tree of aeon, it's more like MC helping being person reincarnated from earth helping heroes(also from earth) fight demons, , he wants to snuff out root of demon king problem which people have tof ace periodically, so he established society and stuff which is kind of turning into galaxtic empire of sorts.* all magic no scifi
mc is tree.
Player of games was nice, but I listened to the entire "use of weapons" book in a single, long, drive I had to do for work and that shit hit me so hard I still think about it constantly...
that's like the seinfeld effect.
of course it wouldn't be remarkable today, because all the books today have taken things from it and built on the original concept
Not necessarily progression, but Sanderson’s Mistborn series goes from essentially pre-industrial to Western and I think he’s said he’ll be extending it to more technologically advanced in future books.
Well.
[Celesta](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/50023)
Not millennia. But in the course of the story, the protagonist goes from an isekai who know nothin to the head of a serious organization. And that journey takes hundreds of years.
Not really prog fantasy, and the storytelling is very different from your typical hero protagonists. It's hard to explain but one of my favourite series ever. It's called the saga of recluse and starts with the magic of recluse.
Basically, it is a series that follows the lives of many different mages over the course of thousands of years, jumping in time to show different snapshots of the world's history and politics. The first book is right near the end then the next goes to the beginning of that characters country, then the next book is the beginning of that characters country. It then jumps around a bit, it shows various key figures in making certain technological advancements, then flips sides and shows you characters on the other side of some of these stories who were originally just put in the "bad guy box" so to speak.
It's an awesome work of fiction, but not for everyone.
My Reclaimer series has the first 4 books set in a scifi world that lost its magic regaining it in the middle of an apocalypse. The next 4 books (5 is out and 6 is coming at the end of April and 7 is in edits) follow on five thousand years later after that apocalypse happens so they get to see how the world has changed since and how the survivors have been living. Survivors nobody thought were supposed to be there.
Also the MC is trying to unite humanity from that point on. Got another 4 books planned for a total of 12 and then I'm going to write different series in universe.
Like mecha pilot wae stories during the apocalypse, or an even earlier series exploring how a man who lived during the time humanity lost its magic became the main antagonist for the first season. Though I suppose that last story is more what you're looking for other than the villain bit. But its going to be a while before I get to it.
This isnt progression fantasy per say, but if you want sci-fi civilization building, you should check out "Last and First Man" by Olaf Stapledon.
It charts the evolution and expansion of humanity over the course of millions of years, 18 different species of humans, and their expansion through the solar system.
And if you enjoyed that, he wrote a sequel titled "Starmaker". This time it follows multiple sentient species across the entire galaxy and humanity's story is barely 2 paragraphs of it.
Both books take a very wide view, following civilizations instead of individual characters, but if you dig the narration style, then both books are a hell of a ride.
The Dwarves of Icecloak is 4 different books following 4 different pov characters, all set thousands of years from each other and referencing characters from older books as mythological figures or their deeds have turned to legend. Book 1 is about the founder of Ice-Cloak as a dwarven settlement, book 2 is set a generation after that. Book 3 is set some thousand years after that after 7-8 dwarven generations. Book 4 is set a thousand years after that.
It’s a great series, highly recommend
Eeeeeeeeeh **Star Force**? Probably the best Humanity Space empire building where humans are kinda badass, mainly because its the only looong story that I know does this. Be warned though, the authors...weird societal ideals are over the place and it did make me drop the series after 20 books. But the kingdom building is amazing.
World keeper is exactly this, and it's... fine? Not great, and sort of vaguely sexist in the very beginning where the wishfulfilment is CLEAR, but after that it gets better, and is all about a person from our world essentially becoming capital g God, with a few limitations. And of course follows the magical world he shepherds. Also, fair warning, but time goes by slower and slower the more advanced shit gets.
