Timeline (Polesia)
Prehistory
The Creation of the Universe and Polesia
The Time Before Time: The Great Convulsion causes a vast release of arcane and divine energy from which arises the Primal Chaos, personified by the first of the Outer Gods, Azathoth, the Progenitor of Entropy and Destruction. The whole of the Cosmos seethes under Its sway until there came the Song of the Spheres and Azathoth settles into a dreamlike state. As a result the Primal Chaos abates and from the settling energies there arises another Outer God, Yog-Sothoth, the Progenitor of Time and Dimension, and there was change to endless static existence. Planets and stars are formed and (due to the entropic energies continuously released by Azathoth even in his sleep) destroyed. As time begins to slowly pass, more of the leftover divine energy begins to coalesce and from this is born the third Outer God, Shub-Niggurath, the Progenitor of Life and Struggle, and from the flowing energy released from dying stars, great clouds of gas, and minerals of the planets come the first forms of life.
-4,000,000,000 CA: Polesia, then a harsh volcanic world on which modern life could not survive, is struck by another planetoid, Certa and the resulting collision knocks Polesia to its present orbit around the sun. The two worlds are partially shattered but reform after several eons as Polesia and Lunara (the world and the moon). Due to new elements introduced by Certa and a slightly further orbit from the sun, Polesia begins to cool, liquid water forms on its surface, and oxygen begins to permeate the atmosphere.
The Origins of Life
-1,000,000,000 CA: Polesia, at this stage, is a planet almost ready for life, but before Shub-Niggurath could seed it, something from the stars descends to explore this now blue planet. Creatures known remotely today only as the Elder Things start building colonies across Polesia, and begin experimenting on single celled organisms brought with them from their home world. From these they create the shoggoths and use these creatures as slaves. Despite employed control factors some of the single celled organisms escape and begin to adapt to the atmosphere and thrived on their own, becoming the forerunners of modern life. The shoggoths also evolve, and develop a primitive intelligence and in time rebel against their creators and decimate many of their colonies. The Elder Things partially quell the rebellion but many shoggoths remain rogue and the Elder Things withdraw to their cities, adopting a more observational role.
-530,000,000 CA: As it journeys endlessly through the long dark of space, Shub-Niggurath passes close to Polesia and spores from Its body descend through the atmosphere into the oceans. These simple forms of life begin competing with each other and the single celled organisms brought by the Elder Things, triggering a competitive evolution that leads to multicellular life in the form of arthropods, fish, and eventually amphibians. Some shoggoths remain on Polesia as well as the remaining and virtually immortal Elder Things but neither of them greatly impact these new forms of life as they expanded uncontested through the oceans and onto land.
-250,000,000 CA: Amphibians and arthropods begin claiming vast territories on land, which at this time is mostly swampy forests of enormous ferns. In time insects and reptiles also appear and move ever further from the water, creating life that does not depend on the sea. The continents drift together to form the Omniterra, through which spreads massive deserts unmatched from that time to this.
-230,000,000 CA: A splinter group of reptiles begin developing the ability to manage their body temperature and start to grow hair, evolving to become the forerunners for future mammals and birds. Some also develop unique hipbones and could walk upright, becoming the first dinosaurs. The Elder Things were at this time more interested in watching the evolutionary progression of life on Polesia and shoggoths roamed only the remotest and most inhospitable parts of the world, leaving no intelligent life to guide the direction of these new marvels.
-150,000,000 CA: The Omniterra begin to drift apart creating new seas and ending the vast deserts. The first true mammals begin to evolve and dinosaurs begin dominated the earth alongside great reptiles that lived in the sky and the sea.
