TIME LINES

A Look At Some Important
Historical And Prehistorical Moments For Orlantia

Skip To The Time Line

All my AD&D campaigns for the world of Orlantia are fixed in a certain time range (usually 723 A.E. to 800 A.E. during the reign of Philepe Montrose, 21st Emperor of Alodarian Empire). As that time range is most often measured by the Imperial system of the Alodarian Empire, all dates are given in A.E. (After Empire), or B.A.E. (Before Alodarian Empire).

Technically, these designations aren't strictly well considered as the Alodarian Empire didn't derive its current name until the capital city was moved from Esitte (which was centrally located on the imperial continent), to Alodar, a city which happens to be centrally located amid other kingdoms and nations, and a busy port city as well, where the natural lines of commerce made it an obvious choice as capital. This move occurred in 56 A. E. and since that time the letters "A.E." and "B.A.E." have held their current meanings. So, the years from zero (0) to 56 are still referred to as A.E., which is why A.E. means "after empire" and not "Alodarian Empire" as many may have guessed. Also, bear in mind if something is designated as negative A. E. (-14 A.E., for example), this is just B.A.E.

The tilde (~) used here, as in ~3500 B.A.E., suggests this date is a guess, perhaps within 50 to 100 years of being correct; it is an approximation based on various data. Generally, however, though most B.A.E. dates are approximations, they are not so designated (~). Only those actually measured by Man may be indicated thus. The other B.A.E. dates are just rough DM outlines and probably within 1000 years of being correct if they end in a string of zeros, but if written out to the last year, there is good reason to believe that is the actual date to the nearest year.

Since the Alodarian Empire, holding sway now for over 700 years, is far reaching and quite obviously the most powerful organization currently on the planet, most races are happy to use or least recognize the utility of the Imperial calendar - Also partially because of the fact they mint coins for most of the nations on the planet. Though traditionally Alodar doesn't date its own coins, they may for others, and though these other nations design their own artwork, the imperial standards - size, weight, mixture, and date when included - remain consistent.

Also, due to temporal considerations, or more specifically some effects of relativity, there is a period in this "history" known as Outertime, O.T. It is roughly one million years in length - though it may be as long as 10 million years, it's just hard to tell - and falls approximately between 25,000 B.A.E. and 20,000 B.A.E. During this 5,000 year period where all normal people lived their lives in the galaxy at normal rates of time, where ever they may have been, a million years or more passed on Orlantia - the entire Gimarian system, actually - and this can really mess with your head. So at least 200 years would pass on Orlantia for each year of galactic time, and knowing no better - when dating things on Orlantia from a geological point of view - one may get a number like 750,000 B.A.E. when, in fact, on a galactic time scale believed to have always been in synchronization with Orlantia - for why would anyone believe otherwise? - the actual event may have been more properly dated as 20,150 B.A.E. Fortunately, no one is being asked to think too hard about this, and I only mention it because I can, since I'm one of the few who needs think about it and its consequences. So there.

WARNING: Some of this material is obviously not suitable for reading if you happen to be a current player in my game or wish to be at some later time. Though it may provide insight as a player and you may still read it if you wish, it is clearly OOC (Out Of Character) knowledge and the DM will look sideways at you if your character seems to know too much of it in the same way he'd stop you from using your player knowledge to manufacture gun powder, a gun, or some other technological marvel. In fact, the DM will almost certainly prevent its use if you make an attempt to use this knowledge IC (In Character). This will especially be important as a lot of it is simply not known to any living being on the planet, and most supernatural sources who do still know about it are NOT talking about it. But we DMs do love to run off at the mouth sometimes about our creations, so I'm going to put it all here anyway.

As an encouraging note for my fellow DMs, I must say I have found this to be an excellent way to brighten up one's world and to give it depth. Creating a time line and placing important historical points along it helps shape the present and tells a story. IF the players are so inclined to dig it out, AND if the DM makes it interesting for them to do so, it adds a great deal to the game - just as forcing them to look at it can detract from their enjoyment. Just be sure to keep it open or vague enough to fill in the blanks in between whenever a new story line demands more detail. And don't worry about making up all the details before you plop something into the time line willy-nilly. Just do it. Make note when you finally use it - before you use it, feel free to move it around on the time line. After you fix it in time by using it or referring to it, however, for the sake of consistency and continuity, it should remain fixed in time. Thus I may still freely move around some of this at a later date.

Alas, as this project was only initiated recently, 20 years of playing has missed being recorded, so lots of neat little tidbits are not included, but to do so would make it an awfully complicated read anyway. So please forgive me where it looks rather barren. In actual practice, however, for each new group of players, I may take off any number of irrelevant things and add current story line items to the time line just to have a visual representation of where - or when - things are as play progresses, and eventually all of those minor points may be excised as being rather unimportant as far as world history is concerned, though quite important for a campaign's history. That is why some of the items may seem trivial in comparison to others. Still, this is a world's history here.

Finally, the term "historical" technically refers to written history, so please excuse the improper use of the word when I refer to things that clearly happened long before the written word arose on the planet. Also, the opening paragraphs deal with universal or cosmic histories rather than planetary ones, so skip those if you are not interested, and start reading around 25,000 B.A.E.

THE TIME LINE OF ORLANTIA

500,000 B.A.E. Ah, a good round number and a decent place to begin. Half a million years or so ought to be enough for any historical canvas. Though one may reach further back, you are clearly entering the realm of natural forces quite beyond our everyday understanding if you go back far enough, or perhaps to just the mundane happenings of universal evolution and galactic formations if you do not go back too far. Unless particularly interested in the formation of quarks, one need not go back to the big bang some 20 billion years ago, and the last half million years should suffice anyway, so put away your physics and astronomy books already.

