Cycles And Aeons

Notes for a weird little “timeline framework” I made for time travel campaign. The idea here was to mix up archeology and science-fiction, benchmark specific evolutions and progress in technology, and map it all to the the wane of “magic” (or at least the known magic of fantasy stories and myth).


It is the 177,804th Cycle of Time across the realms, on the eve of the 177,805th.
Each Cycle lasts 25,871 years and is divided into 12 Ages, each lasting 2,156 years.

Previous cycle, Age of Aries: War of order over chaos (“wind over the water,” giants/angels over dragons), leads to…

THE 177,804th CYCLE: MASTERY OF HUMANITY / AEON OF MAGIC

AGE OF PISCES
(25,825 to 23,669 years ago)
– Element: Air
– Time of rapid change
– Northern Ice Age continues.
– Earliest signs of human art
(- New eternal realm forms?)

AGE OF AQUARIUS
(23,669 to 21,513 years ago)
– Element: Water
– Time of awakening, wisdom, peace
– Northern Ice Age continues.
– Bone tools
(- New gods enter the mortal world?)

AGE OF CAPRICORN
(21,513 to 19,357 years ago)
– Element: Earth
– Northern Ice Age continues.
– Early agriculture
– Bone maps, rope
(- New gods teach mortals, have mythic adventures)

AGE OF SAGITTARIUS
(19,357 to 17,201 years ago)
– Element: Fire
– Northern Ice Age continues.
– Early Egyptian culture
(- More mythic adventures, patronage to specific peoples)

AGE OF SCORPIO
(17,201 to 15,045 years ago)
– Element: Fire
– Northern Ice Age continues.
– Crude civilizations in Europe
(- Cults to gods, followings of worshippers)

AGE OF LIBRA
(15,045 to 12,889 years ago)
– Element: Air
– Northern Ice Age continues.
– Dogs domesticated
(- Arise of Atlantean culture based on sorcery?)
(- More structured cults, priesthoods)

AGE OF VIRGO
(12,889 to 10,733 years ago)
– Element: Earth
– Northern Ice Age ends; glaciers recede from northern hemisphere
– Holocene era begins
– Human cross land bridge from Asia into North America
– Goats, reindeer, cattle domesticated
(- First Golden Age of Atlantis as planar metropolis?)
– “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown.” (First demigods?)
– Possible time of the Biblical flood (-10,800 CE) (unleashing of dragons?)

AGE OF LEO
(10,733 to 8,577 years ago)
– Element: Fire
– Civilization in Egypt
– First boats
(- isolated Atlantean colonies attempt to keep magical traditions alive)
– Proto-Mayan peoples make astronomical inscriptions and constructions in South America
– Tower of Babel?

AGE OF CANCER
(8,577 to 6,421 years ago)
– Element: Water
– “Age of the Great Mother,” bearing, birthing, nurturing, protecting.
– Domestication of animals, crops, pottery
– Many nomad societies become farmers
– Floodwater agriculture used in Egypt’s Nile Valley
– Earliest walls built around Jericho
(- Atlanteans begin to rebuild trading empire, limited to mortal realm)

AGE OF GEMINI
(6,421 to 4,265 years ago)
– Element: Air
– Age of communication, trade
– Symbol of age: Twins
– Languages and early writing develop
– Trade city of Catal Huyuk founds (in modern Turkey) (-6250 CE; abandoned in -5400 CE)
– Chinchorro Indians of Peru create human mummies which survive to modern times
– Land bridge connecting England to Europe submerges
– Egyptians advance agriculture to cultivate grains; also begin mining for metals
– Traditional Chinese date for the beginning of the world (-4754 CE)
(- Second Golden Age of Atlantis, trading restored, but then again destroyed)
– Time of Abraham? Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed?

AGE OF TAURUS
(4,265 to 2,109 years ago)
– Element: Earth
– Age of earth, agriculture
– Symbol of age: The Bull
– Bronze Age of technology
– Beginning of Egyptian calendar (-4241 CE)
– Possible date of “beginning” in Genesis, per Bishop Hames Ussher (-4004 CE)
– Possible date of “beginning” in Genesis, modern accounts (-3950 CE)
– Beginning of Hebrew calendar (-3760 CE)
– Beginning of the world in Mayan mythology (-3114 CE)
– Civilizations of Ur and Babylon founded in Mesopotamia
– Mesopotamians invent beer, kiln-fired bricks
– Chinese cultivate rice
– Egyptian hieroglyphics, early number systems develop, first dynasties, libraries
– Mesopotamians begin using crude cattle-drawn plows in fields
– First version of Stonehedge built (-2800 CE); modern version built (-2100 CE)
– Huang Ti, “The Yellow Emperor,” traditional first Chinese emperor (-2697 CE)
– Great pyramids built in Egypt (c. -2650 CE)
– Historical Gilgamesh lives (c. -2650 CE)
– Egyptian Old Kingdom ends in turmoil (-2200 CE)

AGE OF ARIES
(2,109 year ago to present day)
– Element: Fire
– Age of war and empires, courage, initiative, adventure
– Symbol of Age: The Ram
– “Ram” heroes of the age: Ra, Ram, Rama, Brahman, Abram, Abraham, Amon Ra, Ramessess, Arius
– Iron Age of technology
– rise of formal codes of law
– Atlantis’ island of Thera destroyed; city cast into primal realm (-1465 CE) – begins centuries-long plan for next Cycle)
– Pharoah Akhenaten declares the sun god Aten the supreme deity (-1350 CE)
– Empires of Asia, Persia, Greece, Rome
– “Death of the Gods” – covenant with one supreme being (demiurge creator/sustainer/judge) edges out cults

AGE OF PISCES
(47 years from present day)
– Age of rapid change
– Symbol of Age: The Fish
– Technological advances in math, science, mechanics


THE 177,806th CYCLE: AWAKENING OF GAIA
(Happens 26,369 to 52,240 years from now)
– Sentient beings across the universe share group consciousness.

