Timeline

The timeline is an attempt to organize the most important events in history.

Origins

Pre-History

The world is created by Akhen.

approx. 4,000 years before YZ

The Raid of Sylarat occurs.

458 years before YZ

Kluuda year.

270 years before YZ

Cordelia Zimmer dies as a result of ingesting an immortality elixir created by Matta.

244 years before YZ

Kluuda year. Kemet is born.

170 years before YZ

Matta's Mutiny, a slave uprising, causes the death of Caspar. The revolt is put down and Matta is executed.

30 years before YZ

Last kluuda before fall of Exekian Empire. Nechtan is born.

5 years before YZ

The Old Exekian Empire rules most of the planet. For centuries, they have kept generations of humans as slaves.

In the copper mines of Arza Vist, an Exekian overseer is injured by a dislodged iron ore, which burns his skin. Several human slaves witness the event, among them a young Letholdus Stirling I. Having discovered the Exekians' weakness, the humans in the mine rise up against their captors and March to the Forge, where they begin making iron weapons.

Word travels throughout the Empire, and an underground trade of iron tools and weapons begins. Slaves use them to rebel against their Exekian masters and escape captivity. The Empire attempts to quell the revolts, but is largely unsuccessful.

Year Zero

Armies of escaped slaves have developed in the wilderness. They are united under the banner of Letholdus and declare war on the Empire. Launching an assault on the capital, the soldiers kill the Emperor and raze the city. Over the next two centuries, the humans will kill or drive most of the Exekians south into the Shadowlands.

"Enter and learn the story of the rulers,

They rested a little in the shadow of my towers

And then they passed."

-The Book of the Thousand and One Nights

Reign of King Letholdus I (0-16)

After defeating the Empire, Letholdus was declared unofficial king of the humans. His unnamed nation included Castle Vallon and the city of Bodai. He married Camilla and had one son, Cassius I.

Reign of Cassius I (16-58)

Cassius was known as a great military leader who conquered most of the city-states, including Zemar, Tyr, and Hiberia.

Reign of Letholdus Stirling II (58-88)

Year 63-69

Second Exekian War fought. Crown Prince Erasmus Stirling II killed in battle. Princess Elena Stirling commits suicide.

Year 72

Letholdus II approves first translation of Mandorlin into Apicartan.

Reign of Radu Stirling (88-100)

Radu became king upon the death of his father. His nephew Cassius II went into hiding out of fear he would be killed to remove him from the line of succession. Immensely disliked by the Alucar nobility, Radu was assassinated after just twelve years of rule, leaving no heirs of his own.

Reign of Cassius Stirling II (100-123)

Cassius II assumed the throne upon his uncle's death, aged just fourteen. His reign was marked by unrest between his children, culminating in the slaughter of his son Stephen, Stephen's wife and infant child, as well as the mysterious death of his daughter Odette.

Reign of Letholdus III (123-162)

The last surviving child of Cassius II, Letholdus III, otherwise known as "the Raven King" orchestrated the deaths of his siblings and their families in his quest for purification of the royal line. Paranoid and cruel, he imprisoned and tortured his wife, believing she had been unfaithful to him, and was obsessed with his own warped ideas of purity. He is best remembered for having forcibly subjugated the free city of Kataru.

Year 142

Alastair Rimânez takes control of the city of Amarna.

Year 145

Zantium is conquered by Iskirra. An attempt at providing aid to the Zantines by Apicarta falls flat, as the knights sent to fight the Iskirrans never reach the battlefield.

Year 159

Alastair Rimânez is murdered. The primary suspect, Selca Ducani, escapes custody and disappears.

Year 162

The prophet Vormund founds a new religion, gaining his first followers.

Reign of King Tristan (163-179)

Year 163

Tristan, the grandson of Letholdus III, is crowned king of Apicarta. He is already married to Deirdre Crimwall and has two sons, Aldous and Claudius, and a daughter, Helen.

Year 164

Laura Stirling is born.

Under the king's orders, Vormund and his adopted son Ethan are arrested for murder. Ethan is hanged, but Vormund dies in prison.

Gavin Zosimus becomes Lord of Tyr following the death of his mother.

Year 166

Lord Gavin Zosimus travels to Amarna as a diplomat, meeting with Princess Philomena. His efforts earn him special honors from King Tristan.

Selca Ducani returns to Amarna and is recaptured. He names Ardath Dastagir as his co-conspirator. Ardath denies all charges. They request a trial by combat against the city's champion. Selca is killed and Ardath is exonerated.

Marena Roland prevents the Major Arcana from taking human form.

Gavin marries Lady Ilena, Philomena's sister.

Year 179

Tristan is assassinated by the terrorist group known as Eclipse. Tristan's eldest son Aldous ascends the throne.

Reign of King Aldous (179-208)

Year 179

Prince Claudius Stirling contests Aldous' right to the throne on the grounds that they are twins, and therefore share a birthright. His claims garner support, and before the end of the year the War of Succession breaks out.

In an attempt to gain more allies, Claudius declares that if he becomes king, he will end the persecution of the Vormunds and the Exekians. Lord Gavin Zosimus, who has kept his religion a secret for over fifteen years, joins Claudius.

Year 177

After a disastrous battle which resulted in the death of Lord Zosimus, Claudius goes into hiding.

Aldous takes the Zosimus family hostage and destroys their estate. Lady Melissa Zosimus and her two children, Laura and Galahad, are split up. Melissa and Galahad are later presumed dead; Laura is taken to Castle Vallon for safekeeping.

Year 179

Aldous arrests Helen, who is revealed to have been spying for Claudius. Under torture, she reveals he is living under the alias "William Harding" in a remote village.

Claudius is captured and brought in chains before Aldous. Aldous tortures and humiliates Claudius before sentencing him to death.

Helen becomes a permanent prisoner of the crown. She prohibited from leaving Castle Vallon without special permission from the king, and he forbids her from marrying, making any children she might have automatically illegitimate.

Aldous marries Laura Zosimus.

Year 183

Kluuda year. John is born.

The Fifth Exekian War is instigated by Aldous, who hopes to eradicate the Exekians once and for all. He brings the pregnant Queen Laura with him.

Richard is born.

With the human retreat, the New Exekian Empire turns its attention to other matters, namely the forces of outliers Nechtan and Zimreon.

Year 184

Nechtan joins forces with Zimreon, officially forming the Clan.

Year 185

Eleanor is born.

Year 193

Laura dies. Aldous imprisons John in Castle Vallon.

Year 197

Eleanor marries Logan Brynner.

Richard is married to Lady Wilhelmina Sutherland. Aldous arranges the union in an effort to prevent Richard from seeing Karen Liu.

Prince Tobias Stirling and Kai Liu are born.

Year 198

Hans Liu, the second bastard child of Richard and Karen, is born.

Year 208

Aldous dies of an infected arrow wound due to an accident while hunting.

Year 202

Richard is crowned king. He is married to Wilhelmina Sutherland, with whom he has a son, Tobias. His attempts to divorce Mina, marry his mistress Karen Liu, and legitimize his bastards Kai and Hans are thwarted by the Council. As promised, he also sets John free.