The First Age (Dominaria Supplement)

The First Age

A couple of notes for playing in this age.

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First off, Human technology is really quite primitive compared to what people are used to in the PHB. Humans used bronze, bone, and stone for their weapons and tools and things like the crossbow (or flatbow) had not been invented yet. While many of the beast nations likewise lacked any greater metalwork, the Elves and Centaurs in particular were able to craft what many would see as 'modern' (cerca 4th Age) works at the time. The Elves didn't have crossbow/flatbows yet and did not construct sophisticated siege weapons, that technology being the realm of the Dwarves and the larger Orc hordes. It ought be noted that 'Hill Tribes' and nomadic Human tribes in the West maintained this level of technology into the late 2nd Age when the last 'frontiers' of the West were civilized and the last forests and badlands explored.

In terms of implementing this, a DM could either degrade Human weapons or buff Elven weapons. There are 'feel' merits to either, but basically what I mean is you could drop the damage dice and hardness on human weapons or make all Elven weapons masterworked or raise their damage dice. Degrading the Human weapons, while making all elven weapons normal and masterworked, is really the most impactful way to go and leads to the right feel I think. Also is makes the numerically inferior Elves fearsome.

Another note on technology is armor, full suits of armor are nonexistant among Humans and almost unheard of among Elves and beast races. Bronze is unsuitable for chain so scale haubreks would be the pinacle and the classical breastplate/greaves/bracers/shield would be the standard of a well equipped soldier. Bronze was clearly preffered among elite/wealthy units, but hardened leather or lamellar were very common. Slightly degrading the AC and hardness of Bronze armor is appropriate. Aside from this furs were common forms of battle-garb, as the complex stitch-work of good padded armor hadn't come about yet. Furs are heavier than padded and leather, and are somewhere between the two in terms of AC.

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Secondly there's the currency problem. Coinage was nonexistant until the mid-Andoran Rennaisance; the first coins being minted and pressed to commemorate the victories of Athon and Sartos during the various large battles of The Lowland Elf War. Oddly enough these coins would take on value later but still as part of a trade-based economy. People largely got on through trade, either in goods or services. Gold, Silver, and precious jewels were used in trade but there was no codification of weight or size at all. The first bank ever in Dominaria, the Trade Bank of Athon, was actually created before currency and insured/underwrote large transactions between merchants as well as offering the first vaults. The Trade Bank, later called the Bronze Bank, insured agreements and contracts signed under its roof by force and constituted a strong independent force of men scattered at various branches throughout Athonian territory. The bank volunteered its men to fight under the Athonian banner during the civil war, but by the end of the war the Bank had sworn never to commit its soldiers wholesale to a cause ever again.

Currency in silver and gold coins would first crop up duringn the Andoran Rennaisance in Cartaan, and then into Hellenic lands and Arcadia during the Second Expansion. The Council of Cartaan in 650 FrA would finally bring currency to an international "standard". The 'Cartaani Coin' in silver or gold was merely a unit of weight, and the coins minted by each city or state would be superficially different even though they all followed the standard. 5:1 silver to gold was the accepted standard.

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Thirdly architecture and style need to be addressed. At this early stage of history, advances such as the arch, dome, or ability to make large flat roofs of stone had not come about. This means that columns were used everywhere for support and on larger stone structures ceilings had to have a triangular shape. Multiple floors were possible on smaller and well made buildings, but on larger buildings were often open in the middle and supported by columns below or excessively large structure. Any other elevated area must have had a solid base, although tunnels and corridors could be made (at high expense through the solid base). Using wood of course, fixes all these issues. Interior floors in a stone building would be wood, as would stairs, in all but the most opulent of structures.

High roofs supported by massive columns was the preeminent sign of wealth, but most cases only religious or government structures would be among the highest in a city. Square, rectangle, and round buildings survive from the period and several early towers are recorded, although none survived the ages.

