Introduction[]
"The Plan" was conceived by Bishop Kizin of Monab in LY 890. He felt that the villages of The Land should be unified into a single country (which would be known as the Second Order, though in 914 its name was changed to First Nation), to be ruled by a world government, as well as being brought closer together in various social ways. It was Kizin's belief that the separation of the villages must be painful to God, as well as to humankind (even if most people didn't yet realize it was causing them pain). And so, he gathered allies (most notably Bishop Dalin of First Village and vice-bishops Mallory and Saul of Monab) to help him refine the Plan, which was intended, over the course of seven years, to guide the people of the Land in directions that would ultimately result in their establishing such unity for themselves. When he felt the Plan was ready, Kizin presented it to Arch-bishop Talak, who quickly became very enthusiastic about it, and fully endorsed the Plan. Talak believed it would be good for the Second Order to be established on the 500th anniversary of the founding of the First Order (which would fall in 904). The world government was expected to be brought about the year following the completion of the Plan, and so it was decided that the implementation of the Plan (a period known as the Coming of the Order) should take place between 897 and 903. Kizin and anyone who aided him in refining and implementing the Plan came to be known as "Planners," a fact which some consider confusing, since Kizin himself took the surname "Planner" in 904.
It should be noted that for much of the Coming, the existence of the Plan was kept secret from the majority of the world. It wasn't until 902 that the general public became aware of it, and even then it was only bits and pieces that the Order allowed them to learn about. However, about a year prior to that, an adventurer named Vallus left his home village of Kimrin, having some knowledge of the Order's plans, though it wasn't until the Order began allowing the public to learn of the Plan's existence that he felt compelled to begin speaking out against the Plan, trying to convince people that the Order was only telling part of the truth, and leaving out parts they didn't want the public to know. Many people were swayed by his speaking, while others refused to believe him. However, Vallus wasn't the only person speaking out against the Plan in 902. That year also saw the start of the Protestant Movement, established by former members of the Order, chief among them Bishops Therman of Plist and Drag of Sorret. In spite of the fact that there were now spirit-talkers (who had been told of the Plan from the very beginning) confirming all that Vallus said and even adding more details of their own, there were still many who found the claims of the Protestants unlikely, even after some of their claims were proven true; people still accepted the explanations the Order offered. In fact it wasn't until a bubble with a video recording of the late Kizin was uncovered in 912 that some people finally accepted the truth. (And even that, along with various other evidence made public around the same time, largely as a result of the efforts of The Chaos, was not enough to make some of the most stubborn doubters give up their faith in the good intentions of the planners.)
It may be that a complete accounting of every facet of the Plan will never be known (and indeed, the following seems much too slight to have taken seven years to refine, especially if one accepts that the Plan continued to be refined throughout the Coming). Even so, the details here are more complete than were known (or at least accepted) until quite recently; moreover, it's conceivable that these few facets could well have been sufficient to have the desired effect of establishing the Second Order. While the Plan may actually have been more complicated than this, it probably didn't need to be.
897[]
Near Port was founded, and joined Kimrin and Port in establishing what is often referred to as the Northern Alliance. (The Order would have greater influence there than elsewhere in the world, as yet.) They also began building water treatment facilities for sewers, and introducing indoor plumbing, which not only endeared them to the citizens, but also made them enough money to help with the plans they'd be working in the coming years throughout the world. Before sending engineers to the Northern Alliance, the Order had suggested forming a union, which the engineers then suggested to those in the northern villages. This was to ensure everyone got a fair share of business once this new technology became common; all engineers or plumbers should charge a standardized rate, and anyone who didn't join the union, couldn't learn the craft.
At the same time, in Monab, the Order began working toward self-sufficiency; that is, the religious community there worked toward a point where they would not require the support of the secular portion of the village to sustain itself. (This latter was claimed by the Protestants in 902, but not accepted as truth until 912.) They also began building a purely defensive army, which was led by Saul.
