On the MMB, there is a fair amount of discussion about Wendar going on. One aspect of this is the question of its borders - namely, we have maps that either show the kingdom bordering Denagoth to the south and west (as, I believe, Thib's maps show), or having it border Denagoth only to the south, with a stretch of unclaimed land due north.
In seeking an explanation for the discrepancy, one idea was that this northern region (the so-called "Northern Wildlands") was claimed by Wendar, an occupied by it at various times and to varying degrees, but had never been successfully annexed. I pursued the idea a little, and this timeline was the result. I might write more in the future (beyond the rest of the timeline), but for the moment I thought some people in both groups might be interested.
Note: I have used parts of Shawn and Marco's Wendar timeline for this portion.
Timeline of the Wendarian Northern Wildlands
by Geoff GanderAt various times in the past, the elves have claimed the northern wildlands for their own, some undertaking the perilous task of settling the dark forests and building strongholds. In times of prosperity, new realms were carved out of the wilderness, and the border crept northwards. In darker times, evil things swept down from the Mengul Mountains, and from the fearsome Adri Varma Plateau, and in their wake there was nothing but ruined fortresses and towns, and streams of refugees fleeing south, telling their brethren of the horrors that stalked them. Even during the worst times, the heartlands in the south remained free for the most part, made secure by a network of fortresses and towers, but always the wildlands beckoned, promising fantastic things to those with the strength and courage to find them.
Gylharen, wishing to usher in a new era of strength for Wendar, has called on the bravest souls - human and elven - to cross the frontier into the wildlands, and retake that which was lost many times before. This time, Gylharen has the Elvenstone, and the guidance of the Korrigans, to strengthen him. Legends abound of lost elven cities, hidden deep in forbidding ancient forests, filled with priceless lore and treasures: many- towered Soreth, Thalion, with its bridge of unsurpassing beauty, and silver- domed Nimbeth. All were built and held by the elves in times past, and, perhaps, they might be retaken by the men and elves of modern Wendar.
The First Realms: Forenath and Soreth
BC 2100: The elves of Genalleth discover a broad, heavily forested valley north of their own lands, sandwiched between the Mengul Range and what will one day be known as the Adri Varma Plateau. Although initially promising, the land they explore contains treacherous moors, unwelcoming ancient forests, and powerful monsters. Naming the region the Northern Wildlands, the elves regard it as a dangerous land to be avoided. Unfortunately for them, they do not venture far enough north to discover the more hospitable regions.
BC 1725: King Loark raises Great Horde at Urzud (which is located at a fork in the Borea River in central Brun) and migrates eastward, continuing his quest for the Blue Knife.
BC 1724: Akkila-Khan, believing he is working off better knowledge than Loark, raises an appreciably smaller horde and moves southeastward from Urzud on his quest for the Blue Knife.
BC 1723: Akkila-Khan comes across the northern edge of the Denagothian plateau and starts ravaging the Denagothians.
BC 1722: The Great Horde of King Loark crosses the Icereach Range and ravages the Antalians of Norwold, sending them into a dark age.
BC 1721: Local resistance forces Akkila Khan to move on southward, entering the elven territory of Genalleth (modern Wendar). Using their superior magic and knowledge of the region, the elves drive Akkila's forces out of their land, and he ends up in Ethengar. Some of his forces are separated from the horde and driven north, into the Northern Wildlands. Unbeknownst to the Genalleth elves, who are certain that the horde will never make it out again, a bronze-age human culture lives there. The humanoids, eager for plunder, fall on the humans and devastate their towns, initiating years of vicious warfare.
BC 1700: The humanoid horde is destroyed, but at great cost. More than three-quarters of the humans have been killed, and almost all of their towns and villages are in ruin; their nascent civilisation collapses within a generation, as people come to depend more on their clans for survival. Matters are made worse by the change in climate brought on by the explosion of ancient Blackmoorian artefacts in what are now the Broken Lands.
BC 1500: Elves of the Lothenar Forest discover a great, untamed land, west of the Mengul Range. Amazed by their discovery, they explore the area.
BC 1470: The Lothenar elves return to their homes, telling tales of a vast land of pristine river valleys bounded by ancient forests, as well as the seemingly magical properties of certain lakes, rivers, and plants found there. Some of them migrate to the newly discovered land, including reclusive clans hoping to avoid further contact with other races. Some Geffronell elves, eager to settle new lands in the aftermath of recent climate changes that resulted in the loss of much of their forest, join them.
BC 1450: The elven settlers discover that their new home is not uninhabited. In the far west, in the shadow of the Adri Varma Plateau, primitive humans are encountered (the remnants of the culture that was ravaged by part of Akkila-Khan's horde a few centuries earlier). Although most of the humans avoid the elves out of fear, some make contact with the newcomers, and, awed by their strange beauty, revere them as powerful earth spirits.
BC 1400: Some of the more open-minded elves, having discovered ruins indicating that the humans were more advanced at one time, learn the humans' language and customs, and try to guide them to a higher level of civilisation.
