ONE. YEAR. LATER.
So this damned thing won't leave me alone, and the scope has
creeped. First, behold where the completed text stands so far:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OkpnflG...sp=sharing
Second, here's 8.3K of timeline dump. A lot of this is cribbed from the original IST text and Bob's IST in the 90s article, but there's a
lot of new material in there too.
As always, suggestions and critiques are welcome.
ca. 65 million BP
The Seeders enter Sol System and “modify” Earth’s climate via application of several billion tons of ice at sufficient velocity, wiping out the dinosaurs and allowing mammals to occupy the ecological niches left behind.
ca. 500,000 BP
The Seeders return to Earth and perform genetic modifications of Homo heidelbergensis, a descendant of H. erectus. The modifications include enhancements to intelligence and a set of power genes designed to develop a universal paranormal ability. Not long after the Seeders’ departure however, unexpected shifts in Earth’s climate combined with several cycles of increased solar activity alter the Seeder modifications, suppressing the power traits in H. heidelbergensis.
ca. 300,000 BP
Anatomically modern Homo sapiens appears.
ca. 50,000 BP
Upper Paleolithic period; the first appearance of organized settlements, artistic work and complex social groupings; this is generally thought of as the beginning of “modern” humans.
Ultraterrestrial entities begin taking notice of humans and start meddling with emerging societies.
Introduction of the magegift to the human genome.
The Tiger God (a representation of early modern humanity’s fears) and the Dog God (a manifestation of early modern humanity’s protectors) manifest.
ca. 50,000 BP to 1924 CE
The suppressed Seeder genes slowly randomize and consolidate as the human population spreads around the plant over the centuries. Occasional rare individuals manage to combine enough genes to gain metahuman abilities.
ca. 7,000 BP
A man with enhanced strength and sensory powers lives and dies in the Sahel region of Africa south of Lake Mega-Chad.
ca. 5,500 BP
The confluence of magical energies surrounding Earth begins to ebb, causing magic in general to start waning and all but the strongest and/or most stubborn ultraterrestrials to withdraw back to their own planes.
1924
A wave of cosmic energy envelops the Earth. Much of this energy is blocked, but enough of it gets through to activate the Seeder genes in approximately one in a million humans.
Destructeur, the first mutant, born in France.
1925.
A sudden surge in paranormal phenomena occurs worldwide as ancient pathways between ultraterrestrial realms begin to open, bringing their own surges in cosmic power to Earth.
1926
Nagoya fishmonger Ichiro Watanabe makes headlines for a minor telekinetic ability, the first demonstration of actual, non-faked superpowers in history.
1927
The Shadow makes his debut in New York City, capturing several high-profile Mob enforcers. This is generally accepted as the beginning of the Pulp Age.
Inspired by the Shadow, the first “mystery men” begin operating as vigilantes in multiple cities across the US and Europe.
1928
A small group of occultists working one of John Dee’s angel-summoning rituals is extremely shocked when an actual angel appears.
Mad scientist/conservationist Manfred von Zorbo begins construction of his Black Zeppelin.
1929
Stock market crash in the United States starts a chain reaction that hamstrings the global economy; beginning of the Great Depression.
Magick, Liber ABA, Book 4 is published by the Ordo Templi Orientis. It’s notable for being the first occult book to contain actual, working magic.
1930
Century Club founded in New York City.
Moriarty League established by British masterminds trying to advance their interests against the established firms.
1931
Japanese army invades Manchuria.
Yingzi debuts in Nanjing.
Indianapolis Spider dies in a multi-party shootout with the Mob, the cops and the Klan. The Spider is the first super to publicly die in the line of duty.
1932
The first “brick” archetype supers – metahumans with exceptional strength and durability – are seen in the wild.
Manchuko, a Japanese puppet state comprising the region of Manchuria, established under Emperor Puyi.
1933
Clark “Doc” Savage Jr. publicly begins his career as a crime-fighting superscientist.
Revolutionary Heroes Brigade (GRB) established in the Soviet Union, the first superteam to have any sort of government patronage.
1934
Honor Guard established in the United States: Doc Savage, the Grey Gargoyle, {add 3-4 others}
Dr. Hans Zarkov demonstrates a high-altitude manned rocket publicly at the Century of Progress exposition in Chicago. The R-3 is capable of reaching altitudes of 50 kilometers while carrying four passengers.
The first instance of super-on-super combat caught on film occurs in India: a fight between mystery men the Green Serpent and the Arrow, on opposite sides of an independence rally in Bengaluru.
Baron Zorbo attacks the Boulder Dam construction site, only to be driven off by barnstorming hero Danger Ace.
1935
Timely Comics begins publishing Totally True Tales, a comic based on reports of actual supers.
John Bull, the UK’s premier hero, debuts.
Rumors of Nazi experiments into “creating supermen” reach intelligence sources in West Europe and the US. The rumors are largely dismissed.
Italy invades Ethiopia; beginning of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War.
1936
Hans Zarkov vanishes along with his prototype R-5 orbital class rocketship. Most of Zarkov’s papers are missing or destroyed; the surviving records are turned over to the Smithsonian for safekeeping.
Nazi “archaeological expeditions” in Egypt, Syria and Iraq looking for ancient magical artifacts are disrupted by American archaeologist and intelligence agent Henry Jones. Any artifacts successfully recovered by the Germans (and double-stolen by Jones) are placed in high security storage in the National Archives.
1937
Second Sino-Japanese War begins.
The Ubermeschen make their public debut; the group is the first metahuman force that is explicitly military in nature.
The King’s Men are established in Britain as a reaction to the Ubermenschen.
US War Department authorizes the Los Angeles Project to locate, train and (if possible) manufacture metahuman soldiers to maintain parity with Fascist governments.
Japanese Army destroys Nanjing; presumed death of Yingzi along with tens of thousands of the city’s residents.
The Lobster is recruited by Army Intelligence as an occult specialist.
World Circle founded.
1938
Germany annexes Austria and the Sudetenland.
Special Unit 8 of the IJA is unveiled during the assault on Wuhan.
