Baelor

Baelor is the central and largest continent on Gaia. It is often split into two sections: Western and Eastern Baelor, based on the Endless Peaks, a mountain range which bisects the continent from north to south. At the time of the Wasted Wanderer's adventure, the continent had six major powers: The Kingdom of Delmar, the Kingdom of Kell, the Crimson Empire, the Gith Imperium, the Dwarven City-States, and the Elven City-States. The Underdark, a vast network of underground tunnels and caverns that holds numerous civilizations, also sits below Baelor.

## History: Timeline of Baelor

* **Untold BFA**: Dais and the other Light Gods cross over from the celestial plane, and Dais destroys the Elemental Titans of Creation, using their essences to create the prime material, elemental and other planes.
* **10,000 BFA:** The Dark Gods cross over from the Abyss, starting the Celestial War. After hundreds of years of war, Dais banishes them to the 9 Hells, though he and the light gods are banished back to Celestia as well. Life begins to recover, and civilization slowly begins to form. Most of the humanoid races (humans, dwarves and halflings) begin to colonize Baelor. Scalar is ruled by dragons, both chromatic and metallic. Fjordland is ruled by Tuvoc the Winter Wolf and their dire creatures. Orcs and Goblins spread throughout Arcos, their native continent. Kalzan’s vast desert is ruled by efreet and djinni, who constantly fight with one another for territory and slaves. The Vedalken begin to colonize Solara, forming small tribes that eventually turn into kingdoms. The races of the Underdark are enslaved by the Mindflayers, whose vast empire stretches across the Underdark, ruled by elder brains all controlled by the Prime Brain. They enslave the deep gnomes, gith and duergar.
* **8,000 BFA:** The dwarves leave the endless peaks, attempting to invade the rest of Baelor. This begins the First Dwarven Invasion. Eventually they reach peace with the other humanoids, and dwarves slowly begin to assimilate into Baelor society, though some remain isolated in the Endless Peaks.
* **7500 BFA:** Some of the Eladrin cross-over to the Everglenn from the Feywild, and slowly evolve into elves. They occasionally make contact with the other races on Baelor, though most avoid the Everglenn, and the fledgling elves largely keep to themselves.
* **6000 BFA:** After thousands of years of war between the planes of the Abyss, 6 powerful demon lords emerge as rulers of the endless plane. Using abyssal shards collected from the dark gods ascent, they breach the prime material plane, with swarms of demons pouring into Baelor across 6 different portals. This begins the Demonic Incursion, which ravages society across Baelor. The humanoid races are barely able to fight back, though losses are heavy. Sheltered within the dense Everglenn, the elves are largely spared from the destruction.
* **5960 BFA:** After 40 years of war with the demon hordes, several heroes rise amongst the ranks of the mortal fighters. Using the heart of a demon lord felled during the conflict, they forge the 6 Blood Weapons. Using these weapons, the heroes are able to destroy the demon lords, and the remaining hordes – now leaderless – destroy themselves over time. The portals are closed, and the Demonic Incursion ends. However, the once mighty cities of Baelor have been devastated by the conflict, leaving them to rebuild their once great civilizations.
* **5950 BFA:** Barely a decade after the defeat of the demonic hordes, the elves (largely spared from the conflict) leave the Everglenn, attempting to conquer the other humanoid races. Viewing them as inferior, the elves believe the conquest will be simple, and at first claim many victories across eastern Baelor. But years of war have forged the inhabitants of Baelor into capable soldiers, and instead the conflict rages for decades. The war would come to be known as the Fey War.
* **5870 BFA:** After 70 years of conflict, the elves come to peace with the other races. Though their relationship is tenuous, elves begin to assimilate into society across Baelor as together they rebuilt the continent.
* **5869 BFA:** Some elves still see the other races as inferior, and view the elves who came to peace with them as weak. A civil war breaks out, and The War of the Elves briefly rages throughout the Everglenn. These dark elves are eventually defeated, retreating into the Underdark to continue their malevolent ways.