The Dawn of Men (1 FrA, 1 CR)

There was a fleet of them, one hundred sails huddled together in the ocean of a world gone mad. The sky burned and the ocean roiled and heaved. Strange lights moved across the sky and the humans huddled together on the decks of their pitiful ships knew they were looking for them. They had come four years ago. There was no preamble, no warning, merely a few wizards speaking of strange movements in the Empyrian Realms and an oddly silent night. There was no stopping them, no fighting, merely hopeless defenses and some pitiful attacks. The greatest armies of a world at its zenith crumbled before their advance. The great cities, wonders crafted by the greatest minds of a species, were washed off the face of a now dying world. Running had been the only option, and now as the seas boiled away and continents cracked asunder even running seemed pointless. The only choice that remained was no choice at all, but it had to be tried. The surety of science was tossed aside and ancient lore was unveiled. Humanity looked to the night sky and a door to nowhere cut. A line uncrossed in an Age was crossed and a portal to another world opened. It was a gem they traveled to, to a blue jewel hanging on a chain around a red giant. Dominaria, brightest star in the Iridian Wheel and a sister in their dance around Jovia. An insane destination, the last choice of a broken people. The fleet sailed through the veil and into a sea out of a dream. Time beyond comprehension passed, and then their Sun rose over a sea unlike any they'd ever seen.

Athon and Sartos (3-5 FrA, 3-5 CR)

The first human cities are formed on opposite sides of a narrow sea. Athon is built upon a granite plateau but swiftly begins to spread. By the beginning of the Lowland Elf War four generations later, Athon would already begin to take on its famous pyramidal shape as the plateau was terraced. Sartos was founded on a low rise in a flat plain overlooking the Council Bluffs where the early Hellenites would gather.

Hospitality and Treachery

The humans meet the inhabitants of this continent. They are accepting at first, if strange, but soon the human's rapid expansion and development is met with preemptive violence.

The Lowland Elf War (88-95 FrA, 88-95 CR)

The Humans of the 'Hellenic Cities' go to war with the Lowland Elves and their allies: the Centaurs, Gnomes, Fey and Minotaur Mercenaries.

The Vale Campaign (Athon)

Athonian forces march north into the verdant Cormyri Vale and lay siege to the City of Glass.

The Battle of Melidaa Ford (92 FrA, 92 CR)

After the surrender of the Sylvan Elves the Athonians march east and fight a three day battle with the Elven army on the Fords of the Melidaa River.

The Whitebridge Campaign (93-95 FrA, 93-95 CR)

After a harsh winter the Athonians march on Whitebridge with a new wave of troops. A year of campaigning gets them to the gate of the city and across the river to encircle it. On the Autumn Equinox of the next year Whitebridge surrenders.

The Narrow Sea Campaign (Sartos)

The Sartan Army campaigns west along the coast of the narrow sea and campaigns by ships to the north and south of Beldron.

The Battle of Eska Beldrana (94-95 FrA, 94-95 CR)

The Sartan Army lands on Beldron and campaigns throughout the subcontinent. The great Elven Citadel of Eska Beldrana is the last to fall. After a bloody siege the Sartan Army storm the keep and slaughter the garrison.

Athon League

Following the Lowland Elf War the city of Athon forms an alliance stretching from Athon east to the edge of the Arcadian Boot.

The Sartan Coalition

Following the Lowland Elf war the city of Sartos forms an alliance stretching from Sartos west into Beldron and down the south coast of Dominaria.

The Free City of Cartaan (105 FrA, 105 CR)

Cartaan, a large and budding trade city built in southern Cormyr opts to stay out of the alliances and maintain neutrality. It prospers on trade with humans just starting to spread out along the Dromos Athos and to the north.

The First Beast Wars (111-156 FrA, 111-156 CR)

After initial colonial expansion, both alliances become embroiled in fierce wars as humans come into contact with the 'Beast Nations' and tribes on the plains. The Minotaur king Ragnar Redhorn, Centaur General Dances-on-Blades, and disgraced Lowland Elven General Athari "The Viper" Goldeneye form some of the chief enemies among the myriad 'Beast Nations' and free cities of the Westlands.

To the Verge and into the Boot (Athon)

The Athonian army marches, fights, and negotiates it way north along the Melidaa and Daan rivers (perhaps half their length), and then west into the Arcadian boot.

