The Unofficial Timeline of Mystara
by Daniel BoeseCatastrophe and Recovery, Return of the Stone Age, Early Bronze Ages
3000 BC: Some Blackmoor devices explode, shifting the axis of the Known World in an event later called the Great Rain of Fire or the Planetshift. Blackmoor becomes the north pole and its civilisation disappears. The elven civilisation becomes the south pole; the elves are able to migrate to the area called Grunland (which now begins centuries of volcanic upheaval that lead to its being renamed Vulcania). These southern-continent elves, though suffering hardship, are not in immediate danger of extinction and so none are taken to the Hollow World.
The Blackmoor explosion catches the Immortals off guard; they cannot summon enough power to prevent its most harmful effects. The Blackmoor civilisation is eradicated before they can preserve any part of it. The Oltec and Azcan races are threatened with imminent extinction by the changing climate brought about by the Rain of Fire, so large numbers of both tribes are magically whisked to the Hollow World. They are placed in the land to the north of the great equatorial mountain range; the Azcans are located in the forests next to the sea, which they name the Aztlan Ocean. The Oltecs are placed to their southeast, with a great swamp separating them and the Azcans. Both races encounter the numerous Neathar tribes; the Oltecs leave them alone, while the Azcans wage war on the Neathar, always trying to expand their borders. (HW)
Melting ice caps raise ocean level by several hundred feet. Lowland marshes and coastal plains along the southern edge of the northern continent are flooded.
Survivors of the elven colony near Blackmoor flee to the newly-formed Broken Lands; they burrow deep into the ground to survive the after effects of the Great Rain of Fire. These are the ancestors of the Shadow Elves. (GAZ13)
Two races of humans come to the land that will later be called the Minaean Coast. From the east comes Tangor Man, driven from his home by climatic changes brought on by the Great Rain of Fire. From across the waters to the west comes Oltec Man on one of his great colonising migrations.
The ice caps recede from the southern edge of the continent of Brun. Spirits are drawn in to merge with the world. (GAZ12)
One of the most dangerous Blackmoor devices is left untouched in the Broken Lands. (GAZ10)
The Great Rain of Fire is seen by Azcans and Oltecs alike as an important part of their mysticism: the End of the Fifth Sun. The Immortals magically transplant large numbers of these peoples to the Hollow World to save them. (GAZ14)
The shark-kin, after spending thousands of years on the land, return to the sea. (PC3)
On the Alphatians' world, Alphatian aggression is gradually supplanted by Cypric self-absorption; other-planetary conquests and colonies are left to fend for themselves as Alphatian study of magic turns inward. (DotE)
3000 - 2500 BC: Formerly arctic areas of the Known World, including most of the lands covered in the Gazetteer series, slowly become habitable as the ice recedes from former polar regions.
