Timeline of the Coal Age

Timeline of the Coal Age,

8900 - First evidence of systematic harvesting of surface coal from the Tcho-Tsui coal complex site.

8750 - Tcho-Tsui coal signatures found in remote communities, and food remains from other areas found in Tcho-Tsui middens, indicating trade and networked distribution of coal and food.

8500 - Evidence of seasonal working, and winter distribution of coal.river transit of coal

8200 - establishment of road networks. Tcho-Tsui coal production in decline, Tcho Tcho coal complex established.

8150 - use of the wheel and draft animals. Also, contacts with Azul cultures, and spread of writing. Emergence of the Tcho-Tsui script.

8050 - Emergence of the Tcho Tcho Coal complex as a separate polity. War between Tcho-Tsai and Tcho Tcho. Precipitous decline, and founding of Nat, Ole and Mri by refugees.

8000 - End of Tcho-Tsai coal complex, nominal alliance of Nat, Ole and Mri.

7700 - Establishment of secondary coal complexes.

7200 - Abandonment and exhaustion of Nat Coal complex. Expansion of Tcho Tcho. Emergence of ‘Sunken Cities.’

6700 - Contraction of Tcho Tcho for unknown reasons. Famine, population movement and population collapse on the margins of Tcho Tcho’s network, with disruptions to populations in the unorganized territories.

6640 - Establishment of Sul Coal Complex by Tcho Tcho dissidents. Other secondary centers established through Mri and Ole.

6600 - Practice of Embassies begins. Negotiations for recognition of mutual rights, network rights. A form of Charter established. Tcho Tcho recognized as the ‘Kingdom of Kingdoms’ which in practice means relatively little. The so called Golden Age begins.

6300 - Zhudan ships range along the Storm and Wang-Gash coasts. Strangers are killed on site. Penguin rookeries and outposts are established.

6200 - Zhudan enter the sea of storms of Tsalmothua, but do not encounter the coal kingdoms, who are principally inland.

6150 - First Zhudan effort to cross before the great walls of ice which are the Shining Thunder Glaciers.

6100 - The Zhudan successfully cross the Shining Thunder glaciers and discover the sea of Tranquility, containing the wealthy shoreline city states of the Azul and Yag. They also discover the fishing fleets of the Yag and destroy them on site.

6050 - The Zhudan Raids begin, destroying the Yag fisheries and looting many of the coastal cities. Decline of Azul. Decline of downriver Yag. Azul refugees flee uprivers, establishing satellite societies further and further up river systems, eventually discovering lake Vos.

5800 - Ptahr nomads unite. Extend rule to Wang Gash and Lake Vos. Zhudan Captains, crossing the Shining Thunder glaciers, and going beyond the Sea of Tranquility, discover the Central channel, sailing through to the Sea of Storms, already known to them. First circumnavigation of Eastern Antarctica. Discovery and description of Western Islands.

5700 - Ptarh nomads conquer Yag.

5650 - Ptarh nomads conquer Azul. Azul and Yag refugees flee to the Islands and the Coal Kingdoms, bringing with them various technologies, local traditions.

5500 - End of the Golden Age of the Coal Kingdoms. Ptarh press into Tsalmothua, massive population movements in unorganized territories, some direct conflicts between Coal Kingdoms and Ptarh Empire. War between Zhudan and Ptahr. End of Zhudan piracy in the sea of Tranquility, not because of sea resistance, but because the Zhudan are staying home and fighting the Ptahr.

5350 - Ptarh Empire reaches its maximum, though by this time, the cultural influence of Yag is so heavy that it should be known as the Ptarh-Yag Empire.

5300 - The Pact of the Two Lords - Ptarh ends its conflicts with Zhudan, which recognizes its rule over ‘all the lands of the world’ except Zhudan and Wang-Gash which is neutral, in return for Zhudan’s domination of all Islands, all seas, all shores and waters. The pact is notable for the division of territories and regions which neither controls.

5200 - Regular contact and trade between Ptarh and the Coal Kingdoms. Azul becomes powerful as an intermediary. For the first time, Azul population surpasses Yag. Establishment of Coal complex in Azul. Nat Coal complex reactivated, with new mining techniques. Tcho Tcho coal production in decline. Zhudan era of raiding begins in Sea of Storms.

5100 - Contraction of Ptahr Empire. Azul city states gain independence. Ptahr Empire divides into Lesser Ptahr, located in Azul and Tsalmothua, and Greater Ptahr dominating Yag, Highlands and Wang Gash. In Tsalmothua rise of rival ‘Charcoal Kingdoms’ not culturally tied to the coal complexes, based on forest management and charcoal cultivation.

5000 - Division of the Empire into Three Kingdoms. Revival of Tcho Tcho Coal production. End of Mri Coal Complex. Establishment of new coal complexes. Lesser Ptahr becomes a coal complex kingdom. Maturity of ‘Sunken Cities’ architecture, with most air-exchange and drainage problems resolved.

