SW Timeline Gold & ChronoRadio Announcements

For those interested that missed ConCarolinas 2006, I've just posted The Butlerniverse #5, which features a recording of the "Mixing Up Your Universe" (writing in someone else's universe) panel that I was on with C.J. Henderson and Michael D'Ambrosio.

Obviously, my part draws upon my experiences writing for Star Wars Tales.

http://www.starwarsfanworks.com/butlerniverse.html

 

Are the dates for these entries inaccurate?

â?¢ Imperial Science Team MS-133 on Aaris III discovers a way into the ruins being excavated.
(Exact date of journal entry: 43:3:31, i.e. 31 Selona 4 ABY).

(emphasis mine)

 

Also . . .

â?¢ Having made alliances and consolidated Imperial power over the past six months, Grand
Admiral Thrawn marginalizes the Imperial power of warlord fiefdoms and the Pentastar
Alignment, and prepares to strike at the New Republic.
(conjecture based on The Essential Chronology)


Is this 'six months' statement incorrect? Because there are entries around 6.5 ABY that Thrawn knew the galactic situation "despite Isard's lies" and took command on the Chimaera, then prepared to return from the Unknown Regions.

Edit: My reason for asking is because it also mentions in the same point that he starts requisitioning new ships from Imperial shipyards.

 

The 4 ABY entries under 8 ASW4 were copy/paste errors. The events are in the correct place, but in the copy/paste process of creating new entries, the "4" was left when an "8" should've been entered. Those are now fixed for the next release.

As for the Thrawn entries, I believe those are correct. Thrawn's early preparations and the 6 month of heavy consolidation are both part of his larger time spent preparing, from what I can tell. I'd be like referring to preparations for the war in Iraq made during 2005 and final preparations and moves made in 2008. Both are part of overall preparations in a second Bush presidential term, just different segments of it.

 

I didn't reply earlier, but thank-you for the replies.

They have been helping with the project I'm working on.



I have another question.

What are your thoughts on this weblog entry by Dan Wallace, one of Lucasfilm's employees.

Specifically, his comments on the 10 month calendar versus the 12 month calendar:

Personally I like the ten month calendar, but I was wondering what your thoughts were on seemingly an official Lucasfilm stance on the subject.

 

Well, technically Dan is an author who has worked for Lucasfilm. He's not a voice of Lucasfilm, per se, any more than Abel, KJA, me, or anyone else would be who has worked with them on something before.

But from my understanding, that's basically how it's worked for years. The 10-month calendar was created to be unique, and it was fine when there was just the RPG around and more people were aware of it, but so many authors didn't know about it and used a calendar like our own that a 12-month calendar became frequently used, but not necessarily referenced directly because most stories didn't use weeks and months, only years in relation to ANH.

Then once the Clone Wars stories emerged, which were so densely packed in that they had to start using month notations and such, it came down to which to use, and the more commonly-used one (12 months) won out.

It's a pain in the butt sometimes, but it's all just a matter of keeping track of what's being used at what time. That's just intellectual honesty. Recognize how things actually are, rather than how you want them to be, then move on.

I covered that, specifically on the calendar topic, in my own SW.com VIP blog here:

http://blogs.starwars.com/fanaudio/23

 

But then again, there is nothing wrong with reworking things written in the 12-month to the 10-month system, as long as it is made clear that this is the case...


edit: very interesting and well-articulated blog you've got there!!!

 

Yep. But MAN that's a pain in the butt. I've been doing that for years, but eventually I think it starts to eat at one's sanity.

"I'm living proof!"
--Cartman

 

Thanks for your comments.

I wanted to see what your thoughts were on the matter.

Also, I've just quickly slapped together a visual representation of what I perceive the year to be, using the ten month calendar.

Would you be able to let me know what you think? If it's right, or wrong in what ways?

I've seen someone else's rendering of the calendar that had the holidays as the thirty-sixth days of the months, but that didn't seem right to me . . .

Your thoughts?

 

Looks right to me. That's how the Tapani Sector setup was from Lords of the Expanse, only that the festival week before Month 1 was moved to the end after Month 10. Later GWNN materials suggested that Festival Week 1 was like New Year's, so presumably the way you have it would be correct.

 

Righto, good, good. Thanks.

And here's another biggie . . . when did the Battle of Yavin take place?

So far the only information I've found is that it was sometime around 35:3:3 and 35:3:5, however this cannot be true because the Imperial Senate was disbanded on 35:3:5 and Alderaan was destroyed on 35:3:7, right?

So . . . would the Battle of Yavin happened on 35:3:8 or 35:3:9, or some other date?

Also, do we have any indication as to any possible 'guestimations' for the Battle of Endor?

Apparently both A New Hope and Return of the Jedi are located in the third month of their years . . . so I'm guessing the Battle of Endor was 39:3:something?

Even educated guesses/estimates would be helpful, if you have any on-hand. =)

 

The exact dates for the films are a mess, to be honest. I think the intent was to acknowledge the idea that major events don't always happen exactly at the same time each year. However, that leaves us with one movie set in the third month of the year, two set in the fifth month, one set in the fourth month, one set in the sixth month, and one that's in either the third or sixth month that we can't really pin down.

There's no exact notation on when the Battle of Yavin itself takes place. All of ANH takes place in early 35:3. That was based on Galaxywide News Nets in the old Adventure Journal.

The AJ then also pins down the Battle of Hoth in the month 38:6. Thus, in-universe, it seems that ESB isn't 3 ASW4/ABY but 3.3 ASW4/ABY.

For the Prequels, we are given an exact month for AOTC at 13:5. That's from HoloNet News.