The Lobster dies on a secret mission in Austria to disrupt Nazi occult activity.
German communists infiltrate the Ubermenschen “training” camp and undergo the Nazi metahuman activation process. Two infiltrators gain powers by chance, which they then use to wreck the camp and escape to the Soviet Union.
1939
Germany and the Soviet Union invade Poland; beginning of the Second World War.
America’s Best, a promotional superteam sponsored by the Bank of America, founded.
Soviet government begins work on a metahuman activation system based on the intelligence brought from Germany.
1939 to 1945
All in all, around 75 metahumans and over 300 super-normals participate on all sides of the war. Their efforts largely cancel out, as they spend their time countering each other and acting as cover for mundane troops. Of the metas, 55% will die in action. Surviving metahumans are the ones who stay away from the front lines or otherwise don’t engage with other metahumans.
1940
German forces invade France, rout organized military resistance within a month.
Big Ben of the King’s Men is killed by Maus of the Ubermensch during the retreat from Dunkirk.
Four French metahumans join resistance efforts in mainland France.
1941
Japanese Navy raids Pearl Harbor; US declares war on Japan in response, and Germany declares war on the US in solidarity, bringing America into the greater conflict.
GRB leader Red Guardian killed in the closing phases of the Battle of Moscow; GRB renamed the Red Guardians in her honor.
1942
The fruits of the Los Angeles Project, Special Strike Force A (aka “Psycho Squad”) unveiled in a public ceremony in Washington.
Blitzen of the Ubermensch defects to the Allies.
1943
Invasion of Sicily causes the Mussolini government to collapse. In response German forces occupy northern Italy to keep the nation in the fight. Mussolini’s metahuman praetorian guard is captured and executed by the Ubermenschen.
1944
Allied forces land in Normandy, beginning the liberation of France and the push eastwards to Germany. Psycho Squad leads the charge on Omaha Beach, destroying three gun emplacements before reinforcements can arrive.
1945
President Roosevelt dies in office; Vice-President Harry Truman becomes President.
Germany surrenders after the capture of Adolf Hitler while trying to flee Berlin.
Nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, shortly before USSR declares war on Japan; Japanese government surrenders to Allied commanders. End of Second World War.
Operation Paperclip acquires quite a few German scientists, in particular rocket engineers and metahuman biologists.
German powered infantry armor project is discovered near Berlin. The technology is barely embryonic, and samples are confiscated for research by Allied governments.
The wreckage of the Ubermenschen program – the (rebuilt) training camp, as well as the concentration camp built to provide “sacrificial test subjects” – is discovered by Allied forces.
United Nations Charter signed in San Francisco. The charter outlines a moderately strong organization intended to maintain international peace. The UN is given power to organize and deploy “police forces” as necessary to ensure global peace, but the five permanent members of the Security Council are also given absolute veto over any UN operation.
1946
Nuremberg Trials convict 25 German leaders including Hitler, Goering and Goebbels for crimes against humanity. Hitler and 14 others are publicly executed by hanging. The concurrent “Villain Trials” convict and execute five German metahumans for similar crimes.
1947
First complete scientific description of psionics made by researchers at Duke University.
Dollar Bill, leader of America’s Best, dies in an attempted robbery in LA due to a wardrobe malfunction.
1948
The first metahuman capable of independent flight is discovered in China.
State of Israel founded. Arab League attacks Israel but is stalemated by an international team of Jewish metahumans. The Arab League’s own meta forces are not sufficient to successfully counter pro-Israeli forces.
Harry Truman elected President in the US in a very close election.
1949
Doc Savage disappears investigating supernatural activity in Maine.
Blitzen dies of cancer in Britain. His body is donated to science to advance the cause of metahuman studies.
The Justice Society is established as a superteam consisting of former LA Project metahumans discharged from military service.
NATO founded.
USSR detonates its first atomic weapon.
Germany officially divides into East and West.
1950
Beginning of Korean War. US/UN forces include several teams of trained metahumans.
Nuclear bomb test at Eniwetok Atoll creates Dr. Radiation and Cascade.
Rocket scientist and O.T.O. wizard Jack Parsons becomes the magical antihero Herald.
1951
Honor Guard disbands due to accusations of “premature anti-Nazism” by House Un-American Activities Committee. HUAC’s popularity takes a significant hit.
First field use of powered armor by French gadgeteers during the Viet Minh revolution.
1952
US detonates first hydrogen bomb.
“Mind Control” scandal establishes licensing telepathy for legal use; formation of the Bonded Telepath’s Organization in US and UK.
Telepath laws in Anglo-American legal system established, allowing for optional telepathic examination of all witnesses. A three telepath system is used: one for the prosecution, one for the defense and one as an impartial observer for the court.
Watson and Crick discover the structure of DNA. Serious study into the genetic basis of metahumanity begins.
George VI of Britain dies; Elizabeth II becomes Queen in the UK.
Dwight Eisenhower elected President in the US.
1953
The Roland Power Cell, derived from the studies of Blitzen’s body, goes on sale.
Korean War “ends” in a ceasefire that effects a permanent stalemate between North and South Korea.
USSR detonates a hydrogen bomb of their own.
Joseph Stalin dies; Nikita Khrushchev named as Secretary-General of the USSR after a brief power struggle.
1954
Blitzen’s heirs sue Roland Power Enterprises for their share of RPC profits.
First Indochina War ends with Vietnamese victory; French withdraw from Indochina; independence of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
US Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education rules that segregation in education (and by extension segregation in general) is unconstitutional.
1955
Warsaw Pact signed.
American military advisors first arrive in South Vietnam.
1956
Bus boycott in Montgomery, AL in response to segregationist transit policies.
Hungarian Revolution: Student protests against local Stalinists escalate into an attempted overthrow of the Soviet-backed government, resulting in a crackdown by the Soviet Army.
Suez Crisis: British-French-Israeli forces invade Egypt to force the Suez Canal out of Egyptian control. The crisis ends when the US puts enough economic pressure on Britain and France to force them to abandon their ambitions.