-70,000,000 CA: For the first time plants achieve a simple intelligence and began to evolve into a sentient mobile race, forming primitive communities among the thriving jungles and challenged even the dinosaurs for supremacy. In time they evolve into a new and unique classification of creature that has not been seen on Polesia before or since. During the time the earth is visited yet again from the stars. Great Cthulhu and its children descend and build the Nightmare City of R’lyeh and from there they rule the world (along with most of the known galaxy), spreading great monstrosities into the oceans and even upon the continents. Some of the Elder Things rise up in response to this incursion but they are too few and too weak to stem the invasion and after some devastating losses, they make treaties with the star spawn and return to their now established role as observers.
Cthulhu Cometh
-68,000,000 CA: The stars shift ever so slightly, as the cosmic cycle marched onward. Cthulhu and its star spawn, subject to this event, go into a hibernation-like state, preserved by powerful magic in the Nightmare City. They leave Polesia to the stewardship of their servants, the aboleths and illithids. The illithids are charged with the swampy coasts and lush jungles, and the aboleths with the oceans. Left to their own devices, both races begin a terrible war with each other and the remaining Elder Things that lasted for centuries before being ended by a delicate truce. They take to the stars and established colonies on other worlds, using slave armies of primitive off world races to spread and invade even more worlds, leaving a large colony on Polesia to safeguard the Nightmare City. In time they conquer most of the galaxy that had been dominated by the Great Old Ones. The only obstacles standing in their way are the Great Race of Yith and the creatures known today only as the Mi-Go. These races form a temporary alliance and halt illithid expansion and drove them back, yet even so a quarter of the galaxy stays under their dominion.
Interlopers and an End to the First Empires
-66,000,000 CA: The Great Race of Yith, facing annihilation as a comet collided with their world transfers their minds into the primitive plant creatures that evolved amidst Polesia’s jungles. The illithids and aboleths are disturbed by this event but move too slowly to counter it. Striking their enemies at the heart of their empire, the Yithians nearly cripple the illithid forces on Polesia and drive the aboleths from the land. At the same time the illithids are dealing with a threat from within their own forces as well. Their main slave stock, an offworld group of humanoids called the Gith, take the opportunity to rise against their masters, and spark a revolution across their empire. Beleaguered from three sides the illithids on Polesia fall back again and again, until the yithians are the dominant species. The fate of the off world illithid and aboleth colonies is unknown, though it is likely that huge pockets of illithid and aboleth life still exist out amongst the stars.
-65,000,000 CA: Another race descends upon Polesia from the stars. Known only as the flying polyps, these monstrous creatures fight the illithids, yithians, and even the elder things for control and nearly annihilated all three species until the yithians somehow sealed them beneath the planet's surface. It is merely a stalling tactic but it gives the three species enough time to escape the wrath of the polyps. By the time they emerge the Great Race has again migrated, this time far into Polesia’s future, the illithids displaced their last city so that it was slightly out of sync with reality, and the elder things have gone mostly into stasis to wait the crisis out. The polyps spread quickly and become the masters of Polesia, unopposed by any. However their reign is relatively short lived. Sometime later the asteroid containing the Obelisk crashes into what is now the southeastern coast of Antanides, causing destruction for hundreds of miles and the death of countless plants and animals and killed off many of the polyps. Those that survive do so by retreating underground and were lost to history. The chain reactions of this event also kill off a large portion of life on Polesia, dinosaurs for the most part die out, as do most of the larger reptiles, leaving behind the mammals to take over.
Recovery
-30,000,000 CA: As the world recovers from the devastation of the asteroid, new life rises to fill the void left by the mass extinction. Terror birds roam the vast grasslands and for a time they are the dominant predators while mammals continue to evolve and thrive. The first whales evolve from water dwelling mammals, birds evolve the ability to fly, and mammals on land starte competing with the terror birds for dominance, driving many varieties to extinction.
