Timeline

This article documents the **timeline** of Elysium.

The nations of Elysium use a dating system in which centuries are not numbered, but named. The current century is typically named the Current Century, the previous century the Last Century, and centuries before that are given a more specific name based on notable individuals, philosophies, or events that occurred during them. For example, the "Dolorian Century" is named for the Innocence Dolores Dei, and is known as a golden age of discovery and innovation. Before that, there were "Franconigerian Centuries" marked by the influence of the Innocence Franconegro and his similarly groundbreaking policies.

The events of *Disco Elysium* take place in the year '51 of the Current Century.

## Prehistory

* 12 billion years ago:
	+ The Big Bang happens and the universe springs to life.
* 2.6 billion years ago:
	+ Anaerobic life was wiped out, giving rise to the first oxygen-breathing organisms.

## Antiquity

* 8000 years ago:
	+ The recorded history of Elysium is said to have begun. The Perikarnassian Incident occurred.
	+ The first Innocence, Pius, also known as The Perikarnassian, rises to prominence among the ancient Perikarnassian civilization. It is said The Perikarnassian invented the concept of god, the equality of men before god, and the gold standard. His disciples are purported to have created the Holy Party, the world's oldest international organization, to carry out The Perikarnassian's wish that more remarkable individuals like him be found and recognized.

* 6000 years ago:
	+ The ancient Perikarnassians develop entroponetics, the study of the Pale, then called the Western Plain.

* 4000 years ago:
	+ A stone-age civilization called the "Seraseolitic" thrived, or may have thrived, in what would later be known as Insulinde.

* At some point, Semenese islanders visit Insulinde but do not stay.

## Franconigerian Centuries

* 500 years ago:
	+ Innocence Franconegro is crowned in Mundi. He ends serfdom, codifies hereditary rule, establishes the Reál as the global reserve currency, and invents the concept of the nation. His heavy cavalry units are instrumental in laying down the foundation for modern nations and the unified currency: Reál.

## Dolorian Century

* Between 400 and 300 years ago:
	+ The uninhabited isola of Insulinde is discovered by the eighth expedition into the Pale sent by Queen Irene La Navigateur of Suresne, following the advice of her courtier Dolores Dei. The confirmation of the existence of isolas other than Mundi soon leads to all of the inhabited isolas of Elysium establishing contact with each other.
	+ Innocence Dolores Dei is crowned. She becomes known as the innocence of interisolary travel, and goes on to create the Moralist International and other modern institutions. After reigning for 22 years, she is assassinated by a member of her own security detail.
* c. '70: The Kingdom of Suresne founds the colony of Revachol on the island of Le Caillou in the isola of Insulinde. Eventually, the Suzerainty of Revachol gains independence from its motherland.
* c. '80: Settlers from Ubi Sunt? built the Dolorian Church of Humanity in Martinaise, alongside six other churches.

## Last Century

* c. '01: King Filippe III, the Squanderer, reigns over the Suzerainty of Revachol at this time.
* The Revacholian Monarchy, at the advice of criminologists, bans the use of breechloaders during peacetime.
* Experimental psychologists in the University of Koenigstein develop the dual-leadership system of the Décomptage, later employed by the Insulindian Citizens Militia.
* The Capeside apartments are built, eight to ten stories tall, in order to mirror the skyscrapers across the Bay of Revachol.
* Middle of the century: Revachol serves as the world's primary exporter of dyes. A Revacholian artistic movement abuses this, creating exceedingly colourful paintings through the juxtaposition of complementary colours, instead of using black.
* Innocence Sola is crowned. She lives to see the start of the next century, but resigns from office after surviving an assassination attempt over her refusal to endorse the communist revolutions.
* '50s: Revachol introduces cocaine in Safre, creating an epidemic of addiction and raking in the profits. The epidemic stunts development of half the empire and persists, even after the regions break away.
* '60s: The star-and-antlers symbol first emerges. It is later adopted by Mazov and the Communards during the Antecentennial Revolution.
* '88, July 10th: The disused elevator in what is now the Whirling-in-Rags was last maintained on this date.
* c. '92: Iosef Lilianovich Dros is born.
* Turn of the century: Mechanical engineers at the Isherwood Branch of CZU Industries develop the first contingency spreads.

