THE COMPLETE MYSTARA TIMELINE v 1.1


by Daniel Boese

 

**************** Prehistory *****************


? BC: Creation of Mystara

? BC: Creation of Life: Once the world was shaped, life is created upon its (outer) surface over thousands or even millions of millennia. Some species and races evolve naturally; others are created by ancient, elemental Immortals and by unknown forces. (HW)
As some of these races learn to manipulate magic, they too begin creating entirely new species. And as they probe ever deeper into the workings of magic, some of them learn of the path they could take to Immortality. A few of the ones who learned of the path actually set out on it. A very few of the ones who set out on the path actually achieve Immortality. (HW)
A time so ancient most scholars know nothing of it: Mystara is occupied by great beasts of all sizes and varieties - especially huge reptiles. (HW)
A thousand years after his birth, Ka the Preserver stumbles on the path to Immortality, and becomes one of the earliest of the world's Immortals. (HW)

? BC: A great meteor, a rock the size of a large island, slams into Mystara, causing massive environmental changes and threatening thousands of species with extinction. (HW)

? BC: After the thousands of years it took to preserve as many species as possible, Ka, exploring the crater of the great meteor, follows a series of cracks and fissures and discovers the World-Shield and the Hollow World, which is currently only a hole in the ground (although the greatest hole in the ground there could possibly ever be). (HW)

? BC: Over subsequent millennia, Ka, Ixion, Ordana, and Korotiku sculpt and alter the Hollow World into a giant preserve of species and cultures. Ka opens great shafts a few miles across from the outer world to the Hollow World at the poles. (HW)

? BC: As the millennia pass, more and more races and cultures are preserved in the Hollow World. (HW)

************** Old Stone Age ****************
******** The Dawn of the Sentient Races *********

6000 BC: There is no true civilization in the Outer World. Humans are tribal hunter-gatherers, living mostly in plains and light forests. They are divided into three great races: Neathar (light-skinned), Oltec (copper-skinned), and Tanagoro (black-skinned). Dwarves are barbaric mountain and foothill dwellers, mostly goatherds. Elves are sheltered, protected and nurtured by the forest-spirits they worship; they do not need to work or suffer. There are no monstrous humanoids on the world to threaten the demihumans. Halflings live in the rolling hills and forests of the southern continent, some distance from the elves, whom they respect greatly.
The Hollow World is very sparsely populated. Many regions are inhabited by giant reptiles which are now extinct in the Outer World; the only sentient race in the Hollow World is a species of Neanderthal-like near-human. (HW)

5500 BC: Powerful burrowing monsters created by Thanatos infiltrate the Hollow World and begin to corrupt the Brute-Men culture there. (HW)

5300 BC: The Brute-Men tribes begin to fall upon one another in savage, irrational wars. These wars rage, off and on, for three centuries. (HW)

************* The First Civilizations ************

5000 BC: The childhood of the elves is over; the forest spirits stop sheltering them, forcing them to leave paradise and to seek their own futures. The first great elf civilization, Evergrun, develops on the southern continent in areas now under the southern icecap. (GAZ5)
The Immortals destroy the corrupt elements of the Brute-Men culture, and then cast their Spell of Preservation on the Hollow World; now, sentient races places within the Hollow World will always retain their distincitve characteristics. (HW)
Far across the galaxy, on another world, a race of pale-skinned humans called the Alphatians begins to rise to prominence and to study mighty magics. (DotE)

4500 BC: Beastmen - reincarnated souls of evil beings - appear in the upper Borean Valley, a frozen land north of Blackmoor. These beastmen are wild, chaotic creatures that do not breed true; whelps may have some or none of the traits of their parents, may be of different size and appearance. This is all brought about by the magic of Hel, an Immortal of the sphere of Entropy, who wants to introduce more confusion, dismay, and death into the world.(GAZ10)

************ The Era of Blackmoor **********


4000 BC: The human Blackmoor civilization begins a meteoric rise due to its great success in developing powerful sciences and technologies. It conquers and assimilates all surrounding human tribes and quickly grows very powerful.
Another human civilization, the Oltecs, begins a more stately rise toward civilization in lands far to the south of Blackmoor. Protected by deep forests and sheltering hills, they do not have any communication with Blackmoor. (GAZ14)

