Main Timeline
The years and ages in this timeline DO NOT reflect real world timelines. Years in this universe would be read as, for example, "1,986 (year one-thousand, nine eight six)."
For information of the calendar and holidays, see Calendar.
The Erased Age
Unknown
The Primordial Age
0000 - Primordial Cataclysm. Primeval entities walked the planes, creating destructive waves in their wake that formed the planes as we know today. Massive eruptions from within the core, huge flooding storms and ever-flowing rocks slowly carved out the Material Plane. When the destruction subsided, all that was left were newly formed planes of existence, stemming from all forms of natural occurrences. While many believe it was the Greater Gods that did this, there is evidence to believe that many of the planes formed through natural, destructive means. However, the natural elemental planes and the Material Plane had no barriers at this time; it was continuous primordial events that continued to shape the Material Plane every hundreds of years.
0030 - Precursors. Highly intelligent, sentient entities known as the Precursors travel to the forming Material Plane and Elemental Planes. Fleeing from an ancient enemy, the Precursors start the creation of life; a single spark to get life on this planet going. Other entities follow suit. The Precursors eventually leave, but stay within the solar system to watch their garden grow. The other entities that remain on this world would eventually become known as The First Gods.
0100 - Divine Light. The First Gods continue the work that the Precursors left unfinished. These entities were all powerful from an ancient plane known as Celestia. These Gods continued to breathe life into the planes, each dividing their task among themselves. The First Gods created primeval animals, plants, and eventually, the first humanoid. These humanoids looked nothing like our "humans" today, as they were modeled after the Precursors. Overtime, evolution would be had, and the primordial creatures in the beginning would evolve to more modern versions.
The First Gods did battle with massive primordial entities, such as Elemental Titans that continued to break and tear the realm apart. As The First Gods destroyed many of these disruptive titans, some of these Gods fell in battle. Their bodies and energy would empower the first mortals, giving them clerical powers. This energy would also spawn new gods under them and slowly form a massive pantheon within the plane of Celestia.
The Celestial Age
1000 - Divine Birth. As life was blooming on what is now known as The Material Plane, as it was created from all forms of materials during the Primordial Age, many of The First Gods decided that they must spread themselves among the lands and continue to fertilize life. They started taking large amounts of their power and creating other gods with it, as well as using their life to birth more creation. From this, many new gods were given life, and were given the responsibility to watch over The Garden, or The Material Plane. Some of these gods that were formed were Sarenrae, Pelor, Ehlona, Celestian, The Star Queen, and Myrkull.
As pantheons continued to be created, each God was given a "portfolio" of power that was passed down to them. That portfolio would dictate what they would have dominion over within the world. All the Gods in this time were busy with the creation of life, and soon the first humanoids would evolve into two types: The Lumair (Elves) and the Romair (Orcs).
1200 - Creation of the Planes. While life was still being born, and the first humanoids starting creating fire and learning to survive, the Gods saw chaos still within the planes. There was no protection as of yet from the Elemental Planes, which was the current biggest threat to destroying all that was created. The Gods came together and decided to create incredibly powerful barriers between these planes of existence, called Divine Gates. These gates would prevent any free travel between the planes, thus stopping any destructive elemental energies coming to harm. The Gods also decreed that some would go and oversee these planes. While their power was create, the plane that they oversaw was much stronger and much older than they, thus creating and transforming some of these gods into Gods of the Elements.
Other Gods would place themselves in these newly forming Outer Planes; some of these planes were being created while others were manifesting into reality from the undiscovered magic of the realm. These planes would turn and meld these Gods into different forms.
1500-1550 - Light and Dark, Good and Evil. While The Material Plane was complete, the Elemental Planes were sealed off as well as other planes within the realm, a new type of God was forming from the remnants of the First Gods. One of these Gods, who mysteriously had no divine energy flow out of them to create life, had cast a massive shadow on one half of the world. The Lumair and the Romair typically avoided this place, but it offered cool climates to those that did live within. This shadow started to take form, and any that lived within this massive shade began to lose color and vitality. For many years, this shadow began to plague the world with vitality-sapping energies, for those that came near and/or lived within. The Gods in Celestia took notice and collectively banished the shadow, as well as the body of the First God that it had been clinging to. The shadow began to take form from this banishment, and as it grew in power, those that were unfortunate to be banished as well started to die. When it finished its transformation, this shadow became known as The Shadowfell, a plane of eternal darkness and death.
