There is no specific canonical reference to when B7 actually takes place. Extra-canonical material places series events in 'the third century of the Second Calendar', but I have also seen a reference to the second century of the New Calendar and this is the reference I've adopted for Worlds Edge. (This is, in fact, from the rather dodgy Programme Guide by Tony Attwood, or at least the first edition of it. So it's not the best time reference to work with, but it's the one I chose when I didn't know any better and using it doesn't contradict the series in any way whatsoever. It's as good as anything else. Note that there is a reference to a New Calendar, though not necessarily with caps, in the series, in Pressure Point, and to an Old Calendar in Countdown - but none to a Second Calendar at all.)
So, New Calendar, 2nd Century. Using the date codes listed in The Way Back, we can thus place this first episode in the year NC 152. That's the starting point. From there we can work forward and start assigning dates to various events in the series. In doing this, I've assumed that each season represents approximately three years of time, which not everyone is necessarily going to agree with.
It's also possible to work backwards, taking up the various references to past events given in the series. These can be found listed in the Sevencyclopaedia (under Timeline). Combining both directions gives the following chronological list of events. Canonically supported events are in standard size print. My own additions, interpretations etc are in smaller print. Rather a lot is missing since a lot of the notes died with my Amstrad PCW. I hope to recover them in due course.
OC dates obviously refer to the Old Calendar, but it was equally obviously not called the Old Calendar at the time. The term was later invented by historians to amalgamate a confusing plethora of chronologies, and is reckoned to begin with the re-emergence of a single planetary government on Earth after the First Collapse. Such an Earth-centred approach naturally has political dimensions, and is not universally recognised.
An asterisk (*) indicates an approximate date.
OC 100 (NC -550)* - Wanderer K47 disappears
on its voyage from Earth to 61 Cygni.
The first two centuries of the Old Calendar were a
period of tentative exploration of possible new colonies around
Earth. Earth at that time did not have access to any form of
hyperdrive, and all travel was sublight. It was not until the end
of the 3rd Century OC that contact was made with colonies
possessing such a drive; these worlds were populated with
surviving refugees from the First Collapse.
OC 338 (NC -316) - Invention of the Hoffal Drive breaks the 100c barrier, thus permitting the emergence of a viable galactic comunity.
OC 401 (NC -253) - Construction of Terminal
completed by the Consortium of United Planets.
The construction of this long-delayed white
elephant effectively precipitated the collapse of the CUP,
creating a vacuum that was eventually filled by the Terran and
Allied Systems Trade Federation (TASTRAF).
OC 410 (NC -244) - TASTRAF founded.
OC 604 (NC -50*) - The Terran Federation
begins to extend its territory beyond the Home Worlds around
Earth. Suppression of organised religion.
Expansion was initially based on a need to protect
Earth trade from hostile parahuman elements. This in turn
worsened human/parahuman relations. Following the First Hominid
War (OC 595-98), expansion became a political as well as an
economic imperative.
OC 614 (NC -40*) - Chenga colonised. Dorian arrives on Xenon.
NC 0 - New Calendar inaugurated.
At this point the Terran and Allied Systems Trade
Federation becomes simply the Terran Federation under President
Ravon Dal-Rostin.
NC 25* - First convicts arrive on Cygnus Alpha.
NC 47 - Death of Dal-Rostin. Abram Klye elected by the High Council as the Second President of the Terran Federation.
NC 50* - Destiny colonised.
NC 59 - Space Command's first serious defeat as the attempted annexation of Auron has to be abandoned.
NC 62 - President Klye resigns as a result of the Auron debacle. Succeeded by Markus Nivetro, whose unveiled intent to renew the assault on Auron leads him to resign in the face of impending impeachment (NC 63).
NC 63 - President Nivetro succeeded by Jana Gelan, aka the Pluralist President and President Veto. Aggressive expansionism of the Federation halted, limited citizenship granted to parahumans.
NC 72 - President Gelan's plans to phase in constitutional democracy are abruptly halted by her assassination. Purity Party extremists are held responsible; expulsion of the Puritans from the High Council. Garat Karostin inaugurated as 5th President of the Terran Federation on an Earth Ascendancy platform.
NC 89 - Ensor born.
NC 92 - Death of Karostin, from terminal Synaptic Inhibition Disorder. Vice-President Barbra Muller holds the presidential chair pending the election of Unity Party moderate Ekart Stanvig.
NC 95 - Federation drawn into annexation of Helotrix. The ensuing 6-year campaign sees a widespread tightening of internal control as popular protest threatens the Federation's stability.
NC 100* - The Ortega is built.
NC 102 - Attempted coup by senior admirals of Space Fleet is defeated, but Space Command gains its first real autonomy from the Civil Administration. First Supreme Commander of the military appointed.
NC 104 - President Stanvig denied re-election at the end of his second 6-year term. Unity hardliner Ilaine Baptiste installed in his place. Central Office for State Security founded (NC 107), answerable directly to the President.
NC 107 - Ensor invents the Tarial Cell.
NC 109 - Servalan born. (And destined to line the pockets of many a cosmetic surgeon towards the middle of the century!)
NC 110 - President Baptiste stands down, citing her declining health as a principal reason. Mudharati Chandra elected as 9th president; her connections with the Purity Party are not immediately evident. By NC 112, however, the Parahuman Rights Charter introduced by Jana Gelan has been revoked and parahumans stripped of their citizenship.
