Timeline Notes

Timeline Notes

   This is a chronological list of notes about the Swarm Cycle's Timeline.  Essentially, it's all the stuff that SHOULD be on the timeline but makes it too unwieldy.  Instead, the timeline table was stripped to quick references and all the extended explanation stuff moved here.
   All of the 'red' story mentions for stories that never got published have been moved here, too.

   Philosophy: As has been mentioned elsewhere, a story about an interstellar war can be placed in just about any setting you can imagine.  Things change.  Change is constant.  Things may change slowly, when a society is stable, but things change FAST in wartime.  New weapons are invented, new tactics are developed, you take this territory and can use it for new advances, you lose that territory over there and have to scramble to shore up the hole in your defenses.  A writer who chooses to use a war as background for their story has to look at the timeline.  Tools, locations, attitudes will all change as the calendar shifts.  The following is taken from Zen Master's notes to proofreaders for his story "Ship's Morale Officer":

   Look at an ordinary seaman in the Royal Navy during World War Two.  In 1941, he had no expectation of surviving the war.  Africa had both German and Italian armies advancing on every front.  France had fallen and he and his buddies were all that kept the Nazi juggernaut out of England.  Russia was siding with the Axis powers and Japan was expanding in every direction, and Britain had nothing to reinforce its colonies in the far east with. 

   Things were so desperate that the British government approved the Lend-Lease agreement, where the US 'lent' the RN fifty old WW1 destroyers in return for 99-year basing leases in assorted Empire places all over the world.  As hard-pressed as the Royal Navy was, those fifty obsolete and worn-out tin cans were a significant reinforcement to what was left of the Royal navy. 

   By 1944, though, only three years later, an RN ordinary seaman had no doubt of future victory.  The US had entered the war, giving the Allies access to, not only the huge military we had built, but also the immense American industry.  The Battle of the Atlantic was well on its way to being won, and England had as many as it wanted of any of the warfighting tools that the US could build. 

   By 1944, Africa had been cleared of Axis soldiers.  The Americas were all either secure allies or, at worst, neutrals.  Australia and India were secure from Japanese attack.  There was still a lot of fighting to be done, but Germany and its allies were firmly on the defense.  They would remain on the defense until the war ended.  In Berlin, in Rome, and in Tokyo. 

   A naval story 'set during WW2' would have to reflect those differing conditions, locations, weapons, and attitudes.  A story set in the Swarm Cycle has the same problem.  We have a timeline that we have all agreed on, and a writer can either pick a time and write to match that, or decide upon the conditions he wants to use and then look at the timeline to decide where and when his story can be set.  On top of that, it's an interstellar war, so the location can be any of hundreds of planets -which are all busily developing their own take on Confederacy culture- or even out in space.

Year 0

Month 0: The Swarm Cycle's 'calendar' is referenced to Year Zero and Month Zero being the month of the first armed clash between Confederacy/Human and Sa'arm forces.  There had been many contacts before this, but this was the first one in which the Confederacy/Human side could fight back.  Two Castles destroy two Sa'arm scout ships but are forced to flee from the rest of the Sa'arm fleet. See The First Command.
Month 0: Unpublished story Patrol Commander by Zen Master

Year 2

Month 24: Unpublished story Ace in the Hole by swarmfic

Year 3

Month 25: Unpublished story You Knew What I Was When You Picked Me Up by swarmfic
Month 26: Unpublished story Mobile Infantry by swarmfic
Month 30: Unpublished stories The Case Of The Missing Kittens by swarmfic and The Menace from Perth by swarmfic
Month 31: Unpublished story The Pied Piper of Irwin by swarmfic
Month 34: Unpublished story Snake Eaters by swarmfic

Year 4

Month 38: Unpublished story Carl's Journey by Baron Rod
Month 40: Unpublished story Valkyries by swarmfic
Month 41: Unpublished story Be Prepared by swarmfic
Month 43: Unpublished story Bound 'n Determined by Medik_4_7
Month 44: Unpublished story Girl Scout Cookies by swarmfic
Month 48:   A rumor that Mexico is on the Confederacy exclusion list brings a flood of poorly-prepared emigrants to the US.  In response, the US seals its Mexican border.  Due to the increasing violence, the Confederacy suspends extractions in the US unless the venue can be secured.  Reports begin to circulate that terrorist organizations with EF leanings are being sponsored by the former drug cartels from South America who wish a return to the status quo.

Year 5

Month 49: Proposed: "Ranch Rescue", a Texas vigilante border patrol, calls on all its members to participate in a ‘cull’ of immigrants.  In Brazoria County, the "South Texas Light Infantry Militia" group are involved in a running conflict with state and federal troops investigating shootings at a nearby refugee camp.
Month 50: Proposed: Mexico demands that the US opens its borders on humanitarian grounds.  Mexican forces are put on alert.
   Unpublished story Targets of Opportunity by Frostfyre
   Unpublished story Liberty Ships by swarmfic
Month 52: Various anti-'Earth First' organizations begin to be noticed.  Being military in nature, they are initially regarded with suspicion but as time goes by they all come under the "Einherjar" umbrella and the Confederacy begins to provide intelligence support.
   Unpublished story A Fire in the Sky by swarmfic (unpublished)

Year 8

Month 96: Unpublished story Basic Training by Akarge

Year 13

Month 150: After the Swarm landing in Africa it becomes immediately clear that the locals cannot destroy the 'infestation'.  The rest of the world treats it as a training exercise, sending some help but never enough to win.  Sure, all this experience is great, but wouldn't it be better to send what the job actually needs, expend the lives and resources and, you know, WIPE THE INVADERS OUT?  On the other hand, the Confederacy still has complete control of the orbitals so extractions are still possible.  Business will continue as usual.  No, that's not a problem, it's just Africa after all.