450,000 B.A.E. The Titans rise to power, perhaps along the lines suggested by classical mythology, metaphorically speaking. Though I will go so far as to suggest this evolution didn't occur simply on the PMP - Prime Material Plane - or by many of the processes you may be familiar with. In fact, the planar structure we know and use today had yet to come into existence. Even before the Titans, there were things going on that involved even more primal forces, usually hidden in one's ignorance when using colorful metaphors instead, such as the dark waters, the empty void, the chaos, the relentless ice, the eternal fires, the vast fields of icy wastes and glaciers, the order of it all, the patterns, etc. The life that clearly arose and existed in all its myriad forms for countless billions of years as one generation of stars fell to the next, all existed there. Sol, for example, as well as Gimarian, are 'second generation' stars, and these were clearly more interesting since it wasn't until then the heavier elements were sufficiently abundant to make life almost commonplace, though intelligence amid the teeming quintessence was far from common. The Titans were, however, intelligent, and though thinking of them as giants or huge men may help the ignorant envision them better, they really weren't like that. Even today, those creatures or that race called Titans are not 'True' Titans so much as weak projections or after images of their true form, similar, though in many ways different, to what Avatars are to Gods. But I digress.

300,000 B.A.E. The "Greek" Gods rise to power. Children of the Titans - the Titans are often associated with the powers of the actual universe - the Greek Gods - or the race that eventually spawned them - were quite naturally a product of evolutionary forces all too common on the PMP. Their "parents" still existed, but were often thought to be more akin to universal laws. Though those laws were quite different than modern universal laws, they served a similar function. Yet, the Titans were entities in their own right, and their power lingered in the universe. It was an indifferent power, however, much as an earthquake cares not who gets killed, or the tornado considers not its path of destruction, or the bolt of lightning fails to carefully select its target. The Titans existed like that and could, in many ways, be considered sleeping. Any active manifestation one was likely to run across was puny in comparison to the whole entity, which was, as I mentioned, asleep.

275,000 B.A.E. The "Greek" race of gods - "Greek," for lack of a better term, though I'm sure they call themselves something else entirely, and I will later refer to a certain cross section of them as Olympians - rose in power, knowledge, and wisdom. Primarily situated within the confines of the Zigorian galaxy, as they named it, their level of technology increased for millennia as they spanned the galaxies. As they learned, they found they could alter the very fabric of the universe on the cosmic level. Some of the things they could do were so horrific that they established the council of Jayben, and implemented certain universal laws to prevent these atrocities. As a result, the fabric of space broke where sufficient mass accrued - you need a great deal of mass to achieve this, and such concentrations always result in a black hole. Like a cracked window or mirror - only in three dimensions instead of two - spidery filaments emanated outward from each galaxy's central position - where I again remind you there is usually a black hole. About 1% of all galactic space is now inside these broken filaments or tendrils, and the fabric of the PMP was considerably weaker there. In such a space - often-called tendril-space - magic could more readily be discovered and develop, and was even now an evolutionary force. The other 99% of a galaxy is quite normal space within the PMP, and though magic isn't likely to develop there on its own accord, it could be used there, even if its practice is somewhat more difficult. But I digress.

250,000 B.A.E. The "Greek" race of gods discovers they are not alone, their latest alteration of the universe getting the full attention of other rival races with the wherewithal to do something about it. These "competitors" also possessed similar tech-magic, and, being almost a natural function of the universe, began to fight over resources and/or territory. The pantheon wars begin. Tech magic reigns supreme. The Titans continue their slumber, oblivious to the squabbling concerns of their "children."

175,000 B.A.E. Temporal-magic develops. An end run around certain laws of Jayben, this loophole in the cosmic make up allows many gods to begin to exploit temporal mechanics and use them to augment their tech magic. Most races end up destroying themselves through paradox, but those that survive, thrive, and go on to bring a whole new meaning to the word "destruction." Entire solar systems are, as a matter of course, wiped out of existence, their indigenous populations never knowing what hit them.

150,000 B.A.E. Time-Magic nearly destroy all the Gods in Zigoria. Those that survived did so more out of luck than skill or wisdom. A new council of Jayben is ordained and Time-Magic is outlawed. This isn't just a decree, you understand, but a fundamental alteration of the fabric of the universe.

NOTE: Time magic within the game is not the same as the temporal magic being banned here. Such alterations of the normal flow of time do not rise to the level of this temporal magic, and are, at best, a poor imitation of them, and on an insignificant scale, and exceedingly localized and brief.

The remnants of the original three gods - sometimes likened to the first principles of Law, Chaos, and Life, and coming before even the Titans - were harnessed. The planes of existence were created and space and time - space-time, actually - and the ethereal, astral, and other planes of existence were forged. The fundamental laws of the universe - in fact, the entire multiverse - took much of its present shape at this time. Even the universal gravitational constant wasn't determined - fixed or a true constant - until now, so that should upset a lot of natural philosophers who may have believed otherwise.

50,000 B.A.E. For 100,000 years things have gone rather peacefully for the gods. Immortality - eternal youth, actually - is now commonplace amongst the godly races, though this comes at a price and requires worshipers, of all things. Little thought is given to the differences between technology - the skillful use of energy while confined to the PMP - and magic - the skillful use of energy apart from just indigenous energy gathered on the PMP. Both are useful and used. Knowledge is knowledge. Alas, after certain discoveries are made, however, a consequential spiral develops. A feedback loop that feeds on itself, its power grows, the more you use it, the more you need it, the more it consumes, and it consumes energy at an alarming rate. Entire stars are sacrificed to supply this energy, and still it is not enough. Too late do the gods realize one can not simply shut off the process, and a force actually exists that attempts to thwart the gods from regaining control to check the destruction of the universe. The third council of Jayben is convened.

