Io the Everwyrm brings about the gods, who over millennia, bring about the Material Plane. Dragons are the first inhabitants of the Material Plane, thought into being by Ao himself. The gods create the Elementals, chaotic beings who rule the Material Plane for eons.
History of Aerd
A brief an complete history of Aërd, the continent once graced by the gods themselves that has fallen to the wars of mortals.
-
75000 EG
So Begins the Era of Gods
Era beginning/end -
50000 EG
Dawn of the Mortals
Mortals first appear on Äerd. They are enslaved by Elemental Overlords.
-
40000 EG
Banishment of the Elemental Overlords
The gods themselves descend onto the Material Plane to war against the Elementals. The Elemental Overlords are banished to the newly formed Elemental Chaos. The Draconic Wardens are established to maintain order. Shadowfell and the Feywild are created as consequence of the war. The few Elemental Beings left on Äerd will eventually become Giants, and swear enmity towards Dragons and the mortal races.
-
30000 EG
The Founding of the Asimati Empire
Over millenia, mortals become more and more competent with focusing magic into distinct spells. Their knowledge and understanding of magic increases past instinctual and imprecise shamanism to fledgling wizardry. A group of humans known as the Asimati Nigusi become particularly strong magic users, and devote themselves to Mystra the Weaver. They will form an empire where mages are seen as demigods, and they will go on to rule enslaved kingdoms from floating cities.
-
20000 EG
The God-Mage War
Fearful that the Asimati have become just as cruel as the Elemental Overlords prior, a group of angry gods led by Tyr the Justicar came down to the Material Plane to stop the Asimati. They enlisted the help of Giants, and war gave way to massacre. Graz'zt the Champion tried to reason with his brother Tyr, but the Justicar bested Graz'zt, stripped him of his name, and banished him to be a Pariah evermore. The Everwyrm nevertheless called for cessation of the conflict. The gods elect to keep residencies on both Aërd and the Upper Planes in order to keep the peace of mortals.
-
10000 EG
The Thousand Years War
Orcs and Dwarves of the North enlist Dragons to retake the lands conquered by the Giants in the war against the Asimati. This war last 1000 years and ends in a stalemate. Dwarves elect to go underground, Giants and Dragons both take substantial casualties. Orcs are the only race to have substantial gains, and their power grows to be more substantial than the other mortal races.
-
5000 EG
The Godslaughter War Starts
Correlon the Hunter, the chief god of the elves, accuses his wife, Álainn the Beautiful, and his brother, Gruumsh the Orcfather, of conspiracy and infidelity. Álainn is cast out of the Elven pantheon, and her followers are exiled West and are marked as "drow", or "traitors". Álainn's name is erased from elven record, and she will come to be known as Lolth. Orcs and elves go to war for 5,000 years. Following the whims of their god, Gof Moradin the Smith, the dwarves betray their old allies and align with the elves. The human realms will officially stay out of the conflict for nearly 4,000 years but secretly support both sides throughout the conflict.
-
0 EG
The Death of the Everwyrm
Sick of the constant fighting and convinced that the Material Plane is beyond salvage, Ao himself descends from the Upper Planes in order to destroy Creation and begin anew. In a climatic battle, Ao is struck by an ancient artifact, the Tanri Agazhi. The Everwyrm is cleaved and falls into the ocean, dead. His physical body becomes an island that will come to be known as Antyfyx, and from his spilled blood, the first Dragonborn arise. From the corpse of Ao emerges Bahamut, Null, and Tiamat, the Draconic Progeny. Tiamat remains insistent on destroying creation as per her Ao's wishes, but Bahamut sees the potential in mortality and believes the gods themselves are to blame. He bests his sister and banishes her into the Nine Hells. Null Deathwing, flees the combat into the Astral Sea.
