History: In the time before names...
Gameworld Timeline (Draft 1.0)
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The Astral Age
In the time before names, before heaven above and sea below there was only the Faceless One. Everything and nothing existed together harmoniously. Long were those days. Eventually, the Faceless One grew restless and so crafted for Himself a giant shining bell. The Faceless One struck the bell, shattering it into millions of fragments, its death knell resonating so deeply, it is said it can still be heard today. The shards from this great act spread in every direction, creating the winds of magic, becoming the heavens, the earth, the seas and all who inhabit them. From His astral throne, the Faceless One watches and laughs as the mortal races hurry to piece together what was broken…
The Umbrage Age
~3,000 BGC – About these times and the countless millennia that came before, not much is known. The ancient texts hint at a time when humanity was led by shamans and tribal warriors. The Faceless One was unknown and the earth itself was worshipped from the mountaintops. As countless generations came and went, the people began to change with the land. The mountain folk became shorter, hairier and more muscular, adapting to their hostile environ. The forest dwellers became lithe and alert, at home in the unpredictable forests. Only the plains walkers remained the same; however, they were forced to adapt in other ways, fashioning great towns out of the forests and mountains themselves.
~2,500 BGC – As the people’s tools developed, so too did their conflicts. Great Kingdoms arose, competing for resources and pride.
978 BGC – The Hardennfort League is established, uniting the towns and castles of the plains into a martial pact under the leadership of Hardennfort’s King Ogard.
966 BGC – The United War began. Who struck first remains hotly contested; however, either by choice or necessity, the peoples of the forest and mountain align themselves to check the ever-rising power of the League.
961 BGC – The Battle of Autumn. Great-King Ogard disappears from camp on the eve of battle; as his outnumbered and exhausted defenders appear doomed. The next morning, Orgard reappears charging into the thick of the melee, an almost supernatural fury in his eyes, personally turning the tide of the battle and the war itself.
~750 BGC – The League’s dominance begins to wane as Hardennfort must resort to more and more draconian measures to keep members in line. The mountain and forest Kingdoms begin regaining their sovereignty.
The Axial Age
~500 BGC – It is believed sometime around five hundred years before the Great Convocation, magic users first made themselves known and the ancient academies were founded. Their challenge to the old social order brought about the final disintegration of the League.
~475 BGC – The upheaval, violence and anarchy introduced by magic spurs immense societal change. Great religious thinkers begin spreading their transcendental ideas, searching for harmony amidst suffering. The first guilds take root to compete with the supernatural. The nobility must resort to more and more extreme measures to maintain order in a fractured world.
201 BGC – The Wars of Shifting Winds begin; some say they never ended. The discovery that a mage’s energy can wax and wane depending on the landscape ushers in an era of unprecedented strife. What began as street battles and skirmishes between academies, escalates into revolutions, forced displacements and unlimited cruelty. Power hungry mages build vast mountaintop castles, commanding armies of followers from their spires, driving the mountain folk deeper inside their holds.
88 BGC – The great forest itself begins to show signs of corruption. Many forest dwellers now find themselves as refugees in strange lands when their homes no longer bear fruit. Even the cities and towns are not spared from the chaos as strange cults and illnesses begin appearing in the streets.
13 BGC – The countless wars and magical cataclysms have begun permanently altering the physical and spiritual landscape of the land. Blood and magical energy slips from the mountaintops down into the rivers of the plains, forests, swamps and graveyards. A dark remaking of the world is underway as a mysterious new mage claiming to be a necromancer unleashes his macabre army and rumors of the dreaded Delkennith begin to surface.
To be continued...