BC 1700 Catastrophes
by John CalvinWe've been talking a lot about the various catastrophes that occurred circa BC 1700. Hugin mentioned expanding on this, so I felt the subject might deserve it's own thread. To get things started, I'll share my own notes which are a compilation from various Gaz and boxed set timelines (the only one missing is Gaz 5). I'm including all points from BC 1750 to BC 1700, although not all events are related to the catastrophes.
BC 2000
- [circa?]Roughly 1,000 years after survivors of the Azcan state found refuge in the shadow of the great plateau a new age darkness fell upon them. The region that they lived in, which is now the north coast of the Sea of Dread, was geologically unstable. A series of violent tremors caused the plateau to collapse and many of their lands to break away from the continent and drift south. Later, these places became the island chains that are now known as the Kingdom of Ierendi and the Minrothad Guilds. The survivors of the Azcans and Oltecs were reduced almost to barbarism.
GAZ 14 DM's manual - Series of great elemental upheavals split several large land masses from the main continent. The Taymora civilisation is destroyed. Meditor elves are left on the newly made islands in the Sea of Dread (see GAZ9).
PC3, The Sea People Book, page 42
BC 1750
- Geological disasters-volcanic eruptions and earthquakes-splinter off much of the land south of the modern day lands of the Five Shires and the Atruaghin Clans. The plateau under which the surviving Azcans have been living largely collapses, killing many of them and leaving the survivors in a shattered, hostile land.
Gaz14 - pg 5 - In 1750 BC, a series of great volcanic eruptions and earthquakes extending eastward from the Burning Waste split several large land masses away from the coast of what is now the Kingdom of Sind, the Atruaghin Clans area, and the Five Shires. Nothing remained of this land but scattered islands (now the Kingdom of Ierendi and the Minrothad Guilds).
The earthquakes caused the collapse of a plateau to the east of the Great Waste (the predecessor of today's Atruaghin Plateau). This drove some of the surviving human inhabitants out into the desert where game could still be found. Conflicts between the copper-skinned newcomers (descendants of ancient Oltec an Azcan cultures) and the light-skinned nomads of the desert eventually resolved into cooperation and intermarriage as the refugees from the east adopted Urduk ways for themselves.
This second cataclysm changed the prevalent weather patterns again. After half a century of continued earthquakes, storms and droughts, shifts in prevailing winds and temperatures brought good rainfall and mild weather to the region. The eastern forest spread over the scars of the fallen plateau and along the coast of the Sea of Dread. The desert bloomed. Only the Plain of Fire remained inhospitable. Its porous bedrock, carved by deluges of wind and water, channelled the abundant rainfall underground, leaving little water on the surface.
CoM, Explorer's Manual, pages 4-5 - In 1750 BC, the earthquakes that rocked the Sea of Dread drastically changed the Serpent Peninsula. Rising seas flooded most of the central lowlands, forming the Dhiki Namazzi. Suddenly deprived of major cities, countless villages, and their best farmland, the Tanagoro culture collapsed into tribes fighting over the remaining land. Some carved out territories on the newly formed Thanegia Island. Other moved north into the rain forest, slashing and burning forest into farmland as they went.
CoM, Explorer's Manual, page 35 - He (Yav) finally found it (the cause of prophetic powers among the people of the Serpent Peninsula) in a crack in the floor of the shallow sea separating the Serpent Peninsula from Thanegia Island. It was an artifact of the Sphere of Time buried long ago to keep it from causing mischief. The earthquake of 1750BC had disturbed its resting place, and successive earthquakes in intervening centuries had carried it closer to Mystara's surface.
CoM, Explorer's Manual, page 37
BC 1725
- King Loark raises Great Horde at Urzud and migrates eastward, continuing his Quest for a Blue Knife.
Gaz10 - pg 4 DM's Book. - King Loark raises great horde at Urzud and migrates eastward, continuing his Quest for a Blue Knife.
Gaz13 - pg 8 DM's Guide - King Loark of the humanoids organises an army of humanoids known as the Great Horde. They move south, into the lands of men and bring savage destruction to these places.
Gaz14 - pg 5
BC 1722
- Great Horde ravages Norwold and learns Norse culture.
Gaz10 - pg 4 DM's Book.
BC 1720
- Akkila-Khan conquers the southern steppes.
Gaz10 - pg 4 DM's Book. - (Approximate date) Land masses split further, forming 10 islands south of the Five Shires.
Gaz4 - pg 5 - Verdier elves build ships and join their cousins in the Sea of Dread.