Into the Endless Plains (Sartos)

The Sartan army campaigns into the endless plains of the Westlands. Mid Illyria and trans-Ostaria (the land south of the Ostria river which has it's head near the northern tip of the sword coast) are their furthest expanses.

The Cormyri Heartland (Cartaan)

The city of Cartaan consolidates it's hold on it's surroundings and slowly expands into what would later become the southern houses of Cormyr. The expansion is planned and integrated but slow.

The First Human Civil War, The Great War (158-169 FrA, 158-169 CR)

After years of expansion, Hellenite armies reach their furthest extent and the expansionist spirit begins to wane as internal power struggles rise. At first political but rapidly devolving squabbles and then open fights formed between the many self-appointed rulers and the centrally appointed lords who came to contest their hold.

Athon gradually stopped the fighting by decentralizing control of their bloated territories and appointing Athonian "Diadochi" as overlords of Ramosia, Andor, Felix, Sarnia (Northern boot), Trans-Arcadia (Eastern boot), and Arcadia Magnus (southern half of the boot).

Sartos attempted to maintain central control and used the armies to place statesmen from the Sartan league in charge. This plan backfired as the armies rapidly became disgruntled and eventually became loyal to the statesmen and Sartos' territory was splintered.

Athon's trade agreements with the Sartan splinter states the following year pushed the stressed Sartan League to the brink. Despite the promised trade agreements, Sartos was able to convince the new states to join the Sartan League in a territorial assault on the Athon League. the now rested Sartan forces marched East with only the most perfunctory of warnings.

The Years of Blood

“	Summer, Harvest, War.	”
—Hellenic Phrase cerca 1st Age

The Athon League and Sartan Coalition fight viciously over the Hellenite heartland and across the plains to the north as far as the Cartaani Border. Virtually all of the land outside the major cities is razed over nearly a decade of fighting and the cities of Thessala, Korenth, Hyraklea, and Rhodes were sacked at least once.

The Outer Territories Fall

As the war dragged on, the outer territories of both sides began to fall into neglect, fall to any of the still strong beast nations, or break off and become independent states. There was also a migration further north by several groups who tired of war and the constant infighting. Humanity stretched all the way north to the Verge by the end of the war, but the farther north these settlers/refugees went the wilder the land got and the less of them there were.

The Great Council of Cartaan, The First Conclave (168 FrA, 168 CR)

Headed into the 10th year of fighting Sartos and its allies had the upper hand but only just, and both sides were flagging. Armies were exhausted and depleted, Hellenic land lay fallow or unused, and the outer territories had since split off. After refusing a Sartan peace treaty, the Athonian rulers asked the city of Cartaan to hold a neutral site summit to discuss how best to end the war. Cartaan agreed and the Athonian diplomats left the next day. Sartos sent only a token force, and mostly to 'appease' the Cartaani whom they viewed to be meddlers.

Samuel Kolvan, the first great Diplomat

The head of the Athonian party was Samuel Kolvan, a long serving statesman from Saracuse who would go on to found the city of Arcadia in his later years. Samuel took charge of the Council with his rhetorical skill and pure gravitas. His speech before the city in the hippodrome on the 4th day of the Council held a city enraptured for 6 hours. The august address is still studied in Dominaria's centers of higher learning. On the 7th and final day of the Council he debated his Sartan rival in the central square of the Acropolis and the fate of the Human world was decided. After the treaty, Kolvan would move east with his family and armsmen and eventually found the city of Arcadia.

The Treaties of Thessala and Korenth (169 FrA, 169 CR)

Cartaan entered the war on the side of the Athon, on the condition that once Sartos and its allies were brought to heel, the outer territories would be left independent. The addition of the fresh Cartaani troops ended the war in just over a year. The Sartan League came to the table after the twin defeats at the battles of The Rhodian Ithsmus (Naval/Land) and Gorgon Valley (Land). The treaties of Thessala and Korenth secured the Sartan surrender and their assurance that their outer territories would remain independent respectively.

The World Consilidates

The Beldroni Unification Wars, The Pentawar Period (209-264 FrA, 209-264 CR)

The City of Ospria gradually unites Beldron in a series of five wars. The 1st and 2nd, as well as the 3rd, 4th, and 5th are temporally separated; the 2nd and 3rd were back to back. The Unification wars took nearly 55 years and three Osprian Dukes but eventually the natural maze of Beldron is united 95 years after the treaty of Korenth.

