Timeline of events

OOC: The information on this page is canon and supersedes any contradictory bits of lore from elsewhere.

This information page is maintained and updated by Dr. Sue Marconi. An early version of this page appeared as an appendix to her best-selling history of Discoveria, 'The Founding Fathers: Tales of the Making of Utopia'.

Timeline Of Events in Discoverian History

1970-1979
1974: Sociologists in several US colleges, disillusioned by the Watergate scandal, begin to discuss methods of determining the optimal form of human government.
1975: Political theorist and Soviet dissident Vladimir Zamyatin proposes a comparative experimental study of different forms of government. Zamyatin presents his proposal in the US and secures support and funding for a small-scale study.
1976: Zamyatin enlists support from sociology departments in Western Europe, China, and the Middle East. Construction of specially isolated 'study communities' begins; this is largely completed by 1978.
1979: The Forms of Regional Government Efficacy (FORGE) Trial begins in the US, UK, USSR, China and the Middle East. In the UK, the main study community of 'Veritas' is established south of Cambridge, England.

1980-1989
1984: FORGE expands to include several new study communities in Australia, Africa and South America.
1987: Tim Rutherford is elected Prime Minister of Veritas.

1990-1999
1990: Zamyatin is assassinated during a visit to one of the study communities in the USSR.
1991: Study communities in the USSR abandoned.
1999: The FORGE Trial ends. Participating citizens are offered the choice of returning to their societies of origin or continuing to help research. Those who choose to continue are transferred to the Veritas community in England.

2000-2009
2000: Professor Simon Goldacre presents the findings of the FORGE trial to the UK Royal Society. The UK Home Office commissions Professor Goldacre to write the 'Goldacre Report', which discusses the ideological conditions thought to explain the outcome of the trial, and their implications for the design of a maximally effective form of government.
2001: Citizens of Veritas establish the Utopia Foundation to continue further research into the optimal form of government and campaign for the creation of a utopian society. Professor Goldacre becomes the Foundation's first Administrator.
2002: Darren Hughes, CEO of Hughes Medical Corporation, becomes the main financier of the Utopia Foundation. The UK Home Office commissions several 'feasibility studies' to assess the possibility of establishing an experimental utopian society.
2003: The Utopia Foundation sends a large survey team to the West Atlantic on the ship Darwin, to identify a suitable site for a new utopian society. The Darwin sinks en route while passing through the Esteria Triangle; survivors settle the island of Immod in the Westreach Islands archipelago in the region of Esteria.
2004: Contact is re-established with the survivors on Immod. In the UK, Professor Goldacre retires as Utopia Foundation Administrator on grounds of ill-health. Dr Benjamin Jung succeeds him as Senior Administrator.
2005: The Utopia Foundation moves its headquarters from Veritas to the new settlement at Las Veritas, Immod. Public consultations take place to establish the detailed organisation of the new society's political institutions. This is eventually codified in the Utopia Foundation's Two Principles, One Nation plan.
2006: On 16th January (Utopia Day), the Utopian Commonwealth of Discoveria is officially founded along the design in Two Principles, One Nation. Population transfer from Veritas to Discoveria begins. Tim Rutherford, Prime Minister of Veritas from 1987-1999, is elected President. The Holy Truth Church is established in Discoveria; late in 2006, an inquiry begins after the activities of a militant faction in the Church become apparent.
2007: The Special Administrative Region of Veritaria is founded as a study community to observe the effects of specific interventions on laissez-faire capitalism. Harry Ford is elected Prime Minister of Veritaria.
2008: Following the collapse of the United Nations over criticism of the Security Council's failure to intervene in several humanitarian crises, Discoveria becomes a member of the newly-formed World Assembly.
2009: The Utopian Commonwealth achieves official recognition by a majority of the nations of the world.

2010-present
2010: Tim Rutherford is elected to a second term as President of the Utopian Commonwealth.
2015: Tim Rutherford is elected to a third term as President of the Utopian Commonwealth.
2017: Following a political scandal, Tim Rutherford steps down as President of Discoveria. Vice-President Nathan Bohr becomes leader of the Discoverian Altruist Utopian Party and acting President.
2018: Discoveria is attacked by the Imperial States of Burgh. Following a brief military intervention, Discoveria conquers the Imperial States. The Imperial States vote in a referendum to be annexed by Discoveria as the Dominion of Saad (officially, The Saad State of Burgh. Nathan Bohr calls and wins an election in his own right, becoming the second President of the Utopian Commonwealth.