An unofficial timeline compiled from the first edition of Firefight, as well as Patrol Angis, Callsign Taranis, and The Khanate Return by Alternative Armies.
| Pre-history | The Shia Khan Empire discovers Earth and eliminates its dominant reptilian lifeforms. Seeing no profit in further exploitation of the planet’s resources, at some point a small monitoring way-station is created. |
| c.700 BCE | The Shia Khan Empire is ravaged by civil war, its vast size making it almost ungovernable. The monitoring way-station is abandoned, but Shia Khan operatives, exploiting the mythologies which had grown up around their visitations, implant the legend of a ”King who will return when needed” into the racial memory of humanity, in preparation for the Empire’s future resurgence. |
| 2061 CE | The industrialist Jaime Fernandez commissions construction of the first Ark-ship Pinto |
| 2091 CE | The Pinto sets sail with Jaime Fernandez and 500,000 volunteers. It is never seen again, this does not dissuade others from building their own Ark-ships. |
| 2093-2140 CE | Ark-ships financed by the global elite continue to leave Earth at a rate of one every three years. There are significant disparities in conditions between the elite (with lifespans in excess of 150 years), and the service classes who will never see their destination. |
| 2140 – 2155 CE | The rate of departure climbs to one Ark-ship every year. |
| 2156 CE | In an historic first, five Ark-ships depart Earth in a single year. |
| 2162 CE | The Hudson arrives on New Quebec. 311 of the original Elite passengers survive the journey, alongside 602,000 ship-born passengers. |
| 2163 CE | The underground colony bored into New Quebec by The Hudson’s boring machines (or “Moles”) becomes self-sustaining. It represents the standard template for other colonial worlds such as Texas-5, New Paris, and the Park System. |
| 2195 CE | Earth finally receives word of the establishment of the colony of New Quebec. |
| 2202 CE | Piet Van Kierke departs Earth with his shipping magnate father and other members of their clan. |
| 2210 CE | The Shia Khan Empire manages to halt its decline with the use of Matter Convertors allowing massive structures to be transported at light speed. This is subsequently enhanced by the development of so-called “Gravity Stations” capable of creating split-instant warps, radically shortening the distance between stations. The Shia Khan Empire begins the slow ascent back to dominance. |
| 2294 CE | Piet Van Kierke, under the title “Protector”, founds the Orange Free System. He is worshipped as a God by the peoples of the OFS. |
| 2300 CE | The so-called “Colonial Elite” represent 106 clans with an estimated 173 en route to future colony worlds. |
| 2305 CE | Alexander Geere, son of a criminal drugs magnate, leads a revolution which topples Earth’s “World Parliament”. He orders the immediate seizure of all remaining Ark-ships (including the 316th Ark-ship being built by his father) to prevent the last of Earth’s resources being stripped away to fuel colonial expansion. |
| 2318 CE | The first insurrection on a colony world occurs after the death of its ruler due to disease. |
| 2319 CE | Graut Psionics University make a breakthrough in Empath Transfer technology that allows instantaneous transfer of personality and thought to cloned physical bodies. |
| 2330 CE | Alexander Geere promulgates the decree that all colonies are now subject to the continued governance of Earth. The decree is met with contempt and refusal by the Colonial Elite. |
| 2331 CE onwards | Earthside volunteers have their cloned bodies smuggled into colonial cities, before Empath Transfer is used to activate them, creating spies, saboteurs, and assassins. These operatives come to be known as “Rangers”. Unable to respond effectively to the Ranger threat, the Colonial Elite begin to surrender their independence and accept Geere’s decree. |
| 2347 CE | Piet Van Kierke dies, prompting a wave of suicides amongst the peoples of the OFS. |
| 2380 CE | Geere becomes the first Emperor of the Human Sphere, taking the name Alexander I. This act is proposed by the Colonial Elite themselves, allowing them to embed themselves in the fabric of the new empire. |
| 2400 CE or 0 IC | Alexander I declares the beginning of a new age and creates a new Imperial Calendar to mark its dawn. |
| 62 IC | The Human Imperium consists of the Home World (Earth), 18 directly-ruled Imperial Planets, 762 Colonial Worlds, and 43 worlds or systems dominated by non-human sentient species. Alongside the Rangers, the Pioneers are founded to operate Ark-ships and scout new worlds and habitable systems which would support surface colonies, rather than hosting the underground cities which had been the colonial norm. |
| 70 IC | Alexander I combines the Rangers and Pioneers to form the Imperial Corps of Pioneers and Rangers (ICPR). Due to the rigours of slow-burn spaceflight and mental fortitude required for Empath Transfer, it becomes a largely Elite enterprise. |
| 72 IC | The first Artificial Worlds are founded, as certain Colony Worlds go on to found colonies of their own. |
