TIMELINE

The Ancient Past

Circa 10000 BA

This marks the generally preconceived point in time where the Eternals (Indu, Nakht'Shethe and the Nameless Ones) created the world of Morra as a step toward completing some great Purpose, which only they could understand. A lifeless rock floating in space, the Eternals spent the next several thousand years creating non-sentient life to complete the Morrin ecosystem.

Circa 8500 BA

The creation of the Arrkani by the Eternals. The Arrkani were created in Indu's image and were said to be perfect beings empowered by strong souls. Though many of the Eternals feared that sentient life would one day destroy all that they had created, those who opposed Indu's decision remained quiet, trusting in the divine foresight of their elder.

Circa 2000 BA

The creation of Fae creatures by the Arrkani. Using the Arcana passed to them by Indu, the Arrkani people began to dabble in creation. Seen as an act of blasphemy by Nakht'Shethe and many of the other Eternals, they turned upon Indu and demanded that Morra be cleansed of the Arrkani. When Indu refused, Nakht'Shethe enacted a second creation and breathed life into the Kish people who were created with the purpose of hunting down the Arrkani. Outraged, Indu countered by creating Men to protect his perfect beings. This sparked what became known as the Retribution Wars. The wars ultimately resulted in the creation of Tzysk, Curze, Eum Giants, Trolls and many other non-Fae races and creatures. According to the old Myths, the Eternals became so involved in their war that they forgot about their true Purpose, and without Purpose, they ceased to exist.

Circa 1260 BA

Among humans, the Morrin culture begins to be supplanted by the Reinic culture. This marks the approximate date of the founding of Rein, the first feudal human kingdom under King Edward Perius.

Circa 1200 BA

Sixty years of struggling to build a royal heirarchy has left several founding fathers of the Reinic monarchy landless. Determined not to be deprived of their place in the newly founded kingdom, they begin exploring the Iron Shoulder Mountains in search of new lands that they can claim as their own. Within a few years these early explorers have discovered a vast forested landscape to the northeast of Rein. Claiming these new lands as their own, the Meltarran Kingdom is formed under King Roland Salis.

Circa 1175 BA

The Meltarran Kingdom is rocked by an uprising of King Salis' most trusted servant Earl Markus Dane. The count has gathered his vassels under his banner and claimed Southern Meltarra as a new, separate kingdom. Outraged, King Salis begins a military campaign against the newly crowned King Dane. The Meltarran Conflict continues for nearly twenty five years until the death of King Dane through illness. With the powerful warlord dead, King Dane's vassels swear fealty to King Salis and bring Southern Meltarra back under the rule of the kingdom's founder.

1150 BA to 320 BA

This period of time marks what scholars refer to as the Golden Years of Morra. It was a time of peaceful advancement in both the Kingdom of Rein and the Meltarran Kingdom. Both kingdoms continued their royal line and solidified their seats of power by granting land and title to their vassels to rule in their name. Though minor civil uprisings and royal scandals occurred every few generations, the Golden Years marked a great technological advancement in farming, crafts of all sorts and saw the signing of countless treaties and agreements between the two human kingdoms.

315 BA

Supported with funds from the great Meltarran Merchant family, the Sorthanlieves, a coalition of minor Meltarran nobles under the command of Sir Rauleux Caranthis take ships across the Sea of Iveen to colonize the fertile Annwyn River Valley. A village named Calimoore is founded at the mouth of the Annwyn and construction begins on Maleagre Keep on a small hill overlooking the mouth of the river.

305 BA

The siege of Maleagre Keep, Calimoore. Tolbari horse nomads (natives of the Annwyn River Valley), sweep south down what will later be known as the Ghost Road and attempt to wipe out the invaders settling at the mouth of the Annwyn. Most of Calimoore's residents, (it being little more than a walled village at this time), are able to take refuge in the recently completed Maleagre Keep. A few brave riders manage to escape to carry warnings and pleas for aid to the settlers who have spread up the valley.