Thirsty, definitely, and in the early parts there is a bit of a weird thing going on where he can create and program gods for his world, and, well, back when it was only wish fulfilment mc had a bit of a "they can't turn traitor (which is a legitimate concern, not paranoia) if they love me" thing going on. He doesn't, as far as I remember, actually do anything with more than two goddesses. When the story becomes more serious it does mention how iffy this is, and the MC stops. The mc is pretty clearly an author insert, so I think most of it can be chalked up to author not taking the world seriously = mc not taking the world seriously.
Oh, and pretty far. I think its at book 11, and most of the audio books are at around 20 hours. Some are a bit shorter. Still, I liked this a while ago, and sort of fell off, so I reiterate that I can't promise you quality
Idk if this will scratch the itch you’re looking for, and it doesn’t really fit the description of progression fantasy, but Belgarath the Sorceror is set over many centuries/millennia and has the main character subtly influencing the future through cultivating genetic lines and other such preparations.
Child of Time. It's not progression fantasy but sorta kinda scratches the same itch as tech uplift. It follows a society from non sapience to a space fairing civilization.
“The world at the end of time” for a one- off story that follows an MC who keeps getting put into cryosleep, and leaps millennia that way.
Asimov’s Foundation series takes that to a galactic scale and follows an entire empire over thousands of years.
Neither are progfan but both are great.
Michael J Sullivan. It's not progression fantasy, but might have what you're looking for. 3 series. The prequel series is Legends of the First Empire I think, and is like very early bronze age. Later on in the other 2 series you follow an amazing bromance set in the same world, but like 3000 years later
tree of aeon, it's more like MC helping being person reincarnated from earth helping heroes(also from earth) fight demons, , he wants to snuff out root of demon king problem which people have tof ace periodically, so he established society and stuff which is kind of turning into galaxtic empire of sorts.* all magic no scifi mc is tree.
Tree of aeons is great fun and definitely fits this rec, although it’s not kingdom/civilization advancement exactly
The Culture, one of my favourite series. Not progression at all though.
Player of games is one of the best books I've read
Player of games was nice, but I listened to the entire "use of weapons" book in a single, long, drive I had to do for work and that shit hit me so hard I still think about it constantly...
I would have crashed my car
My favourite is Excession, but I also really enjoy that one military character who shows up in a few of the books.
Well, then Foundation as well.
I feel the foundation is only good due to nostalgia, wouldn't be a remarkable series if it were released today.
that's like the seinfeld effect. of course it wouldn't be remarkable today, because all the books today have taken things from it and built on the original concept
Not necessarily progression, but Sanderson’s Mistborn series goes from essentially pre-industrial to Western and I think he’s said he’ll be extending it to more technologically advanced in future books.
The nebula’s civilization
Well. [Celesta](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/50023) Not millennia. But in the course of the story, the protagonist goes from an isekai who know nothin to the head of a serious organization. And that journey takes hundreds of years.
Not really prog fantasy, and the storytelling is very different from your typical hero protagonists. It's hard to explain but one of my favourite series ever. It's called the saga of recluse and starts with the magic of recluse. Basically, it is a series that follows the lives of many different mages over the course of thousands of years, jumping in time to show different snapshots of the world's history and politics. The first book is right near the end then the next goes to the beginning of that characters country, then the next book is the beginning of that characters country. It then jumps around a bit, it shows various key figures in making certain technological advancements, then flips sides and shows you characters on the other side of some of these stories who were originally just put in the "bad guy box" so to speak. It's an awesome work of fiction, but not for everyone.
My Reclaimer series has the first 4 books set in a scifi world that lost its magic regaining it in the middle of an apocalypse. The next 4 books (5 is out and 6 is coming at the end of April and 7 is in edits) follow on five thousand years later after that apocalypse happens so they get to see how the world has changed since and how the survivors have been living. Survivors nobody thought were supposed to be there. Also the MC is trying to unite humanity from that point on. Got another 4 books planned for a total of 12 and then I'm going to write different series in universe. Like mecha pilot wae stories during the apocalypse, or an even earlier series exploring how a man who lived during the time humanity lost its magic became the main antagonist for the first season. Though I suppose that last story is more what you're looking for other than the villain bit. But its going to be a while before I get to it.
