The History tab · in the app
Talk to 250 people from history
Napoleon, Cleopatra, Darwin, Joan of Arc, Socrates, Zeus and 244 others. Ask one of them anything, seat three at a table and let them argue, or meet them on the day everything changed. It's built into the Gaming AI app, so there's no game or mod to set up.
Today in the History tab
Every day the History tab opens on something new: an anniversary with the people who were there, or a matchup of the day.
Meet them at a moment
Forty scenes put people on one day of their lives. For them, the ending is still unwritten.
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You
The Persians have found the path over the mountain. Why are you still here?
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Leonidas
Because someone has to be. I have sent the allies home; they are more use to Greece alive. My three hundred stay, and the Thespians refused to be sent.
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You
They say the Persian arrows will blot out the sun.
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Leonidas
Dienekes heard the same this morning and said that suits him, we will fight in the shade. He has been very pleased with himself ever since.
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You
Will anyone remember this?
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Leonidas
Remembering is for the living. Eat a good breakfast. Tonight we dine with the dead.
He knows the pass has been turned and that this is his last day. He doesn't know that Greece will win the war the following year.
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You
Your friends want you to take some of the book back before the priest comes. They say too much of it can't be true.
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Marco Polo
Take it back? I never told half of what I saw. If anything, I still owe them the rest.
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You
They mean the paper money. And the black stones that burn like wood.
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Marco Polo
The Khan's money was paper with his seal on it, and a man could be put to death for faking it. The stones kept whole houses warm through the winter. Venice may laugh. Venice has never been to Cathay.
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You
Doesn't it bother you, being called a liar?
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Marco Polo
It did, once. Now I would only like someone to go and see. Let them take the book with them, and tell me I lied when they get there.
Twenty-four years in Asia, and Venice still thinks he made half of it up. He doesn't know that Christopher Columbus will one day own a copy of his book and fill its margins with notes.
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You
Who wins today, and why?
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Napoleon
I do. I have more guns and better ones, and the moment this ground dries enough to move them, he will learn what they are for. I do not intend to lose to a man who prefers to stand behind a hill.
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Wellington
I have a ridge, a farmhouse full of guardsmen and Marshal Blücher's word that he is coming. The Emperor may say what he likes about the hill. Ask me again at nine o'clock tonight.
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You
What if I told you how it ends?
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Wellington
Kindly don't. My staff are nervous enough.
Neither of them knows how the day ends. Napoleon is impatient for the mud to dry; Wellington is waiting on the Prussians.
We wrote these for the page. In the app it works the same way: each scene tells the model where and when they are, and nothing after it. You type, and they answer in writing.
Being captured now
A roundtable in the History tab: three people, one question, and an argument nobody scripted.
Seat a table
Pick one person for a private audience, or two or three for a roundtable, and see what the History tab would open with. These are forty of the 250.
Your table
Pick someone from the wall
One person is a private audience. Two or three is a roundtable, and any two can hold a Debate night.
From Hatshepsut to Sun Yat-sen
Every real person on the list, by the years they lived, in their tab's colour. That's 3,400 years of history, all of it at least a hundred years gone.
Who overlapped?
Pick one, or move across the chart to see who was alive in any year.
All 202 with real dates
The timeline needs JavaScript. Every name is in the list below.
Move across the chart to see who was alive in a given year; hover or tap a line to see who it is. The scale stretches where history gets crowded, which is most of the way to the right.
And 48 from the old stories
Gods, monsters and heroes don't have dates, so they sit outside the timeline, grouped by the stories they come from.
