The Free Isles

by Alan Jones

Regional Timeline

This timeline contains events both for the Western Realms as a whole and the Free Isles in particular.
(BSE == Before the Second Empire, SE == Second Empire, though strictly speaking year 0 was the last year of the First empire. )

1400 BSE The Great War.
Elves and a mythical race known as the Ancients fought against an invading army of dwarves and humans. Almost all of the elves were killed and much of thier knowledge was lost. Nothing more is known of the ancients.
The remaining elven clans were left in the darkest forest deeps while others retreated to dark caverns where even Dwarves feared to go

600 BSE The Dhozair Rising.
Led by the elf mage Dhozair, the elves for a time grew in strength and influence.
The Emperor Calistin allowed elves to take up positions of power once more and this saw a flourising in the arts and sciences.
Calistin's decendents were less enlightened and eventually the elves were once more banished to the forests. Dhozair's name lives on though as a hero amongst the elves, while some humans see Calistin as an evil abberation that eventually brought abput the fall of the Empire.
Dhozair died aged 807 the day the Empire fell.

0 SE The Rise Of The Second Empire
The year zero marked the end of the old empire. Scholars have since used that as the date that the new empire started but that is eminantly foolish.
The House of Deltair had ruled what was to become The Western Realms for almost a 1500 years. Its end came when the last emperor, Johal IV, died at the age of 12. There was a brief, but bloody war of succession and for five hundred years the lands were thrown back into an age of nightmares.
For a time orcs, hobgoblins and trolls sat upon the Chameleon Throne, while humans and dwarves created small city states, each with their own King or Emperor. The elves continued to hide in the forests, keeping alive what knowledge the could for the time when the Second Empire would rise and grow.
This it did under King Celan. In 516 SE, he and his armies drove back the monsters and established the Western Realms, not without a struggle. He established The Celantine Dynasty that grew in power untill the death of King Karaz some 250 years later.

714 SE Coronation Of King Karaz
The Second Empire had grown steadily for two hundred years until almost all of the lands west of the mountains and east of the sea owed alligence to the Chameleon Throne. Only two regions remained independant; The Free Isles and Coranos. In his coronation speech from the steps of the throne, Karaz promised to bring these two unruly states into the Empire. Karaz was eighteen and at first favoured diplomacy over war as a means of achieving his aims. However the Free Isles polietly refused his overtures while the serpents of Coranos ate the delegates and diplomats that Karaz sent south.

720 SE Invasion Of The Free Isles
Pestered by his advisors and tired of the polite refusals of the Free Islanders, Karaz ordered the invasion of the island chain. Four score ships set sail from Miraz and despite an unseasonal storm that sank six ships and sent another eight back to the mainland the warships managed to blockade the major ports of Safeharbour and Deephaven.
The islands were under siege for seven months, the whole summer and autumn. Raiding parties from the warships torched fields of crops and catapults sent showers of boulders and rotting fish into the major cities. More ships joined the siege, each bringing more troops which eventually established a foothold at Poppleton.
Once the troops were ashore in large numbers the end came swiftly and soon the flag of the Western Realms flew above the palace in Safeharbour. It would fly there for nearly three hundred years.

730 SE Serpent Raiders Threaten Southern Border
Karaz was content for a while to ignore the serpents of Coranos. The land was mostly jungle and held little of value. This changed when raiding parties of the serpentfolk attacked farms and mines along the border. At first Karaz sent troops to patrol the border to protect the farms and mines but the serpantfolk just switched to attacking cargo vessels that plied the southern coast of the Realms.

732 SE The War Of Coranos
Angered beyond reason, Karaz sent his armies into the jungles of Coranos. At first they met fierce resistance. The terrain was difficult, thick jungle, swamps, narrow inlets and small sandy islands. The serpentmen were accomplished mages as well as powerful fighters and many thousands of men died. After five years of bloody war a truce was agreed, the border was moved south by ten leagues while Karaz promised that all ships that sailed within dozen leagues of the coast of Coranos were fair game for the serpentkin and their allies. The Accaman Accord was signed in a small farm near the old border in 737 SE.
This marked the end of the expansion of the Second Empire. Karaz was tired of war and spent more and more time studying books and the stars including a search for relics of the Ancients. He traveled far and wide both within and outside of the Empire in search of clues to who and what they were.

764 SE The Sundering
At the age of sixty eight Karaz died near Avondale in the Free Isles, on a serach for a hidden city of the Ancients. His body was brought back to Miraz and buried in the cathedral. He left instructions that the lands of the Realms should be divided between his twin sons Doral and Bormar.
Doral, the elder brother by twelve minutes, was to have the lands north and east of the river Darrow including the capital of Miraz. Bormar, got the Free Isles and lands south of the Darrow.
Neither was happy.