BC 1300: Realising that, after being separated from their brethren in Lothenar and Geffron for almost 200 years they have become a different people, the elves found their own realm in the lands they claim, naming it Forenath. It encompasses the northern half of what are now the Northern Wildlands, and contains a handful of both elven and human villages. No effort is made to expand beyond the Muil River (named after the elf who first crossed it), as the forests south of it are more forbidding, and filled with dangerous monsters.
BC 1200: At the foot of the mountains in the northern reaches of the land, several reclusive Lothenar clans, disgusted by their compatriots' increasing involvement with the human clans, found the town of Soreth on a large forested hill girded by a great river. They fortify their settlement, and allow only elves to enter.
BC 1100: By this time word of Forenath and Soreth reaches the elves of Genalleth. Although there is no lack of space in their valley, news that elves have settled the Northern Wildlands (which have until now been considered fearsome and monster-infested) inspires those who wish to found their own stronghold to venture north.
Over the coming centuries, word of this rich land eventually reaches humanoids to the north and west, who then try to take the Northern Wildlands for themselves. They are driven back by the elves and their human allies.
The human tribes of Forenath have, under elvish guidance, recovered much of their lost civilisation, but in doing so have adopted the elvish language as their own. Many tribes have adopted elvish customs as well, even to the point of worshipping the Korrigans. Occasional intermarriages also produce offspring with both elvish and human blood - they are called "the Children of the Korrigans" by the elves, but their human brethren call them "half-men", even if they appear totally human.
BC 1000: Several minor strongholds have been established south of the Muil River by Genalleth elves, and direct contact has been made with the elves of Forenath. The southern strongholds, however, do not fare as well - dangerous monsters are far more common, and some elves disappear if they venture too deeply into many of the forests. Particularly dangerous are the frogmen of the swamps and moors, who quickly unite in the face of elvish advances.
Elsewhere, Antalian tribes, fleeing what are now the Northern Reaches to escape Nithian encroachments, arrive in the Genalleth Valley.
BC 950: Many humans living in Forenath begin to fall ill with a strange rotting disease. Alarmed, and recalling similar diseases that struck them in Lothenar centuries ago, the elves consult their surviving records to determine what the cause might be. The disease was brought to the region by the Nithians, by way of the fleeing Antalians. It is not magical; the only reason why the Forenath humans are dying of it is that they have no immunity against it, unlike the Antalians and Nithians.
BC 940: It becomes clear that the disease affecting the humans is not like that which plagued the elves - the elves are not susceptible, and none of the traditional remedies seem to work. The disease is also highly contagious, and kills its victims quickly. The elves of Forenath contact their cousins in Geffron, asking for their help in using the Elvenstar to cure their human allies. The Geffronell refuse, citing the treachery of the Denagothians as precedent. The elves of Soreth declare that any human entering their lands will be killed.
BC 920: Despair spreads rapidly among the humans of Forenath, as it becomes clear that their elvish friends cannot help them. Some seek to isolate themselves in order to avoid the plague, while others leave the area entirely, hoping to start anew. Others still grow embittered against their elvish allies. One fact that goes unnoticed is that humans with even the smallest amount of elvish blood, the so-called "half-men", are unaffected by the plague. Roughly one-third of Forenath's human population has died of the plague over the previous 30 years.
BC 914: In one of the larger towns of Forenath, a human named Maeglath claims that he has evidence that the plague was created by the elves as a means of killing their human compatriots. He urges his countrymen to take up arms and seek vengeance, before the plague claims too many lives. While many human elders denounce him for spreading dangerous lies, his message resonates with a large number of those who hear it. In later years, the elves will recall this event as the beginning of Forenath's fall.
BC 910: As more humans continue to sicken and die in Forenath, Maeglath's beliefs gain acceptance. Those humans who have embraced elvish ways (and who, more often than not, have some elvish ancestry) urge their countrymen to reject Maeglath's message of hatred, but they are increasingly denounced as traitors to their own race. The fact that many of these humans are not suffering from the plague (due to their elvish blood), only casts more suspicion upon them.
BC 900: In Genalleth, the recently arrived Antalian refugees make contact with the elves, and together the two races begin laying the foundations of modern Wendarian society.
In Forenath, tensions have risen to the point that mobs begin attacking elves and humans thought to be traitors. The first attacks surprise the elves due to their viciousness and level of co-ordination. The violence, thought to be orchestrated by Maeglath, escalates over the following years.
BC 891: Maeglath is killed by a band of elvish heroes who had been hunting him for several years. The movement he started does not dissolve upon his death, as the elves had hoped, but instead is whipped up to new levels of fervour, as mobs attack their victims regardless of the danger to themselves.
BC 890: Owing primarily to the dangers posed by the wilderness, a series of successful humanoid and frogman offensives, and the unexpected difficulties in maintaining their settlements, the Genalleth elves abandon many of their strongholds, save for a handful immediately north of Genalleth proper. Contact with Forenath, sporadic at best, becomes increasingly infrequent.