40,000 B.A.E. These Jayben councils, by the way, are not exactly fast on the scale of human experiences. It is here, during the third council of Jayben, that in order to check the spiral consequences of their blundering combination of technology and magic, they impose the pattern nine, as it was known, and reshape the universe on a more philosophical basis, if you will. The outer planes take their current forms and embody an actual philosophical outlook - one of the nine alignments - or a reasonable facsimile thereof. Philosophical Magic develops. Crelos, a Titan, though he may also have been thought of as a sentient star, wishes to check this attempt and let the universe destroy itself so it might be reborn, this time making sure the universal constants are more to his liking, and it uses this new magic and campaigns against the gods. Crelos' indigenous races - in that solar system - worship the sun and its associated planets as gods - and why not? For they are intelligent and powerful - and they thrive on thoughts of ultimate destruction - and many of the aspects surrounding this make up what little remains of the Cthulhu Mythos, but the less said about that, the better. The Olympians take this war to new heights and finish in the genocidal extermination of all life in Crelos. Unlike before where entire solar systems were destroyed, they were never a more fundamental aspect of the universe, and the Titans continued their slumber. Here, however, they awaken at the destruction of one of their own. - more a banishment, really, for a fundamental aspect of this horror is the possible return of this Titan, one of the elder race, he whose name cannot be spoken, or what have you.

30,000 B.A.E. Slow to move, as they are real Titans, it takes this long for the Olympians to take notice other forces in the universe are once again active and moving against them. These forces, unlike before, were clever and active and no longer indifferent. For the sake of their own survival, the Titans decided the Olympians must be destroyed. Though they held the home field advantage, so to speak, and the Titans had innate powers that were incredible, they had slumbered too long. Now, knowledge and experience might bear out and win the day, but only time would tell. The Titanic Wars begin.

NOTE: I will say that to this date certain Olympians, via natural experimentation or exploration, were engulfed - shall we say, "swallowed?" - by the natural powers of the universe, or some may say, the Titans. Essentially this was nothing more than becoming lost on other less traditional planes of existence, but one could take this as being swallowed by a Titan, if one were ignorant or were simply using some metaphor. The point here is, of course, that Cronus, the Titan, swallowing his children, has some basis in fact, but it sure as hell loses something in the translation, and just plain isn't as fun when you know too much. It loses a touch of mystery. But again, I digress.

25,000 B.A.E. The Olympians capture a quantum singularity and cause it to orbit around a small white star - Gimarian - with a rather otherwise unremarkable system of planets. Around this singularity, they create the planet Orlantia - though no such names are given to the star or planet, as it is merely a tool, and in some ways, perhaps one of many, though I can't go into that. A more complete account of this may be found at the following URL:

Pre Historical Orlantia (How And Why The Gods Made Orlantia)

24,999 B.A.E. The Olympians seed Orlantia with water, soil, organic materials, microbes, etc., and transplanted life of all kinds conducive to war. Particularly, evil dragons, orcs, goblins, trolls, and any number of vile creatures to supply the "right" kind of life force.

24,950 B.A.E. Pallas Athena inoculates Orlantia with the race of the Alderami, some of them transplanted from "across the waters." Corellon Larethian, a deity from another pantheon that is currently at peace with the Olympians, allows this. Outertime begins and the Gimarian Solar System disappears from the galaxy behind an event horizon. A million - or more - relative years of evolution occurs in the system, particularly on Orlantia, where the night sky only holds the other planets and the two moons and no stars, and the day, naturally, holds only the sun, Gimarian. Mind you, these names are their current names and not what they might have been called all those years ago.

20,000 B.A.E. The end of Outertime, the event horizon is "negated" and Orlantia is placed back into normal space. The Gimarian Solar System reappears after nearly a 5,000-year absence, though the galaxy has continued to rotate, it is 5000 years behind where it would have been in space. The race, "The Black Dwarves," progenitors of current dwarven race, correctly surmise what the gods have been doing. The last council of the gods put forth six new rules of Jayben and altered the universal laws for the last time - so far. The last six rules were roughly:

a.) Experimentation with lesser races is "acceptable," but only to a point.
b.) No direct god-to-god confrontations will be allowed; deities must work through go-betweens or intermediaries, and direct involvement with lesser races is not typically permitted past a certain point.
c.) No god shall be guilty of, or allow, genocide of any race by other gods.
d.) The parameters of Divine Intervention are established. These include restrictions on how the gods may interact with the lesser races.
e.) The parameters of mixing magic and technology are laid down. It is considered pretty important to keep them apart, or at least below a certain level, lest the younger races blunder into the same folly as their elders.
f.) Their primary concern lay in the direction of determining the truth and proving which philosophy is correct.

NOTE: This philosophical aspect of the pattern nine, or innate ethics, are not true properties of the universe, but highly subjective. What might give an outer plane a particular 'alignment' is not a direct result of universal law, but a direct result of its inhabitants' philosophical outlook. For example, the Seven Heavens are not intrinsically Lawful Good due to cosmic law, but merely due to the fact most greater beings who dwell there happen to hold that point of view, and protect that territory from those who don't share it. But I digress.

19,948 B.A.E. The Black Dwarves quarry marble - the best quality marble on planet - from around the site that would later fill with water and become Lake Rebel - just outside of Alodar by about half a day's march. The final shaft is so deep that geothermal heat still prevents the formation of ice above that spot in Lake Rebel today.

