A thought on timelines

[Sieve]

Perhaps it would be good to include an OOC comment at the beginning of a thread to note where this is taking place in the timeline.  Since we have so many people in multiple threads it may help to keep things in perspective.  Often we reference other events in our posts that may not sync up with what other people have posted.  On top of that some posts are assumed to have covered a lengthy period of time.

 

For instance in my mind all the open RP's that Perivar is involved in have taken place prior to the trip with Loraine Sedai, Master Kynwric, and Mistress Thera.  Also in my mind I have each RP set in its place.  Even though the Basic Fitness thread is just finishing it spanned six months.  Due to the nature of the class I have it in my mind that it took place in Perivar's first year in the yards.  Threads like Wilderness Survival would be in the second year closer to the L,K, and T take the trainees on a trip to Disney thread.

 

Why is this an issue, we will use Visar's arrival as a case in point.  Four of us are about to be raised to TG.  Visar just arrived though he is in our basic fitness thread.  So by my timeline he either arrived shortly after most of us or at the latest 6 months after we began.  It may not seem like much but it can cause a lot of confusion in the future.

 

I am too lazy to look right now but do we have any idea what year we are in and in what age in the DRPSW.  Again I am too lazy to check the Age and my feeble mind does not allow me to recall whether it is the 3rd or 4th age.  Perhaps we can come up with some sort of calendar for use in posting new threads so we can be certain where they fall into place in the grand scheme of things.  When the initial poster posts they can simply list in the opening post where we are in reference to time.

 

Just a few thoughts...

[Raeyn]

 

Yeah, we tend to pretend that everything is retro to avoid any real mixups.

 

As for the 'real' timeline, I believe we're in 999.

 

I say that 'everything is in retro' for the simple fact that otherwise, some of these Warders would have literally been alive for 600+ years to match the ages of their Sisters come and past.  Which they haven't, obviously. 

 

Take for example Matalina and Raeyn.  When we initially bonded, I think I had Raeyn at 160~.  She's 265~ now, and yet Matalina and herself have only known each other say.. a decade in Matalina's time.  Which is fine; we have to keep things relatively mutable to  keep things from getting too hairy :)

[Quisalas Selene]

This is all very changeable.  In Visar's arrival thread, Thera mentions the ring Jasine gave her after everyone got back from the Caemlyn/Whitecloak trip. 

 

Some things are probably just never going to match up.  Like if any of the trainees that Jasine knows bonds to any of the Aes Sedai that his sister knows.  They'd have to be in their 30-40's before any of Selene's fellow Novices can bond any of Jasine's friends.  It just gets complicated.

 

It is a good idea to have a general timeline for your own posts, just so you know when everything happens and what you should know.  Especting other people to follow the same timeline makes things difficult, especially when you involve the Aes Sedai.  Because Aes Sedai take so long in their training and can't be sitters of Ajah Heads until they're really old, the training boards exist in their own little side pocket of reality, and doesn't have much to do with what the PSW timeline says.

 

If a trainee and an accepted meet when they were young (like Kynwric & Loraine) and one of the other trainees who studied with Kynwric bonded to a sister who wasn't advancing her age, it's entirely possible that could end up with two people who were 20 at the same time together being 32 and 60 at the same time in a later piece of roleplay because of the established ages of their Aes Sedai versus each other.

[Sieve]

Yeah I see your points, I knew it couldn't be that easy.  ;)

[Matalina]

I keep a timeline of my own characters which is blurred from the get go but I do take into consideration how other key figures meld into the timeline.  Raeyn is the only one who can't cause well she's an Aes Sedai and we were bonded for so many OOC years that it got majorly blurred in the timeline to cover what needs to.  But people like Demus, Yearn, Kate, Aiden, Fawne, Alex, etc, ppl that I've had key relationships with or or part of her family have to agree that things have changed.  For example we've aged a year since meeting, mostly because of all the things they've done couldn't have happened in a short period of time.  Traveling is not instanteneous...

 

But where it comes to non-pivotal characters let them throw it in the time line where it's needed.  The timeline is so screwed from a big picture we'd never straighten it out.  Just keep your timeline in control and you will be good.  Everyone elses will just be blurred into yours.

 

[Liitha]

yeah and training in general is seen as retro out of time as its just imposible elsewise

[Eqwina]

*nods* As long as you can keep what your character has done straight you should be fine.

 

But maybe with people you are rping with *cough* Kabria it could be a good thing to talk about OOCly :)