774 SE The Kinship War
It only took a few years before the brothers were at each other's throats. The broad Darrow Delta contained many channels and despite the best efforts of diplomats and cartographers the brothers could never agree on which piece of land was whose. Eventually Doral dumped cart loads of rock and sand into the river causing it to flow into the sea some six or seven miles further south gaining the fertile delta land for himself. Bormar responded by damming the river east of Fendarrow enlarging the swamp and flooding the lands surrounding it, turning Fendarrow into an island.
This was the final straw and war broke out. Fighting continued sporadically for five years until the two brothers signed the Treaty of Fendarrow which finaly established the borders between thier nations.

782 SE Death Of Bormar
It is alleged that agents acting for his brother poisoned Bormar at his palace at Karazburgh. Doral always denied this and no evidence was ever found.

784 SE Death Of Doral
While hunting a white boar in Kingswood, Doral's horse shied at a strange ghostly figure and flung it's rider to the ground. The fall was light but the Prince landed on an silver elven crown which had lain submerged in the leaf mold for hundreds of years. The sharp points of the crown pierced his skull and he died before healers could attend him.
Barely twenty years before The Western Realms had a single strong ruler and were a power in the world. Now they had been torn assunder and were leaderless.

822 SE Battle Of Fendarrow
The land of Bormaris fragmented into several small states much as before the coming of King Celan. One of these small states looked enviously across the Darrow towards the rich city and crossed the border. The armies of the north rode down and routed the invaders but not before the city was razed. It took fifteen years to rebuild it to a semblance of it's former glory.

833 SE Descent Into Decadence
While ascetic clerics and powerful reclusive mages ruled the states in the south under the guidence of the Conclave, the descendants of Doral became soft and fat on the riches plundered from the mines discovered in the mountains. Slavery, once outlawed became common. Criminals and the destitute fought in the arenas, against each other or wild beasts. The ruling class acted on whims. The palace at Miraz grew with each encumbent of the Chameleon Throne adding extra rooms or in some cases entire wings. It sprawled across the hill at the centre of the city eating up the large park that once surrounded it like a cancer. With Bormaris looking inward and Coranos quiet it faced no threats and so growth stopped. The arts were accentuated while magic and the sciences were ignored. Those who wanted more from life left and took farms in the Free Isles or crossed the mountains into the east.

944 SE The Plague
It started in summer, in Karazburgh. The first sign was the itchy skin and a bad cough. The next was the sores on the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet. Then the blisters upon the face. Finally the pain in the joints and the visions which led to the victims screaming and walking the streets like zombies. At first the clerics tried to treat it like it was some form of campaign by followers of Thanatos but none of their spells of potions seemed to work. It spread swiftly across the land, leaping from village to village like a blaze in a forest. The plague ravaged the land for years. It killed old and young, rich and poor, dwarf and human. But not elves. For some reason they were immune. For this reason they were blamed for the plague and hunted down wherever they were found.
Then as swiftly as it started the plague vanished. No cure was ever found, nor was any cause. The elves were still shunned and the few that were left retreated still further into the forests or across the sea.

979 SE The First Declares Independance
No one knows for sure who the First was before he became the First. He was probably born in the Free Isles but was drafted into the Bormarian army. While serving in the Desert Of Dreams he led a rebellion, captured a slave ship and sailed to Safeharbour where standing atop the key he declared the Free Isles an independant nation. It took three years of fighting to rid the land of the Bormarian overloads but thanks to some timely storms and a lack of will within the Conclave as well as some heroic acts by the Free Islanders they won thier independance.

1003 SE King Rintaul Crowned In Miraz
King Rintaul, the current ruler of Doralin crowned. He is no more than a simple minded puppet whose strings are pulled by the Council of Regents. While the King tends his plants and his animals in the remaining park land the Regents make all the descions.

1009 SE Attacks From Coranos Become More Common
After a long period of quiessence raiding parties of serpentmen from Coranos have become more common. As well as burning farms and capturing lifestock there have been rumours that clerical orders have been targetted.

1012 SE War Breaks Out
A minor dispute over a few stray cattle swiftly escalates into a major conflict between Doralin and Bormaris. The city of Fendarrow is once more under siege.

1013 SE Bandit Raids Increase
In the Free Isles parties of orcs and kobolds have started to make more frequent attacks on the caravans carrying goods between Dal Skyr and Avondale.

1014 SE The Present Day
There are rumours that the First is ill, possibly dying. People of the Free Isles worry that Doralin or Bormaris may choose to reinvade the islands. A plot to poison the inhabitants of the Free Isles with plague spores was prevented by a brave group of heroes.