The Arcadian Civil War (175-201 FrA, 175-201 CR)

Trans-Arcadia and Arcadia Magnus' long diplomatic fight over the Island of Concord spirals into turns into an all-out war for the name 'Arcadia' and control of the majority of the boot. Arcadia Magnus' armies end the war with Felixian mercenaries (they were sent by the Felixian High Thane but mercenary really is the best term). Trans-Arcadia effectively ceases to exist on the second day of the Battle of Ravenwood when the Felixian ships land behind their armies and rout them.

The Arcadian Republic (270 FrA, 270 CR)

It takes almost an entire generation before Samuel Kolvan III, son of the High Lord of Arcadia Magnus can consolidate his father's gains, but 101 years after the treaty of Korenth Samuel Kolvan III founds the Arcadian Republic and absorbs the Kingdom of Sarnia through treaty.

The First Expansion (260-315 FrA, 260-315 CR)

Nearly a century would pass in between the end of the 'Great War' and the 'First Expansion', and those years were filled with rebuilding and internal growth. A complex geopolitical re-balancing occurred as well, with Cartaan ascendant and their realm of Cormyr immensely prosperous and the Hellenite heartland becoming little more than the crossroads of the world. The outer territories and cities grew stronger over time and once their border security was assured (between 90-110 years after the Great War), the First Expansion is considered to begin.

The Great Migrations

Whether by spirit of expansion, or driven out by strife/war/hunger/fear, a great redistribution of the population occurs at this point with people sailing south and west or heading north and east.

The Athonian Expansion (260-310 FrA, 260-310 CR)

The greatest of the expansions of the First Expansion, the Athonian Dromos Athos would be the artery that carried settlers west and north.

The Dromos Athos

Hellenic Roads stretch north and west into the Westlands. The road takes a half century to finish.

The Kingdom of Beldron (264 FrA, 264 CR)

The Beldroni Unification Wars ended with the surrender of the 3rd Coalition at Eska Beldrana and the crowning of Duke Victus IV of Ospria as High King of Beldron. Beldron becomes a powerhouse and is second only to Cormyr.

The Republic of Arcadia (270 FrA, 270 CR)

Samuel Kolvan's greatest legacy: the city of Arcadia; the city his grandson would make capitol of a great Empire. Centrally planned with templates for expansion, the city has grown and endured for millenia. It has twice survived internal wars that saw the city fall, and twice survived sacking at the hands of the Orcs and by the forces of Grand Caliph Suzerain.

Arcadia's realm at the time was the greatest physical extent of any of the powers, and included Corcord, Corsica, and Silicia.

The Kingdom of Dakai (275 FrA, 275 CR)

A minor Kingdom northeast of the Hellenic States and east of Cartaan.

The Republic of Thorsnar (282 FrA, 282 CR)

A minor state northwest of the Hellenic States and west of Cartaan.

The Kingdom of Cormyr (298 FrA, 298 CR)

After the Great War, Cartaan became the greatest city in the Westlands. Its neo-Hellenic culture (a fusion of Hellenic and Elven ideals evident throughout early Cormyri history), which would survive both fracturings of Cormyr and arguably endure into the 4th Age, and 'modern' architecture and infrastructure had never been touched by war. A Cartaani leader first took the title King in 298 FrA but it was arguable a Kingdom since the Great War. In a time where the former territories of Athon and Sartos were still consolidating this gave Cartaan and its small Kingdom of Cormyr an incredible leg up. To its credit Cartaan resisted Imperial impulses and focused on it's strategy of slow and steady expansion into unaligned lands.

The Principality of Ineria (305 FrA, 305 CR)

Ineria grew up in the western portion of The Plains of Argenium as well as the Trans-Ostrican Coast as a result of migration down the Dromos Athos. It grew powerful and did not have a rival until the city of Mayne came to power later in the 1st Age.

The City of Onea (310 FrA, 310 CR)

A powerful city-state to the northeast of Cormyr.