Gaz9 - pg 6 - The land masses split further, forming the Ierendi isles.
PC3, The Sea People Book, page 42
BC 1711
- Great Horde reaches pre-khanate Ethengar. Akkila-Khan allies with King Loark against the Ethengarian nomads.
Gaz10 - pg 4 DM's Book.
BC 1710
- The Great Horde of humanoids led by King Loark invades the Steppes and enslaves the primitive Ethengars. King Loark's horde is joined by Akkila-Khan's humanoid horde. Together they ravage the Steppes.
Gaz12 - pg 5
BC 1709
- Akkila-Khan betrays King Loark in exchange for lands west of the Dol-Anur. Great Horde defeated at the Battle of Chongor, in ancient Ethengar. Goblins flee south. King Loark reaches Broken Lands and settles.
Gaz10 - pg 4 DM's Book. - Akkila-Khan joins with the Ethengars and defeats King Loark at the battle of Chongor. King Loark's Great Horde splinters: the trolls head east, the goblins south, and the rest of the Great Horde is driven out of the steppes into the Broken Lands.
Gaz12 - pg 5 - Loark's Great Horde settles in the Broken Lands after ravaging and destroying many human cultures.
Gaz14 - pg 5
BC 1701
- Resurgence of faith in Ethengar; Akkila-Khan betrayed by Ethengar allies; retreats from Dol-Anur.
Gaz10 - pg 4 DM's Book.
BC 1700
- Local cataclysm rakes Broken Lands and buries the Great Horde. King Loark dies, his horde breaks apart.
Gaz10 - pg 4 DM's Book. - Elves leave Glantri.
Gaz11 - pg 6 - Elves in Glantri trigger a cataclysm that has a profound affect on the lands of the steppes. The Land of Black Sand is formed.
Gaz12 - pg 5 - Elves find artifact of Blackmoor in the Broken Lands and trigger a cataclysm which buries the Hoard. Loark dies, the remains of the hoard break apart. Elves driven out of Glantri by local cataclysm.
Gaz13 - pg 8 DM's Guide - Glantri elves discover a lost Blackmoor device and detonate it, destroying their nation. The survivors begin a migration deep underground as the blast sends a huge cloud of ash and smoke into the air that does not dissipate for many years.
Gaz14 - pg 5-6 - Local cataclysm. The elves disappear and the Broken Lands become unstable.
Gaz3 - pg 5 - (Approximate date) Series of great volcanic eruptions and quakes split several large land masses from what is now the Five Shires and the Atruaghin Clans, stranding aboriginal peoples, the Makai, and lizardmen creatures from the Malpheggi Swamp.
Gaz4 - pg 5 - Elves driven out of Glantri by local cataclysms.
Gaz5 - pg7 - Giants, trolls, and gnolls are driven south into the Northern Reaches in successive waves of migration.
Gaz7 - pg 6 - Cataclysms split land masses and ocean floods create islands; Meditor elves are left on the new-made Isles of Dread.
Gaz9 - pg 6 - An event occurs on the outer world which will profoundly affect the course of Azcan civilisation, Elves in Glantri discover and accidentally detonate a Blackmoor device, resulting in a minor cataclysm. The survivors hide in the caves beneath Glantri and the Broken lands. Split into tribes, they travel widely; these are the ancestors of the Hollow World's Gentle Folk, Icevale Elves, and the Azcans' mortal Hollow World enemies, the Schattenalfen. A fourth group, led by an elf named Atziann, had no survivors save that king.
HWR1 - pg 10 Adventurers Book - Goblinoids settle in the Yazak Steppes.
SB - pg 18 book 1 approximate dates - This situation did not last. Around 1700 BC the other, earlier elven settlers in Glantri found a strange artifact from the Blackmoor civilisation, in the Broken Lands. They tinkered with it, and it exploded cataclysmically. Great, impenetrable clouds of smoke and ash rose into the sky and did not disperse for years. A dreadful rotting plague affected many creatures in the area, with the ancestors of the shadow elves partly affected. When they first felt the explosion and saw the clouds, these elves fled for the caves below out of instinct and racial memory. This instant flight possibly saved them from extinction.
GAZ 13 DM's manual
In the following I've moved several events around to where I think they should be:
BC 2000
- [circa?/overview]Roughly 1,000 years after survivors of the Azcan state found refuge in the shadow of the great plateau a new age darkness fell upon them. The region that they lived in, which is now the north coast of the Sea of Dread, was geologically unstable. A series of violent tremors caused the plateau to collapse and many of their lands to break away from the continent and drift south. Later, these places became the island chains that are now known as the Kingdom of Ierendi and the Minrothad Guilds. The survivors of the Azcans and Oltecs were reduced almost to barbarism.
