Ancient History
Pre-Time: The God-time. Gods roamed amongst men. Heroes were everywhere. It was a time of epic deeds, but also of epic terror. At the end of it, Eurmal found the Sword, 'Death', and the young Air God Humakt took it from him, and used it to slay Grandfather Mortal.
The Great Darkness:
Desiring Yelm's Queen, Ernalda, Orlanth stole Death from his brother, and used to slay Yelm, sending him to the Underworld, and plunging the World into the Great Darkness. Creatures from the Underworld invaded.
At the edge of the World, The Unholy Trio, Tagnaglar, Thed and Mallia let Chaos loose on Glorantha, and destruction seemed the fate of all. But Orlanth had learned, and leading his companions, The Lightbringers on an Epic Quest, they saved Yelm from the Underworld, and the Dark was Banished, not least by Storm Bull slaying the greatest Devil, by crushing him under a massive block of exploded celestial mountain called 'The Spike'. Sadly there were many deaths amongst the Gods during this time, not least at least one of the Moon Gods, the Red Moon.
Year 0: Time began, with the Great Compromise, where Gods are prevented from directly affecting the World.
Approximately 300: Followers of Malkion (slain during the Great Darkness) continue experimentation with the nature of the planes.
Approximately 500: A Council ("The Second Council") fight a great war against the Chaos God Gbaji who has broken into the World.
Approximately 600: Dragon Pass is ruled by "The Empire of the Wyrm Friends" (EWF), who did what it said on the tin, until…
1042: … the leaders of the EWF were killed by dragons in the Dragon Betrayal, resulting in a power vacuum, which allowed a Pelorian to claim tribute from the remainder EWF.
1120: Most of the subjects of the EWF were killed in the Dragonkill (which also did what it said on the tin), which sparked the Dragonkill war, which basically closed Dragon Pass to Humans for several hundred years.
Approximately 1150: The Malkionites, now called 'The God Learners', or Middle Sea Empire are defeated, by a heroquest, which wipes out their navy, and incidentally destroys the Boat Planet, thus removing the ability of anyone to actually cross oceans. Whoops. This is called 'The Closing'
Approximately 1200: A woman is born in Peloria who is, in fact, a Goddess. The Red Goddess walked for a while amongst men, and then apotheosed to her role in the Red Moon. During her incarnation she founded a dynasty, and an Empire. Demigods (notably Hon-Eel and Jar-Eel) have returned since.
1580: The Hero Dormal manages to circumvent the 'Closing' by teaching rituals of sacrifice to the seas.
Recent History
For a character beginning in 1625, at a normal age.
Around 1561: Your Grandparents were born
1582: King Tarkalor and his wife the Feathered Horse Queen went to war with the Lunar Empire to aid the Old Tarshites, aided by Praxian and Esrolian mercenaries and volunteers. The Red Emperor personally led the Lunar Army and when the armies met at the Battle of Grizzly Peak, the Lunar Army swept the field with their superior magicians. Both King Tarkalor and his Queen were killed.
Of special note, your parents were born by this year.
1597: Lunar assassins killed members of the Sartar royal house in the Holy Country, and many got entangled in the cycles of murder and vengeance.
1602: The Lunar army invaded the kingdom of Sartar with great success, although at high cost, seizing the supposedly impregnable capital city (Boldhome) by force and extinguishing the Flame of Sartar that united the legendary kingdom.
1603-4: After the Boldhome Campaign, the Lunar Empire dominated Dragon Pass. Old rivalries reignited, and the Lunar authorities encouraged the tribes to kill each other off.
1604 is the year of your adventurer’s birth, unless you have chosen to be older or younger. Your adventurer will be 21 in 1625, the year this game begins.
1605: A major thrust by the Lunar army to invade the Holy Country, striking at heavily populated Esrolia. Countering with magical strength, the god-king Belintar stopped the Lunars by inflicting a decisive and humiliating defeat.
1608: The Lunar Empire invaded Prax. The Lunar army hopped from oasis to oasis but was raided and harried until it accepted peace before being allowed to enter the Paps. Despite propaganda, this was a nomad victory.
1610: The Lunar army, this time better prepared and equipped, marched into Prax and defeated the nomads in battle, then occupied the surrendering city of Pavis.
Jar-eel the Razoress, a Lunar demigoddess (of War and Love), came to Tarsh and "liberated" King Moirades to transcend his mortal coil. Although she later gave birth to Moirades’ son, the king’s eldest son Pharandros became King of Tarsh.
1613: Outraged by the Lunar presence and urged on by social unrest, the Sartarites rebelled in strength and temporarily expelled the Lunar army ("Starbrow's Rebellion"). The Lunars regrouped, and under the leadership of General Fazzur Wideread soundly defeated the rebels. The Red Emperor appointed Fazzur Wideread the Governor-General of Dragon Pass.
1615: A squabble between the Grazelanders and the Lunars broke into open war. The former, aided by King Ironhoof and his Beast Men, managed to evade and frustrate two massive invasion forces.
1616: A large army from the Holy Country was ambushed and slaughtered by the Ditali barbarians. At the same time, Harrek the Berserk and his Wolf Pirates destroyed the Holy Country navy. The god-king Belintar disappeared and the Tournament of the Masters of Luck and Death failed to produce a replacement. In Prax, a former slave of the Bison people founded the White Bull Society; many Praxians of all tribes flocked to join it.