-10,000,000 CA: Aboleth mages excavate the Obelisk from where it has been entombed at the bottom of the ocean and start experimenting with its regenerative powers. It is with the aid of this powerful artifact that some of their creations (such as cloakers, intelligent deep ones, boggards, and darkmantels) come into existence. These creatures are naturally subservient to the Obelisk's will at first, however the aboleths are able to modify their creatures using their mental abilities, so that they are subservient to them instead. There are a few isolated incidents where aboleths themselves became enthralled by the Obelisk's power, but these rare cases are quickly dealt with and the corruption was kept in check. It is from long buried aboleth writings from which all current information on the Obelisk originates.
-9,000,500 CA: In a great tragedy (of which no records survive), Uthl-ngru, the city in which the Obelisk is contained, disappears. While the aboleths seem to know the details, they will not speak of it to outsiders. The Obelisk for all intents and purposes appeared to vanish for a time.
Age of the Serpents
-3,000,000 CA: A few of the surviving reptiles continued to evolve, and several varieties gained intelligence and became the forerunners of the serpent people and dragons. New mammals continued to arise, including one group of tree dwellers with opposable thumbs, the first primates. Dragons taped deeply into the core of the world and are transfigured into living engines of arcane power unmatched by any mortal creature before or since. The serpent folk in turn developed the first magical disciplines, much of which was learned through study of the natural forces, some of which was gleaned in ancient basalt carvings left by the yithians, and even a few tablets that survived the drowning of R’lyeh. The two races balanced each other, for while dragons were far more powerful individually, the serpent folk were more numerous and far more disciplined, and while there were terrible wars fought between the two they more or less left each other to their own devices.
-2,000,800 to -2,000,650 CA: Strange formless creatures known today only as arcanaplasms began incursions into serpent-folk territory. For centuries the two races fought a bloody war that costs countless lives. Then just as unexpectedly as their arrival the arcanaplasms simply vanished. The serpent-folk never discovered their origins or where they went, though some theorized that the creatures followed some unknown cycle or might have been driven up from the depths of the planet seeking more magic to feed on.
-2,000,000 CA: For the first time rudimentary sentience began to form in mammals, fascinating the serpent folk who dissect many to see if this budding species might have potential. Across the world mammals were beginning to cement their hold as the dominant animal class on Polesia, especially the hominid species which began to show rapid development to the astonishment of the serpent folk whose own evolution took nearly ten times as long. It was later theorized that this rapid evolution was a result of the serpent people’s experiments and interference. Despite this fact the serpent folk did little more than continue their studies, not seeing these species as anything that could threaten them as their civilization had reached its peak. For the next million years, they were correct in this assumption.
-1,500,000 CA: A serpent folk expedition uncovered the Obelisk, buried in the an island somewhere between present day southeastern Antanides and Dhumarja. Like the aboleths they sought to use its power. For a time they learn from it much about the genetic structure of all living creatures and they create new varieties of creatures, some of which still survive to this day. However, unlike the aboleths, their resistance to the Obelisk's call was short lived and within a century it managed to spark dissent among them. Ksshethesh, the city in which it is contained, was almost completely destroyed and its inhabitants are turned into aberrants. The serpent folk nations raised Ksshethesh to the ground and their priests managed to counter the Obelisk's awesome power, quieting it for a time while they displaced it back into the ocean.
-1,000,000 CA: The upright walking apes, now dubbed homo primus by modern historians or Dawn People, began to develop complex communal bonds, very similar to that of the serpent folk. Even many wild specimens without training or prompting from their saurian betters evolved primitive societies. Some of them were influenced by escaped specimens that interbred and jacked up their development several notches, introducing rudimentary art, language, and eventually spiritual awareness that sparked a competing civilization seemingly overnight in comparison to their predecessors. The serpent folk began to grow concerned seeing that these inferior apes were growing out of their control and some groups began eradication programs to stem their spread across Polesia (accept in the far north where the climate was fatal, leaving homo primus there undisturbed, though the very climate and predators there would test them in other ways). However, this eventually backfired and started pressuring the hominids to evolve all the faster and different species began to flourish.
