Why is the 2nd Edition Aeon Era Timeline Different?

[KarlB]

Simple question as I noticed this straight off the bat. The dates listed for major events in the TC: Aeon book are noticeably different from the original.

Now I understand changing the Nova/Aberrant era timeline dates as we're now in 2020 instead of 1999 ... but the Aeon Trinity era is so far into the future that it shouldn't matter what the dates are. Yet, they are changed.

- First contact with the Qin: 2107 (first ed) vs 2108 (second ed)
- Qin embassy on Luna: 2108 vs 2109
- The Chitra Bhana Purge: 2109 vs 2111
- First contact with the Chromatics: 2113 vs 2115
- Fall of the Esperanza and disappearance of the Upeo Wa Macho: 2114 vs 2120 and 2116. Okay, this one really pisses me off. One of the big mysteries in the original Aeon was that the Upeo Wa Macho disappeared the very same day as the attack on the Esperanza. When the other orders started to push an attack on the Teleporters' base, the teleporters suddenly received alarming distress calls about the disaster in orbit ... and Proxy Atwan told them to ignore it because she was certain it was a ploy to draw out the Teleporters. It was only years later that they discovered the horrible truth about what happened, and it's this truth that is causing a lot of strife within that order that is questioning Atwan's leadership. Why the @#$%^ was this changed?? Even the 2nd edition states that the Esperanza disaster is eroding at her leadership, but that doesn't make so much sense as the Esperanza disaster happened a full four years after they left Earth. Unless you go by the idea that some Teleporters kept tabs on Earth and hence were aware of the attack happening.

So yeah ... what's the deal here? Did the devs explain why the timelines between first and second edition are so different during the Aeon era? I have pretty much all of the original edition printed books, all with rich history and information. And now it's making me question how much of that to use in any new game because of all the disparities between the two editions.

Out of curiousity, how are you folks handling this?

[Mateus Luz]

I would suggest you to keep the 1e timeline if you wish. The changes in the rules and powers don’t affect the timeline or the events in a significant way, so you don’t need to worry too much about it.

The changes were mainly to make the events more recent, closer to the starting year. Also, there is no Mystery Plot in TC, the true is written in the last chapter, it has no Metaplot, all orders are playable directly from the main book. The differences are more than just the timeline, like the new Ministry is far less shady than the old, and the new Norça were Ecoterrorists and not Narcos as old.

My way to handle this is: It’s a new game, with a new timeline, new system, new concepts and a new development strategy, think about it as VtR to VtM and not as VtM 3e to VtM 2e, they have similarities, but are different.

Fall of Esperanza and Upeo disappearance are not related anymore. During the fall, they tried to contract teleporters but got no response, and it affect Atwan leadership as thy did reach the Teleporters and they decided not to reply, leaving many of them questioning the reasons behind Atwan choice. Now, the reason for Atwan to leave with Upeo is Eden, as they had already found Eden and saw what the other Orders would do by merely mentioning “working with Aberrants”.

The idea for a more recent Esperanza event is that it would justify why they still have many people living in and leaving France and Belgium.

[Penelope]

KarlB except for the Esperanza, they’re all really close...

Mateus Luz thanks for explaining that they’re no longer related.