Timeline of Vaniae
by WingofCootA very loose, broad-scale timeline of Vaniae
Primeval Era (Before 6400 BE)
Elemental beings (nearly all from the Plane of Earth - including earth elementals, desert ghosts, etc.) exist on Vaniae, arriving and departing through vortices
Mineral (silicon-based) life forms arise, including stone giants and rock men.
Mysterious aliens from another star system arrive and begin to 'terraform' Vaniae, then disappear or depart, leaving behind ruins and meks. As a result of the terraforming, semi-mineral life forms appear.
Semi-mineral intelligences arise; sandfolk in the highlands of Tharsis, geonids in the hills and valleys of the southern hemisphere's temperate/subtropical zone.
Chak Era (6400 to 1500 BE)
6400 BE / 12,600 BC
Chak arrive on Vaniae, setting up a fallback base for their interests in the Mystara-Matera-Patera system in response to the Carnifex-Pteryx War (see Sharon Dornhoff's Hollow Moon material).
5800 BC / 11,500 BC
With the disappearance of the surviving Pteryx and the imprisonment of the Greater Carnifex, Chak interest in Mystaraspace declines. Many Chak leave Vaniae; those who remain conduct limited trade with the sandfolk, rock men, geonids, and stone giants.
4000 BE / 8000 BC
Ascraeus supervolcano event, first sign that the ancient 'terraforming' has begun to become unstable. Over the next decades, the planet cools; the polar caps grow, and the shallow margin of the northern-hemisphere ocean retreats.
1800 BE / 4000 BC
The Beagle deposits several Gren exploration teams on Vaniae, who become stranded after the Beagle itself crashes on Mystara. The teams lack the resources to survive on their own, but the Chak aid them in return for service.
1600 BE / 3650 BC
The aid of Chak technomagic and spells has allowed the Gren to avoid the genetic problems of a critically small founder gene pool. They now number about 20,000. One group leaves the Chak (their original service contract long since having expired) and establishes a village on the Bay of Twin Moonlight (the current Lunar Sea).
Over the next century, the growth of the Gren attracts more Chak to Vaniae, and the Hidden Holds are expanded.
First Canal-Building Era
1500 BE / 3500 BC
The first canal is begun by the Chak and tributary Gren, connecting the Rifted Sea (Valles Marineris) to a massive canyon lake system in the Noctis Labyrinthus/Tharsis area and natural 'canals' created by the Lava Worms of that area.
1400 BE / 3300 BC
Canals now connect the Rifted Sea/Noctis Labyrinthus system to the Bay of Twin Moonlight (and thus the northern ocean as a whole).
1240 BE / 3000 BC
Great Rain of Fire strands explorers/settlers from the Thonia/Blackmoor civilization on Vaniae.
700 BE / 2000 BC
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.
The Great Catastrophe
570 BE / 1750 BC
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.
Loss of sea water to Mystara through the Noctis Labyrinthus portal.
Vampiric minotaurs from Taymora, along with living minotaurs, arrive in Noctaurus.
570 to 550 BE / 1750 to 1710 BC
The Clouded Years. Planetary cloud cover resulting from Arsia precipitously drops temperatures across Vaniae. Polar glaciers begin to expand.
550 to 500 BE / 1710 to 1620 BC
The Freezing Years.
When the clouds finally part, they do so at the cost of massive snows that further feed the glaciers.
Accelerated collapse of Vaniae's terraformed ecosystem. Restored sunlight after the Clouded Years does not bring back the original balance; glaciers grow at the expense of the seas, which continue to rapidly drop.
Second (Great) Canal-Building Era
Now supporting a much larger human population, the Chak and many tributaries begin the great expansion of their cavern and canal system.
500 to 300 BE / 1620 to 1250 BC
Decline of the northern ocean has left the former Bay of Twin Moonlight, and thus the original canal system, isolated from the remainder of the ocean. Canals are expanded to the other two major remnants, which will become the Pyrhian Sea and Isidis Sea, and to the greatly expanded north polar cap.
400 BE / 1430 BC
Presumed (though disputed) divergence of the Mygallan aranea from the Chak.
300 BE / 1250 BC
The Giff arrive, possibly aided by the Chak, and settle in the Hippania region. They contribute to the further expansion of the canal system.
First Nithian travel to Vaniae, also likely aided by the Chak.
200 BE / 1060 BC
The Cerberian and Thonian Rifts have become chains of salt lakes and marshes, and the last phase of canal building begins.
150 BE / 970 BC
The canal system reaches its final form, with connections through both rifts.
Eastern and western halves of the canal system are now connected, as are the Silverhome (Argyre) Sea and the remnant of the Hellas Sea in the Southern Hemisphere; sea levels are stabilized, except perhaps in Hellas.
70 BE / 800 BC
A group of Cypri Alphatians who did not support either the Followers of Air or of Fire in Old Alphatia's final war are diverted from their wanderings in the Outer Planes by Brissard's intervention in their transport magic. They arrive on Vaniae in a sub-arctic marsh in the high northern hemisphere's former sea bed. Cut off from other survivors of Old Alphatia and stranded in an unfamiliar world, they manage to survive (making heavy use of magic). They will later become the core of the Empire of Vaniae.
Imperial Era
YE 1 / 683 BC
Empire of Vaniae founded
YE 210 / 290 BC
First Deshret War. Imperial expansion checked for many generations.
YE 370-394 / 10 to 54 AC
Second great wave of Imperial expansion.
Second Deshret War. With control of Deshret, Empire solidly controls the northern hemisphere.
YE 392 / 50 AC
Battle of Arx Phoboi. Empire gains a foothold in Noctaurus.
YE 394 / 54 AC
The disastrous Mygallan punitive expedition. Southward expansion of the Empire checked; Empire expelled from Noctaurus. End of second era of Imperial expansion.
YE 686-689 / 600-605 AC
Coup and brief succession war in Noctaurus; further expansion of Noctaurus by the new Emperor.