Gno Schitt

P.A.: Short for Post Apocalyptic calendar.  The P.A. dating system started in North America about 109 years ago and marks the end of the Dark Age that followed the Great Cataclysm.  The Dark Ages lasted for nearly 200 years.

December 22, 2098 A.D. marks the Coming ofthe Rifts and the beginning of the Great Cataclysm.  Note: Most people in the world of Rifts do not know exactly when the Great Cataclysm began nor how it began or how long the Dark Age lasted.  Conventional wisdom is that the Dark Age continued for roughly 200 years.  Some believe it was as long as three hundred.

2099 A.D. to 2286 A.D. is the actual 188 year long Dark Age that engulfed North America and most of the planet following the Great Cataclysm.

1 P.A. (2287A.D.): Human civilization emerges from the long Dark Age in North America with the rise of Chi-Town and other notable "civilized" city-states, kingdoms and communities.  Human civilization also rises from barbarism and begins to make its presence known around this point in other parts of the world.  However, many parts of the world remain in barbarism or have been taken over by D-Bees (other dimensional beings) or mutants and monsters common to the day.  Chi-Town created the Apocalyptic calendar, but it was quickly adopted throughout the continent, and later, in other parts of the world.