First off, some credits - Andrew Theisen compiled and expanded on relevant information from IM2 and WotI, which I used in the creation of this timeline. Geoff Gander created Brethilad, Inlashar, Eraeda, Molharran, and Meruvar. Without his allowing me to modify and integrate his ideas into this timeline and his many helpful comments and suggestions, this work would be far poorer (and shorter).
The Expanded Darokin Timeline
by Aaron NowackPart I: The First Nations (1500 BC - 230 BC)
1500 BC: Free Traldar tribes fleeing the emerging Nithian Empire found Salonikos (later Selenica), the first major human settlement in what will become Darokin, around this time. They, along with other fleeing tribes, will emerge as a distinct culture - the Doulakki - over the next several centuries.
1400 BC: To the south and west, Atruaghin unites several Azcan-descended tribes. Doulakki explorers and traders begin to call them the Atruaghin Clans. During this time, they are spread over much of what will later be southern Darokin as well as the lands they inhabit in the modern era.
1300 BC: Several more Doulakki city-states are established in Darokin by this point, of which the largest are Dolos, near the modern city of that name, and Kanosis, in the grasslands that will later be Alfheim.
Conflicts between Doulakki settlers and the Atruaghin become common as the Doulakki begin to settle the Streel Valley.
1257 BC: The Wogar Tribe of Red Orcs emerges from the east and conquers the Atruaghin. A portion of the horde moves north a few years later, torching a small trading post named Akorros.
1200 BC: By this point thriving, if small, Doulakki cities on the sites of modern day Akorros and Athenos are established.
1000 BC: A gnoll invasion destroys several smaller city-states in the Cruth mountains before moving south into the Traldar lands. Refugees are turned away by the rulers of Dolos and Kanosis, and eventually head further north into orcish territory, where they found the fortress city of Destaros.
900 BC: By this point Kanosis has fallen to the orcs. Destaros is under near-constant siege, and will fall sometime during the next century.
800 BC: Around this time, the Atruaghin successfully revolt against their orcish rulers, and orcish refugees flee into Darokin. At almost the same time, the elves settle Alfheim, driving the orcs of the region west. As a result, the settlements at Athenos and Akorros are destroyed. For the next hundred years, wars between the remaining Doulakki city-states and Alfheim will occur. In the Streel Valley, formerly nomadic human clans start to build permanent settlements for protection against the orcish threat.
795 BC: The Atruaghin Plateau is raised. The peoples of Darokin have no further contact with the Atruaghin for many centuries.
780 BC: To the north of Darokin, in the area that will later become the Ethengar/Glantri border, an Ethengarian tribe conquers several Neathar tribes. Over the next century, the two populations merge, becoming one people. Whatever names they might have called themselves are lost to history - for convenience they are referred to by the name later given to their descendants, the Inlashar.
750 BC: Around this time, a small elven clan migrates south from modern Glantri. They settle in a beautiful, wooded valley north of Lake Amsorak, which they name Brethilad. They raise a grand stronghold, which still stands in the modern day. They have only sporadic contact with their distant relatives in Alfheim, and almost none with the barbaric humans that inhabit the Streel Valley. The orcs of the area launch occasional assaults, but the elves are more than strong enough to handle the disorganised attacks.
700 BC: Around this time, a series of bloody tribal conflicts weakens the orcish hold on the Streel Valley. The surviving clans of humans, descended from a mixture of relatively recently arrived Neathar and the survivors of the destroyed Doulakki city-states, begin to grow in strength. Calling themselves the Eraeda, the human clans mostly settle in the region between the edges of the Canolbarth Forest and the Streel, with their southern border near modern Darokin City. The elves of Alfheim alternate between strengthening the Eraeda to serve as a buffer against the orcs and slaughtering the clans that move too far into the forest. Over the next several centuries, this has the effect of increasing Eraedan unity, as clans favoured by the elves prosper and their rivals quickly become extinct.
687 BC: Ecthelion, King of Brethilad, vanishes along with his guards while returning to his kingdom from a rare diplomatic visit to Alfheim.
His son, Meneldil, takes the throne when it becomes apparent he will not return. He blames the elves of Alfheim, and the already distant relations with the other Elven nation wither away quickly. His sister Ancalime leaves Brethilad in search of her father, and will later settle in Alfheim. Unknown to all involved, the King was slain by a large red dragon named Calor, who had recently made a lair in the mountains near Brethilad.
650 BC: The Inlashar, migrating southward after several harsh winters in their homelands, settle in northern Darokin near modern Corunglain and Fort Nell, with some tribes ranging into the Broken Lands. Their excellent cavalry proves too much for the area's orcish tribes, and the orcs are driven deep into the Amsorak region and the modern Orclands.
