Varellyan Timeline

As some of you might know, I said I'd do a timeline for Varellya, in response to recent questions as to who they were - here's the first instalment:

Timeline of Varellya

BC 4000: The region that is to become the Vulture Peninsula is a semi-tropical land, with rich soils and rolling meadows populated by primitive Neathar tribes.

BC 3000: Great Rain of Fire. Blackmoor is obliterated and is now the north pole. The indigenous Neathar tribes, dismayed at the ecological changes to their home, migrate elsewhere. The peninsula has become drier due to its new location, and the changes in the wind directions. It is now a semi-arid land (various sources).

BC 2400: By this time, scattered elvish clans have passed through the region over the course of their migrations. These elves are not part of Ilsundal's group, but are part of a hitherto unknown expedition, of which the Hatwa elves may be a part. One clan, desperate to lighten its load, leaves behind various tools, tomes, and other simple technological items.

BC 2000: Other Neathar tribes (at Bronze Age technological levels) arrive in the region, and settle here. They discover the remaining elvish items, and, after many years of study, manage to decipher the various notes left behind. This allows them to advance much more quickly than would otherwise be possible, and also allows them to better adapt to their surroundings (partly from HW migration map). They also adopt the elvish script as their own.

BC 1850: The first king of the newly-formed nation of Varellya (Land of Our Destiny), named Tharl, is crowned. King Tharl embarks upon a plan to improve the lot of the average Varellyan, and to improve already-existing irrigation systems. The capital city is named in his honour. By this time, the technological level of the Varellyans has progressed to the Iron Age.

BC 1700: Varellya is once again a rich land. A complicated web of sophisticated irrigation ditches covers the entire peninsula. Engineering feats, such as aqueducts, are becoming commonplace, thanks to the lore of elvish engineering, and human ingenuity. With an expanding population and growing cities, colonists set out across the sea and inland to expand Varellyan holdings.

BC 1500: The Isle of Cestia is discovered by Androk Thran, an adventurer of some repute among the Varellyans. Word of this discovery is sent to the capital city, Tharl. Within twenty years, colonists arrive on the southwestern shores of the island, and the foundations of the town of Androkia are laid. The province that is to occupy the entire island will also have this name. The region that was first settled by the Varellyans will become the xenophobic kingdom of Androkia, of which Haldemar will learn (some elements of Dragon #157, HW migration map). Contact is also established with the Oceanians, trade develops.

BC 1400: The Varellyan civilisation has expanded inland to the beginning of the Adakkian Sound, by the Brasol Range. Contact is made with the halflings living there. Halfling lands are appropriated by King Prial to build a great port city in his honour at this location. The is the beginning of a 100 year long feud which will result in the halfling migration to Brun.

BC 1374: King Prial II, eager to continue his father's tradition of excessiveness, plans the construction of a grand series of temples and paved roads around the port city of Priallus. This would take away even more halfling land. Local halfling clan leaders lodge protests with the local governor, but to no avail.

BC 1326: King Naxith decides to rid his nation of the "halfling problem" once and for all. For the past twenty years the conflict has intensified to the extent of open war throughout western Varellya. Several army divisions are called in to "restore order".

BC 1300: The Halflings, though excellent fighters, are woefully outnumbered by the enemies. They are forced to flee en masse by a great fleet of sailing ships to the north (modified HW). By this time the Oceanians are being threatened by the Night Dragons.

BC 1200: Some Oceanians migrate to Cestia. They are accepted by the locals (HW migration map).

BC 1000: King Milen leads his Traldar followers across the Sea of Dread to Davania. Landing east of the modern Jungle Coast, they press upriver, until they reach the Meghala Kimata plain, where they settle and found the kingdom of Milenia. On the Jungle Coast itself, the Antalian-descended slaves of the Nithians overthrow their masters. These people would become the Thyatians, Kerendans, Hattians, and Hinterlanders (HW).

BC 900: Some Varellyans, dissatisfied with what they see as an increase in corruption, migrate towards the southwest, going through the Brasol Range and reaching the southwestern coast of Davania. They reach their new home on the coast by BC 800, and build a new nation there (modified HW migration map).

BC 750: Some Hinterlanders migrate to the region, having been driven from their homes by the rising power of the Milenian Empire. They are absorbed by the Varellyans.

BC 500: By this time troubles with humanoid marauders has become prevalent throughout western Varellya.

