Setting/Ancient History

What follows is a timeline of Safe Haven & Outlook's history (From a game called The Reach where it originated), dating back to 1645 with the arrival of Thomas Dunlin to the area. Note this does not take into account supernatural happenings directly, though some events are the result of other-than-human actions. And these events are shared here strictly OOC to give "ancient history" to the present game story and further explain it's origins. Beginning with the End of the World events in 2013, much of these specific dates in history became irrelevent.

1600s

• 1645: Thomas Dunlin and 60 other settlers arrive on the Plymouth Company ship, "Yorkshire Maid."
• 1646: Dunlin meets with local Passamaquoddy tribe after establishing Aleswich Colony for the Plymouth Company and the King of England.
• 1647: After two years of living peacefully with the local natives, social and territorial disputes cause the Passamaquoddy to try to enter negotiations with Thomas Dunlin and the rest of Aleswich Colony's company founders to convince them to move the colony. Dunlin disagrees; initial raids begin.
• 1649: Maryland Toleration Act ratified wherein settlers who blasphemed against the trinity or divinity of Jesus Christ could be executed. While not entirely important in the history of Dunlin's Reach, this would set the stage for religious division that lasts to this day, due to escaping Protestants settling in the Reach. The increased size of the colony provided Dunlin with the ability to establish a formal militia.
• 1656: After 11 years, Aleswich Colony is one of the only colonies left in Maine, the others having been wiped out by the harsh and rugged landscape and hostile natives. As the colony is effectively self-sufficient, Thomas Dunlin cuts ties with Plymouth Company. Thomas, being a loyalist to the King, cuts ties with the Commonwealth of England and refuses to send supplies back to England.
• 1660: Passamaquoddy tribe forced off of the region known as Dunlin's Reach by continued aggression. The leader of the militia at this time, Timothy Roth, was both praised and reviled for his actions in the war against the Passamaquoddy, having salted their lands and nearly instigated a complete massacre of the tribe.
• 1665: Thomas Dunlin dies of consumption, leaving leadership of the colony to his eldest son, Jacob Dunlin.
• 1686: Nervous by the self-sufficiency of the colony and the lack of minerals, wood and food coming back as tithes to England, King James II imposes a stricter rule of law on the colony; this further increases tensions between Protestants and Catholics in Dunlin's Reach.
• 1693: Salem Witch Trials. Fervor over witchcraft comes to Dunlin's Reach shortly after. The Roths are disgraced when one of their own is executed for practicing witchcraft.

