are men. Through their union, the Firsts and the first sapients strive to create beings that are neither mortal or immortal but something else, something wholly unseen in the history of eternity.

–Disturbed by change and mortality, the Archons of the Firsts recalled their people from our world and sealed it with walls of solidified time. Being creatures from a timeless reality, the Firsts could not navigate through these Archon Walls. These Archon Walls also sealed away all the powers the Firsts shared with the first sapiens. The Firsts and the first sapiens were reduced by the Archons, but there was hope. As soon as the Archon Walls were created, they began to crack and trapped powers began to radiate throughout existence and empower individuals through the miracle of hyperstasis. The Archons hated change and mortality too much to understand it. They did not know that time cannot hold a shape forever. It is the nature of time to change.

–Baltim is among the Firsts to join with the first sapiens and be ripped away from their friends by the Archons. He wasn’t the most powerful member of his race, nor was he a leader, but he laughed in the face of the Archons and tyrants fear laughter above all things. Baltim is punished with the eternal experience of mortality. He is merged with his older self that encompasses the universe and connected with his immortal self in the high astral through a cosmic creche, the only link between physical reality and the high astral unimpeded by the Archon Walls. Now that the universe is a universe of mortals, Baltim will be born from the creche as a mortal, live, die, forget, and be born from the creche again. Baltim is glad for the honor of being able to live as a mortal again and again and does not repent.

–The Firsts see the immortal Baltim in the high astral sleep peacefully and dream of his many lives. To the shock and horror of the Archons, they copy Baltim. They tune out the Archons and create the dreamworlds of the high astral where they place themselves into mortality just like Baltim.

–The superteam known as the Intercessors along with several superteams from throughout the multiverse travel from 1966 to the Blue Time and help the Firsts and first sapiens defeat the Archons. This creates the alternate reality known as the Blue World where the Blue Time never ended. The god-mortals of the Blue Time continue to create things never to be seen which brings them in contact with realties never to be imagined and takes them on adventures never to be known.

13.5 Billion Years Ago

–Baltim is reborn in his first mortal body. He remembers very little about this body. He knew it had one eye that went across his forehead like a brow. He remembered that there were others like him. He was in a family. He was loved. He can’t recall the specifics of that love, but it was love nonetheless. He recalls this love after aeons of isolation as the best thing feeling he ever felt.

13.3 Billion Years Ago

–The Elder Sapiens recover from the loss of their friends. They master biology and consolidate into a single race. They subdue nature. There is no difference between what they will and what is. Titanic in their size and power, the first sapiens stand at the edge of eternity and prepare to go beyond. But they stop. They see too much of themselves in the universe and it frightens them. The Elder Sapiens end their dominion over nature to allow for the spontaneous creation of new kinds of beings. They divide into the Form Masters who seek enlightenment through experience and the Void Spinners who seek enlightenment through creation. The Form Masters stay in the universe to watch it recover from their influence. The Void Spinners leave the universe to create an endless series of multiverses.

–Baltim is reborn as a Form Master named Adrpan clothed in galaxy filaments. The natural invincibility and immortality of a Form Master seems to provide Adrpan with an escape from his eternal reincarnation, but Adrpan never thought of mortality as a prison anyway. As with other Form Masters, he craved new things to change himself into, new ways of being and thinking and experiencing, and was frustrated along with the rest of his race that they were the only lifeforms they could find within the multiverse. They were artists without models.

–Perhaps vaguely remembering how he as a First reached down past the light of the astral to discover physical reality, Adrpan again looked into the darkness outside known creation. He found within the darkness around the smallest particles the Form Masters knew called stars, life that exceeded the Form Masters in variety by far. But the life was so small. How could they change their forms into things they could barely perceive? Greatness was their nature. They could not be lesser than what they were.

–Adrpan hatches an idea. He will use the curse the Archons placed upon him to the advantage of the Form Masters. He used his reality-shaking power as a Form Master to give the cosmic creche, which had until then been ethereal, a physical form. His fellow Form Masters touched the creche and established a telepathic link with it and the memories it contained. Adrpan entered the creche and became the only Form Master to ever die. The Form Lords shrank his coffin down into the darkness of the small universe until it vanished from all perception. Adrpan would be their link to the life of the universe. The memories of his lives would come to them through the creche. They would learn the forms of new life and in time master them.

