View source for Chronology of Erindal

'''The chronology of Erindal''' is divided between mythic history, reconstructed history and recorded history. The world is more than ten thousand years old, but this does not mean that every event can be given a precise year. The oldest events happened before mortal calendars, and many of them are known only through religious records, planar testimony and traditions which disagree with one another.

The calendar used by modern historians is the [[Continental Reckoning]]. It counts years before and after the fall of the [[Keepers of Harmony]]. Years before the fall are written as [[Before Harmony's Fall|BHF]], while later years are written as [[After Harmony's Fall|AHF]]. The present year is '''4318 AHF'''.

== How ancient history is dated ==

Erindal uses three levels of historical certainty. Articles should state which type of date is being used instead of giving false precision to an ancient story.

{| class="wikitable"
! Type
! Meaning
! How it should be written
|-
| '''Mythic chronology'''
| Events which took place before surviving calendars or before time could be measured in its present form. Their order may be known even when their duration is not.
| ''During the First Awakening''; ''after the Shattering''; never an invented exact year.
|-
| '''Reconstructed chronology'''
| Events placed by comparing ruins, oral traditions, astronomical records and histories from several peoples. The date may be wrong by decades or centuries.
| ''c. 1200 BHF''; ''late Third Millennium BHF''; ''between c. 400 and 300 BHF''.
|-
| '''Recorded chronology'''
| Events preserved in reliable calendars, government records or several independent accounts.
| ''17 Amberhusk, 2716 AHF'' or another complete date when the day is actually known.
|}

The absence of an exact year does not make an event unimportant or unreal. It means only that later historians cannot honestly place it more precisely.

== The order of existence ==

The oldest traditions speak of several different levels of existence. Later religions often simplify them into one family of gods, but this is not considered correct by most modern scholars.

=== The Celestial Disarray ===

Before the world possessed stable form, there was the '''Celestial Disarray'''. It was not a god and there is no evidence that it possessed one mind. It was a condition in which matter, magic, thought and possibility were not properly separated. Mortal language cannot describe it without making it sound more organised than it was.

The Disarray may still exist beyond the ordered parts of reality. Some scholars believe the cosmic wastes are remnants of it. Others argue that the Disarray is not a place at all and therefore cannot have remnants.

=== Elaria ===

The first will known to have imposed structure upon the Disarray was '''Elaria''', the Overgod. Whether Elaria emerged from the Disarray, existed before it or is the part of it which became self-aware is unknown. Even the gods do not give one answer.

Elaria is not treated as merely the oldest ordinary deity. The laws which allow time, identity, death and divine power to function are usually attributed to her ordering of existence. Many religions acknowledge Elaria without worshipping her, and no accepted record describes her taking part in mortal politics in the same manner as the younger gods.

It is possible that Elaria still exists. It is equally possible that she spent herself in creating order, withdrew from creation or became inseparable from the laws she established. This question remains deliberately unanswered.

=== The Shattered One ===

To give form to the raw potential of the Disarray, Elaria manifested the first known sentient structure. Later records call it '''the Shattered One'''. It existed in countless possible forms at the same time. It was alive and aware, but it could not remain one stable being.

The Shattered One eventually broke itself apart. Most religions describe this as a willing act because continued existence in one form had become impossible. Other traditions claim that Elaria shattered it, or that the first act of creation was itself violent. No account can be proven.

Its broken essence did not become lifeless matter. Each shard carried part of its potential, and from these shards the first creatures awakened. This event is known as '''the Shattering'''. Some fragments may still be asleep, which allows peoples and creatures unknown to present history to awaken in later ages.

== The First Awakening ==

=== The Firstborn Races ===

The largest and most stable shards became the '''Firstborn Races'''. They were not gods. They were living peoples whose nature was still much closer to the original forces of creation than that of their modern descendants.

{| class="wikitable"
! Firstborn
! Original nature
! Known descendants
|-
| '''Monoliths'''
| Beings filled with raw creation and enormous physical form. Their bodies could change landscapes simply by moving through them.
| The Monoliths gradually diminished, divided or degenerated into the peoples now called [[Giants]]. Some giant traditions claim that a small number of true Monoliths remain asleep.
|-
| '''Elarin'''
| Ethereal and ageless beings which resonated strongly with magic.
| The [[Elves]] and their later branches. Their name is similar to Elaria, but it is not known whether the connection is real or was added by later elven historians.
|-
| '''Earthforged'''
| Steadfast beings bound to stone, metal and the deep places of the ordered world.
| The [[Dwarves]]. Dwarven religions disagree over whether the Earthforged were flesh, living stone or capable of passing between both.
|-
| '''Novari'''
| Adaptable beings which carried life's potential to change, spread and survive in different conditions.
| [[Humans]]. Their rapid cultural and physical adaptation is traditionally understood as the remaining inheritance of the Novari.
|-
| '''Emberkin'''
| Creatures carrying the spark of transformation. They could change in form, scale and magical nature more strongly than the other Firstborn.
| [[Dragons]] and [[Kobolds]]. Dragons preserved more of the Emberkin's scale and power, while kobolds preserved their adaptability and instinct for transformation through craft, community and magic.
|}

Kobolds are therefore not Beastfolk in the history of creation, even when foreign scholars place them in that category because of their appearance.

