Editing Timeline (Polesia) (section)

=The Age of Myths=


==The Time of Elder Races==


'''-13,000 CA:''' As the world began to warm again, Elven civilization reached its peak and they ruled most of middle and southern Antanides, conquering the other races that lived in their territory and treating them as vassals or slaves depending on their traditions. The elves at this time also met and mingled with otherworldly creatures called Sidhe that had migrated from the dreamlands. During this time other fey creatures also migrated from the dreamlands and created the first sacred groves and awoke many new species of sentient plants most of which allied with the elves. Yet the success of the elven people carried with it the seeds of their decline, for after unlocking the secrets of longevity from their Sidhe allies they became less prolific and the other races began to outnumber them. Also around this time a bitter war tore through all of the elven nations when a splinter group of fanatics rebelled against the ruling families and were eventually banished, going into the deeper reaches of the world, where eventually they would become the drow. Elven numbers were depleted during this war and the other races began to take advantage and spread into territories that the elves could no longer defend or rose in revolt and forced the elves to retreat to more fortified places. 


'''-11,000 CA:''' Polesia’s ice age is over. Many of mega fauna species have died out, with a few remnants living in isolated pockets around the world. Humans, elves, and dwarves are recognizable to their modern counterparts and from diverse interbreeding and selective evolution [[Gnomes in Polesia|gnomes]] and [[Halflings in Polesia|halflings]] have also developed. Orcs, giants, ogres, and goblins also reached their modern form and in multiple waves, they pushed their way south and through various conflicts they spread through northern Antanides. Serpent people still survived and lived in isolated communities, many having evolved into lizard folk and various other sentient reptilian races known today, their ancient glory by this time was only a legend and most dwell in squalor and barbarism. 


==The Time of Man==


'''-9,623 to 9,302 CA:''' For the first time humans founded their own empire. Far off the coast of the remaining elven nations, these humans spread through islands of the Ilad Sea, their capital a great island they called Ghōl, situated in the Sea's center. In several centuries the humble villages of these peoples became a sprawling island cites which advanced rapidly due to the abundance of resources and their diplomatic relations with the nearby elves, who viewed them as inconsequential so long as they kept their ambitions to the islands. The Avaladh (as the natives of Ghōl were called) abided by their end of the treaty and left the elves to their own affairs and the two expand as rival empires nominally at peace.


'''-9,226 to -9,082 CA:''' As their civilization advanced, the humans of Ghōl started to develop their own schools of magic, gradually leaving the archaic elven practices they had mimicked for centuries. The greatest of these practitioners quickly consolidated power and, removed the current aristocracy, became the first sorcerer kings (Mîr Ashari) of Ghōl, each one ruling domains that spanned from single islands to whole groups.


'''-9,041 to -9,012 CA:''' After decades of competition between the nominally united sorcerer kings, Belteshazzar (the keeper of secrets) through some unknown craft invested himself with true immortality as well as other powers that caused many to worship him as a god and imparted the potential to gain this power into his bloodline. With these powers he demanded the loyalties of the other kings of Ghōl. Many knelt willingly and those who didn't were quickly defeated, and he was declared the first god-king (Ahn Ashar) of Ghōl.


'''-8,802 CA:''' Through treachery, Belteshazar (the keeper of Secrets) was supplanted by Kakrimi (the Maker of Brilliance) who allowed his rival’s kinsmen to live to secure his place in his people’s hearts as a merciful king. However, this mercy was not shown to Belteshazar himself, who was cut into four pieces and sacrificed to the earth, the sea, the sun, and the moon for his blasphemous declarations of godhood. This pretext, however, did not stop Kakrimi from ascending to his position in all but name, instead calling himself Ghōl Ashar (the king of Ghōl).


==The Fall of the Avaladh==


'''-8,710 to -8,705 CA:'''Panic spreads through the civilized world when one of the ancient serpent folk priests, Vesshelkhal, awoke from a deep hibernation and rallied his race’s degenerate offspring to take back Polesia from these upstart races that had taken advantage of the previous ice age. Wielding forgotten magic from the time that elves and men hid in forests and caves, Vesshelkhal led a triumphant campaign through several elven nations and founded a new kingdom from which he meant to spread. The elves pleaded with the Avaladh for assistance and the island empire was drawn into the war. By this time, however, the Serpent Folk had entrenched themselves and it was a long time before any real effort was made to counter their conquests.


