The History of Eredeva

NON-EUCLIDEAN PREHISTORY

Period: 6000 BCE to 4000 BCE

EDITORIAL NAME FOR THE PERIOD BEFORE THE WORLD HAD LAWS AND THE MOON DIDN'T HAVE CRACKS

EUCLIDEAN PREHISTORY

Period: 3999 BCE to 2000 BCE

Neolithic Tribes of Humans, Beastthings, and other hybrid horrors migrate across the globe, fight petty wars, and plant the sees for future civilizations.

THE CROSSING OF THE WHITES

2000 BCE

Erdevan historians generally attribute the first human migrations over the White Mountains to somewhere between 2000-2500 years ago, although the veracity of these claims is nebulous at best.

THE DRACONIC ERA

Period: 1999 BCE to 1000 BCE

The period in which Eredeva was ruled (read as dominated by apex predator) by the race of Dragons, large, scaled, and utterly alien monsters that could fly through the sky and breathe fire. Humans had achieved Bronze Age parity, although the other races were lagging somewhat.

THE COLONIZATION OF ILLABON

1500 BCE

Supposedly between 1600 and 1500 years before the founding of the Empire, the Altari crossed the Great Sea, from their homeland of Old Altaria, landing on and colonizing the island that would become Illabon.

THE LANDING

1000 BCE

According to Altari records, the first Altari Shiplords landed on the shores of Eredeva on a date often calculated as 1000 BE, although the so-called "Skeptics" reject this well-rounded date, preferring to argue that the Altari probably landed anywhere in a five-year range.

THE GREAT WAR

Period: 999 BCE to 900 BCE

Otherwise known as "The War of Dragons and Elves" (although I will try to avoid using elf because it makes no sense in the universe and is a generic term) the Great War saw the Altari Empire send vast hosts across the Great Sea, with ships landing on Eredeva's shores, both as conquerors and as colonizers. Although the Dragons were much more powerful individually, the Altari, unlike the Dragons or all Humans up to this point, possessed powerful magic that allowed them to destroy the dragon race.

CONSTRUCTION OF COLIEN JONO

978 BCE

Originally a human settlement on the cliffs of Dourou, though its name is forgotten, the Altari captured what would become Colien Jono, using their powerful magic to construct a fortress of seamless, textureless ebony stone that would stand unassailed for nearly 1000 years.

FOUNDING OF VELUTHUMIEL

964 BCE

Constructed in the Bay of Lilies by the Landlord Nuvaro and the Spearlord Uctava, Veluthumiel was built as a supply hub for the Altari ships heading south to the River Izel, expanding quickly with the influx of human slaves. It had developed into a town with proper walls and gates, some of the stones of which are preserved in the city's temple two thousand years later.

THE CONSTRUCTION OF TUMIEL

940 BCE

Constructed upon a forested hill by the Alatari, Tumiel was the northernmost border of the Altari Empire for 900 years and is regarded as the modern border between Norvlak and Dourou. After its conquest by Daurion I, Tumiel was renamed "Seven-Gated Star" before reverting to the name Tumiel by order of Amaryl I.

THE BATTLE ABOVE THE IZEL

937 BCE

Two hundred dragons fought against what legend states was one hundred thousand Altari, under the command of the Eternal One. (It was forty thousand). The massive Altari force, after an initial clash, saw the Dragons hover above for months, launching hit-and-run attacks on the host, while the Elves maintained their formation. Eventually, their powerful spells killed even the mightiest of the dragons. It's said that Izel, the Mother of All-Dragons, wept such that a river was born from her tears.

THE LAST DRAGONSLAYING

911 BCE

The last dragon to be killed during the Great War, Bath'alaseur, Lord of the Snow, is slain by a coterie of thirty Altari mages during the Battle Above the Northlake

THE BATTLE OF LOREDGE

908 BCE

The last battle recorded by Altari chronicles, the Battle of Loredge, saw a valiance, or one hundred and twelve Altari spears, attack the village of Loredge, which had reportedly been a base for humans who had raided the Altari's supply wagons.

THE RETURN

903 BCE

Tens of thousands of Altari, including the entirety of the mages in Eredeva, load onto ships in the keyports along the Dourou coast, intent on returning to the Altari homeland after their presumed victory over the dragons and their human subjects.

THE FALL OF THE ALTARI EMPIRE

901 BCE

It is said that a black wind fell upon all Eredeva, and all the children of Altaria were laid low with a terrible, raging pain throughout their bodies. Some were left weary, barely holding onto their constitution, while others went mad, proclaiming they had heard things and seen visions of a horrible calamity, while others were rendered catatonic. Seven days and seven nights are said to have passed, and on the eighth day, all Altari rose, proclaiming their homeland destroyed.

PROCLAMATION OF VELUTHUMIEL

900 BCE

From his small palace in the growing city of Veluthumiel, Landlord Nuvaro declared himself "Governor and Protector of the People-in-Exile," often referred to as the Ethnarch, beginning the period recorded by future historians as the Altari Occupation.

THE ALTARI OCCUPATION

Period: 900 BCE to 4 BCE

From the fall of the Altari homeland until the War of Liberation, the land of Eredeva, also known as Halera in Altari, was ruled by a series of Altari hegemons, often, though not always, military leaders, who instituted a brutal regime of raiding, slaving, and colonization for just shy of 900 years.

DEATH OF ETHNARCH NUVARO

899 BCE

The first Ethnarch, Nuvaro, Landlord of Veluthumiel, had scarcely begun to lay the foundations for the Altari's new realm in Eredeva, when his spearlord and fellow founder, Uctava, led a coup d'estat, killing Nuvaro and usurping his position as the hegemon of the Altari.

THE COURT OF VELUTHUMIEL

897 BCE

After a period of negotiations, first by Ethnarch Nuvaro and continued by his successor, Ethnarch Uctave, the Altari cities and forts of modern Dourou bent the knee to the proclaimed hegemony of Veluthumiel.

THE INLAND WARS

Period: 896 BCE to 891 BCE

Eredevan tribes, still loyal to the Draconic gods of their fathers and grandfathers, launched a series of raids on the fortified ports, inland outposts, and holdfasts of the Altari. In response, Ethnarch Uctava led a sweeping campaign that destroyed any offending Eredevan villages, and saw even those tribes that did not engage in hostilities forced to contribute bushels, barrels, beasts, and bodies to the invader's cause.

THE BATTLE OF CASEDEMAR

886 BCE

The Palace of Casedemar, the main port and second capital of Altari Illabon, is attacked by the crew of the Suthmera, and after a day of brutal street-to-street fighting, it falls. Fleetlord Bendulo declares that he will bring order to the island in the Ethnarch's name, adding one more faction to the chaotic scramble for the island.

EXPEDITION OF THE SUTHMERA

886 BCE

As the Ethnarch Uctava solidified the Altari hold over what would become Dourou, one of his lieutenants, Sealord Bendulo, took one of the original scouting vessels, the Suthmera (South Maiden) and attempted to sail the Eldarsea in the hopes of finding the remnants of the Isle of Illabon.

TURMOIL ON THE FAIR ISLE

886 BCE

Arriving on the island of Illabon shortly before the end of Autumn, the Suthmera found that while the population had survived the Fall, they had done so at great cost, seemingly driven mad by it, and reduced to dozens of petty factions and families squabbling over the rule of Illabon.

LIBERATION OF HALARITANA

885 BCE

Halaritana, the first place the Altari landed after they departed from their heartland across the western ocean, is captured by Fleetlord Bendulo, the crew of the Suthmera, and some allied Illabonese Altari dynasties.