First serious use of the term “super” in media to refer to civic-minded metahumans. Older Pulp Age terms like “mystery man,” “mentalist” etc. slowly begin phasing out of regular use.
Dwight Eisenhower reelected President in the US.
1957:
British court rule that Blitzen’s heirs have no claim to scientific principles derived from his corpse. Appeals of this decision continue into the early 1960s.
US Civil Rights Act of 1957 passed; governor of Arkansas mobilizes the National Guard to prevent school integration; metahumans intervene on both sides of the conflict.
Certain parties in the UN Secretariat begin talking about creating an international metahuman force in response to the Hungarian and Suez incidents.
European Economic Community (EEC) founded. The EEC charter includes the pooling of metahuman resources.
Knights of Europa, the EEC metanational superteam, founded.
Sputnik 1 launched, sparking a wave of hysteria in the US.
International Geophysical Year activities include a study of metahumans.
1958
Destructeur makes his first public appearance in Switzerland, despite having been semi-active since 1942.
Other self-declared “mutants” make their presence known; all of them have the common factors of being born after 1924 and having powers that manifested gradually during puberty.
1959
Flare, a mutant with the power to manipulate plasma, makes his public debut in the Philippines.
Cuban Revolution: Communist revolutionaries under the command of Fidel Castro overthrow dictator Fulgencio Batista.
Anti-Apartheid Movement founded in London, UK.
1960
Justice Society incorporated as an official arm of the US Justice Department devoted to metahuman security. The original members are Quasar (I), Darkstorn, X the Unknown, Blur and Highball.
Thunderbird appears in Arizona.
John F. Kennedy elected President in the US.
1961
Bay of Pigs Incident: US-backed invasion of Cuba gets further than it might’ve otherwise due to American metahuman support, but ultimately fails dur to counter-interference by native Cuban and Soviet metahumans. The whole thing becomes a massive failure for American intelligence agencies.
Honor Guard reconstitutes and inducts its first members from outside the United States.
US sends irregular warfare specialists to teach techniques to South Vietnamese army.
Yuri Gagarin becomes the first person (probably) in space.
Berlin Wall built.
South Africa forced out of the British Commonwealth due to extreme apartheid policies.
1962
Cuban Missile Crisis: Reconnaisance of Cuba reveals Soviet medium-range ballistic missile sites under construction on the island. An American blockade of Cuba ensues to prevent the sites from becoming operational. After two very tense weeks the US and USSR agree to a compromise that lets everybody save face and not destroy the world.
Activist Nelson Mandela dies of “accidental” injuries ahortly after his arrest by South African authorities.
British Motor Corporation and Roland Power Enterprises collaborate on the Morris Jupiter, the first consumer-viable electric car.
1963
Washington-Moscow “hotline” established to prevent another series of cascading miscommunications like the Cuban crisis.
Martin Luther King leads the March on Washington, calling for a radical change in American civil rights policy.
President Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, TX. Justice Society X the Unknown commits suicide in the wake of the assassination.
Destructeur is named leader of the Knights of Europa.
NAACP recruits a superhero arm in response to a meathuman-aided KKK attack that leaves 15 dead and 179 injured.
Accusations of “mind control” levied against the Beatles flounder in hilarious fashion.
Thunderbird causes a major public outcry when he agrees to appear in a series of commercials for the Ford Thunderbird.
1964
Nikita Khrushchev is ousted as Secretary-General by the Soviet Presidium; he is succeeded by Leonid Brezhnev.
China detonates a nuclear weapon for the first time, and unveils the Revolutionary Guard, the largest superteam yet assembled.
North Vietnamese boats clash briefly with US Navy ships engaging in covert operations near their territorial waters. The incident is inflated by the US government to a casus belli for overt American involvement in the Vietnam War.
1965
US troop buildup in Vietnam includes the Justice Society and the first active US powered armor platoons.
Watts riots reveal two new metahumans among the rioters.
First major anti-war demonstrations in US and Europe.
1966
Cultural Revolution begins in China.
Beginning of “the Troubles” in Northern Ireland.
1967
Massive increase in anti-war, anti-draft and pro-civil rights demonstrations across US and Europe.
“Summer of Love” happens in San Francisco, becomes a global meme.
The Age of Aquarius: A sudden spike in magical energy leads to the awakening of hundreds of mystics around the world, along with a sharp increase in paranormal phenomena.
Youth International Party (“Yippies”) founded, immediately draw interest from young people both in the mundane and super communities.
Six-Day War forces the closure of the Suez Canal to all traffic.
1968
Viet Cong guerrillas stage an all-out attack on American forces in Vietnam. The offensive is an effective defeat for North Vietnam and ends the Viet Cong as a fighting force, but it also convinces the American government and public that the war couldn’t be won without an escalation nobody wanted.
Attempted assassinations of civil rights leader Martin Luther King and New York senator Robert Kennedy foiled by metahuman bodyguards.
Vietnam peace talks begin in Paris.
Quasar (I) dies in combat in Vietnam; the loss of a major American hero further demoralizes the American public.
Hubert Humphrey elected President in the US in a close election.
1969
Vietnam peace talks conclude with a functional ceasefire between North and South Vietnam; US begins withdrawing troops and materiel from the country.
Apollo 11 lands on the moon. Luna 4 lands a week later; Soviets announce plans to build a permanent facility, vowing “the race has only begun.”
Accident at a Barcelona laboratory investigating Flare’s fusion-control powers results in the destruction of the facility and the super’s disappearance.
Metahuman lobbying organization POWER founded in the US to combat Humphrey Administration’s attempts to require metahuman induction into the military.
1970
USSR, West Germany sign nonaggression pact.
Leonid Brezhnev dies unexpectedly of a heart attack; his is succeeded as Secretary-General by Mikhail Suslov.
1971
People’s Republic of China admitted to UN; Taiwan leaves the permanent Security Council seat.
People’s Republic of Vietnam successfully defeats, annexes Republic of Vietnam; end of the Vietnam War.