-
0 EG
Divine Casualties
Ao was not the only god to fall to the god cleaver. Talos the Sailor was the first to be struck by the weapon and fell into the sea. His husk is eventually prayed over by the Kuo-Toa, and a fraction of his divinity returns. Over millennia, he will become the hateful kraken known as Slarkrethel, determined to take back his divine status and seek vengeance upon the mortal races. Golthaarius the Chronicler was accidentally slain by the mortals as he pursued Null into the Astral Sea. With his death, the mortal races grew disinterested in their own history, and records of the ancients were lost. The Chronicler's body was retrieved by his consort, the Draconic Warden of Knowledge, and was laid to rest in a crypt in the Astral Sea.
-
0 EG
Gruumsh's Defeat
Corellon is able to best Gruumsh in the confused aftermath and removes his eye. Gruumsh is banished to a prison plane called Grube. Legends say the Eye of Gruumsh was discarded onto the material plane, becoming a tremendous placid black lake. The orcish race is devastated spiritually, culturally, and financially as the other mortal races demand tribute. The human realms, with relatively few casualties due to their late entry into the war, end up with most of the spoils.
-
1 EM
The Era of Mortals Begins
Bahamut takes his father's place as the head of the gods. He concludes that the corruption of the Material Plane is the fault of the squabbling gods. He declares that gods should no longer directly visit the Material Plane and shall forevermore remain in the Upper Planes. Moving forward, contact between the gods and their devotees would be indirect and vague, with the creation of avatars and appointment of saints being the only way to interact.
-
100 EM
Capellian Empire Founded
In the wake of their prosperity following the banishment of the gods, the humans of southeast Aërd consolidate their power, expand their spheres of influence, and conquer adjacent lands. Led by the legendary Sigurd Capell, these humans become the dominant force in the region. The Capellian Empire is formed. Over the next 6000 years, it will extend westward, well into the Lands Beyond.
-
6004 EM
The Great Orcish God-Heist
6000 years after the banishment of their deity, the Orcs attempt to enact a plan millennia in the making. An elite team of orcs steal the Tanri Agazhi from the Capellian Capital of Kingseat. They attempt to use the relic to open a gate to the Plane of Grube. The ritual is nearly completed until Capellian forces interrupt. The failed ritual destroys the Capellian army and desolates a huge portion of the Capellian Empire. The resulting desert is named Orkischerache, or the Orcish Revenge, and it splits the Capellian Empire in two. The Western half of the Empire soon crumbles into individual city-states, and Capellia, while still powerful, degrades into a shadow of itself over the next several thousand years.
-
8999 EM
The Skybreaker Wars Begin
Small border disputes break out between minor Elven and Dragonborn island counties. Skirmishes break out and a minor Dragonborn noble is killed. Believing themselves to be the rightful heirs to Äerd, the Dragonborn use this as casus belli to invade the Kingdom of the Wood Elves, Áit Scáth. The assumption is the elves will fall to conquest quickly. The Dragonborn plans are complicated, however, when centuries old alliances are called upon by the Wood Elves. Unexpectedly, the High Elves, Capellians, and Dwarves all come to the Wood Elves aid. Dreaux remains neutral officially but provides aid to Antyfyx.
-
9000 EM
9006 EM
Unsustainable Combat
The War presses on for centuries. The Dwarves leave the conflict early and suddenly as wartime conditions lead to a Gwerin revolution. The Kampvolk, while not joining the war officially, put pressure on High Elven and Capellian assets, making troop movements difficult and mercenary companies necessary evils. The heavy armored Dragonborn knights bog down in the swamps of Áit Scáth as the Wood Elf guerrilla tactics prove to be more effective than assumed. Dragoon shock troops scorch huge swaths of Áit Scáth, making the land near unlivable. The quagmire deepens, and heavy losses multiply for all combatants.
