Venastor Timeline

Holding page for Venastor Timeline

## First Age

The First Age is a time of myth and legend, given over to religious canon and folk lore. It begins with the Genesis War and ends with the fall of the First City. The origins for most legendary monstrosities, gods, demons, and other shadows of the past are buried within the mist of the First Age.

 55k B.C.
 55k B.C.
 53k B.C.
The Lord of Dorath rises in Venastor's east, the Spires awaken, and the First Age comes to a close. Elven records hold fragmentary evidence of the Lord of Dorath's first rise, and the destruction he wrought upon the world before he could be put to rest by unknown means. Legends of the first rise spread all the way to Vireth and Cra'awrios, to the northern pole, and within the words of the gods themselves. The Dark Lord would rise another nine times through-out the ages, but none would be so devastating as the first.
It is said that the greatest monstrosities of the world were born to this nightmare, and little stands to dispute it. It is also said the First Nation of mortals fell upon Dorath's birthing scream, though the First Nation's existence is as much myth as any other such ancient legend.

## Second Age

The Second Age holds the majority of verifiable ancient history, with the first texts of the elder species such as elves and dwarves dating back to this time.

 App. 50k B.C.
 50k B.C.
 49,470 B.C.
 App. 46k B.C.
 42k B.C.
The Second Rise of Dorath would only end following a full alliance between the western lands, led by the deep elven hero Qirene. Following an attack from the Lord of Dorath on her home city, Qirene rallied the survivors on an expedition to the surface, picking up survivors of other ravaged settlements before breaching the surface and throwing back Dorath's forces on the Shore of Dust. After a bitter war lasting decades and outliving most of its original leading council, the Lord of Dorath was slain for the second time by Qirene herself, who was laid to rest upon the Shadow Spire to keep eternal vigil over her enemy's demesne.

## Third Age

With utter devastation and a looming doom on their northern horizon, the serpentfolk and lizardmen of the modern Enclave Peninsula ally against their mutual enemy, reducing millennia of hostility to a footnote in history. The Enclave marches together against the Dark Lord, first freeing the goblin chiefdoms of the Gathian Plains, then the Eastern Kingdoms of burgeoning humanity. With their combined power they topple the titanic Primordial of Winter and shatter his frozen heart, freeing the lands from the apocalyptic ice age that had befallen them. With Beir dead, the mortal forces combined into a singular force, and his legions in full retreat, the Lord of Dorath is slain at the Broken Spire and the Third Age comes to a close.

## Fourth Age

 25k-22k B.C.
With the rediscovery of arcane magic the Primordial Logadh and his followers gathered vast power under their influence, consumed it, and ascended to the status of demigods, calling themselves titans. The titans would go on to create the first giants, lesser primordials who would serve them directly and rule over mortals as the titans' vast armies after near-endless wars of conquest. Though great advancements were made under the rule of the titans their tyranny was a collar humanity could not abide, and in a parody of the Genesis War some few broke the titans' shackles and led their fellow mortals in open rebellion. It would take further centuries, but the rebellion would be a success following the First Titan Logadh's false resurrection into undeath.
 21k B.C.
The Fourth Rise of Dorath is heralded by the arcane magic users within Venastor, who utilize their enchantments to bend the minds of their subjects. Within centuries the greatest rulers of the land are mere puppets of the Mage Lords that war and bicker amongst themselves, sending their mind-slave pawns to battle by proxy. Elven lords rise to new heights of tyranny amongst their people, the already caste-blessed high elves granted near demigod status in comparison to their cousins. The dwarves alone stand unbothered by the rise of the arcane, their few mages secluded and contained within their own tectonically isolated vault-laboratories.
It is this corruption at the heart of mortal rule that allows the Dark Lord of Dorath the opportunity to infiltrate the minds of the people of Venastor, rising propaganda and subtle manipulation of education allowing the Lord of Dorath to supplant many of the hidden Mage Lords. Within a span of decades the Fourth Rise of Dorath is by far the most successful, his Dark Eminence ruling nearly the entirety of Venastor through proxy and manipulation.
The Prophet Luke, a young shepherd boy keeping the flock of his master, is caught awestruck by a star in the night sky, glowing more brightly than the others, and growing brighter. The next day the former shepherd would come to his village square bearing a sword of skymetal, and his words bearing the wisdom of eons. The boy who was Luke would lead a growing army against the insidious influence of the Dark Lord, toppling his puppet kings and cleansing the land of its magical corruption. Witch, wizard, mage, warlock, every arcane abomination would be slain and burned, until Luke's army stood upon what is now the Dead Lands, and smote the Lord of Dorath across the ashen coast. The Crypt of Fallen Kings would be built to house Luke's worldly form, and seal yet another of the Dark Lord's avatars beneath the earth.

## Sixth Age

The Sixth and Current Age springs from the Fifth Rise of Dorath, yet does not end with the Sixth. Though Dorath has already risen, his abrupt and conclusive defeat ushered in a dawn of cautious optimism and new possibility. With the remnants of the Eastern Kingdoms piecing their lives back together, the Coeur de Fer Empire takes the first steps of an industrial revolution, the Enclave faces waves of societal awakenings, and the Gathian League marches beneath a new Tyrant Kol. The Elves suffer in the remnants of their old tyranny, the dwarves' long held borders begin to buckle like a fraying shield wall, and the Northern Wastes give rise to a blood red dawn.

 2738 B.C.
Over time the Trovian Empire's territory would become ensorceled and overgrown, with the very land itself acting to the will of its tyrannical aristocrats. Vast canopies would blot out the sun, leaving only sparse enough farmland to feed its suffering populace. Wolves, wild cats, and horrific mutations would stalk these overgrown wild forests for rebellious vassals and runaway slaves.
 1058 A.C.
 1060 A.C.
 1063 A.C.
The Coeur de Fer Empire in the modern era is a fragile shard of its former self in land, yet more capable militarily and technologically than any other nation in the known world. Combined with its leadership in the Church of Aeyed, the Empire is a power to rival any other on the world stage.