The Timeline

[bwatford]

The Timeline

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WHAT CAME BEFORE
What follows is a brief history of the events that shaped the world up to the Ragesian attack on Gate Pass that comes to pass at the start of the game, this event will become known as The Scouring of Gate Pass. Events are categorized by years Before the Scouring (BtS).

Primordial Times. The ancient elemental spirits rule the world. They are the Flamebringer dragon (fire), Stormchaser eagle (air), Worldshaper worm (stone), and Tidereaver kraken (sea). The dragon tore out the eagle’s heart and drank her blood, gaining immense power and ensuring the strength of his draconic progeny. But the spirits of sea and stone sensed the dragon’s growing might, and the dragon knew that if he consumed the heart and slew the eagle fully, the other two spirits would unite to destroy him. So the dragon hid the still-beating heart in a place to which he could never return, preferring to live rather than risk death by seeking more power.

Buried beyond the sight of any creature, the heart’s blood pulsed into the roots of the world, nourishing it and fostering life above and below the surface. Ages marked the world, and as civilization rose, rumors of this font of life spread throughout the lands that would become Ragesia and its neighbors. Spellcasters could sense its power, and the power-hungry and the desperate sought it out, but only the scantest clues hinted at its location, or at the dangers that awaited those who found it. The Aquiline Heart passes into legend, becoming a symbol of the unattainable.

99 BtS. Drakus Coaltongue is born.

60 BtS. Coaltongue and Shaaladel form an alliance. Together they succeed in toppling the empire of Morrus. Coaltongue takes over its capital of Ragos and the Shahalesti forge a nation of their own to the east of Ragesia.

An amazing confluence of events leads to the creation of the Torch of the Burning Sky.

50 BtS. Coaltongue first sweeps through the lands of Sindaire and Ostalin to apocalyptic omens. A Highborn dwarf named Jutras conspires to usurp the throne of Dassen, but is tried and found guilty of treason and executed.

40 BtS. Emperor Coaltongue defeats the army of Gate Pass, sets up a military government, and erects a 90-foot-tall statue of himself in the grand square on Summer’s Bluff before moving on to his next conquest.

When the elves of Innenotdar refuse to ally with Shaaladel against potential Ragesian incursion, he has their forest set on fire and blames Coaltongue. Curiously the fires never stop burning. Lord Shaaladel declares the Taranesti a danger and initiates the Culling of the Taranesti Elves. Many Taranesti flee to Gate Pass, Ragesia, and Dassen.

38 BtS. The Gate Pass insurgency finally makes Coaltongue decide the city isn’t worth the trouble. Ragesian forces withdraw after Coaltongue and Shaaladel agree that the city is neutral territory.

20 BtS. Councilman Haddin Ja-Laffa forcibly reforms his criminal brother through mind-control magic. He is exiled from Gate Pass as people are afraid he has used his magic on them as well.

15 BtS. High King Steppengard unites the 8 lands of Dassen, carving out a 9th land for his holdings.

10 BtS. The Order of the Aquiline Cross is recognized as non-combatants in the Sindaiirii Accords. In Ragos, Supreme Inquisitor Leska assumes leadership of the Inquisitors and Judge-Magistrates responsible for policing mages.

9 BtS. Ragesia’s expansion into other territories abates.

4 BtS. The Inquisitors become more active in hunting down theurges and other practitioners who consort with devils. The Bureau of Justice prison in Ragos swells with arrested theurges, all accused of diabolism.

1 BtS. Leska tasks Kreven with building the Koren Obelisk. The Bureau of Justice prison in Ragos swells with inmates who have been replaced by disguised devils.

July. Knowing they cannot compete militarily, nobles in Sindaire organize a rebellion of subterfuge and sabotage against Ragesia.

October. Coaltongue weeds out the traitorous Sindairese nobles by demanding that all noble families send a son or daughter far away to serve in the Ragesian armies. Loyal nobles comply readily while the traitors hesitate.

November. Emperor Coaltongue crushes the rebellion in a single day. That night he is killed in Castle Korstull and abducted by the drow assassins. Teleportation becomes deadly. The First Ragesian Army is left stranded in Sindaire under the command of General Magdus. He orders a retreat from the flaming storm over Castle Korstull.

December. Supreme Inquisitor Leska, who seeks to seize control of Ragesia with a strong show of force, orders General Magdus to move his forces to settle in for the winter and then join up with the Ragesian Imperial Navy when it begins a blockade of Turinn, the capital city of Sindaire, in March. Ragesia announces its intention to retaliate against the nations of Sindaire and Shahalesti for their involvement in the assassination of Emperor Coaltongue.

In response to the announcement, Shahalesti sends out diplomatic envoys to nearby nations, seeking allies. Kathor Danava leaves the Ragesian military and joins the Black Horses mercenary group.

December 31st. New Years Eve, as the Ragesia forces march against Gate Pass our heroes stories begin....

What comes next is up to you..