***Background and Title Summaries*** Note: BDP = Before Dark Prince ADP = After Dark Prince BCE = Before the Common Era Dark Prince, I have taking place in the 1980’s-1990’s. Give or take, personal computers didn’t take hold until the late 70’s early 80’s. That’s how Mikhail states he gets his work done. Based on a Baseline of 1980-1990, possibly a few years earlier for Dark Prince to have taken place, 2000 BDP would be about 20BC, give or take a 10-20 years either way. At this time Vladimir and Sarantha Dubrinsky become life-mates. One could assume at this time that at least Vlad was about 200 years old by then, based on a fledglingship of about 200 years. Sarantha could be said to have been about the same age. It was around this same time that the Dark Twins are born, supposedly. But since they are reputed to have served Mikhail Dubrinsky’s grandfather, they may be much older than 2000 years. But if we assume they were born at this time, then Gabriel and Lucian would have been infants at the time that Vladimir and Sarantha mated. Lucian states at one time that he had walked with a man, one they called the SON OF GOD. If you make a logical assumption and believe that it is Christ he is discussing, he would have to be only about 50 years or so in 33 AD. If one jumps forward to about 980 AD, or approximately 1000 years BDP, Mikhail is born. Mikhail Dubrinsky was groomed from the start to become prince of his people. Gregori was born 25 years after Mikhail, which would set the date at 975 BDP, or 1005 AD. Soon after this time, about 800 years BDP, Jacques Dubrinsky, Mikhail’s younger brother is born. This would make him born around 1180 AD. Aidan and Julian Savage are also born. Unlike Gabriel and Lucian, who were often referred to as the Dark Twins, Aidan and Julian were referred to as The Golden Twins, due to the fact that they were unique as their hair color was golden blonde, not dark like many other Carpathians. Around 775 BDP, Jacques friend, Byron is born. This would be around 1205AD. Mikhail was reported to have had another brother he was forced to sentence to death, but it is unknown whether he was older or younger than Jacques. The Ottoman Turk invasions, being sometime around 1442, this would make Gregori about 437. One would expect his brother and sister to be born around this time. Which would make Gregori 431 when Darius was born, his sister Desari just an infant when they escaped. Vladimir Dubrinsky and his life-mate, Sarantha, died during the Turk invasions. But… Noelle Dubrinsky is born about 500 BDP. This would make her born about 1480 or so. However, logistically this may prove an impossibility if Vladimir Dubrinsky was killed during the Turk Invasion, would not Noelle have never been conceived? She becomes mated to Rand sometime thereafter, however they were not true life-mates. This is purely based on when Dark Prince actually occurs in the 20th Century. Darius, Desari, Dayan, Savon, Syndil, Barack were thought lost in Turk Wars, however they managed to escape due entirely to Darius’s strength. Darius was but 6 when they escaped, the other boys a few years younger. Syndil was 1 year old and Desari was 6 months old or so. Vlad The Impaler aka DRACULA was born in 1431 and died 1476, however this is most definitely NOT Vladimir Dubrinsky. Now, as we flip towards the 20th Century, other couples are born and mated either during or around this time zone. Celeste and Eric, Tienn and Dierdre, and Vlad and Eleanor are other associated couples. Eleanor is Byron’s sister; Dierdre and Vlad are also siblings. About 25-23 BDP, Raven Whitney is born. I place her birth as early 1960’s to early 1970’s, depending entirely on when Dark Prince takes place. Her parents considered her a demon. She managed to survive childhood, though she was so psychic she couldn’t stand to touch or be around massive amounts of people. She became a police psychic and worked at finding serial killers when a case affected her so strongly she had to go to Romania to get away from the evil and sickness. It is there that she meets Mikhail Dubrinsky. He has a human friend, a priest named Father Edgar Hummer. Mikhail recognizes her as his life-mate and exchanges blood with her twice, vowing not to a third time so as to convert her. But when members of a vampire society mortally wounded her, he is forced to replenish her blood and she is converted to Carpathian. Society members who attack Raven include Jacob Evans, Margaret Summers, Harry Summers, and Hans Romanov. Mikhail, in turn, killed them all. Noelle Dubrinsky is also