Dark Earth Timeline

Drought localised to the particular area.

From a post on September 15th:


"- China and India have recessions due to poorer harvests, driven by some bad weather events in the Far East"

1971

January
January 1: A truckload of snakes is accidentally driven across the Irish Sea through the Victoria Tunnel from Holyhead to Dublin, with the serpents spilling out onto a warehouse floor and promptly expiring, showing that the Forbidding of Saint Patrick still remains strong almost 1600 years after it was enacted. The responsible business, Riddle's Sorcerous Supplies, is fined under the Arcane Materials Act 1807.
January 2: British oil prospectors in the far south of Libya discover a strange spicy dust present atop the trackless dunes of the middle of the Sahara, taking samples for examination back in London.
January 3: Beginning of a NATO aerial combat training exercise at Nellis AFB in Nevada, pitting the McDonnell-Douglas F-15 Eagle up against the Supermarine Spitfire, the Saab Viking, the prototype Dassault Super Mirage 2000, the Avro Arrow 4 and the Messerschmitt Me-529.
January 4: The Open University begins early morning television broadcasting of courses over the BBC.
January 5: After the first three days of the Third Test in Melbourne were washed out, Australia and England play the first international limited overs cricket match, with each side having a maximum innings of 55 overs; Australia made a total of 289/8 with Greg Chappell scoring 102, defeating England by 4 runs, debutant Dennis Lillee taking 5/32 and the Honourable Peter Ratcliffe scoring 125.
January 6: French Premier d'Ambreville summarily rejects the prospect of supranational economic integration in Europe, citing the vital importance of France's national sovereignty and her destiny as a world state.
January 7: A USAF B-52 crashes into Lake Michigan, with the eight crew escaping through use of their new escape pod.
January 8: French cruise liner SS Antilles runs aground on a reef north of Mustique, forcing the evacuation of her passengers and crew by Royal West Indian Navy ships and aircraft.
January 9: Uruguayan guerilla group the Tupamaros kidnap British Ambassador Sir Geoffrey Jackson in Montevideo, ambushing his Rolls Royce as it travels through the streets. The Royal Navy cruiser HMS Cleopatra is redirected across the Plate from Buenos Aires in response.
January 10: Debut of Monsterpiece Theatre, a high class sophisticated drama programme broadcast on the Public Broadcasting Service presented by renowned Anglo-American journalist and blue furry monster Alistair Cookie.
January 11: The lowest ever temperature in the United States is recorded at Jeremiah Johnson Pass in Montana, with a chilly −87 °F.
January 12: Former US federal agent Angus MacGyver prevents a terrible accident at a hydroelectric power plant in Mexico using a paperclip, a child’s yo-yo and his Swiss Army knife.
January 13: The United StatesComics Code is revised to allow for the depiction of vampires, werewolves and various other creatures of the night, provided that it is done in a tasteful and classical manner without connections to real world figures or incidents; the latter clause is seen as continuing the prohibition on depictions of zombies after the Haitian Intervention and the Kananga Affair.
January 14: US crude oil production continues to grow from it 1970 record of 15,400,000 barrels per day with the discovery of new fields in Wyoming and the Dakotas. The Arab states of the Middle East as a whole has overtaken the USA and the British Empire but America remains the world’s largest state producer by a comfortable margin.
January 15: Completion of the final stage of the Cross Florida Barge Canal.
January 16: US Department of Magic sorcerers begin joint arcane development work in conjunction with Latin American wizards on a proposed effort to decimate the coca plant in South America.
January 17: The Boy Scouts Association purchases 50,000 Armalite AR-15s from the United States in .256 British for use in marksman training, pest hunting and elementary firearms badges, describing the American rifle as well suited to the needs of younger Scouts.