The Tolbari are not equipped with siege weapons and have never faced a stone fortification before. The Tolbari shaman, Sees-the-Darkness, exhorted his people to throw themselves against the gates and scale the walls regardless of cost, saying, "If the Spirit Eaters and Lost Ones keep their village here, our deaths are the best birth gifts we can offer our children's children's children!"

The Tolbari had actually broken into the lower floors of the keep and were in the process of slaughtering its occupants when relief arrived from the nearby Berengius and Orgilous manors. The handful of mounted knights and armored footmen plowed into the Tolbari rear.

The ferocious assault by the armored invaders broke the tribesmen's morale, but they were still able to make an orderly retreat from the field back to their sacred range. Dame Melisande Berengius led the soldiers who fell upon the blood maddened Tolbari within the keep itself and arrived in time to save the life of Sir Rauleux by slaying Sees-the-Darkness in single combat. From that day on the Berengiuses commanded the Caranthis personal guard.

Without the great shaman Sees-the-Darkness to lead them, the Tolbari never attempted to destroy Calimoore again, choosing instead to draw the line at the Battle Plains, or the North March as the Meltarran settlers knew it.

300 BA

Sir Rauleux Caranthis declares himself the first King of Sorlamir, a name which in Meltarran means roughly "The Land Across the Sea." King Rauleux ennobles many of his faithful vassals and grants them lands to settle and exploit. Among the newly made noble houses are House Orgilous and House Berengius. With a Meltarran noble's typical disdain for merchants, the new king does not grant any title to House Sorthanlieve despite their key role in the settlement of Sorlamir. Regardless of this slight, the Sorthanlieves continue to pour money into the new kingdom, encouraging Meltarran townsmen and freemen to relocate to Sorlamir. They also encourage the expansion of Sorlamir further west, up the Annwyn River Valley.

257 BA

The Battle of the Golden Road. Intrigued by the rapid growth and obvious prosperity of the new Kingdom of Sorlamir, the Meltarran King Horgan Salis dispatches a fleet of ships bearing knights and siege machinery to take Calimoore and assert his suzerainty over the upstart "duchy". Word of the coming invasion reaches Calimoore through unknown means and King Rauleux is given enough warning to prepare the defense of his throne.

Rauleux spreads a chain of fire barges halfway across the entry to the inner bay, or Golden Road, of Calimoore. He then stations the four ships under his command in the remaining gap, binding them together with lengths of heavy chain to prevent Meltarran ships from passing between them. The ships were then packed with every knight and man-at-arms to be had, each of them well aware that if one ship sank it was liable to drag the others down with it due to the chains connecting them.

When the Meltarran fleet of six large warships rounded the point into the Golden Road, the fire barges were lit and a great cry went up from the Sorlamirian soldiers and sailors. Undeterred by the sight of a prepared enemy, the Meltarrans sailed in and engaged, attempting to take the four ships by boarding action. While this should have been an easy enough feat as the Meltarrans outnumbered the Sorlamirians by close to four on one, the defenders fought back with such a fury that the attackers were thrown back in a panic.

It is said that more Meltarran knights drowned under the weight of their armor as they fled than were killed by sword or axe. Two of their ships were sunk and the remaining vessels captured and added to the Sorlamirian naval forces. Many Meltarran nobles were captured, including the king's eldest son Prince Charles Salis, who had been placed in command of an operation the king thought would be a nearly bloodless victory. King Rauleux used the Meltarran Prince as leverage to extract a treaty with Meltarra that formalized trade and political relations between the two kingdoms. Meltarra never attempted another invasion of Sorlamir.

190 BA

The Kingdom of Sorlamir attains the rough borders now comprised within the lands of Evanshire alone. The fertile, easy to work river valley produces enough grain for a saleable surplus. The population of the new kingdom grows swiftly thanks to plentiful food, a relatively healthy environment and a constant influx of petty nobles and freemen from Meltarra.

180 BA

Sir Torin Montferrat, a famed adventurer and nephew of the Baron of Forsart, founds the City of Torin. Thanks to its defensible position against the Iron Shoulder Mountains and the easily navigable Annwyn River, the small settlement soon burgeons into a walled town.