killed around this time and her mate, Rand, begins to exhibit strange behavior. Mikhail orders him to go to ground until he is no longer a threat to himself. Little does Mikhail know, but that Rand had found his life-mate, he just didn’t want to bring her before him and admit is mistake. His life-mate is an Irish-American named Maggie O’Halloran and she becomes pregnant with a female, Shea O’Halloran, who is half –human, half-Carpathian. Shea becomes a doctor and researcher, convinced that her need for blood is a blood disorder, not a normal occurrence. About 25 years ADP, in Dark Desire, Jacques Dubrinsky has been tortured for seven years and buried alive. He had been turned over to a group of human vampire hunters by a vampire referred to as The Vulture. The Vulture is actually Rand, turned because his life-mate Maggie had committed suicide. Rand is Shea’s father, and Shea is drawn to Europe to the place where Jacques has been buried alive. She manages to save his life, though at great cost to her own life. Jacques discovers that her father is his torturer and Shea has also discovered that her brother, Noelle and Rand’s son, was tortured and killed when he was 18 years old. Raven is pregnant with a female child who becomes Gregori’s life-mate. When two society members who were working with Rand attack Raven, she nearly loses her life, along with her unborn daughter, Savannah. Gregori uses secret skills to save her life, while at the same time tying Savannah to him. Byron was also captured and tortured, but was rescued at the same time. Once can also assume that Alexandria Houton was born somewhere around this time frame. About 48 years ADP, Savannah Dubrinsky is 23 years old. She has become a World-Famous Magician who rejected the suit of Gregori when she was 18 years old. I’m under the impression that Tempest Trine is born around this time frame as well, considering that Dark Gold happens, followed closely by Dark Magic, followed almost instantly by Dark Challenge and Dark Fire. By Dark Gold, Aidan Savage is living in San Francisco and comes upon Alexandria Houton. This is about 48 ADP. Alexandria has been attacked and converted by a vampire, and Aidan first believes she is a vampiress who must be destroyed. But once he takes her blood, he determines that she is indeed his life-mate and finishes the conversion with a fourth blood exchange. She has a little brother, Joshua, who lives with them. At first, Alexandria does not believe that she has been converted. She fears what she has become and tried on at least two occasions to kill herself. She is a videogame designer. At around the same time (approximately 48 years ADP), in Dark Magic, Gregori has arrived in San Francisco to await Savannah Dubrinsky’s magic show. He has passed the point at which he can safely seek the dawn and is very close to turning vampire. He makes his claim on her, nearly turning vampire before she pulls him back from the darkness. They go to New Orleans, where society members and vampires alike hunt them. They meet a society member, Gary Jansen, who has created a tranquilizer to paralyze the Carpathians, but he switches sides and begins to assist them in tearing down the society. They are alerted to a singer whose life is in danger from the society. In Dark Challenge, Gregori sends Julian Savage to warn her and to protect her if necessary, so a few months after Gregori and Savannah mate, Julian Savage meets Desari and claims her as his life-mate. Desari is a member of a band called the Dark Troubadours. The band’s members are a group of Carpathian Children who were thought lost in the Turk Wars, Desari and Darius are the long lost siblings of Gregori and Desari is a singer without equal. Julian discovers her heritage when she is shot by society members at the beginning of their acquaintance and takes it as his task to teach the rest of the group some Carpathian ways. Other members of the Band are Dayan, Barack and Syndil. Another band member, Savon, turned vampire and raped Syndil, Darius was forced to destroy him. A little more than 48+ years ADP and directly after Dark Challenge,Dark Fire shows us that Darius, on the other hand, was slowly succumbing to the darkness when Desari placed an ad for a mechanic for their tour bus. The ad attracted Tempest Trine. She had particular psychic powers for animals, which she utilized several times with the band’s two cats, Sasha and Forest. She had a particularly bad childhood, being raised in a drug-ridden home and abused by her employer. Darius didn’t wish to convert her, knowing