With the situation on the outer world relatively stable, the Immortals confine themselves to placing a few human tribes and a few animal species within the Hollow World; this is a time of comparitive peace there. (HW)
On the Alphatians' world, the Alphatians defeat the Cypris civilization... and begin to be assimilated by it. (DotE)

3850 BC: A group of warlike, flatland tribes are colonized by the Oltecs. These tribes fiercely cling to their distinct heritage in spite of the Oltec conquerors. (GAZ14)

3500 BC: The Blackmoor civilization is flourishing. It conducts trade and intermittent war with the southern elves, at the other end of the world. Four clans of elves colonize in the region near Blackmoor. Both the southern and the colonial elves embrace Blackmoor's technology. Blackmoor priests demand the extermination of the "unnatural" beastmen in the Borean Valley, and promote holy wars to hunt down and destroy those creatures.
Following a failed military coup, a rift occurs in the Oltec civilization; the more aggressive Azcan tribes declare their independence and begin to wage war on the Oltecs. According to modern Azcan histories, the hated former masters were overthrown and enslaved. In fact, the Oltecs and Azcans exist side by side for almost five centuries, alternating war and commerce, until outside forces literally destroy the world they know. (GAZ14)
The widespread Neathar race is beginning to undergo development; the language in individual areas changes rapidly into very different dialects, and the independent Neathar tribes no longer recognize a kinship or a common origin among themselves. (HW)
A large number of Neathar tribes are placed in the Hollow World so that the original Neathar culture will be preserved. They are placed to the north of the great equatorial mountain range, away from the Brute-Men. They swiftly grow in numbers and spread in all directions through the northern hemisphere. (HW)
On the Alphatians' world, the Alphatian/Cypris civilization uses its magical knowledge to begin colonization and conquest of nearby planets and exploration of the elemental planes. (DotE)

3400 BC: To avoid the ongoing war in their homeland, some Oltecs migrate to the Savage Coast, settling the eastern and central shores. Manscorpions and tortles already live along the central coast, and aranea and wallara civilizations flourish on the western end. (RS)

3300 BC: Ka now implements Korotiku's ideas for a massive center of mortal knowledge in the Hollow World. He instructs certain very wise beings of all sentient races to travel to a very secluded mountain valley; there, they are to interact, to build a great library, to accumulate and exchange knowledge. This secret library, protected by Ka all through its history, is to become the Lighthouse. (HW)

3200 BC: The Blackmoor crusades drive the Beastmen farther north, into the land called Hyperborea; they adapt to the colder climate and survive.

3100 BC: Aquarendi elves seek the guardianship of Manwara, an Immortal of the Sea, and enter the warm waters to begin a new life. (PC3)

********* Catastrophe and Recovery ********
********* Return to the Stone Age ********
********** Early Bronze Ages *********

3000 BC: Some Blackmoor devices explode, shifting the axis of the Known World in an event later called the Great Rain of Fire or the Planetshift. Blackmoor becomes the north pole and its civilization disappears. The elven civilization becomes the south pole; the elves are able to migrate to the area called Grunland (which now begins centuries of volcanic upheaval that lead to its being renamed Vulcania). These southern-continent elves, though suffering hardship, are not in immediate danger of extinction and so none are taken to the Hollow World.
The Blackmoor explosion catches the Immortals offguard; they cannot summon enough power to prevent its most harmful effects. The Blackmoor civilization is eradicated before they can preserve any part of it. The Oltec and Azcan races are threatened with imminent extinction by the changing climate brought about by the Rain of Fire, so large numbers of both tribes are magically whisked to the Hollow World. They are placed in the land to the north of the great equatorial mountain range; the Azcans are located in the forests next to the sea, which they name the Aztlan Ocean. The Oltecs are placed to their southeast, with a great swamp separating them and the Azcans. Both races encounter the numerous Neathar tribes; the Oltecs leave them alone, while the Azcans wage war on the Neathar, always trying to expand their borders. (HW)
Melting ice caps raise ocean level by several hundred feet. Lowland marshes and coastal plains along the southern edge of the northern continent are flooded.
Survivors of the elven colony near Blackmoor flee to the newly-formed Broken Lands; they burrow deep into the ground to survive the aftereffects of the Great Rain of Fire. These are the ancestors of the Shadow Elves. (GAZ13)