Rise of the Apes
-300,000 CA: As Polesia’s climate continued to cool, it drove the serpent folk to migrate south, butting them right up against the hominid claimed territories. This sparked the first true conflict between the two species, one that went disastrously for the serpent folk. Homo primus had adapted to the various environments they found themselves in and many now wielded knowledge stolen from their former masters, and they outnumbered the serpent folk many times over. While their losses were catastrophic the species easily shirked such a blow and continued to multiply to the astonishment of the serpent folk.
-200,500 CA: The final stroke was dealt to the serpent folk as a species when the Dawn People began showing further signs of development and civilization, with families encountering each other and forging alliances that resulted in larger tribes. While the tribes still fight each other, many understand that the serpent folk are a more pressing threat, primitive as they are, and the serpent folk began to fall more and more frequently than not to coordinated raids and ambushes. The climate was also against the serpent folk making resources harder and harder to come by and in time their species as a whole is broken, leaving few survivors who fled far from these hairless apes, living out their lives in remote caves or going into a magical hibernation, hoping that worsening conditions would eventually undo their foes.
-155,100 CA: Without the oppression of the Serpentfolk to stifle them the Dawn People,spread across the world as they searched for food and resources to survive. Some of them went into the then forested region of central Antanides and interbred with more feral ape men, creating a new hybrid race known to scholars as homo sylvanus (these were the earliest forebears to elves), another group went to the mountains and after years of interbreeding became homo terra (the earliest form of modern dwarves). Yet another group stayed in modern Zumwalla and became homo sapiens(humans). At the same time the Dawn People of the north continued to develop and in time became the Neanderthals.
The Spreading Out and Reunion of the Humanoids
-75,000 CA: Homo sapiens spread out across modern day Zumwalla and many went as far east as modern day Asashiro as well as far into the north where they encountered other hominids. However, during this time it is homo sylvanus arguably held dominance in Antanides, creating the first recognizable nations while their contemporaries were still wandering in tribal bands. Their mastery over magic, once only simple mimicry of ancient serpent folk disciplines, was unparalleled and they bent the great forests to their will and learned to call on the gods themselves for power.
-40,000 CA: As Homo sapiens began spreading out to find food and resources they encountered homo sylvansus and began competing for territory. The elven forebears won these conflicts more often than not and either subjugated their competitors or forced them northward where they in turn contended with neanderthals against which they were more successful. As a result neanderthals were either interbred with homo sapiens or were displaced even further north. In this frozen hell the hominids were pressed to the edge of survival, forsaking much of their gained brainpower for physical strength and endurance. This leads to a division among the variety which becomes the first forerunners to orcs, goblinoids, ogres and giants (later interaction with developing homo sylvanus will bring trolls into being).
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 and 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 tjem 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.
The Age of Records
After the Fall of the Belteshazzar
Other humanoid civilizations rose in Antanides to replace the lost glories of Shahar Khet and Ghōl and the elven nations but none would compare for millennia to come.Their histories turned into myth and legends that were in turn supplanted by more recent myths and legends that are widely known and believed today, shrouding that ancient time beyond the sight of most historians and priests.
-6,028 to -5,881 CA: The dwarven Patriarch Kadazh the Great began to unite the neighboring zarokhs of the modern Kalladian Mts. and build the Underway.
-3,000 to -2,640 CA: Human tribes in south eastern Antanides united and created their third major empire. While they did not boast ancient secrets like the great empires before them, they did have a strong arcane tradition (from which all modern wizardry in Antanides is descended) along with a great understanding of architecture, literature, and financial management. The Pallishar Empire dominated the region, ranging from the great deserts to the Open Seas and the borders of Shulashumo up into parts of the Thesian Peninsula. While it was not nearly the largest of the more recent empires it was probably one of the richest in human history. Dwarves expand the Kadazhem Empire below the surface which now covers twice the distance of the Pallishar and the two nations frequently trade and squabble over territory. Gnomes and halflings go a different route, rather than building their own empires they move freely between the Pallishar and Kadazhem empires and the elven holdings and are frequently used as adjutant diplomats and go-betweens. Elves largely stay as they are and maintain their borders, trading with the two empires and maintain peace over a war that would likely mean their extinction.
