Piotr Timeline

Piotr Vorkosigan's dates are not clearly given in text, this is as close as seems possible to come.

A timeline for Piotr Vorkosigan

• Some years before he was born – Dorca Vorbarra became Emperor, united Barrayar. (Ref: various)
• Age 0 – Piotr Vorkosigan born
• Age very young – Barrayar rediscovered, end of Time of Isolation (Ref: "The Mountains of Mourning")
• Age X – Vorloupulous's treason (X is approximately "very young" + 15; see notes below)
• Age X – Cetagandan Invasion (Ref: The Warrior's Apprentice, ch 6)
• Age 22 – Piotr was promoted by Dorca to General (Ref: Barrayar, ch 6)
• Age ? – Piotr married Princess Olivia Vorbarra (probably after age 22, but not known)
• Age ~28  – Aral's older brother born (this date is some number of years before Aral is born)
• Age ~30 – Aral born (Ref: Shards of Honor, ch 3 and 15; this date is Piotr's age at start of Regency minus 44)
• Age ~32 – Aral's sister born (this date is some number of years after Aral is born)
• Age X+~20 – Cetagandan bombing of Vorkosigan Vashnoi, parents and many other family members killed (Ref: Captain Vorpatril's Alliance, ch 16)
• Age X+~20 – Cetagandans defeated
• Age ~38 – Dorca died, Yuri became Emperor (this date is within a year or two of "X+~20", but could come before it - see notes below)
• Age ~42 – Yuri's massacre of Prince Xav's descendents. Piotr and Xav meet with Ezar. (Ref: Barrayar, ch 6 says it was 20 years after promotion to general at age 22, but see discussion under "Difficulties")
• Age ~44 – Execution of Yuri, Ezar became Emperor.
• Age ~74 – Ezar dies, Aral became regent for Gregor. This year is ~80 years from end of Time of Isolation. (Ref: Barrayar, ch 2) See discussion under "Difficulties" to resolve how to make 74 > 80.
• Age ~75 – Miles Vorkosigan born
• Age ~92 – Piotr died

Notes

• "The Mountains of Mourning" claims he was born at the very end of the Time of Isolation, thus the sequence of the initial items.
• It is not clear how literally to take Piotr's comments about how much the world changed at ages 10, 20, and 40 at the start of The Warrior's Apprentice.
• Dates that are particularly uncertain are the births of Piotr's children as compared to the end of the Cetagandan War.
• Dorca's death is enough years after Aral Vorkosigan's birth that he can remember "Emperor's Birthday" vacations at Bonsanklar. (Shards of Honor, ch 5) It is, however, some number of years before Aral is 11 (the year of Yuri's Massacre).
• The year of Dorca's death and Yuri's ascension is not known, but Word of God (On dendarii.com's list group archives from August 25, 2012) has this:
  • Q: When did Dorca die/Yuri succeed in relation to the end of the Cetagandan war, if possible?
  • A: LMB - The range of possibilities include very, very close to the end of the war, or up to a few years after.
• Another Word of God: The length of time from end of Time of Isolation until Cetagandan Invasion is about 15 to 20 years. (Question 9 under "Vorkosiverse Science, Technology, and History" in http://www.dendarii.com/bujold_faq.html)
• Almost all almost-specifically-given numbers for his ages (all but age 22 for promotion to General) are deduced from his age at death being 92. This number is not in the text of the Vorkosigan Saga, but is given in The Vorkosigan Companion; probably it derives from Piotr's age being 22 + 20 at time of Yuri's massacre (Barrayar, ch 6).

Difficulties

• If indeed there were approximately 15 years between the end of the Time of Isolation and the Cetagandan invasion, followed by 20 years of war, followed by approximately 40 years until the invasion of Komarr, followed by about 5 years until the events of Shards of Honor (see Aral timeline), then indeed 80 years from the end of the Time of Isolation works out for the start of Aral's regency. However, with Piotr born before the end of the Time of Isolation, it would follow that he should be over 80 at this time (instead of the ~74 that is claimed in the time line). The simplest way to resolve this would be to add roughly six years to his age at the time of Yuri's massacre (26 years after promotion to general instead of 20 is plausible since it is likely that "twenty years" is not intended to be precise), and have him nearly 100 years old at his time of death. However, this causes his age at the time of Aral's birth to shift by the same amount, which makes the time of Aral's birth and the time of the end of the Cetagandan war become very close in time, which makes Aral's early childhood memories of the old Emperor's Birthday celebrations at Bonsanklar difficult.
  • Probably one should adjust the 80 years from the end of the Time of Isolation to the start of Aral's Regency slightly downwards (2-3 years) and the 20 years after age 22 for Yuri's Massacre slightly upwards (3-4 years), and have Dorca die very soon after the end of the Cetagandan war, and then give Aral a good memory.