* **3000 BFA:** After years of fighting for freedom and escaping the crumbling mindflayer empire, many gith and deep gnomes flee the Underdark in an event known as the Exodus. The deep gnomes create underground cities throughout Baelor, eventually becoming the surface gnomes that assimilate into society. The gith flee the Underdark through the Broken Expanse, creating small settlements there as they slowly adapt to light and life on the surface. A few gith use mindflayer devices to instead follow them into the astral plane, looking to continue the war. They adopt the name “githyanki” and eventually become astral raiders. Many deep gnomes and gith remain enslaved by the mindflayers, drow or Duergar.
* **2700 BFA:** The Antillian Empire begins to spread throughout Northwestern Baelor. They lead a bloody conquest, slaughtering many and enslaving others. They establish a strong hold over their territory, and begin to cross the Nexus River into Southwestern Baelor.
* **2500 BFA:** The First Breach occurs when the Drow, the dark elves who fled into the Underdark, return to the surface to overthrow the elves of the Everglenn. Though they make considerable progress, destroying the elven capital of Izlandar, the surface elves eventually force them back underground. They begin to send select groups of elven scouts underground to monitor drow activities.
* **2260 BFA:** The Kingdom of Mandrigar rises in the Windswept Desert, and slowly captures most of the land south of the Nexus River. They meet the forces of the Antillian Empire, managing to push them back across the Nexus River. They rule for hundreds of years, however, they never manage to totally defeat the Antillian Empire.
* **2000 BFA:** Belvalor, a half-elf sorcerer claiming to be the Chosen of Orcus, raises an undead army in the Deadwood Forest in an attempt to slaughter the world, forcing Dais to break the celestial curse and intervene, thus releasing Orcus. His death march devastates most of eastern Baelor. As he tries to march his undead horde west across the Endless Peaks, he is defeated by a band of heroes in a long lost city, though the effort kills them and destroys the city.
* **1990 BFA:** The gith, having largely been spared from Belvalor’s wrath from across the Broken Expanse, conquer most of Eastern Baelor. Just as they once were, they enslave most of the humanoid races. The elves of the Everglenn manage to repel the Gith, though the struggle is bloody and long.
* **1502 BFA:** The Antillian Empire falls as a rebellion, aided by dwarven forces from the city of Buringrad, successfully destroys the capital. The rebels are unable to maintain power afterwards, and the Antillian Empire devolves into various city-states.
* **1500 BFA:** While attempting to lead an army across the Nexus, the Kingdom of Mandrigar falls after its central city is sacked by an army of gnolls. With its central power destroyed, the kingdom falls apart. Many warring city-states rise as the power vacuum left by both Mandrigar and the Antillian Empire falling leads to a prolonged period of war.
* **950 BFA:** After years of Gith rule, the humanoid races overthrow the Gith Imperium, sacking their cities and bringing an end to their total rule over Eastern Baelor. The Gith fall back to the Broken Expanse, and by the end of the struggle, only their territories north of the expanse remain in their control. The Gith isolate themselves from the rest of the world, hoping to rebuild their strength and one day retake the lands they lost.
* **700 BFA:** After years of building up the war machine, raiding cities in and beyond the Broken Expanse, some Gith begin to question their continued isolation and violent lifestyle. The Gith Schism occurs, fragmenting the population into two categories: The Githyanki - taking the name from the astral plane raiders - who remain in northeastern Baelor and continue their violent lifestyle, and the Githzerai, who return to the Broken Expanse, creating small settlements and occasionally venturing into the Underdark to free their enslaved Gith brethren. Severely crippled by the schism, the Gith Imperium falls into disrepair, and most of the world only know the Gith as pirates and raiders who live in crumbling cities surrounded by the spoils of their “wars.”
* **500 BFA:** A young Roark Stoneshield, king of the small city of Orestead, unites the dwarven cities of the Endless Peaks under his banner after he destroys the city of Buringrad. He renames Orestead as Roarkstead in his own honor, and begins to grow his armies.
* **450 BFA:** The city of Aréa is founded just south of the Nexus River. Over the next 200 years, they form a kingdom that spans most of the southwest portion of Baelor.