Ka and his ally-Immortals must spend hundreds of years and incalculable magical energy to prevent the sudden change in the planet's axis from destroying whole regions of the Hollow World. The Immortals create new, gigantic, fog clad openings to the outside world at the location of the new poles, and seal up the former (smaller) polar openings. They also work madly to preserve numerous Known World human tribes from extinction; these include some of the Tanagoro tribes. The Tanagoro are placed in the plains south of the great equatorial mountain range, south and west of the Brute-Men; the Tanagoro think of those races as monsters and keep well away from their hills and mountains. (HW)
2900 BC: The Immortal named Garal Glitterlode creates the gnomish race, planting colonies of them in the land that will later become Rockhome and the mountains of the northern continent. (PC2)
2800 BC: New elven nation on the southern continent land of Vulcania divides on magic vs. technology. A separatist branch of the southern elves, led by Ilsundal the Wise, decides to abandon Blackmoor technology and return to the nature-oriented magic of their ancestors. They begin a long migration northward in the hope of finding the lost colony of elves that had settled near Blackmoor. (GAZ5)
Azcans and Oltecs on the outer world have practically vanished, dispersed across the world and culturally transformed in every case. A small number of survivors take refuge in the caves of a mighty plateau. These are the ancestors of the modern Atruaghin Clan. This plateau, although impressive, is nowhere near as grand as the one that now stands in the lands north of the Sea of Dread. They retain a dim memory, retold and altered into myth and folklore, of Azcan and Oltec glory and strife. They also remember the mysterious disappearance of many kin. (GAZ14)
2500 BC: Gnomes and dwarves enter the Northern Reaches region and settle in its hills and mountains as the continental ice sheets recede. (GAZ7)
The Taymora humans settle the southern shores of the northern continent. (PC3)
Climatic changes due to the axial shift have rendered the lands of Blackmoor and the elves uninhabitable. In Vulcania, the elvish civilisation is losing its battle with the elements; it has forgotten most of its magic and its Blackmoor technology is failing. A second separatist group of southern elves begins its long march northward. (GAZ5)
2410 BC: It is obvious to the Immortals that the southern elves are doomed, but this leaves them with a quandary. They want to preserve that elvish culture, but not the technologies which nearly destroyed the world. They settle on a compromise: They will magically alter the devices upon which the elves have grown so dependant, so that these devices will operate in only one certain valley in the Hollow World. That way, the dangerous sciences of Blackmoor cannot infect any other part of the Hollow World. Many of the elves of the southern continent are transplanted to the Hollow World. They are placed in a warm, volcanically-heated series of valleys near the southern polar opening, far away from any of the other Hollow World cultures. (HW)
2400 BC: The land that was Hyborea is now warming up; the Beastmen migrate to the area that was once Blackmoor, which is now the northern pole, and thrive there. They are beginning to breed true, in recognisable species. The tribes gather at Urzud.
The Immortals are intrigued by the Beastmen. Since they are now beginning to breed in recognisable strains, the original "chaotic" race is threatened with extinction. The Immortals take a few Beastman tribes, magically restore them to their original chaotic state, and lead them to the Hollow World. They don't magically transport the Beastmen into the Hollow World; they inspire one leader/coloniser to lead followers northward, and those Beastmen eventually wander their way into the Hollow World. They settle in the icy lands near the northern polar opening. (HW)
A great volcanic explosion occurs in Vulcania, destroying the remnants of the southern elvish civilisation. (GAZ5)
A human culture, the Antalian tribes (descendants of the Neathar) are flourishing in the area later to be called Norwold. They are a blond, warlike culture with bronze weapons and armour.
2300 BC: Ilsundal's elves cross the Strait of Izonda to the Immortal's Arm, then head east along the Savage Coast. Another group takes another route through the Addakian Sound, where they rejoin Ilsundal's band and continue with them. (GAZ5)
Elves arrive in and settle the eastern and central Savage Coast. They live alongside, but not among, Oltecs. (RS)
The Sheyallia clan turns south, onto the Serpent Peninsula, and settles in the forest. The Meditor and Verdier clans, disliking the increasingly rainy and hot climate, sail east in search of better lands. (CoM)
2200 BC: Some elves break off from Ilsundal's migration and eventually find their way to the frozen valleys of Glantri, where they settle. A few survivors from the second migration from Vulcania also reach Glantri and settle among their cousins. (GAZ3)
Some Tanagoro colonists from halfway around the world reach the Serpent Peninsula and decide they like the abundant rain forests. However, the elves regard their slash-and-burn agriculture with horror. Eventually, they work out a compromise: the Tanagoros keep to the coastlines and forest fringes, while the elves withdraw deeper into the forest. (CoM)
2100 BC: Meditor and Verdier elf clans leave Ilsundal's northward migrations and settle in southern Traldar lands (Karameikos). (GAZ?)
The main force of Ilsundal's
migration reaches the Sylvan Realm, far to the west of lands such
as Karameikos and Thyatis. (GAZ5)