Imperial History
-3 ID. Lord-Admiral Bedry Coventavon is crowned King of Carbadi. His first act is to launch a series of assaults by sea against the Raiders of Rothe, which slowly weaken their defenses.
-2 ID. Coventavon's fleet defeats the Raiders and lays claim to the Isles of Rothe east of Carbadi in the Sea of Chimes.
-1 ID. Coventavon swiftly conquers the pastoral land of Nobbish to the south of Carbadi, but is later slain through a terrible curse by the Nob Witches. On his deathbed, he gifts the lands of Carbadi, Rothe and Nobbish to his beloved (and most trusted general) Eleste Eidolorn.
0 ID. Eleste begins a unification and expansion that would topple much of the Western Lands, dubbing her holds the Eidolorn Empire and naming herself the first Empress. She swears by her fallen love that she will conquer lands far and wide in his memory.
48 ID. The First War of Expansion begins, as the Empire marches west into the vast kingdom of Toul Tabor, for a long and bloody war against the Sorcerer Kings.
49 ID. Eleste is slain by the Sorcerer King Scythe. Her nephew Yeobrid Gallogar is named 2nd Emperor of Eidolorn, and continues the Expansion War. Eleste is named the Warrior-Saint of the Empire.
58 ID. Toul Tabor finally falls to the tireless Imperial onslaught, and is annexed and named the Fourth Province of the Eidolorn Empire, after Carbadi (1st), Rothe (2nd) and Nobbish (3rd).
67 ID. Geri Gallogar, daughter of Yeobrid, is named 3rd Empress of Eidolorn.
80 ID. Geri Gallogar dies in childbirth, along with her twins. Her husband Brayl Barthe is named 4th Emperor of Eidolorn.
114 ID. Fearing the Empire's expansion, the White Dragon Woe commands her horde of frost giants, snow goblins and winter wolves, along with her own brood, to assault Toul Tabor to the southeast, slaying tens of thousands of Toul civilians and Imperial troops.
115 ID. Emperor Brayl Barthe decrees vengeance against the White Dragon Woe, and the Second Expansion War begins.
118 ID. Brayl Barthe is slain by the frost giant champion Fowlfjr. His 2nd wife, Aroya Barthe is named 5th Empress of Eidolorn.
121 ID. The White Dragon Woe is finally slain, and the Second Expansion War begins. The Empire mounts expeditions deep into Woe's territories to drive away the remnant horde of frost giants and snow goblins.
151 ID. The former territories of the White Dragon are at last cleansed, and the Empire begins to settle the cold lands, welcomed by the elves and dwarves that were formerly held captive by the horde of Woe. The region becomes Wintersbreath, the Fifth Province of the Empire.
155 ID. Aroya Barthe dies due to aging, and no heir is named. General Cadys Crowl is nominated as Regent Emperor of Eidolorn until a next of kin can be found.
160 ID. A bastard child of Aroya Barthe is uncovered living in the slums of the Toul Tabor city, Delvesh, a criminal and sorcerer. Nonetheless, he is the true heir to Eidolorn, and thus Tando Varr is named 6th Emperor, or the 'Bastard Emperor'. Due to life prolonging magics, he will rule for over five full centuries, in which the Empire endures a lasting age of peace and prosperity, with few conflicts outside humanoid hordes and rover fleets from deep in the Sea of Chimes.
672 ID. Emperor Varr had been disappearing from the Throne at Carbadi on and off for years, with the Eidolorn military ruling and his counsel ruling in his wake, but he returns to announce his official abdication in 672, choosing his 22nd-generation grandchild Vylon Varr as his successor.
680 ID. Vylon Varr begins a new campaign of Expansion, the first in centuries, towards the south and west beyond Toul Tabor. His first target is the nation of Melethesz to the south, a land of riches and renaissance. At first the Emperor's offer is peaceful, but when the Melethesians refuse to turn over their lands and join the Empire, Varr is quick to anger and order his forces across the border.
681 ID. After a year of intense border fighting, the Melethesians unleash an ancient artifact known as the Scepter of Plagues against the Empire. Pestilence and decay spread throughout the Imperial forces and beyond, to the Toul Tabor and as far as Carbadi and Nobbish. Many thousands of innocents are slain, until the Scepter is finally shattered. The Melethesians immediately surrender, but Vylon Varr seeks blood and revenge, ordering the murder of all the Noble Houses of Melethesz.
683 ID. Varr's genocide continues as he orders all Melethesians to convert from their faith of Radol Thidhe to follow the Warrior-Saint Eleste, who by this time has a massive clergy spanning all the Empire. Those who refuse are forced into hard labor, tortured or executed. Seeing and disliking this dark turn in Emperor Varr's behavior, a young Eidolorn Captain Dascomb plots to assassinate him to cease the atrocities.