-2,250 CA: An expedition from the Kadazhem Empire make their way north and encounter the Obelisk. Horrified by what they witness they seal all tunnels connected site, but this only safeguards the horrors from going below, not above.
-1,800 CA: Humans that crossed ancient land bridges into Asashiro are visited by strange beings from the sky. These grey, tall, and inhuman creatures call themselves Kami and teach them how to farm, control the seasonal flooding, and the Celestial Teachings, a philosophy that first introduces chi. Around this time a huge portal opens in the middle of the Shrouded Mountains into Leng (a shadowy plane of madness and demonic creatures). In response the kami help the people to build enormous gates to wall off the disturbance. Seven Kami also “marry” seven women and from them come the seven clans that now make up the majority of the Okubo people. After a century of this the Blood of the Kami is spread throughout Asashiro and psionically gifted children start to become common. When this is accomplished the Kami ascend into heaven and are not seen again for centuries.
-1,750 CA: The many kings of the western Thesian Peninsula band together to combat the encroachment of the Pallishar Empire and drive them south. During this time the Empire was also suffering from internal strife as several powerful factions battled for supremacy and so weakened they fell to the rapidly expanding Thesian Empire that in less than a century occupies all of their predecessors’ holdings. The Kadazhem Empire endured as it has for almost two thousand years, though they ceded some their territory to the Thesians creating a feud between the two that was not resolved for several centuries. Humans at this time were almost uncontested in their dominance and rapidly approach what many think of as the golden age.
-1,500 to -1,352 CA: Mirroring its rapid rise to power Thesian Empire, now no longer bound together by the threat of the Pallishar Empire breaks apart due to a lack of strong succession. The "pure" Thesian empire extended only on the western side of their home peninsula and the surrounding islands, the remainder broken up into numerous powerful but smaller kingdoms, some of which survived but intermingled with their vassals to such an extent that they bore littel resemblance to their forebears. In Asashiro the “Kami” return and teach certain smiths the secrets of forging steel and adamantine for the first time, which they use to create some of the greatest swords in the world.
-1,346 to -1,052 CA: The Kadazhem Empire began its steady decline as the dwarves are beset by dark denizens from further below. Drow and other horrors began emerging from the depths, disturbed by the dwarves’ expansion, and much of the dwarves’ holdings were lost.
-1,050 to -995 CA General Shinji Takaken spreads his rule across southern Asashiro. The secret steel is used to subdue those that stand in the way of the new emperor and soon the technique of its forging is spread across the land.
-998 to -991 CA:Similar the Avaladh before them the dwarves were infiltrated by another ancient power. A dwarf noble named Anzur HéNazhrek, took control of Radezhka and in time was revealed to be a yallith, the degenerate descendants of the ancient illethids that had fled below the earth in ages past. Anzur's manipulations and usurpation lead to a horrible civil war that cut the Empire down to a third of its former size. During this time many dwarves in the outlying colonies were taken by yallith into the deeper tunnels fated to become the duergar after centuries of slavery.
-989 CA: An heir of Kadazh the great is discovered and under his banner the dwarves take back Radezhka and kill Anzur and his followers, reuniting the dwarven territories. However, the glory of the past ages is gone and while the dwarves secure what holdings they have left their empire never reaches its former prominence.
-820 CA: On the island that will become the cornerstone of modern Lacaeta a of druids battled the immense power of Mel-Ketekk. The ancient undead seemed invincible as his power covered the land and caused his twisted dreams and the nightmares of others to manifest. Finally the druids called an avatar of Shub-Niggurath in desperation. Even then Mel-Ketekk was only weakened and set to slumber as a demi-lich. The druids as a cost of their summoning were all frozen into immense crystals and set to guard great arcane seals to bind the spirit of Mel-Ketekk. A small group of druids and wizards were left to ward the shrine of Mel-Ketekk.