The City of Whitebridge (315 FrA, 315 CR)

The old Lowland Elf capitol had lain mostly abandoned since the Lowland Elf War, but after the end of the Great War refugees from all over the affected area and beyond began moving into the still beautiful city. A handful of Lowland elves still lived there, and the River Elves of the Daan River frequented the city but over the century following the Great War the humans became the plurality and then the majority. As the prosperity of Whitebridge grew people from all over the Westlands began migrating there.

Whitebridge put itself on the map with Humanity's first Wizard's Guild however. A single white spire had long dominated the city, and its ring wall and stunning gardens always gave it an air of majesty. The great Magus Logan Artillyon founded the Order of the White Tower in the tower and its complex in 315 FrA, the acknowledged date of the city's true founding. Logan, a half-elf, had traveled the known world at the time (The north west corner of the Westlands out to what would later be known as Otaria) and when he called for the Wizards of Dominaria to come together under one banner they, for the most part, agreed.

The Kingdom of Andor (330 FrA, 330 CR)

The Kingdom of Andor, fervently devoted to the mages of the White Tower, forms around Whitebridge.

The White Tower Conclave, The Second Conclave (315 FrA, 315 CR)

Soon after its inception, The Order of the White Tower invited rulers and leaders from the western shores to the eastern extent of humanity to a conclave in the ancient amphitheater of the White Tower's complex. Once they were gathered, Logan Artillyon took the floor and addressed them. His exact words aren't recorded but historians credit the next 90 years of peaceful prosperity to his words and establishment of humanity's first embassies at the White Tower.

The Andoran Renaissance (315-410 FrA, 315-410 CR)

The Westlands enjoyed a period of relative internal peace. This was a Golden Age for adventurers, explorers, and merchants.

The War of Three Alliances (410-433 FrA, 410-433 CR)

This turbulent 23 year war did remarkably little to alter the boundaries of the Westlands but did alter the geopolitical board in Athon's favor and drive the splitting of Ineria later in the 400s.

Early War Period: 410-425 FrA

The Golden Sun Alliance: The Athonian League, The Sartaan Coalition

The Eastern Alliance: The Republic of Arcadia, The City-State of Whitebridge, The Kingdom of Dakai

The Cormyri Alliance: The Kingdom of Cormyr, The Republic of Thorsnar, The City-State of Onea

Unaligned: The Kingdom of Beldron, The Principality of Ineria

Late War Period: 425-433 FrA

The Golden Sun Alliance: The Athonian Hegemony, The Kingdom of Beldron

The Central Alliance: The City-State of Whitebridge, The Kingdom of Dakai, The Republic of Thorsnar

The Cormyri Alliance: The Kingdom of Cormyr, The Principality of Ineria (independant in 431 FrA)

Unaligned: The Republic of Arcadia, The City-State of Onea

At the Forge Hill Accords, the 23 year war ended. The Kingdom of Cormyr gained the shattered states of Dakai and Thorsnar as Vassals. Athon gained hegemonic powers over the Sartaan Coalition that would last until the Council of Cartaan in 650. Ineria was beaten ragged by the Athonian fleet and Beldron, brought into the war at Athon's request; Athon and Beldron greatly prospered due to this. Arcadia, Whitebridge, and Onea left the war tired but little worse off than that.

The Rise of Illyria (430-480 FrA, 430-480 CR)

Illyria and Mayne

The cities of Illyria (430 FrA) and Mayne (455 FrA) grow up as the main population centers in the Ostrican plains to the west of Cartaan. The two city states form an Alliance and peacefully coexist during the Rennaisance.

Tension with Ineria (465-480 FrA)

Illyria and Mayne tangled with Ineria over boundaries and farm land throughout Argenium and Trans-Ostrica. It never got to all-out war, but there were several pitched battles and a notable Champion's Fight.

The Council of Athon, The Third Conclave (440 FrA, 440 CR)

Following the War of Three Alliances, a resurgent Athon demands that a Conclave be held in Athon, the leaders of the nations of humanity agree. This event marks the beginning of the Second, or Great, Expansion.