685 ID. Dascomb's plot succeeds, and Emperor Vylon Varr is assassinated en route to his throne at Carbadi. A tribunal is held for the traitor, but he is exonerated by the Generals of the Eidolorn army. So impressed are the counsel of the Empire with the young captain that Vylon Varr's own daughter Esriele is denied her right to succession. Instead, Dascomb Darl is named the 7th Emperor of Eidolorn.
716 ID. A wise and fair ruler, Dascomb decides he will peacefully attempt to annex the small Vernal Valley to the west of Toul Tabor, which currently belongs to the dwarves of the Gnarlbottom Clan. A simple conquest, void of the tragic complexity which placed him on the throne.
753 ID. Dascomb Darl passes away. His daughter, Monada Darl, is named 8th Empress of Eidolorn.
782 ID. Monada Darl passes away. Her son, Klenn Darl (the Drunkard) is named the 9th Emperor of Eidolorn.
829 ID. Klenn Darl (the Drunkard) is assassinated. His wife (a former whore) is offered the throne, but refuses, instead passing the honor to her own, young son, Hahill Whitestoke, who she claims is the blood heir of Klenn Darl.
850 ID. Hahill Whitestoke, the 10th 'Emperor' of Eidolorn, is forcibly removed from the throne when it is discovered he was not in fact the son of Klenn Darl the Drunkard. Tando Varr returns to Eidolorn, now 700 years old and barely human, and convinces the Empire to hold an election for their new ruler. Many enter the campaign, but Varr sets up a series of strict tests of both mental aptitude and character that whittle away to just one man, a Nobbish cobbler named Freth Borth. Freth Borth is named the 11th Emperor of Eidolorn.
Local History
675 ID. The stronghold of Hale Horrn (now known as Haunted Horrn) is lost to invaders from the depths of the Vernal Wall. Hud Horrn is build lower in the heights to keep a vigil on the area.
718 ID. The Eidolorn army marches along the Great Westermarch road to the shore of Udders Well, where the village of Halehusk is established as a base of operations. King Kleeth calls up his limited forces to defend Floivin Keep, including a regiment from the fortified tower of Zevrak to the southwest (now Mimresh). For the winter of 719 ID, the humans and dwarves remain at a standstill, unengaged.
719 ID. Orc warbands mount a massive assault against the tower of Zevrak, capturing and claiming it in the name of Fharkkas the Gnawer. In order to save their land, the Gnarlbottom clan surrenders to the Eidolorn Empire, who turn their attentions towards mopping up the invasion force.
721 ID. The last of the Gnawer's forces are removed from the Vernal Valley, but the orcs maintain control over Mimresh, as Emperor Dascomb Darl wishes to push no further at the current time.
722 ID. After a begrudging, final agreement with the Gnarlbottom clan, the Vernal Valley is named Floivin, the Seventh Province of Eidolorn. Lord Brimm Bartlebuck is appointed the 1st Regent of the Province.
725 ID. The Band of the Oak, a famous group of seven adventurers hailing from the Imperial Capital of Carbadi arrive to explore and clear the Haunted Horrn. Their expedition seem successful at first, after killing a few score bugbear squatters and other beasts in the upper levels of the stronghold, but within a week they have all disappeared.
730 ID. Livenoak is established as a trade village along the Great Westermarch road.
743 ID. Tarndim is established as a fishing community on the shores of Udders Well.
758 ID. An ailing Regent Bartlebuck makes a final journey to his home province of Carbadi, where he passes away. His counselor Mopp Strudel is named 2nd Regent of Floivin Province.
759 ID. Cedarway established to hasten trade with the Province of Wintersbreath.
760 ID. Bolgrab the Marauder, a ruthless barbarian of Wintersbreath who has gone 'legit' as an adventurer and blade for hire, arrives to test his luck against the depths of the Haunted Horrn. He assembles a group of brave guides and swordsmen from the Valley to accompany him. After three days in the ruins, they are never heard from again.
764 ID. The tragedy at Crowslode. Over 40 human and dwarven miners killed by an unknown source.
788 ID. The local army is named the Last Eidolorn Legion, as it's the 'newest'.
804 ID. After nearly 50 years as Regent of Floivin Province, Mopp Strudel dies of natural causes. His successor is Marlene Meledegne, a troublesome Rothe merchant noble who is accused of an illicit affair with Emperor Klenn Darl the Drunkard. To shut her up, Darl sends her to replace Regent Strudel. Her rule lasts six months before she is murdered by a masked killer known as The Ferryman, who leaves a broken oar on the corpse of his victims. Meledegne is replaced by a young Last Eidolorn Captain, Glaive Goosearm.