-
9007 EM
The Wars that Shattered the World
There seem to be no end in sight until a Capellian funded mercenary company, the Sixth Sword, came across an ancient relic, the god cleaver. Whether my chance or purposefully, the relic was activated, and the majority of the Antyfyxian forces are decimated instantaneously. The already war-torn Áit Scáth was crippled. In a desperate bid to win a war most agree was already lost, the Dragonborn fleet fled to Eastern Dreaux with the intent to regroup and renew the campaign against Áit Scáth. Capellia, however, feared that the Dragonborn Navy would attempt to sack their Capital, Kingseat. Furious at Antyfyx and Dreaux for their contributions to the wars, the Capellian King called for the creation of a magical weapon to devastate both nations. The Magiclysm, as it came to be known, was deployed on Eastern Dreaux, rewriting the fabric of magic and reality off the Earth it touched. The Dragonborn fleet was destroyed, Eastern Dreaux became a barren wasteland, and the rest of Aërd both envied and feared what the Capellians had achieved.
-
9008 EM
The Skybreaker Aftermath
The war would have far-flung ramifications. The Wood Elves of Áit Scáth were decimated, and the already reclusive people all but completely disappeared. The Capellian and High Elf courts held the Dragonborn entirely at fault; the Dragonborn king was exiled and the Dragonborn were forced to develop a Parliament by which to govern themselves. Elves and Humans demanded heavy tribute to the Dragonborn without supplying aid to rebuild. Capellia blamed both the Shatter of Dreaux and the Destruction of Áit Scáth on the Sixth Swords, and its members were universally treated as outcasts. Each were made to be marked with the sigil of the company on their left cheek. The god cleaver, Tanri Agazhi, was never recovered from the blighted forests of Áit Scáth. Most troubling, the plans that led to the creation of the Magiclysm, the Bomb that Broke Dreaux, were stolen from the Capellian palace. While Capellian forces searched for the missing documents ceaselessly, they seemed to vanish into thin air. Astoundingly, the mages responsible for the development of the Magiclysm went missing or died under mysterious circumstances over the next several years..
-
9009 EM
The Shattered Land
Eastern Dreaux, now called the Shattered Land, undergoes more and more strange changes. Destructive magical torrents sweep the lands, making it dangerous for any life. Any attempts to colonize the Shattered Land fails quickly and miserable. And yet, humanoid life starts to develop spontaneously within the Shattered Lands. These creatures, who call themselves Tieflings, have horns and tails and are thought by outsiders to be demonic in nature. Some Tieflings leave the Shattered Land to explore the rest of Aërd, but the vast majority stay in their chaotic, magical homeland.
-
9248 EM
The Gwerin Cymdeithas
After a series of bloody revolutions waged since the Skybreaker Wars, the dwarven Gwerin Monarchy falls to revolutionaries. The Gwerin Cymdeithas, a government aimed at ensuring equality and support for all citizens, is formed. The large Gwerin royal family is hunted down and reported to be wiped out. The Cymdeithas focuses on industrialization and modernization. Soon, mechanized mines and dwarven riflemen become the norm underground.
-
10001 EM
The Battle of Phandalin
To the east of Aërd across the Trackless Sea, a small mining town called Phandalin is attacked by a hobgoblin horde. Taking devastating casualties, the townsfolk were ultimately able to defeat the horde and rebuild their town with the help of a reformed bandit company, the Noble Reds. While Phandalin is now a thriving community, rumors still abound that the hobgoblins were actually led by a time-traveling Aërdian techno-cultist with a grim warning of the future.
-
10006 EM
The Shattered Ordning
With the help of Slarkrethel and unknown demonic influences, Iymrith, the Doom of the Desert, shattered the Ordning of Giants in order to seize power for herself. While initially successful, her plan was thwarted when King Hekaton of the Storm Giants was restored to his throne. Iymrith was slain in her lair shortly after.
-
10016 EM
Talos' Failed Return
Slarkrethel, a kraken once known as the god Talos, attempted to regain divinity through dark rituals and secret pacts. The ritual was stopped prematurely and his thrall, Duke Stephan de Waardenburg of the Sisters, was slain by personal guards of his wife, Duchess Yvette de Waardenburg. These guards also assisted with the safe return of Duchess de Waardenburg and her son, Duke Trenton de Waardenburg, when they were later kidnapped by Slarkrethel's cultists.