19,947 B.A.E. The creation of the Forge of Wisdom (BD). NOTE: (BD) is a notation meaning a relation to the Black Dwarves.

The Black Dwarves Of Antiquity (A Modest Look At Those Rascals)

18,523 B.A.E. The creation of the Sphere of I'am. (BD).

17,689 B.A.E. The creation of the Well of Gates (BD).

17,500 B.A.E. The creation of the Truestone Artifact. (BD)

17,233 B.A.E. The creation of the Eye of Anarchy. (BD)

16,279 B.A.E. The creation of the Corridors of Relativity (BD).

15,944 B.A.E. The creation of the Luxom Wall (BD).

15,633 B.A.E. The creation of the Sentient Cylinders (BD).

15,632 B.A.E. The creation of the Staves of Law, Life, and Chaos. (BD)

15,601 B.A.E. The creation of the Heart of the Mountain. (BD)

15,455 B.A.E. The creation of the Ill Earth Stone. (BD)

15,005 B.A.E. The virtual destruction of all Black Dwarves. The remaining few depart Orlantia, never to return.

NOTE: This race created a lot more than the few items I'm suggesting here, but I can't dwell on it, can I?

10,005 B.A.E. Introduction of Man and other races. Prometheus - a lesser Titan, and one of the few remaining, active, and living of that race - creates man - though truth is, he alters the genetic codes of a similar creature from a different planet, but this creates Man, so why quibble?

9580 B.A.E. Teehill appears atop Mt. Weathertop (major). An Image of Yggdrassil. Norse influence is heavy and that pantheon establishes a foothold on Orlantia. Other pantheons will later follow suit, but since all such greater races are adherents of the council of Jayben, the Olympians have little choice but to allow it, lest another pantheon war break out. The gods begin an eternal struggle for the hearts and minds of the mortal inhabitants.

9305 B.A.E. A magical accident splinters the elven people. Stericokalus - a deadly, magical virus - wipes out all elven adults, leaving only the children who are less than 50 years old - practically infants! The viral strain mutates these remaining elves, and all elves develop an immunity to this virus. Torn asunder, all previous elven knowledge prior to this time is lost. The race starts anew as the children mature, quite unaware of what has happened before. The high elf, gray elf, sea elf, and wood elf, are results of forced mutations from the parent-stock that no longer exist. Stericokalus runs its course. The elven civilizations fall into ruin.

8580 B.A.E. Beespencer is planted atop Mt Weathertop (lesser) by Ariel Silversong, oldest living elf at this time, and she acquires wisdom from Teehill for this favor. Beespencer is grown from a bough taken from Teehill.

6637 B.A.E. An embrace of dark promises leads a large faction of sylvan (wood) elves to attempt world domination. In the epic struggle to fend them off, Gimarian - elven high elf and hero and direct descendant of Ariel Silversong - infiltrates their ranks and sacrifices his life by defiling the unholy temple's altar with his life's blood. A black shadow encompasses all of Orlantia for 20 days, blotting out the sun. It was believed Gimarian's purity of heart eventually absorbed and destroyed the dark powers and uncovered the sun - which now bears his name. In truth, the dark power was incorporated into the being of the evil faction of sylvan who were quickly driven into the Underdark by Gimarian's light - the sun, not the elf - where they continue their worship of the dark forces and plot for worldwide dominion. This is the birth of the Drow.

5,560 B.A.E. Prometheus gathers fire from the sun, Gimarian, and gives the secret to Man. Zeus is displeased and imprisons the Titan as punishment for allowing Man access to fire - the basis of technology, since this race is clearly inside tendril space. Actually, this is an apocryphal story as the true event dealt with a tactical plasma fusion grenade, but both deals with fire from fusion, so I won't bore you with the details. Most things the gods do are, and should remain, a mystery. The story of "Fingers" McGee, the world's first rogue, is of course a lie. It was said he stole fire from the gods, but later found he couldn't fence it. It was too hot. Boy, did he get burned on that deal - T. Pratchett.

~3,500 B.A.E. Oldest examples of the written word in Human. Quite simply, a clay tablet with a poem about the sky's wonder and beauty. Or was it a prayer to a sky deity?

~3,350 B.A.E. Oldest example of the written word in Dwarven, though simple runes existed far longer, they were not believed to be a written language so much as a pictorial representation of fundamental universal powers. Carved on a stone block, the passage describes gold as the most virtuous of all metals. Today, mithral is believed to be the most virtuous of all metals by the dwarves, but that's not important here. It only suggests somewhere along the line that they changed their minds - probably when they discovered the true nature of mithral.

3269 B.A.E. The discovery of The Staff Of Life (BD) by the elven princess, Serenity, ushers in the silver millennium. From Scepter - the outer moon - they rule the Gimarian System for nearly one thousand years. Serenity becomes the first of the elven Gardeners.

3256 B.A.E. Serenity uses the Staff of Life to ignite the Eternal Flame - on Pholar.

2545 B.A.E. Ares - the god - officially claims Orlantia as his personal property and attempts to gain worldwide control such that no other god could wrest it from his grasp again - see Pre Historical Orlantia. Constrained by the dictates of the council of Jayben, gods are not allowed to act directly. His first temple is established on what is now known as Skull Island in Lake Thomas. For over 100 years his minions run rampant across Orlantia. Only Queen Serenity and the Alluring Soldiers, god bless 'em, prevent his total dominion over the planet.

