Solo Gaming in Flight (Part 2): First Pass

In my previous post, I began to document my experiences playing a solo game of Microscope on a long international flight. I described several imaginary personas that would be playing with me and I started the setup of the game according to the rules as written. In this post, those imaginary personas start to matter as each will get a chance to come up with a historical Period or Event (with undocumented help from the Mythic GME).

First Pass
Wherein each player persona takes turns inventing a Period or Event. I'll be switching to the voice of each persona as they take their turn.

Me
This is a new Period encompassing the era leading up to and including the Landfall, when the homeworld of a corrupt and decadent empire suddenly falls out of the sky. This era is Dark, not only for the cataclysm but for the rot within the empire that led up to it.   

DECADENT EMPIRE IN ITS LAST DAYS BEFORE LANDFALL

Dark

Max
I'd like a Light Period that features that old empire at the height of its moral standing.  Something like the Old Republic of Star Wars, but different. Perhaps an era of benevolent and enlightened emperors supported by a robust Council of Electors. Obviously, this occurs prior to the Landfall Period.

AGE OF ENLIGHTENED EMPERORS

Light   

Ian
I'll be different and create an Event. The obvious choice is the Landfall itself, but I think I'll pass on that for the moment. Instead, I'm going to riff off the Palette and place an Event in Max's Period that concerns how a rising Sorcerer's Guild learns how to create animates, this setting's magical equivalent of the droids in Star Wars. The event itself, though immensely useful for the Empire at large, involves some morally questionable rituals and raises troubling ethical issues.

FIRST ANIMATES
Dark

Kate
I like the idea that there might be a Time of Legends way before Max's Period, when travel between worlds was challenging and rare. We know that humans fanned out in a wave of conquest and colonization in the Start Period, but that may have stalled out due to lack of resources or war or environmental factors. Of course, such a dark age would fit nicely in the era after Landfall, but I'm trying to go for something that is lost in the mists of antiquity. Sort of a mix of traditional D&D and wuxia China, but with skyships (sail, not powered). Definitely a Dark Period lit with the bright action of heroes.

Keeping Track of Historical Elements
Sitting in coach, juggling a stack of index cards wasn't really an option. Instead, I managed  things with a simple outline:

(Start) FIRST AGE OF EXPLORATION AND COLONIZATION (Dark)
TIME OF LEGENDS (Dark)
AGE OF ENLIGHTENED EMPERORS (Light)
        FIRST ANIMATES (Dark)
DECADENT EMPIRE IN ITS LAST DAYS BEFORE LANDFALL (Dark)
(End) REPUBLIC OF THE RED SKY (Light)

Next up: Regular Turns