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Timeline

"Beneath every street is a grave, and beneath every grave a god."
— graffiti on a wall in Petropolis

Cadwallon's history as the Cadwës know it covers a bare two centuries — but the peninsula has been bleeding into the earth for far longer. This timeline lists what's recorded, what's whispered, and a few things only the gods remember.

Three eras structure this list:

  • The Elder Times — before any Cadwë chronicle
  • The Lost City Era — the Cynwäll occupation and its end
  • The Free City Era — 832 to today (1003)

Cross-link liberally; nearly every event has a fief, faction, or NPC behind it.

The Elder Times (before Cadwë reckoning)

Dates here are inferred, mythic, or both. Cadwës read this as legend; only Daïkinee sages, Cynwäll Noesians, and the Voyager-magicians hold pieces of it as fact.

  • Before Time — The age of the gods. They war among themselves; the Creation fights back; gods are exiled into the elemental Realms. Time appears as a punishment. The age of gods ends. (see Cosmology, The Game of the Gods)
  • The wounding of Desire — Born deformed from the first gods, Desire is wounded 22 times by Conscience and cast into an abyss on the Lanever peninsula. Conscience sacrifices part of his divine essence to lock him in. Desire's prison sits exactly where Cadwallon stands today. (see Desire)
  • The intrusion of Vortiris — Vortiris, dragon of Darkness and Desire's son, leads the Ophidians in an assault on the prison. They overcome the Utopia of the Sphinx guarding it and raze the Sphinx fortress. The Sphinx vanish into the [[Labyrinth]] pursuing them.
  • The Labyrinth is built — To stop Vortiris's intrusion, Conscience crafts an inextricable maze around the prison. Desire's dreams transform the surrounding territory into the Garden of Desire, an Unfinished Realm. Each magical grove in Cadwallon is a shoot from his prison.
  • The Ophidian Temple — Taking possession of the peninsula and finding no trace of Vortiris, the Ophidians build a vast temple to call him back. They unknowingly draw mana from sleeping Desire, torturing him.
  • The Centaurs and the Kelts — Centaurs of the Golden Age live on the peninsula and pass the name "Cadwallon" to the first humans, the Kelts, when they arrive. The Concord of the Eagle still considers these lands sacred.

255 — The First Cadwë Date

  • 255 — The Ophidians use a portal to follow Vortiris into the Labyrinth, abandoning Aarklash en masse. Only a few sanctuaries remain hidden in Cadwallon's underground.
  • 255 — In the same generation, goblin exiles settle Kraken Harbor. The earliest Cadwë date in the ducal records.

The Cynwäll Era (roughly the Steel Age)

  • Elhan and the Exile — When the elven [[Three Alliances]] schism, Elhan and his followers exile themselves westward to the peninsula. They call themselves Cynwäll — "the exiled." They settle at the mouth of the [[Ynkarô]] and the [[Leâk Shear]]. Their city, whose original name is forgotten, grows quickly.
  • Cadwallon the Prosperous — A thriving trade city, the only place foreign nations may walk Lanever's soil without provoking Cynwäll wrath. (The name "Cadwallon" reaches them through the centaurs.)
  • The Mantis Attack — A horde of undead led by the necromancer Sinlis Mantis invades the city by springing from underground — through the forgotten Ophidian tunnels. The threat is repelled, but the lake fills with rotting corpses. Plague follows; within days the city is deserted.

The Vanius Era (c. 825–832)

  • The Dogs of War — A company of 200 mercenaries, organized into 21 free companies under 21 lieutenants, follow Vanius into the bewitched jungle to claim the ruins. They face supernatural and Acheronian opposition.
  • Vanius's Awakening — When Sophet Drahas's Acheronian forces nearly take the elven ruins, Desire wakes briefly and chooses Vanius as his Incarnation. Desire infuses 22 cards of Vanius's tarot deck with his divine elixirs. The cards become weapons. (see The 22 Arcana)
  • The Battle of the Wall of Earth — The Dogs of War break the living-dead army with the empowered tarot. The decisive battle of the founding. (see Battle of the Wall of Earth)
  • The Pact of the Arcana — Vanius secretly meets Sophet Drahas. He gives Drahas one of the 22 cards (the Emperor) in exchange for Drahas's promised support against Feyd Mantis. Drahas accepts but is cursed by Feyd Mantis to remain magically chained to Cadwallon forever. (GM lore — see Sophet Drahas, The 22 Arcana)

The Foundation Era

  • 832 — Founding of Cadwallon, the Free City. Vanius proclaimed Duke.
  • 832 — Death of Khaurik (ogre brother-in-arms of Vanius), defending against ghouls. Khaurik's clan offered a fief posthumously.
  • 833 — Charter of the Leagues decreed by Vanius I. Establishes the Free Leagues as institution.
  • 833 — Establishment of the Barhan embassy (Alahan).
  • 833 — Ennobling of Racllk of Kraken and creation of the Kraken fiefdom.
  • 834 — Repair of the Cynwäll automaton in former quarry; becomes symbol of the eponymous fiefdom. The Cynwäll bring it to life; Twilight's sacrificed spirit said to inhabit it.
  • 835 — Charter of the Fiefdoms and the Peers decreed by Vanius I.
  • 843 — Johann of Drakaër granted the privilege of riding a dragon by the Cynwäll. He changes his surname to Drakaër. Resentment from other Cadwës hardens into the long-running Drakaër stigma.
  • 844 — Creation of the Free University of Cadwallon in the Free District.
  • 859 — Founding of the Ogrokh fiefdom for Khaurik's heirs.