Flare resurfaces in Manila, having seemingly retired from heroics and research.
First appearance of a spaceworthy metahuman.
1972
Black September organization takes 13 Israeli athletes hostage at the 1972 Munich Olympics. The Knights of Europa mount a partially-successful effort to rescue the hostages: five hostages are killed, but the Black September terrorists are captured or killed in their entirety.
Ronald Reagan elected President in the US.
1973
Yom Kippur War: Arab League successfully backfoots the Israeli military with a surprise first strike but is unable to capitalize on the initial attack, despite better coordination between mundane military forces and metahuman squads.
OAPEC implements a total oil embargo on countries that supported Israel during the Yom Kippur War. An energy crisis hits Western Europe and the US.
Due to the embargo, CERN resumes efforts to duplicate Flare’s fusion-control power at their facilities in Geneva.
Drought-induced famine cripples much of West Africa, despite efforts by local metahuman weather manipulators.
First elements of the Lunagrad outpost arrive on the Moon. US counters by announcing the Jamestown initiative to begin in time for the bicentennial celebrations.
Several European nations pass “Right to Privacy” laws sponsored by the Bonded Telepath’s Organization.
Gargantua-1 space station launched, the largest thing in low Earth orbit for the next fifteen years.
1974
OPAEC ends oil embargo after Saudi Arabia is promised American arms sales by noted supervillain Henry Kissinger.
CERN fusion research paused due to the end of the oil embargo.
Fernando Po Incident: An uprising of Marxist students on the West African island of Fernando Po almost starts a limited nuclear exchange between the US, USSR and PRC for no discernible reason. This unnerves many observers.
A mass spontaneous supernatural manifestation happens at the Woodstock Europa music festival in Ingolstadt, West Germany. Nobody entirely sure what happened but it definitely happened.
Project Xianxia, a proposal to use eugenics to develop metahumans that are both powerful and politically reliable, is quietly approved by the Chinese Communist Party.
First appearance of the Exchange.
UN General Assembly votes to suspend South Africa’s membership on the grounds that Apartheid violated the terms of the UN Charter.
US passes the Personal Privacy Act, outlawing telepathic invasion without cause, mainly search warrants, medical necessity or parental permission.
1975
Attempted assassination of feminist leader Rebecca Ball is thwarted by transgender metahuman Brenda “Shielder” Holzmann.
Western and Eastern European nations meet in the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE), establishing mechanisms for minimizing political tensions between NATO and Warsaw Pact members.
Egypt and Israel sign Sinai disengagement pact.
Suez Canal reopens.
1976
American Bicentennial Exposition (Expo ‘76) held in Philadelphia. The pavilion on American metahumans from the Shadow to the Justice Society proves the most popular of the entire exposition.
Jamestown outpost formally opened via radio by President Reagan.
Reagan reelected President in the US in a fairly contentious race.
Mao Zedong dies; Hua Guofeng succeeds him as paramount leader of China.
Ceasefire in Lebanon.
CERN fusion research restarted.
1977
First appearance of the Deadly Dozen’s first incarnation in New York.
UN Resolution 418 passes, mandating a halt to all arms shipments to South Africa.
South African government secretly opens negotiations with the Network, offering the country’s services as a broker for global villainy in exchange for material support.
Astronauts John Young and Robert Lawrence make the first flight of the US space shuttle Constitution.
Panama Incident: Negotiations between the US and Panama over control of the Panama Canal break down in spectacular fashion. Panamanian supers seize control of the Canal in a lightning ambush, rounding up American soldiers and damaging the locks to prevent traffic from crossing. A quick response from the Justice Society brings the Canal back to American hands, but the damage already done keeps it closed for the next three months, causing significant economic impact.
Stromberg Affair: Supervillain Karl Stromberg hatches a plan to trick the US and USSR into a mutual nuclear strategic nuclear exchange that comes far too close to succeeding for comfort.
USSR Secretary-General Suslov ousted for recklessness in the midst of the Stromberg affair; he is succeeded by Alexi Kosygin as Secretary-General.
1978
Genetic research begins to show some progress into the “how” of superpowers.
Destructeur resigns as leader of the Knights of Europa; Argurous Astraph assumes leadership.
UN diplomats begin quiet talks with the leaders of the Non-Aligned Movement and independent superteams like Honor Guard about revising the UN Charter to allow for some sort of control over the great powers’ antics, before they get everybody killed.
Two supers die in the bombing of a Catholic superteam’s headquarters in Belfast.
Hua Guofeng ousted from power; Deng Xiaoping succeeds him as paramount leader in China.
1979
Gasoline shortage in the US.
Three Mile Island nuclear accident is quickly handled by Justice Society members; debut of Firestar, who gained powers during the incident.
Egypt and Israel sign peace treaty.
Able Archer 79: US/NATO wargames spark deep paranoia in the Soviet military establishment. This combined with an inappropriate joke told by President Reagan over a hot mike spark a mobilization that almost starts moving through the Fulda Gap before things are settled.
Iranian Revolution: Shah Reza Pahlavi is overthrown by his generals for gross incompetence, backed by a tenuous coalition of radical Islamic clerics and Iranian leftists. All the parties in the revolution hate each other, but they hate the Shah more.
1980
Supervillain Livewire takes the city of Billings, MT hostage for an entire week.
Solidarity trade union founded in Poland.
Robert F. Kennedy elected President in the US.
USSR Secretary-General Kosygin dies; he is succeeded by Yuri Andropov.
Iran-Iraq War: Iraqi army invades Iran, hoping to take advantage of the Iranian junta’s relatively weak position to seize disputed territory. Iran proves to be a more difficult target than expected.
CERN successfully initiates a stable fusion reaction based on the Flare research.
1981
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat narrowly survives an assassination attempt.
SuperTemps founded by Martin Huffner and Chris Albert.
Polish government declares martial law due to the rising influence of Solidarity in the working class.
General Assembly votes to extend South Africa’s suspension from the UN.
The first children of Project Xianxia are born in Sichuan Province.