| 72 IC onwards | The Colonial Clans chafe under the dominion of the ICPR. Various plots and attempted coups punctuate the next 300 years: With the constant pressure of maintaining the Human Imperium, as well as the never-ending threat of insurrection from the Colonial Clans, Alexander I begins to tire and explores ways to designate his son, Arthur, as his successor. |
| c.400 IC | As the ICPR bubble pushes outwards towards the galactic core, pilots begin reporting residual colonies and abandoned sites belonging to an unknown race. Sentient species encountered during this expansion speak of their liberation from “The Khan”. ICPR believes it has met the receding edge of a dying culture. |
| 438 IC | Three ICPR Ice Eagle-class ships come upon a Shia Khan Wyvern-class vessel, and damage it in a nervous encounter. A Shia Khan Dragonship subsequently appears over the colony world of Shanghai-V. It sends out a broadcast stating the colonies of Earth are once more to be accepted into the Khanate’s domain. |
| 438 – 488 IC | ICPR investigations discover the truth about the extent of the Shia Khan Empire’s previous domains and their involvement in Earth’s prehistory. |
| 446 IC | A fleet of Wyvern-class battlecruisers come into orbit over Guatemala III, announcing the return of the ancient god Hurakan. Using great displays of eco-manipulation to impress the population (as well as the threat of overwhelming firepower) Guatemala III accepts the suzerainty of the Shia Khan Empire. Over the next decade, many more colony worlds will follow. |
| 457 IC | The Khanate fleet attempts to use the legend of a returning “King Arthur” on the small colony world of Glastonbury. They are annihilated by an incoming ICPR fleet who subsequently announce the return of the true King Arthur, son of Alexander Pendragon, Emperor of the Human Sphere. Using their own tactics against them, Alexander I, the ICPR, and the Human Imperium manage to overturn many of the Shia Khan’s early gains. Thus begins the Great Khanate War. |
| 457 IC onwards | Despite an advantage in technology and numbers, the Shia Khan Empire fails to claim lasting victories, mainly targeting isolated colonies and easy pickings. The ICPR, concentrating their efforts along the core-ward facing borders of the Human Imperium, prevent them from making any significant gains. |
| 1488 IC | Khanate Commanders finally manage to bring online a matter transporter directly adjacent to the main point of contact, dramatically increasing the force of arms they are able to bring to bear. The ICPR suffer enormous casualties as the Shia Khan Empire begins an unstoppable advance into the Human Imperium. |
| 1696 IC | The Imperial Army, led by Alexander I himself, finally check the Khanate advance at Chalons-B. Meanwhile, ICPR commanders are summoned to attend a General Council of the Colonial Elite. They are promptly massacred as the Colonial Elite declare a coup d’etat, announcing the formation of the Imperial Commonwealth. The Commonwealth is to serve as a vehicle for a new Holy War, and its new leaders decry both Alexander I and the ICPR for having brought down the wrath of the Shia Khan Empire upon humanity. |
| 1698 IC | The ICPR is dissolved and all members placed under the Ban of Prejudice stating that they should be slaughtered wherever they are encountered. Survivors flee to those few worlds still under wardship of the ICPR. |
| 1840 IC | 80 worlds, including those formerly of the ICPR, band together under the rule of a Council of Princes (made up of 116 members), sheltered by the Crusaders and Templars of the Free Companies, standing in defiance of both the Imperial Commonwealth and the Shia Khan Empire. |
| c. 2980 IC | At the battle for the Aldan star system the Ban of Prejudice is lifted, and the liberated soldiers of the Free Companies stand shoulder to shoulder with the gene soldiers of the Imperial Commonwealth; mankind once more united to stop an overwhelming alien threat. A billion men and woman die fighting as the matter gateway on Aldan IV, newly built by the Khanate, spews forth legions from across the galactic plane at a rate that even the fanatical Templars of the Free Companies cannot halt. In desperation the Templars commit the greatest act of treachery ever visited upon the body of humanity, creating the Dolorous Expanses: Whole star systems vanish and are replaced with impenetrable clouds of dust, covering dozens of light years each. Created by a weaponised artefact of ancient design called The Aldan Crucible, discovered by the Templars but kept secret, the resultant Dolorous Expanses end the Khanate wars at a stroke. A terrible stillness settles upon the face of the galaxy. The surviving Free Companies cast out the Templars and the Imperial Commonwealth retreats into its shattered self. The Khanate threat is ended. |