Limitlessly spawning from the corpse of this god were the first undead, those that were unable to escape being banished. From this corpse, Gods of a different breed began to take form; Gods with darker intentions, spawned by lifeless energies from this plane.
1600-1640 - The First Divine Conflict. As these dark gods were being formed, the powers that they had would challenge that of the gods of light. Gods of Celestia created armies of divine entities, or Angels to do battle with these shadowy gods. A great conflict loomed over the newly birthed Material Plane, and soon the battles would commence. While this conflict only lasted 40 years, it showed the destructive capabilities of the gods that had just created life. Both sides of gods were able to so easily create and destroy without hesitation. In this conflict, Gods perished, and their bodies created more power, more lesser gods, and/or more creatures within the realms. Some gods would create planes to house other corpses so that the power could not be stolen. This chaos created more and more planes that we now know today, as well as the term Divine Spark. A Divine Spark is a fragment of a God's divine essence that could be absorbed by a mortal, a sentient creature, or another god, to gain power.
The Mortal Age
1650 - The First Tribes. As the conflict within Celestia subsided, the first mortal tribes began to form. The first Orcs and Elves had already existed, but were surviving among the chaos from the gods and other ancient creatures. When the Divine Conflict ended, many new creatures were formed, including many monstrous entities, undead, and other dangerous threats within the Material Plane. Other humanoids were created, however, formed from the already existing races of the world. Humans and Dwarves were the next creations to come to life, followed by many of the newer gods creating spitting images of themselves to populate the world after destruction.
Each race of humanoid traveled throughout the world as nomads, only settling down when the natural resources was abundant and the location was perfect. Overtime, these tribes began creating more tribes, and slowly formed the first small civilizations.
1700 - The First Cities. Tribes began to grow and spread, until eventually each prominent species settled in their "claimed" territories. Soon, tribal groups grew into villages, then eventually, the first cities.
1800 - The Kingdoms. Each of the prominent species began setting up ruling bodies within their established borders and lands. Many tribal nations still existed, but would be either annexed by these larger ruling kingdoms, or destroyed entirely.
The Kingdoms that exist as of this time would be the following: Elvish Collective, Dwarvish Ruling Clans, and several, independent Human Kingdoms. Each of these kingdoms, separated to their own lands, had unique cultures, religions, laws, and ways of ruling themselves. They would continue to be the dominant forces in the world, as the rest of the Material Plane continued to grow.
The Arcanum Age
1905 - Magic Discovery. As the Kingdoms of mortals begin to expand and explore, many of the factions begin discovering old and ancient relics and sites of grand, magic power. However, it is different from the previously known and studied forms of magic. Previously studied forms of magic were either that of natural casting and powers, or divine abilities. This magic, however, is entirely different. It was always there within the world, just undiscovered and previously not tapped into. This form of magic, "arcane" magic is chaotic and wild.
These ancient sites were referred to as Arcane Wells, sources of this raw, arcane magical power. Kingdoms would eventually, over the course of this age, learn to harvest and tap into these wells to empower their societies.
However, any advancements of arcane science would take many, many years to develop. Instead, the individuals would learn to tap into these power sources and become names that we know today: Wizards, Sorcerers, etc.
Not all magic users stem their gifts from this source. Those who understood the way this magic worked would realize that this magic had been around forever, and had always shaped the world.
1910-1930 - The Divide. As magic began to spread within the Material Plane, many societies would start to question the legitimacy of these new gifts and powers. Many societies that still had heavy roots in natural magics, such as the Orcish tribes, were skeptical of "arcane magics." Human kingdoms, rooted in the ways of the warrior and respectable combat, were also suspicious. This skepticism brought a divide among the world's major kingdoms, and the more hidden tribal factions. Those who incorporated magic into their society saw prosperity and advancement, while those that chose to ignore it remained stuck in the past. This divide in the world would start to unearth many challenges, problems and strife towards one another; putting blame on others for their faults became common.
More conflicts began to emerge as the more powerful Elvish and Dwarvish societies began to massively expand, even into the other territories who were not as magically advanced. This would begin a trend within the world of unending strife and conflict, with only a few able to really stop the trend.
