Rainbow's New FF7 HC's/Canon Timeline
This is just a place for me to shove a timeline of both the canon and my headcanons so when I think to myself 'wait how long was Zack a mentee' or 'How old was Sephiroth here' then I can just look here.
[headcanons in brackets]
1959 - Shinra discovers a way of manufacturing Materia.
1968 - The first mako reactor is created in Nibelheim.
1970 - Professor Gast becomes the head of Shinra’s Research & Development also known as the Science Department.
1972 - The second mako reactor is created in Midgar. This begins the construction of Midgar of the modern day.
1976
- Reactor Eight comes online and Shinra headquarters operations begin on June 24th.
- Grimoire Valentine begins to translate the Chaos/Omega tablets with his team. After requesting further help, a recent graduate in Biotechnology and former head of her class Lucrecia Crescent is recruited.
1977
- On an expedition to the Northern Crater, Gast discovers the body of what he believes to have been a Cetra. This body is given the name Jenova and brought to Reactor One. These are the Jenova Project experiments
- Grimoire Valentine is killed in a laboratory accident.
- September Upon realising this body still has viable material, a team is put together to study it and through genetic grafting, create the abilities that the Cetra had to manipulate the lifestream in Shinra’s private army. This leads to the creation of Project 0 SOLDIERs (SOLDIERs without enhancements that have been put through training to reach the height of their capabilities) while other SOLDIERs injected with Jenova cells and/or mako become monstrous mutations.
- Experimentation is done using unborn babies to see if they will develop with the gene grafting but there are no living results. One of the scientists, Gillian [Ohara], chooses to inject herself with the cells to dilute the J-cells and after promising initial tests, a sub project (Project Gillian also known as Project G) is set up. [The volunteer parents are their current Turk security Keris and Gast himself.]
- Vincent Valentine arrives as the new security for the project. He strikes up a romantic relationship with Lucrecia, unaware of the relationship she had with his father.
- [Once Project G successfully receives the initial J-cell infusions without issue, there is a party in the Shinra where a drunken rendezvous between Gillian and another scientist on Project G, Hollander, results in Gillian conceiving a child. After realising her pregnancy may be impacted by J-cell infusions she’s been taking, Gillian loops her own pregnancy in with Project G.]
1978
- Vincent proposes to Lucrecia, but she rejects his advances and instead, becomes involved with Professor Hojo.
- [May 17th] The first baby is born to Project G, named Genesis. [This is about six weeks premature due bodily mutations from the J-cell infusion, causing his biological mothers death before delivery.]
- Initial tests show that Genesis has a ‘unique’ factor but there are no visible signs he is anything other than human. However, the SOLDIER infirmary at Mako Reactor 0 (a secret underground facility known as Deepground) was turned into an experimentation facility using samples from Genesis.
- [June] Lucrecia realises she’s pregnant and both she and Hojo decide to use their child as the subject of their own project. Using the research from the initial work and the Project G work to refine their formula to accommodate a larger amount of J-cells, Project S begins.
- [August 25th] Gillian gives birth to Angeal and again, there are no obvious signs of Jenova in him.
- [December 21st] Sephiroth is born to Lucrecia and Hojo, though he is quickly taken from Lucrecia before she can hold him.
- [December 28th] In light of Sephiroth, Project G is put on ice.
- [December 31st] Gillian takes Angeal from Midgar and attempts to run with him.
1979
- [January] Once Gillian is retrieved, an arrangement is made: Banora, a village that had been set up on a Mideel island, would become their new home. All information would become classified other than the overseers of the town and they would be allowed to live out life quietly. Surveillance would be set up to observe them, but if nothing happened, they could be left alone. Shinra would also offer Gillian money to get set up as hush money, but she refused it and wanted nothing more to do with Shinra.
- [February] Feeling unsure of how to proceed or if he has made a mistake, Gast chooses to take a leave of absence to explore the Cetra. Although he would return periodically, he resigned his post as head of the department.
- Arrangements are made for Genesis to be fostered by a wealthy couple with Shinra ties who buy out the orchards on Banora. They’re told to report periodically to Shinra on him but otherwise, they’ll raise him as theirs.
1980-1983
- [On his fact finding mission, Gast meets a young woman named Ifalna who is the local Cetran expert at Icicle Inn.]
- Lucrecia continues to work at reactor one but her health deteriorates, much to the concern of Vincent.
- Sephiroth is raised largely by Hojo at the Shinra mansion. Although Lucrecia is at her laboratory in the same building, the two never cross paths. Gast visits periodically and Sephiroth grows an attachment to him.