the risks, however she gave him no choice in the matter, using her blood to save his life. Darius goes after the men who attempted to abduct her and kills them. This one took place in America. The anthology, After Twilight, contains a novella entitled “Dark Dream” in which we meet an Ancient Carpathian, Falcon. Vladimir Dubrinsky sent out Falcon along with many of the best hunters, a thousand years ago. Falcon has fought the demon seeking to overtake his soul and has sought to return home, pay his respects to his prince, and seek the dawn – honorably. Along the journey, he finds his life-mate, Sara Marten, who’s soul has been, itself, scarred by the presence of a demon, a vampire who killed her parents fifteen years ago and is seeking to make her his own. Falcon takes Sara, along with seven orphan sewer children – all of them psychic in some way – back to his homeland in the Carpathian Mountains. It is there that Falcon has the final battle with the vampire who had been stalking Sara for 15 years. He was a boyhood friend who sought the power of the kill and not the honor of resisting the lure of darkness. Falcon nearly sacrifices his life for Mikhail, but in the end, completes his mission and makes a home for himself, his life-mate, and their children. This one takes place I would assume, nearly concurrent with Dark Fire, but in the Mountains. Dark Legend is the story of one of the ancient twins, Gabriel Daratrazanoff. In the opening of the book, he has tricked his brother, Lucian – whom he believes to have turned vampire, and locked them beneath the soil in Paris France. Construction equipment disturbs their resting place, thereby releasing both of them to the current-day timeframe. Gabriel, who has sworn to destroy his brother in a mutual pact, meets Francesca Del Ponce, a healer of some renown. They are destined to be life-mates. Francesca has succeeded in concealing her existence from all Carpathians for many centuries, waiting for the time in which she can become as human as possible before seeking the eternal rest of the sun. This story focuses on both Francesca’s abilities as a healer – she adopts a psychic teenager named Skyler Rose Thompson, and on Gabriel’s search to bring rest and justice to his brother. Takes place in the current time. Lucian Daratrazanoff’s story is brought to us in the title Dark Guardian. In this book he discovers his life-mate, Jaxon Montgomery. Jaxon has had a traumatic past. Her stepfather killed her mother and brother as well as the adoptive family who took her in when she lost them. She is Navy Seal Trained and a Special Force police officer who’s uncanny abilities to predict when a raid will go wrong drives her abilities to be successful at her job. Jaxon and Lucian become a match of equals, she is truly the first heroine to actively assist her life-mate in the hunt for and the elimination of vampires. We also discover that Gabriel and Francesca now have a daughter, Tamara. And that Shea is closely working with Gary Jansen to discover how to produce more children, and save the ones that are born. Probably takes place a year or two after Dark Legend, considering that Tamara, Gabriel and Francesca’s daughter, is still young enough to need Shea’s assistance. I’m also under the assumption that Jaxon is in her early to mid 20’s. In Dark Symphony we get Byron’s story. He’s encountered the Scarletti Family, the line described in The Scarletti Curse. Antoinetta Scarletti, current heir to the shipping industry her family has owned and managed for many years, is a blind concert pianist. We discover she has psychic powers and also make the shocking revelation that the Scarletti Family is descendent from the Jaguar shape-shifter race. Intrigue, humor, and romance fill this story of a tormented soul, Byron Justicano, and his self-censure from his people. Due to the fact his capture and torture in Dark Desire nearly got his prince’s life-mate killed, he’s sentenced himself to a life of vampire hunting, though he had never been born to be a hunter. This is a story of redemption and peace. This is also taking place in the Current timeframe. The anthology, The Only One brings us the story of Traian Trigovise and Joie Sanders. “Dark Descent” brings us another short story of an ancient, traveling back to pay homage to his prince, Mikhail Dubrinsky. Traian comes upon a coordinated group of vampire, desperately searching a cave, one that he later learns the ancient Wizards once used. During his battles, he is injured, and while healing he sees an astral projection of a human