1982
Over 500,000 people participate in an anti-nuclear demonstration in Central Park.
Linda “The Astronaut” Ravenhair rescues the crew of a Soviet Luna rocket that failed to achieve a stable orbit.
President Kennedy embargoes Libyan oil due to alleged ties to terrorist activities.
Iran-Iraq War: Iranian forces push the Iraqis back over the border, then continue onwards.
The 1982 Edicts: UN bans militarized superteams and strategic nuclear weaponry. In order to ensure the ban sticks, the International Super Teams are established. The first five IST embassies (IST New York, Moscow, Beijing, London and Paris) are emplaced. Completion of IST deployment is expected by 1995.
Argurous Astraph assumes command of IST.
CERN announces the development of the Geneva-process fusion reactor. The reactor design uses unique catalysts developed via study of Flare’s superpower. CERN hands control over reactor construction over to the United Nations, who promise to build fusion reactors in every member state as soon as possible.
1983
Devastating drought hits large parts of Africa. UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) assembles a force of weather controllers to mitigate the effects, saving hundreds of thousands from dehydration and famine. FAO’s ad hoc weather team reorganized into the International Weather Organization (IWO).
Mountain Klan War: Justice Society, Honor Guard and IST forces undertake a sweep of white supremacist organizations in the American Rockies after the assassination of Denver hero Goshawk by the neo-Nazi group the Order.
1984
Jonas Venture Sr. is elected President in the US, the single dumbest decision ever made by the American electorate.
USSR Secretary-General Andropov dies; he is succeeded by Konstantin Chernenko.
1985
Angola War: An attempted uprising against the Apartheid regime in South Africa collapses, the survivors fleeing into Angola with the South African military hot on their heels. IST forces intervene as the situation escalates into a South African invasion. While SA is pushed back over the border the conflict highlights deficiencies in IST training compared to the militarized South African metahuman forces. Seven IST members and 12 South African metahumans die in the conflict.
Iran-Iraq War: IST forces in West Asia begin humanitarian efforts in Iraqi Kurdistan, often clashing with elements of both the Iraqi and Iranian armies.
Blue Demon summoned.
South African government declares a state of emergency.
The last remnants of organized white supremacy in the American Rockies are captured by the Justice Society, ending the Mountain Klan conflict.
USSR Secretary-General Chernenko dies; he is succeeded by Mikhail Gorbachev.
1986
Scientists at the University of Rome announce that the genetic source of metahuman powers has been located. The identification is still fairly crude, and the scientists involved caution that this is just the beginning. This doesn’t stop the papers from being very hyperbolic about the whole thing.
A minor incident happens during the decommissioning of the Chornobyl fission power station in Pripyat, USSR.
The Metahuman in Combat by Watchdog (aka Sam Mitchell) published.
South Africa begins genetic screening of newborns.
1987
President Venture is killed in an accident aboard the Gargantua-1 space station. Vice President Howard Baker becomes President.
First Contact: An ambassadorial ship from the Federated Kingdom of the Meeranon People makes a very inauspicious landing in the River Thames some kilometers upstream from London. The ambassador within is recovered, dried off and taken to IST London for what proves to be not a long story, but an interesting one.
1988
FRANC probe lands on Earth, spends the year wandering around the planet interviewing people and taking pictures.
The General Assembly approves a tentative diplomatic and trade agreement between the United Nations and the Federated Kingdom. The Meeranon ambassador departs for Myrr, leaving the details on how the Meeranon stardrive works as a gesture of goodwill.
Gargantua-1makes an uncontrolled reentry and crash-lands in the Australian Outback, injuring a dozen people and terrorizing several thousand sheep.
Iran-Iraq War: The war comes to a conclusion with a UN-mediated ceasefire that sees borders restored to their pre-war state. Very few people are happy with this outcome but nobody has the power to dispute the resolution.
IWO shuts down Hurricane Gilbert before it strike Haiti; first major success in organized weather manipulation.
MV-2400 turinggrade artificial intelligence activated, quickly achieves consciousness or something indistinguishable from consciousness.
Gary Hart elected President in the US.
1989
Tienanmen Square Incident: Mass protests against widespread corruption in the Chinese Communist Party are staged in cities across China. CCP leadership authorized the army to disperse the crowd in Beijing’s Tienanmen Square, only to be blocked by the heroes of the Revolutionary Guard. The Guard allow the protesters to leave quietly. The image of the Chinese heroes standing between the crowd and the PLA becomes a worldwide sensation, and a public relations disaster for the CCP.
Deng Xiaoping resigns from the CCP due to the Tienanmen debacle; Jiang Zemin succeeds him as paramount leader.
An attempted purge of the Revolutionary Guard largely fails to quell dissent within the Chinese super community.
Loma Prieta earthquake (7.1 Richter) causes extensive damage in San Francisco. The Blue Demon manifests in the worst-hit area, hindering rescue efforts until driven off by the Justice Society.
Bureaucratic misunderstandings and buck-passing in the East German government result in the fall of the Berlin Wall.
New Atlantis, an underwater habitat developed by libertarian inventor Michael Farnsworth, is constructed in secret on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
Romanian Revolution begins, overthrowing dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in a lightning offensive involving three speedsters and several miles of electrical cord. (It’s a long story.)
1990
The Four-Hour War: Iraq invades and annexes Kuwait. The UN votes sanctions against Iraq and shuts down fusion plants in both countries. When troops aren’t withdrawn, an international force backed by IST assets is assembled and deployed, liberating Kuwait. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein surrenders to IST Baghdad.
Alleged Libyan chemical weapons plant explodes.
Manjil-Rudbar earthquake (7.4 Richter) occurs in Iran, causing widespread damage and upwards of 40,000 deaths. The Blue Demon appears shortly thereafter, adding more chaos.
Meernar trade convoy arrives in Earth orbit, beginning a regular cycle between Earth and Myrr.
IST Los Angeles stops a transcontinental murder rampage by five metahumans, only three of which survive the confrontation.
Documents relating to Project Xianxia are leaked, setting a fire underneath a lot of people’s chairs.