~2,500 B.A.E. Oldest example of written Alderami or Alderian. A scroll of silver metal, hammered paper thin, and scratched with words in contemporary Elven - Ancient Elven was verbal only and never written - the story speaks of the hero Gimarian, his heart of pure and holy fire, and his guiding light of love.

2447 B.A.E. Formation of the Serpentine Swamp over the fresh water lake, the experiments of the Human Wizard Hrdlikka end in disaster.

2442 B.A.E. Athena - the goddess - establishes her presence on Orlantia to once again put Ares - the god - in his place. The first temple of Athena is built in what is now the great swamp, Lifeswallower, though the area was rather lovely back then.

2280 B.A.E. Lord Pental, worshiper of Ares, discovers the Eye of Anarchy (BD).

2282 B.A.E. The Chalice of Athena is forged. The Two Red Trees are planted.

2284 B.A.E. The destruction of the first temple of Athena, the formation of Lifeswallower. The destruction of the first temple of Ares, the desolation of Skull Island.

2285 B.A.E. The conflict between Queen Serenity and Lord Pental the Chaotic culminates in the destruction of the Alluring Soldiers, bringing to a close the silver millennium. The Eye of Anarchy is destroyed, The Staff of Life is lost, its whereabouts or fate, unknown.

2284 B.A.E. Only the wisdom of the Gardener remains from the silver millennium, taken from the singing rings of gold on Scepter, its power falling into the care of Lady Dewshine, the second Gardener and, for all intents and purposes, the progenitor of the current elven hierarchical system.

2260 B.A.E. Bartholomew the Blessed, a man with the gift of second sight - he could find and/or choose which babies were special enough to become paladins of Athena. He started the Order of SUMMUM BONUM - SUUM-muum BAW-nuum, "The Highest Good". These paladins of Athena and their influence, if any, could be said to be the greatest force today that might put the 'good' tendency in the otherwise lawful neutral organization of the Alodarian Empire. Bartholomew dies in the great swamp Lifeswallower on a quest in 2220 B.A.E., never to be seen again.

2255 B.A.E. Salter drives the dwarves from their homeland in the north. The exodus of the dwarven people occurs. They make their new home on what is now called the Imperial Continent in the Scale Mountain Range. Some were lost at sea, most drowned, but one ship found themselves on the southern continent of Mordue, where they established Forge Keep, currently ruled by the Obsidian family line.

2254 B.A.E. Lord Corundum Pedas discovers the Heart of the Mountain (BD) - later named the Heart of Pedas.

2253 B.A.E. Lord Corundum establishes himself as undisputed leader of the dwarven people. The start of the Pedas line. Landfall colony renamed "Pedas," after Lord Corundum Pedas.

1380 B.A.E. The discovery of the artifact, The Staff of Law (BD), by Ariess Epsily, lays the groundwork for the foundation of the order of the Lords of the Flame. Later, 20 staves of the Flame are created using this staff, and these 21 lords become the most powerful force and organization on Orlantia.

1379 B.A.E. Lord Bane is "born."

1360 B.A.E. Advancements in prayer and commune lead to the blessings - creation - of sophisticated healing magic for the favored of the gods. i.e. Cure Light Wounds is now capable of healing 1 HP. This is the start of a whole new way to look at injuries.

1345 B.A.E. Epsily uses the Staff of Law to transform a tribe of Storm Giants into fighting monks, now known as the Blood Guard; they swear allegiance to the Lords of the Flame.

1321 B.A.E. Creation of the Mentex Sisterhood of Psionic Disciplines. Built upon the recently discovered remnants of knowledge - thought lost to antiquity - of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood from off world, they make their home on Orlantia at the invitation of the Lords of the Flame.

1273 B.A.E. Lord Bane discovers the Ill Earth Stone (BD).

1270 B.A.E. Lord Bane, one of the Lords of the Flame, is corrupted. He sacrifices himself on the green stone and summons 3 vile ravers - Moltar, Brak, and Zorak. These undead spirits of horrific power serve as his minions. Now an anti-druid of sorts, he begins his campaign to destroy all druids, all rangers, all elves, and all other Lords of the Flame on Orlantia.

1268 B.A.E Cure Light Wounds is now 1d3. Incredibly, the higher power of healing ushers in an era of willingness to harm others. Those who have it are willing to risk injury more and tend to go to war more, especially against forces that are not so favored by the gods.

1265 B.A.E. The Bane Wars culminate in Lord Kevin's breaking of the Staff of Law, an act of despair at the loss of his wife, Alison. The Lands of Tor are laid waste - The Wastelands of Tor. Bane escapes via a precast Wish.

1264 B.A.E. All but one of the remaining Lords of the Flame escape to Simhar - a different planet in another solar system - and reestablish themselves as Guardians of the Menabold Empire. The broken Staff of Law is taken with them as well as most of the Staves of the Flame - 13 make it, leaving one behind, the other six staves are still lost somewhere on Orlantia, though later two of those were found and eventually are taken by heroes off world. Yes, they are somewhere in the net.

1263 B.A.E. Lord Hannibal, of the Lords of the Flame, and his Blood Guard, Carver, sacrifice themselves to destroy Lord Bane. The attempt succeeds, but they are trapped in time. Lord Bane's precast Wish to be resurrected should he die - yes, another precast Wish - is similarly halted in time - Reference: 22.1545 X 97.1342 Mentex Sisterhood Of Records.

1254 B.A.E. Ekibar is wrought upon the recently rediscovered forge of wisdom. The dwarven arch mage Rile, and the Oroto clan, initiates the quest to destroy Salter. The quest fails, but stays Salter's resurrection another cycle.

