RAMBLE for the Week of December 01, 1997
	I've been putting together a new chronology for the world of Pagan, and I'm having a bit of a problem - maybe you'll see what I mean. For the most part, the chronology of Paan is simple - it's as described in Bentic's Chronicle of Pagan (which, conveniently, comes with the game), as well as Mythran's "book" which you find, "Mythran's Objective History of Pagan". There are a few other events of note not described by those books, but very few. There aren't even really any good temporal references by any of the characters, and most of the time periods between major events (say, between when Stellos revived Kalen's beloved and when five of Stellos' students contained Pyros, forming the first Cabal) are always described very vaguely as "centuries". Except in one place: Stellos' own age. He himself says in the game that he is just over 200 years old. One of the other Theurgists tells you this as well. Unfortunately, that's just not possible, or at least wouldn't seem to be. You see, Stellos was "already an old man" when Stratos made him immortal. The event where that happenned was when he resurrected Kalen's beloved from the dead (after Hydros had killed her, but that's *another* story). In gratitude, Kalen - himself the Necromancer of the time - raised a building from Lithos' Earth to form the sanctuary for Stellos' students. This was the beginning of the Theurgists. It was then "centuries" (three different references in the game to this, even) before five of Stellos' students took a piece of Blackrock and went to contain Pyros, thus becoming the first Sorcerers. There are then an entire series of Master Sorcerers who ruled the Cabal, leading down to the present day, and that obviously took quite a while. There just doesn't seem to be any way to reconcile this difference. Let's say Stellos was 60 when he was made immortal - he looks about 60 in the game. So then it is "centuries" before the Cabal is formed. Let's assume just 200 years, making him 260. Then the five Theurgists form the Cabal; a succession of Master Sorcerers takes office; the Elder Tongue of the Sorcerers is discovered and researched; and so on. And then finally, it winds down to the "modern" day of Pagan. There's no way that Stellos is "just over 200 years" old - there is at least a century of missing time in there. So which assumption is wrong? Did Bentic, Mythran, and others mess up, or does Stellos not even know his own age? You tell me. Incidentally, if you'd like to research this yourself, the complete set of "books" from the game of Pagan can now be viewed on my web site, in the "Literal" section. Bob Gregg aka Underworld Dragon The Notable Ultima http://www.notableultima.com/

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