898[]
It was at this year's Pilgrimage that Kizin and his allies first revealed the existence of the Plan to spirit-talkers from other villages, most notably Sorret. They asked Sorreters for their help, though they didn't expect to receive it; they merely expected at most a few Sorreters to secretly begin considering it. (It should be noted that Grand Sorreter Drag was openly opposed to the Plan, among those who knew of it, though at this point he made no attempt to reveal the Plan's existence to anyone outside the Order. However, at least two Sorreters, Durell and Cirna were intrigued, and began recruiting followers who were in favor of the Plan.)
899[]
It was in this year that gangs began expanding their operations from single villages, establishing inter-village gangs (most notably LandOrder and InterGang. Even gangs that remained within single villages became more organized than ever before in the Land's history, and more dangerous. Sorreters began working with some gangs. (It was suggested in 902 by the Protestants that the Order had been behind this, though virtually no one believed this claim.) In retrospect it seems obvious that the Order would have had a hand in the organizing of the gangs, because if it had never happened, there would have been little or no justification for the establishment of InterVil, which the Order suggested in response to the increase in gang activity. At the same time, the Order also suggested the establishment of a court system and standardized set of laws to be recognized by all villages. One law that the Order suggested this year was the establishment of adult licenses, which represented the first time in the history of the Land that people would have a universal method of recognizing the onset of adulthood.
900[]
It was around this time that the Plan had originally called for the assignment of Sorreters to work with gangs, though Durell had taken care of that, of his own initiative, earlier than planned (having been unaware of this aspect of the Plan, some of which the planners hadn't revealed even to the allies they had acquired since 898). In fact, the inclusion of this aspect had been largely an extra measure to ensure people would come to see the necessity of integrating police departments, in case that need hadn't become obvious earlier. It may be that Durell's actions also account for InterVil being formed earlier than the Plan called for. This was also the year that the first World Fair was held, as a way of getting villages to come together for fun, in various forms, as well as increasing trade between villages. (After this, the World Fair would be held once every four years.) Also, some vendors who had attended the Fair started distributing mail-order catalogs, thus increasing the business of the postal services as well as creating greater contact between villages, helping build up companies from local to inter-village.
901[]
The Order completed its work toward self-sufficiency. Though they still hoped there would be no need to separate themselves from the secular citizens of Monab, they were ready if need be. At this point, they began to raise armies and navies in the Northern Alliance, though they had no direct control of nor official influence over the military. Also, indoor plumbing was introduced to villages other than the Northern Alliance, though by this point the Order had no role in that, it was done by the plumbers and engineers of the Northern Alliance who had become skilled at it over the last few years. (They also introduced the concept of unions, which at this point the Order had no need to mention themselves. Before long, other tradesmen would begin forming their own unions.) And Sorreters began selling spell devices to the nobility, which increased the money that could be used to implement the Plan, as well as laying the groundwork for a class divide, a mindset which might be utilized in any number of ways, later. But more importantly, it would lead to people depending on magic in their everyday lives. Also this year, Durell secretly contacted the elves, who had been banished from human society 128 years earlier. He now began working to convince them to join the Order in implementing the Plan, and thus be reunited with the rest of the world.
902[]
The Order suggested establishing banks, which were a safer way of saving money than had existed in the past. Also, banks allowed for the use of checks, which were more convenient than coins, whether paying bills or shopping, especially when traveling. (Banks could also open branches in different villages, and stay in contact via t-mail, to share records of account balances of their customers.) Banks also allowed for earning interest on savings, as well as handling investments for people who previously were not in a position to make investments at all. (Such investments were made possible by the introduction of the stock market, concurrent with the establishment of banks.) Since 901, people had been more conscious than ever before of the difference between social classes. They'd always known that, obviously, some people had a lot more money than others, but it had never occurred to most people to think of this as implying any fundamental difference in the worth of people. Now the idea of upper, middle, and lower classes came to be understood more clearly, which naturally led to some resentment. However, it also made people more eager to work to bridge the financial gap. And banks helped with that. The existence of banks also played an important role in leading to the establishment of taxes, a concept which actually made a fair amount of sense to most people, as it was in many ways the same thing that had been done since the introduction of money centuries earlier, just in a more convenient way.