12 Billion Years Ago

–The Chromian Empire forms as the Chromians bring another race, their identity lost to time, into their aura hierarchy.

20th century BC

–Baltim is reborn as the legendary hero Cadmus. His memories were poor in this life and he wandered the ancient world doing what good he could. He felt there was something important he had to do, but could never remember what it was. Being of the Firsts, Cadmus was able to detect and enter fleeting perturbations between physical reality and the near astral. He rescued people that had the misfortune of suddenly walking through mythology. He killed dragons, defied the gods, and was a hero. Near the end of his life, he looked for a way to preserve his memories. He sensed that he had forgotten something important and never wanted to forget again. He developed Cadmean script, the root of the Greek alphabet, to preserve his memories. None of his writings survive, but he sowed the seeds for classical culture to preserve its own memories.

14th century BC

–Baltim is reborn as Pharaoh Akhenaten. His memories being acutely clear for this life, he tries to force his knowledge of the astral onto ancient Egypt by suppressing their polytheistic religion. History shows how badly he failed. Akhenaten is remembered as a monotheist who pushed the worship of a sun god named Aten. That was how his actions were interpreted. That was how he was remembered. Nothing of what Akhenaten truly tried to teach humanity survived the ages. Baltim learned a lesson from this life–man cannot be forced to know the truth.

9th century BC

–Baltim is reborn as the prophet Elijah. He encounters the dark god Moloch, eater of children, and defeats him. Moloch would later appear to Italian Futurists in 1925 as Futuro.

17th century AD

–The Shugendo monk Honmyōka undergoes shokushinbutsu and forges the thought-form yokaigiri within his dying mind. Monk Ishiro Sakata grasps yokaigiri and becomes the first Kensei, or Sword Saint.

1824

–Chieftess Kapiolani effectively ends the worship of Pele in Hawaii by throwing stones into Kilauea, the volcano in which the goddess was said to dwell. This set Hawaiian culture to be exactly what Pele wanted it to be when she crossed over from the mystic shadow into physical space in 1936. She cannot stand the thought of being worshipped.

1860

–Earth’s hyperstatic climacteric takes place as Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers makes telepathic contact with the immortal being known as Baltim as he sleeps in the Creche of Hausus. Mathers names the immortal Abramelin. Through continued mental contact with Abramelin, Mathers becomes Earth’s first thaumaturgist and establishes the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn to empower others through shared contact with Abramelin.

–Telepathic contact with Abramelin cracks the Archon Walls and creates an unprecedented level of hyperstasis. Hyperstasis is now common enough to be observed and studied. Superpowers are no longer the subject of mythology but the subject of science. The scientific study of hyperstasis and its factors becomes known as mirabology while the refinement of hyperstasis, as through contact with Abramelin, becomes known as thaumaturgy.

–The cracking Archon Walls also increases contact between physical reality and the near astral. Thought-forms, ghosts, spirits, and gods all become subjects of mirabology.

1865

–The Great London Fire, which eclipsed the earlier fire of 1845 in intensity, is caused by an explosion at a haunted house triggered by a ghost getting ahold of the gaeite candle of an investigating manesologist.

–Aleister Crowley is born. He would become fond of suggesting that the Great London Fire “summoned” him.

1869

–Dr. Hercules Stone, anthropologist and explorer, feels the spirit of adventure stir in his heart as he gazes upon the 1539 carta marina. The little cities, boats, sea monsters, they made him feel like a young man again. He underwent hyperstasis and gained the strength of countless men. Dr. Stone would go on to to be one of the greatest superhumans of his era and is remembered today through his later writings on the superhuman condition.