Two races of humans come to the land that will later be called the Minaean Coast. From the east comes Tangor Man, driven from his home by climatic changes brought on by the Great Rain of Fire. From across the waters to the west comes Oltec Man on one of his great colonizing migrations.
The ice caps recede from the southern edge of the continent of Brun. Spirits are drawn in to merge with the world. (GAZ12)
One of the most dangerous Blackmoor devices is left untouched in the Broken Lands. (GAZ10)
The Great Rain of Fire is seen by Azcans and Oltecs alike as an important part of their mysticism: the End of the Fifth Sun. The Immortals magically transplant large numbers of these peoples to the Hollow World to save them. (GAZ14)
The shark-kin, after spending thousands of years on the land, return to the sea. (PC3)
On the Alphatians' world, Alphatian aggression is gradually supplanted by Cypric self-absorption; other-planetary conquests and colonies are left to fend for themselves as Alphatian study of magic turns inward. (DotE)

3000 - 2500 BC: Formerly arctic areas of the Known World, including most of the lands covered in the Gazetteer series, slowly become habitable as the ice recedes from former polar regions.
Ka and his ally-Immortals must spend hundreds of years and incalculable magical energy to prevent the sudden change in the planet's axis from destroying whole regions of the Hollow World. The Immortals create new, gigantic, fogclad openings to the outside world at the location of the new poles, and seal up the former (smaller) polar openings. They also work madly to preserve numerous Known World human tribes from extinction; these include some of the Tanagoro tribes. The Tanagoro are placed in the plains south of the great equatorial mountain range, south and west of the Brute-Men; the Tanagoro think of those races as monsters and keep well away from their hills and mountains. (HW)

2900 BC: The Immortal named Garal Glitterlode creates the gnomish race, planting colonies of them in the land that will later become Rockhome and the mountains of the northern continent. (PC2)

2800 BC: New elven nation on the southern continent land of Vulcania divides on magic vs. technology. A separatist branch of the southern elves, led by Ilsundal the Wise, decides to abandon Blackmoor technology and return to the nature-oriented magic of their ancestors. They begin a long migration northward in the hope of finding the lost colony of elves that had settled near Blackmoor. (GAZ5)
Azcans and Oltecs on the outer world have practically vanished, dispersed across the world and culturally transformed in every case. A small number of survivors take refuge in the caves of a mighty plateau. These are the ancestors of the modern Atruaghin Clan. This plateau, although impressive, is nowhere near as grand as the one that now stands in the lands north of the Sea of Dread. They retain a dim memory, retold and altered into myth and folklore, of Azcan and Oltec glory and strife. They also remember the mysterious disappearance of many kin. (GAZ14)

2500 BC: Gnomes and dwarves enter the Northern Reaches region and settle in its hills and mountains as the continental ice sheets recede. (GAZ7)
The Taymora humans settle the southern shores of the northern continent. (PC3)
Climatic changes due to the axial shift have rendered the lands of Blackmoor and the elves uninhabitable. In Vulcania, the elvish civilization is losing its battle with the elements; it has forgotten most of its magic and its Blackmoor technology is failing. A second separatist group of southern elves begins its long march northward. (GAZ5)

2410 BC: It is obvious to the Immortals that the southern elves are doomed, but this leaves them with a quandry. They want to preserve that elvish culture, but not the technologies which nearly destroyed the world. They settle on a compromise: They will magically alter the devices upon which the elves have grown so dependant, so that these devices will operate in only one certain valley in the Hollow World. That way, the dangerous sciences of Blackmoor cannot infect any other part of the Hollow World. Many of the elves of the southern continent are transplanted to the Hollow World. They are placed in a warm, volcanically-heated series of valleys near the southern polar opening, far away from any of the other Hollow World cultures. (HW)

