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 Chronologie Ténébrane Officielle
Chronologie officielle
Cette chronologie apparait dans les éditions originales et présente le mérite
d'être relativement exacte mais imprécise. Vous trouverez ici la version
originale de cette chronologie tirée de
Rediscovery publiée chez Daw. Vous pouvez aussi consulter une
traduction annotée de ce texte.
Attention, le texte en anglais qui va suivre est la propriété de Daw
Books Inc. Il est reproduit ici sans autorisation.
THE FOUNDING
A "lost ship" of Terran origin, in the pre-Empire colonizing days, lands on a
planet with a dim red star, later to be called Darkover.
THE AGES OF CHAOS
1,000 years after the original landfall settlement, society has returned to
the feudal level. The Darkovans, their Terran technology renounced or
forgotten, have turned instead to freewheeling, out-of-control matrix
technology, psi powers and terrible psi weapons. The populace lives under the
domination of the Towers and a tyrannical breeding program to staff the Towers
with unnaturally powerful, inbred gifts of laran.
THE HUNDRED KINGDOMS
An age of war and strife retaining many of the decimating and disastrous
effects of the Ages of Chaos. The lands which are later to become the Seven
Domains are divided by continuous border conflicts into a multitude of small,
belligerent kingdoms, named for convenience "The Hundred Kingdoms." The close
of this era is heralded by the adoption of the Compact, instituted by Varzil
the Good. A landmark and turning point in the history of Darkover, the Compact
bans all distance weapons, making it a matter of honor that one who seeks to
kill must himself face equal risk of death.
THE RENUNCIATES
During the Ages of Chaos and the time of Hundred Kingdoms, there where two
orders of women who set themselves apart from the patriarchal nature of
Darkovan feudal society: the priestesses of Avarra, and the warriors of the
Sisterhood of the Sword. Eventually these two independent groups merged to
form the powerful and legally chartered Order of Renunciates or Free Amazons,
a guild of women bound only by oath as a sisterhood of mutual
responsibility. Their primary allegiance is to each other rather than to
family, clan, caste or any man save a temporary employer. Alone among
Darkovan women, they are exempt from usual legal restrictions and
protections. Their reason for existence is to provide the women of Darkover an
alternative to their socially restrictive lives.
AGAINST THE TERRANS-THE FIRST AGE (Recontact)
After the Hastur Wars, the Hundred Kingdoms are consolidated into the Seven
Domains, and ruled by a hereditary aristocracy of seven families, called the
Comyn, allegedly descended from the legendary Hastur, Lord of Light. It is
during this era that the Terran Empire, really a form of confederacy,
rediscovers Darkover, which they know as the fourth planet of the Cottman star
system. The fact that Darkover is a lost colony of the Empire is not easily or
readily acknowledged by Darkovans and their Comyn overlords.
AGAINST THE TERRANS-THE SECOND AGE (After the Comyn)
With the initial shock of recontact beginning to wear off, and the Terran
spaceport a permanent establishment on the outskirts of the city of Thendara,
the younger and less traditional elements of Darkovan society begin the first
real exchange of knowledge with the Terrans-learning Terran science and
technology and teaching Darkovan matrix technology in turn. Eventually Regis
Hastur, the young Comyn lord most active in these exchanges, becomes Regent in
a provisional government allied to the Terrans. Darkover is once again
reunited with its founding Empire.
fichier source (Dernière modification : Mer 21 Avr 1999 17:21:45)
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