1870

–The Slade affair brings to light the exploitation of ghosts. Manesologist and medium fraud Henry Slade runs a business where he returns a ghost to its aggrieved family for a price. In reality, he takes amnesic ghosts and gives them to emotionally distraught grievers to more than willing to dismiss the lack of memories so they can pretend they are once again the presence of their loved one. His scam is uncovered by the superhuman Dr. Hercules Stone in one of his first investigations and arrested on crimes against nature.

–The Slade affair leads to the passage of the Slade laws, laws designed to protect ghosts, but exploitation of the dead by the living would continue.

1872

–As a response to Shugendo being outlawed by the Meiji government, the Kensei leaves Japan for America.

1875

–A young manesologist named Thomas Carnacki, troubled by the mistreatment of ghosts by the living, establishes the Carnacki Foundation to protect ghosts from exploitation and to study ghosts in a respectful manner.

–Mystic Helena Blavatsky forms a new telepathic link to Abramelin, who she calls the Mahatma, and disagrees with Mathers on his interpretation of Abramelin’s thoughts. Mathers believes Abramelin to be a metaphysical being from a higher reality while Blavatsky believes Abramelin to be the final evolution of an ancient race of humans. They disagree further on Abramelin’s intentions for mankind. Mathers believes Abramelin wishes for the world of the flesh to exist alongside the world of the spirit. Blavatsky believes Abramelin wishes for the world of the spirit to replace the world of the flesh. These disagreements cause Blavatsky to form her own thaumaturgical sect, the Theosophical Society.

1877

–Dr. Stone helps king Kalakaua of Hawaii rebuild ‘Iolani Palace by hand.

1878

–The Carnacki Foundation creates “somatic manes,” ghosts inhabiting mechanical bodies. Somatic manes not only advance the fields of biology, engineering, and manesology, but become the models for artificial life.

1885

–A 20 year old Aleister Crowley joins the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and leaves within months following a disagreement with Mathers. Crowley believes that Abramelin should be awake and brought into the physical world, while Mathers believes Abramelin is perfect as a disembodied spirit and could gain nothing more from physical disembodiment. Crowley forms his own school of thaumaturgy called Thelema with its own alternate telepathic link to Abramelin, who Crowley calls Aiwass.

–Dr. Stone foils Sandford Dole’s attempted coup of the Hawaiian monarchy.

1886

–Samoa splits apart into rival nations under colonial pressures, ruining king Kalakua’s dreams of a united polynesia and leading him to negotiate statehood for Hawaii with himself as the first governor.

–The Kensei moves to Hawaii to find a full-blooded Japanese bride.

1890

–Jack the Ripper vanishes in a burning building after being chased by superhero Fascinax ending his reign of terror over London.

–Theosophists Annie Besant and Charles Leadbeater pioneer the study of thought-forms with their book Thought-Forms and become leaders in the Theosophical society. The book is still taught in classrooms today despite the infamy of its authors.

1891

–Helena Blavatsky dies under mysterious circumstances. Control of the Theosophical Society falls to Charles Leadbeater and Annie Besant. The Society begins to split apart almost immediately over allegations of sexual misconduct against Leadbeater and Leadbeater’s proposal that the Society should be more active in advancing mankind’s psychic evolution.

1898

–Annie Besant is slain by a rampaging thought-form. Dr. Stone investigates and uncovers secrets that lead to the Shadow War the following year.

1899

–Dr. Stone and Aleister Crowley discover that Leadbeater has been exposing autistic children to thought-forms in the hopes of forming a “supermedium” to force all of mankind into a perfect and disembodied state. This starts the Shadow War between Leadbeater’s Theosophists on one side as “White Magicians” and Crowley’s Thelemites, Mather’s Golden Dawn, and various superhumans on the other as “Black Magicians.”

–The war tips in the favor of the Black Magicians as Crowley succeeds in awakening Aiwass from his creche.

1900

–Aleister Crowley’s forces triumph over the Leadbeater’s Theosophists bringing the Shadow War to an end.

–Crowley forms the Circled Square and empowers its members with his ultimate creation, the Book of Thoth, to safeguard all of existence. They would have their hands full just protecting the Earth.

