Timeline

• The Primordial

  • Unknown / Greater than 100,000 Years

    • Creation of Saaret from the Cosmic Ether
    • Rise of Life on Saaret
      • Includes plant life and lower animals, not intelligence

• The Awakening

  • Unknown / Greater than 100,000 Years

    • The Fae appear.
      • The Fae are either ignorant of their own origin or refuse to speak of it
    • The Fae spread across Saaret.
    • The Fae divide into the two Covenants based on their nature. The Covenants co-exist peacefully.

• The Schism

  • More Than 50,000 Years Ago

    • The Fae of the Gloom and the Glimmer, formerly living in harmony, come into conflict.
      • The cause seems to be interbreeding between the two great Covenants.
      • The children of these unions are curious halfbreeds that many of both the Glimmer and the Gloom regard as abominations.
      • The halfbreed spawn will eventually evolve into the mortal races.
    • Glimmer and Gloom begin to live entirely apart. Conflict is at this point mostly philosophical but will be the seed for the First War.
    • The halfbreeds attempt to picks sides and join whichever Covenant suits their nature. Their success often depends on how fully they can pass as a purebred Fae.
      • These early days will lay the groundwork for a culture of racial purity in their mortal descendants in later years.

• The Mortal Races

  • 40,000 to 35,000 Years Ago

    • After millennia of interbreeding and adaptation to life on Saaret, some of the major Mortal Races begin to become recognizable.
    • As physical forms begin to stabilize, the Mortal races drift apart and establish their own lands and kingdoms.
      • Proto-Elenanorë settlements are established in the East, adjacent to Troll lands.
      • The troll Moharac mates with Ayella, an early Elenanorë woman.
        • Kalithil, their son, is born.
        • The events of Whipped take place.
      • Ayella retreats underground, joining a subterranean dwelling troll offshoot
      • Kalithil begins his wanderings

• The Foundations of Magic

  • 35,000 – 30,000 years ago

    • Kalithil having wandered and studied for centuries, makes a gamble and enters a major Hellorn to beg favor of the Glimmer Court. He is able to impress the Queen enough that they teach him the foundations of their magics.
    • Later, Kalithil does the same at an Umboth Muilin. It almost costs him his life, but eventually he convinced the Gloom Fae to tutor him as well.
    • Near the end of this period, Kalithil first makes contact with the Æthereal he calls Suburos. He will spend thousands of years learning to commune with it and make use of its power.

• The First War and the Shattering

  • 25,000 – 24,000 Years Ago

    • Long simmering conflict among the fae erupts into war.
    • Most mortal races flee and avoid taking part in the war, The fae never forgive them for it.
    • The Great Rift
      • As the conflict escalates, an Archfae of the Gloom known as Shadow’s Lament unleashes an unholy ritual on the Glimmer.
      • Golden Path, an Archfae of the Glimmer, attempts a counterspell.
      • The two sorceries combine unexpectedly and spawn a massive chaotic storm that transmutes everything it touches. The storm races across all of Saaret. Landforms, climate, everything is altered. The land masses are broken and the old fae civilization is thrown down.

• Aftermath

  • 24,000 Years Ago

    • New Mortal Races are created by the storm. Others are altered in some way.
      • Humans are scattered and isolated.
      • Dwarves and Gnomes appear.
    • The Fae Courts as we know them today begin to take shape.
      • Ritualized hostility between the two Covenants replaces open conflict.
      • Obelin and Hierdha establish their long reign, ending the dominance of the Archfae over Fae affairs.
    • Kalithil, fleeing the storms effects, finds the Spire.
      • Kalithil begins work on turning the Spire into his tower/sanctum.
    • Kalithil and Suburos make a pact. Suburos is anchored into a jewel that Kalithil sets into his staff, allowing Suburos to experience the physical world through Kalithil’s senses. In turn, Kalithil is able to tap Suburos power.

• The Great Elenanorë Empire

  • 24,000 – 20,000 Years Ago

    • Following the Storm, the Elenanorë spread across Saaret and establish an empire.
      • Kalithil goes among them and teaches them sorcery.
      • They embrace it but ignore his warnings about keeping Balance and delve far into the powers of the Gloom.
      • Ulthuryn, originally a disciple of Kalithil, uses Gloom Blood rituals to extend his life beyond even the long years granted the Elenanorë.
      • Ulthuryn will eventually seize control of the empire.