135 BA

In an effort to distance himself from the control of the powerful Barons of Evanshire, King Elebyn Caranthis declares Torin to be the new Royal seat of Sorlamir and takes up residence there. Construction of a palatial royal castle, Caer Torin, begins at once.

128 BA

King Elebyn Caranthis of Sorlamir takes suddenly ill and dies. Popular belief blames the king's illness on poison and places the poisoner's cup in the hands of Elebyn's younger brother and heir, Harseth. When Harseth attempts to assert his claim to the crown, the barons of Sorlamir rise up against him and defeat his army as it attempts to make the river crossing near what was then Wellyn's Watch. Harseth is thrown from his horse in midstream and his body is found along the shoreline the next morning. As the only surviving Caranthis heir is a boy of seven, the barons elect one of their own to sit on the throne as king and decide among themselves to follow this procedure for choosing kings from thence forth. The first elected king is Raymonde I of House Vermandois.

115 BA

Sir Arinthel Tol is ordered to establish a fortification in the plateaus to the southwest of Torinshire in order to discourage encroachment upon the Sorlamirian borders through a newly discovered pass in the Iron Shoulder Mountains that connects the southern borders of Sorlamir to the northern borders of the Kingdom of Rein and the Murkwood which lies just beyond. The fortification was also intended to keep the few small settlements in that region under the control of King Raymonde Vermandois. The foundations for Fort Kemly are laid down. Sir Arinthel, faced with a task that demands more manpower than even an established feudal lord could establish by levy, convinces the king to establish a special tax on plows and other farm implements in order to finance the establishment of a semi-mercenary professional army, the Tol Legion to assist in the construction and future protection of the region.

95 BA

Construction of Fort Kemly is completed and raids on Torinshire from the Kish of the Murkwood virtually cease. Sir Arinthel Tol is made Earl of Kemlyshire by King Raymonde Vermandois and made the hereditary general of the Tol Legion.

85 BA

House Sorthanlieve is finally ennobled and their House Leader, Francis Sorthanlieve is granted the title of Earl of Leketteshire by the king. House Sorthanlieve and its vassals in Leketteshire swear fealty to King Raymonde Vermandois II.

83 BA

The Kingdom of Sorlamir takes roughly the form it wears today with its girth filling the entire lands fenced in by the Iron Shoulder Mountains to the north, west and south and the Sea of Iveen on the east.

80 BA

The influential merchant House Sorthanlieve founds the fortified Village of Lekette and begins parceling out lands in the Lekette Valley to their faithful vassals. Skilled engineers and mining families from the Kingdom of Rein are brought through Kemly Pass to begin sinking the mines that will provide the growing village with the wealth it needs to prosper.

50 BA

The Arrkani re-emerge into the world of men. Discovered deep within the Great Meltarran Forest a brittle friendship begins between Men and Arrkani. Though the Arrkani remain a reclusive people, they begin to trade goods with Meltarrans of Fort Meegan, a tiny village that was errected along the norther border of the great woods.

Men learn at last much of the great lore of the Retribution Wars though the Arrkani keep much of the past in the greatest of secrecy. Rumors begin to be told of the Na'bri, the Arrkani betrayers who remained beneath the surface of the world when the Arrkani finally returned to the light a thousand years ago. The Arrkani become highly sought after by scholars of all three kingdoms, though only a very few can claim to have gained an Arrkani audience at this time.

40 BA

A young, minor noble with a sagacious and righteous reputation is elected King of Sorlamir. His name is King Agriel Aubermane.

16 BA

The Ascension War begins when Reinic scholars who have spent the last thirty years prying the secrets of sorcery out of the Arrkani begin to fight over rulership of Morra. The first blow is struck by the Sorcerer Aladimus of Rein who appears seemingly overnight to murder more than a dozen so-called sorcerers over the course of two months.

Securing dominance over other sorcerers of the region, Aladimus brings the Reinic King Louis Moldaine XVI under his control, forcing the good king to empower Aladimus with land and title that empowers him as the heir to the Reinic Crown. The sorcerer takes possession of the greatest of the seven towers of the Royal Castle.