- [Gast brings Ifalna to see the ancient body at Nibelheim and upon her horror, discovers that Jenova is not a Cetra but the alien virus that wiped them out. In revealing this, Ifalna also reveals she is the last Cetra left.]
- Gast and Ifalna leave Shinra and go on the run. Meeting with another former Shinra scientist, Bugenhagan, both he and Ifalna remain on the run rather than have her fall into Shinra’s hands. The two fall in love and eventually marry.
1984
- Concerned over Lucrecia, Vincent confronts Hojo about the project and Hojo shoots him. Not one to waste a body that can’t say no, Hojo uses Vincent’s body for further experimentation and this grants him the ability to transform into creatures and gives him a near invulnerable state.
- In an attempt to save Vincent’s life, Lucrecia’s last act before attempting to end her life is to embed Vincent with powerful proto-materia that contains the embodiment of the Chaos weapon that she and his father were researching. She records herself in the hopes he will be able to understand and disappears back to the Grotto where she and Grimoire did their research on stagnant lifestream but the Jenova cells in her body encase her in crystal stasis rather than letting her die.
- Hojo is made the head of Research and Development. Project S packs up and moves to Midgar.
- Vincent locks himself away to wallow in a coffin (perfectly reasonable response)
1985
- February 7th Having settled into Icicle Inn, Ifalna gives birth to a baby called Aerith.
- February 27th Hojo comes to Icicle Inn, murdering Gast and taking Ifalna back to Shinra with her daughter. Ifalna submits to the testing process to protect Aerith and they are largely careful with her as they don’t know yet if Aerith has inherited much from her mother.
- In Deepground, Genesis’s genetic material is used to create the first Deepground child known as Rosso. Genetically engineered to push the limits of SOLDIER abilities, Rosso is pushed to the harshest possible limits in order to collect information on what SOLDIER can be capable of.
- [May 17th] Genesis and Angeal meet for what they believe is the first time.
- [September 25th] Zack Fair is born in Gongaga.
1986
- August 11th Cloud Strife is born in Nibelheim.
- Using the research from Grimoire Valentine and Lucrecia Crescent’s project and Project Gillian, two Deepground scientists began injecting mako into unborn babies. The only survivor was named Weiss.
1987
– May 3rd Tifa Lockhart is born in Nibelheim
- The third child in the Deepground experiments is born. Nero was born to Weiss’s parents but was injected with stagnant lifestream which gave him the ability to open dark portals, swallowing his own mother in one when he was born. Though many other children were born in Deepground, the three original were orphaned and thus, pushed through a harder regime than anyone else based on their unique abilities.
1988 – Shinra security officer Glenn Lodbrok saves fellow officer Matt Winsord and both are later saved by Lucia Lin.
1989 - SOLDIER candidates - including Glenn, Matt and Lucia - are put through extensive training as part of Project 0. This is the beginning of the SOLDIER program.
1991 - November 20th Yuffie Kisaragi is born.
1992
- War breaks out between Wutai and Shinra.
- Used as a promotional tool for Shinra, Sephiroth is dispatched out under supervision.
- Upon realising that Aerith was coming into her abilities, Shinra begins to push her limits by using a variety of torturous techniques. Ifalna decides to escape but knowing they have a viable candidate in Aerith, their treatment of Ifalna becomes less careful and they only make it as far as the Train station at Sector 5 before Ifalna dies.
- Aerith is taken in by recently widowed Elmyra Gainsborough, the daughter in law of the construction company Shinra used and the Turks are sent after her. However, they do not bring her in and instead only observe her.
- Sephiroth meets Glenn, Matt and Lucia.
1994
- [July Genesis and Angeal enlist in SOLDIER. Although they are taken to basic training, it’s only a week before they’re taken in for SOLDIER enhancements through Hollander.]
- [August Sephiroth and Angeal meet and spar for the first time. Genesis and Sephiroth meet and Genesis throws a sword at his head. It’s how he shows affection, okay?
- [October First deployments for Genesis and Angeal]
- [December The Da Hoa mission]
1995
- [January - Genesis and Angeal promoted to Second Class]
- Tifa climbs Mount Nibel in grief over her mother and falls, ending up in a coma.
1996
- [Angeal is promoted to First Class.]
- [Genesis is promoted to First Class.]
- [Genesis and Angeal begin their romantic relationship]
1997 - Zack, determined to become a SOLDIER, runs away to Midgar.
1998
- [Zack becomes Angeal’s mentee.]
- [Sephiroth begins his physical relationship with Genesis and Angeal]
1999
- [Sephiroth/Genesis/Angeal becomes a thing]
2000
- [August Genesis is injured in a training room accident]
