Timeline

Timeline

Timeline covering the major events in the story of the Sins of a Solar Empire games.

10,000+ YEARS AGO

The Vasari Empire ruled over countless worlds. Relentless and unstoppable, their Dark Fleet sought to eclipse ever more civilizations into their growing empire. Those that would not serve would be enslaved and their development curtailed. Little more is known of this period except for legends of past glory.

10,000 YEARS AGO

THE VASARI EXODUS FLEET
Exactly what happened remains a mystery, but something brought the once unstoppable Vasari Empire to an abrupt end. With their worlds destroyed and their species all but wiped out, the survivors began a desperate race to outrun their past in a mass exodus fleet. This event would forever scar the Vasari psyche.

~7,500-5,000 YEARS AGO

THE GREAT SCHISM
The Great Schism saw the end of human civilization in the galaxy and the start of a long dark age. During this period, worlds were ravaged, technologies lost, and history forgotten. With each planet isolated, they were left to recover on their own with the scars of racial memory. What occurred during this period would pass into legend, and then into total obscurity.

1,500 YEARS AGO

FORMATION OF THE TRADE ORDER
The Trade Order is formed by a group of economically driven settlers. Each planet in the Trade Order would operate as its own sovereign entity, but with free trade across member worlds. Despite the large amount of autonomy allowed in forms of government and culture, a strict set of laws were enforced across members against un-natural augmentation and other taboos.

1,000 YEARS AGO

THE EXILED
During an expansionary mission of the Trade Order, emissaries found a single world orbiting a giant red star on the periphery of what was to become Trader Space. The people of that desert planet were eventually found to be practicing the utmost in scientific and social deviancy; ancient taboos long since assumed to be law. Shocked and disgusted, the Trader Worlds conspired to have their forgotten brethren exiled far outside the territory they were claiming as their own.

1,000 TO ~30 YEARS AGO

AGE OF PROSPERITY
For nearly a millennium the Trade Order would experience widespread growth and peace. With only the usual problems of piracy, this golden period would be known as the Age of Prosperity.

35 YEARS AGO

THE VASARI EXODUS FLEET ARRIVES
The Trader Worlds prospered in an era of lucrative trade and relative peace. Stories of their ancestors’ wars had long since passed into the depths of the oldest archives; the methods and machines by which they conducted those affairs long since buried. Consequently, when the Vasari Exodus Fleet arrived, the outlying Trader Worlds paid dearly.

In a battle for survival, the Traders find a new impetus to rediscover the ways of their savage past.

32 YEARS AGO

FORMATION OF THE TRADER EMERGENCY COALITION
With the Vasari Exodus Fleet easily wiping aside Trade Order defenses that were only ever meant to combat piracy, the member worlds decide to take drastic action. Agreeing to set aside some of their autonomy in order to fight the war, the Trader Emergency Coalition is formed to coordinate defenses and drive back the Vasari.

25 YEARS AGO

RETURN OF THE EXILED ADVENT
The Exiled have returned; a transformed people calling themselves “The Advent.” With a vast fleet of advanced warships and mysterious weapons, they bring a growing number of worlds under their control. The already struggling Trader Emergency Coalition finds itself caught in a two-front war that appears utterly hopeless.

20 YEARS AGO

STALEMATE
After nearly 15 years, the war which has raged across dozens of star systems neared a stand-still. The great fleets of the Trader Emergency Coalition, the Vasari Empire and the Advent approached stalemate. With the fronts temporarily stabilized, each race took the time to regroup and entrench. Great defensive battlestations were deployed and critical choke points fortified, while all sides prepared for an all-out offensive.

10 YEARS AGO

DIPLOMACY
With more than a quarter century of constant warfare behind them, the factions began to look for alternative solutions to their conflict. Many of those in the Trader Emergency Coalition feared that their people were losing their identity, while others felt their leaders failed them after promising safety that wasn’t delivered. Some members of the Advent started to wonder if their course of vengeance was the right one to follow, while the Vasari simply wanted to escape the region with as many resources as possible. Such conditions lead to opening of talks between the three major races for the first time, in the hopes that their envoys would finally bring peace.

5 YEARS AGO

CIVIL WAR
While many were hopeful that diplomacy would finally end the war, differing opinions on what should be done, along with the depleted power of the controlling factions, has led to a splintering of the groups involved.

The loyalist members of the Trader Emergency Coalition adopt a policy of isolation, focusing on enhanced defenses to ride out the rest of the war. Those who rebel against the coalition take on a purely militant view, coming to the opinion that the only way to bring peace is by ultimately crushing all who oppose them - especially Xenos.

For the first time in their history, the war creates a schism in the Advent Unity. The loyalists seek to continue their policy of revenge against the Traders, and to assimilate all others to the Unity’s influence. However, others amongst the Advent suspect that a corrupting influence from within has diverted the Unity from its proper destiny.

The divide created in the Vasari Empire is less pronounced, but just as severe to their people. With the Vasari now practically frantic to move on to new space, the loyalist faction abandons cooperation and decides to take the resources they need by any means necessary. Having accepted the need to work together, the rebel faction feels that their best chance for survival is to work with the other races and bring them along to flee the approaching enemy.

PRESENT

Now is a time of many unknowns as both the internal and external strife between the races seems to be stuck in a cycle of reprisals. Despite constant infighting, the Vasari are desperate to move on from this region of the galaxy and suffer from a growing dread. Whatever the future holds, time is running out...