As a result, Eraedan civilisation, with the orcish threat lessened, begins to flourish. A group of clans in which the Neathar blood is strong crosses the Streel, settling the lands between the Malpheggi Swamp and Lake Amsorak.
630 BC: The orcish tribes surrounding Brethilad, by now united under Calor's rule, begin to launch surprisingly organised assaults on the forest vale. The elves repel the orcs, and launch retaliatory raids into the mountains. A party led by King Meneldil encounters Calor, who taunts the King with the tale of his father's death. Enraged, Meneldil attacks and direly wounds the wyrm. Swearing vengeance, the red dragon escapes, flying across the mountains to the untamed Highlands.
610 BC: The last orcish strongholds in the south are destroyed as the Hin revolt against their overlords and found the Five Shires. Some orcs flee north, but few make it through the Eraedan lands.
600 BC: The Eraeda begin to become more settled and less nomadic over the next century. The leader of the western Eraeda, a man named Harradhos, founds the city of Elsharran ('The Hall of Harradhos') near what is now the Elstrich River in this year. The land becomes known as Molharran ('The Land of Harradhos'). Across the Streel, their eastern kin found several smaller cities of their own, of which the greatest is now-lost Comaelle. However, Comaelle never reaches the prominence of Elsharran, and the eastern clans remain disunited. One of these clans, the Eastwind Clan, establishes the city of Favaro around this time, an act notable only due to the Eastwind Clan's later history.
586 BC: One of the Inlashar chieftains, Urudkhal, asserts himself over his rivals, initiating a series of bloody wars along the fringe of the Broken Lands. Taking advantage of the humans' distraction, many humanoid raiders manage to enter the Streel Valley. It is around this time that the Ethengar/Neathar tribes gain the name by which they are known today - after his victory, Urudkhal orders the construction of strong fortifications in every clanhold, and the land becomes known as Inlashar ('Land of Fortresses'). Urudkhal grants the various tribes a great deal of autonomy, keeping control by marrying his sons to the daughters of rebellious chieftains - a thinly veiled form of hostage-taking.
580 BC: Overnight and unknown to anyone, a fortress appears in the centre of the Malpheggi Swamp - the refuge of a powerful Nithian warlock searching for Immortality. He fills the swamp with twisted monstrosities. Eventually, finding the quest for Immortality too much, he settles for lichdom instead. Even beforehand, he rarely stirs himself from the fortress, preferring to pursue his researches in peace.
When the Immortals destroy Nithia decades later, he doesn't even notice.
579 BC: Harradhos of Molharran dies peacefully, turning over rulership of Elsharran to his son, Ilhadur. Ilhadur's right to rule is uncontested, owing to his prowess in battle and the relative peace won by his father. The royal house of Molharran is born.
543 BC: By this time Inlashar stretches from what is now the ruins of Ardelphia to the gap between Alfheim and what is now the Broken Lands. Urudkhal's son, Urudtai, orders the expansion of his land's network of fortresses, as well as the construction of a great road to link them.
530 BC: By this point all the western Eraedan clans have united behind the banner of Molharran. With new clans comes new dialects, and the city of Elsharran becomes known as Elstarath. The current King, named Amadhur, raises the first standing army in the region and successfully drives the remaining orcish tribes from Molharran. He also adds to his kingdom extensive lands on the east side of the Streel near the Five Shires, though they remain sparsely settled.
522 BC: Meneldil, King of Brethilad, dies of a sudden illness. His son, Ancalimon, sends word to Alfheim offering his aunt Ancalime the throne.
She refuses, and Ancalimon is crowned King of Brethilad.
505 BC: The Great Road of Inlashar is completed. At each end is a grand fortress built of stone, bearing the stern visage of Urudmu, the great-grandson of Urudkhal.
500 BC: In a brief resurgence of the colonial spirit of their ancestors (perhaps prompted by the disappearance of the Nithian Empire and the rise of the Thyatians), Doulakki from the surviving city-states of Dolos and Salonikos, and even a handful from Cynidicea, found the City-State of Athenos. More than a few Eraeda head south and swell the new city's numbers. There are a few brief border conflicts between the new city and the Molharraner settlers to the north, but they never escalate to open war.
490 BC: Urudmu becomes perhaps the most powerful ruler in Inlashar's history. With the Inlashar firmly united behind him, he musters them for conquest, and they head south into the Eraedan lands. The few clans that resist are destroyed; the remainder quickly submit to Urudmu.
Their next target is the sparsely settled region stretching between Molharran and the City-State of Dolos. Molharran withdraws its few garrisons from its eastern lands rather than face the Inlashar.