=== The Unfinished Echoes ===

Not every shard possessed the stability of the Firstborn. Smaller or more volatile pieces produced the peoples later called the '''Unfinished Echoes'''. The name refers to the condition of the original shards. It does not mean that their modern descendants are incomplete, less intelligent or lesser peoples.

* The earliest '''goblinoids''' emerged from many tiny and heavily fragmented shards. Their essence changed repeatedly before producing goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears and related peoples.
* The first '''orcs''' formed from a concentrated part of the Shattered One's fierce passion. They awakened with strength and purpose but without a place prepared for them, and their oldest stories speak of wandering through a world which had not expected their existence.
* The earliest '''Beastfolk''' formed where unstable shards reacted with the instincts and physical forms of the natural world. This origin includes many animal-like peoples, but does not include kobolds.

The division between Firstborn and Unfinished Echoes is useful when speaking of creation, but it should not be used as a modern racial hierarchy. The ancient stability of a shard does not decide the worth, morality or intelligence of the people descended from it.

=== The sleeping shards ===

Some shards did not awaken during the First Awakening. They may have fallen into the deepest parts of the world, become sealed within planes or remained without a stable form. Their existence explains why a genuinely new race may appear without having been created by a modern deity.

Not every unusual creature is a sleeping shard. Many are the result of magic, divine alteration, planar ancestry or the gradual change of an older people.

== The arrival of other planes ==

Fey, fiends and demons were not part of Elaria's original ordering of Erindal. They came from realities which touched or forced their way into the ordered world. Historians call this the '''First Planar Intrusion''', although it was probably a long period rather than one invasion.

The '''Verdant Mirage''' is a realm where wild magic is unrestrained and nature remains in a constant state of metamorphosis. The first fey crossed from it into Erindal. Some arrived as invaders, some as refugees and others may not have understood that the world they entered obeyed different laws.

The '''Ebon Fissure''' is the origin of the first known fiends and demons. It is not one uniform hell. Its regions include constant fire, endless twilight, decay and other conditions which can exist beside one another without following the geography of Erindal. Fiends and demons are often grouped together by mortals, but they do not necessarily share one nature, ruler or purpose.

Crossing into Erindal did not automatically make these beings gods. Some later acquired worship, created cults or gained enough power to be treated as divine, but planar power and true divinity are not the same thing.

== The First Gods ==

The '''First Gods''' appeared after living peoples already existed. They were beings who transcended their original nature. Some performed acts which changed the world, some reached into the higher parts of existence by force, and some may have been selected by Elaria herself. This means that gods did not necessarily create the races which worship them.

Divinity can be gained, lost or passed to another being. A god may possess personal power, a divine domain and a cosmic office, but these are not always the same thing. Several gods may share a broad domain such as war, fire or knowledge. A cosmic office exists because reality requires someone to perform a particular duty. The Warden of Death is the clearest known example.

This distinction also explains later gods such as [[Durgadd Fireblessed]] and [[Doramin]]. Both began as mortal dwarves and became actual gods after their lives. Their ascension did not make them members of the First Gods.

== The War of Souls ==

As mortal peoples spread, the gods began claiming the souls of their faithful. A conflict started when several deities attempted to return dead champions to life. Other gods opposed them because death was supposed to be final, while some feared that repeated resurrection would allow powerful deities to maintain armies which could never truly be defeated.

The disagreement became the '''War of Souls'''. The gods fought over the dead, stole souls from one another and returned chosen servants without agreement from the soul or from the keeper of death. The boundary between life and death weakened. Some souls were claimed by several gods, others were torn apart by competing attempts to return them, and places where the conflict touched the mortal world became haunted or unable to release their dead.

No god won the war. Continuing it risked damaging the order upon which divine power also depended. The conflict ended with the [[Divine Pact of Souls]].

== The Divine Pact of Souls ==

The Pact established that resurrection is permitted only when the dead person genuinely pledged themselves to a deity, the deity possesses a valid claim, and the soul freely agrees to return. Magic may open the road between life and death, but it cannot decide who is allowed to travel through it.

The Pact is not a treaty which the current gods may cancel by voting. It is enforced by higher cosmic law, generally believed to come from Elaria's ordering of existence. The God of Death administers it, judges claims and keeps the dead, but does not own every soul.

The Pact also established the office of Death as something greater than the personal rule of one deity. Its holder may fall, but the office and its obligations continue. The complete rules are described in [[Death, Souls and Resurrection]].

== The succession of Death ==

[[Gorgorath]] held the office of Death for a long but uncertain period. He was not the creator of death and he did not create the Divine Pact. He was one of its wardens.

Gorgorath fell during the final centuries before the fall of the Keepers of Harmony. The cause remains unknown. Surviving stories variously accuse the Conclave, the Umbral Horde, another god and Gorgorath himself. His fall disturbed the passage of souls, but it did not end death or make resurrection unrestricted because the Pact remained in force.

