Arcadia's history is divided into Ages, usually agreed to begin and end with climatic events, including wars, great magical catastrophes, or important discoveries. In the Third Era, it was the Council of Arcadia who declared when an Age began and ended; after the Change, it was more likely to be the Linguist-Historians.
Age of Dawn
First year: Creation of the world. Gods, stars, and moon-lords weave and sing Arcadia into existence. The Elwens are created from starfire, corame by their goddess, dragons by an unknown power, and unicorns by the moons. The alfari create themselves.
50: Birth of the first shapeshifting races. These are sometimes thought to have been born when a rain of godsblood, perhaps from Chilune, fell on ordinary Elwens.
c. 55: About this time, some of the viaquia come to Sarastaa and ask him to change their race, since they fear the growing power of Dermand over it. He responds by changing them into alalori, and engendering the long hatred between the two races of Elwens.
c. 56: The churni or death Elwens, forced north by the other races, cross into the as-yet uninhabited province of Fhevu. A magical explosion, still not explained to anyone's satisfaction, occurs, and the barren Falchian Plains are created. The churni bind themselves to their new land out of a sense of responsibility, and proceed to care for it.
150-157: Elwens in their southern expansion come into conflict with the corame, resulting in the First War. Elwens learn the secret of forging iron, and as a result conquer the corame. They retreat into secret places, splitting into groups that later change into the major races of their kind (the leeame of the winds, the ranime of the forests, and others).
c. 200: Several hundred young viaquia swear the Vesper-Oath to Dermand to serve him; this was an early version of the Dusk Father's Covenant. The alalori learn of it, and, deciding it could be dangerous, attack the viaquia with magic designed to destroy them. The viaquia retreat into the hills, and are presumed dead.
235: The first recorded meeting of an Elwen with an alfar.
c. 300: Founding of Erinyiaa, the first mixed-race city.
c. 400: The viaquia return, having adapted to the magic and survived, though changed; they can now drink blood and fly. In a battle of which songs are still sung, the viaquia leader Valconn slays the alalori leader Geldereth. The alalori retreat from the battlefield with heavy losses, which they interpret as a sign of Sarastaa's divine displeasure, and eventually foreswear weapons and war altogether.
445: The land Elwens leave Erinyiaa, unable to bear the growing pressure of their blood-hatred for their curalli kin.
550: The goddess Nystze sends a wounded stag to test the patience of Nerlk Deerfriend. He spares the stag, and takes his new surname at the goddess's instruction. Asked about her motives for establishing the Deerfriend lines, Nystze explains that she was bored.
556: Komas Deerfriend, future founder of Rowan, born.
557:Terlin Deerfriend born.
589: Erinyiaa destroyed in an earthquake. The alfari lead the survivors to found Cal-barak.
886: Dermand establishes his Covenant with the viaquia: for as long as some of them worship him, he will grant them all unlimited power for one hour at sunset.
889: A land Elwen mortal named Tiro mingles her essence with that of an ancient spirit named Sina, sometimes believed to have survived from the collapse of another universe. She undergoes apotheosis, and becomes the goddess Tirosina.
900: The dragons, unable to breed, are dying. Dermand approaches a young priest of his named Rareth to talk to him about undergoing apotheosis to help the dragons. Rareth agrees, and becomes the fourth moon, the Lord of the Spring. The dragons are able to breed for the first time in his light.
c. 1000: Tirosina, unable as yet to create her own children, gives the ravens, her favorite birds, intelligence. They become her signs and symbols.
2100: Komas Deerfriend, after an argument with his father, crosses the Acrad River and finds the Corallen Valley, blessed with fertile earth and natural springs. He begins construction of the city of Rowan.
2102: Komas meets and falls in love with Wyrenda Windrider, a female curalli.
2200: The Council of Rowan sentences Komas for having a curalli lover. His sister Biiama gives evidence against him. The Council decrees that all memory of Komas as the city's founder will be wiped from the records.
2210: Komas's half-curalli son is born in the hamlet of Shamas, not far from Rowan.
c. 5000: Terlin Deerfriend writes the Starlight Song.