## Current Century

### The Noughts

* '02:
	+ The Antecentennial Revolution begins in Graad, following a pandemic of tzaraath. Kras Mazov assumes leadership of the Graad government. King Frissel I, the last Suzerain of Revachol, is deposed and executed; accounts differ as to whether he was shot, thrown under a horse carriage, or drowned. The Commune of Revachol is founded.
	+ March 7th: The March Decree radio transmission broadcast by the Commune of Revachol is sent out to news agencies and world governments.
* '07:
	+ Harrier Du Bois is born on the ground floor of the Old Military Hospital in the Commune of Revachol.
	+ Dros is recruited into the ICM, and trained at the École de Contrôle Aérien.
* '08:
	+ The Graad and Safre branches of the Revolution are extinguished. Kras Mazov dies.
	+ Dros is consigned to emergency defence duties.
	+ 13th of May: The Landing occurs in Revachol, as the Coalition throttles the Commune. Mass executions follow, with communards executed along with many loyalists and random civilians, buried in unmarked graves. Dros goes into hiding in the Résurrection, fleeing from Coalition persecution.
	+ The Coalition establishes the Revachol Zone of Control, replacing the deposed communist government with a military occupation government administered by INSURCOM.
	+ Kim Kitsuragi is born in Revachol.
* 28th of February, '09: Ellis Kortenaer is checked into Lelystad County Neonatal Care Unit after being found in a leaf compactor.

### The Teens

* '10: The Revacholian Instrument of Surrender is signed, officially dissolving the Commune of Revachol. Communard resistance remains strong, fighting against the Coalition Government at every opportunity.
* '18: The Résurrection is turned into a spa. Dros moves to an islet named E48.

### The Twenties

* '20s:
	+ A decade of urban war, guerilla resistance against the Coalition's occupation continues strong, though not as intense as before.
	+ A privatisation scheme in Revachol fails, plunging the city into even deeper poverty.
	+ Gang warfare takes over West Revachol, and a number of offshore platforms are burned down.
	+ The Old Military Hospital, in Revachol, is put into use as a quarantine centre for a measles outbreak.
	+ The People's Pile, a Type U particle decay generator, is constructed and immediately fails, requiring the Emergency Relief Brigade to be sent in to clean up the radioactive mess. Clean-up spans multiple years, and doesn't end until at least '36.
	+ A group of ornithologists, while testing technology for capturing sounds outside of human hearing, discover the first traces of the Col Do Ma Ma Daqua.
	+ Scientists in Graad develop the International Language.
	+ Riots break out in Yugo-Graad, in response to poverty and the failure of the Moralist International's attempt at economic liberalization.
* c. '21: Õlari Taal invents eternite, a supposedly eternal material, in the Värtna Polytechnic Institute.
* c. '23: Klaasje is born in Oranje.
* '29: E48 is washed over by the sea, Dros moves to the Sea Fortress.

### The Thirties

* The New: The third decade of the Current Century. The decade of disco, decadence, and the victory of democracy-powered free market economy over its critics.
* '31: Kim Kitsuragi joins the RCM.
* '33: Harry Du Bois joins the RCM.
* c. '39:
	+ Spring: "Man From Hjelmdall and the Three-Eyed Skull" is released.
	+ Cuno is born.

### The Forties

* '40s: The economic boom of the thirties comes to an end following a financial collapse, sending Revachol back into struggle and hardship.
* c. '45: Dora Ingerlund breaks up with her then-partner, Harry Du Bois, and moves to Graad.
* '48: A corporate-led urban redevelopment project attempts to revitalize Martinaise by renovating it into a tourist attraction district. After installing some streetlights and coin-operated viewfinders, and restoring the long-broken statue of King Filippe III, the Dockworkers' Union interferes to prevent losing its near-total control of Martinaise, and the redevelopment project is abandoned.

