ca BD 600: Height of civilization in the aseku stone citystate of Azaer Jalil in the Icewind Mts. Writing, reading, magic, and alchemy flourish.
BD 400: Azaer Jalil falls to bloody internal political struggles between what become known as the grey aseku and the dark aseku. Fragmented records are carried away by survivors who flee into neighboring mountains and woodlands.
BD 390: Grey aseku Speaker Mhavaj Ksanti gathers what knowledge she can and commands it into the keeping of the Gryphon Elders, who store it in a remote cavern sealed and warded against intrusion. (Eventually rediscovered and made into Keephame).
BD 385: Parmarzak Matriarch Rhada Hammerbearer (a bade'in) offers controversial aid to several "Azalil" refugees. They accept, and a mutual pooling of knowledge and resources ensues.
BD 376: Spoff magus Torrin Chal Shadowclaw forges the sword Hurak at the behest of the Avatarchs of Attrahent. With this blade he rises to power in the Spoff Holding, eventually to challenge the matriarch herself.
BD 373: In a deadly duel arcane, Chal and the Spoff matriarch meet on the peak of Ravening Mt., surrounded by bade'in factions of both sides. Chal overcomes the matriarch and declares himself overlord, the first male to rule a bade'in society. The Overlord's Massacre follows, and the ridge of Ravening Mt. runs red with bade'in blood.
BD 300: The Crimson Mountain War between Parmarzak and Spoff begins in the Wide Plains, started by Spoff attempts to invade Parmarzak for its richer mines.
BD 299: The urdalk kinkeep Hazil in the Shadowpoint Mts. joins the Crimson Mt. War to aid its Parmarzak allies.
BD 298: Spoff sorceror Urlik Icehand collapses a mountain over Hazil. Thousands of urdalki are slain and the kin-keep is lost. Hazil warriors recoil from battle to salvage what they can of their destroyed land.
Human clans begin to join the war, allied with either Parmarzak or Spoff. The bade'in teach humans to read and write battle orders and reports. Spoff allies are also trained in the rudiments of sorcery.
BD 297: Urdalki survivors form the kin-keeps of Sata and Anda and swear the Hazil Oath, encouraging their people to forsake warfare in order to rebuild their decimated race.
Human spies in Spoff troops reveal that drow are aiding the Spoff armies. Aseku of the Paramita Family join the Parmarzak Holding to combat their ancient enemies.
BD 296: Severe winter storms and spring floods cause many deaths along the extended Spoff troops while the Parmarzak bade'in and their allies pursue a guerilla battle against the encamped enemy.
The Autumn Battle defeats the Spoff army and routes it deep into the Border Mts. Bitter Spoff bade'in claim the drow encouraged them to start the war, and drive the dark aseku away, where they are hunted down by Paramita warriors. Few drow survive the retreat into the north, but all maintain that Chal requested their help.
Inspired by their contact with the aseku and bade'in, humans begin to build permanent settlements and teach their skills elsewhere.
Aseku warriors of the Ananda, Maitri, and Paramita Families settle with the humans as teachers and advisers. Other Families maintain their own communities.
BD 295: The Parmarzak Holding divides to establish the allied Nandak Holding in the Manacle Mts. in order to watch and contain the Spoff.
BD 294: Overlord Chal is challenged by Urlik Icehand, who claims the overlord is nothing but a hollow puppet of Hurak. Urlik attacks in demon form. Chal is overcome by the cold touch, and Urlik takes Hurak. While Spoff mages watch in horror, the necromancer screams and plunges the blade into his own stomach. The bodies and sword are left untouched for three days, after which the daughter of the former matriarch resumes leadership of the Spoff Holding and Hurak is sorcerously lifted and carried to a deep, rune-sealed cavern.
BD 292-1: Chafing under Nandak surveillance and the new matriarch, Spoff missionaries leave for the Shadowpoint Mts. to establish the Citik Holding.
BD 289: Several Anda urdalki, led by Azir Glasseye, begin secret dealings with the Citik Holding, influenced by the bade'in's dark religious ideas. These urdalki overthrow the Anda Council and Citik dwarves fall on the kin-keep to slay any who oppose them. Those urdalki who do not manage to escape are enslaved. Citik attempts to maintain control over the Anda kin-keep after the coup creates tension, and many urdalki escape to make the long trek south that was dubbed The Death March.
Parmarzak smiths begin working steel.
BD 289-285: Sun and Mai kin-keeps are established by Anda refugees. All of the kin-keeps are near bade'in or aseku peoples, to whom the urdalki turn for protection and aid. Both are granted, and the urdalki begin again to rebuild their culture.
BD 283: After a six-year quest, Shamir Flameflower, a druid, penetrates the Citik caverns as a temple slave. In the middle of a sacrifice, she calls fire down upon Glasseye and binds the priests motionless. Inspired by her heroism, watching Anda slaves rise against their masters in a bloody, pitched temple battle. Only one, Tamil Whitebrand, manages to escape in the confusion. He takes news of Flameflower's heroism to his people in the famous tale "Light of the Flameflower."
BD 282: Twelve Anda refugees undergo the Unbeing Rite and, calling themselves the Dispossessed, stealthily attack the Citik Holding. Six live to desecrate the inner temple caverns in the name of Flameflower and Anda, and four live to escape. The Citik Holding is left severely crippled, and the Dispossessed become folk heroes. The four remain at large to harry Citik priests until their eventual deaths.
BD 281: Lamia Sorceress-Queen Sabir Ykele speaks a dragon's truename and releases an earthquake that shatters the ground below her city. Although some manage to escape, thousands perish as Cimmaron, the Jeweled City, is swallowed by the sands. Survivors tell of a huge crimson-scaled dragon that rose from the whirling cloud of sand and breathed flame over it, sealing the sunken city beneath a sheet of glass, and then flew into the sky and vanished. (see Legends of the Cognoterre).
BD 280: Candor, a human and aseku fishing town, is established by the sea. Boat-building is developed, and for the first time aseku and humans dare the open water.
BD 279-200: Seafaring becomes an established skill, and settlements of humans and aseku are established up and down the coast.
Urdalki establish the Amary and Anugram kin-keeps. They continue to abide by the Hazil Oath, and do not become involved in fighting of any sort.
BD 199: Hadjjin cleric Tarkish Twistmind apprentices himself to the lamia Enclave. Three years later he returns to his clan as a runemage. However, his political neutrality leads to a bloody demise 10 years later, when hashishini kill him for refusing to swear fealty to the chieftain Antyar.
BD 196: Mhavaj Ksanti travels to Candor to learn the new skill of seafaring. Under her learned guidance, ships are improved and the seas better charted.
BD 190: A cloaked traveler binds Ksanti with her truename and asks her what wordless song is known over the world. Ksanti spends three days in isolation, then declares that he who asks the riddle knows its answer. She pulls the stranger's hood off to reveal him as a kevalin. Ksanti and the kevalin Pais leave Candor on a ship called Silence.