-632 CA: In Asashiro the Elan secret council is founded when certain monks and psions discover a way to awaken the power within their blood and become effectively immortal.
New World Orders of the West and East
-567 CA: The former shepherds of Lattanera form their first kingdoms and city states that compete for dominance in the region, creating a nation of warrior kings the likes of which have not been seen before or matched since. The fabled city Lattanis is formed and from there the legendary King Latanarius begins uniting the warring states that will form the cornerstone for the Lattaneran Empire.
-309 CA: After a long line of tyrants, the Lattaneran King Vileus Septimius is murdered and the Kingdom is reorganized into a Republic to nominally give power to the people.
-316 CA: The last of the Lacaetan Custodians has met death, but not all of them are truly dead. Certain wizards and druids choose to sacrifice their humanity rather than leave their now underground shrine unguarded and use their proximity to Mel-Ketekk to spark their own ascendance to lichdom and maintain their secret vigil for centuries to come. These undead powers form the Cult of the Masked God, and teach their followers the magical secrets of lost Shahar Khet.
-285 CA: The Takaken Dynasty is torn apart as weaker emperors fail to restrain the power of their warlords. The country, now divided against itself enters a perpetual war that is not resolved for nearly three centuries and is called the Three Hundred Years of Blood.
-200 to -68 CA: The Lattaneran Republic slowly but surely swallows the surrounding lands, dominating the modern Thesian Peninsula, most of Eshtora, Benoa and the northern section of the modern day Viedo Empire. They wisely leaving them to their own devices and allowing them to keep their culture and beliefs if they will kneel freely to the Republic’s rule. Many nations gladly accept the terms and Lattanera’s conquests are bloodless more often than not.
-65 CA: In Asashiro the Elan build the Library City of Aoka and from there begin to spread across Polesia, something that will lead to them founding more chapter houses and creating more Elans to help chronicle the histories of the world.
-51 CA: The Lattaneran General Solenus Remelius leads a great expedition north of the Armurian Mountains, reaching as far as Lacaeta, either conquering the inhabitants or bringing them in as client states. His popularity with the people soars.
-46 CA: Solenus Septemius returns from his conquests in the north and is heralded as Imperator for life.
The New Age
0 CA: The Common Age begins and it is the height of Lattaneran power. Most of Antanides is under the dominion of Lattanis and her Emperors, save for the far north. The elves of Mistwood and the dwarves of Radezhka are never truly conquered, but they also maintain peaceful relations with the Empire for the sake of trade. A peace that continues more or less to this day is forged and the mortal races stand in unison, coming far from their humble origins. In Asashiro, order is restored when the “Kami” return from heaven and establish a new dynasty ruled by Fukukata Kasejin and end the perpetual warfare.
50 CA: Descendants of the surviving Fallen Star Disciples, locate the Obelisk after searching for thousands of years. Led by the lich lord, Enkiris, this group has come to believe that the Obelisk will help them transcend death in a process called “apotheosis.” Enkiris especially desires this because his current state disgusts him, as do the undead in general. Before they can fully unearth the Obelisk however a shaman named Ljus Svartersson leads a group of heroes to slay most of the cult and disperse the rest. Before they do this, however, Enkiris tries in desperation to trigger the fabled apotheosis event. With so few cultists remaining their effort is for the most part a failure. Instead the corrupt positive Obelisk energies transform him and many of the cultists into an immense aberration, later called the Guardian. Svartersson and his followers manage to seal the thing in with the Obelisk and systematically purge the surrounding countryside of its abominations. The land is considered cursed and no one is allowed to settle within a hundred miles. They are large successful but many of the cultists and workers escape and from them the Disciples of the Fallen Star are reincarnated as the Brotherhood of Unity.