'''-8,700 to -8,657 CA:'''  After their initial push, the newly invigorated serpent-folk paused and consolidate power along the coastline and the islands within a certain vicinity. This position nearly separated the elves from their human allies in Ghōl but also forced the serpent folk to wage a war on two fronts. Neither side advanced for decades, with a chain of elven insurrections, Avaladh blockades, and serpent-folk crusades doing little more than cost lives. The human and elven leaders sent overtures of peace to the serpent-folk and their descendants, but Vesshelkhal refused them. When the casualties became greater than they can bear the Avaladh started turning to more destructive magic, hoping to bring down their foes before it would be too late for their civilization to recover. To this end they started treating with the aboleths of nearby Ngh-Gwmash and under their tutelage they abandoned the elven druidic traditions and adopted new gods, venerating the Old Ones in a twisted mockery of the Old Faith. These new practices accompanied a dark turn in the history of the Avaladh people. Once again the balance of power shifted and the new priests turned against the Mîr Ashari and set themselves up as priest kings (Ernu Ashari).


'''-8,590 to -8,584 CA:''' Ghōl, along with its aboleth allies, secured its borders against the serpent-folk incursions. The humans learned from their inhuman mentors deeper and darker secrets of magic that slowly changed their very way of life. All but a few outlying colonies largely abandoned the elves, the priest kings of Ghōl only sending token forces of disposable criminal elements within the Avaladh military. One such group was composed of anti-aboleth dissenters who were outraged by the corrupting influence of their alliance. While exiled to the front lines, the mythic hero Kammen Thal-Ortho (a descendant of Belteshazzar) led his band of underlings on glorious adventures and finally confronted and slew Vesshelkhal, ending serpent-folk tyranny once again. 


'''-8,583 to -8,582 CA:''' Within a decade Kammen Thal-Ortho returned home at the head of what was now called the Dissident Army, along with many elven allies and laid siege to Ghōl, intent on wresting control from the priests and their aboleth masters. The aboleths were not willing to engage the combined might of the Dissidents and the elves and retreated to the deeper oceans to consider how best to deal with this new turn of events. The king of Ghōl and their elites were not willing to cede their empire however, and when it became apparent that they could not win the war they decided it was better for all of Ghōl to die than fall into the hands of the Dissidents. To that end they called on the aboleths to help them one last time, and considering the nature of their requests the aboleths consented. As the Dissident Army marched triumphantly across the royal roadways of Ghōl the priests and the aboleths sparked a massive ritual that swallowed Ghōl and many of the neighboring islands into the sea, drowning most of them and the Dissidents with them. The aboleths took advantage of the drowning Avaladh’s desperation and in return for their eternal servitude turned them into various aquatic races, the bulk of which still serve the aboleths to this day alongside the deep ones.

==From the Ashes to the Skies==


'''-8,082 to -8,007 CA:''' In central Zumwalla, the warlord Bokinda began conquering all neighboring tribes, leading hordes of bird riders in rapid assaults that could not be matched by his rivals. His son and grandson continued his example and consolidated their power creating the Ghamali Empire that ended up covering most of southeastern Zumwalla.


'''-7,725 to -7,614 CA:''' Fleeing the destruction of their homeland, Belteshazzar refugees form a new empire by uniting the dissidents and outlaws in the desert to the southeast of the elven territories. With their secrets and the natives' numbers, the growth of this nation is astounding. Ensconcing themselves into the upper social hierarchy the Belteshazzar rule this rapidly expanding empire as sorcerer kings in the Avaladh tradition before its corruption by the aboleths. Many other traditions form their homeland were still evident as well, but for the most part they mingled their ways with the natives, speaking their language in most affairs and reserving their own ancestral Avaladh tongue for sacred ceremonies. Within several centuries the empire spread across the desert and displayed rapid advancement in architecture and arcanology, erecting enormous monuments and pyramids to honor themselves and their sorcerer kings. This empire is called Shahar-Khet after its enormous capital.


'''-7,714 to -7,665 CA:''' The Bokinda dynasty was slowly overcome by rivals, led by the noble Adebaeze and his spell warriors. They then began reorganizing the empire around ancient serpentfolk ruins from which they learned their magics. The ancient basalt temples became the new capitols of the empire and the nation gained new insights into magic and the nature of the universe, learning about the Old Ones and the higher natures of reality. 