The Second Expansion, The Great Expansion (440-585 FrA, 440-585 CR)

This period of great civil expansion lasted from the Council of Athon until the battle of Rishdan Cove. This period is often hailed for its progress while the violence of the period is swept under the rug. The period from the War of Three Alliances through the Battle of Rishdan Cove feature far more death than the Great War, but this fact is almost never metioned beside 'The Great Expansion'. Expansion north had slowed to a halt due to stagnation and a focus on building by then and Rishdan Cove marked the furthest eastern expanse of westerners.

The Hellenic Expansion (440-540 FrA, 440-540 CR)

Hellenic settlers and ships under the Athonian Hegemony spread to the major islands of the Southern Seas. They settle them through a mixture of peaceful expansion and force and fight native species, Beldroni settlers, and themselves on and off for nearly a century.

The Arcadian Expansion (450-585 FrA, 450-585 CR)

The Felix Wars (450-483 FrA, 450-483 CR)

Arcadian armies fight defensively at first, but then at the behest of Emperor Alexius I, march into the vast forests of Felix and battle the now native humans and orcs for control of the forest. The war is brutal and eventually verges on genocide during the Orcine Purges. After the war, construction begins on the city of Tel Jerrod and the brutality of the three decade war is quickly forgotten in a wave of settlement.

The Verdant Plains of Ramosia (480-520 FrA, 480-520 CR)

Arcadian settlers move north and west into Ramosia and settle as far north as the site of modern day Balmorra. Orc settlements in The Verge foothills are destroyed wholesale. These areas became nominally Arcadian although separated by Andor. They would later build Ak'kritaar.

The Crystal Mountain Campaign (505-507 FrA, 505-507 CR)

The Arcadian General Antonio Ravon takes his three legions on a destructive campaign to capture the Dwarven city of Falken'hora. After a two year campaign he captures the city but then quickly abandons it after a sack reveals the city's "treasures" are not nearly as advertised. Arcadian-Dwarven Tension lasts until the early Second Age.

The Caliphi Wars (575-585 FrA, 575-585 CR)

An on and off series of wars between expansionist Arcadian generals and the various Emirates and Caliphates of the east.

The Beldroni Expansion (465-520 FrA, 465-520 CR)

The Kingdom of Beldron, ruled from Ospria, controlled all of Lower Beldron and expanded into Upper Beldron during this time. The walls of Caprice, Beldron's furthest northern city, were laid down in 500 FrA during the reign of King Roger IV - arguably the most sucessful of Beldron's soveriegns despite never fighting a foriegn war.

Beldroni settlers, organized under a King and otherwise, move to settle the Southern Isles and oppose Hellenic expansion. The settlement of these islands is violent and prolonged.

The City-State of Ithraca (470 FrA, 470 CR)

Formed in the area now home to the Republic of Valmorra, Ithraca was 'civilized' humanity's northernmost outpost at the time. It was started by settlers who travelled north out of Ineria after taking the Dromos Athos. It's farmers and traders radiated out over a wide area north of the Ostrica River and traded down the coast with Inerian human, beast, and elves settlements as well as the northernmost Beldroni camps. The city was nominally independant of Ineria following the Raven Accord signed in 445 FrA after the aptly named Barley Rebellion, but it changed it's seal and official title during Ineria's dynastic fueds between 464-471 FrA.

The Kingdom of Onea (524 FrA, 524 CR)

The city state of Onea becomes a powerful state on the northern frontier of humanity. Moders Scholars hold the actual start of the Kingdom period of Onean history to begin with Onea's conquest of the Grixis-Jund tribal alliance; at this point the fledgeling 'kingdom' had united all of the Onean tribal states that radiated out from the city.

The City of Ak'kritar (520 FrA, 520 CR)

Settled by Arcadians at an advantageous bend in the Melidaa River, this was the largest civilized stop north on the Dromos Athos until Onea. This status lasted until the further settlement of Ramosia in the 2nd Age.

The Norman Kingdom (485 FrA, 485 CR)

As the Inerian coast became more and more built up during the fractious years after the War of Three Alliances, Inerian settlers and lords began to migrate south and east into the relatively unnocipied southern coast of Argentum along the Dromos Athos. In 485 this area became too large and autonomous to be controlled from Ineria and split off to form the Norman Kingdom during the Lords' Rebellion. This move brought them into tensions with Mayne, already an established power in the area, and through them Illyria, but tensions settled over time.