150 CA: The ancient lich Mel-Ketekk is roused in Lacaeta and the whole city is shrouded in his dark nightmarish power. Four heroes (Gruck, Lecroix, Clooney, and Whisper) confront the evil, summoning the Outer God Shub-Niggurath who instructs them on what they must do to destroy the demi-lich. Whisper’s soul is sold to the Mother in return for resurrection and after the destruction of Mel-Ketekk is transformed into Shub-Niggurath’s Herald. Gruck heroically sacrifices himself to sanctify the area, causing him to be elevated to sainthood upon his death. Lecroix finally decides to become a full vampire, feeling that his last ties with humanity died with his mother and friends.
398 CA: Xyratis Estrano creates the first living construct and perfects his heretical arts that will later give rise to the warforged race. Multiple powers buy them by the hundreds and as a result many provinces in the Empire are affected by unofficial wars and squabbles. To protect his methods secret, Estrano takes his money and, allying with hundreds of other wizards, founds the city of Xyra as a haven for the arcane arts, beyond the reach of kings and priests.
500 CA: The Lattaneran Empire is divided between the north and south. The southeast is the domain of the Emperor, and the northwest is ruled in his name by the Arch Consul. The two are at peace but the north is beginning to decline and is largely unable to control the outlying territories, resulting in the rise of orc tribes that pillage the borders of the Empire. In time a large horde sacks Avandor, and the north crumbles leaving only the south and cutting the Empire effectively in half.
559 CA: The issue of warforged armies is growing out of control and numerous leaders, including the Emperor Galus Remelius, declare it illegal to buy the living constructs. While many are more than willing to ignore the proclamations, there are few that can pay Xyra's exorbitant prices, vastly shrinking the market. Eventually the method by which they are created comes to light and the various churches quickly threaten to march on Xyra if they do not cease immediately. A tense war is narrowly avoided, as multiple powerful wizards lead a quiet revolt against Xyratis and finally expel him from the city. He disappears into exile, none knowing his fate, or if possibly he may still somehow live.
Empires' Ends and Rebirth
656 CA: In Asashiro the Kasejin Emperors lose control of the daimyo and another perpetual war spreads through the continent. The Emperors are essentially taken hostage and used as political leverage.
778 CA: The last of the Kasejin Emperors is slain and Asashiro loses its last vestiges of legitimate authority.
800 CA: Dragons begin to reemerge from their eons long sleep and send the fractured remnants of the Northern Empire into turmoil. The Southern Empire (now called the True Empire) manages to repel those that attack and treats with those that are diplomatic. In Asashiro the Kami return yet again and help the people transition from the Kasejin dynasty to the Murobashi dynasty.
862 CA: With no one enforcing the ban on the land near the Obelisk, Angor Sven is founded by the Sullivan Family, who at the time are part of the Brotherhood of Unity and looking for the Obelisk.
884 CA: The dragonborn first emerge on Skaallvatar and establish themselves as a separate nation ruled by several ancient dragons.
892 CA: Out of the ashes of the Northern Empire rises the kingdom of Avandor, ruled by the descendants of the barbaric human and orc warlords that took power from the weaker Lattaneran nobles. They give thanks to Erabis for helping them to regain the civilization lost for so many years and he becomes the chief god of that region.
1000 CA: The Cult of the White Fox spreads to Antanides.
New Powers Rise
1017-1019 CA: Avandor tries to expand its influence south of the Eastbight Mountains, targeting Lacaeta first. The city, long having been independent resists fiercely and sends for aid from its allied cities and even Lattanera. The emperor has no wish to have the young and obviously hungry Avandor as its neighbor and sends troops to cow Avandor into submission. Correctly surmising that they smiply don't have the might to battle both the Empire and the City States Avandor wisely backs off and searches for easier conquests.