BD 180: The human Grandoyne Castle attacks and takes Fort Pennarth by surprise, beginning a 30-year series of battles between Grandoyne, its allies, and its enemies over land and supplies. This continual warfare halts scholarly pursuits and results in starvation and plague over the north. These battles are limited almost entirely to human, aseku, and half-aseku settlers.
BD 173: Paramita paladin Jethiv is attacked by and kills a group of Klesa drow. A month later, asura-kevalin Tocaera leads the Klesa against Paramita settlements. In desperation, the Paramita beg aid from the kevalin Riddhi. All the Paramita are slain or scattered, but the Klesa and Tocaera are in turn driven deep into the mountains by Riddhi. (for more on Tocaera centuries later, see the letters from Quesse to Twilight, the story The Gift, ballad The Ballad of Quesse the Pure.)
BD 150: The Grandoyne Empire is established. Attempts are made to end the suffering of the people.
BD 145: Amidst much public outcry and against the advice of his advisers, Emperor Dicarion declares war between the Grandoyne Empire and the City-State of Candor. The Candorians, on the border of the Empire, place an embargo on any shipments to the empire, stopping both ships and caravans along the border and coast.
BD 144: Grandoyne armies stage the Siege of Candor and send ships out the attack Candorian craft. Under cover of night, ten Candorian ships sneak out of the harbor and attack the Grandoyne ships with flaming missiles from catapults and ballistae. Although several ships are destroyed, the Grandoyne fleet soon recovers and drives the Candorians away. Several weeks later, the Candorian sailors find a refuge on a mountain island.
BD 143: Emperor Dicarion is overthrown by his council and the war is called off. The empire, starving and impoverished, dissolves as each realm tends to its own internal upheavals. Written records become scarce and skirmishes continue as ex-soldiers become mercenaries and bandits, plaguing the countryside.
BD 137: The human town of Anistia is sacked by Kharad Thar hadjjin, who live in the foothills to the south. Armed with human weapons and armor, the hadjjin start attacking other settlements. At first successful, their lack of strategy still brings about their eventual defeat once the settlers organize and fight back. The Kharad Thar retreat into the unsettled areas of the plains.
BD 133: Urdalki jewelers of the Anugram kin-keep invent the first clockwork timepiece and continue to reduce and perfect clockwork as an art. This skill is adopted by Zhanak Holding, and the two races work closely together to explore the possibility of a clockwork technology.
BD 130: An aseku caravan of merchants from Sunpoint Mts. is attacked and destroyed by a Kharad Thar ambush. Aseku rangers learn that the Kharad Thar have organized and learned strategy from their chieftain, the charismatic Orthodoc Hai, who has begun recruiting other hadjjin tribes' warriors.
BD 129-125: Orthodoc Hai refuses to negotiate with human or aseku, and his legion of warriors drives the settlements back north. Continual skirmishing among the ruins of the Grandoyne Empire keeps aid from being sent to the beleagured settlements, but several aseku Families respond and the Nihsvabhava and Vijnana aseku become Hai's bane. Marked by a cold methodology, the aseku rangers work to turn the hadjjin against themselves, and lure Kharad Thar warriors into deadly ambushes. This most prominent of the Nihsvabhava rangers, Elian Estivial, masterminds the battle that scatters the hadjjin for good, and herself kills Orthodoc Hai in a swordfight during that battle.
BD 70: Circle of Seven founded by Mage-Exaltant Ercule d'Avolant in Candor. This mages' council discovers the existence of alternate planes and begins experimenting with travelling to or summoning creatures from such. Clerics of all races warn the Circle of the peril of such studies, but the mages claim the deities are simply jealous of their newfound knowledge.
BD 60: Prompted by clerics of Bel, Candor's Guardian Mistra Evans disbands the Circle of Seven, creating a bitter division between mages and clerics.
BD 56: A large explosion rocks Candor and destroys most of the city-state's wharfs and ships. Clerics are quick to blame mages for illegal experimentation justly punished by the gods. A shadow of mistrust falls over magic use, and religious mages abandon their studies for fear of excommunication. Other mages learn to keep their studies circumspect.
BD 52: Ercule d'Avolant is ambushed, drawn, and quartered in a violent riot led by clerics of Sangre. Mages, other clerics, and the laity join in condemning the rioters. Kings and other leaders throughout the lands forbid further persecution of the mages and enjoin clerics and mages to work out their differences together.
BD 45: Darion Vassar, first son of the steward to the royal family of Weald, is born.
BD 42: Human inventor Jai Bering modifies Parmarzak discoveries to develop complex plumbing. The plans are lost in a raid on her homestead by a neighboring realm's warriors.
BD 35: Continuous warfare in the lower lands lead the bade'in holdings to end trade agreements with outside settlements and withdraw from upper lands.
BD 31: Weald Keep is attacked and conquered by the kingdom of Bala. Darion flees and falls into the company of a bandit troop under a man called Brother Wolf.
BD 29: Urdalki scouts report sighting a dragon of translucent crystal flying over the Icewind Mts. toward Wold Mt. No further sightings are reported.
BD 25: Marsilion is overthrown in a coup masterminded by Brother Wolf, and his bandit troop takes over. Darion stays with him as a trusted advisor.
BD 23: Darion volunteers to seek the medicine needed to heal Brother Wolf's poisoned wife. When the quest is completed, he leaves Marsilion to aid the wartorn people he has seen.
BD 21: Darion is incarecerated in Spurn dungeons for five months for criticizing the government. When he is freed, he raises a band like his mentor's.
BD 19: Darion's band wins its first battle at Wirral and begins a series of successes. At each conquered realm, Darion leaves loyal men and women to rule and charges them with the care of their people. He is soon given the sobriquet "Sun-Blazoned" for his blond hair, amber eyes, and luck in battle.
BD 18: Both sides suffer greatly in the bloody Battle of Falsaron before Darion's army emerges victorious.
BD 17: The Battle of Valdebron; another drawn-out, bloody massacre. After his army wins, Darion leaves his trusted friend Adrian Evander in command and vanishes for close to two years.
BD 15: Darion returns with a minstrel called Dake Half-Mask as a companion; the minstrel constantly keeps his features partially hidden. Evander has continued to broaden the empire in Darion's absence, but ends the warfare when Darion gives the order to stop.
BD 14: Human archmage Cer Oristial joins Darion's campaign, bringing with him many other mages who appreciate Darion's humanitarian efforts. The alliance brings Darion power and credibility, and the mages help Darion rebuild wartorn cities and help the people.
BD 15-5: Darion's empire stabilizes and begins to prosper as good weather and relief from marauding bandits and mercenaries brings full harvests and peace. Darion seeks counsel from the aseku, bade'in, and urdalki, inviting them to ally themselves with his cause.
BD 4: Darion and Dake again leave the kingdom to Evander in order to carry out the five quests of the bade'in matriarchs, necessary to win the holdings' favor.
BD 2: The City-State of Candor, the Kennet Kingdom, and the independent towns of Penryn and Ambermaine petition to join Darion's empire, drawn by the promise of peace and protection. Evander accepts.
