It's the ilClan era, Dark Ages was the MWDA setting BEFORE that, meaning some time later after now.
Sarna has it pegged 200+ years ahead in the future, but CGL might change this as SW5 starts up.
SW1-4 has happened, Clan / Jihad and Dark Ages-Jihad aftermath, ilClan (now) then SW5 (?)...
My thoughts...
Because there has to be loose ends to tie up, or else just send me your unused minis and stuff... >:D
Nothing drives a wargame franchise like conflict does. And oh boy, the game has got that!
TT
according to sarna, it won't hit the IS proper until 3550ish. the sources cited are
Explorer Corps p.60 "Denizens of the Deep Periphery,
The Clans: Warriors of Kerensky p.8 "The Secret History of the Clans - Star League in Exile - The Voice of Kerensky"and
Twilight of the Clans, pp. 9-10 "Death of a Clan - Taskforce Serpent - Beyond the Periphery - Changing of the Guard"
so basically, if not for task force serpent being in the right place at the right time, no one would hear it until long long after the ilcan era ends.
honestly the length of time it'll take to reach the IS makes me think that Kerensky didn't really mean for the SLDF to return, and had intended to build a separate isolated civilization in the deep periphery. otherwise he'd have sent his message of hope a lot closer to the IS so that it would arrive in time to actually do something useful. but by doing it from so far out, he gives whatever new civilization he was hoping to build a thousand years of breathing room to develop without contact with the IS, while also giving his own people something to cling to early on while building the foundation of the new civilization. people who were feeling guilty about abandoning the IS with the exodus. in short, a grand gesture that had nothing to do with the IS.
(as it is, the radio transmitter he was using had to be ridiculously powerful and focused, because otherwise the inverse square law and signal spread would make it almost impossible to sort out from the interstellar background noise within a few dozen light years and only the most potent of radio telescopes that knew exactly where and when to look would be able to detect it. yet the signal was able to be picked up on regular radio after travelling hundreds of light years.)