The Building Era

  • 900 — The Great Flood devastates the city's districts. Lanever Cynwäll engineers help the Guild of Architects rebuild the Drakaër district.
  • 902 — Sale of the Rampart fiefdom to the Orrkrk family. The Duke declares the non-transferability of the fiefdoms in the wake of the scandal — no fief may ever again be bought or sold.
  • 932 — Expropriation of the Markropets by the Duke; granting of the Trophy fiefdom to Bran Standing-wind. Begins the long Markropet quest for restitution.
  • 932 — Ekselsire Markropet ascends to the Ducal office in the same year (note the personal cost: he expropriated his own family in service of ducal independence). Many goblins follow him into Cadwallon, especially into Ogrokh.
  • 950 — The Duke claims the island of the Choltry.
  • 955–957 — The Plague of Morgue Street. Soma fief quarantined behind walls of stone and steel. The walls still stand today.
  • 956 — Invasion attempt by Water Elementals (Anfrebians) from a nearby elemental Realm. Repelled by Commander Denerac Ghiéron. Creation of the Ghieronburg fiefdom as reward.
  • 957 — Free leaguers burn down Morgue Street to end the plague. The Guild of Thieves later headquarters in the ashes.
  • 958 — Building of Villa Denerac (Ghieronburg).
  • 961 — Construction of the catacrypts (Ghieronburg).
  • 962 — Appearance of [[Baron Mardi]] in Ghieronburg. He proposes his Truce, regulating magical creatures of the fief. His true nature remains a mystery 41 years on.
  • 963 — Founding of the Gamehead fiefdom for Krenald the Howler.
  • 966 — The Tamarez Canal Scandal. Crooked Goldsmiths lure the Ghiérons into a doomed canal project. The Ghiérons retaliate by making a public scandal of it — even skilled speculators get tainted.
  • 969 — Discovery of the Skinner dome beneath Gamehead (an underground vestige).
  • 972 — Settling of the Barhan embassy in Soma (Whitehaven, palace gifted by the Soma family). [[Brehnan of Alahan]] arrives as ambassador and has not left in the 30+ years since.
  • 973 — Launching of the Shaproa project (Ghieronburg).
  • 983 — The Great Akkyshan Raid — provokes a rebirth of the Free Leagues as Cadwallon's defenders. The leagues' modern doctrine dates from this year.
  • 987 — Shaproa project aborted.
  • 988 — Massive riots in Kraken leading to the death of the Peer. (Possibly tied to the Choltry claim of 950 — the riots dragged unresolved grievances back to the surface.)

The Modern Era

  • 991 — Massive strike of the Ferrymen. Brought Cadwallon's freight to a standstill for weeks.
  • 992 — Adoption of Den Azhir by Camelia Orrkrk (The Rampart). Conditions of the adoption are secret.
  • 992 — Founding of the Guild of Birders at Immobilis (rules the Bird Catchers' work on the archipelago).
  • 992 — The parents of Yalin Aoue mysteriously vanish in The Automaton. A forest animae appears soon after to advise the orphaned 12-year-old.
  • 995 — Accession of Duke Den Azhir. A former free leaguer of the Ruby-Heart league. The first dramatis Duke (GM lore).
  • 996 — Extension of the birthright and of the free duty (free leaguers' civil rights expanded). Den Azhir's signature reform.
  • 999 — Beginning of construction of the Tractor (an ambitious civic engineering project).
  • 999 — Appearance of the Coiling Emissaries on the [[Day of Ashes]]. A supernatural event whose meaning is still debated. The Ophidian remnants stir for the first time in centuries.
  • 1002 — Wedding of Racllk to Oklair Odazzur (Kraken). Family seat becomes "of Odazzur" hyphenate.
  • 1002 — Assassination of Urakh Khaurik Argam (Ogrokh). His goblin-godfather Dazomet moves to regency over young Kurn Khaurik Argam. The Duke himself intervenes to stop the regency soft-coup.
  • 1002 (during Rag'narok) — The face of the Automaton stops twice in an in-between position. Read by many as the end of the Daïkinee–Akkyshan compromise.
  • 1003 — Today. The Rag'narok burns Aarklash. Cadwallon balances on the edge.

What the timeline omits

The Rag'narok hasn't just stirred wars on the surface. Desire has been waking, slowly, since 999. The Coiling Emissaries are the first visible sign. The Automaton's two stops, the strange uptick in magical-grove activity, and the rumored underground parcels of Soma are not coincidences. They are tremors.

The lost cards

Of the 22 arcana Vanius gave to his lieutenants, only some remain in the original families. Many were lost, stolen, or scattered across Aarklash. Den Azhir wants them back. So does Sophet Drahas — already holding two. Whoever recovers a card may shape what comes next.

The 857 dwarf

A dwarf warrior named Yelmor, equipped as a Dogs-of-War-era Steel Hearts soldier, was recently found wandering the catacrypts. He insists he left the city in 857 and was only gone "a few days." Captain Kelian Durak's report to Constable Kal Rajghur is sitting in the Duke's archive. Time doesn't work the way it should in the [[Labyrinth]]. (Secrets vol 1)

Baron Mardi's 42nd year

1003 marks Baron Mardi's 41st year in Ghieronburg. His Truce was renewed in secret rituals every decade. The next one is due. What's he extracting in return?