### The Fifties

* '50
	+ December: The Dockworkers' Union begins a mass strike at the Greater Revachol Industrial Harbor, demanding seats on the board for all members of the Union.
* '51
	+ February: Andre first scouts out the Dolorian Church of Humanity in Martinaise, and finds it all boarded up.
	+ 4th of February: Soona Luukanen-Kilde moves into the church in order to conduct research.
	+ 25th of February: Soona's research uncovers "The Swallow" anomaly.
	+ March: Andre's Speedfreaks set up their tent next to the church. Acele tries to enter, but is spooked by Soona and Tiago and flees.
	+ 4th of March: A mercenary is found hanged outside the Whirling-in-Rags hotel, Martinaise.
	+ March: Harrier Du Bois comes to Martinaise amidst a massive strike by the Dockworkers' Union against The Wild Pines Group.

## References

1. ↑ INSULINDIAN PHASMID - We suspect it will be something like the oxygen holocaust that wiped out anaerobic life 2.6 billion years ago -- when organisms first started breathing. Only much worse.
2. ↑ COALITION WARSHIP ARCHER - "That depends on how you look at it. Since the Perikarnassian Incident, there have been nearly 8,000 years of recorded history..."
3. ↑ JOYCE MESSIER - "\*Entroponetics\*," she corrects, "is the scientific study of the pale. Or a recent iteration of it, by way of Graad. The study of the pale reaches back 6,000 years -- the Perikarnassians called it the Western Plain."
4. ↑ INSULIDIAN PHASMID - And the 4,000-year-old Seraseolitic civilization buried so deep in the sediment that you do not even know it is there -- they too did not see me.
5. ↑ INSULIDIAN PHASMID - I went unnoticed by the first settlers and the land surveyors of the suzerain. Also by the soldiers of the Revolution and the officials of the occupation. Even the Semenese islanders who came here first, but did not stay, have not seen me.
6. ↑ ENCYCLOPEDIA - Another discrepancy, although not boot-related, is the coronation of His Innocence Franconegro. Which happened 500 years ago.
7. ↑ THE GREATEST INNOCENCE - Correct! Named the innocence of militarism, he codified hereditary rule -- but at the same time ended serfdom and established the interisolary reál as the global reserve currency. He also established the concept of the Nation.
8. ↑ NOID - "The crab-man's been lurking here for a while. He's experienced things. Things that give off \*bad sines\*. As far as we can tell, the Ubis built this place about three hundred and twenty years ago as a sarcophagus."
9. ↑ KIM KITSURAGI - He nods. "I have to hand it to the monarchs -- it's quite admirable that they took the advice of criminologists last century and banned the use of breechloaders in peacetime."
10. ↑ ENCYCLOPEDIA - The countdown is modelled after the dual-leadership system employed by the Left during the Revolution. Which in turn was developed by last century experimental psychologists in the University of Koenigstein.
11. ↑ JOYCE MESSIER - "This one used to be eight to ten stories tall -- a real high rise by the standards of the last century. Built to mirror the skyscrapers across the bay in the Delta. That was before the war, of course."
12. ↑ ENCYCLOPEDIA - Revachol was an overwhelmingly colourful place back then. They made most of the world's dyes here.
13. ↑ ENCYCLOPEDIA - They wanted to capture what it really felt like to look at the world -- to be \*inside\* colour, to be blinded by early afternoon light glittering on the crests of sea waves.
ENCYCLOPEDIA - Such an effect is best achieved by using the juxtaposition of complementary colours -- rather than the addition of black -- to create contrast.
14. ↑ ENCYCLOPEDIA - By introducing cocaine into Safre under exclusive contract, the suzerain created an extremely valuable captive market for an extremely \*addictive\* product.
15. ↑ ENCYCLOPEDIA - The star-and-antlers was developed in the sixth decade of the last century and quickly adopted by Mazov and the communards during the Revolution...
16. ↑ "The maintenance card under the control panel reads: \*Last Maintenance: 10 July '88\*."
17. ↑ ENCYCLOPEDIA - Originally developed by mechanical engineers at the Isherwood Branch of CZU Industries around the turn of the last century, contingency spreads are used to model complex events in a number of fields, including business, public health, radiocomputer science, insurance, and international diplomacy.