• Silverthorn

  • 20,000 Years Ago

    • Kalithil, angry at how the Elenanorë have used his teachings, goes into exile.
    • Using the power granted him by Suburos, he performs a great blood ritual.
      • It ensures that his unusual coloring will be shared by all his descendants, it also grants him and his descendants a greatly extended lifespan.
      • It also allows Suburos to experience the senses of all of those descendants in the same way he does with Kalithil himself. Through the ritual Kalithil intends for his lineage spread across and dominate Saaret.
    • Kalithil secretly takes many mates to forge his new bloodline.
      • Kalithil’s intention is to forge a new race that can supplant the Elenanorë, what he calls the Alunorë, or People of the Waters

• The Fall of the Elenanorë

  • 20,000 – 10,000 (approx.) years ago

    • The Elenanorë during this time control almost the entire world of Saaret, excepting only the Shattered Lands and small Troll Kingdoms.
    • An Æthereal, which will come to be called Belethoth, senses life and energy on Saaret and descends to the world. Its presence spreads corruption and gives rise to a great host of demons. The demons attack all life, their Æthereal patron feeding on the resultant misery.
      • Ulthuryn, The Mage King, attempts to parley with the leaders of the Demonhost. He is instead corrupted by the Belethoth and allows his people to be enslaved by them.

• Resistance

  • 10,000 Years Ago

    • Rise of rebellious Elenanorë who fight the demons and Ulthuryn.
    • A rebel elenanorë warrior, Læroth, feigns defection to the side of Ulthuryn in order to bring down the Demonhost from within. Using stolen knowledge, Læroth creates a ritual that uses the demons own power against them.  He becomes the first Demonslayer.
    • At the same time, the rebel leader Thalanil fights a losing rearguard action agains the Demonhost.
    • In the midst of a large battle at the gates of the Elenanorë capital city, Læroth reveals himself and, along with a small company of his Dagniri (demonslayers), repels the leader of the Demonhost.
      • Thalanil, despite Læroth’s aid, rejects him and the Dagniri as abominations due to their taking the demonic power within them. He has them imprisoned.
    • Kalithil secretly goes among his people again. Kajeda, a reformist Matriarch, guesses his identity and convinces him to help her.
      • The events of In His Path.

• The Demontide

  • 10,000 Years Ago

    • The Demonhost goes on the attack again. Without the support of Læroth’s Dagniri, the Elenanorë rebels are eventually overrun and go into hiding. The Demonhost sweeps across all of Saaret, destroying friend and foe alike.
    • The Demontide, as it comes to be known, wipes out the kingdoms of the mortal races. Population of all races is drastically reduced. A dark age begins as the survivors rebuild the world.
      • The Silverthorn bloodline, almost always on the front lines of the struggle, is drastically reduced in the Demontide.

• Fallout

  • 10,000 – 9000 Years Ago

    • Thalanil and his mate Imryll survive and lead the Elenanorë remnants. An effort by Kalithil and the Matriarch of Silverthorn, Kajeda, fails to prevent their rise to power.
      • Kajeda does manage to heavily influence the shape of Elenanorë society. She is instrumental in the foundation of the House system and the conversion of the Elenanorë into a Matriarchal society
    • Thalanil rejects all use of what he calls “Sorcery” and instead pushes his people to embrace the the power of Nature and Lunar forces. He founds Druidism based on these schools, leading further into the influence of the Gloom.
      • Kalithil, disgusted, goes into exile once more.
      • Læroth and his Dagniri remain imprisoned, largely forgotten.
    • Events of Redwing.

• The Dark Age

  • ~9,000 – 8000 Years Ago

    • A faction of Elenanorë reject Druidism and instead pursue the powers of the Glimmer. Thalanil, with his usual shortsightedness, banishes them.
      • They flee to the North and found their own kingdom there.
    • The Elenanorë lands retract to small holdings scattered around the southern regions of Næthanorë, living in small villages or squatting in the ruins of their once-great empire.
    • Note: The dating of this period is approximate. No one is entirely sure exactly how long The Dark Age lasted.