For ROTS, we're told it's 3 years after AOTC, and the 36 month gap between the films, set to the newer, easier to use 12-month calendar, makes that stick. Thus, ROTS must be in 16:5.

TPM is a bit tougher to pin down, but not impossible if we take some minor conjecture into account. In the AOTC novel, one month before AOTC itself, we learn that it is Anakin's birthday.

When TPM came out, we were told Anakin was 9 in that story. Then we started being told he was more like 10 in some of the materials that came out around AOTC. That was aided by the fact that he's 20, not 19, in AOTC. One easy way to reconcile this is to assume that Anakin went through his birthday during TPM. That would explain how he can be both 9 and 10 in TPM, and even if it isn't exact, his birthday would have to have been sometime between TPM's month and AOTC's month for him to be 20 in AOTC instead of 19 anyway.

So, if we figure that, yes, he turned 10 during TPM (approx), then TPM must be in approximately 3:4.

But that leaves ROTJ. The Adventure Journal was cancelled before its GWNN articles reached ROTJ. So, now we have to basically choose: is ROTJ 4 years after ANH or 1 year after ESB. Thanks to GWNN, they can't both be correct. Given that most events use dates relative to ANH, it would seem likely (but not definite) that ROTJ is in 39:3, though it could theoretically be at 39:6.

 

Hmmm . . . so if I were to wildly throw a random guess as to the exact date of the Battles of Yavin and Endor, I'm not likely to be directly contradicted by new information anytime soon?

I may end up doing that for the online gaming club I'm working this all out for . . . I'd like to be as accurate as possible, but in the absence of definitely information, an educated guess will have to suffice, I think.

Thank-you very much for that.

I will no doubt have more questions soon, if you don't mind answering them.

 

Guessing at exact days would probably work as well as anything else. Most folks who have tried to go day-by-day end up making some pretty large stretches of logic to come up with their exact days anyway, since it's a storytelling structure where exact days really aren't an important concern during writing.

And, yeah, if you have any more questions, just send them along, post them, whatever.

 

Actually, the post-ROTS Holonet News from Insider # 84 gives a date for the invasion of Naboo - 3:4:14

 

Then there ya go. It's not conjecture I guess then anymore.

 

ChronoRadio #28 (Words, Words, Words) is now available.

 

The final ChronoRadio DVD Commentary (Revenge of the Sith) is now available!

 

ChronoRadio #29 (Almost Forgotten) is now available.

 

Here's some more info about that Star Wars Action News Book Club Podcast I'm involved with, for those who might be interested in joining in the EU discussion with Arnie, Brock, and me . . .

Clickie

 

THE STAR WARS TIMELINE GOLD #41 IS NOW AVAILABLE.

Clickie

 

Hello again, Nathan. "

I have another question for you, regarding the Thrawn Crisis.

Below is a timeline sketched out by Modi the Mapmaper, and I was wondering if you have a look at it and see how accurate it is or isn't?

I'm going to be incorporating these events as a backdrop for some campaigns and competitions that I'm designing, and I was wondering if I had the basic time details right before I start planning more specific details.

8 ABY

6 months BHttE - Thrawn returns from the Unknown Regions, he starts reorganizing the fleet. [NEC]
5,5 months BHttE - Mara Jade starts working for Talon Karrde. (First Contact) [HTTE]
3 months BHttE - Leia becomes pregnant... [HTTE]

9 ABY

HttE - Thrawn hits Obroa-skai, the trio goes to Bimmisaari [HTTE]

3 months AHttE - Noghri commando attacks Leia on Kashyyyk, the Battle of Sluis Van [HTTE]
4 months AHttE - Leia meets with a Noghri at Endor and she goes to Honoghr, Han and Luke go to New Cov [DFS]
5 months AHttE - The end of DFR, the Battle for the Katana Fleet [TLC]
6 months AHttE - Jacen and Jaina are born [HTTE]
7 months AHttE - Thrawn attacks Nkllon again [TLC]
8 months AHttE - Battle of Bilbringi, Thrawn dies. [TLC]

Please let me know what you think, whenever you have the time to get around to doing so.

Thank-you for your time. "


Edit: I forgot to clarify:

BHttE = Before the beginning of Heir to the Empire
[HTTE] means that the month date is from Heir to the Empire, not that the event appears in that book.

 

I'd likely have to re-read the books to give you a definite answer. It LOOKS fine, but I haven't read those in a very long time.

 

Okay then, thanks.

I'll translate those months into days (to avoid the 30/35 day month confusion, since the author of this timeline was presumably using 30-day months), and report back once I've got my version of the timeline done.

Now if only I could figure out at what point in the year Heir to the Empire started . . . at the beginning of 9 ABY, or around the five-year anniversary of the Battle of Endor?

 

Okay, using the timeline posted by Modi the Mapmaker (and converting it from the 12 month system to the 10 month system), and working from the assumption that Heir to the Empire begins at the start of 9 ABY / 44:3 . . .

43:8 - Grand Admiral Thrawn consolidates Imperial power
44:1 - Leia Organa Solo becomes pregnant
44:3 - Assault on Obroa-skai
44:6 - Battle of Sluis Van
44:7 - Battle for the Katana fleet
44:8 - Jacen and Jaina Solo born
44:9 - Second Battle of Nkllon
44:10 - Battle of Bilbringi; Thrawn's assassination

Now, assuming that the New Republic retreat from Coruscant at the end of 9 ABY / start of 10 ABY . . . that gives about three to four months for the events of Isard's Revenge to take place, including the Rogues' shore leave, then the war on Prince-Admiral Krennel.

Is a 100-150 day period enough time for that conflict to take place, between the Thrawn Crisis and the Fall of Coruscant?