However, when the Inlashar press further south toward Athenos, the Malpheggi Swamp proves impenetrable to their cavalry, and the newly-founded city-state holds them off.
486 BC: Urudmu dies, and his empire quickly falls apart. The Inlashar retreat far north to their ancestral lands, feuding among themselves.
The Eraeda return to their normal ways, however Molharran never reclaims its former eastern lands. The surviving settlements, near Athenos, unite around the most powerful. However, this 'nation', the Lordship of Meruvar, never achieves the unity or population to be more than a loose coalition of wilderness settlements.
480 BC: The red dragon Calor returns to the region. He makes a lair on what will later be Itheldown Island, and sets about once again gaining command over the local orcish tribes. Over the next decades, Brethilad slowly falls more and more into a state of virtual siege.
432 BC: King Ancalimon of Brethilad has a son, who he names Celgorm.
Shortly afterward, a large orcish attack almost penetrates the vale's innermost defences, but is eventually defeated.
350 BC: Lured by sightings of a red dragon, Ancalimon ventures into the wilderness and is slain by Calor. His son, young by elven standards, takes the throne. Orcish tribes surround the vale, cutting off almost all contact with the outside world. Still, the elven kingdom possesses enough might to hold off their assaults.
332 BC: In Alfheim, Ancalime of Brethilad gives birth to a daughter, Sinian.
320 BC: By this point, Molharran has become unified enough to be called a true kingdom. When a large meteorite lands near Elstarath, the priests of Molharran interpret this event as an omen, and track down the meteorite. Once found, it is brought to Elstarath and placed in a shrine.
311 BC: Calor's orcs launch an all-out assault on Brethilad. Though they are ultimately forced back, Celgorn's wife Marwen is captured by the dragon. The wyrm amuses himself with the captive, keeping her in near constant torment and occasionally sending tokens to prove that she still lives to Celgorn. The young king becomes obsessed with hunting down and slaying the dragon, and Brethilad's defences suffer as he leads countless fruitless expeditions into the mountains.
305 BC: Celgorn discovers the location of Calor's lair and leads a small party of elves to Itheldown Island. They are met by a large band of orcs, and most of the invasion force falls. Celgorn presses on alone, and makes his way to the heart of the dragon's lair. However, he is unprepared for what he finds there - Marwen, her will broken and reforged into the wyrm's champion. Unable to raise his hand against his beloved wife, Celgorn is struck down in a single blow. Calor allows a single elf from the invasion force to return to Brethilad with news of the disaster.
302 BC: Under Marwen's command, Calor's orcs finally breach the vale of Brethilad. They lay waste to the valley, but on Calor's orders leave the keep intact. A handful of refugees flees to Alfheim, and Calor moves his lair to the conquered keep. With vengeance his, Calor slowly plots his next move and attracts more and more orcs to his banner.
300 BC: The ore from the meteorite is forged into a sword, Molharran's Hope, for King Kareth, in the hope that its auspicious origins will aid in the creation of a mighty weapon against the encroaching orcs. The Hierophant of Molharran, a man named Yalgar, decrees that the sword's forging is an ill omen, and that the blade is cursed. Around this time, the Inlashar, who have never reunited under a single ruler since Urudmu's death, are no longer able to hold off the orcs. As the Inlashar retreat into their fortified clanholds, orcish raids step up in Eraeda and Molharran. For the first time in centuries large orcish tribes begin to settle on the east side of the Streel.
[See map ]
291 BC: The orcs become united under a powerful lord called Throg and press hard into Eraeda. In response, King Kareth musters the army of Molharran and crosses the Streel into Eraeda, rallying the clans as he moves. When he reaches the northern city of Favaro, stronghold of the Eastwind Clan, he stops his advance, and waits for the orcs. Unable to resist the none-too-subtle challenge, Throg orders a massive assault on the fortified city. King Kareth slays Throg during the battle. His death breaks the attackers, and the orcs retreat for a time.
290 BC: As King Kareth's army is returning to Molharran, King Kareth is ambushed and slain by an orcish warband; Molharran's Hope is taken up by his eldest son, Korweth, who then forges a formal alliance with the Eraeda against their common enemy - called the Pact of Comaelle for the city where it was made.
273 BC: The orcs again form a mighty horde and invade Eraeda. King Korweth leads an effort to repulse an orcish horde during the Second Battle of Favaro. Again, the Eraeda rally to the Molharraner force, and this time more than a few Inlashar tribes join the battle. Although the orcs are again defeated and the horde scattered, Korweth soon dies of his injuries. Molharran's Hope is passed to Kareth II. This battle marks the beginning of what was known at the time as the 'Golden Peace'.