801 B.A.E. Cure Light Wounds now heals 1d4. Healing Magic continue to improve.

799 B.A.E. The beginning of the Quadrasary Wars. The kingdoms of Stensson, Chappel, Ferrick, and Palentear struggle for ultimate power for the next 800 years. During this time, armor, weapons, and magic increase dramatically in sophistication.

255 B.A.E. Discovery of a living grotto of significant power establishes druidical power, firmly entrenching one of the twenty-one circles of druids on the imperial continent. (Actually, there 'were' 21 circles, a carry over from the Lords of the Flame, but now only twelve remain - one for each continent, more or less - when various circles consolidated. The Red Forest Circle contained this grotto. Approximately 800 years hence, the grotto is lost to the druids, its location now a mystery, though their druidical order no longer needed the grotto's power to maintain their place, and in truth, their own powers, 800 years from now, superseded the grotto's anyway. Still, it's a nice place, if only one knew where it was. It is still spoken of in druidical circles - The hidden Grotto of Odonna - but no one knows where it is. Well. . . almost no one.

253 B.A.E. The last of the Oroto clan dies in the quest to kill Salter once again - this cycle, an cycle of 1,001 years - but Salter is rendered dormant again, but not destroyed, and awaits the next resurrection cycle. With no one left who even knows about this quest, the sword, Ekibar, falls to the trolls.

156 B.A.E. The creation and adoption of Trade language, aka Thari, aka Common. The language is easily learned and travels quickly along lines of commerce as it was designed by a group of scholar merchants to be easily learnable and high in utility for trading goods. It continues to evolve over time. The adoption of future trade agreements with the Mostoli in 356 A.E. represents its most significant change, and that point will mark the distinction between contemporary Common and Ancient Common. The original Thari replaced a language somewhat akin to Latin, and this older language is still used by scholars and, most notably, many official Imperial documents. That language is called Rex, and would be taken as the Common language before 156 B.A.E. Rex is now, naturally enough, what is known as a dead language.

4 B.A.E. Discovery of the Truestone Artifact (BD) by Corwin Alexander. The stone eventually finds its way into the hands of some generals. This artifact later becomes the basis of the Alodarian Empire's power.

0 A.E. The New Empire - later renamed the Alodarian Empire - is established. Thomas Aquinas - 1st Emperor of the Alodarian Empire - assumes office. The council of Becker sets Imperial coin standards.

07 A.E. The Aquinas Decree makes it illegal to enslave any human, elf, halfelf, dwarf, gnome, halfling, or their immediate offspring, within the empire. The practice of slavery of these races is pretty much banished in all neighboring kingdoms and nations as well within 300 years of this decree. Even debtors' prison - economic slavery - is abolished while "Lender Beware" becomes the standard. This slows economic growth to a crawl for the next 120 years.

18 A.E. The Council of Knorr, 18 A.E. made alterations to the hastily adopted calendar system. With these alterations, it would now maintain astronomical alignments for 5,400 years or better. Corrections are made to bring it back into alignment since it was losing about one entire day every decade.

29 A.E. Abel Forner - 2nd Emperor of Alodarian Empire - assumes office.

35 A.E.. Cure Light Wounds improves, now capable of healing 1d6.

56 A.E. The new empire moves its capital city to Alodar. The Alodarian Empire grows in power and prestige.

57 A.E. The mysterious and nigh godlike neutral arch mage, Tranu - it is said his familiar is a 30th level cleric of the greater god, Set - sets up, for his own reasons mostly, the connection to Orlantia. The Interplanetary Teleportation Network makes Orlantia the 13th such planet in the chain - often simply called, "the net". Through its connection, other planets have chains of commerce and travel running through Alodar, helping the city grow in power and wealth and culture. As a testament to its utility and ease of acquisition, The Common Language - Trade Talk or also sometimes known as Thari - moves along the new lines of commerce and firmly establishes itself as the primary language throughout the net. Though the language is still evolving - and takes its most recognizable shape by 356 A.E. - by 530 A.E. it is the official Common Language for the most powerful organizations on 20 different planets - the entire net membership.

Note: Naturally, some worlds, less apt to include certain charms and problems, are less interesting to the cream of the crop, and many adventurers begin traveling to Orlantia - one of five so called adventurous worlds of wonder out the current twenty planets in the net. This gives each of these adventuring worlds an average population of adventurers about 4 times higher than one might statistically expect.

59 A.E. Celtan Stocker - 3rd Emperor of Alodarian Empire - assumes office.

90 A.E. Claudius Dominic - 4th Emperor of Alodarian Empire - assumes office.

108 A.E. The Cardigan Rebellion. Put down by General Arak Styles and the emperor Claudius Dominic, they defeated the evil plans of the psionic warrior, General Jason Cardigan.

109 A.E. Psionicist Registration Act of The Council of Triscale, 109 A.E. Psionic discipline, Aura Alteration, outlawed. All psionic individuals must be registered. Failure carries the death penalty if established one deliberately tried to evade registration. This is one of the few crimes that still carry the penalty of capital punishment.

NOTE: Most crimes that traditionally carried the death penalty now instead carry the penalty of "Astral Confinement." This is a sort of sensory deprivation tank that is likened to solitary confinement for centuries of astral time, essentially driving such "victims" insane. Any skills they had would likely deteriorate or atrophy. After release - which is typically only after a few minutes have passed on the prime material plane - they are Healed, as spell. The end result is a character - who may regain lost xp at 10 times the rate until back to where they were - with a randomly determined alignment - could even be identical to their original one, but the empire isn't trying for any specific alignment. Such criminals are then released into society, hopefully to "sin" no more. No matter what alignment they may end up with, they would do nearly anything to avoid such a tortuous experience again - most typically, walk the straight and narrow, despite their impulses, or even commit suicide rather than submit to that experience again. Though the death penalty isn't mandatory, any prisoner about to endure astral confinement may request merciful death instead - though it must, technically, be 'self-inflicted.' The empire will provide various means through which one may accomplish this task, most typically, a painless poison where one "falls to sleep" and wakes no more.