NC 115 - The government of Auron adopts a
policy of strict isolation from the outside galaxy.
This is nearer 45 years before Liberator's visit
rather than the 30 years cited in Children of Auron.
However, I treat one Auron year as one and a half standard Earth
years (cf: A Candle in the Dark, set in NC 148, where
Cally is stated to be 16 years old. There are other indicators of
Auron year length elsewhere in the story).
NC 116 - Ensor goes into
hiding on Aristo and commences work on Orac.
(By this subcanon, Ensor was listed as a parahuman. Under
President Chandra, he found himself robbed of the freedoms he'd
grown up with, and his legal rights over his work, particularly
the Tarial Cell, were stolen from him. His public protests led to
an attempt on his life by Central Security; he narrowly survived
and contrived to disappear.)
NC 121 - Death of Chandra. Moderate candidate Pierre Whyte is killed in an orbital collision less than a week after his inauguration, leaving the moderate factions in disarray. Hardliner Norwood Xiao-Long elected as 11th president.
NC 122 - Roj Blake born. Xiao-Long resigns over a financial scandal. Succeeded by Purity sympathiser Katerina Nai.
NC 124 - Nai resigns after her husband is murdered by parahuman terrorists and takes up a place in the Senate. Cally and Zelda cloned under the first phase of the Franton Programme.
NC 125* - Federation Central Control
is secretly removed from Earth.
Paulo Mitri inaugurated as 13th President of the Terran
Federation, following nine months in which the presidential chair
has been vacant.
NC 126 - Del Tarrant born.
NC 127 - Servalan jilted by Don Keller. Kasabi forced to turn fugitive. (Any causal connection is just too tempting to ignore.)
NC 129 - Fletch expedition massacred by the Waazis.
NC 130* - Dorian begins work on a functioning teleport system.
NC 138 - Mellanby revolt crushed on Earth;
Hal Mellanby flees to Sarran with Dayna.
The assassination of President Mitri by Freedom
League terrorists is used as an excuse for the brutal suppression
of Mellanby's uprising. In actuality there is little connection
between the two events. Karla Dariaso elected president by the
High Council.
NC 140* - The Hommiks under Maravik overthrow
the Seska.
A succession of death threats against President
Dariaso prompt her premature resignation. She is last heard of
hiding in the Burkassian Empire. Her successor, Imojen Nbabi, is
assassinated by the Freedom league en route to her formal
inauguration. Vice-President Demitro Henritus promptly stands for
office and is duly elected as 15th President.
NC 143 - Sarkoff elected president of Lindor.
NC 144 - A young Lieutenant Del Tarrant takes his first command on the kairopan shuttle.
NC 148 - Sarkoff voted out of office as part
of Federation strategy for destabilising Lindor. Rebellion on
Earth; Blake arrested and put on trial. Travis almost killed in
conducting his arrest.
Cally leaves Auron, arriving on Saurian Major the
following year.
NC 150 - Federation begin extracting feldon on Mecron 2.
NC 152 - May: Blake witnesses the massacre
outside the dome city and is arrested. June: the evidence for
Blake's conviction on charges of child molestation is fabricated.
(Specifically, June 8th, the day the three boys were admitted to
the Central Clinic.) July: Blake is convicted and deported to
Cygnus Alpha.
Pirates begin their slaving operations on Domo. Egrorian
disappears from the Space Research Institute shortly before the
arrival of Del Tarrant. Classified research project initiated on
Bucol 2.
NC 153 - Blake acquires the Liberator and destroys the transmission relay station on Saurian Major. Civilians on Zircaster massacred by Federation troops under the command of Space Commander Travis.
NC 154 - Space Commander Travis is seconded to Supreme Commander Servalan with a specific brief to eliminate Blake. Research station XK-72 is destroyed by Federation pursuit ships.
NC 155 - President Sarkoff returns to Lindor. A recolonisation rocket is launched from Cephlon to Maclin Alpha - due to arrive around NC 650! Blake acquires Orac. Spaceworld is crippled in the wake of the Liberator's escape from the System.
NC 156 - The price of shadow rises precipitously as supply of the drug is severely compromised. Horizon declares its independence from the Federation. Blake mounts an abortive attack on Central Control on Earth. Travis becomes a fugitive. Deeta Tarrant becomes Champion of Teal.
NC 157 - Albian declares its secession from the Federation. An attempted political coup led by Governor LeGrand of Atlay is crushed by the security forces. Blake acquires the coordinates of Star One. All contact lost with Federation expedition to the planet Virn.
NC 158 - The Andromedan War. 80% of Space Command's fleet is annihilated. The Federation fragments into a number of warring factions. Development of the Plaxton Stardrive moved to Caspar.
NC 159 - Biological warfare deployed to exterminate the Auronar. An attempt to depose Servalan on Earth fails: Councillor Chesku assassinated.
NC 160 - Servalan deposed on Geddon. Verified reports of the Liberator suddenly cease.
NC 161 - Re-expansion of the Federation in Sector 4 under Commissioner Sleer's Pacification Programme. President-elect Practor of Helotrix assassinated. Federation patrols in Sector 5 report encounters with extremely fast ships moving in real time.
NC 162 - All files closed on classified research on Bucol-2. Federation development funds to Mecron 2 are terminated.
NC 163 - Betafarlian Confederacy dismembered by its neighbours following the death of Zukan. Gauda Prime becomes a member of the Terran Federation.