2400 BC: The land that was Hyborea is now warming up; the Beastmen migrate to the area that was once Blackmoor, which is now the northern pole, and thrive there. They are beginning to breed true, in recognizable species. The tribes gather at Urzud.
The Immortals are intrigued by the Beastmen. Since they are now beginning to breed in recognizable strains, the original "chaotic" race is threatened with extinction. The Immortals take a few Beastman tribes, magically restore them to their original chaotic state, and lead them to the Hollow World. They don't magically transport the Beastmen into the Hollow World; they inspire one leader/colonizer to lead followers northward, and those Beastmen eventually wander their way into the Hollow World. They settle in the icy lands near the northern polar opening. (HW)

A great volcanic explosion occurs in Vulcania, destroying the remnants of the southern elvish civilization. (GAZ5)
A human culture, the Antalian tribes (descendants of the Neathar) are flourishing in the area later to be called Norwold. They are a blond, warlike culture with bronze weapons and armor.

2300 BC: Ilsundal's elves cross the Strait of Izonda to the Immortal's Arm, then head east along the Savage Coast. Another group takes another route through the Adakkian Sound, where they rejoin Ilsundal's band and continue with them. (GAZ5)
Elves arrive in and settle the eastern and central Savage Coast. They live alongside, but not among, Oltecs. (RS)
The Sheyallia clan turns south, onto the Serpent Peninsula, and settles in the forest. The Meditor and Verdier clans, disliking the increasingly rainy and hot climate, sail east in search of better lands. (CoM)

2200 BC: Some elves break off from Ilsundal's migration and eventually find their way to the frozen valleys of Glantri, where they settle. A few survivors from the second migration from Vulcania also reach Glantri and settle among their cousins. (GAZ3)
Some Tanagoro colonists from halfway around the world reach the Serpent Peninsula and decide they like the abundant rain forests. However, the elves regard their slash-and-burn agriculture with horror. Eventually, they work out a compromise: the Tanagoros keep to the coastlines and forest fringes, while the elves withdraw deeper into the forest. (CoM)

2100 BC: Meditor and Verdier elf clans leave Ilsundal's northward migrations and settle in southern Traldar lands (Karameikos). (GAZ?)
The main force of Ilsundal's migration reaches the Sylvan Realm, far to the west of lands such as Karameikos and Thyatis. (GAZ5)

*********** The Rise of Nithia *********
***** Middle Bronze to Middle Iron Ages *****

2000 BC: The Beastmen have now evolved into the modern species of orcs, goblins, ogres, giants, and trolls. (GAZ10)
The Ethengars arrive on the fertile lands of the Steppes. (GAZ?)
First human settlements in the coastal and island lowlands of the Northern Reaches. (GAZ7)
Elven and human mages settle in the forests of the western Savage Coast, supplanting aranea; they name their land Herath. Enduks are created on the Orc's Head Peninsula and begin building the civilization of Nimmur. (RS)

2000 - 1750 BC: An agricultural settlement flourishes along the River Nithia. It swiftly becomes the seat of a fast-growing culture.
Tribal humans, swarthy descendants of Oltec and Neathar tribes, also settle in the coastal and island lowlands of the Northern Reaches, in the Ethengar Steppes. (GAZ?)
Antalian colonists migrate southward into the lands later to be called the Northern Reaches. (GAZ7)

1900 BC: On the great continent to the east of Alphatia and Bellissaria, a nomadic, cavalry-based race of warriors grows strong. These are the Jennites, copper-skinned descendants of an Oltec expeditionary party; their language and customs have evolved far away from their Oltec origins. (DotE)

1800 BC: The dwarfish race on the Known World is slowly, inevitably dying out. The Immortal called Kagyar the Artisan takes all remaining dwarves in the Known World. Half he transplants to the Hollow World, and half he reshapes into a new dwarven race. Now there are no remnants of the original dwarven race on the outer world. Some of the "new dwarves" are returned to the Northern Reaches, where the largest dwarf colonies had been, and eventually become the Modrigswerg clans; others are planted in the Rockhome region. Both groups are given false memories and believe that the Modrigswerg dwarves also originally lived in the Rockhome lands. (GAZ6)
The dwarves transplanted to the Hollow World, who mostly belong to the Kogolor clans, thrive in their new lands. They have been placed in easter mountains just north of the great equatorial mountain range, fairly distant from other sentient races; they have occasional contact with the Neathar tribes to the north and west, but are largely left to their own devices. (HW)
In the Sylvan Realm, Ilsundal creates the first elvish Tree of Life and becomes an Immortal. (GAZ5)
The Steel Wars divide the humanoid tribes. Plague, famine, and massacres ravage Urzud, and the population dwindles. (GAZ10)