'''-7,531 to -7,327 CA:''' The wizard nobles of Ghamali built the first of their wonderful flying cities, grafting new magical theories into old serpentfolk magical traditions. Using the arcane powersource within the basalt temple of Usulu, they tear a significant portion of the earth around them into the sky, with which they travel throughout their province, collecting taxes and giving aid to the common people and protect their lands from barbarian raiders. Over the next couple centuries, the other provinces of Ghamali made their own flying cities, with over a dozen roaming the skies, but only a few ever rivaled the power of Usulu and it was taken by the king as the new mobile capital of their empire.


'''-7,202 to -7,199 CA:''' While raiding a long abandoned aboleth stronghold, Sorcerers from Shahar-Khet stumbled onto the Obelisk. The king and nobles of Shahar-Khet were convinced that this monolithic structure held the secrets to immortality, little knowing that the Obelisk was influencing their weaker human minds. While they managed to prevent all out corruption, Shahar-Khet did not do gain much the Obelisk as had the aboleths or the serpentfolk, and only managed to coax the secrets of lichdom from it after they managed to reverse its corrupt energies. This event destroyed an entire city in a wave of negative energy turning all its inhabitants into ghouls and resurrecting Domhu Stross as one of Polesia’s first liches. Domhu Stross was responsible for making the first translations of the ancient aboleth texts relating to the Obelisk. After the destruction of the city the Obelisk was considered too dangerous and with the advancement of necromancy inconsequential. It was taken far away and buried in the foothills of the modern Kaladian Mountains, at the time a wild and unknown land. This causes a great civil uprising in Shahar-Khet as Obelisk worshipers, called Disciples of the Fallen Star, try to “liberate” the Obelisk . Most are slain, and the cult is dispersed.


'''-7,150 to -6,921 CA:''' Due to advances in magical studies, the people dwelling in the floating cites of Ghamali have less and less need of the farmers below, able to create their own food and water. As a result they spend less and less effort to protect their people from the ever increasing raids of the bird riders from the northwest (the modern day Zamodi Grasslands). Along with this, the semi-isolation of the island dwellers and earth dwellers causes a division of culture and technology, with the best and brightest minds taken from the farms below and sequestered in the floating cities above, leading to an overall decline throughout the land-based portion of the Ghamali Empire.


'''-6,806 to -6,625 CA:''' The Belteshazzar descended rulers of Shahar-khet continued delving into lore that their elven enemies were wise enough to pass over, the sorcerer kings made the first metaphorical deal with the devil and started treating with the Great Old Ones. While this sparked their rapid development it also plunged the nation into sociological decadence as they gorged on unearned knowledge. The first human cults of Cthulhu were formed and in time the last king of Shahar-Khet, Pharizon II contacted the extraplanar being Nyarlathotep who taught him the secrets of Chaos Magic.


'''-6,572 to 6,282 CA:''' More and more, raiders from the northwest rose unchallenged in Ghamali, overrunning what order remained on the ground. While the land based cites slowed their advances and managed to drive them off in many cases, this drove them further from their sky dwelling cousins, who soon found their authority challenged during the rare times they came to collect taxes and tribute. When one of the sky cites was brought down by an alliance between one of their own cites and the bird riders it became clear that they had lost their land based holdings. From then on the sky cities kept to their own affairs, trading amongst each other and only occasionally interacting with land below, usually in the form of raids or deals conducted behind spears and magical defenses. 


'''-6,302 CA:''' Under Pharizon II the people of Shahar-Khet had several glorious centuries during which they decimated the nearby elven nation of Aredhel, breaking their hold over the region in such a manner that even to this day the elves have never recovered fully. However the Chaos Magic wielded by Pharizon began to have noticeable and devastating effects across the empire. The king himself lost his ability to retain a fixed form and became the first chaos beast, and from him the affliction quickly spread as did other blights from his Chaos Magic. Within a decade of this Shahar-Khet was no more than dust in the wind and crumbling necropolises, in which some the first human undead were the only inhabitants. Many people fled the devastation, some went east and establishing the isolationist country of Sholashomu, some Beleshazzar went south and eventually founded the city state of Narem, and one lich, named Mel-Ketekk left the devastation and traveled the world finally ending up in what will be modern Lacaeta.