7823: In this year, according to The Book of the Damarothi, the god Dermand attempts to stop a stratagem his brother Sarastaa is enacting among the curalli. Both try to make a tool of the same curalli, Clor Adamantine, who changes himself into something altogether different to escape them. This is supposedly the origin of the damarothi, the "daggers pointed against the gods," who see worship as slavery and aim to free mortals of it by killing the gods. Most historians are unwilling to accept Clor's private diary as evidence, however.
c. 12,000: The derkusi (desert Elwens) annoy the ulmoni (rain Elwens), causing them to turn their waters away from the fertile province of Lishimon, changing it into the Barren Desert.
29,085: Asroa, the Goddess of Love, focuses her attention on a sapphire Elwen assassin named Sappho Emeraldblade, who refuses to fall in love and keeps slaughtering her priests. Sappho grows tired of the goddess's interference, tracks her down, and slays her in a magical battle of wills. Asroa curses the somak race to be wild and lawless as Sappho as she dies. It is suspected afterward that Sappho had the help of the damarothi.
c. 30,000: Tirosina manages to create the Ashjarumi, intelligent hybrids of lion and fox, but they do not appeal to her as servants, and she maltreats them. Epakohta hears their cries and breaks them free, leading them into the Barren Desert. He is ever afterward their god.
33,662: Jet, the God of Cats, becomes accidentally caught in a magical trap set up by the derkusi and dies. His birth causes the fearhunters to appear and a pool of godsblood, the Wellspring, to land in the Desert. Again, damaroth help is suspected. The gods, alarmed that Elwens have now slain two of their number, form the Great Council to decide what to do about it.
33,663: Great Council continues. Karlin Vesper, a Cat-friend, comes to investigate the death of Jet and causes an explosion that kills several hundred derkus children. As a punishment, the desert Elwens dip him in the Wellspring, making him immortal.
33,664: Great Council continues. Nystze offers Karlin a position as one of her servants, but he hates his immortality. At last, he finds a way to forsake it; he holds open a portal that will take the fearhunters to Jesmara, letting his body be ripped apart in the doing.
c. 45,000: The Sweeping Wars, a struggle of everybody against everbody for intermittent periods of time, begin. The menudi make their Silent Passage to the Misty Meadows at this time, guided by their goddess Jamalen. The Queen of Rowan rises, and is thrown down, this being the origin of the second broken silver crown on Rowan's flag.
Age of Life
1: The beginning of the somewhat prosaically named First War of Light and Dark. Slaughters take place in several curalli villages, and the curalli blame the land Elwens. In the ensuing struggles, races are pulled in to fight beside their political allies, and the war extends to embrace the whole of the continent. In reality, it was most likely agents of Tirosina who instigated the slaughters.
c. 300: The shifting of the First War of Light and Dark into the Dark Domination. Tirosina begins to isolate and conquer Elwen cities and corama forests, though moving slowly enough that it is hard for most observers to realize what is happening.
c. 400: Tirosina, having conquered most of the other Elwen cities, concentrates her attention on Rowan. This only intensifies after Neres Deerfriend, the Councilmaster, sends all torturers and worshippers of Tirosina out of Rowan.
c. 433: Birth of Maremma and Kalikorlenn, swamp Elwen twins. Their mother perishes of grief for their dead father a few months after their births, and they are reared by swamp dragons.
444: Birth of Lonaw Deerfriend.
449: Birth of Somal Deerfriend; his mother, Meria Deerfriend, dies during his birth. The soothsayer summoned to give him his name supposedly bled from the eyes and staggered from the room crying, "Fey! Fey!" and so the Primal word for that quality was chosen as his name. Some legends insist that he had an incestuous relationship with his sister Lonaw, but most historians dismiss this as base rumor.
467: Somal and Maremma meet and become friends.
506: Tirosina's attention falls more heavily than ever on Rowan. Events of Blood and Laughter. End of the Dark Domination. Resumption of the First War of Dark and Light.
509: Maremma dies, killed by his brother Kalikorlenn, in mysterious circumstances.
510: Kalikorlenn commits suicide.