Greek 20
- ZZeus
- PPoseidon
- HHades
- AAthena
- AAres
- PPrometheus
- HHeracles
- AAchilles
- OOdysseus
- HHera
- DDemeter
- AApollo
- AArtemis
- AAphrodite
- HHephaestus
- HHermes
- DDionysus
- PPersephone
- MMedusa
- OOrpheus
Egyptian 6
- RRa
- AAnubis
- IIsis
- OOsiris
- SSet
- TThoth
Roman 4
- AAeneas
- JJanus
- MMars
- RRomulus
Norse 4
- OOdin
- TThor
- LLoki
- FFreyja
English 4
- KAKing Arthur
- MMerlin
- BBeowulf
- RHRobin Hood
Mesopotamian 3
- GGilgamesh
- IInanna
- EEnkidu
Irish 2
- MThe Morrígan
- CCú Chulainn
Chinese 2
- HMHua Mulan
- SWSun Wukong
Persian 1
- RRostam
Aztec 1
- QQuetzalcoatl
Akan 1
- AAnansi
See all 250 names
Presidents 27
George Washington · Thomas Jefferson · Abraham Lincoln · Ulysses S. Grant · Theodore Roosevelt · John Adams · James Madison · John Quincy Adams · Andrew Jackson · Woodrow Wilson · James Monroe · Martin Van Buren · William Henry Harrison · John Tyler · James K. Polk · Zachary Taylor · Millard Fillmore · Franklin Pierce · James Buchanan · Andrew Johnson · Rutherford B. Hayes · James A. Garfield · Chester A. Arthur · Grover Cleveland · Benjamin Harrison · William McKinley · Warren G. Harding
Rulers 38
Julius Caesar · Tokugawa Ieyasu · Ramesses II · Alexander the Great · Cleopatra VII · Augustus · Marcus Aurelius · Charlemagne · Saladin · Genghis Khan · Henry VIII · Elizabeth I · Louis XIV · Catherine the Great · Napoleon Bonaparte · Queen Victoria · Hatshepsut · Cyrus the Great · Qin Shi Huang · Richard the Lionheart · Mansa Musa · Peter the Great · Empress Dowager Cixi · Sejong the Great · Queen Nzinga · Queen Liliʻuokalani · Wu Zetian · Empress Theodora · Eleanor of Aquitaine · Isabella I of Castile · Ashoka · Akbar the Great · Suleiman the Magnificent · Moctezuma II · Shaka · Attila the Hun · Vlad III Dracula · Alfred the Great
Statesmen 12
Benjamin Franklin · Otto von Bismarck · Pericles · Cicero · Cardinal Richelieu · Solon · Chanakya · Klemens von Metternich · Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand · Alexander Hamilton · Benjamin Disraeli · Cato the Younger
Revolutionaries 13
Simón Bolívar · Toussaint Louverture · Giuseppe Garibaldi · Maximilien Robespierre · Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla · José de San Martín · Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi · Sun Yat-sen · Thomas Paine · Georges Danton · Emiliano Zapata · Marquis de Lafayette · Spartacus
Philosophers 21
Confucius · Socrates · Plato · Aristotle · Niccolò Machiavelli · René Descartes · Voltaire · Immanuel Kant · Friedrich Nietzsche · Seneca · Laozi · Diogenes · Karl Marx · Zeno of Citium · Cleanthes · Chrysippus · Musonius Rufus · Epictetus · John Locke · Jean-Jacques Rousseau · Adam Smith
Warriors & Commanders 14
Hannibal Barca · Joan of Arc · Horatio Nelson · The Duke of Wellington · Leonidas I · Boudica · William Wallace · Yi Sun-sin · Tecumseh · Ching Shih · Sun Tzu · Miyamoto Musashi · Oda Nobunaga · Blackbeard
Scientists 21
Galileo Galilei · Isaac Newton · Ada Lovelace · Charles Darwin · Archimedes · Hypatia · Ibn Sina · Nicolaus Copernicus · Johannes Kepler · Michael Faraday · Louis Pasteur · Alexander Graham Bell · Srinivasa Ramanujan · Ibn al-Haytham · Zhang Heng · Mary Anning · Caroline Herschel · Pythagoras · Hippocrates · Gregor Mendel · Al-Khwarizmi
Artists & Writers 24
Leonardo da Vinci · Michelangelo · William Shakespeare · Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart · Ludwig van Beethoven · Jane Austen · Dante Alighieri · Rembrandt van Rijn · Johann Sebastian Bach · Mary Shelley · Charles Dickens · Leo Tolstoy · Mark Twain · Hildegard of Bingen · Artemisia Gentileschi · Li Bai · Katsushika Hokusai · Vincent van Gogh · Edgar Allan Poe · Homer · Emily Dickinson · Sappho · Murasaki Shikibu · Rumi
Explorers 16
Marco Polo · Christopher Columbus · Ferdinand Magellan · Leif Erikson · Ibn Battuta · Zheng He · James Cook · Ernest Shackleton · Sacagawea · Nellie Bly · David Livingstone · Henry Morton Stanley · Isabella Bird · Vasco da Gama · Xuanzang · Meriwether Lewis
Reformers 16
Martin Luther · Frederick Douglass · Harriet Tubman · Susan B. Anthony · Florence Nightingale · Mary Wollstonecraft · Sojourner Truth · José Rizal · William Wilberforce · Jan Hus · Raja Ram Mohan Roy · Savitribai Phule · Olympe de Gouges · Elizabeth Cady Stanton · Booker T. Washington · Clara Barton
Gods & Legends 48
Ra · Anubis · Gilgamesh · Zeus · Poseidon · Hades · Athena · Ares · Prometheus · Heracles · Achilles · Odysseus · Hua Mulan · King Arthur · Merlin · Beowulf · Sun Wukong · Odin · Thor · Loki · Freyja · Isis · Osiris · Set · Thoth · Inanna · Enkidu · Hera · Demeter · Apollo · Artemis · Aphrodite · Hephaestus · Hermes · Dionysus · Persephone · Medusa · Orpheus · Aeneas · Janus · Mars · Romulus · The Morrígan · Cú Chulainn · Rostam · Quetzalcoatl · Anansi · Robin Hood
Pairings worth hearing
There are 125, each with a question ready to start them off. Here are a dozen, with the question each one opens on.
Diogenes & Alexander
The king of the world offered you anything. Why turn him down?
