Once all the epochs have been reshuffled stack them atop each other with the earliest epoch on top. For scenarios specifying the Dawn of Time setup, use the following procedure. Deal 3 empire cards to each player. I begins, scoring as if in epoch I. Do not distribute a new empire card after these 4 empires. For other scenarios, use the board setup for the starting year.
Players roll dice with low choosing which player number to be.
After all players have chosen a player number, then player one draws the top empire cards and distributes it, it may not be discarded. The receiving player may not look at it. Then player one draws a second card and distributes it. Next, player two distributes two cards in the same manner. Once all players have distributed two cards, players may examine the cards they have received.