Timeline

The history of the cosmos is vast and ambiguous, but a rough sequence of events is general accepted by scholars, becoming more precise as the timeline moves toward the present.

## The Elder Eons

Untold millions of years before the emergence of the mortal peoples, or perhaps during an eternity all their own, the beings known as the Elder Gods first began to shape the cosmos. Whether they arose from the roiling aether or birthed it from some primordial emptiness, the beings of this Elder Pantheon gave structure to reality and imposed what would become the laws of physics.

It is unknown if the Elder Gods intended for this new structure to result in the gods and mortals that followed, for most of the Elder Pantheon vanished with the first glimmers of new intelligence, leaving behind only Zulkir, The Coming Death of All Things.

## The Pantheon War

*Main article: The Pantheon War*
*See also: The Partition*

## Rise and Fall of The Mage Princes

*Main article: The Mage Imperium*
*See also: The Seer Crisis*

Imperial Seer MacDonald, using an unsecured demonic battery array bought from Dres'Fialt (and secretly supplied to Dres'Fialt by Admiral Clara Keith in return for his cooperation in the planned grav-bombing of Emperor Evrek of the Thalranese), destroyed the 7th Spire of Aeldrum.  Hundreds of thousands were vaporized instantly, and the deal toll reached into the millions within hours.

The bombing occurred while Seer MacDonald delivered an address on the subject of apostasy and heresy to the Imperial Diet, at the summit of the Aeldrum Spire.  MacDonald's hundreds of loyal, psionically brainwashed cultists had prepared a complex ritual to allow the Seer to siphon the souls of the dead of the 7th spire into himself, making him a living god.  The ritual failed, however, and MacDonald was confronted by Imperial Seers Vendesh and Malthan with charges of apostasy, in full view of the Imperial Diet and as the roiling psychic energies of MacDonald's failed ritual set papers and hairpieces aflame.  While MacDonald's Friend gave him the power to liquefy Vendesh's brain instantaneously, Malthan withstood the psychic assault and was able to break MacDonald's hold over the other four Imperial Seers.  Thus confronted with five of the Imperium's great psychics and a platoon of imperial marines sent to arrest him, without the power he had expected from the destruction of the seventh spire, MacDonald thought it an excellent time to die.  He released his friend, and in the moment before the Diet Chamber was scoured by sentient hellfire, felt truly alone for the first time in three decades.  Of the Imperial Seers, all but Malthan were burnt to ash along with most of the Imperial Diet.  Seer Malthan survived, a charred husk of a man, unfit for the monumental task of holding together the Imperium whose sole ruler he had just become.  Surviving Imperial history does not record any subsequent Imperial Seers, nor the ultimate fate of Seer Malthan.  Imperial History does, however, remember the Apostate MacDonald, whose final great crime against the Imperium sealed its end.

A Mage Prince Ascendant named Sybern was widely believed to have aided in the destruction of the Seventh Spire and begun the scouring of Aeldrum. He was presumed dead by many survivors of the cataclysmic events, a perception which went unchallenged in the annals of the Academy on Saldan, whose founders included several witness of the Scouring. A select group of Mage Princes believed differently, however, and recent archaeological evidence from a Knight Mercantile expedition to the Basin of Aztlan on Kalros (later named Sierna by the Knights Mercantile) suggests that they pursued Sybern across the cosmos in search of bloody vengeance. The findings of the Knights Mercantile suggest that they indeed found Sybern, but were slain or otherwise subdued by him. Sybern's ultimate fate is unknown.

The Scourings of Aeldrum: 2, 3, 11, 13, 22, 29, 30, 31, 35, 55, 66, 67, 81, 84, 88, 91 After Sundering

## After the Mage Imperium

Fialta Conquests: ~5,200 - 5,146 Before Unification

Death of Dres'Fialt: 5,146 Before Unification

Earliest charter records of the proto-Knights Mercantile: ~5000 Before Unification

Sacking of Alaris: ~2,000 before unification

The elvish paradise world of Alaris was conquered by Shantaran zealots, and its surviving inhabitants, embittered by the failure of their gods to defend them, went into lengthy exile. They searched for new worlds to settle, and established many enclaves like the dwarves before them, but found nowhere to settle the bulk of their people.

Exile of the Alarian Elves: ~2000 - 1555 Before Unification

The majority of the Alarian exiles, after centuries of exile and wandering, would eventually converge on the blasted world of Aeldrum. While devoid of almost any natural resources, its connection to six (ultimately seven) Ley Lines was quickly discovered and used by the Alarians and others to forge trade connections that bound together the cosmos. The Alarian elves would spread across four of the six intact Aeldrum spires, and the elves of the great Aeldrum Spire would lay the foundations of the Serene Duchy of Aeldrum.

Crowning of the First Emperor of Bishant: 122 Before Unification

Establishment of the Bishant Trade Company: 100 Before Unification

1st Irish Civil War: 65-60 Before Unification

Ireland places itself on the cosmic map for the first time in thousands of years with the surprise upset victory of the Irish Free State over the Irish monarchy, heralding the opening of a new era in which new technology - especially firearms and the steam engine - would overcome the feudal landscape that had settled over most of the cosmos in the wake of the collapse of the Mage Imperium.

Scouring of the Orcish Expanse: 62 Before Unification

The Knights of Adarnum, under their Grand Master Koropolos the Exile, declared themselves protectors of the human and dwarven settlements on a string of worlds then known as the Orcish Expanse for the relative predominance of orcish tribes.