1618: The Solanthi warlord Greymane led a massive army through Ditali and deep into the Holy Country, taking great plunder and avoiding a decisive battle.
1619: The Lunar army invaded northern Hendriking lands and took the city of Karse. King Broyan of the Hendrikings retreated to the fortress temple of Whitewall with his companions and withstood every Lunar attempt to take the city. The Crimson Bat was sent to Dragon Pass to strike fear into any who would rebel against the Emperor.
1620: The Lunar army decisively defeated the Malkonwal army in battle and accepted their surrender. The Hendriking king and his companions held out at Whitewall, defeating everything the Lunar army threw against them, including the Crimson Bat.
1621: A Giant’s Cradle floated down the River Zola Fel, past Pavis, to the sea. The Lunar army’s attempts to seize it were thwarted by its defenders.
After more than two years of siege and tremendous cost in blood, treasure, and souls, the sacred fortress of Whitewall and its Orlanthi defenders fell to the Lunar army. The gods Orlanth and Ernalda were proclaimed dead and the Great Winter came to Dragon Pass, the Holy Country, and Prax. The Red Emperor decreed a full year of celebration.
1622: The Red Emperor appointed Tatius the Bright as the Lunar governor-general of Dragon Pass, replacing Fazzur Wideread.
King Broyan reemerged and his Hendriking tribe rose in rebellion, joined by many volunteers. Hordes of scorpion men emerged from Larnste’s Footprint, serving the Chaos demigoddess called the Queen of Jab.
The Great Winter continued until the Battle of the Auroch Hills, when Broyan’s rebel army ambushed and defeated the Lunar army by partially reviving Orlanth and Ernalda. The pro-Lunar queen of Esrolia was overthrown in a coup d’état and civil war erupted in that land.
1623: The new Esrolian queen gained a new ally when King Broyan and his ragged army of volunteers arrived and defeated the Grazeland Horse Army (the Feathered Horse Queen was killed soon after by her own bodyguards). The Lunar Army arrived in Esrolia and besieged Queen Samastina and King Broyan in Nochet. In the north, a gigantic swarm of trolls, trollkin, insects, and darkness creatures crossed Dragon Pass en route to the Castle of Lead.
1624: A new planet (called the Boat Planet) appeared in the Sky, prophesying doom and change- this relates the breaking, rather than merely circumvention of the Closing, but this would not be known for some time.. Harrek the Berserk and his Wolf Pirates arrived in the Holy Country after circumnavigating the world (NB: This was very unusual, as Ocean going shipping had been very restricted for centuries). They allied with Queen Samastina and King Broyan, and routed the Lunar Army at the Battle of Pennel Ford. During the battle, Orlanth was freed from the Underworld and the constellation called Orlanth’s Ring appeared with additional stars and quickly rose to the top of the sky.
After the battle, Harrek’s companion Argrath, a Sartarite from New Pavis, traveled with a small group of followers to the border of Sartar and Prax and summoned the Praxian demigod Jaldon Goldentooth to recognize him as the White Bull.
That winter, Harrek and Broyan sacked the City of Wonders. That same winter, Humakti killed the Lunar client, King Temertain of Boldhome.
1625: The year the campaign begins:
With the White Bull Society behind him, Argrath liberated Pavis from the Lunar Empire and was proclaimed King of Pavis.
Argrath led his Praxian allies to Dragon Pass but was defeated by Lunar sorcery and retreated to Pavis. At the same time, King Broyan was killed by Lunar sorcery.
The Lunar Empire gathered thousands of magicians, priests, and nobles to consecrate the new Temple of the Reaching Moon and extend the Lunar Glowline over all of Dragon Pass. A group of Sartarite heroquesters led by Kallyr Starbrow invaded the Lunar ceremony and summoned a True Dragon beneath the temple. The dragon devoured the temple and the attendees; in minutes, most of the military and magical might of the Lunar Empire in the Provinces was annihilated.
The True Dragon then rose into the sky, revealing its impossible size—it was several kilometers long. It flew up high into the Middle Air towards the Red Moon. Millions of observers across Genertela witnessed the event; those in Peloria, Ralios, Kralorela, and the far West saw a “dragon-shaped cloud” obscure the Red Moon. Those closer saw and heard far more. Across Dragon Pass, ancient draconic powers and thoughts quiescent since the Empire of Wyrms Friends were awakened. In the Lunar capital of Glamour, the Red Emperor sacrificed much of his magic and power to drive the dragon back. The True Dragon spiraled around Dragon Pass, circled Mount Kero Fin and then returned to the huge crevice it had made where once stood the New Lunar Temple. Kallyr Starbrow marched on Boldhome and proclaimed herself Prince of Sartar. A Lunar Tarsh army led by General Fazzur Wideread indecisively fought the Free Sartar Army. The Lunar Tarsh army retreated after Fazzur learned that King Pharandros (the King of Tarsh and Fazzur’s nephew) had murdered many of Fazzur’s kin and supporters while the mighty general was away campaigning. General Fazzur returned to Dunstop and gathered allies. In Old Tarsh, the Shaker Priestess appointed a new King of Wintertop, rather than allow Fazzur’s son Onjur to become king.