560: Takon, the Blue Moon and god of the silver unicorns, is horrified by the events of the Dark Domination. He calls a second Great Council, and the gods who favor Elwens make the bargain to stop interfering with the world. Only the deities of relatively peaceful people like the unicorns and the corame may still do so.
c. 990,000: The First War of Dark and Light is interrupted by the Eya Sonora, the Silver Conquest. The silver unicorns, using their gazepower that rips apart the will and makes the body of any non-unicorn they look at a slave, begin to conquer cities and take the other races as their slaves in the name of the Great Love, which will bring peace and fellowship to all the races.
c. 991,000: Formation of the Killsworns, a group of Elwens dedicated to genocide of the silver unicorns. They do not fight to protect themselves when engaging the silverini, which means they usually only live three to five years. The group is formed mainly from those who have lost their homes and families to the unicorns.
997,985: Silver unicorns begin the siege of Rowan, one of the last remaining bastions of freedom.
998,000: Silver unicorns break the siege and conquer Rowan. Out of a city of more than one million, less than three hundred land Elwens escape. Beginning of Killsworn.
999,015: Ending of most resistance in the Euras Ataar, which the silver unicorns have tried to conquer for nine thousand years without success. The Battle of the Song of Swords takes place. Many curalli Killsworns are put into stasis, to await the coming of Ellosonor, the Silverbane spoken of in prophecy. The death Elwens perform a great magic that causes any silver unicorn who walks on their lands to die. Ending events of Killsworn.
1,000,000: Conquering of the free land Elwen city of Areil. Destria, the future Silver Unicorn Emperor, first rises to prominence. Founding of the Durillo line by the goddess Nystze, as an indirect revolt against the gods' Bargain. Events of Silversong.
1,000,002: Birth of Destria's son Sesaldon. Destria moves north, to the Barren Desert, and launches a successful campaign to wrest control of the Wellspring from the derkusi or desert Elwens. Silver unicorns enter the Wellspring and become physically immortal, no longer vulnerable to aging. Dermand breaks the Bargain and descends to help a priest of his, meaning that he is stripped of his powers and exiled to one year in the Oblivion, the darkest part of the spirit-void. Drilla Desertbloom, the deposed leader of the derkusi, is made immortal in the Wellspring as a cruel punishment. Events of Desert Silver.
1,000,050: Destria, unable to conquer the vermil (fire Elwen) rebel Verkus Lorlenna, offers him a bargain: to conduct his people to the sea in peace, as long as they leave the continent. Verkus accepts. The treaty, the Aerifrill, is in effect for the next fifty years.
1,000,100: Destria moves to conquer Verkus, using Verkus's estranged wife, Rapture, as part of his plot. Verkus's remaining people leave Arcadia or flee north, to the unexplored wilds of Fhevu. Founding of the Inviolate Forest of the eluvori, by Rodollen. Events of Silver Fire.
1,000,500: Birth of Destria's younger son Jierran.
1,100,584: Birth of Destria's daughter, Shalissa.
1,999,950: Birth of Maruss Freewind and Phaedon, the curalli Heroes; Geruth Lilacshadow, the viaquia Hero; and Elenyi Starwolf, the vhas Hero. The underground Elwen Maana Stonedancer steals them away from the slave stables to rear them in secret, far from the silver unicorns.
1,999,955: Maana Stonedancer first begins to suspect that Maruss Freewind may be the Ellosonor, or Silverbane.
1,999,997: Birth of Yubro Deerfriend.
The War of the Falling
1,999,998: Spring-Summer. Maruss Freewind, horrified by the discovery that the silver unicorns have force-bred Elwens in slavery and altered their physical characteristics, swears himself to war against the Empire. Gryphons and Elwens rescued from slavery form the core of his new army, the Annihilators. Destria quickly learns of his existence. Events of Hero's Ascent.
1,999,999: Winter. Maruss Freewind leads lightning raids on the unicorn slaveholds and minalds. During this season, Destria's son Jierran turns his back on his father's people and flees madly to the Annihilators, though Maruss is almost the only one to fully accept him. Losing control of the Annihilators through a political intrigue plot, Maruss watches them fracture during the disastrous battle at Tharassia Minald; in his flight, he rediscovers the lost city of Areil and its alfar guardians, who are friendly to him. Elenyi Starwolf creates the first Wolf-Kingdom. For the first time he faces and fights down the Webspinner, Fate, who tries to use him as her instrument, though the price is a raid that apparently leaves Jesartlu Durillo dead. Events of Fighting Shadows.