| c. 2980 IC onwards | Dark times follow and the fate of mankind looks grim; starvation gains hold and commerce falls to the wayside as few starships are able to navigate the Dolorous Expanses and contact with the clouds means instant obliteration. Inhabited worlds torture their peoples in desperate acts of accelerated terra-forming; needing the land to feed themselves now that commerce has gone. The once zealous and fanatical Free Companies settle into an agrarian civilisation of fifty worlds bonded loosely by their ruling Barons, those of the Free Companies who had retained the armour and weapons of the mighty Crusader regiments. This region is renamed the Prydian Precinct. |
| 3987 IC | David Freeman Vay working on New Glastonbury, develops the Ancep Drive. Harnessing of the titanic power of the ion, allowing vessels to generate intense magnetic fields and transport themselves instantly from one system to the next, avoiding the perils of the “Dolo Clouds”. This marks the beginning of the Ion Age. |
| c. 4230 IC | The grandfather of future Princess Daphne Cyon commissions the building of a military complex in the Malcron mountain range of Carmarthen IV, with the intention of using it to launch an Errant Quest into the Ghost Stars at the edge of the Dolorous Expanse. |
| 4301 IC | The Marcher Barons of the Prydian Precinct form the Council of Addans and elect a ruling King. The centre of the Prydian Precinct is shifted to New Glastonbury, and its orbiting artificial moon, the Tor. |
| 4302 IC | The Gurtan Activiation occurs when the Sentient Artificial Intelligences governing that world’s automated processes go mad, attempting to end all human life on the planet. A small fleet led by Lectus Aramar manages to contain the threat, marking the creation of the Gurtan Quarantine. Sentient machines are outlawed and purged throughout the Prydian Precinct. |
| 4304 IC | Baron Bradshaw Reff of Sutton VII attempts to assassinate ruling King Cyon III by placing a nanotech bomb under his throne. Reff refuses to recognise the legitimacy of the Council of Addans, having raised a force of 16 million troops to support Sutton VII’s secession. This prompts the creation of the Prydian Army, with the expressed purpose of bringing him to heel. |
| 4305 IC | King Cyon III is killed at the Battle of Fenway Prime facing the armies of the rebel Baron. Reff is subsequently killed attempting to send a message calling for further aid from an unknown ally. Cyon’s daughter is too young to assume the throne, so falls under guardianship of Baron Reckhart Nevall, who declares himself “Kingmaker” as well as his intent to rule until she comes of age. |
| 4312 IC | Two hundred Retained Knights of the Prydian Army arrive on Dando II |
| 4320 IC | Kendal III breaks out in open rebellion. Aiding rebel leader Kadj Dace, a group of disgruntled Barons accuses the Starvaulters of having become agents of Nevall’s oppressive regime, and obliterates the small force sent to put down the insurrection. They subsequently declare their support for “Prince” Edmund Bluefort as rightful king. This marks the formation of the League of Canlaster. Lord Thomas De Lancey of the Starvaulters discovers that the so-called “Kingmaker” Nevall has no intention of relinquishing the throne and mounts a daring rescue into the Yordan system to liberate Princess Daphne Cyon. Nevall declares the formation of the League of Yordan, initiating civil war. Both Yordist and Canlasterian sides agree to limit hostilities, placing New Glastonbury off limits, and civilian targets sacrosanct, all in line with the Code Gallant. |
| 4321 IC | Knight Commander Hackett is sent to explore the remnants of a pre-Crucible civilisation in the Vauldo System recently emerged from the Dolo Clouds. He discovers the reason for its fall is the rapacious Gyre, a horror created by the effects of the Dolorous Expanse. He loses an arm getting his men out of the small research colony previously established there. |
| 4329 IC | Scientist and researcher, Hugo Sevaris, an expert on the ancient Templar order, activates the Matter Gateway on Carmarthen IV enabling the return of the Shia Khan Empire into the Prydian Precinct. A taskforce led by Starvaulter Prime Lectus Bower sent to quell this threat proves woefully unprepared and is all but annihilated. Baron Balthazar Fulcrum of the 43rd Knightly Regiment of Prydia is retrieved from Dando II by a small force of Starvaulters and escorted aboard the Basilisk with orders to return to New Glastonbury and the Tor. |
| 4330 IC | Princess Daphne Cyon liberates Bosworth IV, defeating Edmund Bluefort, leader and lord of the League of Canlaster. The Princess bests Bluefort in single combat, and he is subsequently slain by Baron Balthazar Fulcrum, attempting to shoot her in the back. Following this victory, Knight General Obermann is given command of a huge fleet tasked with stemming the tide of the resurgent Khanate. He swiftly seizes the long-forgotten military complex in the Malcron mountain range of Carmarthen IV as his base of operations, beginning the liberation of the planet. The Prydian Army under the command of Princess Daphne Cyon faces a war on two fronts against the League of Yordan, and the Shia Khan Empire, not to mention the need to police insurgent remnants of the League of Canlaster… |