January 18: Hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil are spilt into San Francisco Bay after the collision of two oil tankers.
January 19: King Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden abdicates at the age of 88, with his grandson the Crown Prince ascending to the throne as King Gustav VII Adolf. The vigorous new monarch has great personal popularity and charm and embodies many hopes for Sweden's burgeoning future.
January 20: A article in The Times explores 'The Future(s) of Association Football', noting a slight shift in popularity over the last five years beyond its traditional heartlands of the British Isles, Europe and South America and its continuing inability to penetrate the North American or Indian markets. In Britain, it remains the most popular sport for spectators according to recent surveys, with 34% nominating it as their sport of preference over cricket (27%) and rugby (20%); the most recent statistical data has seen Imperial or Australian Football recorded for the first time, albeit at very low levels largely due to the presence of antipodean military personnel in Great Britain and their exhibition display competitions.
January 21: A special team of Royal Navy personnel, Church of England missionaries and anthropologists conduct a first conduct protocol with a primitive tribe on isolated North Sentinel Island in the Andaman Islands, overawing the hitherto hostile natives with their rotodynes and wizardry.
January 22: President Kennedy delivers his State of the Union address, hailing the ongoing transition to peace in South East Asia and not shying away from the economic, industrial and social challenges of demobilisation, describing them as ‘America’s next battle.’ He also outlines his proposal for the extension of Medicare to all US citizens in a further reform of the national health care system.
January 23: The United States Air Force conducts a formal ceremony to mark the retirement of the last Lockheed C-130 Hercules in active service, with the new and superior McDonnell-Douglas C-15 acting as a welcome replacement; the Hercules remains the backbone of Air National Guard and USAFR transport wings.
January 24: A British SAS team attacks the Montevideo hideout were Tupamaros guerillas were holding Sir Geoffrey Jackson hostage, killing all eight terrorists and freeing the Ambassador, who is whisked away to the British Embassy in a helicopter dispatched from HMS Cleopatra. The Uruguayan government issues an official note of protest at the British action, whilst being privately relieved at the resolution of the crisis.
January 25: Novelist Peter Benchley is commissioned to write an account of the 1947 Amity Shark Attacks by noted reclusive investor and property tycoon, D. D. Denham.
January 26: The Ottoman Vizier of War announces that Angora has the German bid has been successful in the expansive Turkish arms contract competition.
January 27: Observers in Tibet note an aerial procession of very high flying dragons across the border in China.
January 28: Erstwhile famed actors Christopher Lee and Max von Sydow defeat a long dormant vampire whilst filming a medieval mystery picture in Styria and are dubbed Imperial Knights of the Golden Spur by the thoroughly impressed Kaiser Otto, who was staying in a nearby hunting lodge.
January 29: Singapore is formally incorporated into the United Kingdom, becoming the latest small overseas possession to become joined to the mother country.
January 30: A report on the current circumstances of British museum ships finds that HMS Hood in Portsmouth remains the nation’s most popular vessel for visitors, no doubt assisted by the presence of Victory, Warrior and Dreadnought in port with her, and that Southern England is well supplied with historical ships, boding favourably for bids from Northern, Scottish and Irish ports for recently decommissioned wartime battleships such as King George V, Prince of Wales and the Fighting Temeraire.
January 31: American armaments corporation Stark Industries announces that it has been forced to declare bankruptcy.