1750 BC: The earthquakes that rock the Sea of Dread drastically change the Serpent Peninsula. The Tanagoro culture collapses into warring tribes. They tear the original Atruaghin Plateau from the mainland, forming the Ierendi islands.
Copper-skinned people fleeing the earthquakes that destroyed the original Atruaghin Plateau join light-skinned Urduk tribesmen, descendants of the Neathar tribesmen, in the Great Waste.
Elsewhere, a series of great volcanic eruptions and earthquakes split several large land masses away from what is now the Five Shires and Atruaghin Clans area; aboriginal (Neathar-descended) peoples called the Makai and lizardmen called Malpheggi are stranded on the new islands. The Taymora civilization is destroyed. The plateau under which the surviving Azcans have been living largely collapses, killing many of them and leaving the survivors in a shattered, hostile land. (GAZ4,GAZ14)

1750 - 1500 BC: The human tribes along the River Nithia progress from Bronze Age to Iron Age metals technology. A jackal-headed creature named Pflarr achieves Immortality.
Meditor elves are stranded on the newly formed Minrothad Isles.

1725 BC: King Loark of the humanoids organizes an army of humanoids known as the Great Horde. They migrate southeastward into the lands of men, ravaging as they go, continuing Loark's Quest for a Blue Knife. Great waves of hill goblins, trolls, and giants especially begin moving southward into areas now occupied by human settlers. (GAZ14)

1722 BC: The Great Horde of King Loark ravages Norwold and learns Norse culture, sending the Antalian culture there into a dark age; the Immortals Odin and Thor send intact communities of Antalians into the Hollow World. (The descendants of the outer-world Antalians eventually become the men of the Heldann Freeholds.)
The Immortals Odin and Thor have sent whole Antalian tribes into the Hollow World, placing them in icy lands south and east of the Beastman territories. The Antalians thrive in their new home, happily fighting among themselves, with the Beastmen to the north and with the Neathar tribes to the southwest. (HW)

1720 BC: Akilla-Khan conquers the southern steppes of Ethengar.

1711 BC: Great Horde reaches pre-khanate Ethengar. Akilla-Khan allies with King Loark against the Ethengarian nomads.

1710 BC: The Great Horde of King Loark invades the Ethengar Steppes and enslaves the primitive Ethengars. King Loark's horde is joined by Akilla-Khan's humanoid horde. Together they ravage the steppes.

1709 BC: Akilla-Khan betrays King Loark in exchange for lands west of the Dol-Anur. The Great Horde is defeated at the Battle of Chongor, in ancient Ethengar. King Loark's Great Horde splinters; the trolls head east, the goblins south, and the rest of the Great Horde is driven out of the steppes into the Broken Lands and settles there. (GAZ14)

********* The Glantrian Catastrophe ********


1700 BC: The elves of Glantri discover, in the Broken Lands, a strange artifact from the lost Blackmoor civilization. They tinker with it, and the artifact explodes cataclysmically, sending impenetrable clouds into the sky (which last for years), and spreading a strange rotting plague among the surviving elves - those who were far enough away to survive. The elves shelter themselves in the deepest caves of Glantri. They find an incredible series of caverns there and begin a years-long migration. The traveling tribes are separated from one another. These are the ancestors of the Hollow World's Gentle Folk, Icevale Elves, and the Schattenalfen. A fourth group, led by an elf named Atziann, has no survivors save that king. Some emerge, years later, hundreds of miles south, past the Broken lands. Some perish.
The catastrophe forms the Land of the Black Sand in the Ethengar Steppes.
The local cataclysm rakes the Broken Lands and buries the Great Horde. King Loark dies, and his horde breaks apart. Giants, and trolls are driven south into the Northern Reaches in successive waves of migration.
Goblinoids settle in the Yazak Steppes. (RS)

1691 BC: Baka betrays Akilla-Khan and drives his humanoids into the Broken Lands.

1690 BC: Akilla-Khan builds a fortress in the BrokenLands, and starts raiding Glantri and Ethengar borders.

1688 BC: Akilla-Khan retires from the world and becomes an Immortal, taking the name of Yagrai. Unaware of the truth, Ethengarians rejoice. Baka declared Khan of all Ethengars.