The Southern Isles (440-540 FrA, 440-540 CR)

The "Great Southern Isles" become the target of expansionary efforts by The Kingdom of Beldron and the Athonian Hegemony. Settlers from the two powers, at times supported by troops and at times completely on their own, fight a strange four-way war with each other, the original settlers who landed 400 years ago, and the native species.

The Eastern Nations Rise

The First Battle of Rishdan Cove (584 FrA, 584 CR)

This 2 day battle marked the furthest eastword expansion of the Arcadian Empire this Age. They would not try again for almost 300 years.

The Time of Troubles (585-605 FrA, 585-605 CR)

The Great Expansion was headed into a slow and stagnant peace when the Time of Troubles slammed into history. The abrupt rise of necromancy in Dominaria is difficult to explain and modern historians still do not know for sure how word of Samuel Barnard and William Stokes' discovery spread so fast, but spread it did. The knowledge of how to create undead in such an unprecidented fashion - both in regard to speed and ease - took Humanity by storm and ushered in two of the darkest decades of Dominarian history. At first people believed the undead could be used for work or mundane tasks and they were, but soon it became apparent that the people able to produce large numbers of undead had anything but mundane tasks in mind.

The dead walked and the powers of the night spread terror and confusion across human lands. Travel by road became akin to braving the untamed seas of a nightmare, and city streets became the breeding grounds of new horrors by night. Only by grit and the blood of heroes were the 20 years of darkness lifted, and only slowly at that. International relations and even intranational communication nearly ground to a halt at times as cities became troubled islands in a sea of death. Survival outside their porous walls and dangerous streets was a tough prospect and those towns and villages that survived learned to fight and fight hard.

By 605 the last necromantic cults and undead hordes had been put down but scattered sightings and 'battles' were recorded until 637 FrA.

The Barnard-Stokes Heresy

In short, the ability to create undead with onyx and then give them the ability to alchemically infect the living and produce more of their kind. The alchemy has been lost but the secret of onyx is well and truly out of the bag.

The Narrow Sea War (632-642 FrA, 632-642 CR)

In the last and most major of the many inter- and intra-state wars after the Time of Troubles, Ineria and the Normans go to war with the Beldroni Kingdom over trade and passage through the Narrow Sea as well as territorial disputes over the many island chains therein. This was is prominent not only as the last and most major of the post-Troubles wars, but also as the war that historians tend to agree signalled the decline of Beldron. Beldron never again massed an army or navy nearly as large under a unified banner. After 10 bloody and mostly indecisive years of fighting that saw fighting and momentum swing from one side to another, the two sides sign the Gull Island Accords. The Accords set a prisoner exchange, and lay down concrete laws over passage and territorial rights in the Sea. Neither side likes the arrangement and both sides are left wondering just what it is they spend 10 years doing.

The Second Council of Cartaan, The Fourth Conclave (650 FrA)

Cartaan, once again ascendant after a brutal series of civil wars following the Time of Troubles, calls a council of major western powers in Cartaan. They lay down borders, agree upon some basic laws of interstate relations, and make treaties regarding the common defense. The idea of a super-state was thrown around but soundly rejected by many, the Arcadian delegation even left the summit over the issue. In the end, the council was very sucessful. Many of the leaders' ancestors had attended similar conferences that eld to a Golden Age and there was a sense of duty to bring peace and prosperity to the Westlands; there was even hope for a Third Expansion to the Southern Isles and north to The Verge. In the spirit of the great 'Conclaves' of the First Age, these leaders made arrangements for one of the most lasting peaceceful periods of the first two Ages - only outdone by the Pax Imperialis. The only issue was that the peace lasted long enough to stagnate militaries, eventually reserved to fronteir duties and supression of brigands, and leave many unprepared for the ferocity Agnar the Black's Kjeldon horde was brewing in the Northlands.