110 A.E. Craftius Decker - 5th Emperor of Alodarian Empire - assumes office.

115 A.E. The council of Malichi, 115 A.E. makes its ruling. It is proposed that geases to refrain one from attempting to remove imperial geases on oneself, geases to actively avoid letting anybody else to try to remove one's imperial geases, and redundant imperial geases, all were probably a pretty neat idea to have in addition to the normal set of imperial geases. These are essentially oaths of office and trust. Deliberately violating one's oath, you see, would be tantamount to committing suicide.

127 A.E. The Grolan Reform is passed. The council of Grolan 127 A.E. provides minimum wage laws and allows garnishment of one's wages if such garnishment did not lower one's income below a certain point. Other economic reforms such as this put the empire's economy on a slow, steady growth. The Grolan wage - minimum wage - is periodically adjusted by the emperor.

142 A.E. Lidia Sorrel, Cleric of Loki, becomes a vampire. She is perhaps one of the strongest vampires still around today. Her name could be said to be whispered like "Dracula" might be whispered on Earth. Most lore suggests the victims of vampires may become vampires themselves, but this is only true if the killing vampire was not subordinate to another, and was a true vampire. Lidia is a master (mistress) or true vampire, and her victims would become minion vampires, but her minions do not have this power to make more vampires, nor do they fully have the ability to 'energy drain' their victims in a like manner - 2 levels, but may have 0 or 1, depending on their age and experience. Lidia is responsible for the majority of vampires on Orlantia today, though most of them are minion vampires - half strength. If she were destroyed, the quality of true vampire would only be conferred to perhaps the strongest few of her minions - and not to all her minions as may have been believed. Her powers and organizational skills are great, and she still holds the abilities of a high priest of Loki as well. Though rarely spoken or even heard in most circles, her name still inspires terror.

150 A.E. Morbid Humor - 6th Emperor of Alodarian Empire - assumes office.

169 A.E. Sten Kire - 7th Emperor of Alodarian Empire - assumes office.

208 A.E. Lisa Ahnk - 8th Emperor of Alodarian Empire - assumes office. First female emperor.

210 A.E. The Ahnk Decree is passed. Basically, this makes it illegal to enslave any creature of any race with an average intelligence of 5 or more - this is not actually given as an AD&D number, but there are basic tests that have been used, and there is a growing list of races that are banned from slavery. The Ahnk Decree freed slave populations who were, for over 200 years, held by forced, magical charm spells. These tribes of kobolds and orcs - who spent the last two centuries building much of the imperial infrastructure - were set free. These tribes, though no longer magically charmed or enslaved, still live in close proximity to the empire and are, generally, more neutral and less evil than their more wild cousins. They do a surprising amount of trade with the empire, dealing in exotic fungi and its byproducts - like cheeses, yogurts, etc.

242 A.E. Benjon Askov - 9th Emperor of Alodarian Empire - assumes office.

255 A.E. The Vistantie - a very special bloodline of the Gypsy people reported to have extraordinary abilities to see the future with their special Tarot cards - acquires their power at this time. Their matriarch, Rachel Vistantie, encounters of Sphere of I'am (BD), acquires the sight, and passes this gift of Scepter and Pholar tarot enchantments to predict the future down to her direct female descendants - who keep the name Vistantie as a title, though their married named is almost certainly different. One can get vague glimpses of probable future events from multiple readings in a day, but the true power may only be used once per day, and only then after at least 30 minutes of ritualistic preparations. Such a reading for a stranger is usually only done for a good cause, and even then, probably carries a high price.

290 A.E. Katrena Handor - 10th Emperor of Alodarian Empire - assumes office.

319 A.E. Elkton Chandler - 11th Emperor of Alodarian Empire - assumes office.

340 A.E. Reform movements try to ban alcohol, drugs, and prostitution. Influences from other worlds try to "help" Orlantia become more "proper." Immediately, organized crime arises to provide citizens with their vices. Prostitution, however, becomes a form of black market slavery, making it a rather nasty, brutal, dirty business.

344 A.E. Jontoway Ribidicus, master thief, organizes the first thieves' guild and gets a firm grip on the major cities' crime world, dealing primarily with alcohol, drugs, and prostitution - as well as theft. Average life expectancy of a prostitute is about 30 years. This is 30 years below imperial average.

345 A.E. Vile Scumm - 12th Emperor of Alodarian Empire - assumes office.

346 A.E. Trade agreements between the Alodarian Empire and the Mostoli - The Dwarves of Pedas - alter the Common language on a fundamental level, marking the division between Contemporary and Ancient Common.

369 A.E. Bruno Calloway - 13th Emperor of Alodarian Empire - assumes office.

372 A.E. Scumm - dead, though inside the Truestone artifact - decides fighting vice crime in the traditional sense is a losing battle when so many of the imperial citizens want alcohol, drugs, or prostitutes. He helps reform society again and his influence convinces Calloway to abolish the laws that made these things illegal. Furthermore, this establishes certain codes, practices, and licensing of these things. This brings a dramatic improvement to a prostitute's life and life expectancy. A more in-depth treatment may be read about here:

The Legalization Of Prostitution And Drugs (Why Are Prostitution And Drugs Legal In The Alodarian Empire?)