Meanwhile, the court system had been given the power to enact laws in 899, which relieved people of the need to worry about such matters, which had become more common by that point, and which they hadn't the time for. However, people began noticing that the court system was mostly made up of members of the upper class, or "nobility." They worried that this might mean the common man wasn't receiving sufficient representation, and therefore, the Order suggested establishing government, both local and federal. While it was most likely that the majority of people with the means to campaign for government positions would be upper class, anyone would be free to run, and more importantly, everyone would be free to vote, and therefore those elected would need to please their constituents. The Order also suggested the surname law, which would end up being passed in 904, the year after the end of the Coming.
The suggestion was also made of establishing a nationalized postal service, though it seems this may have been a scare tactic designed to lead the newly established local postal unions to spread out between villages, forge alliances. Other trade unions soon followed suit, not knowing how many more changes might be coming, with the world changing at such a pace. It was around this time that the Order suggested establishing a standardized school system, which would be established in 904. This led to a dramatic reduction in the number of independent masters, though they did form a union that would ensure their accreditation to give out educational stamps for adult licenses.
As mentioned earlier, it was also this year that the Protestant Movement was established in Plist. It soon expanded to other villages, most notably Triscot (it should be noted that Plist was the only village on First Land to have a major role in the Protestant Movement, aside from Sorret, which was sharply divided on the issue, between those loyal to Durell and those loyal to Drag). Of course, this dissent had always been accounted for by the Plan. Even if the Protestants knew or suspected this, they had little choice but to try to fight it, anyway.
While people appreciated all the suggestions made by the Order, they were also growing a bit wary of how much influence the Order had had in recent years, even before Vallus and the Protestants began speaking against them. (Many people had even been thinking this as early as 899, at which point the Order had scaled back its suggestions, for a time. They did so again, now.) The Order now suggested Separation of Church and State, to ensure they'd have no hand in the government. By this point, however, the Order knew the world would be headed in the direction they wanted it to go. The Plan (though this was not common knowledge) had always called for people who weren't among the planners nor the Order to carry out its final stages of their own volition.
903[]
Protestants raised armies in Plist, Triscot, Tanq, and Jump Village. The makeshift community called Shanty was established in secret, mainly as a place for the Protestants to assemble a navy. The exact details of the organizing of the foreseen dissent were not a specific part of the Plan, but the planners had fully expected dissenters to prepare for a war to defend their old way of life, which is why they had begun raising their own armies and navies two years earlier. And so finally, the war began. While both sides had their victories, the Order had had much longer to prepare, as well as having the majority of public opinion on their side. It still was not a foregone conclusion that the Order would win in the end, but the odds were heavily in their favor.
It had also been foreseen that the Protestant Sorreters would try to locate and enlist the help of the elves, but Durell's Sorreters took measures to prevent Drag's Sorreters from finding them. Eventually, the elves revealed themselves to the Protestant Sorreters, and announced that they were joining the war on the side of the Order, which of course served to greatly reduce the chances of the Protestants winning. The last major battle (the Battle of Triscot) was fought on 9 Aut'yet, though the war wasn't declared officially over until 29 Aut'yet. This date was thereafter referred to as "Coming's End Day," and the victory of the military forces that supported the Plan ensured that the Plan's ultimate goal of creating a world government would be fulfilled. The end of the war, therefore, is believed to be the final step of the Plan; after this, the Order would take no further actions to directly influence the course of world history. However, that course would continue to be paved by outsiders who had worked with the Order during the Coming, and the actions they took following the completion of the Plan would be blamed by some upon the Order and its Plan.