A civil war begins in the Royal City of Rein as Reinic Nobles opposed to the sorcerers claim to the throne waylay his tower in Caer Rein. Seeing his vassals taking action against the powerful sorcerer King Moldaine XVI enlists the aide of several lesser sorcerers to his cause. Together, this ramshackle group of Arcanists backed by a powerful army of armored soldiers lay siege to Caer Rein and ultimately take the head of the Sorcerer Aladimus, but not before much of the Royal Castle is destroyed by the efforts. When the dust clears, the Reinic nobility and army has been thinned to less than one third its previous strength. Though King Moldaine XVI survives the conflict, he is mortally wounded and dies soon after, leaving the crown to his only son, Louis XVII.

The new king's first command is to found the Reinic Council of Sorcerers. Consisting with those who aided his father against Aladimus, the Council is charged with the duty of controlling Arcana with an iron fist to ensure that no single sorcerer will ever again be able to bring the kingdom to its knees. The Council begins requiring those skilled in the arts to register themselves so that they can be monitored. Those that refuse the Council's supervision are charged with crimes against the kingdom and hunted down.

Having heard the news of Aladimus from afar and seeing similar threats building in their own kingdoms, the King Agriel Aubermane and King Richard Olwynn of Meltarra travel to Rein to meet with the Reinic King. What transpires leads to the signing of a pact granting their own mages seats on the Council and granting the Council of Sorcerers universal control over sorcery in all three kingdoms.

Though it takes several years, the chaos of the Ascension War is brought to an end without any further instances of power-hungry sorcerers rising to the power of Aladimus. An apprentice system is inducted by the Council to formalize the training of would-be sorcerers and ensure that their knowledge of the ancient arts is taught along with a strong code of ethic regarding the use of Arcane powers.

13 BA

A Reinic scholar and self-claimed prophet known only as Kokuathu is brought to the attention of the Council of Sorcerers. Observed distantly through magical means, Kokuathu is discovered grave robbing and using the corpses he secures in what the Council deem as 'Necromantic Rituals'. Having been proscribed by the Council, Necromancy was declared as a punishable offense and Kokuathu is tried and convicted on charges of Illegal Practicioning of Necromancy and Cannibalism.

Not seen as any true threat by the Council, Kokuathu is flogged publicly and stripped of all titles and possessions before being banished from the Kingdom of Rein. After his banishment from Rein, Kokuathu falls into obscurity and is not seen or heard of for ten years.

5 BA

Founding of House Arjavh.

3 BA

Out of nowhere the Sorcerer Kokuathu appears in the Kingdom of Sorlamir with an army of Kish gathered from the bowels of the Murkwood and gaining strength with every tribe of the non-humans he encounters. Marching upon the village of Kemly, Kokuathu takes the townspeople by surprise and leaves the village in ruin before disappearing back into the Iron Shoulder Mountains.

Outraged by the hostile act in his own borders, King Agriel Aubermane of Sorlamir orders relief efforts to Kemly and calls upon the Tol Legion to secure the area. Advised by his generals, King Agriel anticipates the sorcerer's next move and orders his army into the Kingdom of Rein to the next forseen Kokuathuan target, a small border town known as Poormire.

Arriving only hours after Kokuathu's army, the Sorlamirian forces fight a bloody battle against a horde of Kish and even a powerful summoned demon - The Nestoseles. Though it is hardly a victory, the Sorlamirian army manages to slay the bulk of Kokuathu's forces, though the sorcerer himself is never seen on the battlefield.

Ambassador Peter Razial of Sorlamir meets with the Reinic Ambassador Edwin Carwyn to appraise the Kokuathuan threat to their respective kingdoms. The Reinic Military is ordered to the northern borders to assist the Sorlamirians in ending the threat of Kokuathuan invasion as Ambassador Razial returns with wagons of the dead to the Royal City of Torin.

It is on that return trip that the Sorcerer Kokuathu resurfaces among the surviving Sorlamirians to envoke the greatest single act of sorcery seen since the days of the Eternals. Using the dark arts of necromancy, the Sorcerer Kokuathu reanimates the dead Sorlamirian army outside the gates of the Royal City and leads the undead invasion into Torin.