By this time, Forenath is in a state of chaos. Although the plague had now killed more than three-quarters of the realm's human population, violence is still widespread. Desperate elvish clan elders authorise their warriors, and hired adventurers, to do whatever is necessary to end the threats to their people's safety, which results in wholesale slaughter on some occasions as entire human villages are wiped out for sheltering known "traitors to the realm". This only incites the human mobs to even greater acts of violence once word spreads of the deeds.
BC 887: Able no longer to see the realm they worked so hard to build descend into further chaos, many Forenath elves seek shelter in Soreth, Lothenar, Geffron, or even Genalleth. Times become very difficult for the "half-men" - they are persecuted by other humans, and are often treated with suspicion by the elves because of their racial ties with the rebels, unless they have proven their loyalty.
BC 880: By now, Forenath has been largely emptied of its elvish population, save for a handful living deep within the forests. The remaining humans, numbering no more than a few thousand, fall upon any of their countrymen thought to be sympathetic to the elves. In the ensuing battles, the faint remnants of Forenath are destroyed utterly. Humanoid tribes living on the Adri Varma Plateau and in the northern mountains, kept at bay by the elves for centuries, now enter the lands of Forenath largely unopposed. The next 200 years will see the Northern Wildlands revert to being considered a perilous, undesirable land. Some "half-man" clans who survived the chaos migrate south to Genalleth, where, they have heard, humans and elves co-exist peacefully.
The Great Realms of Nimbeth and Thalion (BC 662 - AC 113)
BC 662: While exploring the Northern Wildlands in search of his ancestral homeland, a human adventurer of "half-man" descent is attacked by orcs and grievously wounded. Near death, he discovers a spring and drinks its water, and is healed. Excited, he notes the spring's location, and hurries back to Genalleth to share his discovery.
BC 660: The adventurer's tale of a magical spring with many curative properties reaches Beldareth, a powerful elf lord of southern Genalleth. Accompanied by his most trusted companions, he embarks on a quest to find it.
BC 648: Beldareth and his companions locate the magical spring after many trials. The forested hills in which the spring is located are of such rare beauty that he decides to establish a new stronghold here. Over the following years, most of his clan migrate to the lands near the spring, founding the town of Nimbeth. The local humanoid tribes are driven away or annihilated.
BC 600: By this time the wondrous powers of the magical spring of Nimbeth become widely known to the elves of Genalleth. Elves, and a handful of Antalians, from all over the realm go to Nimbeth over the following decades to witness its effects, and in some cases to settle. Within 100 years Nimbeth grows into a small city.
BC 560: So many people visit the spring of Nimbeth that Beldareth orders the construction of a complex to protect it, and to provide accommodations for its visitors. This structure, almost a palace, is renowned for its elegance, and its beautiful silver domes. Over time, other buildings in Nimbeth copy this design.
BC 500: Some elves of Nimbeth, yearning for new lands of their own, migrate westwards. They eventually find a broad, lush valley, through which a river flows down from the Adri Varma Plateau. They discover a fortified human village, whose inhabitants react with anger at the elves' approach, and attack them. After a long battle, the elves are victorious, and drive the surviving humans into nearby caves, sealing them up afterwards. The town of Thalion is founded on the ruins of the village, ruled by Aranael, the most senior clanmaster present. Unknown to the elves, the villagers are descended from the humans of Forenath, who had been driven south three centuries earlier by invading orcs.
BC 487: Denagothian tribes living in the western Mengul Range witness the powers of Nimbeth's spring, and, coveting it for themselves, band together to attack the elves and humans to drive them away. Many homesteads and villages are burned.
BC 486: Lord Beldareth gathers his clan's warriors, as well as many men from the human families who live under his protection, and mounts a campaign to drive back the Denagothians. Many bloody battles ensue throughout the forested hills claimed by Beldareth's clan.
BC 479: By dint of discipline, determination, and elven magic, Lord Beldareth and his armies manage to push the Denagothians back to the Mengul Range. The most decisive battle is fought at Alvar's Stead, in which four Denagothian chieftains are killed, after which the tribes are routed. Beldareth's surviving warriors hail him as a king, thus beginning the dynasty of the House of Nimbeth.
BC 477: After many difficult years of wandering underground, the humans exiled by the elves of Thalion reach the surface world once more, in what are now the Moors of Chlyras, southwest of Nimbeth. There, they encounter the indigenous frogmen, who forge a wary peace with them once it is clear that the newcomers are not elves, and in fact bear a grudge against them. The frogmen have been eyeing Nimbeth warily, fearing an invasion, and see the humans as potential allies.
BC 460: After ensuring that his lands are secure, Beldareth orders the construction of a series of towers near the Mengul Range, and expands his dominion southwards to control the trail connecting Nimbeth with Genalleth.-
BC 454: The humans and frogmen of the moors launch a series of probing attacks in autumn against Nimbeth, to test their enemies' resolve. Not expecting an attack from the west, the kingdom is caught off guard, and the town of Eredhon is captured. The conquerors fall upon the inhabitants with a vengeance.
BC 453: King Beldareth leads a campaign in early spring to retake Eredhon, from which his enemies are launching more daring attacks. The town is retaken, and Nimbeth's armies pursue the frogmen and humans back into the moors.