With the orcish defeat at Favaro, the great western horde is broken for a time, allowing Molharran, the Eraeda, and the Inlashar to drive them back with vengeance - almost to the very foothills of what are now the Silver Sierras. Until its end, the Streel Plains are largely free of orcs, and are lightly settled by people of all three realms.
267 BC: Kareth II forges an agreement with the clans of Eraeda and the most prominent Inlashar tribes as to the division of the Streel Plain between the three peoples. A great stone obelisk is erected at the point where the three lands meet, and the Inlashar join the Pact of Comaelle. It still stands in modern times, though only a handful of scholars know what it signifies. Kareth II begins to try to reassert Molharran's authority over the Lordship of Meruvar over the next few years.
256 BC: Kareth II dies storming one of the isolated wilderness keeps that litter Meruvar, ending the effort to conquer that land. The new Queen of Molharran, Penadreth, takes the sword Molharran's Hope.
Remembering the words of the Hierophant Yalgar and the three Kings who died wielding it, she renames the blade Molharran's Sorrow and orders it cast into the depths of the Malpheggi Swamp.
230 BC: The orcs again begin to rise in strength. The Pact of Comaelle is hard pressed. At a decisive battle north of Favaro, the great red dragon Calor first enters human histories, and crushes the united armies. The dragon is worshipped as an Immortal by many of the orcish tribes and soon some particularly unsavoury Eraedan clans. After the shattering of the Pact, Calor flies south and razes the Eraedan city of Comaelle, claiming the ruins as his new lair. He demands that the Clans of Eraeda pay tribute to him or be destroyed. Most comply. This marks the end of the Golden Peace. Serious historians refer to the period beginning with the destruction of Comaelle and ending with the founding of the Kingdom of Darokin as the Dark Age of Eraeda; more romantic histories call it the Age of Heroes.
Part II: The Dark Age of Eraeda (230 BC - 21 AC)
225 BC: Calor attempts to expand his dominion into Alfheim. His armies of orcs and men, commanded by his champion Marwen, muster at the fringes of the forest, only to be forced back by the elven armies. Angered, Calor attacks the forest himself, causing great destruction before being driven off. With both sides wary after the battle, Calor sends word to the elves that he will not attack them, nor allow the orcs or Eraeda to raise arms against them, so long as the elves acknowledge his rule over the Streel Valley and send him token tribute. After some debate, the elves agree.
220 BC: Around this year, Calor or his forces destroy many settlements in Meruvar and Inlashar, until both lands submit to the dragon. Both are more loosely ruled than Eraeda, but still the orcish tribes move in and flourish under Calor's protection. Over the next few years, the City-State of Dolos rapidly declines and is eventually destroyed by Marwen, who claims the ruins as her own domain. Athenos begins to send tribute to the wyrm shortly afterwards. A survivor of one of Calor's rampages, a warrior named Balthac, dedicates himself to the dragon's destruction. (Accounts differ as to precisely what nation or clan Balthac originated from.)
215 BC: Calor finally turns his full attention to the Kingdom of Molharran. However, as he enters the Kingdom, a golden dragon of great size, though not so large as he, rises to fight him. Their duel lasts for days and lays waste to large portions of the Molharran countryside, but at the end of it both dragons are sorely wounded, and Calor retreats back to the ruins of Comaelle. Hearing the news, the warrior Balthac infiltrates Calor's lair and attempts to slay him, but barely escapes with his life.
210 BC: With Calor wary of the golden dragon, Marwen leads armies of orcs and men to raid the borders of Molharran at his command. A warrior named Aurum rallies the villagers to halt them. His twin spears become a symbol of hope and protection to this day - they appear on the emblem of the modern Legions of Darokin. Time and time again Aurum holds off Calor's forces. Legend has it that he and Balthac together throw back the greatest attack, which reaches the walls of Elstarath. Both, the story goes, are offered the crown. Both refuse.
208 BC: Balthac again enters the ruins of Comaelle to slay Calor.
Again, he barely escapes with his life, but he succeeds in killing Marwen. Furious, Calor sends whole clans of orcs to hunt the warrior, and exterminates any Eraedan clan thought to aid him. The hunt eventually drives Balthac into Alfheim, where the elves take him prisoner. Though they debate turning him over to Calor, they never do so. Calor has Marwen raised as a vampire. The undead elf returns to the ruins of Dolos, where she broods on the human warrior who defeated her. She becomes a figure of fear even to the orcs she commands - in fact, in the modern era a few orcish tribes still tell distorted legends of her.