Year 14

Month 162: The 'left hook' - An immense Sa'arm fleet arrives at Earthat.  The defense was both prepared and commanded by leaders who know what they're doing and have nothing to learn from the colonies' experience.  Yes, the defenders win, barely.  The few survivors do not understand what just happened.
   During the main battle in space, a group of three Sa'arm Vacuna scout ships land in Texas but are quickly destroyed by rednecks and artillery -see One Day in Texas.
Month 163: The 'uppercut' - A month later, an even larger Sa'arm fleet arrives, and the crippled defenders can do little to stop them.  One hive ship is destroyed in space while unloading; one is damaged as it attempts to land in Southern Europe and crashes in Antarctica.  The remaining five land in Australia, central India, western Siberia, north-western Brazil, and Manitoba, Canada.  The accompanying escort fleet lands with them, providing the hive ships with a ring of armored heavy artillery.  Among other things, the hive ships also disgorge several hundred 'gunboats' which cannot fight in space but are impervious to almost everything the locals have.
Month 163: Proposed: All the adults in Russia have been drafted to defend the Motherland from the invading swarm. NATO sends military aid, and as the transports would otherwise return nearly empty from the front, Mother Russia sends her children west hoping she can buy their lives with their parent's blood.
   Unpublished story The Last Train from Moscow by swarmfic
Month 165: The Brak-Beerat-Jutland “7th District Combined Fleet” arrives at Sol and institutes a close blockade of Earth with shipboard weapons.  They can do little to help the defenders on the ground, though, as their newer anti-ship weapons are TOO powerful to use on a planet that they want to use.  Still, the Sa'arm start to lose all of their surface facilities including anything still on or in their landed ships.  See Ending This Mess.

Year 15

Month 170: Most of South America falls, almost as fast as the Swarm can travel.  Southern Argentina and Chile hold out and the Swarm does not cross the Andes.  India falls and the Swarm follow the Himalayas east.  The Chinese field a massive army that stops the Swarm in Myanmar.  The African Swarm spreads north through the middle east and southern Europe while the Siberian Swarm is stopped and forced south and west into central Europe.  The rican military cuts Panama in half and blockades South America.  The smaller Swarm landing in Manitoba slowly spreads through the center of Canada and the United States, but intense bombardment and ground fighting stop them, leading to a stalemate.

Year 16

Month 192: Unpublished stories Drake's Drum and Bilfrost by Swarmfic

Year 17

Month 195: The fifth Sa'arm invasion fleet to reach Sol System is easily destroyed.  The defenders have enough warning to clear out all noncombatant ships, and when the two gestalts meet the fleet is destroyed during the lock-up period.

Year 18

Month 212: Historians consider this time to be when the Sa'arm held their greatest control over Earth, and even then it was clear that the worst was past.  After this, the surviving humans slowly push them back.  The defenders have unlimited supply support from the colonies and the outer system, and orbiting platforms provide all the artillery support they can ask for.  Replicators supplied by outer-system mines feed the survivors while many isolated Sa'arm groups start to run low on food.  The Sa'arm are just as exhausted as the Humans and cannot move at all anywhere on the surface.  The two American forces as well as the Australian force are completely isolated from the main mass in Africa/Asia/Europe.  The resources the main Sa'arm force used to take Europe cannot be replaced.
   At this point in time, the Swarm control all of Africa and Australia, all of South America except Patagonia and the southern Pacific coast, and most of Europe and Asia, but only a small part of central North America.
   In Asia, Russia still holds a small pocket around the Urals and have been able to prevent the Sa'arm from considering most of Siberia to be secure.  China is shielded by the Gobi Desert to the west, the Mongolian mountains to the north, and the Pamirs and Himalayan mountains to the south.  Both southeast Asia and all of Oceana except for Australia have been kept clear of the Swarm.
   In North America, the Swarm only control the central plains.  The US is clear from both coasts inland to the Mississippi River in the east and to the Rockies in the west.  To the south, Lubbock and Dallas are both evacuated several times but never lost.
   In Europe and the north Atlantic, Iceland and Ireland are safe.  Britain is still being fought over but will eventually be cleared.  Denmark is a constantly fought over no-man's-land.  Scandinavia is kept clear of Sa'arm as are the upper Alps and Himalayas.

Year 19

Month 221: Proposed: North America is declared free of Sa'arm.  The declaration turns out to be premature by two years, but the announcement is a huge moral boost to all defenders.  The North American Defense Force starts helping in other continents, starting with Siberia, Chile, and Denmark. (ZM proposal)

Year 40

Month ??: Proposed: The "Restrictions", a set of limits placed on the availability of various Confederacy technologies, went into effect around Year 40.  The exact date is not yet known.

Year 80

Month ??: Unpublished story Ship's Morale Officer by Zen Master

See Also

• Timeline

(Someday this will be a navigation template.  It will provide a bar across the bottom of each article with useful navigation links.  Until then, this is just a placeholder to get rid of all the red "broken link" indicators. -ZM User (talk) 10:00, 3 May 2024 (PDT))