1700s

• 1705: Jacob Dunlin dies; eldest son refuses to take on leadership position. Dunlins are taken from power over the colony, leadership is passed to the Waitlie family.
• 1706: In January, the nearest colonies to Aleswich are wiped out by smallpox and starvation. Jedediah Waitlie imposes a strict rule of isolationism to prevent the spread of smallpox to Aleswich.
• 1709: Further tensions between the Protestants and Catholics of Aleswich cause two Protestant families, the Bryces and the Grenniches to incorporate Dunlin's Point as a separate colony off the coast of Aleswich.
• 1724: Jedediah Waitlie dies without any heirs. He never marries. His brothers do, which carry on the name and put their efforts more towards building an economy around mining and logging and selling in charter houses to various other European countries, collecting tax tariffs and enriching Aleswich.
• 1736: The French and British continue fighting over Maine. By the end of the decade, fighting ceases and borders are drawn up between Massachusetts Bay Colony and Nova Scotia. Aleswich, now a prosperous bay town from supplying both sides of the conflict with silver, guns and foodstuffs is once again occupied by the British. A small fort is built near Aleswich to watch for insurrection.
• 1753: Accused of piracy against the crown, Samuel Grennich is hanged. Tensions rise between British forces and American colonists. Two British soldiers are killed by James Brenner and a small group of Irish immigrants at a pub in downtown Aleswich. Nights before the date set for their execution, they break out of the fort, burning it to the ground. The group is never to be seen again.
• 1754: Beginning of the French and Indian War. Resources are pulled from looking over Aleswich Colony to fund the war against the French.
• 1768: As the French and Indian War comes to a close, the current leadership of Aleswich dies and once again the colony falls into the hands of a Dunlin; Harold Dunlin brings peace back between the colony and the Passamaquoddy tribe.
• 1773: Boston Tea Party. Revolutionaries spark up through the colonies. Harold Dunlin re-establishes the Aleswich militia to protect the colony from British aggression and imposes a similar restriction on British goods, boycotting tea and other luxury goods produced in England. The Grennich family continues to build ships on Dunlin's Point, manufacturing small sloops disguised as fishing vessels but armed with salvaged small cannons and weapons produced by the French and Spanish. Alexander Brenner is chosen as a chair for the First Continental Congress.
• 1775: As the American Revolutionary War begins, Aleswich is quickly attacked by British naval forces, seeking to gain landfall in Aleswich to rebuild the fortress that had been burnt down by James Brenner. They are repelled by the Grennich family who serve as "privateers" to the American Colonial Forces.
• 1777: The Landace family is brought to distinction as they serve to repel British soldiers off of Maine soil; the incoming British forces are killed to a man, thereby making Aleswich one of the most difficult battles fought in the Revolutionary War for the British. Peter Landace serves as an example of how American men are supposed to protect their homes.
• 1780: Three large British ships are sent to Aleswich: One galleon full of soldiers and two ships of the line to bombard the shore. A sudden storm causes all three vessels to sink without a shot fired as the ships neared the shore.
• 1782: The Waitlie family reaches their peak as they become the primary means of funneling weapons and supplies from France to the Continental Army through their charter houses in Dunlin's Point and Aleswich. British forces attack Aleswich by land and are quickly repelled by a joint contingent of Passamaquoddy and Aleswich militia.
• 1783-4: End of the American Revolutionary War and establishment of the United States of America via the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union. Aleswich contends with Boston over being capital of the then Massachusetts Commonwealth.
• 1796: Establishment of the Aleswich Reach University by Franklin Jefferson Bryce, using money borrowed from the Waitlie family and funds stolen from the British by the Grennich family.
• 1798: Klass Fort is established on the ruins of the fort that the British had built in the early 18th century. It was constructed by a Hessian mercenary (Hector von Klaus) that turned against his British employers and serves to maintain the Continental Army's forces in northern Massachusetts Territory.

1800s

• 1802: British forces continue to press for American sailors to join the British navy. The Grenniches impose a strict embargo on any British ships coming into the Reach.
• 1804: James Turner is made mayor of Aleswich.
• 1805: Franklin Jefferson Bryce creates the Aleswich Reach University library by donating his prodigious collection of books. Aleswich becomes a center of culture and education.
• 1813: During the War of 1812, Klass Fort is once again burned to the ground as British soldiers assault Aleswich. Jackson Roth leads a small force of men to rout the British troops and send them out of Aleswich.
• 1820: Missouri Compromise makes Maine into the 23rd State of the United States of America. A vote is made to determine whether Aleswich, Portland or Bangor would be the capital of the state.
• 1845-9: California gold rush causes a fracture in the Waitlie family, causing a small part of the family to move away from Aleswich to start the Waitlie Mining Prospector's Union. Meanwhile, the Waitlies of Aleswich continue to become an industrial powerhouse, introducing the first factories and mills into the city to take advantage of lumber and iron ore pulled from the surrounding countryside.
• 1849: The Kross family relocates from Boston to Alewich and establishes an Ice house, becomming the first major distributor of ice in the area.
• 1854: The first opium den is created in Dunlin's Point. It lasts for a period of about three years before it is shut down by Aleswich police. The Grenniches are supposedly involved, as well as the Pemberton family and the Brenners. This causes a minor degree of scandal.
• 1865: Collection of work by American authors funded by the Roth family brings Aleswich back into the spotlight as a bastion of culture and industry in Maine as steel begins to be pressed out of the mills and transported to Portland to help establish the United States Navy. Civil War ends.
• 1877: Silver discovered in Sullivan, Maine. Sullivan, being less than fifty miles away from Aleswich, transports its silver to hastily reconstructed mills that turn the silver into ingots. The Waitlies roll in the profits as their mills churn out the precious metal.
• 1889: After some discussion, some of the Bryce family strikes out on an expedition to the Yukon. The Grenniches leave for the Pacific islands.
• 1894: Edward Powell starts the Powell Apple Orchard. The crop does surprisingly well after two years of failure.
• 1895: Samuel Grennich and his crew return from visiting the Pacific islands. Museum is established in Aleswich, showcasing some of his findings, including Maori tribal god sculptures.
• 1896: First sighting of "Scout," the name given to a "sea monster" that lives in the reach between the mainland and Dunlin's Point. Given that name as a shortening of Shkoutimeou, which means "end of the sea" in Passamaquoddy.