BC 448: After several years of fighting in the moors, during which many of their tribes were decimated, several frogman chieftains submit to King Beldareth in exchange for their survival, promising never to march on Nimbeth as long as the city stands. The king annexes part of the eastern moors as a buffer zone for his realm. Dismayed by their losses, the frogmen force their human allies to leave, blaming them for their misfortunes. Vowing never to ally themselves with another race ever again, and recalling that their people were once spread far and wide north of the River Muil, the humans head there in search of a new home.
BC 440: Some elvish lords of Genalleth, having watched events in the north (particularly the defeat of the frogmen), venture northwards to settle new lands, and to re-establish strongholds that had been abandoned centuries earlier. Unwilling to arouse Nimbeth's ire, the frogmen refrain from attacking the elves, and retreat to their northernmost territories.
BC 420: The twice-exiled humans have by now resettled north of the River Muil, and have also located some of their kin, helping them fend off orcish incursions from further north. A handful of strong human settlements are established east of Thalion; although they are unaware of how close they are to the town.
BC 400: Thalion has, by now, grown into a small, well-defended town of great beauty. Inspired by the surrounding landscape, and by the majestic river, Aranael designs and begins to construct a grand bridge connecting Thalion with the trail that leads, ultimately, to Nimbeth.
BC 382: Thalion's bridge, a true work of art, is complete. Its beauty and magnificence soon become almost as well known to the elves of Genalleth as the silver domes of Nimbeth. Some artistically inclined elves, as well as those who seek new lands to explore, settle in the town and the surrounding hills. Aranael crowns himself king of Thalion; no one opposes him.
BC 350: By this time the Kingdom of Nimbeth encompasses what is now northern Wendar and the southeastern portion of the Northern Wildlands. At its southernmost extent, and bordering other elvish realms, King Beldareth orders the construction of a sister city to Nimbeth, naming it Amoleth.
BC 313: A band of elvish settlers heading for Thalion comes across a human hunting party, and is attacked by them. The survivors are chased to the edge of the lands controlled by the town, but the humans are driven back by Thalion's army. Enraged at the presence of elves so close to their homes, and realising that they inhabit the valley that once belonged to them, the humans begin attacking small elvish parties, and raiding outlying settlements.
BC 300: The Kingdom of Nimbeth is at its peak. With his borders secure, King Beldareth looks north, remembering the tales of the lost realms of Forenath and Soreth. Although he had heard of Forenath's fall when he was young, neither the king, nor anyone else in his court, has heard any news out of Soreth for almost 600 years. Eager to know of the great city's fate, the king embarks on a secret quest with his closest friends. His wife, Queen Miriel, rules in his stead.
BC 298: King Beldareth and his companions reach the city of Soreth, after braving the many perils that are now found in the former realm of Forenath. The city's formidable gates are open and intact, and there is no sign that anyone has lived in Soreth for a long time. Many of the city's treasures remain, and its grand buildings are untouched by anything save for the passage of time. Disturbed, the elves return home, and tell no one of their discovery.
BC 297: The human attacks against Thalion intensify. Thalion's soldiers are not nearly as battle hardened or organised as those of Nimbeth; they are not able to vanquish their foes, nor are they able to secure safe routes to other elvish realms to the south and east. Fearing that they will soon be cut off entirely, King Aranael sends messengers to Nimbeth, Lothenar, and the northern realms of Genalleth to plead for aid, some of whom manage to pass through enemy-held territory.
BC 292: The Battle of Thalion is fought between the human armies, and those of Nimbeth and Thalion, as well as volunteers from Lothenar and Genalleth. Confident that their enemies would not be able to obtain aid, the humans are unprepared for the ferocity and scale of the attack against them, and they are routed. Determined to eliminate their hated enemies, Thalion's armies go on the offensive, locating and destroying any human settlement they find. Hundreds of people are also captured during this campaign - many of these are put to work in Thalion.
BC 267: A delegation of human clan leaders approaches Thalion in peace, offering to surrender their claims to the valley forever in exchange for the return of all prisoners. King Aranael, who has by now developed a deep hatred of humans, refuses. Thalion's destructive campaign against the humans, which had all but ceased for many years, resumes.
BC 260: The surviving humans of the Northern Wildlands have by now retreated to a handful of secret havens, where many hope to live unmolested. Some clan heroes, wishing to mete out vengeance, recall that a system of caves and tunnels, through which their ancestors were forced to travel, connects the valley of Thalion with many other places throughout the region. Many of them embark on quests to locate entrances to this subterranean realm.
BC 221: King Beldareth dies of old age, succeeded by his son Geldarion. It soon becomes apparent that, while Geldarion is charismatic, he is not a warrior at heart. Under his rule, the armies of Nimbeth watch the Mengul Range less and less, and some fortifications are unmanned for years at a time.
BC 217: After three generations of searching, human adventurers of the Northern Wildlands clans find an entrance to the tunnel system that runs under a large portion of the region. The following years will be spent in exploration.