THE 177,805th CYCLE: ASCENSION OF HUMANITY / AEON OF MACHINES
(Begins 47 years from present day and lasts for 25,871 years)
– Humans begin see their species as one, evolve beyond natural forms.
– Old magics and gods replaced by single God and technology.
– Humanity spreads beyond its world into the cosmos, creating new worlds.

THE 177,804th CYCLE: MASTERY OF HUMANITY / AEON OF MAGIC
(24,923 years ago to present day)
– Neanderthal man becomes extinct, first Homo sapien humans (Adam and Eve).
– Humans discover how to use tools to control their world.
– Rapid spread of humanity across the world.
– Belief in many gods and magic strong.
– Current spells will stop working over the next eight to 14 centuries.

THE 177,803rd CYCLE: DAWN OF HUMANITY / AEON OF MYSTERIES
(24,923 to 50,794 years ago)
– Pre-humans roam across world.

THE 177,802nd CYCLE:
(50,794 to 76,665 years ago)

THE 177,801st CYCLE:
(76,665 to 102,536 years ago)

THE 177,800th CYCLE:
(102,536 to 128,407 years ago)

THE 177,799th CYCLE:
(128,407 to 154,278 years ago)

THE 177,798th CYCLE:
(154,278 to 180,149 years ago)

THE 177,797th CYCLE:
(180,149 to 206,020 years ago)

THE 177,796th CYCLE:
(206,020 to 231,891 years ago)

THE 177,795th CYCLE:
(231,891 to 257,762 years ago)

THE 177,794th CYCLE:
(257,762 to 283,633 years ago)

THE 177,793rd CYCLE:
(283,633 to 309,504 years ago)

THE 177,792nd CYCLE:
(309,504 to 335,375 years ago)

177,804th CYCLE

25,385 B.C. to 23,229 B.C. — AGE OF PISCES
23,228 B.C. to 21,072 B.C. — AGE OF AQUARIUS
21,071 B.C. to 18,915 B.C.– AGE OF CAPRICORN
18,914 B.C. to 16,758 B.C. — AGE OF SAGITTARIUS
16,757 B.C. to 14,601 B.C. — AGE OF SCORPIO
14,600 B.C. to 12,444 B.C. — AGE OF LIBRA
12,443 B.C. to 10,287 B.C. — AGE OF VIRGO
10,286 B.C. to 8130 B.C. — AGE OF LEO
8129 B.C. to 5973 B.C. — AGE OF CANCER
5972 B.C. to 3816 B.C. — AGE OF GEMINI
3815 B.C. to 1659 B.C. — AGE OF TAURUS
1658 B.C. to A.D. 498 — AGE OF ARIES

177,805th CYCLE

A.D. 499 to A.D. 2655 — AGE OF PISCES
A.D. 2656 to A.D. 4812 — AGE OF AQUARIUS
A.D. 4813 to A.D. 6969 — AGE OF CAPRICORN
A.D. 6970 to A.D. 9126 — AGE OF SAGITTARIUS
A.D. 9127 to A.D. 11,283 — AGE OF SCORPIO
A.D. 13,441 to A.D. 15,597 — AGE OF LIBRA
A.D. 15,598 to A.D. 17,754 — AGE OF VIRGO
A.D. 17,755 to A.D. 19,911 — AGE OF LEO
A.D. 19,912 to A.D. 22,068 — AGE OF CANCER
A.D. 22,069 to A.D. 24,225 — AGE OF GEMINI
A.D. 24,226 to A.D. 26,382 — AGE OF TAURUS
A.D. 26,383 to A.D. 28,539 — AGE OF ARIES

177,806th CYCLE

A.D. 28,540 to A.D. 30,696 — AGE OF PISCES
A.D. 30,697 to A.D. 32,853 — AGE OF AQUARIUS
A.D. 32,854 to A.D. 35,010 — AGE OF CAPRICORN
etc.


65 million years ago — About 50% of all species became extinct, including the dinosaurs and opening up the age of mammals which led to humanity.

200 million years ago — About 20% of all marine families plus most non-dinosaurian archosaurs (like modern crocodiles and birds), most therapsids (mammal-like reptiles), and the last of the large amphibians were eliminated.

251 million years ago — Earth’s largest extinction event when about 96% of all marine species and an estimated 70% of land species (including plants, insects, and vertebrate animals) were killed off.

370 to 350 million years ago — Extended series of extinction events eliminate about 70% of all species.

444 million years ago — Major extinction event.

488 million years ago — Major extinction event.