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:
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 gave 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. 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; one is damaged as it attempts to land in Southern Europe and crash lands 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.
(Done thru Month 163)
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
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