Eras

0.0 (before 2.4 billion BCE)

Pre-Pylistroph

1.0 (c. 2.4 billion BCE)

The Pylistroph

2.0 (c. 1.2 billion BCE)

Flight of the Daamin & Schism of the Hlutr. Nephestal founded.
2.1 (c. 600 million BCE)
Empire of the Iaranori
2.2 (c. 22 million BCE)
Virgo Wars
2.4 (c. 5.2 million BCE)
Avethellan Empire
2.6 (c. 1.63 million BCE)
Dorascan Empire
2.8 (c. 900,000 BCE)
Marpethtal Empire
2.9 (c. 800,000 BCE)
Empire of the Miethara

3.0 (c. 100,000 BCE)

Pre-Imperial Terra
3.75 Dance for the Ivory Madonna
3.962 "Gamester"
3.958 "Big Improvement"

4.0 (2153 CE/TE 0/12,153 HE)

5.0 (2624 CE/TE 471/12,624 HE)

Interregnum
5.38 A Rose From Old Terra

6.0 (2488 CE/12,488 HE)

New Continuum
6.55 "The Geas Ingenerate"

7.0 (10,274 CE/20,274 HE)

Second Terran Empire

8.0 (10,356 CE/24,356 HE)

Post-Imperial Humanity
8.5 The Leaves of October

9.0 (c. 3 million HE)

Endtime

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Second Empire

Hoister Family Eighth Generation

(aka Senior Generation, Hoister Famuila)

The Hoister Eighth Generation, end product of the Hoister Family Genetic Program, consisting of nine tetrads of epigenetic clones each (2 male, 2 female). Members of an epi-clone tetrad share minds; while each individual has his/her own distinct personality and consciousness, thoughts, emotions, and memories are freely shared between clones. A tetrad has been described as "one mind in four bodies." (Members of a tetrad can, temporarily, switch personalities between bodies; likewise, if one body is killed, the individual's personality can survive in the other three. In extreme cases, one living body has sustained all four minds.) This mind-link appears to have no spatial limitations, and seems to be instantaneous regardless of distance.

Numerous failed attempts to replicate the Hoister tetrad mind-link have shown that it is not a property of the epi-clone group as such; apparently, it derives as much from the unique circumstances of the Eighth Generation's upbringing and heredity as from the epi-clone phenomenon. (Some researchers have suggested a correlation to so-called "telepathy" reported between some pairs of identical twins; this phenomenon is still far from understood.) The mind-link is most emphatically not telepathy; psi-screens that shield telepathy are ineffective on the mind-link. Telepaths are unable to intercept or "listen in on" the private mind-link. (The case of the Za Personality shows us how poorly understood the Hoister clone-group mind-link really is.)

Despite their identical genetics and mind-link, members of each tetrad do display unique personalities, especially as they undergo individual experiences.

R-Tetrad: , Ramla, Rashan, Reena, Rikaard, b. 2462 Specialty: Leadership
S-Tetrad: Salinge, Sanaa, Sayon, Shakur b. 2463 Specialty: Psychology/Sociology
T-Tetrad: Tanisha, Tavon, Telena, Tyron b. 2464 Specialty: Medicine/Genetics
U-Tetrad: Uduak, Umar, Unathi, Uzuri b. 2465 Specialty: Weapons & Tactics
V-Tetrad: Varai, Vashon, Venda, Vina b. 2466 Specialty: Mathematics
W-Tetrad: Wafor, Wakeisha, Wanda, Wazir b. 2467 Specialty: Mechanics/Piloting
X-Tetrad: Xavlar, Xehran, Xenia, Xylia b. 2468 Specialty: The Arts
Y-Tetrad: Yashaun, Yerodin, Yewanda, Yølanda b. 2469 (teleports) Specialty: Psi studies
Z-Tetrad: Zahur, Zesir, Zora, Zuri b. 2470 Specialty: History

A tenth tetrad, actually eleventh-generation, was engineered by Telena Hoister in the New Continuum, with Levyn Kindred genes added to the mix:

A-Tetrad: Anan, Akil, Akinyi, Ama b. 12,556 H.E. Specialty: Physics

The Z-Tetrad gained a fifth member about 14,270 H.E.: Za (formally "the Za Personality"). The Za was a separate personality spontaneously generated within the Z-Tetrad mind-link, and lived for a considerable number of centuries without a body, existing only in the shared minds of its siblings. The Za has no fixed gender, and alternates male and female bodies in reincarnation.

Although the A-Tetrad and the Za Personality are not strictly of the Hoister Eighth Generation, they are considered part of the Famuila and/or the Senior Generation.