The Arcadian Imperial Wars (695-721 FrA, 695-721 CR)

During the late 600s through 721 FrA Arcadia went through several iterations of violent evolution and change. Many call them "growing pains" now, but no euphemism can aptly describe the carnage and greed that obliterated the Republic and so nearly killed the Empire in its infancy. Five wars wracked this period: the 'War of the Legions', the 'Peasants' War', the 'War of the Generals', and a pair of wars now called the 'Imperial Wars'. XXXX

XXXXSyracuse was a casualty of this period. During the first war, the 'War of the Legions', the cities turned on each other and the Senate's Legions and levies tried to break it all up. Syracuse hoarded its men and gave shelter to the Republican IV Legion, fighting off aggression but not fighting for an inch beyond. After the war peetered out, three years later, Syracuse sold it's goods at a high price to those that could afford, and bought loyalty with excess food and men. Their power benefited them well, and with it they survived the far bloodier 'Peasants' War'. Soldier and peasant revolted in kind and and fought against the men still loyal to Arcadia and the Senate for food and goods. Syracuse's, and really Sarnia's, well managed survival would be it's undoing. Syracuse was brutally sieged and sacked during the 'War of the Generals'. The city and it's port were looted and then used as a base by Generals Crassius Tolemy and Flaminius Gaius before their defeat at the hands of Augustus Granicus, the eventual winner of the succeeding 'Imperial Wars' and first Emperor of Arcadia.XXXXX

The Barbarian Invasion (832 FrA, 832 CR)

The Men of the North, long lost cousins of the Westlanders, come over The Verge to claim the fertile lands of the South.

Agnar the Black's Horde (832-844 FrA, 832-844 CR)

Agnar the Black, the King of the Kjeldons, crosses the mountains with a Horde of 65,000 barbarians and hundereds of monsters new to the lands south of the Verge.

Agjek "The Fist"'s Horde (838-840 FrA, 838-840 CR)

Agjek "The Fist", battle brother to Agnar and husband to his sister, crosses the Verge with the next wave of nearly 50,000 men and more terrors from the dark, cold lands fo the north.

The Great Horde (844-849 FrA, 844-849 CR)

The two Hordes combine on the plains south of Cartaan and move to ravage Mayne and the southern coast.

The Battle of the Inerian March (849 FrA, 849 CR)

After being beaten off Mayne's walls, the Great Horde heads for Inerian lands and is caught between the Inerian/Norman Army and the Cartaan-led Allied Army. Agnar and Agjek are killed along with almost 30,000 barbarians.

Tujan's Horde (856-859 FrA, 856-859 CR)

Tujan, later called "The Bear" for his stubborn and tenacious generalship, takes up leadership of the still fearsome 70,000 strong Horde. The Horde fights its way down the Ostrica River intent on sacking Cartaan and win four pitched battles along the way to only one lost. During the feasting after the Horde sacks Tarith, a team of assassins from Thorsnar kill Tujan and most of his commanders.

The Horde of the Tiger (859-862 FrA, 859-862 CR)

Following Tujan's assassination, the Horde adopts a tribal command structure and the leaders of the tribes meet in conference to decide actions. They spend almost a year encamped in the ruins of Tarith before striking north to pillage their way back north. The powers of the west take this time to rally around a new leader, John of Illyria. John was a hero of the western half of the War: he led the defense of Illyria in the field and Mayne on the walls, and then led the only successful victory against the Horde on the Ostrica river. John organizes the combined army into three portions and arranges a campaign that will end the Barbarian threat for an Age.

The Onean Campaign (862 FrA, 862 CR)

After fighting a pair of conservative battles in southern Onea, John positions one of his armies directly in the path of the Horde with instructions to give combat then break east, giving the Horde the road across Onea Ridge as their best way north. He spread false reports and allowed messages to be intercepted that placed his other two armies guarding cities: a conservative strategy that the Barbarians knew the "Southerners" favored. In reality his forces were placed on the far side of Onea Ridge preparing for the battle of the Age. On a sunny early fall day, 45,000 barbarian troops attempted to cross the Ridge. John launched his attack as the began to march up the road up the hilly ridge: 55,000 men in two groups from across the ridge and 23,000 from the army that 'broke'. The battle was a decisive western victory and afterwords the broken remnants of the Horde were hounded back across The Verge.

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