The Sorlamirian forces weakened from Poormire, the Tol Legion a hundred miles away and reinforcements from Evanshire marching furiously but still too far away to come to the stricken city's aid - the Sorcerer Kokuathu was able to easily sieze control of the Royal City and lay siege to Caer Torin.

Only moments after the Sorcerer Kokuathu defeats King Agriel during the Ascension War, each and every member of his army present on the field fall dead without explanation.

In an unexpected turn of events, the Sorcerer Kokuathu approached King Agriel Aubermane alone in the bailey of Caer Torin and engaged in single battle with the feared sorcerer.

Moments after the Sorcerer Kokuathu slays King Agriel Aubermane, his undead army begins to fall to the field dead, without explanation. Kokuathu himself disappears in the chaos that ensues and though he wins the day, the kingdom is spared the torment of his rule.

As the king's only heirs are his thirteen-year-old daughter Princess Angelee Aubermane and the mysteriously resurrected infant son, and with many of the influential electing barons slain during the Siege of Torin, a civil war threatens the already ravaged kingdom. The Council of Sorcerers intervenes and appoints Count Adhemar Purparde the new King of Sorlamir. The new king's right to rule is recognized by the earls and he is coronated immediately.

2 BA

A lonely shoemaker, Pendel of Kemly begins a murderous rampage slaying more than a dozen notable villagers before being brought to justice. During his interrogation, Pendel is said to have become possessed by the Demon Kokuathu who had commanded him to commit the murders. Though this becomes a subject of great controversy, it cannot be disputed that the interrogators were all slain and that Pendel had escaped custody before being found in his shop the following morning.

During his execution, Pendel of Kemly was heard shouting "Send me to him, Indu's chains are weak, they will be broken, and my Master Kokuathu will return ten-fold more powerful!"

Later this year, the sporadic appearance of would-be demonists calling themselves Pendelists began to surface throughout Torinshire and even as far away as Evanshire and Calimoore. Said to be responsible for more than a hundred sacrificial murders, the Pendelist cult was quickly hunted down and slaughtered. This was thought to be the end of demonism until Corstan of Conwell.

Corstan was a reputed assassin, thief and rapist who had come to be feared in the poor quarter of the Royal City of Torin. It is said that he began an organization which would later come to be known as the Dark Brethren. Picking up where the Pendelists left off, the Dark Brethren focused not on serial murder and human sacrifice, but on the goal of freeing the Demon Kokuathu from "Indu's Chains".

Near the end of this year, King Agriel Aubermane's daughter Angelee began to have horrible visions. She often saw her father's killer standing with his former Ambassador, Sir Peter Razial. Sharing her fears with the Council of Sorcerers it was learned that Sir Peter Razial had taken up residence in Calimoore and began to secretly support efforts to see Kokuathu's return. Convicted of witchcraft and demonism by the Council of Sorcerers, Sir Razial was stripped of lands and title and sentenced to death by burning.

Only a week later, on the last day of the year, Angelee Aubermane was found dead in her chambers in Caer Torin. She had been brutally slaughtered and given to the Demon Kokuathu in a ritual sacrafice. Strangely, many servants and guards working that night remembered seeing a horribly burned, skeletal man walking the halls of Caer Torin, but none of them could understand why they hadn't done anything to stop him, or why they hadn't even seemed concerned that he was there to begin with. Later investigation revealed that Peter Razial's unmarked grave in the Kanderic Forest had been unearthed and that his body had been removed.

1 BA

During memorial services for Angelee Aubermane, all in attendance including King Adhemar Purparde I were witness to the Angelic form of King Agriel that filled the temple with its divine light and wept for his daughter.

The Angel Agriel spoke of the spark of life and of how he had transcended into the heavens where he would now watch his children and guide them toward the righteous light of the Blessed Realm. This moment began events that would quickly lead Agreilism to become an organized religion. Efforts to spread Agrielism were heightened upon the conversion of King Adhemar Purparde I into the faith.