GAZ 14 DM's manual
[Note: This seems to describe an overview of the period in question. Based on dates further down I would say the overview was from 1750 to 1700, which would place the timing of this event 1250 years after the GRoF - close enough to the 1000 years stated.] - [circa?/overview]Series of great elemental upheavals split several large land masses from the main continent. The Taymora civilisation is destroyed. Meditor elves are left on the newly made islands in the Sea of Dread (see GAZ9).
PC3, The Sea People Book, page 42
[Note: The mention of Meditor elves and the reference to Gaz 9 does it for me. Looking at Gaz9 shows that Meditor Elves weren't mentioned until BC 1700 (an event we have moved to BC 1720 here), so this could imply that this date should be taken as a "circa" date.
BC 1750
- (Approximate date) Series of great volcanic eruptions and quakes split several large land masses from what is now the Five Shires and the Atruaghin Clans, stranding aboriginal peoples, the Makai, and lizardmen creatures from the Malpheggi Swamp.
Gaz4 - pg 5 [Previously BC 1700] Notes: Since this event seems to be inconsistent with other events in Gaz 4, and since Gaz 14 is a later product, I am taking the Gaz 14 timeline to be correct in this case. - Cataclysms split land masses and ocean floods create islands; Meditor elves are left on the new-made Isles of Dread.
Gaz9 - pg 6 [Previously BC 1700] - Geological disasters-volcanic eruptions and earthquakes-splinter off much of the land south of the modern day lands of the Five Shires and the Atruaghin Clans. The plateau under which the surviving Azcans have been living largely collapses, killing many of them and leaving the survivors in a shattered, hostile land.
Gaz14 - pg 5 - In 1750 BC, a series of great volcanic eruptions and earthquakes extending eastward from the Burning Waste split several large land masses away from the coast of what is now the Kingdom of Sind, the Atruaghin Clans area, and the Five Shires. Nothing remained of this land but scattered islands (now the Kingdom of Ierendi and the Minrothad Guilds).
The earthquakes caused the collapse of a plateau to the east of the Great Waste (the predecessor of today's Atruaghin Plateau). This drove some of the surviving human inhabitants out into the desert where game could still be found. Conflicts between the copper-skinned newcomers (descendants of ancient Oltec an Azcan cultures) and the light-skinned nomads of the desert eventually resolved into cooperation and intermarriage as the refugees from the east adopted Urduk ways for themselves.
This second cataclysm changed the prevalent weather patterns again. After half a century of continued earthquakes, storms and droughts, shifts in prevailing winds and temperatures brought good rainfall and mild weather to the region. The eastern forest spread over the scars of the fallen plateau and along the coast of the Sea of Dread. The desert bloomed. Only the Plain of Fire remained inhospitable. Its porous bedrock, carved by deluges of wind and water, channelled the abundant rainfall underground, leaving little water on the surface.
CoM, Explorer's Manual, pages 4-5 - In 1750 BC, the earthquakes that rocked the Sea of Dread drastically changed the Serpent Peninsula. Rising seas flooded most of the central lowlands, forming the Dhiki Namazzi. Suddenly deprived of major cities, countless villages, and their best farmland, the Tanagoro culture collapsed into tribes fighting over the remaining land. Some carved out territories on the newly formed Thanegia Island. Other moved north into the rain forest, slashing and burning forest into farmland as they went.
CoM, Explorer's Manual, page 35 - He (Yav) finally found it (the cause of prophetic powers among the people of the Serpent Peninsula) in a crack in the floor of the shallow sea separating the Serpent Peninsula from Thanegia Island. It was an artifact of the Sphere of Time buried long ago to keep it from causing mischief. The earthquake of 1750BC had disturbed its resting place, and successive earthquakes in intervening centuries had carried it closer to Mystara's surface.
CoM, Explorer's Manual, page 37
BC 1725
- King Loark raises Great Horde at Urzud and migrates eastward, continuing his Quest for a Blue Knife.
Gaz10 - pg 4 DM's Book. - King Loark raises great horde at Urzud and migrates eastward, continuing his Quest for a Blue Knife.
Gaz13 - pg 8 DM's Guide - King Loark of the humanoids organises an army of humanoids known as the Great Horde. They move south, into the lands of men and bring savage destruction to these places.
Gaz14 - pg 5
BC 1722
- Great Horde ravages Norwold and learns Norse culture.