woman, Joie Sanders, whom he instantly recognizes as his life-mate. Later, as she and her siblings explore a cave in which he has been taken prisoner, he realizes that he cannot let her go, that she must be his. Joie, though she doesn’t completely believe he is real, is nevertheless accepting and very much open to remaining with him as his life-mate. Also takes place in the Current timeframe. An emotional story about love in the worst of circumstances, Dark Melody is a story of the extremes to which a man would go to make certain his mate survives. Dayan, whom we first encountered in Dark Challenge, then again in Dark Fire, is our central focus here. He meets his life-mate, only to realize he may lose her to an incurable heart disease. And what’s worse, she’s expecting a child, which is slowly taking her life from her. This is an emotional story, one that brings many tears as the Carpathians seek to save this woman and her precious unborn child, to save one of their own. We discover that Shea is pregnant by this time. Dark Destiny is the action-packed story of Destiny and Nicolae Von Shrieder. If one ever wanted to know how a female would act as a vampire hunter, here is your answer. With a great deal of action, suspense, and adventure, this is a story of a woman, honed by pain and loss and trained by an ancient Carpathian, so powerful he may not even be aware of it himself. Destiny is a woman, unequalled in the world of Carpathians. She IS a vampire hunter. Nicolae, along with his brother Vikirnoff, realize that she needs healing, having been converted by a vampire the acid blood runs through her veins. This is a powerful story, one that will force you to question the true meaning of suffering. Full of unconditional love, we finally discover what happens to those who find their life-mate, but maybe a little too late. Again, this all depends on a frame of reference that is vague, there may be a specific date we can attach to it, but the ages of the characters all depend on general assumptions. Also, on general assumptions of when Dark Prince is set. It cannot be set any earlier than around 1975 or so, as the fax machine and personal computer were not in wide use at this time. And would most likely not have been in use at all in some small, out of the way area as a village in Hungary. It’s 25 years between when Mikhail and Raven mate and when she becomes pregnant. Therefore, the earliest date for Dark Desire is 2000. The latest possible date is 2010 or so. Then we put 23 years onto that date for Dark Gold. Which takes place almost concurrently as Dark Magic, Dark Challenge, and Dark Fire. So the earliest conceptual date for Dark Gold has to be 2023. Savannah is 23 by that time. So there is a clever bit of finagling we have to assume with the dates. Also, current day fax machines did not have wide use until the late 1970’s when Japanese companies took over production. The first Electronic Transmittal Machine in wide use was in 1934, used by the Associated Press for AP Wire Photos. The first “normal” fax machine developed for wide use was in 1964. Xerox developed the first business model fax machine, all 46 pounds of it, in 1966. Would Hungary or Romania in the 1960’s have access to what was possibly very expensive technology at that time? Remember they are communist until the late 1980’s. So Dark Prince would have to take place in 1970’s at earliest, 1990’s at latest. Assumptions can’t be made about Dark Prince starting in 2000, unless you want to place Dark Gold somewhere in 2040’s, around 2048. Also, you have to be careful about considering the Carpathians as human. What is a normal gestational period for Carpathian Children is possibly not a normal nine months. Realize, Raven was probably in her 20’s when she was converted. That would put her nearing 50 by the time she had Savannah. Also, Noelle was over 500 when she had Rand’s son. Their genetics, unlike ours, are associated with longevity, therefore fledglingship lasts the first 100-200 years or so. Which means you have to think puberty hits as early as 200 years old. Lengthy childhoods probably equate to lengthy gestations. The Carpathians and their lifemates © Copyright 1999 - 2005 Christine Feehan, The True Carpathians RPG.® All rights reserved world wide. No part of this work may be reproduced in part or whole, in any form or by any means, without permission from the owner. All incidents, situations, institutions, governments and people are fictional and any similarity to characters or persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.