1991
Saddam Hussein is tried for a variety of crimes related to the invasion of Kuwait as well as the invasion of Iran in 1980. He is convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment; he will be held in a Swiss prison until a UN-controlled facility is completed.
Accomplished civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. dies of a heart attack at his home in Atlanta.
UN forces leave Iraq after the election of Tariq Haziz.
The Red Guardians very quietly put the brakes on a plot to overthrow Secretary-General Gorbechev.
The New Union Treaty goes into effect, reorganizing the USSR into the Union of Sovereign Socialist Republics.
The republics of Armenia, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania and Moldova declare independence from the USSR.
CERN scientist Tim Berners-Lee unveils the first World Wide Web server, unleashing it on an unwitting public.
World Court rules the MV-2400 computer is an intelligent being with all the rights of a human. Reactions are notably hyperbolic on all sides.
East and West Germany formally reunite.
The Warsaw Pact is formally dissolved.
Mt. Pinatubo erupts; IWO attempts to contain the ashfall but are unsuccessful.
General Orbital Manufacturing (GENOM) is founded in the US by enigmatic weeaboo millionaire James D. Quincy.
1992
Treaty of Masstricht signed, forming the European Union from the EEC.
UN Conference on Environment and Development, also known as the Earth Summit, opens in Rio de Janeiro.
Hurricane Andrew is dispersed by the IWO before it can do serious damage to the Caribbean.
An exhibition team of Meeranon athletes participates in the Barcelona Olympics.
IST Paris prevents a takeover of the Coix de Bergny fusion plant; terrorist leader L’Egotiste is captured.
Guatemalan forces make probing attacks into Honduran territory, prompting Honduran protests in the UN.
Hart reelected as US President.
Xavier Petrosian steps down as UN Secretary-General; Jey Thanipal of Pakistan succeeds him.
1993
IST St. Helena, the prison complex for wayward dictators and supervillains too dangerous to trust to other hypermax facilities, is brought online at a secret location in the southern Atlantic. The first customers are a former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and several members of the Deadly Dozen.
America Online computer network service allows users to connect to UseNet and the wider Internet for the first time.
Latur earthquake in India (6.2 Richter) kills 10,000 people. The Blue Demon appears and is killed by IST New Delhi.
First Meeranon immigrants petition UN for “Earth citizenship.”
The Fusion Shock: UNESCO announces that all UN member states are now operating on fusion energy. The program director proclaims “the end of the age of oil is upon us,” causing oil prices to drop precipitously over the rest of the year.
1994
Rwanda Crisis: Rwandan Patriotic Front successfully assassinates President Juvenal Habyarimana, setting off reprisal killings known as the Rwandan genocide. Commander of UN aid forces in Rwanda General Romeo Dallaire requests IST aid in stopping the genocidal attacks and restoring order in Rwanda, bringing a conclusive – if controversial – end to the genocide after twenty days. Dallaire and the IST field commanders hand themselves over to UN custody for courts-martial afterwards, inciting further controversy.
First appearance of active, overt anti-UN sentiment in the United States in the political mainstream following the Rwanda intervention.
Fusion Shock: Continued economic instability in oil-producing countries leads to political instability, particularly in West Asia.
Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles (6.7 Richter) kills 57; the Blue Demon shows up, as expected.
Ceasefire declared in Northern Ireland.
1995
The UN celebrates its 50th anniversary.
IST Hyderabad opens, the last planned embassy from the 1982 operations plan.
UN Security Council creates the Mbaye Diagne Medal for “those military, police, civilian United Nations personnel and associated personnel who demonstrate exceptional courage in the face of extreme danger while fulfilling the mandate of their missions or their functions, in the service of humanity and the United Nations.”
UNET connects to the wider Internet; MV-2400 immediately begins interacting with people on UseNet.
IST Academy established. While primarily intended to teach future IST members it’s open to all young metahumans regardless of career plans.
Supervillain Fabien “Archon” Lavere stages a coup in New Atlantis, overwhelming the original ancap homesteaders with raw force while promising the laborers a “new dawn of prosperity.”
GENOM launches the Satsuma-1 rocket, the first in a series of commercial launchers using reverse-engineered Meernar technology.
Fusion Shock: Oil prices finally stabilize roughly 55% lower than the 1993 peak. Commonly accepted as the end of the financial part of the Fusion Shock.
Fusion Shock: Seeing the sudden irrelevance of West Asia to the global economy, reformers in the Israeli government take a hard look at what they can get away with and start triangulating an exit strategy regarding relations with the neighbors.
1996
Singaporean researchers announce they’ve cracked the UN fusion process and can now produce working reactors.
Archon spreads the word of a haven for supervillains of certain character, located where no superteam has jurisdiction.
South Africa and Atlantis sign a secret accord similar to the SA-Network accord.
The first edition of the Whole Earth Grimoire is published. The Grimoire is the result of three decades of collaboration between mages, mathematicians and physicists seeking the underlying mechanics of magic.
Israel and Jordan sign a peace accord.
Actual, formal peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization begin in Cyprus, seeking a conclusive end to the conflict.
H. Ross Perot is elected in the US after a contentious campaign and the first Presidential runoff election in American history.
1997
Amerexit: Congress approves Perot Administration’s grand scheme to withdraw the United States completely from the UN.
The Singapore-process Nathan Hale Fusion Plant is activated in Bethesda, MD.
The United States withdraws from NATO, citing it as “an institution that has outlived its purpose.” NATO member states’ responses are quite colorful, and often unprintable.
European Union begins talks on whether or not (and how) to jointly take up control of NATO assets post US withdrawal.
A large saurian creature of unknown origin takes a brief stroll through Tokyo. IST Tokyo and the Sentai Elite repel the beast, which vanishes into the Pacific.
The Cyprus Accord is signed, formally ending the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Jey Thanipal steps down as UN Secretary-General; Nicola Friedman of Denmark succeeds him.