BC 200: The elves of Thalion have, by this time, commenced a steady slide into decadence. Confident that their human enemies have been utterly vanquished, surrounded by many luxuries, and attended to by a fearful human slave caste (the descendants of the prisoners captured over 80 years previously), Thalion's inhabitants turn inwards, thinking only about their own self-gratification. Even the Immortals are no longer venerated as They once were.
BC 184: The elves of Thalion are caught off guard by a slave revolt. Although the rebellion is crushed brutally within days, complete control is never re-established, as similar revolts occur over the following months. Events come to a head when large numbers of armed humans, who spent almost 20 years digging their way under the city from the nearby tunnels and caverns, emerge from cellars and sewers, freeing and arming their kin and leading an organised invasion of the city from within. Their senses dulled by decades of excess, and not expecting an attack from within Thalion's walls, the elvish guards are overwhelmed within hours. Desperate to save his city, King Aranael leads a counterattack, but is forced to withdraw to his opulent throne room, where he is killed. In the ensuing panic, hundreds of elves flee the city for the relative safety of Nimbeth and northern Genalleth. Regarding the city, and the valley it occupies, as tainted, the humans loot and burn Thalion, but cannot bring themselves to tear down the bridge.
BC 80: Sporadic raiding by the Denagothian tribes of the Mengul Range, little more than a nuisance since the Battle of Alvar's Stead, begins to intensify at this time.
BC 50: The Denagothian raiding has become an invasion - thousands of warriors, sensing that the elven kingdom is weak, descend from the mountains and lay siege to Nimbeth's towers, in many places breaking through and wreaking havoc throughout the kingdom. King Geldarion personally leads many counterattacks, but his lack of skill becomes evident to friend and foe alike. Many humans, isolated on farms and in small villages, are slaughtered by the invaders.
BC 42: Emboldened by a series of successes against the elves, the Denagothian tribes lay siege to Nimbeth while King Geldarion is fighting in the south. The king's closest cousin, Arendyll, leads the defence of the city, and manages to drive back the Denagothians. Afterwards, he musters enough troops to mount a counterattack.
BC 38: Prince Arendyll defeats the main Denagothian horde near the town of Aelmar, which it had been looting. Although victorious, Nimbeth's losses are great. Arendyll has a tower built on the ruins of Aelmar, both to protect the road and to serve as a memorial - it becomes known as Arendyll's Tower. Nimbeth endures, but in a reduced and weakened state. No longer feeling safe, many humans and elves leave Nimbeth's capital for Amoleth, and cities in other realms.
AC 39: The Denagothian tribes of the western Mengul Range recover sufficiently to resume their vendetta against the elves and humans of Nimbeth. Although many warriors attack the now ill-defended lands around the city of Nimbeth, the bulk of the force invades what is now northern Wendar, near Amoleth.
AC 50: Busily defending Amoleth from Denagothian encroachments, King Geldarion entrusts the defence of his kingdom's remaining northern territories to Arendyll, who soon establishes his own court at Nimbeth.
AC 78: The Denagothians are again defeated; although Nimbeth's losses are not as severe this time. The tribes retreat to their villages and watch their enemy.
AC 103: The Battle of King's Sorrow. Convinced that his cousin is unfit to be king, Arendyll musters his forces to march on Amoleth. Crown Prince Lerian hears of this treachery, and informs his father, who leads an army to meet Arendyll. The two forces meet near Arendyll's Tower, where a bloody battle ensues. So many lives are lost that the battlefield and the surrounding lands are called the Gap of Tears ever afterwards. Arendyll, who was killed by Lerian, is struck from all known records for his treachery. Arendyll's Tower is renamed Lerian's Tower in honour of the Crown Prince, who gives up his right to rule in order to protect the weakened kingdom, using the tower as his base. In allowing this, King Geldarion effectively renounces his claims to the northern territories, outside of the city of Nimbeth itself.
AC 110: The city of Nimbeth falls to a combined host of Denagothians and orcs, the latter of whom were enticed from their northern lairs by promises of loot, and by assurances that the elves and men of Nimbeth were no longer a threat. Few of the remaining inhabitants manage to escape. With the loss of Nimbeth, and having no immediate means of regaining it, King Geldarion officially moves his court to Amoleth, and renames his kingdom accordingly.
AC 113: Having heard of the fall of Nimbeth, the frogmen consider their treaty with the kingdom (and by extension all elves) ended. The tribes muster their forces and march south, attacking the nearest elvish dominions, aided in part by wider-ranging Denagothian and orcish incursions.
The Great Northern Campaigns (AC 170 - AC 474)
AC 170: Some members of the newly formed Wendarian League look north, to the Northern Wildlands, and begin to entertain dreams of recovering the lost territories of Nimbeth and Thalion. The interest is also spurred by calls for aid from the embattled frontier dominions, which are being forced to give ground to the frogmen of the northern moors, and their occasional Denagothian and orcish allies.
AC 192: The Great Northern Campaign begins. Various elven rulers lead their best troops to Lerian's Tower, and some of the surviving frontier dominions, and from there enter the Northern Wildlands. They encounter scattered bands of orcs, Denagothians, and frogmen, which they disperse easily at first. As they venture further north, they encounter more determined foes.