It isn’t that simple. The F-15 is very good at raw power, whilst the Spitfire has formidable aerial manoeuvrability. The new Arrow has the best range, the Viking is very versatile and the German plane is very fast to altitude.

The F-15 is a tad different in the wing shape and size, but recognisable. It will see some more export sales, but to some different countries. The F-16 will have quite a bit of competition when it comes.

It depends. There are some countries from @ that don’t exist and others that are new here. Others buy French, others (Scandinavia) will go for the Viking and Britain is still producing aircraft for other markets, particularly the 4 that were the original NATO F-16 buyers.

February
February 1: Opening of the first business administration school in the Communist world at the Plekhanov Russian Institute of Economics in Moscow.
February 2: Formation of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries at a meeting in Teheran, consisting of the United States, Britain, Canada, Arabia, Persia, Iraq, Venezuela, India, Libya and Mexico.
February 3: The National Post Office Savings Bank launches a new public campaign promoting children’s savings’ accounts, with the government to contribute towards accounts at certain thresholds.
February 4: Rolls-Royce signs an agreement for the sale of 500 units of its new 64,000lbf RB.250 turbofan engine to Lockheed-Martin, marking its greatest postwar success in the U.S. market to date.
February 5: Beginning of the week of the Hajj, with the number of pilgrims this year being the highest yet due to expanded Arab infrastructure and assistance of the USAF and RAF.
February 6: Italian carabinieri arrest over 300 communists and socialists in a series of dawn raids, alleged by some to be motivated by the recent right wing electoral successes, whilst others ascribe them to a recent defection by a Romanian diplomat. No comment emerges initially from the usually loquacious Commanding General of the Carabinieri and Italy’s most decorated soldier, General Alberto Bertorelli.
February 7: Death of Sir Thomas Andrews, noted shipbuilder and designer, at the age of 97.
February 8: The NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) stock exchange begins operations in New York.
February 9: In a confused incident, a gang of armed robbers evading police in a stolen cabin cruiser on the Hudson River are somehow apprehended and deposited on Wall Street.
February 10: The Chilean senate approve Prime Minister Allende’s plan for the partial nationalisation of foreign owned copper interests. Three USN and RN cruisers are conducting exercises off Bolivian waters.
February 11: Commonwealth defence ministers sign an agreement for the coordination of training and organisation of their various national special operations forces.
February 12: The Home Office confirms the long-standing prohibition on the construction of American-style ‘skyscrapers’ in London beyond the current ‘Twelve Sisters’ and reaffirms the primacy of historical views.
February 13: Release of the Ninth Five Year Plan in the USSR, with major increases in consumer goods and emergent industries set as the main goals.
February 14: California Governor Ronald Reagan forms an exploratory committee to plan his anticipated 1972 run for the Republican nomination for the presidency. He is widely considered to be the favoured candidate.
February 15: The government of Communist Poland announces the reversal of previously announced rises in food prices and cuts in wage rises.
February 16: Wandering poet mage Robert Zimmermann subdues a rogue dragon on a watchtower on the Mexican border.
February 17: England secure the Ashes 2-0 with a victory in the 7th and final Test Match in Sydney, thanks to centuries from Ted Dexter, Geoff Boycott and Colin Cowdrey.
February 18: A grand conclave of military orders begins in Jerusalem, hosted by the Templars.
February 19: Ottoman Turkey signs an agreement for the purchase of 80 Tupolev Tu-16 Badger bombers from the Soviet Union, leading to an announcement later in the day for the transfer of 60 surplus Valiants by Britain to the Kingdom of Egypt and the Royal Israeli Air Force ordering 50 new Vickers Vimy supersonic bombers.
February 20: Almost half of US television and radio stations go off air in an accidental early morning test of the Emergency Broadcast System.
February 21: President Kennedy unveils the full details of his plan for a universal health care system in an expansive televised national address from the Oval Office.
February 22: Royal Navy gunboat HMS Pansy engages and sinks three pirate ships in the South China Sea, with some of the footage of the sea battles, boarding action and rescue of a merchant steamer captured by onboard film cameras. It leads to the popularity of the phrase “tough as the Pansy”.
February 23: A diving team lead by Commander Sir Lionel Crabb discovers the wreck of the White Ship off the coast of Barfleur, following on directions from a new arcane underwater detection system.
February 24: George Lucas starts formulating the base idea for a space opera film based on Flash Gordon and the real life deeds of Dan Dare.
February 25: A spokespriest of the Vatican Secretariat of State indicates that it will not pursue possession of the hydrogen bomb in an interview with a Rome newspaper.
February 26: 12 university students are killed in riots in Calli, Colombia.
February 27: Private gold ownership in Britain is estimated at 2456 tons, not counting elven, dwarven or draconic hoards.
February 28: Evel Knievel jumps over a world record 30 cars at a stock car race in Ontario, California.

alternate-timelines.proboards.com/thread/2032/dark-earth-book-beasts?page=1

Once adult, they have sufficient magical knowledge and capacity to do so. Some do and some don’t; there is a significant subsection of dragonkind that regards taking on human form as being as socially distasteful as some might regard an adult man dressed up as a toddler.