429 A.E. Carlos Correl - 14th Emperor of Alodarian Empire - assumes office.

444 A.E. The council of Sentry, 444 A.E. established unborn children of imperial citizens are entitled to the rights of imperial citizens and considered people in their own right. To read more about this, follow this Apothecary link:

The Apothecaries Of Orlantia (The Apothecary, Why They Are So Important To The Masses)

498 A.E. Nicky Atwater - 15th Emperor of Alodarian Empire - assumes office.

500 A.E. Magic Missile now refined and it becomes possible as a 3rd level spell.

543 A.E. Odonna Sven, druid, does spirit battle with Moltar, last of the active Ravers. Her loss brings the stewardship of the awakened grotto at XXXXXXXXXXXX to a close, the line of stewards stretching back over 800 years ends, at least temporarily, with her. The hidden grotto of Odonna is still spoken of, but no one knows its location. Well. . . you know.

547 A.E. Rosewell Edgewood - 16th Emperor of Alodarian Empire - assumes office.

566 A.E. The Council of Leanordo, 566 A.E., where it was provided an estimated equivalent mass of seawater should be removed back to a different location in the elemental plane of water to offset the pure water brought in from the same plane.

625 A.E. Cure Light Wounds increases in sophistication for the last time - so far. Now capable of healing 1d8 +1 HP/level - up to +5. General, overall health is climbing. Many diseases are being eradicated with magic. Average human life expectancy within the empire approaches 80 years.

639 A.E. Abbig Artefact - 17th Emperor of Alodarian Empire - assumes office.

645 A.E. The printing press is invented. The first book off the press is a collection of elven poetry, translated to Common. It looses something in the translation, but it is still considered a great work by those who know both Common and Alderian. 2,000 copies are made of the first edition of The Emerald Soul - translated, a reference to the green eyes of the elves reflecting their true spirits. Such a first edition is currently worth about 10,000 GP - wow! - but only 24 known copies are still around. The printing press, however, is not used very widely as of yet since it has clearly demonstrated no magical applications were possible - no magic scrolls, for example, can be printed. To date, most printed material that can be found will be adorning the shelves of the very rich, governmental officials, adventurers, churches, and a few private libraries of the better sages. For the masses, only the reading primer, Sandy's Book Of Letters, a small, picture booklet teaching one how to read, is widely available.

666 A.E. Magic Missile further refined, it becomes possible as a 1st level spell, a quantum leap in power. The Wizard, Quality, is sorry he discovered the trick and even sorrier he allowed it to become common knowledge amongst mages. Most mages do consider this spell to be one of the most versatile and powerful in the standard repertoire of arcane lore.

670 A.E. Ruby Truestone - 18th Emperor of Alodarian Empire - assumes office.

674 A.E. The council of Proctor, 674 A.E. provides supplemental aid to apothecaries and their shops throughout the empire. The level of general health improves, eventually reaching its current level, being about 90 years for human males and 93 years for human females, in the Alodarian Empire.

687 A.E. Birth of James Robert (Tiberius) Starlight.

690 A.E. Orc frenzy occurs - as expected - as part of a natural 39 to 41 year cycle.

705 A.E. Sanford Innman - 19th Emperor of Alodarian Empire - assumes office.

715 A.E. King Tiputs Centell falls to King Magnus. Harborton Kingdom is established on the southern continent of Mordue.

719 A.E. James Starlight - 20th Emperor of Alodarian Empire - assumes office. Starlight is the only emperor to ever leave office for reasons other than failing health or death.

723 A.E. Philepe Montrose - 21st Emperor of Alodarian Empire - assumes office.

728 A.E. The 18-year cycle of the large nexal gate in the Imperial Sea that opens into the paraelemental plane of ice for one entire Pholar occurs on 10/14/728 A.E.

729 A.E. The last Orc Frenzy - a 40-year cycle or so, when the population of orcs explodes and the lack of local food sends them marauding across the countryside - is particularly nasty. It is believed some evil characters were further manipulating and directing the orcs for their own aims. The destruction of property and the loss of human life was easily twice the last frenzy in 690 A.E. Many current campaigners may have a part of their personal history tied up in this event, perhaps having lost a parent or their entire family in the onslaught. The next such natural frenzy should occur between 768 and 770 A.E.

748 A.E. Not that any living soul knows this, but Salter - Destroyer of Dwarves - is due to awaken from his slumber about this time.

Naturally, as an ongoing endeavor, I will be constantly updating this and fiddling with it - mostly adding to it, but occasionally subtracting from it. The general idea is that each new group of players gets to make their own mark on it, so past players have already dealt with and significantly altered many items, but the time line has reverted to this form for the current group of PBEM players, and they may make the same discoveries and do the same things as previous players, though they may, and often do, take things in entirely different directions as well. Each new group follows its own path, its own destiny, and makes its own mark on the world. But that is campaign history, not world history, and will not be found here in detail. So I again apologize if some of this looks rather sparse or is totally lacking in detail after 748 A.E. - the IRC group is around 746 A.E., but the PBEM group is around 728 A.E. - prior to that. But that's the nature of this article; history, and not contemporary events. Unless something compels me to change my mind, I suspect most games set on Orlantia will stay within the Montrose Reign - 723 to 800 A.E.

Players must beware when reading events past their character's own placement in time. Though I'd be reluctant to do it, those events may change, so one should not assume anything is fixed for the future. Even Philepe Montrose, for example, might die before 800 A.E. But I, for the last time here, digress.

Happy Gaming ;-)

© October of 2000
by
James L.R. Beach
Waterville, MN 56096