Investigating the divine appearance of the Angel Agriel, the Council of Sorcerers later concluded that it was no hoax, that Agriel had indeed transcended into a more spiritual form. Their investigations also revealed the possibility for any man, woman or child, who had achieved spiritual perfection to transcend and join the Angel Agriel in the heavens.

The endorsement by the Council of Sorcerers fueled the spread of Agrielism and it was not long before small Agrielan Temples began to shoot up throughout the Kingdom of Sorlamir and Morra itself.

The New Age

0 BA or 1 SA

The rapid growth of Agrielism as a religion was formally organized by the divine proclamation of Patriarch Ambrose I, who began to appoint key figures into the hierarchy of the Agrielan Church. Using funds donated by the poor and the wealthy alike, Patriarch Ambrose saw the completion of the Temple of the Ascension in the Royal City of Torin by the fall of this year and had declared a new calendar system beginning on the day of Agriel's first appearance in Angelic form.

Efforts were made by the Council of Sorcerers and countless scholars to back date history and conform it to the new calendar. All dates prior to Agriel's return became known as BA or BEFORE ASCENSION. All days to come henceforth became known as SA or SINCE ASCENSION.

By the conclusion of this year, Agrielism had been declared the State Religion of Sorlamir and efforts were being made for a similar declaration in the Meltarran Kingdom and the Kingdom of Rein.

25 SA

Agrielan Patriarch Ambrose I recognizes the orthodoxy of the Vindicator Sect of Agrielism and establishes the Holy Office, or Inquisition, to combat demonically influenced heresy within the Church. Construction on both the Temple of the Vindicator and the Inquisition Tower begins in Calimoore.

32 SA

The Agrielan Patriarch Botheul I recognizes the lay monastic order founded by Albrect of Torin, who was later canonized.

33 SA

Patriarch Botheul I recognizes the lay monastic order founded by Vrain Angcalon, who was later canonized.

80 SA

Sir Godfrey Reineul receives a vision from the Angel Agriel bidding him to establish an order of soldiers and knights devoted to protecting Agrielan Temples. The new fighting order is called the Templars.

82 SA

Archdeacon Abermarle of Torin authors the 'Templar Rule'.

319 SA

The Calimoore Redemption occurs when Verlin Caranthis, the last Earl Caranthis, along with numerous corrupt officials, holds King Sampson Longuer hostage in an effort to gain proxy control of the Kingdom of Sorlamir. Earl Caranthis is lured by Dame Eleanor, the head of House Berengius and Captain of the Earl's guard, to the waiting Balthus of Orgilous, who defeats Earl Caranthis in single combat in the famous Rose Gardens of Calimoore. Balthus of Orgilous is rewarded by the King with possession of the Earldom of Evanshire and the Houses's unique grant of arms. All vassals of Evanshire are transferred to Orgilous authority.

533 SA

The Dark Brethren, an organization of thieves and murderers said to worship the Demon Kokuathu and led by Kokuathu's High Priest - Razial, gain notoriety for their evil deeds and crafty plots. Working as a cloak and dagger organization, the Dark Brethren's corruption is said to go as far as to some key members of the Agrielan Church.

610 SA

After decades of frequent conflicts with the Dark Brethren, Agrielan Priests led by Toreth Darshain manage to destroy the Dark Brethren's base of power. Though scattered survivors remain loyal to the Demon Kokuathu, their wealth and numbers have suffered so greatly that the threat is at last perceived as having been brought under control. Toreth Darshain is knighted for his heroic deed.

Recent History

655 SA

Aleric Alder, heir to the Baron of Aether Keep is born.

678 SA

Thoran Tol becomes Earl of Kemlyshire, and the general of the Tol Legion.

683 SA

Spancer Tol, heir to Earl Thoran Tol of Kemlyshire is born.

684 SA

Bishop Kelembil is granted the Bishopric of Kemlyshire.

688 SA

King Algarren I, a much loved and respected ruler, dies of old age and his oldest son is crowned Algarren II, King of Sorlamir. 

690 SA

Alpha Play Begins.