BD 1: Darion and Dake return, successful. The holdings sign the Forging Pact with Darion. Encouraged by the bade'in's example and their own observations, the urdalki also sign the Forging Pact, with the reservation that they not be asked to break the Hazil Oath.
DR 0: Darion is crowned as the first dominarch in what is to become the seat of the Dominarchy, Candor. The aseku ambassadors sign the Forging Pact at the coronation.
Dake Half-Mask presents the Four Swords of the Troubadour to Darion, who gives one to each of his most trusted commanders.
DR 1-7: Darion creates the realms of Arquian and Empyrias. The government is set up, laws are made, the university of Wythucarn established, and transitional problems are dealt with as they occur.
DR 8: A wandering cleric challenges Darion's right to call himself SunBlazoned at dinner, challenging the dominarch to beat him in a chariot-race to imitate the racing chariot of the sun. Against the advice of Darion's councillors, Dake encourages Darion to accept, and the dominarch does. Winning by inches with chariot horses given to him by the Priyavacana Family, Darion asks the cleric if he now acknowledges that the surname is his. The cleric laughs and turns into a mendicant of Bel, and gives Darion his blessing and a flambeau sword called Coron. In return, Darion attempts to give the mendicant his two chariot horses, but the mendicant refuses, explaining that the day is short enough already.
DR 10: Darion receives ambassadors from the pegasi and unicorn, who sign the Forging Pact.
DR 12: Human artisan Altair Lark creates a True Deck. Over the next 20 years, he creates at least five more before being accidentally slain in a bar fight.
DR 13: The Dark Alliance is formed by a group of nobles dissatisfied with the structure of the Dominarchy.
DR 16: Archmage Cer Oristial vaishes. Investigation reveals that he had been studying legends of a kevalinu artifact called a "matrix gate." The bulk of his notes are lost, stolen, or well-hidden, however, and nothing is found. He is eventually assumed to be dead.
DR 17: Darion recognizes five-year-old Blaise, human Chatelaine Aria Mersea's son, as his bastard and the heir apparent. Rumors that the boy is not his are widespread but unproven.
DR 19: The Dark Alliance openly challenges Darion, accusing him of various crimes including treason to the human race and lying about Blaise's birthright.
The Gryphon Elders sign the Forging Pact.
DR 20: Darion's armies and the Dark Alliance meet in a battle on the Fields of Grammarye. Darion is killed with a poison arrow shot by the antipaladin Dakrion Avis. Dake Half-Mask lays a bardic curse on Avis and carries Darion's body from the field, whereupon both disappear for a day before the minstrel returns the body for burial. He claims to have petitioned Death herself for Darion's soul, but to have been refused. The next day Dake and the Four Swords of the Troubadour vaish, and within weeks the battle is won by Darion's troops under Evander.
DR 21: Adrian Evander, after nearly a year's debate, is selected as regent until Blaise is of age to rule.
R 27: Drow mage-thief Kirith Vaur Klesa steals into the Spoff Holding and breaks the bindings on the cavern containing Hurak. Alerted, Spoff mages teleport to the site to see the drow pick up the sword and vanish. Vaur is hunted by the mages throughout the Dominarchy and beyond, but she is never found and Hurak is considered lost.
DR 30: Hadjjin shaman Kurtal Direfate petitions the lamia noble Sasir Highmind to aid his people in driving back human and aseku intruders into Bahr al'Raml. She consults with other lamia and sphinx before returning with an answer: "The wind softens all corners." Kurtal returns to his people, who continue to demand the expulsion of human and aseku settlers.
DR 35: Dominarch Blaise's coronation.
DR 36: An assassin who attempts to kill Dominarch Blaise immolates in the middle of a chapel. This is widely considered a sign of Bel's favor, and the Dark Alliance quietly disperses.
DR 40: Kurtal Direfate travels to Candor with a Nihsvabhava guide to ask the Dominarch to recall the people settling in hadjjin lands. Blaise is sympathetic but claims the Dominarchy must grow to support itself. He offers to extend the Forging Pact to the hadjjin and other races of Bahr al'Raml, but Direfate proudly refuses to ally himself with the intruders.
DR 47: Rumors of a healer named Carrick travel through the northern lands. He is eagerly sought for his healing power, although he suffers whatever he alleviates and lives in constant agony.
DR 50: The selkie Bondings of Ambriel sign the Forging Pact and become the Dominarchy's link to the sea-kin of the Eavon Ocean.
DR 53: Saldon—the island founded by Candorian sailors in BD 144—joins the Dominarchy and is valued for its convenient port, rich mines, and unique black stone, avertiis.
DR 64: The realm of Travioch is created.
DR 68: The healer Carrick dies healing a stranger with opal-colored eyes. As the healer's followers watch in shock, the stranger turns into a dragon of molten silver and flies off with the healer's body, declaring "Ru bhagavan ava ara." Scholars translate this from kh'indaranya into "A god is born." Over the following decades, the worship of Carrick spreads.
DR 77: Dominarch Blaise dies of old age. His daughter Thar is crowned as dominarch.
DR 79: Dominarch Thar attempts to convince the nomadic warriors of the Somadios Plains to join the Dominarchy. They challenge her to the Stallion's Round, a survivalist race through the plains. She agrees. Both Thar and the nomadic champion Rauk Fleetwing arrive at camp the same time two weeks later, running the last two miles neck-to-neck. Impressed with her skill, the nomads agree to join the Dominarchy, and the land becomes the realm of Somadios. A year later, Rauk and Thar wed.
DR 82: The city of Carnutum is stationed on the Isle of Watch to guard access to Candor's coast. A permanent garrison of three Heliochrys regiments (Aurumflamme, Gildenbrand, and Candentlot) are maintained there.
DR 96: Half-aseku archaeologist Ashley Mordechai discovers ruins in the Icewind Mts. that he believes are Azaer Jalil. He brings back many artifacts and examples of kh'indaranya writing, causing furor among scholars of all races. However, he never returns from his second trip, and the location of the ruins is lost with him.
DR 101: Dominarch Thar dies and her oldest son, Dominarch Coris Sparkeye, is crowned. Sparkeye, already a mage, spends much of his time in arcane study and lays many protections on Mynedd Palace. His thoughtful, intelligent decisions cause him time on the throne to be called the Reign of Wisdom.
DR 107: Settlements in Geronfrey begin regular sea-trade with the rest of the Dominarchy; timber and metals are a staple export. Settlers also report sighting winged people in the northern mountains.
DR 110: Dominarch Sparkeye establishes the Farspeak Guild to cover the extended empire, and employs many mages in an escrying survey of Samru. Over the next 20 years, the lands around the Eavon Ocean and the two ice poles are scanned and roughly mapped. The oceans around Eavon, however, resist attempts.
DR 119: Two ships are sent to explore the unscryable Shadowed Seas. Contact is lost with the mages on board as soon as they enter the Seas, and the ships never return.
