Many thanks to Elpis for the IC part of the timeline. I have added some FoF annotations.
Richard Donnelly, PhD. Professor of Archeology and Anthropology
Born 1907 in Philadelphia, PA
Educated 1927-1937 at University of New Mexico in Albuquerque
Married 1938 age 31 to Sarah Wilson
Purchased property 1944 – Spanish Mission called La Casa plus surrounding 25 acres
Died 1968 age 61 of lung cancer
Sarah Wilson Donnelly, B.A. English Literature
Born 1917 in San Francisco, CA
Educated 1930-1934
Married 1938 age 27
Gave birth in 1946 age 29
Died 1963 age 46 at home of an aneurysm
Margaret Linnea Donnelly, aka KoHama Dineh, KoHama niD’ni
Born 1946 in Albuquerque, NM
Home schooled by parents
1967 age 24 inherited Casa and started the commune
Met Loftin in 1987 age 47
Met Elias in 1988 age 48
Met Watson in 1989 age 49
Elias’ surgery in 1993 age 53
Elias dies in 1996 age 56
Leaves NM in 1997 age 57
Returns to NM in 2007 age 67
Joseph Calling Bird
Born 1924
Died 2001 age 77
Marie Calling Bird
Born 1931
currently age 77
Cindy Louise Alexander, aka Okasan
Born 1951 in Little Rock, AR
Educated 1969-1970 at Kent State, OH
Left after the shooting, wandered west toward Haight-Ashbury
Drawn to Tomanha, took up residence at Casa
Met Loftin and Elias in 1988, then met Watson in 1989; given legal responsibility for La Casa when KoHama left NM in 1998.
1987 - John "Fighting Branch" Loftin discovers the Great Shaft He contacted a wealthy archeologist Elias Zandi about the potential of the discovery.
March 19, 1988 - Branch and Elias made their first trip to the caverns
1989 - (Third major expedition) they found the city.
1990 - Elias, and Branch take Dr. Richard Watson to city for first time
1991 - Trio made another trip. Branch died in an accident in the cavern KoHama was deeply disturbed over his death. Marle Calling Bird had longed warned all the white people poking around the cleft that the area was evil, full of chindi
1992 - Evident that Elias was consumed by restoration KoHama becomes deeply concerned for the strain on her friend.
1993 - Elias had open-heart surgery
KoHama and Marie Calling Bird contact a local Navajo medicine man to sing the Blessing Way and make a sand painting to help with Elias' recovery
Late 1993 - Watson brought Rand, Robyn, and Ryan to city. This visit was probably while Elias was still recovering and was viewed with great suspicion by those living at La Casa. It seemed to them that Watson was trying to seize control over the cleft while Elias was not around.
1994 - Safety cones brought down
1995 - People started arriving in desert, looking for D'ni
(Many became volunteers of the restoration - but some drifted to La Casa and lived at the commune where they considered the consequences of modern actions. This was the basis for the philosophical Order)
Elias has been buying up all the land around the Cleft, but La Casa remains out of reach. His earlier letters in the La Casa library are formal requests to "Ms. Donnelly" to sell the entire property -- and later all but the house with a surrounding 1.5 acres. By 1995 with a more intimate friendship with KoHama, Elias again asks to purchase the property, but it is evident from the letters in the house that he must accept that her refusal is final. He can take comfort in the fact that La Casa is never to be sold to developers and is instead slated to be a self-sustaining philosophical Order of the Friends of the Fissure.
Late 1995 - Jeff's first trip to city
Jeff and Elias philosophically disagreed about the restoration. Elias was consumed with physical restoration. Jeff strongly stated that it was a spiritual restoration. KoHama's efforts to mediate the argument only made things worse because Jeff realized the true nature of her relationship with his father. Philosophically KoHama was closer to Jeff's beliefs, but emotionally she felt that she should support Elias. Her efforts to mediate the argument only made things worse because Jeff realized the true nature of her relationship with his father. Father and son did not part on good terms and became estranged.
1996 - Elias died of heart attack.
In Elias' will he left his money to the D'ni Restoration Foundation (DRF) and the land to his son Jeff. This may well have been his way to reach the accommodation that KoHama desired.
Watson took the money and used it to fund the D'ni Restoration Council (DRC). He obtained further funding by getting his friends the Miller brothers to create a series of best selling games based on D'ni history.
