Setting
The idea for TimeLost came from two trains of thought:
- Could a Doctor Who campaign be run that followed the style of the TV series but where the characters were all what would be considered in the show to be Companions of the Doctor or another Time Lord, but without the Time Lord?
- Given that the TV show is inherently British with so much of the feel of the show dependent on that, could the same or similar sense be invoked if the campaign were centered around Canada instead of the UK?
The answer to both questions was, thankfully, "Yes".
Places of Interest
Centennial High School
Centennial High School closed in 1986 after an incident of some kind. These days no one really remembers the details. Ask around and there will as many explanations as there are people who answer the question. The only thing these stories have in common is that someone, or maybe more than one someone, died. Whatever it was, the authorities moved the students out and never moved them back in.
The school was built in 1967, part of a host of new developments showcasing the best of the country for the Centennial. Centennial High School was to be the most modern education facility in Ottawa, though technically it was in Gloucester not Ottawa proper back then. The school was intended to be large enough to serve what was anticipated to be a large population growth as new developments moved into the area. Except, for one reason or another, the developments never really materialized. Still the school remained and students were bused in from nearby to try and fill its expansive halls and classrooms.
Today, more than thirty years after the school closed, the area around it is a wasteland of industrial parks, long-term storage facilities, and empty warehouses. The school still sits there empty and abandoned, surrounded with chain link fence topped with barbed wire. It should have been demolished years ago but every time the subject is raised there are questions of jurisdiction, about which level of government should foot the bill. The arguments go around in circles until the matter gets pushed to the side and forgotten for a few years.
Mostly people have forgotten about Centennial High School, and those who haven’t tend to ignore it. But there are still stories. Stories about what really happened back in ’86 still persist, repeated in hushed whispers. And there are newer stories, the ones that tend to crop up when no one knows the real story. Some say the site is contaminated by chemicals or radiation and that’s the real reason the site is still abandoned. Some say the place is haunted, that you can sometimes see figures moving in the windows. Others say the figures are just homeless people that have broken through the fence to find shelter, or kids that have snuck into the site on a dare. Sometimes people go missing in the area and the more superstitious blame the school, but when the authorities managed to be convinced to search the old school nothing ever turns up.
With Canada 150 happening this year, Centennial High School is getting a little attention again, mostly renewed speculation and efforts to discover what actually happened in ’86, and maybe get a little traction on doing something with the site. None of it will come to anything, it never does, but a few intrepid souls will undoubtedly make their way out to the old site again and try to sneak in and see if they can be the ones to solve to mystery.
Timeline
| 65 Million BCE |
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| 4th Century |
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| 1050 |
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| 1613 |
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| 1634 |
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| 1791 |
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| 1864 |
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| 1868 |
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| 1883 |
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| 1884 |
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| 1899 |
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| 1929 |
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| 1936 |
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| 1943 |
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| 1959 |
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| 1969 |
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| 1975 |
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| 1977 |
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| 1978 |
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| 1980 |
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| 1982 |
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| 1984 |
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| 1986 |
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| 2007 |
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| 2017 |
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| 2020 |
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| 21st Century |
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| 22nd Century |
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| 25th Century |
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| 27th Century |
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| 30th Century |
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| 3175 |
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| 3254 |
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| 42nd Century |
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| 5207 |
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| 5212 |
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| 5867 |
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| 71st Century |
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