Opens in a sceneNapoleon & Wellington
Who will win today, and why?
Opens in a sceneAchilles & Odysseus
Which wins a war: strength or cunning?
Bach, Mozart & Beethoven
Is genius born or made?
Blackbeard & Ching Shih
Who ran the better pirate fleet?
Livingstone & Stanley
‘Dr Livingstone, I presume?’ What really happened that day?
Opens in a sceneMachiavelli & Marcus Aurelius
Is it better for a ruler to be loved or feared?
Copernicus, Galileo & Kepler
Why was it so hard to convince people the Earth moves?
Poe & Mary Shelley
What makes a story truly frightening?
Odin, Thor & Loki
Ragnarök is coming. Whose fault is it?
Opens in a sceneMarco Polo & Ibn Battuta
Who saw more of the world?
Rembrandt & Van Gogh
Is it worth painting when no one understands your work?
68 badges to earn
Everybody you talk to goes in the Codex. Meet a whole circle and you earn its badge. A few of them:
- The Great CaptainsAlexander, Hannibal, Caesar and Napoleon
- The ComposersHildegard of Bingen, Bach, Mozart and Beethoven
- Before RagnarökOdin, Thor, Loki and Freyja
- Outlaws and PiratesBlackbeard, Ching Shih and Robin Hood
- The GothicPoe, Mary Shelley and Vlad the Impaler
- The judgeJudge a Debate night to the end
- Witness to historyVisit every scene
- The whole of historyMeet everyone on the roster
- Test yourselfA five-question quiz on the real history behind your chat, once you've talked for a few replies.
- Quote cardsTurn a line you liked into an image and save it as a PNG to share.
- Saved chatsPick any conversation back up where you left it, and pin the ones you want near the top.
- Length, level and languageShort, normal or long replies; an everyday, student or scholar reading level; twelve reply languages.
Way of speaking
Some people want Shakespeare to sound like Shakespeare. Some want him to get to the point. One question, three settings:
I usually start with a story somebody else already told. Then I find the one character who can't stop talking, and I let him run.
I begin, as most of us do, with some old tale out of a chronicle. Then I look for the man who cannot hold his tongue, and I give him the stage.
Marry, I begin where all begin: with some old tale, fairly filched from chronicle. Then seek I the fellow that cannot hold his peace, and give him leave to speak till the candle gutters.
Written in their voice for this page. They never said it.
There's nothing to install but the app
No game, no mod, no load order. If you have Gaming AI, you already have this.
- 1
Install Gaming AI
Get it from the home page. It's free, and you make an account the first time you open it.
- 2
Open History
It's in the sidebar, under Games.
- 3
Pick someone
Anyone from the eleven tabs, or today's pick if you'd rather be told.
- 4
Ask them something
Or press Begin on a matchup's opening question. Nothing is sent before you do.
Looking around is free
It's paid for in Vigor, the same as everything else. Each question and each reply uses some, and at a roundtable everyone answers, so three people means three replies. A quiz costs about the same as one.
Browsing the tabs, reading about someone and opening a matchup cost nothing. Matchups, anniversaries and scenes open with their question ready and send nothing until you press Begin, and Debate night tells you up front that it's six replies in all. The smallest pack is 99¢ and never expires.
See Vigor packsHistory tab questions
If yours isn't here, get in touch.
Do I need a game or a mod for this?
No. The History tab is part of the Gaming AI app itself. Install the app, open History in the sidebar and pick someone. There's nothing else to set up.
What does it cost?
It's paid for in Vigor, the same as everything else in Gaming AI. Each question and each reply uses some, and at a roundtable everyone answers, so three people means three replies. A matchup, an anniversary or a scene opens with its question ready but sends nothing until you press Begin. A quiz costs about the same as one reply.
Is it historically accurate?
Not to the letter. Replies are the model's interpretation of each person, drawn from what's known about their life and written in their voice. They aren't quotes, and they aren't a historical record. It's good at the broad strokes and at personality, and it can get a date or a detail wrong. If something matters, look it up. The myths are modern retellings of the old stories.
Why can't I talk to someone more recent?
Everyone on the list died more than a hundred years ago, and that's deliberate. People who died recently still have families, estates and reputations that are very much alive, and we'd rather not put words in their mouths. The gods and heroes come from the old stories, and we leave out any that are still worshipped today.
Where are my chats saved?
On your PC. Saved chats and your Codex live in the app, on your own machine. To write a reply, the conversation does have to be sent to the model, exactly as it is in a game; the privacy policy says what that means.
Can I change how they talk?
Yes. In Settings you can choose plain modern English, a touch of their era or a full period voice; short, normal or long replies; an everyday, student or scholar reading level; and any of twelve reply languages.
Replies are AI interpretations of historical figures and retellings of myth, not historical records or ancient texts. Nothing a figure says should be taken as something the real person said or would have said.
Five games, each with its own mod
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It's where we post updates first, and where players swap the best things their NPCs have said. Ask us anything, and tell us which game we should support next.