Elias' death leaves KoHama bereft of a beloved friend, but also in fear that the local legends of the cleft as a taboo place may be valid. KoHama withdraws to La Casa and is rarely seen. She leaves the oldest members of the commune and the most devoted members of FoF in charge. When KoHama goes out she stays with Marie Calling Bird or goes to meditate in the desert. Okasan is deeply concerned about her old friend's depression.
January 1997 - Dr. Richard Watson formed DRC
The restoration effort begins as soon as Elias' will is probated and the terms completed. All at La Casa "see the writing on the wall." There are going to be people, machinery, money, "suits," and many things to which the Order is fundamentally opposed, flooding into the area. While those at La Casa can make a tidy profit by being able to provide food, gasoline, and some B&B housing to the strangers, the neighborhood is going to change.
December 1997
KoHama puts La Casa in the hands of Okasan and elpis, leaving them the proceeds of her trust fund to keep the property. She arranges for a gas pump to be installed around back and hires some Navajo contractors to make the many tiny rooms (former monastic cells) into suitable accommodations for potential paying guests. Once all the work is done, her legal affairs in order, and power of attorney given to Okasan, KoHama disappears. The only clue to her destination is that in a dark corner of the vast library (the former refectory) there is a space on a bookshelf where one book was removed.
From Teledahn information
November 1997
DRC/Sharper started working in Teledahn
March 3, 1998
Sharper's first sighting of Shroomie
March 3, 2000
DRC moved their headquarters to the city
September 21, 2000
Sharper Trapped Shroomie
September 22, 2000
Sharper butchered Shroomie
May 23, 2001
Sharper found the pod of Shroomies
October 21, 2001
Tragedy occurred ... not sure which And again on the surface, those at La Casa see every tragedy in the Cavern as further evidence of the local Navajo beliefs.
November 2, 2001
The KI machine is found (presume this is when they first entered Gahreesen ... my assumption because I would think this is where they find the machine.)
Beginning of 2002 they plan to open the cavern to explorers authorized by the DRC. Which of course, is not to say that we at La Casa were not slipping around inside the Cavern and exploring carefully out of sight of the DRC ResEngs.
February 23, 2002
Report that the KIs have been working well
March 20, 2002
DRC opens Teledahn to visitors (Rand and Ryan were probably the first.)
April 25, 2002
Teledahn got phase 5 approval
During 2002 Jeff Zandi battles with the DRC about explorers gaining access to the cavern. He is sending down the people Yeesha is calling to the Cleft, and the DRC do not like it. Jeff eventually wins -- possession being 9/10s of the law Whatever issues Jeff may have had with his father and by extension with KoHama, neither are around at this time. The FoF make it clear that their support is with Jeff. Being the closest source of amenities, they have some weight. Although those who have lived amongst the locals the longest have some concern over the taboo, those who have arrived because of Yeesha's call have no such concern and want to know more. Okasan and elpis decide that each must pick a path.
Sharper is cheering Zandi on and supporting him, but not for the right reasons yet. Sharper is a malcontent, someone who lies to his employers, and steals from them.
November 28, 2003
Phil Henderson shows up
December 8, 2003
Sharper accepts Yeesha's power and makes the comment, "It's either Yeesha or the DRC"
December 28, 2003
There is a major collapse of a city structure. Phil Henderson is caught in the fall, and only his damaged ki is found. His death causes the DRC to hold back on their desire to bring explorers into the cavern, but the floodtide can not be turned. As before, Phil's death just adds to the locals belief that the dead civilization is filled with evil spirits. In May 2007 the violent deaths of Rosette Tyler and Wheely Engberg just reinforce those ancient superstitions. The FoF members stay at La Casa.
It is not until the fall of 2007 that the FoF members decide to return to the Cavern. The return of the guilds, the international nature of the explorers, the need for leaders and knowledge -- all these things bring Okasan and elpis to realize that the FoF can only serve their true purpose by entering the fissure, overcoming their prejudices.
And KoHama returns. No one knows how or why. She did not explain where she had been for a decade or what had made her come back. The people she had left at La Casa suspected that she had a linking book hidden away and it was to that age she went. Perhaps Yeesha called her back. Perhaps she just got lonely. Perhaps she found something in her Refuge (the name of the age to which she withdrew) that allowed her to see back to the city and she saw reason to return.
Fri Jun 06, 2008 8:50 pm