1681 BC: Baka Khan is poisoned. The Ethengars war over his successor. The War of Succession starts.

1680 BC: Land masses split further, forming 10 islands south of the Five Shires.
Verdier elves build ships and join their cousins, the Meditor clan, in the Sea of Dread.

1675 BC: Tahkati Stormtamer unites the tribes that are now known as the Children of the Horse and leads them in conquest of the other tribes that now make up the Atruaghin Clans. Eventually, he becomes an Immortal. (GAZ14)

1650 BC: A surviving clan of Glantrian elves from the outer world finds its way to the Hollow World through thousands of miles of subterranean passages. The tribe emerges in lands thickly occupied by hostile Neathar tribes and dinosaurs; they migrate northward, to lands similar to frozen Glantri, and settle in the mountains south of the Beastmen and west of the Antalians. They call their new land Icevale. (HW)
Atziann, king and sole survivor of a clan of Glantri elves who had been driven underground, comes across the Hollow World Azcans, emerging near Chitlacan. Fascinated by these people, he spends several years among them (in disguise) and studying their ways before leaving to pursue his dream of Immortality. (HW)

1600 BC: Tensions erupt between the two largest Jennite hordes: One horde, the more traditional of the two, has woman warriors, while the other has virtually enslaved its women. The Immortal Tarastia enjoins the more traditional horde to conquer the other, but the resulting holy war all but destroys Jennite civilization. (By the time the Alphatians reach the Known World, six centuries later, the outer-world Jennites have regressed to stone-age barbarism, their previous glory all but forgotten.)

The Immortal Tarastia preserves several clans of the self-destructing Jennite culture, choosing to save only the more traditional horde. She transfers them to the Hollow World, placing them in the southern hemisphere, south of the forests and plains occupied by the tanagoro tribesmen. The Jennites begin a fierce rivalry and occastional warfare with the Tanagoro men. (HW)

1500 BC: Nithian culture begins its climb to greatness. One colonial expedition led by the Nithian Traldar clan travels to the lands now known as Karameikos. As these colonies spread out, they become the first humans to inhabit Darokin. (GAZ1)
The Immortal Pflarr creates a jackal-headed servitor-race he calls the Hutaaka. He uses many of them as agents, heralds, and servants throughout the known world; he plants a large colony of thhem in mountains south of the Nithians.
Modest Bronze Age human cultures in the eastern lowlands of the Northern Reaches.
Sophisticated gnomish and dwarven cultures co-exist with primitive giantish clans in the western uplands of the Northern Reaches.
The elf Atziann attains Immortality and adopts the Azcan form of his name, Atzanteotl, "Atziann the Divine." He begins whispering to selected Shadow Elves and Azcan rulers of the power and glory he can bring them, and lures them away from their faiths. Increasing numbers of Shadow Elves (especially those of the Schattenalfen clan) turn from the worship of Rafiel to that of Atzanteotl; likewise, many Azcans turn away from Otzitiotl and Kalaktatla. Only Atruatzin, the Azcan priest-king, who would later become Atruaghin, resists the Immortal. (HW/GAZ14)
A group of halflings pause in their northward migration at Thanegia Island. Dismayed by the unrest in the land, they quickly move on.
On the Alphatians' world, the civilization has achieved total mastery of its environment; the great universities are at the peak of their powers and just beginning to indulge in serious scholastic competitions and squabbles. (DotE)

1494 BC: A terrible plague strikes Chitlacan, killing almost two thirds of its population. Atruatzin, himself a survivor of the disease, and his most faithful followers are driven out of Chitlacan by his philosophical and political rivals (who follow Atzanteotl). They settle in the fortress of Quauhnahuac. (HW/GAZ14)

