Timeline

2137 CE: The colony ship Stellar Horizon departs Earth, bound for Kepler-442b, carrying some thousands of African settlers in cryogenic stasis and a crew of a few hundred from Asia: Chinese officers and engineers, with Filipino ratings. Most settlers come from East Africa and share Swahili as a common language; a minority comes from West Africa and speaks Hausa. English is the working language between crew and settlers.
Mid-2100s CE: During the voyage, a stellar storm causes critical damage to navigation systems, leaving the ship adrift in space.
~2200 CE (Cycle 0): The Stellar Horizon emergency systems revive the passengers near an unknown star system. With life support failing, the crew redirects the ship to a tidally locked planet, later named Duskara.
~2255 CE (Cycle 562): Settlement spreads from the first lakeshore communities on the Bahari into the wider twilight zone of Duskara. Early struggles focus on adapting to the hostile environment, resource scarcity, and the extreme conditions of the day and night sides.
~2305 CE (Cycle 1,124): Settlements stabilize along the 200-300 km-wide twilight band, forming linear cities. A reliance on geothermal and wind energy begins to take root as foundational technology.
~2360 CE (Cycle 1,686): Genetic and environmental adaptations to Duskara’s radiation emerge, including latent psychic abilities such as weather working and thermal sensing. For about a hundred years the settlements disagree about what the abilities are and who should control them (see From Sickness to Guild).
~2465 CE (Cycle 2,810): The concept of "The Awakening" solidifies, recognizing the psychic abilities among Duskarans as both practical tools and spiritual gifts. Weatherworking guilds and other specialized roles are institutionalized.
~2785 CE (Cycle 6,182): The societal structures of the twilight belt cities and night-side cave settlements diverge significantly. The Deep Roads, tunnel networks begun by early settlers but abandoned during the consolidation period, are rediscovered and expanded for trade and communication.
~2895 CE (Cycle 7,306): The Duskaran Accord is established to manage inter-settlement relations, resource distribution, and defense against environmental hazards. This confederation solidifies cooperation across the twilight belt and cave settlements.
~2980 CE (Cycle 8,205): The Thirst Wars. Three major cities withhold water exports, and the embargoes and skirmishes that follow nearly dissolve the Accord before Wayseers broker the Bahari Compact.
3000 CE (Cycle 8,430): Present Day. Some eight hundred years after landfall, Duskaran society is a blend of ancestral Earth traditions and unique adaptations. Psychic abilities, resource scarcity, and environmental challenges continue to shape cultural and technological innovations. The mysteries of Duskara, including its ancient structures and unexplained phenomena, remain central to exploration and survival efforts.

CE dates are approximate conversions for the reader. Duskarans count only in Cycles (see Calendar and Time-Keeping).