Gaz10 - pg 4 DM's Book.
BC 1720
- Akkila-Khan conquers the southern steppes.
Gaz10 - pg 4 DM's Book. - (Approximate date) Land masses split further, forming 10 islands south of the Five Shires.
Gaz4 - pg 5 - Verdier elves build ships and join their cousins in the Sea of Dread.
Gaz9 - pg 6 - The land masses split further, forming the Ierendi isles.
PC3, The Sea People Book, page 42
BC 1711
- Great Horde reaches pre-khanate Ethengar. Akkila-Khan allies with King Loark against the Ethengarian nomads.
Gaz10 - pg 4 DM's Book.
BC 1710
- The Great Horde of humanoids led by King Loark invades the Steppes and enslaves the primitive Ethengars. King Loark's horde is joined by Akkila-Khan's humanoid horde. Together they ravage the Steppes.
Gaz12 - pg 5
BC 1709
- Akkila-Khan betrays King Loark in exchange for lands west of the Dol-Anur. Great Horde defeated at the Battle of Chongor, in ancient Ethengar. Goblins flee south. King Loark reaches Broken Lands and settles.
Gaz10 - pg 4 DM's Book. - Akkila-Khan joins with the Ethengars and defeats King Loark at the battle of Chongor. King Loark's Great Horde splinters: the trolls head east, the goblins south, and the rest of the Great Horde is driven out of the steppes into the Broken Lands.
Gaz12 - pg 5 - Loark's Great Horde settles in the Broken Lands after ravaging and destroying many human cultures.
Gaz14 - pg 5
BC 1701
- Resurgence of faith in Ethengar; Akkila-Khan betrayed by Ethengar allies; retreats from Dol-Anur.
Gaz10 - pg 4 DM's Book.
BC 1700
- Local cataclysm rakes Broken Lands and buries the Great Horde. King Loark dies, his horde breaks apart.
Gaz10 - pg 4 DM's Book. - Elves leave Glantri.
Gaz11 - pg 6 - Elves in Glantri trigger a cataclysm that has a profound affect on the lands of the steppes. The Land of Black Sand is formed.
Gaz12 - pg 5 - Elves find artifact of Blackmoor in the Broken Lands and trigger a cataclysm which buries the Hoard. Loark dies, the remains of the hoard break apart. Elves driven out of Glantri by local cataclysm.
Gaz13 - pg 8 DM's Guide - Glantri elves discover a lost Blackmoor device and detonate it, destroying their nation. The survivors begin a migration deep underground as the blast sends a huge cloud of ash and smoke into the air that does not dissipate for many years.
Gaz14 - pg 5-6 - Local cataclysm. The elves disappear and the Broken Lands become unstable.
Gaz3 - pg 5 - Giants, trolls, and gnolls are driven south into the Northern Reaches in successive waves of migration.
Gaz7 - pg 6 - An event occurs on the outer world which will profoundly affect the course of Azcan civilisation, Elves in Glantri discover and accidentally detonate a Blackmoor device, resulting in a minor cataclysm. The survivors hide in the caves beneath Glantri and the Broken lands. Split into tribes, they travel widely; these are the ancestors of the Hollow World's Gentle Folk, Icevale Elves, and the Azcans' mortal Hollow World enemies, the Schattenalfen. A fourth group, led by an elf named Atziann, had no survivors save that king.
HWR1 - pg 10 Adventurers Book - Goblinoids settle in the Yazak Steppes.
SB - pg 18 book 1 approximate dates - This situation did not last. Around 1700 BC the other, earlier elven settlers in Glantri found a strange artifact from the Blackmoor civilisation, in the Broken Lands. They tinkered with it, and it exploded cataclysmically. Great, impenetrable clouds of smoke and ash rose into the sky and did not disperse for years. A dreadful rotting plague affected many creatures in the area, with the ancestors of the shadow elves partly affected. When they first felt the explosion and saw the clouds, these elves fled for the caves below out of instinct and racial memory. This instant flight possibly saved them from extinction.
GAZ 13 DM's manual
Arguments could be made for making changes other than what I've outlined, however these changes leave us with a relatively simple timeline for the catastrophes being composed of 2 events (+1 unrelated event).
BC 2000 - geological activity (earthquakes and volcanic eruptions) in southern Brun increases - this does not split land masses or create islands at this point. The geological activity will continue through BC 1720.
BC 1750 - the first event, created "Big Ierendi"
BC 1720 - the second event, creates all 10 Ierendi isles
BC 1700 - the elven cataclysm - not actually involved in island creating events