1956-1986 - The Conquest War. As the kingdoms began to become more powerful, and expanding into their own self-claimed territories, those who were more advanced (the Dwarves of Baelrum, and the Elvish Collective of Thenalia,) began to expand into other established countries, as a part of their expansion decrees. This started the first major war, known as the Conquest War. The Elves began to expand into their countryside, as well as into the Dwarvish territory of Baelrum, which caused the Dwarves to expand into the Orcish territory, known as Duzgredar. This cycle of expanding into other territories started a bloody, 30 year conflict that ended with the Elves, Dwarves, and Human kingdoms gaining more land and territory. The only other prominent species were the Orcs, and they lost a massive expanse of their territory. The other three leading species thought that the Orcs did not need a massive countryside that they were not going to expand into. This angered the Orcs, and would start a downwards spiral of utter hatred towards those that wronged them.
The Great Divine War Age
2000 - Religious Societies Form. After the first major conflict of the Material Plane, the world began its process of healing. Many kingdoms and societies of the world began to find ways of healing and peace.
Those, at least, that weren't utterly destroyed by the war found religion and worship of the powers above to be solace to them. With the hatred of the previous war still fresh in many individuals' minds, religious sects began to form to challenge rulership, challenge legitimacies of other religions, and began to cause more conflict. While no religious group was ready to go to war, kingdoms and societies were quick to claim which religions should dominate their countries, and which should be ousted.
2005 - Conflict Brewing Above. As the religious groups on the Material Plane emerged out of the ashes of a previous conflict seeking answers and solace, the divine entities above began to brew their own issues. As competition grew stiff below, many gods were gaining more power at an increased rate. The more followers, the stronger they become. This created competition, alliances and enemies among the gods, that would soon be put to the test. Evil gods began to emerge as their followers grew, and they started to challenge the realm of the "good beating evil."
The first alliances, known as Gods of Dusk, and Gods of Dawn, formed within Celestia and the other planes where gods existed. The Gods of Dusk were deemed the evil gods, while the Gods of Dawn were considered on the good side.
2010-2210 - The Divine War Begins. As the Gods began to fight above, the mortals below started their sporadic conflicts over the course of a 200 year period. The Gods also descended to join their mortal worshippers in the flesh and their avatar forms to do battle, destroying their opposition with divine destruction.
Over the course of this 200 year period, societies on both the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere began to crumble and disappear, as the Gods unleashed their full powers upon their enemies, utterly destroying all that was around them. This conflict would see to the extinction of many species, races, and societies. The world would be forever changed. The Material Plane, after the 200 year period, would become a wasteland of destroyed kingdoms, temples, and millions of bodies, including those of dead gods, would remain scattered.
This utter destruction would also lead to, what is now known by many scholars, "the destruction of time." Calendars stopped, all records ceased to exist. From this point on, it is widely accepted that the world completely stopped, and there is a massive gap in the timeline as there would be no records for 1,000 years. The next recording of events would be pronounced to be at the year "0," as it is a symbol of life resetting after such a tragic event.
Aftermath Age
0-100 ADW - Society Reborn. It is commonly understood that the next recorded event after the destructive Divine War was the recreation of many societies. The Southern Hemisphere was mostly unaffected by the destructive conflict, though it would still see the aftershock of the destruction. Their kingdoms stood strong, but continued to rebuild what they had lost.
Kingdoms of the Northern Hemisphere were mostly lost and destroyed, with the exception of the Dragonborn society of Quelxiros. They continued to record events as best they could, and their scholars decided that the calendar and the year would reset to 0, and all time thereafter should be given the tag After Divine War, or ADW.
By all accounts and technicality, about 1,000 years would have passed from the end of the Divine War to the start of the "calendar reset."
400 ADW - Birth of Darkness; Shogrush. In the quiet, brewing country of Duzgredar, the Orcs were still suffering in a reduction of their land, still controlled by the Elvish and Dwarvish kingdoms. Their own kingdoms never lasted more than 30 years at a time, as spies, assassins, political enemies, and strong curses would bring their kingdom to ruin, to be started anew by another brilliant or tyrannical, Orcish mind.
An individual known as Shogrush Chak, born of the famous Chak bloodline, sought to end this cycle, and put the Orcs on top of all others within the cruel world. Shogrush was a powerful warrior, but dove into the practice of magic, something that many Orcs would scoff at. He rose to the top among his clan, and slaughtered those who challenged him and his ideals. He grew up in Elvish controlled Duzgredar, and saw the mistreatment of his kin at the hands of both the Elves and Dwarves. Shogrush wanted to create an empire; something long lasting, powerful, and of Orcish control.