1,999,999: Spring. Maruss travels to the Desert to figure out a way of destroying the Wellspring and the source of the unicorns' immortality. He and his companions meet Drilla Desertbloom, now very old in her bitterness, and together with her are flung back in time to the original creation of the Wellspring. After several adventures, they manage to return to their own time and destroy the pool of godsblood, and Drilla Desertbloom gratefully loses her tormented immortal life in holding open the Wellspring. Events of Spring In Time.
1,999,999: Summer. Maruss discovers that Jesartlu Durillo is still alive, saved by the alfari, but along with joy comes tragedy: there is a traitor among the Annihilators, and the unicorns have captured several Annihilator children. Maruss manages to rescue the children, though in doing so he finally comes to hate Destria, and fight him apparently to a standstill. However, then comes the Shattering, in which most of the Annihilators, including Maruss's foster brother Phaedon and lover Myyti Stonedancer, die. In going to the side of his dying love, Maruss refuses a chance to kill Destria that would have ended the War of the Falling, and thus breaks the grip of Fate forever. Maruss manages to flee north with Jesartlu, Geruth, and Jierran, but descends into the grief-madness for Myyti for two months, at the end of which time he is still dying. Events of Unicorn Tears.
1,999,999: Autumn. Maruss and his companions, in traveling north, rediscover a hidden group of free dragons and the existence of the rufusos, the red unicorns who are the natural enemies of the silverini. With their help, Maruss's companions begin rebuilding the war against the Empire. Tirosina also offers her help, for her own reasons. One of the dragons, Coastdancer, becomes Maruss's Bloodguarder according to shizeran, the dragon system of honor, and his closest companion. Maruss accepts the burdens of the War and life once again, though he still remains free of the grip of Fate. Events of Fleet Away.
1,999,999: Winter. Maruss and his companions, now augmented by the addition of Rengardlu, a red unicorn, travel north in the hopes of finding the remains of Verkus Lorlenna's people. They encounter the eluvori, who refuse to help them; the churni, who do finally agree to help; and Xerdri, a nightmare Elwen healer who falls in love with Maruss. Maruss eventually falls in love with her back, and with her help wins the churni to the side of the War. Events of Strands of Destiny.
2,000,000: Winter-Autumn. At the head of an army joined by his sister Elenyi and her husband, Terling Wolfgarth, Maruss heads back south, destroying the Empire as he goes. He is joined by the Deerfriends, after which Tirosina turns her back on him, and aided by the many clever ideas of Yubro Deerfriend. Xerdri and Yubro are both taken hostage by the silver unicorns; Maruss rescues both. Death of Geruth Lilacshadow at the Ford of Geruth, Sunchet of the churni, and many more. In a desperate attempt to stop Maruss's coming, the unicorns fill the earth of Minamar with corruption, but Maruss arrives in Minamar at last and fights the Battle of the Rekeep Plains, Annihilators against silver unicorns. Destria challenges Maruss to single combat, and though Maruss kills him, he takes a punishing wound from the Emperor's horn. Maruss opens a portal to the Oblivion and exiles the silver unicorns to it. The red unicorns, and Jierran, go to walk the rim of the Oblivion and keep an eye on their cousins. Maruss calls on the Dragonlords, enormous dragons from beyond the world, to rip free and roll back the polluted earth of Minamar. Their efforts create the Blackmirror Channel. Maruss gives up the leadership of the Annihilators, and the Kingship of Arcadia that Fate wanted him to take, and goes to rest among the alfari. However, finding that the grief of losing his friends and family has become too much to take, Maruss surrenders the will to live and sends his spirit to the Oblivion, where it will not have to remember. Xerdri lives on for many more years, and the freed slaves, with the help of those who have always remained free, resume their lives and cultures. Events of Silverdoom.