809 ID. First assault on the ruined keep at Ettenhead meets with no success.
812 ID. The Order of Brightblood, a sect of paladins who serve Eleste, arrive to explore the ruins at Haunted Horrn. For a week or so, they seem successful, once again clearing the upper levels of bugbear raiders and other threats. Then they are all slain, but one, Breilor the Bold, who is taken with a great madness and retreats to eke out a solitary life in Skunk Ridge.
823 ID. Second assault on the ruined keep at Ettenhead also fails.
834 ID. This year, three adventuring companies are lost to the Haunted Horrn: the Flat Daggers of Rothe, ex-pirates with a hunger for the unclaimed riches of the Empire; the Hobfast Four, a team of enterprising burglars and fighters who worked for the Hosspotch House; and the Grash Harn, a band of dangerous orc blades for hire who were under the employ of the Arkanum Arkiva. Three wizards of Floivin were also lost in this expedition, though several of the Grash Harn soldiers were not sent into the ruins, and remain in Hud Horrn to this day.
840 ID. Third assault on the ruined keep at Ettendhead also fails. This time, Regent Goosearm has led the Last Eidolorn forces directly, and is killed by a pair of ogre spears lodged through his chest. A successful statesman and former soldier named Reginald Bauerkroft is named the 5th Regent of Floivin Province.
842 ID. The first reports arrive of Dror Gheel, the Slavemaster of Sothos Karr, rising to power in the Fyreklaw barrens south of the Vernal Valley.
859 ID. For the second time in history, the Ferryman strikes in the hamlet of Livenoak, slaying six wealthy merchant representatives traveling in from Toul Tabor. By this time, his murders have also been reported in Carbadi, Rothe, and Melethesz.
868 ID. Regent Bauerkroft is assassinated, and replaced by the General Gurd Gnarlbottom until a new Regent can arrive from Carbadi. There are stirrings of war to the north in Wintersbreath, a Vandrakki incursion. The General leads an army of about half the Province's Eidolorn regiment to meet with Toul Tabor and Wintersbreath forces. An enigmatic group of former Sothos Karr slaves known as 'The Score' has set into motion a series of suspicious events. The villages of Hud Horrn, Tarndim, and Cedarway fall to various native humanoid tribes who have been organized by these villains. A group of heroes stands between their nefarious plot and the fall of the entire Province, helping to fend off not only the humanoid threats, but an army of the dead from the far north province of Vhorinyr, an incursion of extradimensional beings known as 'githyanki', and a strange verbal plague that transforms its victims into a zombie-like state. These same heroes seal off the ruins of Ettenhead and begin their restoration, but soon after they are summoned to a challenge against the Champions of Sothos Karr, who seek satisfaction after several incursions which have strained the uneasy truce between the orcs and the Empire. They are all slain or captured. Velvedine, Royal Architect of Carbadi, has assumed the Regency of the Province. She is targeted by an assassination attempt which ends up killing a doppelganger that had been left in her place; several weeks later the genuine article reappears and resumes her position.
(This was the year of the original Udders Well campaign.)
870 ID. Wintersbreath has all but fallen to the Vandrakki barbarians, including the capital city of Vettlar. Only small, unorganized pockets of resistance remain, cut off from the rest of the Empire. Raiders begin to force their way South down the Pinewater into Floivin, but are driven back by Commander Hoary and a small remnant force of Last Eidolorn Soldiers. Hoary is slain in the attack. Velvedine and her neighboring Regent Dharmark decide, with permission from the Emperor, to built fortifications that will defend Floivin and Toul Tabor from the inevitable Vandrakki expansion. Construction of Forts Gurd and Hoary begins at the Shark Dunes and Pinewater pass.
872 ID. With the assistance of hundreds of dwarves from surrounding lands, the Gnarlbottom Clan completes a construction of its own, transforming the Sunken Forge on Greataxe Isle into the Hall of Mercies, a great temple and library devoted to the dwarven Gods whose shrines once occupied the Forge. Many remained on as acolytes and workers at this new place of worship, which features both an above ground structure and the sprawling underground Forge. If rumor is to be believed, a living avatar of a goddess known as Sharindlar resides within the Hall. Grandmother Hosspotch of Hobfast passes away, leaving a temporary hole in the halfling leadership.