AC 194: The soldiers of the Great Northern Campaign fail to take the ruins of Nimbeth, though they establish a defensible frontier nearby, roughly 40 miles to the north of the current Wendarian border. Settlers begin to trickle north to claim the regained territories. They meet with more success in the west, against the frogmen, where the border advances by 70 miles on average, and almost reaches the valley of Thalion. This is generally considered to be the end of the Great Northern Campaign.
AC 206: King Geldarion dies of old age; he is succeeded by Ellareth, his second son. Although he is more of a fighter than his father was, Ellareth lacks Geldarion's tact. Immediately after his coronation, Ellareth proclaims that he will reclaim his birthright and sit on the throne in Nimbeth before his reign ends.
AC 209: A band of elvish heroes fights their way into the valley of Thalion, and crosses the famed bridge into the ruined city. There, they defeat an orcish warlord, and claim Thalion for themselves. After news of their achievement spreads, a small trickle of humans and elves makes their way to the valley, and resettles it. The city is rebuilt during the following decades.
AC 217: King Ellareth demands the return of lands formerly belonging to the Kingdom of Nimbeth, some of which are now in the possession of the other elvish nobles who took part in the Great Northern Campaign. While a handful agree in exchange for being allowed to rule them in the king's name, most refuse.
AC 228: After many years of building up his armies, the King of Amoleth marches north to retake Nimbeth - and succeeds after a bloody, month-long battle. The other rulers of the "new frontier" (as it is called by many elves) watch warily as King Ellareth returns his court to the ruined city, and undertakes a massive effort to restore it. A few of the nobles, believing that the Kingdom of Nimbeth is rising once more, swear fealty to the king.
AC 236: The surviving human clans of the Northern Wildlands, who have by now noted the return of the elves to Thalion, begin a raiding campaign against them.
AC 267: King Ellareth and his armies invade the nearest northern dominions, conquering them after several decisive battles. The remaining northern realms forge an alliance against him, and appeal to the other members of the Wendarian League for aid. The League condemns Ellareth's selfish drive to rebuild his kingdom, and declares his realm an enemy land. Many elvish nobles agitate for the liberation of the dominions conquered by King Ellareth - this marks the start of the Second Great Northern Campaign.
AC 281: After several years of inconclusive fighting in the north, where they have tended to lose ground, a coalition of elvish realms launches a surprise attack against the city of Amoleth. The defences manage to hold long enough for the garrison of Lerian's Tower to come to the city's aid, but not before some of the attackers manage to break through. In the chaos, Amoleth's armies lose several key skirmishes, and the city's defences collapse entirely. Looting is widespread as the victors exact their revenge, and Indlath, a noble who was dispossessed by King Ellareth several years previously, crowns himself King of Amoleth.
AC 283: The Battle of Two Kings is fought north of Amoleth, as King Ellareth of Nimbeth, in a fit of rage, throws his entire might against the city in the hopes of retaking it, and the rest of his southern lands. King Indlath of Amoleth meets Ellareth on the battlefield, and wounds his enemy severely before being defeated. Although King Ellareth wins, his victory is a hollow one, as his armies are now severely weakened. The Second Great Northern Campaign ends with the Wendarian League's acknowledgment of Nimbeth's victory, but few elves will willingly deal with the ostracised kingdom.
AC 285: The elves of Thalion have begun to lose ground to the humans, who have not let up since their raiding campaign began. Some citizens flee southwards, while braver souls head north, into what was once the realm of Forenath. The leaders of Thalion issue a plea to their southern kin to aid them. Some elvish nobles, disappointed that the Second Great Northern Campaign has ended, lead their armies north in search of glory - this can be considered the beginning of the Third Great Northern Campaign.
AC 287: Noting the kingdom's weakness, orcish and Denagothian tribes invade Nimbeth from the north and east, respectively, in the hopes of driving back the elves, and securing more loot. King Ellareth is grievously wounded in battle, and dies hours later on his throne. His daughter, Ancalimë, crowns herself queen and leads the defence of Nimbeth. Further west, the frogmen receive messages from the Denagothians, urging them to fight the elves with renewed vigour.
AC 290: Although they fight bravely, the elves of Nimbeth are unable to hold back their enemies; great swaths of territory in the east and south are lost, nearly cutting the kingdom in two. Queen Ancalimë pleads for aid from the Wendarian League, asking them to have pity on her people. Her pleas are ignored.
AC 292: At the Battle of Isiliath, a large force of frogmen, spurred by tales of elvish losses to the east, routs the combined armies of four frontier dominions, leaving two of them effectively without armies. The frogman victory weakens the resolve of other dominions, and creates a weak link in the elves' formidable line of defences. By the end of the year, five dominions fall to the frogmen.
AC 293: The city of Nimbeth is completely cut off from the rest of the kingdom. Orcs and Denagothians run rampant throughout the countryside, killing any human or elf they can find. Thousands of people flee south and west.
AC 295: In the west, elvish armies from Genalleth and some of the northern frontier dominions drive the human raiders away from Thalion, after which they proceed to force their enemies north of the River Muil. Many human settlements are destroyed. Some of the elves, not satisfied with effectively wiping out the native human populations south of the river, pursue them.