205 BC: Sinian, daughter of Ancalime of Brethilad, rescues Balthac from his captivity and follows him to Eraeda. The two rally the clans of Eraeda, and Calor slowly loses his grip on the countryside. Legend has it that the two meet in Elstarath with Aurum, who lends Balthac one of his spears, said to be enchanted against the wyrm. Balthac and Sinian then return to Eraeda for their final battle with Calor. Rumoured sightings of a golden dragon in the north lure the red wyrm from his lair, and the two heroes ambush him. At least six distinct accounts of the battle exist, one of which claims the golden dragon aids the two.
However, all agree on one thing - at the end of the battle both Balthac and Calor are dead, and Sinian, grief-stricken, gives the lent spear back to Aurum, then returns to forests of Alfheim.
203 BC: A band of elven heroes infiltrates the ruins of Dolos, intent on putting Marwen to rest. The vampire flees rather than face them, and after a brief stay in the City-State of Salonikos, leaves the region entirely.
200 BC: Without Calor's presence, the orcs begin to slowly be driven back. However, none of the human nations fully recover from his reign of terror. The Inlashar decline continues, and they never quite regain the power of their greater days, when they shielded the entire Streel Valley from orcish invasion. The hero Aurum is again offered the crown of Molharran; he again refuses.
196 BC: In the City-State of Athenos, a young woman named Ioanna starts a cult worshipping a new Immortal she calls Yuranos the Renewer, whom she claims sent the three heroes Aurum, Balthac, and Sinian to defeat Calor and bring about a "Great Renewal" of the ancient glories of the Doulakki and the Eraeda. Despite, or perhaps because of, rumours of unsavoury practices, the cult spreads rapidly. When he learns of the cult, Aurum furiously denies being sent any such Immortal, but this has little impact on the new religion's rise.
193 BC: Claiming a treasonous plot, the City-State of Athenos exiles the priestess Ioanna and outlaws the cult of Yuranos. Riots rage for weeks, but at the end of it the cult has been driven underground and Ioanna has fled into the swamp. Less than a month later, a plague breaks out in Athenos and the entire Athenos City Council perishes before it is brought under control.
190 BC: Ioanna of Athenos reappears in Meruvar, where she seduces and marries the Lord's heir, a man called Reamar. The cult of Yuranos takes root in Meruvar, but in a seemingly more sedate form, free of the dark rumours that surrounded it in Athenos. Ioanna quickly becomes a trusted adviser of her father-in-law, and with her advice the Lordship of Meruvar for the first time begins to coalesce into something resembling a nation-state. Perhaps the most obvious sign of this new centralisation is the construction of a network of black stone highways linking the largest towns and villages in Meruvar.
187 BC: Construction of the highway network in Meruvar is completed, and in a grand ceremony Ioanna dedicates the roads to Yuranos the Renewer, calling on the Immortal to grant his blessing to all who walk upon them. A number of priests from the region's other religions also participate in the ceremony, calling upon their own Immortals to bless the roads - a sign of the legitimacy and acceptance Yuranos's religion is gaining.
185 BC: In the north, the orcish tribes of the Amsorak region deliver a crushing defeat to the Inlashar in a great battle north of Favaro, razing several settlements in the area. The Inlashar tribal lands are now separated by orcish-held territory from the clans of Eraeda.
184 BC: The plague that started in Athenos nine years prior reappears.
This time, it escapes the city, spreading into Molharran, Meruvar, and Eraeda. The clerics of every religion do their best to combat the plague, but the priests of Yuranos in Meruvar have the greatest success, and thousands of new converts join them. However, the plague in its last days takes the life of the Lord of Meruvar, and Ioanna's husband Reamar ascends the throne. He declares Yuranos the patron Immortal of Meruvar, and levies heavy taxes on the other temples of the land. Dark rumours of foul sacrifices again begin to swirl around the cult.
180 BC: By this point, the cult of Yuranos is the only major religion in Meruvar. Lord Reamar orders the construction of a grand new capital city, in the midst of the Malpheggi Swamp. The priesthood of Yuranos works mighty magics to speed the construction, and soon a city built of the same black stone as Meruvar's roads begins to rise above the marshlands. The city, named Ardannon, is of course dedicated to the mighty Immortal Yuranos the Renewer. Meanwhile, tensions between Meruvar and Molharran, high since Karath II's abortive campaign, begin to escalate into border raids. The Meruvari soldiers fight with almost unearthly strength and fervour, winning several victories. Soon, much of southern Molharran lives in fear of the Meruvari raiders.
178 BC: As the border raids continue to escalate, the priests of every non-Entropic religion and cult in Molharran and Eraeda (as well as more than a few Entropic ones) receive vivid dreams from their patrons, in which they are told that the cult of Yuranos is blasphemy of the highest order and that Yuranos is no true Immortal, but a foul demon. His worship must be eradicated from the face of Mystara. The priests agitate for open war, and Molharran and Eraeda begin to muster their forces. The hero Aurum, seemingly not a day older then when he first rallied Molharran against Calor, emerges from retirement to lead them.