1908

–Dr. Herbert Rossum invents a plastic based “protoplasm” compound capable of forming a simplified approximation of biology. While he original intends to create artificial replacement organs, Rossum’s organs fail all trials through transplant rejection. Rossum decides to create life from the ground-up and founds Rossum’s Universal Robots, or RUR, the largest manufacturer of artificials in its time. While originally based in Texas, Rossum purchases a Polynesian island to house his factories.

1912

–The afterlife known as the Borderland invades Earth in the belief that the dead, being older and wiser than the living, should rule the living like parents rule children. Though they invade to end all war, their battles with the Circled Square prevent the Circled Square from intervening as the German airship Vaterland II bombs New York City and begins the Great War in the Air.

–ARGO (Alternate Reality Guidance and Observations) forms as a response to the Borderland invasion in America as well as an increased frequency in natural reality blending.

–The German airship Vaterland II bombs New York City as a direct response to the Borderland invasion. Germany doesn’t trust the Circled Square to protect Earth from an invading country of ghosts and demands the US to turn over their gaeite reserves.

–As a response to the war, RUR begins mass producing soldier artificials built to serve and die. This leads to the Primus Rebellion where a robot named Primus leads the artificials of Rossum Island in a violent overthrow of their human masters. The Circled Square and Dr. Stone intervene and negotiate peace before too much blood can be shed. Dr. Rossum is slain by Primus. Several engineers and buyers on both sides of the war are indicted by the Circled Square on crimes against humanity. Rossum island is renamed Primus island and becomes the first nation of artificials. Primus island maintains neutrality throughout the war. Following the war, the Primus accords are ratified by the League of Nations forbidding the creation of life for the purpose of war.

1914

–Spectro, the Hanged Man, is born in Little Rock, Arkansas.

1915

–The Cave of the Trois-Freres (three brothers) is discovered by the three sons of Comte Begouen in Ariege, France. The cave is filled with wall paintings and archeologists soon investigate. They unearth a skeleton with wings and horns that dates back to 20,000 BC. This is Earth’s first superhuman, and he is called the Prince of Dawn. Given the arrangement of the body and the presence of plant matter within his grave, it is theorized that the Prince of Dawn was well-loved by his community. The first superhuman may well have been the first superhero. Shards of bronze were also found in his grave which indicates that he must have lived a very, very long life.

1916

—The Great War in the Air ends with superhuman Hugo Danner capturing Kaiser Wilhelm II.

–Believing that the insecurity nations felt when faced with thaumaturgy was a contributing cause to the Great War, Aiwass changes his name to Ibis the Invincible and tours the world lecturing on how thaumaturgy was a rational science and not a chaotic evil as many feared. Through Ibis’ efforts, thaumaturgy is demystified and popularized.

–The League of Nations ratifies the Primus accords forbidding the creation of life for the purpose of war.

1919

–Ibis writes Tablets, his first work after many lifetimes not about astral travel or hyperstasis or thaumaturgy but simply on himself as an immortal being. Ibis hopes that in writing Tablets he’ll be seen as more personable by the public. The book becomes the favorite of a young Spectro.

1925

–Italy makes contact with Futuro.

–Spectro sees Ibis the Invincible for the first time in person and works his first act of thaumaturgy.

1931

—Japan unearths Ogun Bat.

1930

–After being framed for a murder he did not commit, Dick Martin undergoes hyperstasis after being one of the last men to be subjected to the electric chair. Gaining the ability to generate and control a quasi-energy he called pyros, he calls himself Pyroman and dedicates his life to protecting the falsely accused.

–Arthur Ezra, eccentric architect, CEO of the construction company AEon,and architect behind the Statesmen centers and Martin’s School, writes Architecture: Man’s Endless War Against Chaos.

1932

–Pyroman uses his fortune made from selling batteries of his pyros quasi-energy to create the Martin Foundation which investigates and reviews claims of false convictions. Lawyer Susan Bromfeld helps Pyroman handle the legalities of the Martin Foundation and eventually marries him.

1933

—Dr. Stone writes Princes of Dawn, a cultural anthropological look at superhumans and the psychological effects of hyperstasis.