Shogrush, over the course of 30 years, would gain immense power in both the skillset of an unbeatable warrior, as well as in arcane magics. Specifically, Shogrush focused on the powers of the dead, undead, and necromancy. He unified many of the separated Orcish factions, clans, and tribes, and amassed a powerful army at his back. He tore down the current kingdom, giving him rulership out of awe and fear. This process was not without opposition, as both the Elves and Dwarves challenged Shogrush at every turn. Somehow, however, the small Orcish country defeated both the Dwarvish and Elvish armies in their first battle against one another.
The Dark Age
500 ADW - Shogrush's Rise/Reign. Over the course of 100 years, Shogrush created a powerful Orcish kingdom that was unstoppable. In order to keep his kingdom from being destroyed by his enemies, he created pacts, deals and bargains with dark entities from all across the planes. Dark creatures, such as demons, devils, aberrations, and others would send powerful armies into the Material Plane at his behalf to control, with the promise of gaining portions of the world for their dark deeds. Shogrush then declared war on the world, and his army of darkness swept through the Material Plane, making quick work of any opposition.
Shogrush's massive, dark empire would last over the course of 400, long years. Shogrush would seek immortality through the process of becoming a Lich, and would create a species of Orc in his own splitting image. These Orcs would be called Shadow Orcs, or the "Sha'or." These Orcs, upon death, would instantly resurrect as unstoppable, undead soldiers at his disposal. The constant death of his opposition continued to feed his massive undead and dark armies, and soon the world would be draped in a curtain of eternal darkness for 400 years.
900 ADW - Rise of Light. Many forces continued to fight this darkness over the course of 400 years. Rebellions rose and failed miserably each time, with Shogrush and his forces only growing stronger. But on the start of this year, the Gods, attempting to make up for their destruction of previous life, sent an army of angels and divine creatures at the backs of those who wanted to rid the world of this terrible force. This army supported all species, races and creatures that wanted this utter evil empire to fall. It was no longer an Orcish empire, it was an empire built on blood and death. Even many Orcs wanted Shogrush to be removed.
A new species of Orcs were created to start this fight from within. These Orcs were known as Platinum Orcs, distinguished by their platinum-colored sheen and skin. They were given divine gifts, and were destined to defeat evil from within.
A great battle for the world ensued, as divine creatures fought their mortal enemies, while all species banded together to defeat great evil. It would take all the combined forces, some key battles, and the banishing of these evil creatures to finally reclaim the world, leaving only Shogrush and his countryside to defend. This battle, all combined, would last 100 years of pure good defeating pure darkness.
1000 ADW - Shogrush's Fall. On the start of this year, Shogrush was killed; a combination of his forces giving his location up and inner circles weakening him. It would be the great King Haarith-Unda Alivir that dealt the final blow against Shogrush himself. Shogrush's dark followers fled with his phylactery, something that would allow him to resurrect in the future. Their circles, while mostly destroyed, would continue to brew in the background, waiting for his eventual return.
1010-1100 ADW - Time of Rest and Peace. After Shogrush's defeat and his dark armies banished, it was time for the world to heal and pick up the pieces. Countries returned to their original size, and the Orcs were given some of their country back, but were under constant watch by the rest of the surviving kingdoms. From this day forward, kingdoms of the Humans, Elves and Dwarves would remain mostly unchanged, asides from their leaders. Territories and border lines would be drawn, and land would be established among the surviving and prominent factions.
Age of Adventure
1519 ADW - A party of adventurers in Tortoran hunt an evil wizard, saving the town of Ashirmir and others that were turned into animals by the mage, including themselves.
1549-1550 ADW - Death Queen Campaign. Stank Bitches formed and defeated Alison the Death Queen, who was attempting to merge the plane of the Shadowfell and the Material Plane, which would have destroyed all life and plunged the world into eternal darkness. The Stank Bitches formed as a small group of adventurers out of the Orcish country of Duzgredar, seeking to explore and catalog undiscovered territory, creating the next "image" for how all adventurers should carry themselves.
1580-1587 ADW - Bloody Seven Campaign. The Bloody Seven began with the Goliath people seeking their own nation, fighting against the Alliance who wanted them to stay as tribes. It ended with the tragic death of Ygrid Ironborn, previous hero of the Stank Bitches adventuring party. The war ended with the Goliaths creating their country known as Jotunrath.
