Greater Tharsis Region Timeline
by WingofCoot(Note that one local year = 1.87 Mystaran years)
Before 200,000 years ago... Only elemental beings (nearly all from the Plane of Earth) exist on Vaniae, arriving and departing through vortices
200,000 years ago... Mysterious aliens from another star system arrive and begin to 'terraform' Vaniae, then disappear or depart, leaving behind ruins and meks
60,000 years ago... Sandfolk arise in the highlands of Tharsis
4800 years ago (~BC 8000 in Mystaran terms) Ascraeus supervolcano event, first sign that the ancient 'terraforming' has begun to become unstable; hundreds of sandfolk are killed by pyroclastic flows that create the Lava Plain region; two entire clans destroyed. Over the next decades, the planet cools; the polar caps grow, and the shallow margin of the northern-hemisphere ocean retreats.
1925 years ago (~BC 2600) Gren explorers make contact with the sandfolk of Tharsis
1600 years ago (~BC 2000) Arrival of the first Noctauran 'minotaurs' on Vaniae. This first wave are "original taurans", not subject to Ixion's curse; they are more intelligent and less aggressive than usual minotaurs.
1500 years ago (~BC 1810) The tauran society in 'proto-Noctaurus' has become a loose kingdom of clans acknowledging the overlordship of the Caelus clan.
1470 years ago (~BC 1750) Second and greater supervolcano event in Tharsis, corresponding to the Taymoran cataclysm on Mystara. Arsia explodes, killing thousands of sandfolk (a dozen clans are utterly destroyed) and hundreds of hephaestons. This greatly accelerates the cooling/drying of Vaniae.
1470 years ago (~BC 1750) Vampiric minotaurs from Taymora, along with living minotaurs, arrive in Noctaurus.
1400 years ago (~BC 1620) Conditions on the upper highlands of Tharsis are now too severe for humans, grens, minotaurs, etc. to survive without magical or technological aid.
1200 years ago (~BC 1250) Noctaurus becomes even more decentralized/chaotic. The overlordship of Caelus, always limited, becomes purely nominal. Wars between clans are now usual.
1000 years ago (~BC 900) The Deimos clan or bloodline of vampiric minotaurs takes the throne of Noctaurus. Over the next century, the loose kingdom of clans is centralized into an Empire, and the Noctauran territory is expanded.
510 years ago (~AC 50) A Paragon from Deshret reshapes the eastern flank of the Torch of the Immortals, creating the Sacred Approach. He is followed by many members of a fire cult (pushed out of Deshret by religious persecution) who found the village of Fire Lake near the Torch.
210 years ago (~AC 600) Succession war in Noctaurus; House Phobos ascends the throne; further expansion of Noctaurus - Western Province established, conflict with the sandfolk tribe of Steep Cliffs begins.
208 years ago (~AC 603) The village of Night's End is founded by an exiled branch of the House of Caelus, pushed out of Noctaurus during the succession wars.
53 years ago (~AC 900) Most recent mek incursion, in the territory of the High Mesa tribe