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1400 BSE	The Great War. Elves and a mythical race known as the Ancients fought against an invading army of dwarves and humans. Almost all of the elves were killed and much of thier knowledge was lost. Nothing more is known of the ancients. The remaining elven clans were left in the darkest forest deeps while others retreated to dark caverns where even Dwarves feared to go
600 BSE	The Dhozair Rising. Led by the elf mage Dhozair, the elves for a time grew in strength and influence. The Emperor Calistin allowed elves to take up positions of power once more and this saw a flourising in the arts and sciences. Calistin's decendents were less enlightened and eventually the elves were once more banished to the forests. Dhozair's name lives on though as a hero amongst the elves, while some humans see Calistin as an evil abberation that eventually brought abput the fall of the Empire. Dhozair died aged 807 the day the Empire fell.
0 SE	The Rise Of The Second Empire The year zero marked the end of the old empire. Scholars have since used that as the date that the new empire started but that is eminantly foolish. The House of Deltair had ruled what was to become The Western Realms for almost a 1500 years. Its end came when the last emperor, Johal IV, died at the age of 12. There was a brief, but bloody war of succession and for five hundred years the lands were thrown back into an age of nightmares. For a time orcs, hobgoblins and trolls sat upon the Chameleon Throne, while humans and dwarves created small city states, each with their own King or Emperor. The elves continued to hide in the forests, keeping alive what knowledge the could for the time when the Second Empire would rise and grow. This it did under King Celan. In 516 SE, he and his armies drove back the monsters and established the Western Realms, not without a struggle. He established The Celantine Dynasty that grew in power untill the death of King Karaz some 250 years later.
714 SE	Coronation Of King Karaz The Second Empire had grown steadily for two hundred years until almost all of the lands west of the mountains and east of the sea owed alligence to the Chameleon Throne. Only two regions remained independant; The Free Isles and Coranos. In his coronation speech from the steps of the throne, Karaz promised to bring these two unruly states into the Empire. Karaz was eighteen and at first favoured diplomacy over war as a means of achieving his aims. However the Free Isles polietly refused his overtures while the serpents of Coranos ate the delegates and diplomats that Karaz sent south.
720 SE	Invasion Of The Free Isles Pestered by his advisors and tired of the polite refusals of the Free Islanders, Karaz ordered the invasion of the island chain. Four score ships set sail from Miraz and despite an unseasonal storm that sank six ships and sent another eight back to the mainland the warships managed to blockade the major ports of Safeharbour and Deephaven. The islands were under siege for seven months, the whole summer and autumn. Raiding parties from the warships torched fields of crops and catapults sent showers of boulders and rotting fish into the major cities. More ships joined the siege, each bringing more troops which eventually established a foothold at Poppleton. Once the troops were ashore in large numbers the end came swiftly and soon the flag of the Western Realms flew above the palace in Safeharbour. It would fly there for nearly three hundred years.
730 SE	Serpent Raiders Threaten Southern Border Karaz was content for a while to ignore the serpents of Coranos. The land was mostly jungle and held little of value. This changed when raiding parties of the serpentfolk attacked farms and mines along the border. At first Karaz sent troops to patrol the border to protect the farms and mines but the serpantfolk just switched to attacking cargo vessels that plied the southern coast of the Realms.
732 SE	The War Of Coranos Angered beyond reason, Karaz sent his armies into the jungles of Coranos. At first they met fierce resistance. The terrain was difficult, thick jungle, swamps, narrow inlets and small sandy islands. The serpentmen were accomplished mages as well as powerful fighters and many thousands of men died. After five years of bloody war a truce was agreed, the border was moved south by ten leagues while Karaz promised that all ships that sailed within dozen leagues of the coast of Coranos were fair game for the serpentkin and their allies. The Accaman Accord was signed in a small farm near the old border in 737 SE. This marked the end of the expansion of the Second Empire. Karaz was tired of war and spent more and more time studying books and the stars including a search for relics of the Ancients. He traveled far and wide both within and outside of the Empire in search of clues to who and what they were.
764 SE	The Sundering At the age of sixty eight Karaz died near Avondale in the Free Isles, on a serach for a hidden city of the Ancients. His body was brought back to Miraz and buried in the cathedral. He left instructions that the lands of the Realms should be divided between his twin sons Doral and Bormar. Doral, the elder brother by twelve minutes, was to have the lands north and east of the river Darrow including the capital of Miraz. Bormar, got the Free Isles and lands south of the Darrow. Neither was happy.