DR 120: The overlord of Ankham dies and the heir remains within the palace, never seen. This begins an Ankham tradition that the overlord's identity remain a secret.
DR 126: Aseku artisan Ilyrasir Aksayamati invents the glider in the Icewind Mts. Her design raises much interest.
DR 130: The Chrysvolant Flying Corps is established and contains gliders, winged steeds, and mages. Practice manuvers in the windy mountains of Geronfrey attract the attention of the winged people living there, who soon introduce themselves to the flyers. Within two months, the aarakocra sign the Forging Pact.
DR 135: Dominarch Sparkeye is slain by his younger sister in a duel arcane. The only dominarch to fall by another's hand, this death establishes the belief that only dominarch's blood can shed dominarch's blood. Emirissa is popularly condemned for murder, but begs Wythucarn University for legal protection. Her case is reluctantly supported by all mages—the duel arcane is a means of challenge, not of murder. Because Sparkeye had not been married and had no known children, Emirissa is crowned as dominarch against the public will.
DR 136: Notices are sent to Carillon and Wythucran Universities that apprentices are welcome to study magic in the House of the Three Oaks in Whraice, Geronfrey. Run by a black aarakocra named Shroud, only those wise enough to find its hidden vale are accepted as students. Mages who study there never speak of the House or its customs.
DR 137: Dominarch Emirissa, called the Haunted Dominarch, dies of a wasting disease. She claims a cloaked, masked figure was haunting her. Popular belief claims it to have been the ghost of Dake Half-Mask, avenging the bloodline of his liege. Her eldest son, Waylon, is crowned.
DR 140: While breaking ground to dig a root cellar, half-aseku Dorian Westmarch discovers a metal box containing old sketches and notes. He sends them to Wythucarn University, where it is learned that they discover plans for plumbing and other inventions by Jai Bering. Construction of prototypes begins.
DR 148: The Entropy sweeps along the Umbral and the Etiolate in Candor. Mages from Wythucarn and Carillon declare the phenemenon to be caused by a portal into the Plane of Shadow, open somewhere in the area of effect. The Entropy drains energy of all types, and a stringent quarantine is implemented to contain it.
DR 149: The Entropy spreads to Artist's Quarter and Oldgate. The docks are closed and food riots begin as supplies grow short. Dominarch Waylon declares a state of emergency and quarantines the entire city.
DR 150: A group of professional adventurers called The Shadow Four (aseku assassin Adrian Secret, aseku mage Torres Vermillias, half-aseku Heliochrys fighter CorAlynda, and human carnifex Dark) enters the Entropy to discover its source. A month later the Entropy begins to draw back, disappearing completely within nine days. In the center of a fire-scorched street is found the standing body of Vermillias, frozen in stasis with a broken staff in his upraised hands. A rune-inscribed circle surrounds him within a Wall of Force. Magic reveals that he still lives—albeit slowly—and that the other three occupy the same space in three other planes, all enstasised. Entropy Square is built around the time-frozen mage in their honor, but they are not disturbed, for fear of breaking the spell they've created.
DR 154: The island people of theCappadocia Chain join the Dominarchy. Their unique religious and magic systems inspires much research among scholars.
DR 159: Controversy surrounds the wedding of Dominarch Waylon to aseku Charissa Virya. Noting that aseku are much longer-lived than humans, the predominantly human council adopts tradition as law; only the dominarch's child or nearest blood relative can take the throne, never the marital partner. The Wythucarn University develops a brand of geneaologists to keep track of the line of the dominarchy.
DR 160: City guard Wyre Hessian creates a stir in Saldon by telling of his experiences after being "lost" in the streets at night. The presence of plane-twisting vortices in the island is publically discussed at last, and his bloodcurdling tale of fighting his way out of some sort of Abyssal land leads many to avoid travelling through Saldon at night. The Carillon University maintans that vortices are extremely rare and natural results of the great amount of magic used in Saldon. Others have their doubts.
DR 162: Dominarch Waylon dies of a lung disease. His heir, Grace Virya, is too young to take the throne, so the council appoints Charissa as regent. Antiaseku factions point out that an 18-year-old Grace will be, in aseku years, only 13, since after adolescence, aseku age only one year for every 25 a human ages.
DR 163: The council declares that aseku learning ability does not slow with the slowing of the aging process. Once 18 years in the Dominarch's Reckoning have passed, Grace will be deemed old enough to take the throne.
DR 167: A political organization resisting the introduction of aseku blood into the Dominarch's line stages an attempted coup. After a two-hour battle within Mynedd Palace, the organization is defeated and its ringleaders captured. The head of the group, a half-hadjjin cleric of the Avatarch Sardonicus, is closely interrogated and executed the next day. Other ringleaders are hung the day after.
DR 170: Bade'in holdings consult with the Dominarch apparent for three weeks, discussing interracial issues. Finally satisfied, the holdings decide to support the half-aseku dominarch-to-be. Citik and Spoff matriarchs disagree with the official decision, however, saying that they will not support Grace if she is crowned.
DR 179: Dominarch Grace is crowned in a tension-filled ceremony that goes off peacefully, despite threats from opposed factions.
DR 180: Dominarch Grace leaves on a tour of the Dominions, visiting every realm and every city within every realm that she possibly can. She is quick to order city officials to right any wrongs that she discovers, and as a result the general standard of living takes an unprecedented leap and many humanitarian laws are placed on the books.
DR 181: An attempt on the dominarch's life fails spectacularly as an urdalk assassin slips from a rooftop, shoots himself through the neck with a crossbow, and breaks his skull on the street below, only yards from the dominarch's horse. In seconds, the assassin dissolves in a puddle of acid. Urdalki spokespeople deny any link with the assassin. Later perusal of Heliochrys records report at least 12 other attempted assassinations failed during the dominarch's tour.
DR 182-3: Dominarch Grace takes time to visit Citik and Spoff Holdings to consult with the matriarchs there. Finally reaching an understanding, the holdings grudgingly agree to support her rule.
DR 184: The dominarch's four-year tour ends, and she returns to Mynedd Palace.
DR 190: A hadjjin alliance is reported. Nihsvabhava and Vijnana scouts report that a hadjjin religious cult leader has claimed he is the incarnation of Orthodoc Hai, and Kharad Thar has risen to rule the mountains again.
DR 191: Somadios requests aid from Candor against the Kharad Thar legions. Hellebore Commander Dirk Steelhand leads his army into the plains.
Two months later, 20 Hellebore berets are sent back to Candor in a package delivered by a deaf and dumb hadjjin, with compliments from Orthodoc Hai. Dominarch Grace mobilizes a contingent of Heliochrys with Chrysvolant backup.
Kharad Thar and the dominarch's troops meet in a bloody battle near the Vale of Runel. Both suffer heavy casualties, but the dragonnel-riding Kharad Thar army manages to retreat into the mountains and from there carries on a successful guerilla war against the dominarch's armies. Orthodoc Hai seems to be able to predict with unnatural ease the legion's manuevers and strategies.