4950 - War between the Wang-Gash Ptahr Kingdom and Zhudan, ends inconclusively, without participation of the other Kingdoms. Effective dissolution of the Ptahr in Wang Gash.

4900 - Civil War between the remains of the Ptahr Empire, and Yag hegemony. Ptahr highlands break from Yag Hegemony.

4800 - Azul conquers Yag. Yag exiles establish a colony on the shores of Lake Vos, dominate local tribes.

4780 - Azul civil wars.

4700 - Coughing fever breaks out in Mri. Spreads through the coal kingdoms, into Azul, then Yag. Population collapses in civilized areas. Abandonment of Coal complexes. Tribal Tsalmothua invade the Coal Kingdoms. Resurgence of Ptahr 2nd Empire.

4690 - The Berry Road, an overland trade route connects Yag and Azul to the Lake Vos culture, and then to Zhudan.

4640 - Ptahr 2nd Empire defeated by a rebellion of Yag and Azul cities.

4600 - Abandoned coal complexes reactivated by tribal populations. The great Coal Kings war rages through Tsalmothua. It is a war of extermination.

4500 - Tcho Tcho, now a minor coal producer, but dominating other coal complexes through sheer numbers is established as the dominant power. Tcho Tcho established as the largest sunken city in history, with over 100 shafts and twenty levels. Estimated population over 100,000. Inland City States of Azul discover copper deposits. Melting and smelting of copper begins, large scale network trading of copper goods and artifacts. Gold smelted as well. Copper age has begun.

--

*** Isn't the population of 100,000 far too high? It would be high for any city at this technological level, and even more so in an area where food is an extremely limited resource. Trading coal, ores and metals will only work if there is a food surplus elsewhere which can be imported. -

It's incredibly high. At the beginning of the Later Human Era, roughly 8000 years ago, early human cities, such as the Yag, the Azul or the Coal Kings generally ran a few thousand inhabitants. Ten thousand or so was a large city.

However, by the end of the Coal Age, there was 3500 years of development, increasing complexity and centralization. The Tcho Tcho had established themselves as the political and administrative center for much of the Coal Kingdoms network and politically dominated several other coal producing complexes. By this time, there was a substantial network of roads and river paths, traveled by animal-drawn carts and sleds.

Tcho Tcho, at its height had as much as 20% of the area of Tsalmothua as its agricultural hinterland, a span of territory larger than France.

It is true that the Tsalal historically had food bottlenecks, and many of the Tsalmothua crops were not as productive as the best temperate crops, like rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes or corn. On the other hand several of the root crops were surprisingly productive, and by the end of the middle era, the Tsalal had evolved a rugged agricultural package which could produce significant surpluses.

This wasn't to say that the Tsalal had solved all their problems. In many ways, they'd simply moved them around. Beating the food bottleneck lead to energy bottlenecks which lead to overpopulation, depletion of different key resources, and different paths to collapse. But they were dealing with it.

For the early Tsalal civilization, coal was, even in relatively small amounts, the key to their energy bottleneck. It was the essential resource in a way which has no parallel in old world human civilizations. Denied coal, an agricultural community risked extinction. The Coal Kingdoms used this clout aggressively.

So the 100,000 for the Tcho Tcho is an extraordinary moment in their history, it is the culmination of over three thousand years of politics, economics and development, but not infeasible. Sustainable, that's a different question. The Bronze age is going to be interesting.

Taking a look at comparable cultures, the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, itself a stone age technology civilization, and one without effective monopoly of a key resource reached a population of between 200,000 and 350,000 depending on how you look at it.

Tenochtitlan was not necessarily the largest Pre-Columbian city. The Mayan City of Tikal has had population estimates ranging from 120,000 to 415,000.

Other city complexes in the old world were similarly scaled. Mohenjo-Daru and Harappa in the Indus valley was believed to have both reached 40,000.

I refer to the Pre-Columbians because theirs was essentially a stone age technology, a rough match for the Coal Age Tsalal. Bronze Age and Iron Age cities in the old world, such as Angkor or Alexandria reached even higher numbers.

- Compare these figures for OTL Bronze Age Cities. Populations of over 100,000 are not impossible but most exceptional.

--

4400 - Decline of Tcho Tcho, rebellions of reactived Ole. Emergence of Tar and Oil extraction. Peat bogs. Charcoal well established. Zhudan smelt copper. Yag push inland, displacing the now decimated Ptahr, seeking copper sources. Yag discover lead, tin, sulphur.

4350 - Copper smelting commences, near the Ole Coal complex. This is the only indigenous Tsamothua copper. Copper distribution networks emerge. Collapse of original Azul copper communities due to arsenical contamination. But the technique spreads or is quickly rediscovered.

4200 - Bronze is developed in Zhudan.....