* **400 BFA:** The Second Breach begins, as the Drow once more rise to the surface in an attempt to destroy the elves of the surface. However, the elves are well-prepared this time, and the breach is easily overcome. The drow retreat underground once more in defeat.
* **250 BFA:** The Second Dwarven Invasion begins when Roark Stoneshield, founder of the dwarven city of Roarkstead, leads the Dwarves out of the Endless Peaks and into western Baelor. They encounter little resistance for many years, though eventually encounter trouble when they reach the territory of Aréa. The Aréans push the Dwarves back, following their armies back into the Endless Peaks.
* **200 BFA:** The Second Dwarven Invasion ends as the Aréan army sacks Roarkstead, killing the king of the dwarves during the final battle. The dwarves scatter amongst the Endless Peaks, and Aréa becomes the first state to form an empire across Western Baelor. They build the Crossing, the first major bridge across the Nexus that allows their troops and people to rapidly cross. Civilization flourishes under their rule, but many people are enslaved and forced to work on new infrastructure, roads and other things that connect western Baelor like never before.
* **0 AFA:** The Aréan Empire crumbles, as slaves rise up across western Baelor. Aréa is eventually destroyed in a magical explosion, and what few Aréans are left begin to slowly move southwest, trying to hold onto whatever territory they can. All that’s left of the city is a crater in the center of the Forest of Draenor.
* **100 AFA:** The dwarves of House Steel, out of the city of Millgruff, reclaim the ruins of Roarkstead, beginning to rebuild it. Other major Dwarven cities take notice, and the War of the Houses begins for control of Roarkstead.
* **300 AFA:** Cliffport is founded by the hero Draven, who opens a tavern there.
* **400 AFA:** The War of the Houses ends, with the four major houses (Steel, Silver, Storm and Iron) forming an alliance, sharing Roarkstead as their capital.
* **500 AFA:** The City of Candor begins to expand, starting the Century War.
* **600 AFA:** Candor, now the capital of the Aladar Empire, conquers Kingsforge, ending the Century War and uniting Western Baelor under the Aladar Empire.
* **703 AFA:** The city of Stormkeep is founded.
* **802 AFA:** The Winter War is fought between Emberfalls and Crowshire. Emberfalls forces are repelled at the walls of Crowshire, and the two cities agree on peace terms.
* **803-804 AFA:** The city of Stormkeep conquers the other eastern city-states of Baelor, beginning the Crimson Empire, in what is known as the Centennial Conquest.
* **827 AFA:** The town of Crowshire rises up against the Crimson Empire in the Windheart Rebellion. Their forces are crushed at the Second Battle of Crowshire, and the remaining Griffon Riders flee into the Broken Expanse, eventually founding the town of Umbra.
* **882 AFA:** The Third Breach begins, as drow forces this time rise out of the Broken Expanse. The surface elves are caught unaware, and their capital of T’Avar sustains extensive damage. Forces from the Crimson Empire come to their aid, and together they drive the drow out of the Everglenn and back to the Underdark. This begins a strong alliance between T’Avar and the Crimson Empire.
* **898-901 AFA:** The Crowning War, which sees the southern portion of the Aladar Empire secede from the northern part. Candor is sacked, and Delmar forms in the south while Kell forms in the north.
* **953 AFA:** The original town of Rockfell is destroyed in a landslide.
* **978 AFA:** The Goblin Insurrection begins with attacks on Rockfell and Rapidrun, as an army of goblins lead by a Hobgoblin named Kesh lays waste to parts of Kell.
* **980 AFA:** The Battle of Gatling Gorge takes place between the goblins and ogres of Kesh’s army, and the forces of Kell and Helmgrenn. The battle is bloody, but Kesh’s forces are eventually overwhelmed and destroyed.
* **985 AFA:** A group of Yuan-Ti from Kalzan make their way to Baelor, settling in the Windswept Desert. They proceed to conquer the earth genasi city of Emeril, and subjugate many of the genasi tribes that live in the desert and Seafoam Mountains.
* **1000 AFA:** The Wasted Wanderers begin their adventure.