The Eighth Generation was raised on Helox by Brynhilde, who is considered part of the Famuila. She is the only authority figure (besides themselves) that members of the Eighth Generation respond to.

Customs

Members of the Famuila address one another affectionately as "cugino mia" (singular) or "cugini mia" (plural).

The ritual greeting gesture between members of the Famuila involves raising the hand (right or left) to the forehead, palm out, for a moment.

After their first century or so, the Famuila began to communicate in a verbal and body-language high-context shorthand, in which a casual movement, a facial expression, a single word says more than thousands of words between strangers.

Following 18,133 H.E., when the U-Tetrad was missing and presumed dead, the Famuila left four seats empty at all gatherings.

Members of the Famuila wear signet rings embossed with the Family Seal. Beginning with their time in the New Continuum, these rings contained sophisticated psi-devices which screened a five-meter radius from clairvoyant observation. The screen was activated by thought.

At age four (2472 CE), the X-Tetrad authored a short verse that all the clone groups adopted as their own; it soon became an internal chant, with each member of the group taking a segment, and all four saying the last phrase in unison:

Mind and body / heart and soul / space and time / to death and beyond / we are one.

A common expletive among the Famuila is "Gods of the Three Moons," derived from the three moons of Helox.

Hoister Famuila Chess

Read more about Hoister Family Eighth Generation

Hoister Famuila Chess

Method of Play

Among themselves, the Hoister Famuila play three-dimensional chess based on modified boards ten squares on a side, stacked ten deep, with two additional pieces. It is two-, three-, or four-player game (the third and fourth players work perpendicularly to the first and second players). First player starts on the bottom board, second player on the top, third on the fifth from bottom, and fourth on the fifth from top.) Each player controls a "Kindred" of 20 pieces: First Speaker (King), Commander (Queen), 2 Advisors (Bishops), 2 Battleships (new piece), 2 Cruisers (Knights), 2 Planets (Rooks), 2 Starboats (new piece), and 8 Familiars (Pawns).

The added complexities of extra players, boards, and pieces kept the Famuila's interest for the first thousand years or so, then the game began to get predictable and dull. About 15,000 H.E., the X-Tetrad introduced a new wrinkle: Predictive Chess. In the ideal form of this system, which is based on opponents knowing each other intimately, players individually record all of their moves before the game begins . . . and without any interaction with their opponents. The game is then played out according to each player's pre-recorded moves. Players drop out as their predicted moves fail to match reality, and the last player remaining wins the game. (A perfect game, of course, would play through to a legal conclusion.)

When they first started to play Predictive Chess, a limit was placed on the number of predicted moves -- say, five or ten moves were predicted, and the subsequent game was played to a conclusion. By 20,000 H.E., though, the Famuila were playing true Predictive Chess, in which the entire game was mapped out in advance.

The Famuila Chess Set

The Hoister Famuila Chess Set was constructed by Jonelle Hoister-Tenny in 14,921 H.E. The boards (ten squares on each side, ten boards stacked) are constructed of black and white marble from Ye Dragora, inlaid with tachyon vesicles (which also serve to support the boards by antigrav.) Individual pieces are carved from gold (Kindred 1), platinum (Kindred 2), silver (Kindred 3), and diamond (Kindred 4), inlaid with precious stones. The silver is pure Silver-107, the platinum pure Platinum-190, and the diamond mixed carbon 12, 13, and 14 because it is of natural origin.

The particular pieces are perfect replicas of:

First Speakers (Kings): the four R-tetrad members.
Commanders (Queens): Salinge/Sanaa, Tavon/Tyron, Unathi/Uzuri, Venda/Vina
Advisors (Bishops): W-tetrad (male & female), X-tetrad (male & female), Y-tetrad (male & female), and Z-tetrad (male & female).
Battleships*: Casus Belli.
Cruisers (Knights): Hoister Kindred Navy Cruisers.
Planets (Rooks): Helox and Eden.
Starboats*: Casus Belli's boats.
Familiars (Pawns): Assorted human figures, four male & four female per Kindred.

Since 18,133 H.E., the figure of Unathi/Uzuri has been covered with black silk.

The Battleship and Starboat are two new pieces in the game. The Battleship moves 3 spaces in any direction or combination of directions; the Starboat moves one space either forward, up/down, or to the side. In the initial layout, the two Starboats flank the eight Familiars (Pawns); the two Battleships come between the Advisors (Bishops) and the Cruisers (Knights).

Read more about Hoister Famuila Chess

Aggry/Aggry stone/Hagstone

Small, stone-like modules that boost psi powers, a product of Heloxan technology. Some aggry stones are general-purpose, while others are optimized for special tasks.