DR 192: Zhanak Holding and Anugram kin-keep send out a small army of bade'in warriors and urdalki spies. They join the decimated Heliochrys force and the aseku scouts. More familiar with mountain terrain than the others, they radically reform standard Heliochrys strategies to fit the new situation.
Over the next five months, Kharad Thar troops begin suffering defeats, and are forced further into the East Gate Mts. Aseku rangers team up with urdalki spellcasters for deep scouting missions. Ranger Killian Vijnana and illusionist Cerry Twintale return to report discovery of the Kharad Thar base. The troops force-march two days to launch a surprise attack on the hadjjin at dawn. Several hadjjin leaders escape with their personal bodyguards, but Orthodoc Hai is captured, along with Hellebore Commander Dirk Steelhand. Both are taken back to Candor for interrogation.
DR 193: Orthodoc Hai and Dirk Steelhand are executed. Steelhand's name becomes synonymous with treachery, and he is made an undead Penitent.
DR 197: Dominarch Grace sends ambassadors to the lamia and sphinx of Bahr al'Raml, offering them the Forging Pact. They politely but firmly refuse, and the ambassadors report back that human and aseku settlers have come to regard the lamia as their leaders, not the dominarch. The news scandalizes the aristocracy.
DR 210: Dominarch Grace marries the human bard Eric Bandor. Fears that aseku blood will dominate the throne recede.
DR 215: Adventurers Killian Vijnana and Cerry Twintale set out on a mission to explore the southern Cazmorin jungles.
DR 216: Dominarch Grace travels to Bahr al'Raml to offer alliance with the nomadic descendants of human and aseku settlers there. A gathering of clans at the Bones of the Desert is called. After three nights of argument, the gathering dissolves into chaos as inimical clans trade insults and accusations. Her offer is refused. Eight days later she receives a missive from the Direfate hadjjin clan: "The wind softens all corners."
DR 223: A selkie spokesperson reports that Killian and Cerry's ship has been discovered along the continent's point, but was apparently abandoned years ago. A Wythucarn vessel is dispatched to search for what might have caused the famous explorers' disappearance.
DR 224: The university ship reports sighting small, scaled humanoids in the woods. Tropical disease and slaughter of the exploratory parties by wild animals drives the explorers back to Candor.
DR 225: Dominarch Grace falls ill of a disease unknown to the clerics of Candor, who cannot heal it. Her husband ransacks palace and university libraries for information about it, and discovers that it was brought back from Cazmorin. With information from the ship's crews, the dominarch is cured, but remains weak. After lengthy examination, the council declares her still fit to rule.
DR 227: The Healer's Guild is established to gather information on all illnesses and wounds and to specialize in the cure of such. The guild spreads quickly through the realms and beyond, especially finding a home among the urdalki. The goddess Lumir and god Carrick become closely associated with the guild, although it is not a clerical enterprise.
DR 230: Saldon declares its mines empty and closes them. It remains wealthy, however, due to its beautiful city, lenient laws, and strategic placement on the Eavon Ocean.
DR 246: Archmage Reis Grim declares himself overlord of Ankham, and the traditional secrecy of the overlordship makes it impossible to refute his claim. He quickly establishes a strong naval force and uses his sorcery to rout out traitors and dissidents.
DR 249: Dominarch Grace visits Ankham in response to complaints about the overlord's governance. Apalled at the strict military laws of the city, she repeals Grim's title and names her son, Cinvoi, overlord pro tempore. Outraged, the archmage Grim teleports away.
DR 254: The dominarch's husband dies of natural causes. A near but fully human cousin of the dominarch, Virin Boral, points out that the dominarch has outlived many of her relatives, and demands her resignation from the throne. The council refuses to listen to the demand, but the controversy over Dominarch Grace's long reign becomes an important political issue.
DR 260: Ankham is shaken by a terrible explosion and, foundations loosened, many large buildings and temples sink into the underground water table. Overlord pro tempore Cinvoi sends an investigative team into the sewers to discover the cause. They discover Archmage Grim buried under rubble with a blank scroll in his hands. Several mages explore the ruins of his laboratory to attempt to discover what spell he had on his scroll, but to no avail.
DR 264: The council declares that the dominarch may rule as long as s/he lives and is considered mentally and physically fit to rule.
DR 266: Cinvoi names a popular aseku Ankham politician, Dana Shariye, overlord, and resigns to return to Candor.
DR 270: Dominarch Grace resigns from the throne to go live in the Icewind Mts., and her son Cinvoi is crowned. He declares the Healer's Guild inviolate.
DR 276: An aseku thief using the name "Cock Robin" breaks into Dominarch Cinvoi's bedroom and converses with the ruler all night about security measures. The next morning, Cinvoi appoints the thief as his official bodyguard in a council-condemned move. However, Cock Robin's sharp eyes soon reveal the palace's weak points, and steps are taken to eliminate them.
DR 281: Cock Robin is challenged on the Sanguinary Fields by the champion of a young lady who claims he raped her. Dominarch Cinvoi does not let him refuse the challenge. Upon the field, his masked opponent names javelins the weapon of choice, but instead of throwing at the thief, the challenger throws his javelin at the dominarch. Cock Robin knocks the javelin out of the air, but is slain by the lightning bolt the javelin releases when it strikes the ground beneath him. Cinvoi orders the challenger arrested, but before the guards can capture the man, he swallows a capsule and quickly dissolves into green slime.
DR 285: The city of Jack is founded by a distant relative of the dominarch.
DR 297: Half-aseku archmage Dash Gerfalcon binds himself and Dominarch Cinvoi in a sphere of force and attempts to slay him while the Heliochrys vainly try to break the wall. Cinvoi's six-year-old nephew, Minor, runs through the wall in tears and embraces his uncle. Finding that none of his spells now work against the dominarch, the archmage dispels the wall and teleports away in a fury. Scholars are fascinated to find a magic Null in the dominarch's family.
DR 300: "Father" Renmoor and the archmage Lafcadio move Saldon's palace from Terrace terCaraciel to a palace sorcerously carved out of the cliff by Lafcadio in three grueling days and nights of nonstop spellcasting. Renmoor later proceeds to abolish slavery of Saldonian citizens, finance the cleaning and rebuilding of the city, abolish all of Saldon's laws except the Four and the Ringrules, and welcome mages, artists, and musicians to the island.
DR 307: "Magicbane" Minor becomes a paladin of Vair and quickly makes a name for himself by heading many exploratory expeditions into the southern parts of the continent. His magic nullity often proves useful to him.
DR 310: The Citik Holding attempts to make an alliance with the few surviving Klesa drow. The drow sorceror Elia warns the Simha aseku, seeing in this alliance a threat to her own power. The Simha aseku send a warning to the dominarch. Minor, his men, and the Simha drive the Citik away at a terrible cost to both sides, but Minor is captured in an ambush.
DR 315: Minor, trapped in the Citik Holding and tortured, is finally rescued by a band of Hellebore sent by Dominarch Cinvoi. The Hellebore slaughter almost all of the Pallid Mask clain before leaving, and the Yellow Sign clan hastily takes over Citik. Minor takes almost a year to recover from his extensive injuries, which include castration and muteness; because of his magical nullity, clerical healing cannot help him.