875 ID. With the new Forts now complete, Regent Velvedine seeks to reinforce the ranks of Last Eidolorn soldiers, and with the help of Emperor's coffers. A thousand conscripts and their families emigrate from the provinces of Nobbish, Carbadi and Toul Tabor to swell the Floivin ranks. While most can be housed in existing communities, the reconstruction of the keep at Ettenhead is also finished, and transformed into a defensible military village. Memorials are raised for the heroes that once reclaimed the place but met their demise in Sothos Karr.
877 ID. Velvedine reaches an agreement with nearby Melethesz to create a 'highway' beneath the southeastern Vernal Wall, which will connect the two provinces directly. Two large crews of gnome engineers and dwarven miners establish sizable work camps on either side of the projected cavern road, and digging slowly commences. The Floivin camp is known as Skachalo, and the Last Eidolorn clears a new branch of the Great Westermarch across the Crown Pasture to reach them. Additionally, a marked path known as the Skunkwalk is started to connect the various Skunk Ridge communities and inevitably wind up to Fort Gurd. A Floivin businessman named Odd Jon Stuckle sells off the Fiery Rat tavern and establishes the 'Stuckle Downs' walled hamlet in the Ridge, meant as a rest and commerce stop for those crossing the region. He is financially backed by the Hosspotch family, now under the leadership of 'Grandfather' Jordyn, a transplant from Toul Tabor.
880 ID. Angered by rumors of construction under the Vernal Wall, and the possibility of its two flanking Imperial Provinces joining more directly, Sothos Karr sends envoys to threaten the truce with Regent Velvedine if progress continues. Shaken by the confrontation, she decides to abdicate the Regency, but not before ordering the establishment of a military camp just north of Mimresh in the Tooth Marsh. Dubbed Reedrustle, the camp consists of a few dozen tents and shanties, with five score Last Eidolorn soldiers that rotate the defenses and patrols. Scott Morrow is temporarily promoted to Regent-General while Carbadi decides on Velvedine's official replacement.
881 ID. Reports begin to filter in from Last Eidolon scouts, hunters and mountaineers that the ranks of numerous, once-defunct humanoid tribes have once again begun to swell due to flights of ogre, bugbear, and goblin refugees from the Wintersbreath wildlands. It seems the Vandrakki raiders have begun to expand the purge of their new territories. Morrow reaches out to establish a local chapter of the Bounders, a loose organization of do-gooders spanning several continents, who will trace and curb the newfound threat to the best of its ability. Another foreign syndicate known as the Gravers' Guild, from far-off Euristaz, sets up a local office in Floivin Keep. Rumor has it that their interests lie in the strange goings-on in the North of Thault, and the relics and history of the Shann humans who have long made the continent their home.
882 ID. Luciot, Archprelate of the Favored Blades of Eleste, arrives to assume the Regency of Floivin Province, as well as the direct oversight at the Cathedral of Blades. Far more iron-fisted than most of his predecessors, Luciot imposes stricter tithes, a Keep-wide curfew, and a laundry list of added duties for the Last Eidolorn guard. The Regent has an obvious disdain for both the shady dealings of the Hosspotch Holdings, and the newfound worship of the dwarven pantheon due to the Gnarlbottoms' Hall of Mercies. Rumors spread that he may clamp down and take action against both. Assassins and saboteurs, purportedly from Sothos Karr, attack the Melethesz side of the new tunnel being built beneath the Vernal Wall, Skachalo hires on extra mercenaries.
884 ID. Lone Vandrakki scouts and hunters have been spotted infrequently in the Frail Forest and Skunk Ridge. Morrow believes they must have crossed the mountains from the North, and aren't likely to represent an attacking force, but the they've appeared often enough that locals fear they might have found another way into the Province. Refugees have begun to trickle into the Empire from the distant kingdom of Alkinarre, south of Carbadi. Several have even come to Floivin Province. If rumors are true, their homeland is under attack from external undead forces as well as a strange plague, and the God-Bard Adrastos has lost several cities already despite a strong defense by the colossi and stone servitors that populate his lands.
886 ID. Children of numerous races begin to disappear in unusual numbers across the Province. First from the Keep itself, where many orphans initially go unnoticed; then from families in nearby towns like Hobfast and Halehusk; and eventually, from most of the Floivin communities. An exact pattern has been difficult to nail, but it is suspected that over 60 have been taken. The only evidence has been the torn pages from some ancient, unreadable tome left behind at numerous scenes. A massive force of humanoids has once again occupied the ruins at Haunted Horrn, harassing the mountainfolk at nearby Hud Horrn in what seems like an endless cycle. A task force consisting of a hundred Last Eidolorn soldiers, and numerous Bounders, move to reinforce the town.
888 ID. The current year.