774 SE	The Kinship War It only took a few years before the brothers were at each other's throats. The broad Darrow Delta contained many channels and despite the best efforts of diplomats and cartographers the brothers could never agree on which piece of land was whose. Eventually Doral dumped cart loads of rock and sand into the river causing it to flow into the sea some six or seven miles further south gaining the fertile delta land for himself. Bormar responded by damming the river east of Fendarrow enlarging the swamp and flooding the lands surrounding it, turning Fendarrow into an island. This was the final straw and war broke out. Fighting continued sporadically for five years until the two brothers signed the Treaty of Fendarrow which finaly established the borders between thier nations.
782 SE	Death Of Bormar It is alleged that agents acting for his brother poisoned Bormar at his palace at Karazburgh. Doral always denied this and no evidence was ever found.
784 SE	Death Of Doral While hunting a white boar in Kingswood, Doral's horse shied at a strange ghostly figure and flung it's rider to the ground. The fall was light but the Prince landed on an silver elven crown which had lain submerged in the leaf mold for hundreds of years. The sharp points of the crown pierced his skull and he died before healers could attend him. Barely twenty years before The Western Realms had a single strong ruler and were a power in the world. Now they had been torn assunder and were leaderless.
822 SE	Battle Of Fendarrow The land of Bormaris fragmented into several small states much as before the coming of King Celan. One of these small states looked enviously across the Darrow towards the rich city and crossed the border. The armies of the north rode down and routed the invaders but not before the city was razed. It took fifteen years to rebuild it to a semblance of it's former glory.
833 SE	Descent Into Decadence While ascetic clerics and powerful reclusive mages ruled the states in the south under the guidence of the Conclave, the descendants of Doral became soft and fat on the riches plundered from the mines discovered in the mountains. Slavery, once outlawed became common. Criminals and the destitute fought in the arenas, against each other or wild beasts. The ruling class acted on whims. The palace at Miraz grew with each encumbent of the Chameleon Throne adding extra rooms or in some cases entire wings. It sprawled across the hill at the centre of the city eating up the large park that once surrounded it like a cancer. With Bormaris looking inward and Coranos quiet it faced no threats and so growth stopped. The arts were accentuated while magic and the sciences were ignored. Those who wanted more from life left and took farms in the Free Isles or crossed the mountains into the east.
944 SE	The Plague It started in summer, in Karazburgh. The first sign was the itchy skin and a bad cough. The next was the sores on the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet. Then the blisters upon the face. Finally the pain in the joints and the visions which led to the victims screaming and walking the streets like zombies. At first the clerics tried to treat it like it was some form of campaign by followers of Thanatos but none of their spells of potions seemed to work. It spread swiftly across the land, leaping from village to village like a blaze in a forest. The plague ravaged the land for years. It killed old and young, rich and poor, dwarf and human. But not elves. For some reason they were immune. For this reason they were blamed for the plague and hunted down wherever they were found. Then as swiftly as it started the plague vanished. No cure was ever found, nor was any cause. The elves were still shunned and the few that were left retreated still further into the forests or across the sea.
979 SE	The First Declares Independance No one knows for sure who the First was before he became the First. He was probably born in the Free Isles but was drafted into the Bormarian army. While serving in the Desert Of Dreams he led a rebellion, captured a slave ship and sailed to Safeharbour where standing atop the key he declared the Free Isles an independant nation. It took three years of fighting to rid the land of the Bormarian overloads but thanks to some timely storms and a lack of will within the Conclave as well as some heroic acts by the Free Islanders they won thier independance.
1003 SE	King Rintaul Crowned In Miraz King Rintaul, the current ruler of Doralin crowned. He is no more than a simple minded puppet whose strings are pulled by the Council of Regents. While the King tends his plants and his animals in the remaining park land the Regents make all the descions.
1009 SE	Attacks From Coranos Become More Common After a long period of quiessence raiding parties of serpentmen from Coranos have become more common. As well as burning farms and capturing lifestock there have been rumours that clerical orders have been targetted.
1012 SE	War Breaks Out A minor dispute over a few stray cattle swiftly escalates into a major conflict between Doralin and Bormaris. The city of Fendarrow is once more under siege.
1013 SE	Bandit Raids Increase In the Free Isles parties of orcs and kobolds have started to make more frequent attacks on the caravans carrying goods between Dal Skyr and Avondale.
1014 SE	The Present Day There are rumours that the First is ill, possibly dying. People of the Free Isles worry that Doralin or Bormaris may choose to reinvade the islands. A plot to poison the inhabitants of the Free Isles with plague spores was prevented by a brave group of heroes.

The Free Isles

by Alan Jones

Regional Timeline

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