DR 332: Cinvoi dies. His son Dominarch Estrallor is crowned.
DR 335: "Magicbane" Minor kills Dominarch Estrallor, his wife, and his three children. Minor is subdued and imprisoned. Regent Sidar takes the throne while Minor is tried; the paladin is summarily executed three days after the slaughter.
DR 336: A man claiming to be Dominarch Estrallor enters Mynedd Palace. Influenced by his inside knowledge of the royal family, the council calls in Mage Lafcadio from Saldon, who affirms Estrallor's identity by magical means. Estrallor reveals a plot by enemies within the court to replace him and his family with cleverly polymorphed and magically protected doubles. He finally won free of his prison in Garamile and made his way back to Candor. His family is soon freed and Minor's name is cleared as soon as a Dispel Magic is placed on the "royal" corpses and their true natures are revealed. The conspirators are found and executed. Lafcadio advises the dominarch to create a special governmental branch of mages to prevent such plots in the future, and the Ouija Board is founded. (See also Magicbane's return.)
Minor is posthumously declared a hero of the Dominions.
DR 340: A werewolf scare in Jack leads to the death of Exaltant-Lord Fandric, shot by his own guards with silver-tipped crossbows in suspicion of being a werewolf. When the slayings continue, both guards are hung as traitors.
Several days later, the werewolf is tracked back to a temple of Kinemor. The high priest and all acolytes are killed with silver weapons and the temple burned to the ground. No more slayings occur, but this ruthless treatment of the clergy leads many allied religions to condemn the city. The new Prince Xeres replies with the infamous words, "Even gods gotta keep their backs to the wall in Jack."
DR 352: The realm Cherient is accepted into the Dominarchy.
DR 360: Four exploratory privateers are sent to investigate the Shadowed Seas. None return.
DR 372: An aseku ranger, Danya Imha, discovers the Anugram kin-keep empty and apparently abandoned. Alarmed, Imha investigates and discovers evidence that the urdalki destroyed themselves participating in a cephalophagy cult. Imha searches, but can't find survivors' tracks.
DR 397: Mage Annalie Catshade builds an airship patterned after ancient kevalinu plans. Her design is copied by merchants and wizards all over.
DR 403: High Lord Aryx, "the Cutthroat King," takes the throne of Saldon by assassination. Saldon becomes a haven of crime.
DR 404: Dominarch Estrallor dies and his son Dominarch Oris is crowned. An assassin attempts to kill Oris during the coronation, but a freak bolt of lighting incinerates her and throws Oris to the ground, causing the arrow to miss him.
DR 415: The cephalophagy cult engulfs the Amary kin-keep, and Parmarzak warriors are forced to hunt down and destroy urdalki driven dangerously insane by the drug's effects. The Amary kin-keep dissolves under the strain, and many cephalophage cultists escape to hold their dark rites in secret.
DR 420: Disease ravages the Nandak Holding and its members accuse Citik Holding of calling it down upon them. Thousands die and the holding is quarantined. When the disease runs its course and burns itself out, less than a hundred survivors are left. Nandak Holding is closed up and abandoned as the survivors join other holdings.
DR 432: Caraman "The Sorceror" arrives in Saldon after Aryx's death and cleans out the city. Caraman and his assistant, Dajiin, leave 40 years later, neither having aged a year.
DR 450: Monsters stalk the deep passages of Parmarzak Holding; bade'in are found slaughtered and half-eaten in the back tunnels and mines. After seven months of horror, bade'in smith Pellis Anvilfriend breaks Parmarzak law and allies himself with Spoff abjurer Kyn Darkflame. Together they hunt the creatures down and slay them, finally discovering a bloodgate open in the deepest mine shaft. Darkflame closes it and Pellis returns alone to tell his people they are safe. He is driven out for allowing a Spoff mage to see Parmarzak defenses, and lives with humans for five years before dying of complications due to alcoholism.
DR 472: Dominarch Oris dies and his identical twin sons, Timmin and Toyse, are crowned in an irregular dual ceremony prompted by a Tzingane prophecy that both would die if they did not share the throne.
DR 485: The realm of Galicie is accepted into the Dominions.
DR 490: The Ouija Board accuses a lesser transmuter, Jastar di Hesiarchs, of breaking the board's code of secrecy. As she is questioned, she suddenly screams, eyes shattering into thousands of crystal shards that kill her instantly. Attempts to contact her soul are fruitless, and the Ouija Board finally gives up, mystifed.
DR 492: Mynedd Palace installs indoor plumbing.
DR 511: Abjurer Agrimony challenges Archmage Eidolon to a duel arcane for reasons unspoken. The ensuing battle ruins the Umbral keep where it takes place, and plunges the Candorian square into darkness. Eidolon is the only one to emerge, and Agrimony is never seen again until DR 777. The wreckage is renamed "the Night Court" because nobody can dispel the darkness, though it becomes a popular thing for young mages to attempt. (for more on Eidolon, see the beginning of Donawish's journal, notes in Twilight's journal and her notes on adventures, and for the full truth, Arnim's Story of the Cataclysm.
DR 520: Dominarch Toyse is thrown from a horse and goes comatose. After two weeks, his title is rescinded by a vote cast by the counsil while Timmin is visiting his brother. At the moment the vote is cast, the roof of Hospital Coicter caves in and both are instantly slain. Toyse's eldest daughter, Yssilda, is named the next dominarch.
DR 522: Airship "Valios" passes over the Drywind in Bahr al'Raml and explodes. All hands, including the adventuring company Wind Warriors, are lost. Investigators attempting to discover the cause of the explosion are driven away by hordes of women nomads who dwell within the sand-column. Captured women speak of the demon-sorceress inside before they kill themselves.
DR 536: The poem Darkwind is recited by its author in the Prospekt Theater of Candor. The next day the doors are forced open and both the poet and the entire audience are found dead, no mark on their bodies.
DR 543: Aseku scholar Andon Simhen reports that his assistant's head exploded when he caught him reading his secret notes. Crystal slivers embedded in the brain are discovered during the legal investigation, and Simhen is aquitted.
DR 567: The Sun, Mai, Upek, Sata, and Anda kin-keeps officially disband. Urdalki ambassadors inform the ambassador that their low population has caused children to be born deformed, mentally handicapped, or dead, and that the urdalki have decided to accept their impending extinction gracefully. The Ouija Board and several temples attempt to solve the urdalki's difficulty, but no answer to the problem can be found.
DR 590: Dominarch Yssilda places a caveat on the Shadowed Seas after a fleet of five Hellebore ships fails to return from another exploratory mission.
DR 603: Steam power is harnessed for the first basic tools.
DR 634: A mining endeavor using steam power ends in disaster when the engines explode, killing 10 workers and injuring dozens more. Engineers examine the wreckage and find no apparent cause for the disaster. Later experiments improve steam's safety, but a mage is always kept on hand to regulate safety spells on the engines.