177 BC: As the first attacks from Molharran and Eraeda begin, a Meruvari construction crew working on expanding the city of Ardannon uncovers the lost blade Molharran's Sorrow. In a grand ceremony in which dozens are sacrificed, Ioanna dedicates the blade to Yuranos. She gives the blade to her husband, and Reamar takes it into battle against the Molharraners, with great success. King Karath III of Molharran dies in an early battle at his hands. The King's twin sons set aside the question of which shall be heir until the end of the war.
175 BC: In a great battle on the fringes of the Malpheggi Swamp, Aurum defeats and slays Reamar. The allied armies storm the city of Ardannon, and Ioanna is captured and dragged before Aurum in chains. He offers her one chance to repent her blasphemy; she refuses. Aurum orders her executed. This proves to be more difficult than expected. For three weeks more and more exotic methods are used to try and slay the priestess, with no success. Even the most grievous wound heals in moments. Throughout the process, Ioanna laughs almost incessantly, raving about a being she calls Yurrgh-Thal. Eventually, four of the greatest wizards and priests of the land work together to construct a hidden labyrinthine tomb, filled with deadly traps and summoned guardians. They imprison the priestess within, then sacrifice themselves, binding their own spirits to guard the tomb for eternity.
174 BC: Aurum, at the urging of the priesthoods of several religions, orders that all record and sign of the cult of Yuranos be wiped out.
All histories of the era are burnt, the city of Ardannon is torn down stone by stone, and countless foul idols are shattered and cast into the swamp, along with the blade Molharran's Sorrow. The nation of Meruvar is utterly destroyed, and within a year there is no sign of even the highways of that land. Because of this purge, modern historians know almost nothing about this time period, save for the bare fact that there was a nation called Meruvar which disappeared around this time. Most importantly, no record that Ioanna's tomb even exists survives, much less its location. After the destruction is complete, Karath III's twin sons offer Aurum the throne of Molharran for the third time. The visibly wearied hero refuses again and goes into seclusion.
172 BC: As the polite arguing between the two heirs to Molharran deepens into an outright, if as of yet non-violent, battle for the throne, a band of adventurers makes a discovery in the depths of the Malpheggi Swamp. Searching for remnants of the cult of Yuranos, they discover the fortress built centuries earlier by the Nithian warlock. Invading the keep, they disturb the lich inside, who slays them easily. Angered by the intrusion, the lich begins work on a mighty magic.
170 BC: Partisans of the rival claimants to the throne of Molharran begin to fight openly in the streets of Elstarath. However, as winter falls at the end of the year, a terrible black light fills the southern horizon for a full day and a night. When the light fades, every dead body in southern Molharran, Athenos, and what was once Meruvar rises from its tomb. The undead gather into mighty hordes and lay waste to the countryside. Chronicles of the time put their numbers in the hundreds of thousands, and modern historians have no reason to doubt them.
169 BC: As the winter ends, the army of Molharran moves south from Elstarath, trying to cleanse the land of the undead. They quickly discover that each soldier that falls fighting the horde rises again the next night as a member. The Molharraners are forced back north in a matter of weeks, and Elstarath readies itself for a siege that fails to materialise. The undead begin to purge southern Molharran of human life.
168 BC: The undead horde begins to shift itself northward, toward Elstarath. The hero Aurum is nowhere to be found, but the two heirs put aside their fighting to jointly lead the defence. The Eraedan clans send aid, but are too hard-pressed by orcish incursions to spare many warriors. The undead horde lays siege to the city of Elstarath, but the capital holds... for the moment.
167 BC: With Elstarath on the verge of falling, a great golden dragon - believed to be the same that fought Calor many years ago - descends from the sky. His fiery breath scatters the horde, and without pausing he flies south into the Malpheggi swamp. The next night, a bright golden light is seen in the south, and a new constellation appears in the sky.
Most of the undead collapse; the remainder wander mindlessly, no longer a serious threat. Molharraner scouts soon discover signs of a great battle on the fringes of the Malpheggi swamp. Aurum's twin spears are found plunged into a pile of fallen undead, which unknown to the scouts, contains the Nithian lich. The priests of Molharran quickly surmise that the hero Aurum and the golden dragon were one and the same, and the new constellation is named Draco Aurum in his honour. The spears are placed in a shrine near the site of his final battle.