1020 CA: The events that took place nearly a thousand years ago near Angor Sven are largely forgotten, and the records of the Obelisk’s location have been suppressed, destroyed, or lost. Helping this process along are a group of justicars founded in memory of Svartersson who stopped the Obelisk uprising. While these agents have little understanding of the Obelisk's power and no longer know where exactly it is located, they have busied themselves trying to thwart the Brotherhood of Unity, periodically sending agents to Angor Sven to spy and assassinate certain individuals. The people of Angor Sven are largely unaware of the sinister history near their town, though a few older families are adherents to the Brotherhood’s teachings and they suspect that the Obelisk is nearby.
1042-1045 CA: Avandor launches its first earnest conquest of the western Freedlands. They manage to secure a great deal of territory and nearly double the size of what they have come to call the Holy Erabisain Empire, however the cost of the war is staggering, losing them much manpower and a lot of money. It does however train a new generation of warriors and commanders, making their army an impressive spectacle.
1050 CA: The Obelisk spontaneously awakens and the sorcerer, Obrey Zerkin and his allies (Travor the dwarf cleric, and Levitz the human anarchist) help fight the threat as best as they are able. Along the way they find a ship from the stars in which they meet an Elan soulknife named Ryume from Asashiro. While battling their way through the ship they finally come across its masters, two androids in stasis who have been waiting for just such a time to try and destroy the Obelisk for good. With some help from the androids the group embarks below ground and meet an Ashtran assassin named Grant Loreweaver. However, Obrey dies in the tunnels and it is up to his friends to save the town. They succeed but vanish afterward, none know where.
1051 CA: In the city of Xyra, a strange halo of clouds forms about the sun and the city is thrown into chaos as they are beset from extraplanar monsters and the archmage commits suicide. In response one of the councilors, Thoster Viclannen calls on his old friend, Brekhan HéBrekhan a notable dwarven mercenary and outcast, to investigate the matter and also enlists the aid of Sir Anthony Cronqvist, a human paladin of the Rising Phoenix; Jack, a Zhonggese magus; and Shinta, a kitsune mystic. The four discover that there is something strange going on in Xyra’s mystical vault and manage to journey inside. Within they find numerous horrors as well as the apprentice Williver who's gone quite mad. They defeat him as well as some of the vault’s more dangerous denizens and manage to get a good amount of loot in the process, but at the expense of Shinta’s life. Now in possession of the Staff of the Archmage and a copy of the Seven Tiered Celestial Calculations they return with Thoster to their hideout. However at that moment they are beset by an illithid paragon who memorizes the Celestial calculations and kills Thoster. Shinta is brought back to life via an idle wish by Jack and is now a deathless creature. The group retreats to the school buries Thoster and then pursues the illithid. Their pursuit takes them to Shahar-khet.
1055 CA: The disaster at Godsmeet. Ashtrans of the Midwife and Reaper Sects are at the throats of the Erabisian priests who declare that Erabis the lord of civilization is greater than Ashtra (held by many to be the Mother of Fate). The Judge Sect of the Ashtran faith agrees with the Erabisian belief and for the first time the three Sects are divided. The issue quickly escalates out of hand and several Erabisian priests are murdered in their quarters, the Inifinte Symbol of Ashtra carved into their foreheads. The Midwife and Reaper sects indignantly deny any involvement, blaming wayward Death Angels (Ashtran Assassins) for the crime. The Godsmeet disperses and news of the travesty reaches all corners of civilized Antanides. A few weeks later, Temecleus Valadrian (the half-orc ruler or Avandor) declares that Avandor will not stand for the atrocity and all but the Judge Sect of Ashtra's church are expelled from Avandor's borders. Emperor Felix Verenus Remelius responds to this by condemning the faith of Erabis for daring to declare themselves above the Mother of Fate and executes any priests in the Empire that do not submit to the supremacy of Ashtra. Avandor uses this crisis as a springboard for a holy crusade to expand their empire and bring the light of Erabis back to the south.
