| [Unknown] |
- "Regional spiritual directorship" over humanity
granted to as-yet-unknown individual. Assigns self identity of
"Maritza". |
| [Unknown] |
- Cairn of stones constructed on then-scrubland
plain at Acancéh, in the Yutacan peninsula. The area itself is
unusually rich in ultradense metals, which were used in the
construction of the earliest known Board buildings. |
| [~ First Century AD] |
- First catacombs and underground halls tunnelled
out of Mohaborad Peak, in southern Tibet. Some form of disintegration
method was apparently used, as the lowest levels contain traces of
monatomic dust. |
| [~1800] |
- Earliest date of Board documentation, a
bookmark found in the pages of a copy of The Prophecies of Mother
Shipton, in the British Museum Library - it reads "thise woman
badly nedes a profe-reeder". |
| [1867] |
- First documented reference to Board assets in
Mexico - repair logs following damage sustained during the ousting of
Emperor Maximilian. |
| [~1870] |
- First logs of electronic communication - "TRC"
- "Telegraph Relay Chat". These typed files were the first documents to
be stored in the original Archives.
- Date of surviving purchase records of prototype Krupp cannon deemed
"unworkable" by terrestrial governments after demonstrations at the
Great Exhibition. Attached armoury documents support theories that the
weapon was thoroughly overhauled after purchase, suggesting heavy
workshop equipment/abilities were available at the time. |
| [~1880] |
- Dates of "himi was here (and bored)" graffiti
(discovered in Nordhausen Caverns), and "All your poppies are belong to
us" graffiti (discovered in Himalayas, in poor Chinese).
- Oldest known records of a duel thread - Tchernobyl censured an
unknown entity for Godmoding. |
| [~1900] |
- First known BoardiePic, in Tahiti New Years'
Celebrations.
- First records of Board operation in United States - suppression
action against "Simplified Spelling Board" - regarded by archivists of
the time as a "really stupid potential name".
- Recruitment of Doctor Nikolai Tesla on his "death" forms earliest
known record of Weird Science. |
| [1907] |
- First successful high-energy magic rituals
performed in Tunguska, Siberia. Team involved are later lost the next
year while trying to beat their own record. |
| [~1912] |
- First use of combat aircraft in Greco-Turkish
war. Documents show rapid Board R&D efforts following extensive
observation of the craft in action. |
| [~1918] |
- Recruitment of Graf Zeppelin by an individual
identified as "head of Central European Operations" - one "Graf
Eisenballen". |
| [~1930] |
- Founding of German Commerzbank in
aftermath of Wall Street Crash. Beginnings of Board financial
manipulation in Imperial Europe and, as immigration increased, the
Americas. |
| [~1940] |
- Board intervention in ULTRA program leads to
Allied "miraculous" cracking of ENIGMA codes.
- Recruitment of Alan Turing forms oldest memories in earliest Board AI
mainframes. |
| [1945] |
- Hiroshima leads to shock among Boardies at
levels of power in mundane world. R&D efforts firmly stepped up -
internal power struggles between conservative magicians and "radical"
advocates of technological progress begin. |
| [1952] |
- Date of first construction requests for atomic
materials. First Board nuclear tests occur later this year. Cover-ups
blame Russia. |
| [1957] |
- Sputnik launched, despite "mysterious
perturbations in orbit". Board space program swiftly follows. Laika
recruited later that year, the first step in an illustrious career that
culminated in her directorship in 1973. |
| [~1960] |
- Board sponsorship of ARPANET begins, later
flowering into the Information Age. |
| [1968] |
- Release of infamous arthouse film "Yellow
Submarine" - records show entire Speculation team reprimanded for
"being too bloody obvious". |
| [1974] |
- Comet "Kohoutek" enters solar system with twin
tails, now widely recognised as first portent of the End Times.
Correlation to events on Earth remains unknown. |
| [1979] |
- Second known portent identified - mass
blackouts paralyse many major western cities. Blackout later spreads to
astral planes via unknown means - all known forms of divination
performed in the Americas produce nought but the haunting sounds of a
crying newborn baby, only to end on Christmas Day as abruptly as it
began. |
| [1979-1980] |
- Proclamations by the Goddess in the wake of the
events of the previous year trigger first Board mass recruitment drive.