AC 297: Her armies unable to hold the city any longer, Queen Ancalimë orders her people to abandon Nimbeth. Aided by magic and good tactics, the queen and her army open a gap through the besieging orcs and Denagothians, and manage to hold it long enough for the surviving citizens to flee to the west, and then south to Amoleth. Miraculously, few casualties are suffered. After thoroughly looting the city, the Denagothians and orcs head south.
AC 300: Some former refugees from Thalion have by now established isolated strongholds in what was once western Forenath. A few of these also make contact with the vanguard of the Third Great Northern Campaign. Relations are cordial, but the elvish settlers - who crave peace and safety more than anything else - have no desire to re-establish the realm of Forenath, as many of the self-appointed elvish crusaders obviously do.
AC 302: The city of Amoleth endures the first of many sieges mounted by the allied orcs and Denagothians, who have overrun the rest of the kingdom. Once again, Queen Ancalimë requests aid, warning that the fall of Amoleth will leave Genalleth open to invasion. Although a few volunteers from the south come to her aid, the queen is disheartened to learn from them that many of the eastern frontier dominions are in danger of falling to the frogmen, and scattered bands of orcs and Denagothians have begun to wreak havoc in Genalleth. Many elvish realms have left the Wendarian League to look after their own interests by this time, complicating efforts to organise a unified response to the attacks.
AC 310: Northern Genalleth is now in a state of chaos, as Denagothian and orcish warriors stream past weakened (and in many places nonexistent) elvish defences to commit mayhem. Many of the remaining frontier dominions have fallen to the frogmen, but the remainder send what aid they can to the embattled towns and cities of Genalleth, even though they are embroiled in costly wars of attrition that they seem likely to lose. With the attention of Genalleth and the dominions directed elsewhere, little thought is given to Thalion and the lands further north.
AC 320: After many years of increasingly strained relations, the warriors of the Third Great Northern Campaign attack the elvish enclaves known to them in the former lands of western Forenath. Wherever they win, the warriors usurp control over the strongholds, and reorganise them to be provinces of what they hope will be the reborn realm of Forenath. Many denizens of the enclaves, not wishing to live under military rule, flee to the relative safety of Thalion.
AC 330: After several vicious battles, including a decisive elvish victory near the village of Yngvarsvall in AC 326, Genalleth's northern frontier has stabilised once more, but it is now 60-70 miles south, on average, of Wendar's current border. The city of Amoleth now lies at the edge of orcish lands, and Lerian's Tower is an isolated, well-defended elvish enclave in the midst of hostile territory, which is given a wide berth by the enemy, who fear Prince Lerian greatly. Most of the frontier dominions have also fallen to the frogmen, cutting off Thalion entirely.
AC 335: Aware that they are largely cut off from their kin in Genalleth, and that the Wendarian League - whose unity has allowed the elves to make significant gains against the orcs, frogmen, and Denagothians - is in rapid decline, the soldiers of the Third Great Northern Campaign consolidate their forces, and send a delegation to Thalion, to urge its people to join them in creating a new, unified elvish realm in the north. Realising that the warriors have forgotten the original purpose of their campaign, and that they now seek only to carve out a realm where they can reign supreme, the citizens of Thalion refuse. Within weeks, much of the military strength of the Third Great Northern Campaign is thrown against the city.
AC 337: After withstanding a siege for almost two years, Thalion falls to the elvish warriors of the Third Great Northern Campaign - but the victory is not an easy one. Believing that much of Genalleth has fallen, and that there is no other place for them to go, the people of Thalion fight without regard for their own lives. Roughly two-thirds of the inhabitants are killed in the fighting, and their enemies lose more than half of their number. Disgusted at the fate of their once-lovely city, many of the surviving inhabitants head south in search of their kin, preferring the dangers of the journey to living under their enemies' rule. Those who survive the arduous trek settle primarily in and around Amoleth, Yngvarsvall, and Woodgate.
AC 339: Queen Ancalimë of Amoleth is assassinated while delivering a proclamation on the state of the realm. The assassin is never caught, and the queen's death plunges the city into chaos, as she had no recognised heirs. Gwindor, the middle-aged son of Prince Lerian, and Voronwil, a young elf who claims to be a descendant of King Beldareth (who is in fact the grandson of Arendyll) declare their claims to the throne of Amoleth. Over the coming months prominent citizens declare their allegiance to one claimant or the other.
AC 341: With most of the nobility supporting Gwindor's claim to the throne of Amoleth, Voronwil begins to call attention to his rival's potential weaknesses: his age, his lack of experience fighting Amoleth's enemies, and his stated refusal to risk more elvish lives in regaining the lost northern territories. Over time, several key nobles (particularly those who lost lands in the north) switch their allegiance to Voronwil.
AC 344: Gwindor dies under mysterious circumstances while hunting with a friend, a minor northern elvish lord with deep ties to the House of Nimbeth. Many find it strange that Gwindor, an accomplished hunter, died in such a manner, but all lines of questioning are soon hushed up. Voronwil, by now a claimant to the throne with broad support, presents himself as the new King of Amoleth after a period of mourning. Few other elvish realms react to the news, concerned as they are with their own affairs.