El Nino phenomenon causes unexpected and often devastating weather throughout the world despite IWO’s best efforts. Climate scientists outside the IWO begin asking where all the energy stored in the storms IWO dissipates goes.
South African government offers a devil’s bargain with the African National Congress, agreeing to partition the country along ethnic lines in a bid to just map their way out of the problem. The ANC’s response is summarized as “lol, also lmao.”
British super Adnan “Deep Pockets” Kala discovers a limited multiversal teleportation aspect to his power while undergoing a routine metabiology study. Deep Pockets is handed off to CERN for more intensive study.
1998
Israeli and Palestinian authorities announce a tentative agreement on how the proposed two-state solution is going to work. (It involves lots of very long bridges with extraterritoriality.)
UN formally removes the United States from its rolls; the American Permanent Mission to the United Nations is closed. The open permanent chair in the Security Council is awarded to the Republic of India.
UNHQ is transferred from New York to Geneva; the NY complex remains UN property but is shifted into basic maintenance mode.
All IST embassies within the territory of the United States close.
The Freedom*Star program for replacing former UN fusion plants within American territory begins in earnest.
Solomon Group, the first magitech corporation, founded.
1999
Argurous Astraph steps down as IST Commander; Witchwind of IST Tokyo succeeds her.
The Omega Saints cult attempts a mass killing in England by dosing paper napkins with a slow-acting nerve agent. The plot is foiled by SuperTemps UK employee Sam “Ken King” Mulrooney, who stumbles over the contaminated napkins while on assignment.
Precognitives around the world grow concerned about vision of inspecific disaster in the year 2000.
An enormous “Nautilus-like” submersible launches from the Pacific near Hawaii. The unknown ship, containing large amounts of questionably-sourced Meeranar technology, makes exactly five orbits of the Earth before lighting up the stardrive and vanishing for points unknown.
2000 to 2003
Millennium Crisis: A series of semi-orchestrated attacks happen globally, with multiple motives depending on the people involved. Some want to rule the world (or just their region), some have deeper ideological motivations and some just want to watch the world burn. IST, national and independent super forces are stretched to the absolute limit by the Crisis, but ultimately come out on top.
2000
Millennium Crisis: President Perot is assassinated by the Terror Society during the Super Tuesday primaries. Vice President Patrick Choate becomes President.
{a whole bunch of stuff happens this year, need to come up with more}
Colin Powell is elected President in the US, the first person of color elected President in US history. His mandate is to hunt down and destroy the Terror Society.
2001
Millennium Crisis: UN establishes the Crisis Event as the absolute line in all-hands-on-deck emergencies.
Millennium Crisis: The Terror Society retreats from the US to Guatemala under the protection of Dr. Radiation.
Guatemalan War: US formally declares war on Guatemala in general and Dr. Radiation in particular. US troops invade while Justice Society heroes go after Terror Society leaders and the dictator himself. Radiation dies in battle, taking JS leader Vanguard with him.
{more Millennium Crisis events go here}
The Tokyo kaiju makes a surprise appearance in Kowloon Bay. While it never comes ashore the beast does damage to underwater infrastructure around the city until its driven back to deep water by IST Hong Kong and the Revolutionary Guard.
The UN Conference on Meeting the Challenges of a New Century (also known as the Charter 2001 summit) is held in Toronto. The main topic of the summit is a renegotiation of the UN Charter, a debate between those who prefer the status quo and those who favor a stronger interventionist policy on the part of peacekeepers and IST. While no significant changes are made to the Charter at this conference, it lays the seeds for future strengthening of the UN as a body.
First structural elements of GENOM’s Genaros space station placed at Earth-Luna L5. The station is meant to be part research facility and part autarkic city-state ruled solely by GENOM.
2002
Millenium Crisis: The Iranian junta government, severely weakened by the Fusion Shock and internal dissent, collapses. The nation briefly dissolves into several competing factions: a fundamentalist Shia government around the city of Qom, the remaining generals in Tehran and a quasi-socialist Arab government in the southwest near the Iraqi border.
{more goes here as it needs to}
2003
Cultivator Wars: The products of Project Xianxia go rogue in Sichuan Province. The xianxia are powerful metahumans who’ve been raised on an innate sense of superiority and a pop-culture understanding of Taoism, and prove exceedingly dangerous opponents to the Revolutionary Guard.
{more as needed}
2004
The Tokyo kaiju appears again, this time in Hawaii. It comes ashore at Hickam Air Force Base and takes an extended nap on the runway before returning to open water.
Normality is Overrated: Videotapes are delivered to major network offices in New York and Los Angeles, claiming to be statements from Andy Kaufman, who had presumably died twenty years prior. FBI and Justice Society investigators are just as baffled as everybody else.
President Powell declines to run again, sparking a mad scramble among the parties to find an acceptable candidate.
Lincoln Chaffee is elected President in the US.
US troops leave Guatemala.
2005
Cultivator Wars: The conflict between the xianxia and Chinese-IST heroes expands outside of China with a xinaxia attack on Vladivostok; UN declares a regional Crisis Event for all supers in the western Pacific.
The autobiography of Dr. Radiation is found in the databanks of his ruined science-fortress and released publicly on the Internet. It provides an interesting look into the making of a supervillain from the villain’s perspective.
The Parachronic Revolution: CERN physicists announce a whole new branch of physics based on the study of Adnan Kala’s teleportation power. While practical applications are still some years away, the world now has access to multiverse.
UN establishes the UN Interworld Office (UNIWO) and the International Parachronic Laboratory (IPL) to handle all research into parachronics, exploration, diplomacy and anything else that might stem from CERN’s latest brainchild.
IST St. John’s embassy established to provide security and extra hands for IPL and UNIWO.
2006
The Tokyo kaiju surfaces briefly near Sydney, apparently having learned not to get too close to large human things. A photo of it with the Opera House in the background becomes one of the most-downloaded pictures of the year.
Jonas Venture Jr. and Thaddeus Venture release documents from the Venture Industries archives detailing deceased former President Jonas Venture’s dealings with supervillains, most of which seem to have been aimed at increasing his public profile as a hero. The elder Venture’s reputation hits a unique low.