1642-1647 ADW - Planar Travels Campaign. A group of adventurers known as the Super Orphan Squad were flung into the far planes and began adventuring far from their homes of the Material Plane. Their group was responsible for burning down a portion of The Beastlands, and appearing before the court of gods. They would redeem themselves by destroying an evil empire of vampires in the Shadowfell, as well as defeat the self-proclaimed god-entity known as The Mindbender, which sought to put the entire world into an eternal dream state where it controlled everyone.
Their adventuring party, following in the footsteps of the Stank Bitches, would set the premise for what adventurers should not do in the world.
1669-1672 ADW - A Darkness Awakened Campaign. Formed on the Northern Hemisphere, a group of adventurers called Like Minded Individuals explored mysterious lands still affected by the Divine War, which took place thousands of years ago. They took down a mysterious faction of corrupted individuals, tainted with some dark power. Some of these figures included Ivar Warborn, The Flesh Mechanist, and Sengir Ironbeard, who each individually attempted to use their Vile corruption to create their own nation in this wasteland of a world.
They also discovered divine powers were fading, in a land once touched by Gods and divinity. They learned that a figure from the Divine War period, known as Alastar Viceron, a warrior fighting against the gods' destruction, was seeking revenge and killing gods for their mass extinction.
Finally, they uncovered that all this corruption was leaking out from open rifts, coming from an ancient and evil location that predates all existence. This place, known as the Vile Dimension, has creatures with the only purpose of utter extinction of all life. These Abominations were behind the corruption of many, and the Like Minded Individuals, through planar magic, traveled to a far away planet to close the final rifts to this dimension, before all life would be wiped out. Their heroic sacrifice would be celebrated and known across the planes, as none returned. They had successfully stopped what is now known as The First Abomination Extinction Event.
1702- ADW - Wolves Within Campaign.
Age of Steam
1710-1760 ADW - Advancements and Magics. The world began to heal and modernize after the near destructive event that was stopped by the Like Minded Individuals. Countries banded together, and reformed two old factions to unify the world in case of another event. These two factions are known as The Dark Pact, or The Conclave, and The Alliance.
New technological advancements, incorporated with magics, were beginning to emerge as societies began to change.
Under the declaration known as The Law of the Guild, the two factions declared that all adventuring parties shall be formed through official, recognized guilds, to ensure that they are regulated and checked by powerful forces. After seeing success of the Cardinal's Reach guild within the Elvish lands of Thenalia, the world decided that this law would be uniform.
1762- ADW - Fall of the Eclipse Campaign.
Age of Modernization
1800-2000 ADW - Modernizing Technologies. As the cycle continues of the world healing from grand calamities, it heals by evolving its technology to be able to combat any incoming threats. However, as this arms race began, similar to the Age of Steam before it, technologies are being built for conflict, not for advancement. Weapons, vehicles of war, and explosives take the main stage of development, while the societies slowly advance alongside their weaponry. Little is there need for swords, shields and armor, as rifles and tanks take the center stage of destructive warfare. The Age of Steam saw similar advancements, and was tested through a time of conflict. For these 200 years, technology continues to advance, being created for a foreseeable enemy, rather than trying to solve the inner problems of the Material Plane.
Many scholars would debate as to what the next devastating conflict could be, and how it would shape the world.
2010 ADW - Skepticism of Magics. As technology advanced, the need for magic was only for fuel and energy sources. A rifle could just as easily end the life of a charging creature, even more effectively than a spell could. An artillery shell could end the lives of many, and with the press of a button rather than a complicated cast of a spell. With that, many societies began rejecting magic, including the practitioners of these now old ways.
At first, this rejection started off as laws and regulations of magic users. With anger brewing from the magic community, riots and attacks on both the "nonmagic" and "magic" community began. Bloodshed turned into armed fights, and dangerous, destructive battles between those who continue to use magic, and those who wish to eliminate it. Following these events, a dark time in the world's history began. An open war on all magic users began, as countries, old kingdoms, and unified nations began to target the dangerous wielders of magic.
Not all magic users believed in this rebellious cause. Many magic users believed that it was a new time, and that it was time that the world moved on from these old powers. Others believed that magic should be used for energy rather than destruction, as they believed magic was the cause of many of the worlds' previous calamities.