–Spectro attends William Quan Judge thaumaturgical college in Pasadena California. He proves so skilled that he is quickly taken to the Rock of Eternity to learn directly from the Circled Square.

–Arthur Ezra, tired of the mob leaning on his buildings, becomes the superhero Candlelight. He uses a suit full of photite gadgets and hidden passages constructed into his buildings to outwit his foes.

1934

–After learning from experience how useful hidden rooms and secret passages are in a superhero’s war against crime, Candlelight places secret safehouses in all AEon buildings for use by the superhero community. These “candle lit paths” become a feature of American superhero culture and exist to this day, though the signs used to mark them are unknown outside the superhero community.

1935

—The Koh expedition to Snyder Lake in Antarctica brings mankind in contact with the Vril-Ya. Though force of will, the Koh expedition seizes the power of the Vril-Ya and makes Germany a world power overnight. The subterranean home of the Vril-Ya becomes a vassal state to Germany and the Vril-Ya ambivalent teachers to Germany’s Vril adepts.

–Arthur Ezra applies what he learned about architectural secrets from his career as Candlelight to aesthetics. AEon buildings begin to feature “open secrets” both to entertain guests and to attract eyes away from the “candle lit paths” meant only to be seen by superheroes.

1936

–Dr. Stone writes Intercessors, a study on the competition between recent authoritarian, “human socialist” governments and superhumans and concludes that the two cannot coexist.

–The Axis powers (Vril-Ya, Germany, Russia, Italy, Spain, and Japan) form under the “Pact of Humanity” which declares superhumans the greatest threat to world peace. The Axis powers admonish the West for not using socialized hyperstasis–Vril systems, closed noospheres, and the ethereal body of Futuro–to control their superhumans and vow that if the West doesn’t keep their “parahumans” in line then they will do it for them.

–Pele crosses over from the mystic shadow into physical reality, announces her presence, then timidly retires into the magma of Kilauea.

1937

—Believing that humans are but shells for the perfect beings known as ghosts, Dr. Styx of the Circled Square attempts to destroy all life by plunging the universe into the waters of the afterlife. He is stopped by his student and friend Spectro who destroys him body and soul.

–Earth’s superhumans create the “containment compromise” with the Axis powers. The Axis powers agree to stay to their borders and the superhumans agree to take on their undesirables as well as aid in removing them. The superhumans create several islands to house the exiles. The compromise is highly controversial, but most consider it a preferable alternative to another global war.

1938

–Dr. Robert Benton and his assistant Tim Roland accidentally discover the terror formula and expose themselves to it. They are granted superhuman strength and durability, but it is at the cost of failure. Dr. Benton, like many scientists in the thirties, wanted to find a way to cure physical weakness. But the terror formula could only make the strong stronger. Dr. Benton becomes the Black Terror to aid the weak where his formula couldn’t.

–Spectro and Ibis save the universe of Nazarth from a Tzitzimimeh unleashed by the supervillain Master Man.

1940

—Vril generators secreted around the world activate and divide the planet. This surprise blitzkrieg begins the Worlds War.

–The Kensei Kaikane Sakata alters the code of the Kensei to allow himself to fight against the Japanese.

–Dr. Robert Benton mass produces his terror formula to create the Black Terror Division, the workhorse of Allied forces. The Black Terrors revolutionize warfare with “toolbox warfare.” They are able to take apart enemy machinery and use the salvage for their own fortifications.

–The Japanese manipulate Amaterasu into attacking Hawaii and the goddess Pele. A titanic struggle between the two goddesses that ends with Pele punching a hole in Amaterasu’s chest. Amaterasu, realizing she had been deceived, retreats to the skies above Tokyo to stain it an accusing shade of red day and night. Pele, brimming with newfound confidence, becomes the most beloved superhuman in Hawaii.

–As the world enters its darkest decade, a group of superheroes are chosen by the Circled Square to become Earth’s primary protectors. With two world wars occurring under their watch, the Circled Square decides to step down and refocus on exploring the astral after the war. This group names itself the Intercessors after Dr. Stone’s 1936 book Intercessors.