Genaros completed; at 25km long and 1.6km in diameter it’s the largest thing ever built in the Earth-Moon system.
United States invests heavily into space infrastructure, as it seems the Parachronic Revolution is going to leave them behind.
2007
Cultivator Wars: The xianxia abandon China for a parallel plane that closely resembles medieval fantasy China, leaving hundreds of interplanar portals (the Jade Gates) scattered behind them in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. While no treaty or armistice is reached, this is considered the formal end of the Cultivator Wars.
Chinese government goes through, like, a whole lot of internal revolutionary activity as culprits for the war, Project Xianxia and everything else China’s had to deal with in the last two decades are found, blamed, and sacked/jailed/shot as needed.
Nicola Friedman steps down as UN Secretary-General; Kim Yi-Young of South Korea succeeds her.
The second edition of the Whole Earth Grimoire is published; the new edition contains preliminary notes on parachronic magic, as well as adaptations of traditional Meeranon folkways to the Unified Theory model.
2008
Joseph “Deacon Blues” Kasanski is elected President in the US, the first openly metahuman president in US history.
{more}
2009
Witchwind steps down as IST Commander; Paragon of IST Sydney succeeds her.
{more}
2010
{more}
2011
President Kasanski is caught in a kickback scandal involving his former employer the SuperTemps corporation, and resigns before the impeachment trial can catch up to him. Vice President William Marston becomes President.
The Blue Demon manifests near an apartment fire in Cairo, maiming 30 before IST Cairo can subdue the thing. Instead of being killed like usual, the Demon is bound and transferred to a secure site in Nunavut, Canada, for research into what keeps it bound to this material plane and how to make it go away forever.
2012
The December 2012 Crisis: An unexpected surge in supernatural energy leads to a multiversal bleedover event between Earth-1 and several other alternate versions of Earth. Of the worldlines involved in the crisis, the most amenable one is Earth-15 (a world without superheroes but with steampunkish magic-based technology) and the most dangerous is Earth-12 (a world where Nazi occultists dominate Europe and paranoid militarists rule pretty much elsewhere, and the whole thing is collapsing into multiple civil wars).
The Blue Demon vanishes from the Nunavut testing facility, prompting an immediate manhunt that turns up nothing.
2013
Formal diplomatic relations between Earth-1 and Earth-12 are established.
{more}
2014
{more}
2015
A research team from the Center for Ocean Exploration successfully tracks the Tokyo kaiju to its home base; an apparently-natural parachronic rift in the Pacific, 2,000 kilometers southwest of Easter Island. The rift is in deep enough water that getting an autonomous probe to it will prove a significant challenge.
UNIWO advance team on the presumably humanless worldline Earth-R04 makes contact with “Infinity Unlimited,” a megacorporation operating under the auspices of an alternate UN. The contact is somewhat frosty as the Infinity people seem to consider anybody using parachronics who isn’t them to be immediately hostile.
2016
Maria “Dawnglow’ Campbell is elected President, the second woman, second open metahuman and first LGBT person elected President in US history.
The third edition of the Whole Earth Grimoire published, the first one to contain Unified Theory diagrams for Earth-12 magic.
2017
Amereturn: Congress ratifies the Second Treaty of San Francisco, returning the US to the United Nations after almost twenty years away. President Campbell formally resigns the Charter in a ceremony in New York.
UNHQ New York and IST New York reactivated. American IST embassies are stood back up.
Genaros Incident: A small group of people claiming to be custom-grown homonculi flee Genaros with a suit of advanced power armor and a whole mess of receipts proving GENOM and CEO J.D. Quincy have been very naughty boys, doing sketchy bioengineering research out in space where nobody can hear the test subjects cry. The group crash-lands in Tokyo and despite GENOM mercenaries’ attempts to capture them successfully seek asylum at IST Tokyo.
GENOM pulls all its corporate assets out of the US, causing a minor economic crisis.
Kim Yi-Young steps down as UN Secretary-General; {name} of {place} succeeds her.
UN Environmental Program (UNEP) an UNIWO launch the Pleistocene Project, an ambitious moonshot of a program to return as much of Earth-1’s biosphere back to precivilizational condition as possible. The project will use worldlines without humans to proved the necessary seed stock for the rewilding.
2018
A multiversal convergence event happens in Japan, leading to a rash of isekai incidents where random teenagers are kidnapped to alternate worlds. UNIWO and IST establish multiversal search and rescue teams to track down and retrieve the kidnapped, popularly known as “Isekai Rescue.”
{more}
2019
The first Isekai Rescue manga go on sale in Japan, to the mild consternation of the UNIWO/IST teams involved.
IST Lunagrad established, the first offworld IST embassy. Lunagrad’s remit includes Luna, the Lagrange points and most of orbital space, which had been a “wild west” zone for decades at this point.
{more}
2020
Draka Crisis: Wildcat parachronic explorers draw the attention of the Domination of the Draka, a white supremacist empire from deep in the multiverse. The Draka attempt to invade using supersoldiers and biological warfare and are thrown back by the combined IST forces. The Drakan parachronic bridge is destroyed at the source by Telcontar of IST St. John’s.
Maria Campbell reelected as President in the US, the first two-termer since Hart in 1992.
2021
Telcontar awarded the Diagne Medal for her actions in the Draka Crisis; this is the first time the medal has not been awarded posthumously.
2022
Elizabeth II of Britain dies; Charles III becomes King of the UK.
Soyuz 22 exposition held in Moscow to celebrate the centennial of the USSR.
{more}
2023
The isekai phenomenon begins to ebb in Japan, much to the relief of Isekai Rescue.
2024
Apocalypse Why: INWO successfully makes contact with Earth-73, stumbles over a crisis event with the potential to escalate to multiversal scale.
Especially because I'm prone to misreading shit: I'd somehow gotten the idea reading the IST25 outline that the US had gone full Amerxit at some point, which colored some of my initial worldbuilding until I reread it and realized that I'd fucked that up. So, experts.