166 BC: As the last of the undead are put to rest, Molharran remains a shattered nation. Sensing weakness, the orcish hordes shift their attention away from the relatively strong Eraedan clans, pouring across Mohlarran's thinly manned northern border. In a series of battles culminating with a siege of Elstarath, the orcs win some of their greatest victories since the days of Calor. One of the claimants to the throne of Molharran is slain in the fighting, and the other takes the throne as Karath IV. He manages to break the siege of Elstarath and secure a northern border, but one far south of where it once was. With the south devastated by the undead, Molharran has effectively shrunk to a thin band of territory around the capital city.
164 BC: With the bulk of the orcish might in the south, the Inlashar stage a revival, pushing the orcs back as far as the borders of Eraeda.
Several of the most prominent tribes of the day forge an alliance with the Eastwind Clan of Favaro against the orcs. Meanwhile, in the east, the slowly expanding borders of the ancient Doulakki city-state of Salonikos begin to encroach on the Canolbarth forest. Brief skirmishes with the elves soon flare into open war. Surprisingly, the humans win several early victories, as the elves, more used to fighting the disorganised tribes of the Eraedans or orcs, underestimate the militia of Salonikos.
162 BC: Finally taking the humans seriously, the elves muster their full strength and push them out of the forest in the Battles of the Weeping Trees, named after a passage from an elven bard's rendition of the campaign, in which she described how the trees seemed to weep blood in the aftermath. The elves pursue the humans back to the walls of Salonikos and briefly lay siege to the city before being pushed back.
However, the humans are unable to reach the forest, and find themselves on the defensive.
161 BC: The City Council of Salonikos, desperate for allies, sends emissaries through the elven lines to Rockhome, with a mission that amounts to little more than begging the dwarves for aid. Thanks perhaps more to luck than skill, the diplomats manage to ensure the message is heard by King Sardal III of Rockhome. He agrees to consider the matter.
160 BC: Early this year, the elves again lay siege to Salonikos. This time, the humans are unable to break the siege and sue for peace. The elven King Alevar rejects the offers and makes clear that he intends to see Salonikos utterly destroyed, as a lesson to any human that might dare to consider invading Alfheim. Salonikos sends more messengers to Rockhome, but history does not record if they reach the dwarves or how they are received.
159 BC: Sardal III announces that Rockhome will not aid Salonikos, stating that the human city is not worth one dwarven life. However, many young dwarves, unfriendly to the elves at the best of times, still agitate for war, and some begin to form volunteer regiments with the intention of joining the war. Sardal III, angered, makes a second pronouncement declaring that any dwarf who marches to aid Salonikos will be forever exiled from Rockhome. In response, the number of young dwarves prepared to fight doubles overnight.
158 BC: In a grand battle lasting four days, the dwarven volunteers break the siege of Salonikos. Much of the city is reduced to ruins in the fighting, but at the end of it the elves are beaten back. King Alevar agrees to peace terms. (Some human histories record that his change of heart was due to the pleas of the elven heroine Sinian; elven chronicles are silent on the matter.) A border between Salonikos and Alfheim is agreed upon, which remains part of the border between Alfheim and Darokin in modern times. The Salonikos City Council offers the dwarves who aided the city citizenship; most agree and settle in the city, lending their expertise to rebuilding it. As a result, many of the oldest buildings in modern Selenica are of dwarven construction.
150 BC: By this point, the Inlashar revival reaches its height. For the first time in centuries, the entirety of the ancient Great Road of Inlashar is in Inlashar hands. Orcish strength is lower than at any time since the razing of Comaelle. A few documents from around this time refer to these years as the "Silver Peace", but the term never really takes hold.
140 BC: With the orcish threat at the moment lessened, the Eraedan clans grow in wealth and number. On the west bank of the Streel, one of the larger clans - the Ansimonts - founds a city it names after itself.
They quickly bring the other clans on the western bank under their rule.
133 BC: The last King of Molharran, called Karath V, dies of an illness with no heir. The few surviving towns of Molharran are more or less independent of Elstarath by this point, and with the end of the line of Harradhos even the polite fiction that they are part of a greater Kingdom is gone. The city of Elstarath itself, much reduced from its greater days, goes through rule by a succession of warlords and chieftains, none of which accomplish anything of any great significance.
128 BC: A new orcish horde forms in the west and advances into the Streel Valley, skirting the southern borders of Inlashar. They raze all save a handful of the remaining Molharraner villages north of Elstarath and raid the lands of the Ansimont Clan. The orcs then cross the Streel north of Favaro, where they succeed in destroying the few Inlashar strongholds in the region and again cut off Inlashar from the Eraedan clans.
122 BC: After years of skirmishing, the orcs overwhelm Inlashar defences near modern Corunglain, razing many strongholds and dividing Inlashar in two. The western half slowly falls to the orcs over the next ten years; the eastern section manages to put up more resistance.
