Confused with the plot

[Synnae]

To try explaining where I'm confused at, I'm gonna quote some fragments from FF wikia:

The Empire was formed 685 years before the events of Final Fantasy VI, where it had declared its independence from the world as a military state and intended to create a global police force. Several decades before Final Fantasy VI, Gestahl was born as heir to a military family. The empire also experienced a military coup 13 years later. Little is known about the coup other than Gestahl's father being heavily involved. The imperial palace was later constructed 21 years afterward as the Emperor is facing increasing pressure to expanding its armaments. Gestahl becomes Emperor 18 years later, and mutual peace was later agreed upon, although Narshe refused to sell coal to the invading Gestahlian Empire with armed resistance. Two years later, the Gestahlian Empire started its first military campaign, resulting in its conquering the entire south continent. It is during this time that Emperor Gestahl first invades the Land of Espers.

Terra, a half-esper, was born in the Land of Espers, to an esper father, Maduin, and a human mother, Madeline. That was two years before the Gestahlian Empire's invasion, which raided the Land of Espers and abducted Maduin along with other espers. Madeline, with her last breath, told Emperor Gestahl to keep away from her daughter; however, it was too late. Terra grew up in the custody of the Empire, and was raised as a weapon of mass destruction. The exact details of this part of her life are unknown, but she developed a fondness for Moogles during this time. In addition, in large part because of her ability to practice magic due to her heritage, she was also promoted to an elite Magitek Knight. – (Although Terra is considered an elite Magitek knight, she had natural magic not received from an infusion.)

(I modified the above fragment a bit, but basically it says exactly the same thing as the original one from FF wikia)

Magitek was invented by Cid Del Norte Marquez (an engineer for the Empire). Using an unknown process, Cid discovered how to forcibly extract magic from espers and imbue machines and humans with magical energy. As the first experiment with Magitek, Cid infused Kefka Palazzo (the right hand of Gestahl) with magic, giving him great power but destroying his sanity. Later experiments used a modified process, granting the subject magic but at a lower potency, like when Cid used the improved process on a two-year-old child named Celes. The experiment was a success, and Cid raised Celes like his own daughter. This increased the usefulness of the process, and the Empire began to create many machines that could use Magitek power. This lead to the construction of the Magitek Research Facility (where espers were drained of their powers and machines and humans were granted magical abilities.) The facility was developed sixteen years prior to the events of the game. in the Imperial capital Vector.

Eventually, the Imperial general Kefka Palazzo took a keen interest in Terra and put a Slave Crown on her head, forcing her to obey his orders directly. Among them was to annihilate fifty of the Empire's finest soldiers, which she did with ease. Presumably this was a test of whether the slave crown actually worked and/or her ability to do so.


Sixteen years after the raid on the Land of Espers, Terra is assigned on a mission to Narshe, accompanied by two Imperial troopers: Biggs and Wedge. The mission was to do research on, and to retrieve, the frozen esper lying in the mines. The trio succeed in reaching the esper, but its sheer power removes Biggs and Wedge from the area and knocks Terra unconscious.

The thing is... well,according to the official information, both Terra and Celes are 18 years old when the game begins.

Gestahl invaded the land of espers when terra was only 2.

And cid infused celes with magic when she was only 2 as well (the same age as terra).

So...

How did they build the magitek research facility so quickly (judging from the information, exactly on the same year of the espers land invasion) then infused kefka with magic, THEN improved the magical infusion process and infused celes with it EXACTLY on the same year? Everything happened way too fast.

The only thing I can think of is that the invasion happened on the very first months of the year, then the magical research facility is created a few months after, then kefka's infusion happens another few months after that, and then celes's infusion happens by the end of the year, right before she turns 3? But that would be impossible, since Celes' birthday is on March 10.

Not sure if it's just me, but from what I can see... the game's information is certainly completely incoherent.