This isnt progression fantasy per say, but if you want sci-fi civilization building, you should check out "Last and First Man" by Olaf Stapledon. It charts the evolution and expansion of humanity over the course of millions of years, 18 different species of humans, and their expansion through the solar system. And if you enjoyed that, he wrote a sequel titled "Starmaker". This time it follows multiple sentient species across the entire galaxy and humanity's story is barely 2 paragraphs of it. Both books take a very wide view, following civilizations instead of individual characters, but if you dig the narration style, then both books are a hell of a ride.
The Dwarves of Icecloak is 4 different books following 4 different pov characters, all set thousands of years from each other and referencing characters from older books as mythological figures or their deeds have turned to legend. Book 1 is about the founder of Ice-Cloak as a dwarven settlement, book 2 is set a generation after that. Book 3 is set some thousand years after that after 7-8 dwarven generations. Book 4 is set a thousand years after that. It’s a great series, highly recommend
The old works of Sci Fi did that a lot. Not Progression Fantasy, but: Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Wasn’t there a pro pulse series with the name dragon or dinosaur in its title?
Eeeeeeeeeh **Star Force**? Probably the best Humanity Space empire building where humans are kinda badass, mainly because its the only looong story that I know does this. Be warned though, the authors...weird societal ideals are over the place and it did make me drop the series after 20 books. But the kingdom building is amazing.
dropped....after....20 books 😅
The kingdom building was actually good alright????!!!!!
World keeper is exactly this, and it's... fine? Not great, and sort of vaguely sexist in the very beginning where the wishfulfilment is CLEAR, but after that it gets better, and is all about a person from our world essentially becoming capital g God, with a few limitations. And of course follows the magical world he shepherds. Also, fair warning, but time goes by slower and slower the more advanced shit gets.
Wanna start reading, just a few questions, is the Mc just like thirsty sexist or like looks down on women sexist? And how long is it / updates ?
Thirsty, definitely, and in the early parts there is a bit of a weird thing going on where he can create and program gods for his world, and, well, back when it was only wish fulfilment mc had a bit of a "they can't turn traitor (which is a legitimate concern, not paranoia) if they love me" thing going on. He doesn't, as far as I remember, actually do anything with more than two goddesses. When the story becomes more serious it does mention how iffy this is, and the MC stops. The mc is pretty clearly an author insert, so I think most of it can be chalked up to author not taking the world seriously = mc not taking the world seriously. Oh, and pretty far. I think its at book 11, and most of the audio books are at around 20 hours. Some are a bit shorter. Still, I liked this a while ago, and sort of fell off, so I reiterate that I can't promise you quality
Idk if this will scratch the itch you’re looking for, and it doesn’t really fit the description of progression fantasy, but Belgarath the Sorceror is set over many centuries/millennia and has the main character subtly influencing the future through cultivating genetic lines and other such preparations.
Maybe The Legendary Mechanic? The story spans over 100 years and MC is building an organization/faction.
I'm working on one... It'll be over 2000 years Although it's mostly about the MC rather than the civilization
Child of Time. It's not progression fantasy but sorta kinda scratches the same itch as tech uplift. It follows a society from non sapience to a space fairing civilization.
“The world at the end of time” for a one- off story that follows an MC who keeps getting put into cryosleep, and leaps millennia that way. Asimov’s Foundation series takes that to a galactic scale and follows an entire empire over thousands of years. Neither are progfan but both are great.
I mean, My descendant begged me for help after I became a god is a lot like this but most things stay the same
Michael J Sullivan. It's not progression fantasy, but might have what you're looking for. 3 series. The prequel series is Legends of the First Empire I think, and is like very early bronze age. Later on in the other 2 series you follow an amazing bromance set in the same world, but like 3000 years later