1900s

• 1906: First iron mines are constructed in Dunlin's Reach. Dunlin's Reach established as an official county.
• 1910: Mayor Keith Grennich puts forth an initiative to improve education in the Reach. Along with Edgar Waitlie, money is pushed into providing larger elementary and high schools. Libraries are constructed and the museum is given another wing for further expansion.
• 1914: Start of World War I. Steel production increases as iron production increases at nearby mines. Silver is finally tapped out.
• 1918: William Brenner is given a field commission and returns to the Reach as a captain in the United States army. After mustering out, he helps to establish a coast guard and naval base near Aleswich out of the ruins of Klass fort.
• 1926: Forest fire destroys a great deal of woodland around Aleswich. Passamaquoddy burial mounds are discovered; they were found excavated with tunnels dug into them and the contents removed.
• 1937: Several of the locals go to Spain to fight against the facists along with other American partisan forces. William Brenner dies in Spain in the battle against the Nationalists.
• 1941: Klass Fort becomes a recruiting and training ground for US Naval forces as the United States enters World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
• 1944: Conscription of locals into United States Marine Corps in anticipation of D-Day invasion of Europe. Aleswich sinks to an all-time low in population; industry nearly comes to a halt before the Waitlies reinvigorate the fishing industry.
• 1952: Klass Fort decommissioned and handed to the United States Coast Guard. Renamed Fort Kelley. Airfield is maintained.
• 1955: The Modesitt Massacre. A family is found murdered in their home in central Aleswich. Dunlin's Reach County Sheriff's Department is unable to find the culprit. Modesitt house remains empty.
• 1967: Fort Kelley's airfield is decommissioned for military use and becomes a civilian and government vessel to allow for passenger and mail transit.
• 1972: Another sighting of Scout, Dunlin's Reach's own Loch Ness monster. This starts up "Scout fever" with tourists coming to scour the reach between Aleswich and Dunlin's Point for signs of the creature. Bridge from Aleswich to Dunlin's Point is abandoned, returning to a ferry system between the two cities.
• 1983: Henry Waitlie signs an agreement with BP and Chevron to have oil shipped through to Dunlin's Reach. Talks are made about building a refinery nearby. Ultimately, Arabian oil is shipped elsewhere to be refined, leaving a skeletal structure of a refinery in town.
• 1987: Joshua Grennich and Rebecca Brenner engage in a murder-suicide. This starts a minor family rivalry.
• 1993: Jack Roth found dead from an overdose of methamphetamine. Police begin looking into local meth labs.
• 1997: Bremerton Mine flood kills all miners save one. Causes a scandal in local mining policy. Iron production from Bremerton Mine ceases as the mine begins to drain.
• 1999: Millenium fever doesn't really hit Aleswich as much as the rest of the country. Two teenagers drown in the reach between Aleswich and Dunlin's Point.

2000s

• 2001: Jingoism doesn't strike up much in Aleswich after terrorist attacks against New York City. At this time, Riley Brenner is a Lieutenant in the United States Army. Other Brenners and Grenniches muster up for war.
• 2002: Tourism becomes a big business in Dunlin's Reach. One of the lighthouses is decommissioned as a museum, while Fort Kelley's lighthouse remains functional and modernized.
• 2003: Aleswich is semi-modernized with cable internet access. Mayor Jeffrey Holst puts forth an initiative to modernize the city of Aleswich and bring it back to its position of power pre-World War II.
• 2005: Mail is taken care of by private organizations that bring in mail through the decommissioned Fort Kelley airfield. Forrest Waitlie begins to push for his family to take on their industrialist and reinvigorate the docks district, creating a great deal of jobs, increasing the population of Aleswich with incentives for fishermen and dockworkers.
• 2007: Gregory Dunlin of the original Dunlins shoots himself in the head in the Aleswich Reach University library.
• 2009: A sudden swell causes three ships to lose power off the coast of Aleswich. They are found without anyone aboard twelve days later.
• 2010: Preparations begin for the coming End of the World.