AC 350: By this time the native human clans of the Northern Wildlands have recovered enough that they can resume their vendetta against the elves. Their closest foes are the warriors based in Thalion and the scattered strongholds in fallen Forenath. Many decades of fighting ensue.
AC 358: King Voronwil initiates a campaign to retake as much of the lost territories of southern Nimbeth as possible; unofficially, this is the Fourth Great Northern Campaign. Aside from a handful of volunteer units from Woodgate - primarily comprised of former refugees from Thalion - few elves or humans from other realms flock to his banner.
AC 371: King Voronwil's campaign is largely a success; in the east, the frontiers have been pushed 50 miles northwards on average (roughly approximating modern Wendar's northern border between Lerian's Tower and Bynflaare Hall). The king's armies spend the following years pacifying the region thoroughly before allowing it to be resettled. Elsewhere, however, much of northern Genalleth remains overrun by orcs and Dengothians.
AC 400: By this time the Wendarian League has broken apart as separate towns, cities, and villages start to look after their own security. In the far north, the humans have taken a number of strongholds, driving their surviving opponents, who cannot obtain any help from their southern kin, to Thalion.
AC 407: Having secured his regained lands, King Voronwil leads an expedition further north to explore the ruins of Nimbeth. He discovers that a fearsome mountain giant, named Felzuumath, rules the ruined city. Furious that such a creature occupies the city that is his birthright, Voronwil returns to Amoleth and begins organising a campaign to oust him.
AC 413: Thalion falls to the massed might of the human clans of the Northern Wildlands, though it costs them greatly in doing so. The surviving elves flee southwards, many of them making it to Genalleth. Satisfied that they have driven the elves away for good, but still considering Thalion and its valley to be tainted, the humans return to their homes in the north. Only a handful of hidden elvish strongholds - those which escaped the notice of the Third Great Northern Campaign - remain in the former lands of western Forenath, and these have no dealings with humans.
AC 422: King Voronwil's armies march on Nimbeth in the hopes of dislodging Felzuumath and his horde. After making some impressive initial gains, the elves are surprised by Felzuumath's tactical skill, and are driven south.
AC 428: Prince Lerian, hero of the Battle of King's Sorrow, dies peacefully at the age of 719. He was one of the few elves who still remembered Nimbeth, or its almost legendary first king, in their glory. He is accorded a hero's funeral, and is interred in his tower's tomb.
AC 433: After years of slowly being forced southwards, King Voronwil and his armies retreat to the city of Amoleth, where they endure a protracted siege. Numerous messengers are sent to implore the other elvish rulers for aid, but all of them refuse, citing Ellareth's deceitfulness and blind ambition, which in their view destroyed the northern realms. The garrison of Lerian's Tower marches to Amoleth's aid, but it is too late; the city's defences fail, and most of the population is slaughtered - including Voronwil. Only a handful of refugees make it to other settlements, sharing their tales of what happened. After wintering in the ruins, the giant takes his army on a rampage.
AC 435: One young adventuress in Woodgate, named Nione, is disgusted by the spreading tales of wanton slaughter coming from the lands to the north, and by the indifference of many elves to the suffering of the people living there. She dedicates herself to ridding the land of Felzuumath, and begins to assemble a band of like-minded elves and humans to help her. Many small battles and skirmishes occur over the following years, hindering Felzuumath's advance.
AC 452: At a great battle that will later be known as Felzuumath's Fall, the veteran adventuress Nione, accompanied by a volunteer army from many towns and cities in Genalleth, meets the southward moving horde of Felzuumath. Nione meets the giant in battle, slaying him and putting his horde in disarray, although she later dies of her injuries. Her closest companions take up her cause, pursuing their remaining enemies with a vengeance.
AC 456: By now, Nione's tragic triumph resonates greatly among the elves and humans of Genalleth, and many rulers cite her as an example of true heroism. Maeglin, the son of Voronwil and sole surviving heir to the House of Nimbeth, builds a shrine to the heroine and begs the other rulers to forgive his family of its past transgressions. To demonstrate his break with family traditions, he declares that Amoleth will not be rebuilt. Recognising that, although Ellareth's acts brought much ruin upon the elves, they had turned their own backs on many innocents, the other rulers of Genalleth rescind their declaration that made Nimbeth an enemy land.
AC 462: The Fifth, and final, Great Northern Campaign is declared. Still unified by the sense of common purpose of driving the orcs and Denagothians from their land, many elvish rulers unite under one banner and march north.
AC 474: The armies of the Fifth Great Northern Campaign manage to push their enemies out of northern Genalleth, establishing a border that roughly approximates that of modern Wendar. Their immediate goals achieved, and having no desire to embark on another costly campaign to retake the lost lands to the north, the new border is fortified, and many of the armies return home. This marks the end of the Great Northern Campaigns, and over the following centuries only hardy adventuring parties try their luck in the Northern Wildlands.