DR 642: The sphinx prophet Ramatap begins to gather converts in Bahr al'Raml. She teaches a lifestyle of harmony with the desert, but her words are widely interpreted to call for the overthrow of foreign settlers.
DR 657: Archdruid Hellier opens the Botanic Gardens in Candor. The next day he is found dead in the grasp of a giant sundew. Murder is suspected. This begins the curse of the gardens, which claim nine lives in the first year and many more in later years.
DR 691: Popular half-aseku bard Linnet is made exaltant of Valterne, Geronfrey, after being saved from execution by a people's revolution. His rule is nicknamed "The Minstrel's Peace" and is notable for ending a long period of unrest under the former exaltant-governor.
DR 693: Dominarch Yssilda dies and her son, Dominarch Mordechai, is crowned.
DR 695: High Lord Salane "The Bloody" takes the throne and declares war between Saldon and Anseis, which rages for years and finally ends inconclusively. He is brutally murdered by an ex-prisoner in DR 713.
DR 699: A black owl with glowing white eyes lands on the dominarch's shoulder during a Wraithwalk dinner and says,
DR 701: Dominarch Mordechai opens the Planar Gates to explore and receive explorers from other planes. Both the Carillon and Wythucarn universities set up posts to study the gates and its users. The Ouija Board also keeps a close eye on it.
DR 707: Another death is caused by exploding crystal eyes; a few begin calling those with such eyes "Watchers." An acolyte in a temple of Bel dies when examined by a priest who noticed light reflecting oddly from the boy's pupils. Prayers to Bel reveal only that the Watchers are dangerous but innocent victims of some malign power.
DR 710: The first block printing press is developed in Candor.
DR 712: Exaltant Guiran ursurps the throne of Marsilion, Arquian. The rightful heir, Bren, escapes with friends and forms a group of outlaws called The White Rebels, dedicated to retaking the throne.
DR 715: Half-aseku bard Jack Bretony and the eight other members of the Wild Hunt dance from the Gate around Candor to the Hospital Coicter, where they stop and sing the rain down, ending the drought and plague that had burned through Candor for six months. This feat begins the popular rumor that the members of the Wild Hunt are something other than mortal; their apparently immunity to aging seems to uphold this claim, although in all other ways they seem normal.
DR 720: Ambassador Andronicus from Candor is assassinated in Ankham during the Summer's Eve parade. The assassin isn't found, but the resulting accuastions nearly bring Ankham to war with Candor. Councilmember Exaltant Sparrow's friendships with the Heliochrys and members of Mynedd Palace manage to keep the city from war.
The Winter's Eve kidnappings of Ankham take 16 children from their homes. Months later, the children are rescued from monstrous captors by the Dragon gang leader Eric Martyr and the Shades gang leader Baron. (Ankham campaign adventure)
DR 722: Ranger scouts spot a huge explosion in the Icewind Mts. Some time later, a group calling itself the Arcanaspawn sets itself up as mercenary adventurers; all bear demonic marks and seem slightly insane.
Reports begin trickling in of woodsmen and rangers found insane or lifeless in the mountains, and eventually sightings are reported of the shadowlike creatures dubbed illumvoraces. (Heroes of Tharsis campaign)
DR 723: The Heroes of Tharsis and a young cleric of Bel break into Mynedd Palace on Wraithwalk Eve bearing the unconscious body of Dominarch Mordechai's fiance. They rescue the dominarch from an assassination attempt by Optimate Datherick Chillwind and Archmage Dash Gerfalcon (cf. DR 297), releasing the swordbound spirit of "Magicbane" Minor (cf DR 297-336). Gerfalcon escapes, but the semicorporeal Minor quickly leaves to hunt him down. The rescuers (Deor, Durkheim, Robyn, Mel, Triss, Quesse, Merlin, and Erevor) are named heroes of the realm, and subsequently retire. (Heroes of Tharsis campaign) Magicbane continues to haunt and adventure in Candor, unable to rest (see Prophecies, see Candor.
DR 725: The Prophets of Ramatap band together and move toward the Dominions border. The standing Hellebore platoon there meets them in the desert and is decimated by the force. Dominarch Mordechai sends in a Heliochrys regiment led by Care-Exaltant Ban Jaspin and repels the attackers.
DR 726: A terrible earthquake rocks the Dominions, destroying entire towns and killing thousands, opening a giant chasm from the middle of Bahr al'Raml and extending into the Icewind Mts. The chasm gapes as wide as 30 miles across in some areas, and four cities plunge into its depths: Acharael, Aviemore, Morganica, and Jarrow. Officially called The Scorch, its apocryphal name is "Harad's Fault." (Razor's Edge campaign)
Strange sea-monsaters attack the city Ambriel and begin laying seige to the underwater capital. The selkies fight back, but the sahuagin remain close, and periodic raids are made over the next few years. Dolphin scouts report sahuagin armies massing near the Shadowed Seas.
DR 727: The bard Jacamo Sebastiano rises to glory and is widely considered the most notable bard in the Dominions; his songs and stories revolve around a fictional exodus past the stars. (Razor's Edge campaign)
DR 729: Aseku scholar Donawish Darsha publishes the first in what is to be a series of books examining the history and origins of the kevalinu. Her theories are interesting, but little solid evidence can be found to support them. (Read Donawish's early journal.) (Razor's Edge campaign)
DR 735: The Reluctant Rovers, an adventuring group, explores the lands between Bahr al'Raml and the Cazmorin Jungle.
DR 741: Care-Exaltant Ban Jaspin begins an official investigation into the Watcher Phenomenon, appointing a committee to look into the matter.
DR 742: The Wild Hunt of Candor flushes and mercilessly chases through the streets a member of the Ouija Board, aarakocra wizard Kierlan Greywing, whom they accuse of performing coldblooded experiments on unwilling victims. Cornered in the Virisdome, Greywing engages the Hunt in a duel arcane while citizens watch through the glassteel dance hall walls. He is overcome by the Hunt's sorcerous music and is summarily slain by the Hunter called Mask Macabre. After a brief investigation, the Hunt is released with warnings.
DR 745: One human survivor of a hunting band from the Crystalgleam Mts. reports that the hunters were attacked and captured by feral urdalki. He claims they were taken to a bizarre temple in a remote mountain clearing where the urdalki sacrificed one a week, scattering the body with cephalophage spores and then devouring the flesh when the fungus grew. He broke free and escaped while the urdalki were still disoriented from their new memories. A search is made for the cult, but the urdalki remain elusive.
DR 748: A violent hurricane sweeps over Saldon in the dark days of Shadowing, and demons stalk its tiled streets. Hundreds are slain and much property is destroyed by the time the storm clears at dawn. The High Lord's Mage Eirian and Carillon University mages report that the storm was caused by someone opening a portal to the Abyss, but they do not name the culprit. They assure everyone that the portal is closed again.