1484 BC: Driven by the whispers of Atzanteotl, and his own fear that Atruatzin might reclaim the throne, the treacherous Azcan usurper leads an massive assault on Quaunahuac. Everyone found in the fortress is slain or sacrificed, but there is no trace of Atruatzin or his inner circle. The priests curse the land on which Quauhnahuac is built, and sow salt among the ruins. (HW/GAZ14)

1470 BC: The Chochomecs (an Azcan tribe) desert Atacalpa, migrating to Oltec lands of the east. (HW)

1468 BC: Atruatzin and his loyal companions find a resting-place, where they establish a temple to the old gods. They name it Mictlan, the "Land of the Dead." (HW)

1420 BC: The underground elven wanderers stumble upon Mictlan, and overthrow the humans. Those elves who have been seduced by Atzanteotl declare that the temple is sacred to him, and he has given them victory over their enemies and a place to call home. These elves become the Schattenalfen. Most of the elves are uneasy about this alien Immortal, but they are weary, and so they settle and build the city of Aengmor. All of Atruatzin's followers are slain; he alone escapes. (HW)

1410 BC: Atruatzin reaches the surface world in his quest for meaning in his life. He finds the lost descendants of the surface world Azcans and Oltecs living in the shattered lands north of the Sea of Dread.

1400 BC: Within a few generations, the Traldar settlers have suffered enormous population losses (through bad winters,animal attacks, and disease), have lost most of the materials and time necessary to forge metal (and consequently have forgotten how), and have reverted to a pre-agrarian lifestyle. They now fall under the domination of the Hutaaka humanoid people from the northern mountainous region. (GAZ1)
Denwarf, golem-like leader of the Known World's dwarves, settles his people in the great cavern called Dengar and disappears into the lower caverns.
A colonizing party of Shadow Elves, mostly Schattenalf followers of Atzanteotl are driven out of Aengmor (by the will of their patron). Retracing an earlier lost expedition's path to the Hollow World, they emerge just north of the great equatorial mountain range, right in the middle of the Kogolor Dwarf territory. They immediately begin a war against the dwarves, whose lands they want. The Immortal Kagyar causes Denwarf, the former leader of the Outer World's dwarves, to help the Kogolors against the Shadow Elves. (HW)
Atruatzin, who now calls himself Atruaghin, unites the warring tribes he lives among. His skill as a warrior and leader makes this a challenging, but not impossible task. The newly unified people begin to call themselves the Children of Atruaghin - the outside world calls them the Atruaghin Clans.

1395 BC: The Schattenalfen are badly beaten by the Kogolor dwarves and must break off the war. They continue travelling west, to an area not infested with dwarves, and settle there. But due north of their new lands are the Azcans, whose culture and architecture are disturbingly and insultingly like theirs (a result of Atzanteotl's guidance of the Schattenalf culture, though they don't know this); the Schattenalfen hate these people, whom they see as a mockery of their culture, and begin an ages-long war with the Azcans. (HW)
Kagyar places Denwarf in a state of suspended animation, transferring him to a cavern deep beneath the Dengar caverns of Rockhome.

1310 BC: Quest for Steel; Wogar Tribe migrates west from Blackmoor to a great lake, called the Cradle.

1305 BC: Prophecy from King Wogar's Great Shaman; Wogar Tribe moves south, along a major river, following the Great Shaman's floating gri-gri.

1300 BC: The halflings from the southern continent, long-abandoned by their friends the elves, and increasingly endangered by the ever-growing human population, make a mass naval migration to the northern continent. They settle the area later called the Five Shires, which they name Faerdinel. They become friends with a declining, pacifistic clan of elves called the Gentle Folk.
In the Savage Coast, goblinoid hordes decimate elven and Oltec civilization. Those humans and elves who remain fall to a savage, semi-nomadic existence. (RS)

1299 BC: Vestland trolls miss a turn and pop-up in Broken Lands. Trollhattan is founded. Bagni Gullymaw eats an elephant. Nithia enslaves the Black Moon horde of trolls.

1296 BC: Ogres kill King Wogar's Great Shaman at the Battle of Khuzud, and flee with his treasure. They settle in the Sind Desert and learn local culture.