Although the fledgling organisation's list
of potential children born in this period includes figures who will
later be of extreme interest, they go unnoticed amid thousands of
similar births. |
| [1985] |
- Board recovery of the hulk of the wrecked
Soviet submarine K-219 triggers the great nuclear arms race as
Reaganism and fear over portents lead to massive nuclear buildup.
Accident at hidden stockpiles in Sellafield lead to decommissioning of
base there. The project is later abandoned as unworkable, leaving
dozens of unused warheads rotting in storage facilities. Board assets
later purchase remains of Woomera rocket-testing base in central
Australia, for use as silos. |
| [1986-88] |
- Chernobyl disaster. Subsequent Board
investigations turn up nagging inconsistencies in evidence - missing or
obviously falsified logs, nonsensical eyewitness reports, and - most
worrying of all - signs of direct intervention by unknown forces
capable of "making our reality rewrites look like Tip-Exx". Similar
traces discovered at an accident at the USAF Ramstien base in 1988
cement Board fears that someone is deeply interested in nuclear
facilities. Later investigation also uncovers missing NBC equipment,
attempts by persons unknown to sabotage the SALT disarmament talks, and
traces of quasi-occult tampering around several missile silos. |
| [1990] |
- Launch of Hubble Space Telescope. Careful
sabotage of the lens array prevents discovery of frantic Board efforts
to move their own satellites into lower orbits.
- Collapse of USSR ends concern over immediate WW3 - however, the
subsequent haemorrhage of Soviet equipment onto the black market does
nothing to assuage Board fears.
- Hazel Green begins adopting a number of homeless children from urban
ghettos in several major cities, announcing their "births" to the world
at large over the next few years. |
| [1993] |
- Board attention attracted to young girl in
Georgian orphanage, due to sheer number of accidental deaths
surrounding her. Intervention officially authorised when total lack of
any form of birth records is discovered. Entire team reported MIA
within six months.
- Public inquiry into string of disappearances and gruesome murders in
Maine forest ends with no results. Board interest attracted by wild
rumours of werewolves in surrounding area.
- First official occult suppression teams created after Speculation
uncover what appear to be genuine instances of possession and
successful occurrences of ritual summoning/binding. First formal
warthreads created to train them. |
| [1994] |
- Spectacular string of hostile takeovers and
corporate buyouts of American aeronautics companies by old-money,
Kentucky-based Green family. Board attention is attracted by a later
defence contract scandal revealing the family have controlling
interests in half the military suppliers of the Western
hemisphere...and a number of Siberian seperatist movements long
suspected of funneling nuclear material to terrorist outlets. |
| [1995] |
- Correlation of long-term observation of
Margaret Browning reveals a high school friend continually appearing in
analysis material. Despite the extremely disturbing death rate
continuing to surround her, this individual appears to survive
everything such skewed probability throws at him. Speculation teams are
dispatched to investigate...the first of many.
- First known conviction of Marsha Hart (for aggravated assault).
- Second public inquiry into a series of murders dubbed "copycat
killings" of the earlier killing spree. Board reopens werewolf
investigation, with minimal results. |
| [1997] |
- Final correlation of "werewolf" research
establishes link between murders and family constantly resident in
areas of killings. Observation initiated on the family's twin children
- temporarily suspended when both not only uncover surveillance teams,
but reduce them to near-catatonia in barrage of obscure puns and trivia.
- Board party visits travelling circus in Washington State. The
potential significance of this event is not uncovered until much later.
|
| [1998] |
- Occult activities at all-time low worldwide.
The calm before the storm... |
| [1999] |
- The period Boardies would later refer to as
"Year Zero" begins...
- A bitterly cold winter ends with a Board US DOE data tap red-flagging
the sudden application and immediate acceptance of no less than five
current surveillance subjects into the same college. Analysis of the
female candidates rapidly adds a sixth to the list - April Sommers.
- Board attempts to bribe selection board to defuse the situation
are rebuffed - investigation discovers selection board already bribed
by Green front company! |