–During humanity’s darkest moment, a light appears. An orphan with a heart of gold is given the power of gods by an immortal sorcerer known to Ibis as Imhotep and becomes the world’s mightiest mortal.

1941

–In response to mental hospitals becoming overwhelmed by soldiers mentally scarred by telepathic attacks, primarily from the Children of Futuro, the town of Clarity is constructed to serve as a peaceful home for the mentally scarred and staffed primarily by artificials.

–ARGO suspends all exploration in an attempt to prevent the Worlds War from involving more innocent worlds.

–Dr. Moriyama creates cost efficient crawling drones called kurōrukumo in the hopes that they will be used as paramedics by the Imperial army. Instead, the Imperial army converts his kurōrukumo into cannon fodder.

1942

–Heinrich Himmler retires the totenkopf as a symbol for the SS due to its association with the Black Terrors.

1943

–With the Worlds War growing more dire, the United States lowers the draft age from 18 to 15 in order to turn young superhumans into soldiers. The change is bitterly opposed, but the draft age will not return to 18 until after the war.

1944

–Marshal King, AKA Freedom Banner, learns that his family was killed by the Axis assassin Red Water and suffers a near-complete mental collapse. He is given an artificial in the form of his son John to stabilize his condition and placed in Cartertown. As the decades go by Marshal King never realized that his son was an artificial nor did he realize the passage of time. In the present, John King balances being the superhero Songbird with being the caretaker of his father.

–Clarity is renamed Cartertown in 1944 in honor of Bruce Carter, aka Fighting Yank, who was killed in combat.

1945

–The 1st Black Terror Battalion suffers devastating losses during the battle of Hoshi Island.

–Pyroman gives his famous “Shall we fight for the future?” speech at the Rhode Island Statesmen center admonishing the US for lowering the draft age from 18 to 15 so superpowered children can be made to fight and calling on the creation of a school for superhumans to keep as many superhuman children from the front lines as possible.

–The Stardust incident occurs when Spectro accidentally tumbles through Starhome during a battle with a Vril energy dragon.

1946

–Second Generation Black Terrors are mass produced.

1947

–Pyroman is slain at the battle of Frankfurt by a Vril energy dragon, reduced to a mindless husk of energy that is tapped for energy to this day as per his will.

1948

–Martin’s School opens with Susan Martin as its first principal.

–Third generation Black Terrors are mass produced.

1949

–The Worlds War ends shortly before Christmas as Allied forces disable Earth’s remaining Vril walls through operation longing. The world breathes a sigh of relief.

1950

–The Warp and Weft Authorities form out of ARGO to manage mankind’s peaceful expansion throughout space and the multiverse. Responsibility is divided between the three organizations. ARGO explores new realities, the Weft Authority facilitates man’s contact with alien civilizations, and the Warp Authority facilitates man’s contact with nature. ARGO discovers a new universe, the Weft Authority studies the universe’s sapient life, and the Warp Authority studies the universe’s physics and nature.

1951

–Progress in medical science stymied by the World War continues. Physicians the world over declare senescence a treatable condition in the scientific paper The Panacea: Costs and Benefit and caution that mankind is entering an unprecedented and unnatural state, for better or worse.

–The interway, a universal teleportation network, is established under the Weft Authority.

1952

–Former Intonarumori prove instrumental in helping a deaf alien race known as the Sapha understand and create music. The story demonstrates to many that mankind can be of use out among the stars and leads to a boom in membership for ARGO and the Weft and Warp Authorities.

1953

–A Statemen funded study of pyrokinetics, superhumans with the ability to create and control heat and energy, finds that of the fraction of pyrokinetics that couldn’t control their flames, an even smaller fraction were harmed by their own flames. This supported the mirabolist theory that the hyperkeimeon prioritized the a hyperstatic’s safety followed by a hyperstatic’s control.

1959

–With the number and power of superheroes reaching unprecedented levels, the Intercessors reform and change their purpose from protecting the world to finding new worlds in need of protection. They work closely with ARGO and the Warp and Weft Authorities.