Rediscovery of Witch-Haven: 60 Before Unification

## The Rise of Aeldrum

The Restoration of the Seventh Spire: 53-52 Before Unification

The Conquest of the Moldarn Spire: 19 Before Unification

The Conquest of the Galthad Spire: 5 Before Unification

The Act of Vassalage: 2 Before Unification

Unification of Aeldrum and Coronation of the First Serene Doge: 0 After Unification

Chartering of the Aeldrum Trade Company: 34 After Unification

### 2nd Irish Civil War: 137-140 After Unification

Aeldrum establishes its ascent as a major colonial power by intervening in the Irish Civil war, eventually subduing both sides and establishing the Irish Provincial Government to rule over what quickly became their largest and most productive colony.

### Orcish-Fialta Wars: 238 - 245 After Unification

Subjugation of the Orcish Tribes and Conquest of the Karak Citadel: 233 After Unification

The Orcish warlord Urlek, descendant of Rurik Thaar and high chief of a confederation of orcish tribes, launched a vicious campaign of subjugation against his fellow orcs and, soon, against a collection of dwarven settlements on his homeworld. Urlek sought more than the traditional dream of global conquest, however, and set his sights on cosmic dominion.

Orcish Invasion of the Fialta States: 238 After Unification

Creation of the Thalranese Marches: After Unification

Battle of Thalran's Glory: 245 After Unification

The Orcish Resurgence reached its territorial high water mark with the invasion of Tar'Thalran, or Thalran's Glory (literally "Glory to Thalran"), one of the last worlds conquered by Dres'Fialt himself before his death. Tar'Thalran was considered a monument to Dres'Fialt's later conquests and, therefore, a point of enormous traditional importance to the Fialta. The Orcish invasion of this world was an act of calculated psychological warfare, hoping to deligitimize the Fialta leadership. The Fialta of the Thalranese Marches, in turn, petitioned the great princes of the inner fialta worlds for aid, and the planetary battlefield soon drew millions of orcish marauders, Fialta mercenaries, crusaders and conscripts into one of the largest single military actions since the first Fialta Conquests. What the Fialta and Orcs themselves did not realize was that the orcish warlord Urlek's chief adviser, Karlock, had readily foreseen the meat grinder of the Tar' Thalran invasion and intended to use it as a crucible in which to forge his own vision for a civilized orcish people, feeding "wild and undesirable" orcs to the grinder while enforcing a brutal standard of military discipline as the only alternative for survival.

An early historical figure in the field of necrotic science, Jane "Patches" MacDuff, participated in the battle as a medic, along with Edward Apslund, a mercenary officer who later led the expedition to recover Garrel the Automaton for the Academy on Saldan and thereby inadvertently began the "mechanical revolution."

Foundation of the Orcish Republic: 246 After Unification

### The Shambler Plagues:

Shambler Plague in []: 250 After Unification

Outbreak of Shambler Plague in Dalcia, Russia (Disputed): 266 After Unification

Theft of the Codex Excilium: 307 After Unification

### Navigation and Exploration:

First Expedition to the Taino Basin: 255 After Unification

Second Expedition to the Taino Basin: 257 After Unification

Third Expedition to the Taino Basin and Discovery of the Sierna Gate: 311-312

Discovery of New South Saldan: 350 After Unification

Black Cell Lab, Aeldrum Trade Company and Saldanese Expeditions to New South Saldan: 354 After Unification

Remapping the Trans-Celestial Passage: 357-359 After Unification

Chartering of the Celestial Trade Company and KM Occupation of the Pin-Jump: 366 After Unification

Chartering of the Aeldrum Transcelestial Trade Company: 367 After Unification

Founding of the Valdosian Celestial Bank and the Fialta Celestial Guild: 369 After Unification

Deep Ether Expedition into Naga Space: 378-

## Recent Cosmic Events

### Fialta Occupation of Gnoll: 270 - 332 After Unification

Coyote's Campaign Against the Fialta: 312-332 After Unification

Battle of the First Gnoll Gate and Martyrdom of Coyote: 332 After Unification

### Second Genoan Revolution: 335 After Unification

An internal dispute among the mafia in Genoa following the assassination of several key mafia figures erupts into a full blown revolution. Led by the ambitious Luigi G. Albergi, a mob of angry Genoans, alongside a band of Yakuza and the remaining Geonoan mafiosos, stormed the city treasury, murdered every government official they could get their hands on, and convinced the government's mercenary companies to leave the city.

### The Fialta-Shantine War: 351 - 357 After Unification

Invasion of Milgar: 351 After Unification

Battle of Zanevuela: 352 After Unification

The Station Incident: 355 After Unification

Battle of the Korinth Gate: 357 After Unification

### Irish War of Independence: 354-356 After Unification

Raid on Dublin Arms Company / Assassination of Governor Rothclaw: 355 After Unification

Signing of the Irish Constitution 356 After Unification

### The Singe Guerilla War: 370 After Unification

A backwater world conquered by the ATC, Singe was home both to a sort of sentient Ape, but also to a surprising variety of settlers who had accumulated over the centuries to take advantage of the abundant fertile soil and unusual flora (generated, unbeknownst to all, by an automatic terraformer left by the Mage Imperium). Enraged by the increasingly absurd demands of the ATC, a coalition of Singe cultures rose in rebellion, supplied arms by other powers.

### Kobold Revolution on/Aeldman Conquest of Telrion: 375 After Unification

In a confusing set of events, Aristom Eldeth rises to governorship of Telrion aided by a coalition of Kobolds and the Knights Mercantile through the assassination of Auric Vintel. He proceeds to use his newfound influence and power (suspected to be connected also to the Count of Lidenia) to kick the dwarves off the planet with the aid of Kobold uprisings. For their service, Kobolds are granted perpetual freedom from slavery and begin to spread into the greater cosmos.