1290 BC: The outer-world Shadow Elf city of Aengmor is "destroyed" (actually, merely surrounded by lava and made uninhabitable) during a volcanic eruption; many Schattenalfen escape, burrowing deeper into the crust of the earth. Actually, this is part of a grand scheme of Atzanteotl, their patron.

1270 BC: Great Drought dries up the ogres' wells in Sind. The ogres migrate east, devastating and enslaving Sind villages.
A great goblin horde lead by Wogar drives through Hule. They ravage the land, slaughtering many people and enslaving the others. Their reign of terror ends when Hosadus, a young holy man, convinces the horde's leaders that the sacred blue knife they seek lies to the east, beyond the Black Mountains - beyond even the Great Waste. Wogar and most of his horde move on, spurred by the unexpected revelation. The remainder stays in Hule as followers of Hosadus.

1269 BC: Ogres settle in Broken Lands. They found Ogremoor.

1265 BC: Ahmanni Turtlerider and Atruaghin become lovers. Atruaghin's ageless nature becomes apparent, making marriage between them impossible.

1263 BC: Wogar becomes an Immortal. His tribe continues along the coast to Atruaghin. They learn the use of feathers, war paints, light cavalry tactics, and scalping.

1262 BC: A small band of Urduk explorers from Sindh stumbles upon the ancient city of the Karimari, and convinces them to reduce their isolationism.

1260 BC: Atruaghin leaves the Atruaghin Clans to explore the surface world in a search for the nature of his seemingly eternal youth. He appoints new chiefs to each of the Clans and establishes the Words of Atruaghin that his people live by to this day.

1259 BC: Tahkati Stormtamer, now an Immortal, agrees to help Atzanteotl in destroying the work that Atruaghin has done in uniting the Atruaghin Clans.

1257 BC: Wogar Tribe, Red Orcs, conquers and enslaves the people of the Atruaghin Clans. Their rule is oppressive and savage. Tahkati Stormtamer realizes that he has been betrayed by Atzanteotl and breaks all ties with the Immortals of Entropy. He vows vengeance.

1254 BC: Wogar Tribe splits into three nations. One settles south of Atruaghin, another in the Five Shires. The last goes north, and torches a trading post called Akorros, then moves to central Broken Lands.

1190 BC: Descendants of the Great Horde resurface in the Broken Lands. The Tribes meet again and discover the Rock of Oenkmar and a knife they mistake for one of their legendary artifacts. End of the Quest for a Blue Knife. Truce proclaimed.

1104 BC: Underground elves discover the Refuge of Stone and take the name of shadow elves unto themselves. Building work begins on the City of Stars. Myfallar The Old is chosen as temporary King.

1100 BC: Nithians lead by Minroth colonize the islands later to be called the Minrothad islands, and found Harbortown.
Nithians under Prince Ramenhotep establish the colony of Thothia on the Isle of Dawn. This is the eastern extent of Nithian colonization.

1090 BC: On the Alphatians' world, the Followers of Flame begin their serious rivalry with the Followers of Air.
(DotE)

1050 BC: Great wizards of the Nithians, inspired by the Immortal Pflarr's servant race (the Hutaaka), create the gnoll race by magically blending trolls and gnomes. But they've been deluded that the results might be an equivalent servant-race for the Nithians; instead, the gnolls turn out to be savage, strong, warlike, and prolific. They rebel; they escape and later invade Karameikos. Nithian priests visit the Shamans of Oenkmar. Atzanteotl is increasingly offended.

1040 BC: Tarasfir is enthroned as the first King of the Shadow Elves selected by the shamans of Rafiel.

1027 BC: On the Alphatians' world, sporadic violence breaks out between the Followers of Flame and Followers of Air. (DotE)

1010 BC: On the Alphatians' world, a temporary peace results from one academian's proposal of the Flame vs. Air essay debate. (DotE)

1009 BC: On the Alphatians' world, Emperor Alphaks I arbitrarily declares the Flames to have won the debate. Outrage, protest, rebellion and revolt result; the Followers of Flame war with the Followers of Air. (DotE)

[Down to Part 2 of the Timeline]