18. ↑ TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "What's the March decree? I mean the radio transmission sent out to news agencies and world governments by the newly-created Commune of Revachol on the 7th of March in the year '02."
19. ↑ Date of Birth Generator
20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 THE DESERTER - "Yes, I am from the Insulindian Citizens Militia. Recruited from Jamrock in '07, trained in the Ecole de Contrôle Aérien; consigned to emergency defence duties in '08."
21. ↑ JOYCE MESSIER - "From Revachol and Graad? Not far. The world managed to cauterize itself. Mazov's government was overthrown in '08, and the Coalition crushed the Revachol commune two years later. It was \*The End\*."
22. ↑ THE DESERTER - "May the 13th, '08, 44 years ago," he looks north. "The horizon was black with Coalition airships. Their petroleum rose to the sky and it looked like... like it \*formed\* the clouds. Storm clouds. When they started shelling it was... dark magic."
23. ↑ ALICE - "That suit of armour was issued to an Oranjese citizen named Ellis Kortenaer -- that's E-L-L-I-S K-O-R-T-E-N-A-E-R. Exact date of birth unknown. He was signed into the Lelystad County Neonatal Care Unit on 28th of February, ’09."
24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 THE DESERTER - "I was on Résurrection until they turned it into a \*spa\* in '18. Then I was on E48, a nameless sound, until the sea washed over it. Then I came back here. That was..." He thinks. "Twenty-two years ago."
25. ↑ JOYCE MESSIER - "Revachol in the Twenties was hell, especially on the west side of the river: gang warfare, a botched privatisation scheme, a nuclear pile meltdown, all resulted in the division of the city into 'zone de controle' under foreign nations."
ENCYCLOPEDIA - "The People's Pile was a Type U particle decay generator that failed immediately after entering service, releasing radioactive waste into River Esperance."
BIRD'S NEST ROY - "The clean-up happened fifteen years ago. I was young then. Later my second aunt died, left me this shack and the assorted junk in it. So I came to Martinaise. People told me don't go there, it's a \*shit-hole\*. I said: people, we just had a \*nuclear pile meltdown\*. I'm gonna get as far from Faubourg as I can. Still in the same city, but..."
26. ↑ ENCYCLOPEDIA - "When junior researcher Õlari Taal invented eternite in the un-prestigious Värtna Polytechnic Institute some thirty odd years ago, he thought it would last forever -- hence the name eternite. The only lasting thing about it turned out to be its carcinogenic effect."
27. ↑ JOYCE MESSIER - "The New, a cultural era -- and the name of the decade it ravished, the Thirties. It came out of post-revolutionary Revachol. It was... ultraliberal."
28. ↑ JOYCE MESSIER - "No. It was a market mirage fuelled by cocaine and quantitative easing. The Forties \*dispelled\* it like a cold splash. An isola-wide hangover, you might say. And here we are..." She curtsies.
29. ↑ ANDRE - "When I first scouted the place, back in February, it was abandoned. Empty. Took some time getting the crew together, so about two weeks ago we came here hoping to set the stuff up. Suddenly there are all these strange \*machines\* lying around in there."
30. ↑ MAINFRAME - The first entry, made on the 4th February '51 by an unknown author, is short and concise:
MAINFRAME - "Arrived at the church. The door was boarded up, so I used a crowbar to get inside. Looks like the place has been deserted. Nothing out of the ordinary, but I'll ask around. Need to figure out how to get the electricity in."
31. ↑ MAINFRAME - "25th FEB, '51: I've been sending data up to Lintel for a while now, trying to recreate the data loss, but nothing. Didn't even feel like logging in the disappointment. But I did discover a curious \*audio-spatial\* anomaly at the back of the church. I've named it \*the swallow\*. (It swallows sound.) Need to get some mics."
32. ↑ MAINFRAME - "MARCH, '51: Some kind of young \*discomen\* have appeared next to the church. I've been trying to record the silence to find the epicentre, but now it turns out I've also been capturing the future of dance music, one neo-disco song over and over again..."