Chronological History Part One, the First Millenia
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 lands from becoming warm. It appears that the free races survived, although it is unknown if any other free people or races existed before [:The Great Disaster:The Disaster]. What became of ["The Underdark"] races is still unclear, although dwarves have reported the existence of deep-dwarves and dark elves. Even the fell creatures survived in the loftiest mountains; the recovery of these races is not recorded anywhere.
c200 ["The Kathron Delve"] was founded by [:The Dwarves: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 nations 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.
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 realms to be brought together, forming larger 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 many fell beasts, including 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 Great Disaster: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.
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: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 Kitziph 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.
848 The north west was attacked in late summer by an army of orcs and bugbears which came down from the mountains to the eastern fringes of these lands. The human and halfling settlements had been extending up into the mountains, with an increase in mining activity to meet the demand of the southern kingdoms. The orc army seems to have been controlled by a bugbear leader, and they seemed to have a wide range of aims, from capturing mining facilities and driving the people out of the mountains to stealing food supplies and causing as much destruction as possible. At first, the invaders met little resistance; there were no guards to the mines against this kind of attack. All the northern kingdoms had mining operations of some kind, however, and this was seen as a collective problem. Appeals for help by the kingdom that bore the brunt of the attack meant that the thirteen nations pulled together a collective army and used it to drive the invaders away. They went further than that too, pushing this army far into the mountains, clearing orcs and bugbears from far around the kingdoms. This invasion galvanised the thirteen kingdoms into a single political force too. From this point forward, the kings of these nations were much happier working together, and with the orc problem solved, they could see clearly how much they needed their trading partners in the south.
850-880 The southern kingdoms were becoming settled and secure. Warring in the south had ceased around 850 with the last of the major military conquests. There were now six large kingdoms in the south, each well equipped with manpower and a strong armed force. This kept a steady peace, and co-operation had become the normal approach exports of food to the north were still strong, and growing demand in the north meant that new, lucrative markets opened to the traders of the south. Other goods were now becoming popular exports from the south fine goods, wines, silks, and other luxury items; all purchased with minerals and oils from the north.
880-890 The kings of the south were becoming agitated at the rise in popularity once more of wizards. While they understood the usefulness and importance of wizards to society, they were not prepared for the unrest their presence causes to the peasantry. And now, a large number of wizard guilds were springing up in the high streets of southern towns and cities. The population were becoming fearful and angry. It was clear that some kind of action would have to be taken.
892-907 The southern kings began a campaign of persecution against magic users. Most of the southern rulers threw their weight behind the attacks as a peasant backlash against the wizards began. What started out as simple rioting and wizard guild burning by peasants was escalated by the powers into full scale witch-hunts and public burnings. Inevitably, one of the southern kingdoms refrained from this kind of activity. Quietly at first, but ever more publicly as time passed, they took a stance supporting the wizards. Eventually they used their own troops to keep their peasants in line. This was the kingdom of ["Tholain"]; they not only refused to fight against magic users, but they gave sanctuary to all wizards who were suffering persecution in other kingdoms.
In secret, the young [:Emperor Dominus:King Dominus Tholain] sponsored the Magic User Sect movement in his own country; he provided financial assistance and provided properties which could be used as research facilities. ["Tholain"] never managed to convince her neighbours that persecuting wizards was morally dubious, but instead made enemies for those kingdoms of some very powerful people. Dominus read this situation clearly; he was glad he drew the most powerful wizards to his kingdom and, secretly, he planned a military conquest of those who persisted with wizard persecution.
918 ["Tholain"] waged war on its neighbours. It had spent eleven years researching magic and training its wizards for this conflict. For many magic users, this was a revenge assault, it repaid the hardship and suffering they had endured and avenged the friends they had lost. For [:Emperor Dominus:King Dominus] of Tholain, it established [:The Amastus Empire:an Empire].
There was no way the southern kingdoms could withstand the assault of so many wizards. Most fell quickly, only one held out for several months. At first they attacked with surprise, two of ["Tholain"]’s neighbours fell within the first week, the tactic was to use a light infantry army to join battle in the field or to surround towns and cities, then augment that with powerful elemental spells against any mustered enemy army. Progress was swift; leaders of the invaded nations were exiled or killed, and the peasants were conscripted to continue the campaign. The wizards in the Tholain army were vicious in the battles; they had nearly twenty years of hatred and anger to unleash. For the first time since ["The Great Disaster], magic was used on the battlefield, and it brought swift victory.
The campaign did nothing to improve the standing of wizards among the population, however. The opposite happened; peasants became more scared and more upset by the terrible power they had seen unleashed. The military campaign had wide political implications for the south and for the whole realms. The southern kingdoms were now made subject to [:The Amastus Empire:a new Empire]; [:Emperor Dominus:King Dominus] of ["Tholain"] took the crowns of his six countries and set himself up above them all when he formed his Empire in 919. While not a cruel leader by the standards of the day, he made life uncomfortable for his people as he strove to improve his lands. He increased food output because he recognised its political importance, and the fledgling kingdoms of the north-west became utterly dependent on his food supplies. He understood well how to use this to exert control.
["Emperor Dominus"]' approach caused unrest through many of his much of [:The Amastus Empire:his Empire]; it started a migration of people away from the south. Population growth in his lands, however, far outstripped this during the next 50 years. People were now moving further north than they had before, and also into new colonies in the north-east, where new communities of humans, halflings and gnomes were being established. It is probable that people had lived in that region for many years, possibly as far back as the time when the north-west was colonised, but with poor soil and poor farming techniques, the lands would not have progressed far, or even been noticed by the political engines of the south kingdoms.
971 The calendar was changed this year scribes calculated the date of the disaster, and adjusted all the dates by adding 871 years. It is unknown what formula they used to determine the date the Disaster happened, but it is understood to be accurate. Historical documents from before this time may suffer from incorrect dates.
973 The north-west was ravaged by food blight; the realms were hit by unusual weather patters which left the fields bare at harvest time. Extremely heavy rain followed by three months of hot sun mean that the north-west’s harvests failed. All regions were hit by this, the exports of food form the south dried up, and people died in their thousands. Some of the religious cults were charged with restoring the balance of nature, but the task proved too difficult. The poor nutrition for the peasantry lead to outbreaks of diseases, and epidemics came and went over the following three to four years. Recruitment at temples went through the roof and eventually (by mid 974) there were enough clerics to keep the food that existed wholesome enough to eat.
979 The north-west was once again invaded by roaming bands of Bugbears and Gnolls. The depleted population, barely recovering from the famine, did not have enough warriors to hold off the attackers. By now the [:The Amastus Empire:the Empire] had become rich from their trade with the north, and they offered to help but at a price. They sent north an army of warriors and wizard which easily dealt with the invasion, but which remained afterwards to ensure that the population were “properly defended” against further such attacks. The north-western realms were both deeply indebted to the south and badly weakened so could not stand against the Empire’s wishes. The Empire remained in the north-west for many years.
c1000 It is about this time that the first records show trade between the north east colonies and the north west. Without proper trade routes, direct trading with the [:The Amastus Empire:the Empire] was nearly impossible, but it seems that the Empire was not slow in recognising these new markets.
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