BC 350: Waves of Milenians enter Varellya, warning the locals of the growing decadence of their northern neighbour. These Milenians do not subscribe to the views held by the ruling (corrupt) elite in the Empire, and have fled to Varellya, their closest neighbour, for political reasons. They are welcomed to their new home, and their knowledge and culture is blended with that of the Varellyans over the next few generations. By this time contact with the Milenian Empire has become sporadic at best, due to the increasing Milenian troubles with their subject peoples.

BC 297: King Ranoth proclaims a policy of isolationism. The kingdom's external borders are closed to all outsiders. This is in response to growing concerns among the populace that the growing chaos in Davania might affect Varellya, too.

BC 100: In a final show of force, the decadent Milenian Empire attempts to conquer its neighbours, including Varellya. The war lasts six years, and results in a victory for Queen Astarra of Varellya (modified HW).

BC 94: Priests of Thanatos, eager to spread chaos to their own realm, have Queen Astarra assassinated. The Anthor Dynasty, led by Prince Volann, assumes the throne.

BC 50: The Milenian empire collapses (HW).

AC 0: The first emperor of Thyatis is proclaimed.

AC 126: Frustrated over decades of misrule under the Anthor Dynasty, the province of Androkia declares independence. A bloody civil war ensues.

AC 159: Androkia is granted independence. The population of Oceanian descent has been growing rapidly on Cestia over the past thousand years, to the extent that they comprise almost half of the population. Certain ethnic Varellyans regard this as a threat to their own existence.

AC 201: The Kingdom of Androkia is racked by civil war, between those of Varellyan and Oceanian descent. In Varellya proper, some western cities fall to humanoid hordes.

AC 219: After years of shifting battle lines, Androkia collapses into a new dark age. Varellya, too busy fighting off the humanoid menace, does not send aid.

AC 279: Priallus, famed port city of the Adakkian Sound, falls to a combined force of humanoid and Milenian-descended raiders. No efforts are made to rebuild the city, and Varellya will never expand to this region again.

AC 300: Varellya has not been reduced to the peninsula itself, plus a mainland region the size of Greater Alphatia (the island itself). It has been reduced to one-third of its greatest size.

AC 450: On the Isle of Cestia, the kingdoms of Androkia, Morovoay, Manakara, and Ambiroa have been created. Their borders are relatively stable, and an uneasy truce exists between them. Androkia is the only kingdom where ethnic Varellyans are still found, and though it is the most populous of the four kingdoms, almost all of the knowledge of their ancestors has been forgotten. The only lore they possess is a tale of their neighbours making war upon them long ago. While this view of history is false, they are told to embrace it by their priests (who know the truth). Thus a tradition of xenophobia develops among the Androkians (Dragon #155 modified).

AC 515: Ossir is crowned king of Varellya at the age of ten. At this time there is a period of stability. The humanoids have been pushed back, some western towns have been reclaimed, and more colonists are setting out to find new lands, and rediscover old colonies.

AC 538: The twin princes Abatu and Lothir are born to King Ossir amid a time of plenty. News of successful Varellyan colonies elsewhere on Mystara reach the capital, as well as news of Cestia.

AC 565: Crown Prince Abatu kidnaps his aging father and declares his dead, claiming the throne for himself. Lothir, an accomplice in the kidnapping, questions his brother's claim to the throne. A civil war ensues, in which Abatu conjures up a fiend from the Sphere of Entropy to eliminate his brother, but finds himself unable to control it. The fiend ruins Varellya's irrigation system, and curses the land, beginning the process of desertification. The war itself kills eighty percent of the population (modified Dragon #157).

AC 580: By this time Varellya has become a desert, dotted with the ruins attesting to the Varellyans' former glory. Those who died in the war begin to come back as nagpas. Only those who escaped the war are not cursed. These people scatter to the winds, some going to Cestia, others migrating west and north.

AC 600: Some Varellyan refugees settle in the Milenian city-states of the Meghala Kimata plain. They spread their tale of woe.

AC 650: The Varellyans fleeing southwest meet with those who are descendants of the migration of BC 900-800. They share their news, and are welcomed to their new home. This coastal nation on the southwestern coast of Davania begins a meteoric rise to power.

AC 965: Haldemar visits the Vulture Peninsula (as Varellya is now called), and learns a fragment of its great history (Dragon #157).

AC 1000: The present day.

AC 1007: An expedition from the Varellyan-descended nation to the southwest arrives, and searches the surrounding ruins for ancient lore.

AC 1010: Contact is made with another former Varellyan colony, this one is on the southernmost tip of the Arm of the Immortals. Formal relations are concluded with this reclusive nation.