Chronological History Part One, Post Disaster to Corgart's Calendar
1 According to popular legend, this year began with the chill winter which followed the destruction. Smoke and debris hung in the atmosphere for several years, blotting out the light of the sun and preventing the world from receiving the heat of the sun. There has been plenty of research into the years immediately before and after the disaster, and more written about this event, and more study into it, than about any of the happenings of the millennium that followed. The date of the event is also uncertain - when the calendar was adopted the date was calculated, but more recent research has shown that the disaster and the worlds recovery from it could have taken several years, and may have been uneven in different parts of the world.
c200 The Kathron Delve was founded by the dwarves; their desire for order seems to have helped them regroup faster than other races. It was around year 250 when Kathron opened for habitation.
c300 The Riviga Kiziph Delve was founded in a previously unused set of natural caverns. The mountains proved to be rich in natural minerals, but the rock was particularly hard to work, making expansion of the delve a slow process.
c310 The Bemiris Khinat Delve was founded when two new delves were brought together. Unusually, the dwarves that lived here supplemented their food supplies by fishing the enormous lake to the north of the mountains in which the delve was situated.
Kathron Coins were minted for the first time, establishing the standard for coins still in use across Arthea.
c320 The tunnels that became The Gora Delve were discovered. The tunnels were not dwarfish, they appeared to have been made by one of the giant races, but there were no signs of dead creatures inside. The tunnels were partially destroyed, and were not a huge complex at the time, but proved to be a good starting point.
c400 The very oldest of human records relate to about this time. These records show that society had redeveloped in the south of the lands, but the settlements were very fragmented. There was little unity and little trade between regions. The majority of these realms were situated around the southern and south-western coastlines, where (it has been suggested) that the weather would have been warmest.
Also around this time is the first recorded assault upon the Gora delve by the gobinoid races of the north. The attack was turned back with help of the Riviga delve.
500-700 With the production of food still a hardship, even in the warm south, fighting over the poor resources became common. Some of these wars were long, drawn out by poor equipment and poor resources on all sides. This period had two major effects. Firstly, it caused many of the human groups to be brought together politically, forming larger collectives, or even nations. Secondly, frightened peasants and uprooted landowners migrated north in search of places to live. The Northwest was colonised first by people hoping to escape the worst of the wars in the south, but these lands were wild, and were filled with the goblinoid races, especially trolls and giants. It took mankind a while to domesticate these lands.
By the end of the sixth century, human colonists had established realms in the northwest. This brought its own problems, however. As the colonies grew in size, it soon became clear that the lands were poor for farming. Feeding the population here became a struggle, and despite the rapid growth of the population, it was becoming more and more difficult to maintain the food supply. Many learned scholars believe this was due to lingering effects of The Disaster which were still evident in this area. Towards the end of this period in the south, improved farming techniques and improvements in farming tools had meant that food supplies were now better than they had ever been post-Disaster, the people were beginning to flourish in the warmer climate.
522 Orcs and ogres had regrouped and attacked The Gora Delve once again. This time, they also made an assault on the Riviga delve at the same time. They had made a serious miscalculation of the strength of the dwarves at that time, however. The dwarves had been working on their weapons technology, and had been exporting weapons to the human settlements to the south for some time. The attacks lasted less than a week, and this time the dwarves left nothing to chance; they sent an expedition out into both sets of mountains to mop up any stragglers.
607 The Gora Delve opened out unexpectedly into a stretch of The Underdark. With troops from both The Riviga Kiziph Delve and The Kathron Delve, the Underdark caverns were invaded and captured. The routes further into the Underdark were completely sealed.
700-800 While farming was poor in the northwest, the south’s farmers were becoming rich. Despite problems with food supply, the newly established colonies of the north found they were blessed with mineral-rich mountains and hill country. The southern kingdoms were now firmly established, and their desire for iron and oil matched the north’s need for food. Trade grew in this period the north appears to have stayed relatively poor by comparison to the southern kingdoms, but both populations grew quickly, with abundant food supply and healthy trade. The other important development here is record keeping, which (particularly in the south) seems to have become popular. Dates are hard to discern, however, as there was no standard calendar at this time.
817 William Corgart rose to prominence in this year. With help from the religious cults of Pendaroch and Anbartae, he became king in three kingdoms, bringing them together as a single Kingdom. He was born in the north, but previous to his crowning, he had spent some time in the southern kingdoms, working mostly as a trader but also as a counsellor and legal expert. His business empire had left him as a wealthy man. He seized power in two kingdoms during this year successfully challenging his predecessors both in their own court and on the battlefield. His third conquest came in 818 where he used most of his personal fortune to expand his kingdom by purchasing an adjacent realm. The kingdom was short of food and money, and was suffering from uprisings and revolt. Corgart took over, imposed law and order and turned the place into a kingdom that was profitable through both taxation and through trade.
Corgart’s diaries still exist. These show that he was both a political idealist and an advocate of free trade. He believed that a large, strong country was far valuable to the long term peace of the people than a series of competing minor nations, each with different goals, traditions and rules.
823 William Corgart established his calendar, and with it, the first serious record-keeping system. He set year 1 as the date he assumed power in his newly formed kingdom; this was year 6 of Corgart’s kingdom. The popularity of the calendar was assured by Corgart himself, who used its date system in formal contracts with all his neighbours and with trade agreements and other alliances with those in the south. The widespread business dealings of the king meant that this calendar was soon used in some very far flung places in both the northwest and in the south. Corgart’s reign lasted until 831, where he succumbed to a fever in his old age. He was succeeded by his son, who continued the successes of his father until 841, when the kingdom was invaded by an army from the south and conquered.
825-840 The last major inter-kingdom fighting in the northwest was seen during this time. By the end of 840 there were thirteen kingdoms of the northwest, none were big enough to challenge any of the southern nations, but the political map was now settled. This brought a period of prosperity to the northwest, but they still had huge problems in providing food for their people.
Next: Part 2
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