Important Years & Dates Character Bios Should Have

Introduction​

As I'm updating character pages to have structured data (like Star Army characters having their orders threads and date of rank) there's one thing that is really slowing things down: Lack of information! For example there are characters whos history sections never mention any dates or years, This makes it very difficult to figure out how old they are and if they need a promotion.

Examples​

Let me give you an example:

CHARACTER had been part of the FLEET for most of her career and she enjoyed it, she did experience some other ships and had always tried to prove she she was a good as any Neko that was there. As she enjoyed being a soldier and worked hard, she enjoyed the clarity and focus that came from a firefight for her. While on shore leave she saw a new ship looking for crew and saw they were open to any species, she applied for a transfer and it went through and she became part of the crew of and headed off to the docks of the new ship.

From this history you can't tell how old the character is, when the character joined, how long they served, what ships they were on, what battles they were in, what ship they're on now...

Compare to this NPC of mine:

Gabriela was born on 18日 1月 YE 19. She turned 21 in the first month of YE 40 and graduated from Star Army training in the second month of YE 40. That year, she spent most of her time assisting other starship operators at the Nataria Fleet Depot getting additional in-the-field expertise. Because of her proficiency, she was promoted to Nitô Hei in YE 41. Eventually she was able to fully operate starships on her own and was called on whenever the depot needed to deliver a starship to a fleet or move mothballed ships around.

Gabriela attended the Hanami festival in Kyoto in YE 42.

In 3月 YE 42, she was promoted to Ittô Hei. That year she fought in the Third Battle Of Nataria operating a skeleton-crewed ship in the Nataria Fleet Depot's “Zero Fleet” that had to be abandoned due to critical damage. Near the end of the year she vacationed in Yumiuki and stopped in Ternifac on the way back to Uesureyan Fields. During this time the Star Army was experiencing a shortage of officers, so Star Army Personnel Command reached out to Gabriela to get her on the pathway to command and set her up with correspondence courses at the Kyoto War College with the goal of graduating and earning the rank of Shoi by the end of YE 44.

In 1月 YE 43, Gabriela's plans changed when Star Army Personnel introduced the Accelerated Officer Program. She was assigned to the YSS Resurgence as one of the first crew members, and promoted to Jôtô Hei until she completed the AOP courses, and became an officer at the rank of Shoi.

Also in 1月 YE 43, Gabriela fought in the Battle Of Glimmergold as helmsman of a Kyoto-class Carrier nicknamed the YSS Presurgence.

On 20日 1月 YE 43 Gabriela visited the Empress' Palace where she got to meet and speak to the Empress of Yamatai, Empress Himiko I

For Gabriela, it says when she was born, and breaks down the major events of her military life. We know how long she's been in and when her last promotion was so we have a sense of her career progression. It's not magic, it's just using dates.

Action I Need From You​

To be specific, here's what I want you guys to make sure you have in bios:

1. The year they were born (an actual date of birth is better but at least the year)
2. The year the character joined the military
3. The year(s) they were promoted (preferably with a link to their orders thread to prove it)

That's it, really. Putting these dates down can be hugely helpful, especially later on down the road when a lot of time has passed and you're like "when WAS my character last promoted anyway?" or "when is my next re-enlistment?".