Discussion How Do You Handle the Timeline of Chaos?

[Kitter Bitters]

So a discussion in chat got me to thinking about the board timeline. I guess it never occurred to me that we all might handle it differently but now that I realize that I am excited to see how people handle the timeline?

Do you stick with the current year (902 ABY) until the staff change it? Do you do something different?

In your head cannon right now... what year is it?

 

[Drexel Quinn]

How do I handle it? Pretty poorly I guess lol. I haven't paid as much attention to it as I probably should've all things considered, especially when I was first starting out. Given this character's backstory, he should probably be a lot older, at least in his 70s, but oh well.

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

The last jump of ~25 years was too much so I ignore it. I don't really deal with dates much, but in my mind it's probably ~30-35 years since the start of the board's timeline.

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

The official timeline is always a good guide as far as when exactly stuff is happening, but filling in the gaps is something I usually try not to overthink. I find that the easiest way to go about things for me is to spit one IRL year into two IC years so that I'm aging my characters up at a pace that matches their development. From there it's just a matter of being open to staying flexible. 900 to 902 fits in that 2 year system I have, but the last jump was like 20 years kek. It all depends on how you want to deal with things. I know there are folks who have written characters around the same age for like ten years of their real life, and that's a choice you can make if you want. As long as the continuity feels right I'd say you're probably handling things just fine.

 

[Syn]

Flowcharts and lots of notes

or I ask Kitter Bitters any questions she is like the ultimate source of information when it comes to the board.... and super obscure lore that can be used for the codex and factory.

 

[Kitter Bitters]

Flowcharts and lots of notes

or I ask Kitter Bitters any questions she is like the ultimate source of information when it comes to the board.... and super obscure lore that can be used for the codex and factory.

 

[Jonyna Si]

I only joined about 2 years ago, and even I ignore it.

time is whatever I need it to be. Things happen to my character in an order, but whatever happens is not stuck to a timeline, but rather a sequence.

 

[Kitter Bitters]

I only joined about 2 years ago, and even I ignore it.

Whoa really? It seems like you have been here forever! You really became a deep part of the board quickly.

 

[Revna Marr]

I use the Timeline as a sort of guide. I actually do something really similar to what Jasper mentioned above. A irl year for me is about 2 IC years. I've been writing on the board for 2 irl years so 4 or 5 years have passed for my main character (Revna). I don't really do a hard "date" (ie 902, etc) but I've been involved in threads that span from 900 to 905 ABY so I kinda just go with the flow for what makes sense for my stories. Right now the year probably falls in the time frame of 905 ABY for most of my stories but again, I don't really hold fast to that.

 

[Aether Verd]

I loosely use it whenever I'm making a brand new character's backstory. If there's anything relevant in the timeline that would have impacted their childhood or whatever, I'll mention it.

I strictly use it on my oldest character's biography because it's hilarious to me that he's over 100 years old now.

 

[Kitter Bitters]

I loosely use it whenever I'm making a brand new character's backstory. If there's anything relevant in the timeline that would have impacted their childhood or whatever, I'll mention it.

I strictly use it on my oldest character's biography because it's hilarious to me that he's over 100 years old now.

Was he frozen in time??

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Ignore it for the most part.

 

[Aether Verd]

Was he frozen in time??

Nope! He was born in 801 ABY - naturally lived a hundred Chaos years

 

[Quinn Varanin]

Fluid timeline is amazing

 

[Ko Vuto]

To be honest its a bit dependent on the character for me. When I made Ko it was very soon after the 25 year time skip so his background and overall narrative was made with that in mind since he would've been born during it. Even though it's largely ignored. Which I can understand, most folks wouldn't be thrilled with having their young adult characters suddenly turned middle aged overnight.

Approaches to a more fluid timeline also work I believe, and because I just love to overthink things have come the the conclusion that a more fluid timeline is not just believable but even sorta realistic. Especially when being a turbo nerd and taking things like time dilation and relativity into account along with methods for suspended animation.

 

[Makai Dashiell]

I pay little attention to it, otherwise I wouldn't be able to tell all the stories I want to.

The planet shift thing I did a little minor time jump as it suited character story at the time. If it were to happen again say next month, I'd largely ignore it since I'm not done with this arc.

 

[Joy]

I follow the current timeline. For my characters it is 902 ABY. However, I have written with other people who have wrote that it is a different year. For example, at the recent GE dominion for Fenris, the op wrote that it was 903 ABY and so I went along with that.

 

[Pal Veda]

I don’t engage much in major factions, map gaming, etc., so the timeline is largely irrelevant for my characters.

Pal Veda started off as a teenager a few years older than me 25 OOC years and three galaxies ago, and he has largely reflected my IRL age since I turned 16 or 17. Having him mirror me physically helps me more accurately write him as a grounded NFU. I know how high I can jump, I know how fast I can run, I know how bad a hangover hurts after I drink one too many. If I had to age him up with the timeline, he would be too old to do any of the things he does, forcing me to retire him and start anew. And I don’t have time to make a new character!

Hwo ’s age is flexible. Jedi and certain near human species have longer lifespans. I write him as appearing roughly a few years older than me while acknowledging he has been around for quite a bit longer than that without ever specifying his exact age or birth date.

 

[Connel Vanagor]

Connel: I GET IT!!! Kat's birthday is coming up! I'm going shopping for somethjng!

 

[Audren Sykes]