120 BC: Attel Eastwind is born. By the time he is fourteen, he is known as one of the greatest warriors of the Eastwind Clan - if not all the Clans of Eraeda.
100 BC: Around this time, the orcs launch a major assault on the remaining Inlashar tribes. Attel Eastwind gathers a great host of men from the northern Eraedan Clans and marches to aid the Inlashar. The Clans do not hear of him or his followers again, and assume them lost.
98 BC: As one of its first acts, the new Rockhome Senate rescinds the banishment of the dwarves who aided Salonikos against Alfheim. Many return to Rockhome, but some choose to remain in the city-state.
95 BC: With many of their warriors lost in the north, the Eastwind Clan is sorely weakened. The Ansimont Clan, allied with other southern clans, launch a campaign to bring the northern clans under their dominance. In a desperate battle, a man named Ansel Eastwind - brother to Attel and referred to by history as Ansel the Elder, leads the Eastwind Clan to victory over the alliance.
89 BC: After years of skirmishing, often interrupted by orcish incursions, Ansel the Elder captures the city of Ansimont. He holds the city for all of three days before being forced back across the Streel to Favaro. Nonetheless, this marks the end of the war between the Ansimont and the Eastwind - both clans are devastated by the fighting and have lost the will to continue.
83 BC: The last of the Inlashar clan-holds is destroyed by the orcs early this year. Toward the end of the year, a host of refugees reaches the city of Favaro. They are lead by a man named Mithras Attleson, who claims to be Attel Eastwind's son by an Inlashar chieftain's daughter and therefore the rightful ruler of the Eastwind. After much debate, Ansel the Elder grants the refugees a stretch of land along the fringes of the Canolbarth to settle in and rule - if Mithras abandons his claim to rule the Eastwind. He accepts, and he and his followers become known as the Attleson Clan.
76 BC: Ansel the Elder dies of old age. Mithras Attleson makes no move to claim leadership of the Eastwind, and Ansel's eldest son takes control of the clan. He weds a daughter of the Ansimonts' ruling family.
70 BC: Continued close ties between the Eastwind and the Ansimont bring a new unity to the Eraedan clans. Inter-clan wars become rare over the next decade, and many new towns and villages are founded. However, amidst the ruins of Inlashar and Molharran, the orcs also grow in number and strength.
40 BC: A major orcish invasion is - barely - thwarted by the combined might of the Clans of Eraeda. The Ansimonts in particular are badly weakened by the conflict. Over the next decades, orcs continue to move into Eraedan lands in large numbers, until there are only slightly more humans than orcs in the lands between the Streel and the Canolbarth.
7 BC: Ansel Eastwind, or Ansel the Younger, is born to the current head of the Eastwind Clan.
8 AC: Orcish marauders sack the city of Favaro. Ansel the Younger's father perishes, and his elder brother takes on the role of head of the Eastwind Clan. Ansel proposes a new alliance of the Clans of Eraeda to end the orcish threat forever, but his brother deems the plan futile.
Undaunted, Ansel begins to raise an army of his own from the Eastwind and neighbouring clans. They are few at first, but they are still able to begin purging the northern Eraedan territories.
10 AC: Orcs attack the lands of the Ansimont Clan. Ansel rides to their aid. His forces make the difference, and the orcs are broken. Charles Ansimont, head of the clan, swears loyalty to Ansel Eastwind and pledges his warriors to the cause.
12 AC: The Attleson Clan joins Ansel's forces. By this point, fully half the clans contribute warriors to Ansel's army, and more and more men swear personal fealty to the young general every day. For the first time in generations, it is the orcs that live in fear of humans.
17 AC: Fearing Ansel's growing power, most of the Clans of Eraeda demand the force disband. Of the major clans, only the Ansimont and Attleson stand with him. When Ansel and his men refuse, they are declared exiles, or 'Daro'. The army becomes known as the Darokin.
18 AC: An alliance of clans marches against the Darokin. Rather than fight, Ansel retreats south, to the very edge of Eraedan territory.
With the clans divided amongst themselves, orcs overrun much of northern Eraeda.
19 AC: The Darokin make permanent encampments on the site of what will become Darokin City.
20 AC: Orcs again sack the city of Favaro, slaying the head of the Eastwind. Though Ansel is the rightful heir, a council of elders takes control of the clan instead.
21 AC: Rather than contest rulership of the Eastwind, Ansel Eastwind and his forces remain in the south. Ansel founds Darokin City and proclaims the establishment of the Kingdom of Darokin, with himself as King Ansel I of the House of Darokin. The new Kingdom only controls territory in, roughly, a 32 mile radius from the city, though they remain allied with the Ansimont and Attleson.