• Interstitial

  • 8000 – 2000 Years Ago

    • The House of Silverthorn wanes, driven to near-extinction by the attrition of wars and the low birthrate of the elenanorë.
    • Kalithil remains in exile, pursuing his researches, for almost this entire period, showing up at odd intervals to check up on his daughter, Silea.
    • Mortal races rebuild. Some, particularly humans, spread farther than before.
      • Humans establish kingdoms throughout the western continent of Ardelain.
    • Hearthstone and Automarregan are founded by the newly arisen dwarf and gnome peoples.
    • In the north of Næthanorë, the offshoot Elenanorë that embraced the Glimmer become the Orinorë. They found the city of Kaenathyr.

• The New World

  • 2000 – 100 Years Ago

    • The Human Kingdoms as we know them assume, roughly, their current shape on Ardelain.
      • Albeas on the northeast coasts.
      • Lourdes crossing the central forests.
      • The loosely aligned Kurest Tribesmen in the southern desert.
    • Trade and diplomacy between humans, dwarves and gnomes is established. A strong alliance of these races is formed.
    • On an island off the northeast coast of Ardelain, a cabal of human and orinorë mages found Orulon, a city dedicated to the study of magic. It quickly becomes the foremost center of magical research and education on all of Saaret. Any users of magic are welcome.
      • While the population is diverse, human and orinorë mages control the city.

• The Fall of Krügh

  • 100 Years Ago

    • The Ætheral Belethoth descends on the world of Krügh, across the cosmos from Saaret.
    • Demons rampage across Krügh. The natives, known as orks, are divided.  Some pledge themselves to the demons, others fight.
      • Krügh has no fae and no other forms of magic.  The orks are forced to learn demonic magics in order to fight back.
    • Krügh is soon a smoking ruin. To save themselves, the orks construct a demonic gateway and flee their homeworld for Saaret.

• Invasion

  • 80 Years Ago

    • Orks emerge from the demon gate in the Dire Fens, in the south of Ardelain.
    • Events of The Last Breath and the First
    • The orks first encounter trolls living in the fens. The trolls, eternally angry at what they see as the usurpation of their rightful place in Saaret, ally with the orcs to drive the humans from what they still to be consider their lands.
    • Humans, Dwarves and Gnomes formalize their old alliances and form the League of Ardelain to coordinate the war effort.
    • The orks and trolls drive northward.
      • Some orks simply want to find a new land to settle, but those that pledged themselves to the Demonhost want conquest.
      • Even as they begin to attack human and dwarf lands, there is division that will give way to civil war.

• Escalation

  • 80-78 Years Ago

    • Due to divisions in their rank, the ork advance falters. The League of Adelain is able to regroup and counter-attack, driving the ork and troll forces back south.
    • The ork leadership, fearing failure, listens to the advice of demonsworn orks and summons demons from Kubos through the demon gate.
      • The trolls recognize demonic corruption and abandon the orks.
    • Wiser heads among the orks listen to warnings from their former troll allies. Civil war breaks out among the orks.
    • The League is able to drive the divided orks back to the Fens. The League closes the Demon Gate.
    • The orks build barely-seaworthy craft and flee Ardelain over the western ocean.
      • Great numbers of orks die during the crossing. The orks blame the League for generations.

• Rebuilding

  • 78-77 Years Ago

    • The League rebuilds. The Prince at Kænathyr sends aid from his court, as do the mages of Orulon. Ties between the Mortal Races are strengthened.
    • Warships out of Neridia harrass the ork refugee fleet as it crosses the seas south of the Dancer Isles, further embittering orks against humans.
    • Events of Leaving Home.

• A Shadow Coup

  • 76-65 Years Ago

    • An Albean man named Tolar Whalen infiltrates C.C.I., the Halefirth intelligence service.
      • Gaining the king’s ear, he has all the loyal agents removed.
    • Loyalist agents, led by Corvus Stake and Jonah Salter, discover Tolar Whalen’s secret bunker beneath Norwood in the far north of Albeas. They and their allies attack the bunker and decimate Whalen’s operation, although Whalen himself escapes.
    • C.C.I is restored and purged of Whalen’s people.
    • Events of Returning Home.