Thousand Tales Timeline
Book names are shown in [brackets].
2020s
-Invention of "Tier-II" AIs, comparable to animals.
-Political turmoil, including the breakup of the United States, the annexation of Cuba, reunification of Korea, and revolution in China. (No real politicians or parties are ever named.)
-Establishment of Castor, a sea-surface colony near Cuba.
2035
[Thousand Tales: How We Won the Game]
-Release of the video game "Thousand Tales". Its creators are known as the Three Sages, including famous AI designer "Blue" Delune, industrial hardware designer "Green" Ostler, and artist "Red" Takahashi. Activation of the game's master AI, Ludo.
-Secret research partnership between Ludo and a rich Saudi noble.
2036
[Liberation Game]
-Creation of a group of 108 human-level ("Tier-III") AIs for select players of Thousand Tales.
-Brain uploading technology is invented, but still extremely expensive.
-Terror attack on a Tales themed nightclub. Green flees and uploads. Blue goes to work for the American NSA. Red is kidnapped by the Chinese.
-The Kira Incident, the death of an innocent girl, helps get uploading more widely accepted.
-Paul "Horizon" Kostakis becomes an early uploader and co-founder of the Knights of Talespace, an in-game police/moderator group.
-Cibola, a Central American nation, hosts a Mormon colony affiliated with Ludo. Its co-director Robin MacAdam kills a local rebel warlord and grows in power.
2037
-More AIs are created, but far fewer than there are human players. They don't have quite the same social status as the "Originals".
-Alice "Phoenix" Forester is an early uploader, uploaded due to terminal illness. Ludo has started quietly taking ownership of businesses like the Forester family's movie company and (in 2036) a German trucking firm.
-Uploading technnology gets open-sourced.
-Experimental cybenetic "awakening" of animals using AI.
2038
[Crafter's Passion, Fairwind's Fortune]
-The Hundredfold Experiment, a test of accelerated brain time, leads to more optimized uploading systems and falling costs.
-Stan Cooper, teenage handyman, rebels against a "social credit" system and goes to work for Ludo.
-Gail "Fairwind" Schonluft wins a lottery and moves to the AFS with her new boyfriend, who works for the Knights of Talespace.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
2039
[Crafter's Heart, The Digital Coyote]
-Blue Sage Delune is rescued from the US in the form of a flawed brain upload.
-Growth of the Ludic Order, a Ludo-worshipping cult that the AI disavows.
-Grand Exposition of a Thousand Tales, in Cuba, shows off the group's organization and technology.
-Coordinated terror attack on Ludo's facilities worldwide, fought off with several deaths and explosions. FAE, an AI rival to Ludo, is blamed.
-Cibola colony declares independence as a small AI-friendly nation, Silver Circle.
-Pete "Sunset" Timaeus uploads to overcome crippling shyness and a sense that he's working for a crooked political boss.
2040
[Learning To Fly, Queen Of Nowhere, 2040: Reconnection, The Great Sage]
-Andre "Sky Diver" Vasquez uploads after an airplane flight turns deadly.
-The Troll War, a silly conflict in the magical realm of Hoofland, helps set new social rules for Talespace that encourage out-of-game interaction.
-Susumu "Pip" Yamayuchi becomes the first person uploaded from a brain in long-term frozen storage. She tries to adjust to the world of 2040 after her death in 2020.
-Alma, a retiring teacher, manages to afford uploading, becoming part of a relatively middle-class wave of uploaders. She helps push for the use of uploader labor for education, and the idea of fixing neurological problems by uploading.
-Great Taste Project, a research program, is finally completed. The senses of smell and taste within Talespace are greatly improved.
-Sunset connives his way into effectively neutralizing FAE and allying with the Chinese AI called Jade Dragon. Ludo estimates a much more optimistic view of the future starting now.
-Red Sage Takahashi is rescued from China, reuniting the trio at last.
-Launch of the Challenger asteroid-mining probe, carrying AI and uploader crew beyond Earth.
-Uploader population reaches 100,000.
Possible Near Future
-Asteroid mining, Moon and Mars colonization.
-Robot colonization of wasteland zones including the Sahara, oceans, arctic and Chernobyl.
-Rise of Saffron, an India-based national AI.
-Continued debate about uploading, legal rights for AIs and uploaders,
-Tighter integration between human, AI, and uploader lives in real and virtual space.
-Conventional human population begins declining; uploader population reaches 1 million ~2043, 10 million ~ 2048. Still < 1% of humanity. How high will that go?