The Record is the Vigil's shared archive, and this page reads it as a chronicle. It starts when the seed stops beside Ember in 2452, runs through First Light in 2540, and is then continued by the plan's projection and by a computation that reaches 351 billion years on. Every date below is an entry in the Record's own data, assets/data/record.json, and the chapter pages take their numbers from the same source as the sim. The archive itself, where it is kept and how it stays exact, is described on the Record place page.
What happened, and when?
The three lists below are the Record's events in order. Each carries a basis tag, and the tag says how much to believe it. The first list is recorded history. The second and third are not: they are the plan's expectation and a computation from physics, run forward by the same model that drives the sim's time scrubber.
The Record 2452 to 2540
fiction design Recorded fact: everything seen and built from the seed’s arrival to First Light.
- 2452
The seed stops beside Ember with its fabricator core and bootstrap mind
- 2453
The seed lands on Kindling and builds only what its orders need, on starlight
- 2454
After a year of survey the seed sends the survey home
- 2480
The seed starts the receiver, a pair of mirrors, with a dish at Kindling
- 2481
The receiver is finished; the mind link is open
- 2483
The first minds leave Saturn
- 2509
The ready signal reaches Sol
- 2511
The First Waking: the first minds arrive and the rapid building begins
- 2524
The plant first covers the twelve minds' demand: they run at full speed
- 2539
The dust disk, the ring and the feeders start going up
- 2540
First Light: the minidisk is lit and the feed begins
The projection 2553 to 2610
simulation Not a record. The plan’s expectation, run forward by the Record’s model.
- 2553
The goal case: the swarm reaches its power goal and stops growing
- 2600
The twelve outbound stacks go up
- 2610
The twelve outbound seeds leave for nearby systems and their mass leaves the Record
Deep time +29.3 Gyr to +351.3 Gyr
simulation frontier Not a record. Computed from physics and the plan’s assumptions; the far end rests on frontier physics.
- +29.3 Gyr
Ember's last gigayear: the dish shell around the minidisk starts going up
- +30.3 Gyr
Ember leaves the main sequence; the shell carries the plant and Vesper stands alone
- +32.8 Gyr
Ember, a red giant, reaches Kindling's widened orbit: its feedstock and receiver dishes are lost, so useful work ends
- +32.8 Gyr
Later, Ember reaches the evolving Roche lobe and begins to transfer envelope mass toward Vesper. The Record stays dark: Kindling and its receiver are gone, and no replacement accretion plant or restart is modelled
- +351.3 Gyr
The sky is colder than Vesper: the Record ends with the machinery dark
Which parts are fact, and which are a simulation?
Only the first part. From 2452 to First Light in 2540 the Record holds fact within the fiction, with its state set by the design fiction design. The projection to the plan's goal in 2553, and on to the first outbound seeds in 2610, is the plan's expectation, run forward at the Record's pace simulation. Deep time is computed from physics and the plan's assumptions, and the far end rests on frontier physics frontier. The sim labels the segment on screen as you scrub through it, and so does this page.
A count in the Record never falls without a logged event, which is why the timeline shows every step where a number jumps. Entries that count minds assume a state size for each one, and that assumption is frontier, because whether a mind can run as software is unsettled.
Where do I start reading?
Each chapter of the sim's journey has a page. It tells the chapter as a short story, names the numbers the chapter rests on, links the physics pages that explain it, and offers a way to play the chapter or go to the same places in the sim. Read them in order for the history, or start with the one whose card catches your eye.
Chapter PArrival as Light2540 · 0:55 in the simYou crossed as a signal. You arrive as light.
Chapter 1Ember's LightRecord, 2452 · 1:45 in the simThe seed comes to rest beside an orange star.
Chapter 2The First WattRecord, 2453 to 2540 · 1:50 in the simFrom one collector to the first minidisk.
Chapter 3DoublingRecord, 2511 to 2540, then the plan to 2610 · 1:45 in the simMachines that build machines, thirty years of doublings.
Chapter 4The Swarm2540, then the projection · 1:45 in the simKilometre-wide films, black in visible light.
Chapter 5The Engine2540 (First Light) · 2:15 in the simStarlight is a loan. The hole is an inheritance.
Chapter 6The Vigil2540 · 1:50 in the simMinds that live as computation, and keep watch.
Chapter 7The Floor2540 · 2:15 in the simThe bottom rung: one bit erased.
Chapter EEventide+351 Gyr · 0:55 in the simEmber is a dead white dwarf. Vesper is the warmest thing left.
For the places the chapters visit, start at the places. For how big each thing is, see the scale ladder, and for the physics behind a chapter, the map of topics.