SPI Timeline

The Society of Paranormal Investigators Historic Timeline

This lays out a timeline of significant events across human history for the chronicle, including more recent events with which PCs may have been involved.

Timeline

• 9500 BCE - The oldest known permanent human settlement anywhere in the world was built, Göbekli Tepe, the purpose of the megalithic enclosures still unknown.
• 3100 BCE – Construction of Stonehenge began in prehistoric England, aligned towards sunrise on the summer solstice and sunset on the winter solstice.
• 2100 BCE – Ancient Sumerian poems were written and then later compiled into the Epic of Gilgamesh, attributed to Sha naqba imuru “He who Sees the Unknown”
• 1200 BCE – The Late Bronze Age collapse was a time of widespread societal collapse associated with environmental change, mass migration and the destruction of cities in the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East. There are competing theories behind the collapse, which triggered the fall of the Hittite Empire, the Greek Dark Ages, the waning military presence of Egypt, and the increased autonomy of the Phoenicians. Multiple modern scholars within the Society of Paranormal Investigators suspect that there was supernatural activity involved in the collapse, perhaps in an attempt to slow human technology and progress.
• 600- 400 BCE – The Axial Age, a historically liminal period, where most of humanity’s philosophical foundations are laid simultaneously yet independently in Persia, India, China, the Levant, and the Greco-Roman world.
• 200 BCE – Massive geoglyphs are made in the soil of the Nazca Desert in Southern Peru, using continuous lines to form figurative designs, best seen from the air.
• 48 BCE - The Library of Alexandria was burned by Julius Caesar during his civil war, though it is unclear how much was actually destroyed.
• 536 CE – Extreme weather events connected to simultaneous eruptions of uncertain origins, where ‘the sun gave forth its light without brightness’ and “the seasons seemed all jumbled together,” leading to widespread famine and the first bubonic plague pandemic. Several Scholars in the Society are investigating possible supernatural causes.
• 776 CE – The Order of the Everlight is founded by Roland and a few of his paladins, the legendary knights of Charlemagne’s court, as a secret chivalric and religious group dedicated to using their strange paranormal abilities to protect people.
• 1118 CE – The Knights Templar are founded, eventually becoming one of the wealthiest military orders in Western Christianity, growing rapidly in membership and power.
• 1429 CE – Joan of Arc, claiming to be acting under divine guidance, lifts the siege of Orleans and helps to turn the Hundred Years'War in favor of the French.
• 1585 CE – Sir Walter Raleigh attempted to found the first permanent English settlement in North America, but when it was visited by a ship in 1950, the colonists had impeccably disappeared.
• 1862 CE – The 1800s saw a dramatic increase in ghost activity, resulting in an increased interest by humanity in the paranormal and occult. Société le Fantôme, a paranormal investigation and research organization, was founded in Paris, primarily investigating ghosts and hauntings.
• 1897 CE – The Firelight Association of America was organized to bring together hunters, anglers, explorers, naturalists, artistic and individuals who subscribe to the principles of adventure and wildlife conservation.
• 1920 CE – Robert Holt, a scholar-knight of the Order of the Everlight,was instrumental in developing the ritual that allows the users to strip away someone’s Affinity.
• 1966 CE – US based paranormal-focused groups, including some members from Société le Fantôme, the Firelight Association, and the Order of the Everlight join to form The Society of Paranormal Investigators, in response to several decades of the Order actively seeking out people with Affinities and sharing with them their ritual. Being aware that most supernaturals are seeking to hide their resistance, and willing to enforce that violently, the Society takes the official stance to remain secret in order to avoid conflict.
• 2004 CE – Rapid growth via internet/social media prompts SPI restructuring and official Division formation.
• 2004 CE - SPI establishes a supernaturally secured internet communications system.
• 2012 CE - Acquisitions Division leader Leslie Morgan has a public meltdown at a gathering, revealing Ikons to the Society.
• 2012 CE - Health & Welfare Division hosts a mental health retreat in Hawaii for SPI leaders and members.
• 2012 CE - Internal probes into Research & Development Division uncover misconduct and Ikon-tainted projects.
• 2014 CE - Ongoing cryptid-research project launches in the Appalachian Mountains.
• 2017 CE - Members of SPI visit the Grand Goblin Market to investigate magical treasures.
• 2018 CE - SPI aids international raid on vampiric cathedral in Paris catacombs.
• 2019 CE - SPI sends a diplomatic mission to negotiate with the spirits along the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate to keep a powerful Earthquake spirit slumbering.
• 2020 CE - The Acquisitions Division organizes a large expedition into the Underworld to visit the great library of the Vault Dominion.
• 2021 CE - Defense Division organizes an expedition into the Hedge, passes through the Gate of Horn, traverses Dreaming Roads, and slays a nightmare pack attacking sleepers.
• 2024 CE - The Adventurer’s Division dives to the wreck of the Titanic to interview ghosts, and recover artifacts.
• 2026 CE - Enhanced chapter cooperation positions SPI scholars and inventors on the brink of major breakthroughs in occult, supernatural, and technological advancements. Multiple experts begin to study the dozen known Ikons, each with their own interests in the Society.