DR 753: Exaltant Guiran Dier of Marsilion, Arquian, is overthrown in a violent coup d'etat instigated by the White Rebels. White Bren retakes his throne and appoints his friends as counselors-exaltant.
DR 755: The Guildmaster of the Saldonian Assassins, a man called Raven, retires and leaves on the ship Absinthe. He is reported to have disembarked in Candor, but he isn't seen afterwards.
DR 759: Spoff magi attack Black Death of Arcanaspawn, claiming he carries their sword Hurak. Black Death reports purchasing the sword for a great deal of money from Ankham, and refuses to return it. After several stalemates, the groups reach an agreement, and the Arcanaspawn begin working closely with Spoff Holding.
DR 762: Private investigator Jack Stealth vanishes. Head of the committee researching the Watcher Phenomenon, his disappearance and the disappearance of his notes is a severe setback for the group.
DR 768: The Healer's Guild confirms the existence of the Hierodule Plague, a disease acting on the mind and bodies of its victims. It was first reported in DR 724, but as its victims often went into hiding, killed themselves, or were killed; it took time to identify the plague's effects. The disease is apparently magical in nature and cannot be cured.
DR 770: Dominarch Mordechai and his wife are slain in a sahuagin attack on their ship while conferring with selkie scouts. Dominarch Ashira takes the throne and declares war on the sahuagin; the first war in the Dominarchy's 770-year history.
DR 771: Care-Exaltant Ban Jaspin explodes in the middle of a feast in Mynedd Palace. Ashira's fraternal twin Tandal is hastily confirmed as the next care-exaltant, and pursues Jaspin's investigations of the Watcher Phenomenon despite widespread worry that he will meet the same end. He wears his mentor's bloody coat as a reminder and symbol of defiance. When Jaspin's notes are found to be missing, it seems clear that a powerful force opposes the investigation.
DR 772: Exaltants Jash du SunBlazoned and Eidolon push the Ouija Board to magically investigate the causes behind the sahuagin invasion. It is soon discovered that the main encampments of sahuagin have the same resistance to scrying as the Shadowed Seas.
Zhanak and Parmarzak Holdings report wyrm attacks that are collapsing entire Holding levels and killing thousands. Suspicion is turned on Citik and Spoff Holdings, but wyrm attacks on Travioch fields and villages indicate another source of the creatures. Investigation shows they are coming from the Scorch.
DR 773: Fierce attacks on merchant ships curtail trade, and port cities become nightmares as sahuagin soldiers begin dry-land raiding. Candor's citizens hide behind fortified walls. The Dominarchy's weak naval force falters under the attacks, and selkies flee the ruined Ambriel. Dolphin and whale forces combine to combat the invaders, but are unable to coordinate with dry-land forces without their selkie go-betweens.
Victims of the Hierodule Plague, called hierodules, become common enough to be seen in bands on the road and to form isolated, shunned villages of their own. Rumors exist of a large hierodule city called Eschatophainen hidden away from kine's eyes. (The Shatters campaign)
DR 774: Two members of the Ouija Board are assassinated, found suffocated under a hitherto unknown type of black slime. Archmage-Exaltant Jash conjures an otherplanar creature called Veil to guard him, while Archmage-Exaltant Eidolon reinforces his protective spells. The Onieromancer sends his protege from Candor. (The Shatters campaign)
Zhanak Holding closes and refugees seek safety with Parmarzak Holding, as wyrm attacks make the holding unlivable. Citik Holding admits that it, too, is suffering from wyrm attacks, and a few escapees from the holding describe it as nearly destroyed, the remaining survivors under strict military discipline to prevent them from running away. (The Shatters campaign)
DR 775: Dominarch Ashira falls ill and Care-Exaltant Tandal scours the land for a likely cure. Jash is made regent while his brother travels, and he implements strict measures to unmask Candorian traitors. Disagreeing with his methods, the Onieromancer leaves Candor for his own Suspiro Keep, but agrees to return if needed. (The Shatters campaign)
DR 776: Dominarch Ashira dies. The next in line of inheritance, Care-Exaltant Tandal, teleports away with the Onieromancer after the funeral. (The Shatters campaign)
DR 777: Care-Exaltant Tandal attempts to assassinate Dominarch-Regent Jash, and is slain by Jash and Eidolon. Jash is formally declared to be dominarch.
The aseku secede from the Dominions and declare this the epoch of the Eschaton—the end of an age. Arquian and Somadios are embroiled in civil war as they also fight for independence.
At the end of the year, private investigator Jack Stealth (cf. DR 762) and the abjurer Agrimony (cf. DR 511) are freed from their captivity in Eidolon's Chateau Phantasme. Their reports of Eidolon's treason spark the return of Care-Exaltant Tandal and his rebels from hiding, just as Dominarch Jash and Archmage-Exaltant Eidolon open a gate in the Mynedd Palace throne room to allow the aboleth leaders of the sahuagin to take over Candor. Concerted efforts by Candor's clerics close the gates, and although both Jash and Eidolon escape, Jash is soon apprehended and Eidolon's mortal body destroyed. Tandal is named dominarch. (The Shatters campaign)
DR 778: Dominarch Tandal withdraws his forces and officially ends the seven-century rule of the Dominarchy. The splintered lands, now called the Shatters, struggle for order. (The Shatters campaign)
The kevalin Rake builds an undead army in the Rharihu Plains below Bahr al'Raml, preparing for what he and other kevalinu, lead by Tocair, are calling the Great War.
The Onieromancer begins a transformation into a dragon.
DR 779: Eidolon's spiritual evolution into an evil dragon is foiled, and his spirit is slain for good after an adventuring group solves an ancient prophecy in the Jungles of Cazmorin, simultaneously destroying the ancient evildoer and freeing the couatl known as the White One, a god-figure among the kobkode of Cazmorin. (The Shatters campaign)
DR 850: The technarcane wards separating the Shadowed Seas from the Cognoterre collapse, and the Empire of the Ebon Depths invades the oceans while the Iron Autocracy, also called the Dawn Masters, invades the skies and lands. The Iron Autocracy crushed the young races and took over, abolishing religion, tightly restricting magery, and setting up its Dragon Emperors over the two continents of the Cognoterre. Satamharanthu became governors of the major cities, and their Tarin Tor forces kept the lands under military rule.
DR 900: The satamharanthu link the Cognoterre to the Matrix, providing teleportal access from the Iron Autocracy to the new lands. (The Light or the Fire campaign)
DR 901: A group of vampiric adventurers called the Black Rose Company free Persifal the Herald from her stasis prison and she calls back the exiled deities. The surge of power burns out the Matrix and temporarily ends all magic on Samru, leaving behind the anomaly called the Night Sun. Persifal becomes a mendicant of Bel. (See Site Index, under Campaign: THE LIGHT OR THE FIRE)
The loss of magic wreaks chaos on both the Cognoterre and the Iron Autocracy, and millions die over the next few months. However, magic slowly returned to the world's akasic matrices, but in a mutated form that makes it much more perilous to use and that links it to the new appearance of the Night Sun and gothic surges.