[[Threnos]] eventually became the present God of Death and inherited its office. Threnos accepts resurrection when the requirements of the Pact are met, but teaches that death and the will of the dead must be respected. He ensures that valid divine claims are honoured and that a soul is not forced to return simply because the living demand it.

== The Keepers of Harmony ==

The [[Keepers of Harmony]] arose much later, during mortal history. Their members included druids, paladins, wizards, sorcerers, barbarians and others who believed that magic could be used responsibly for the common good. They built sacred groves, temples, sanctuaries and mage houses across continents, while their healers and peacekeepers became involved in the affairs of many nations.

The organisation became too large to answer quickly to every crisis. Ambitious members demanded greater authority, while others believed the Keepers had no right to rule the people they claimed to protect. The fall of Gorgorath made this division worse. A radical current argued that control over death was too important to leave to the gods and that the previous God of Death had to be restored. This current later became associated with the [[Conclave]]. Whether its leaders wanted Gorgorath himself, his divine office or the power held by both is still disputed.

The [[Umbral Horde]] attacked while the Keepers were already divided. The Keepers sent emissaries and offered knowledge in an attempt to prevent war, but the Horde sought conquest rather than an agreement. Its warriors and destructive magic broke sanctuaries, destroyed local alliances and forced the Keepers to fight wars in regions where they had once acted as neutral mediators.

The final breaking occurred in the desert. One of its inhabitants betrayed their own people and aided the Conclave. Keepers who had remained loyal were overwhelmed by enemies outside the organisation and members who had joined the radicals. Later generations believed that both the Keepers and the Conclave were destroyed, although surviving Conclave cells continued in secret.

The fall did not happen on one day. The calendar epoch marks the year in which later historians agreed that the Keepers ceased to exist as a world power.

== Accepted eras of Erindal ==

{| class="wikitable"
! Era
! Approximate place in history
! Main events
! Certainty
|-
| '''The Celestial Disarray'''
| Before measurable time
| Existence without stable order; emergence or first action of Elaria.
| Mythic
|-
| '''The Ordering'''
| Before measurable time
| Elaria imposes structure and manifests the Shattered One.
| Mythic
|-
| '''The Shattering'''
| Before mortal calendars
| The Shattered One breaks apart and its shards begin to awaken.
| Mythic
|-
| '''The First Awakening'''
| Earliest age of life
| Firstborn Races and Unfinished Echoes appear; some shards remain asleep.
| Mythic
|-
| '''The First Planar Intrusion'''
| After the First Awakening
| Fey cross from the Verdant Mirage; fiends and demons arrive from the Ebon Fissure.
| Mythic; probably lasted for a long period
|-
| '''The Age of First Gods'''
| Before surviving mortal states
| The first beings ascend or are chosen as gods; divine domains and offices develop.
| Mythic
|-
| '''The War of Souls'''
| During the Age of First Gods
| Gods fight over dead followers and resurrection.
| Mythic, but accepted by most major religions
|-
| '''The Age of the Pact'''
| After the War of Souls
| Divine Pact of Souls governs death, divine claims and resurrection.
| Mythic beginning; its laws remain observable
|-
| '''Early Mortal Ages'''
| At least c. 6000 BHF and earlier
| First recoverable civilisations, migrations and states. Different regions preserve their own names for parts of this age.
| Reconstructed
|-
| '''Age of the Keepers'''
| c. 1600 BHF–1 BHF
| Growth, division and fall of the Keepers of Harmony; rise of the Conclave and war with the Umbral Horde.
| Reconstructed and recorded
|-
| '''After Harmony's Fall'''
| 1 AHF–present
| Successor states, modern nations and the accepted international calendar.
| Recorded, with gaps in the earliest centuries
|}

== Chronological anchors ==

{| class="wikitable"
! Date
! Event
! Certainty
|-
| Undated
| Celestial Disarray, Ordering, Shattering, First Awakening, First Gods, War of Souls and Divine Pact of Souls
| Accepted mythic order; these events do not receive numbered years
|-
| c. 6000 BHF or earlier
| Current minimum reach of recoverable mortal history
| Broad limit of recoverable history
|-
| c. 1600 BHF
| Keepers of Harmony begin spreading between continents
| Reconstructed approximate date
|-
| c. 400–300 BHF
| Fall of Gorgorath and succession of Threnos
| Reconstructed range; cause and exact year are unknown
|-
| c. 240 BHF onward
| Open war with the Umbral Horde and final radicalisation of the Conclave
| Reconstructed period
|-
| 1 BHF / 1 AHF
| Conventional fall of the Keepers after the desert conflict
| Accepted calendar boundary; there is no formal year zero
|-
| c. 2716 AHF
| Foundation of the [[Empire of Kurn Daruhm]] by [[Durgadd Fireblessed]] and [[Doramin]]
| Reconstructed approximate date; approximately 1,602 years before the present
|-
| 4318 AHF
| Present year
| Accepted present date
|}

== Rules for historical articles ==

* Primordial events should be placed in a named age, not assigned an exact BHF year.
* ''c.'' must be used when a date is reconstructed or disputed.
* A local calendar may be used in a national article, but the AHF or BHF equivalent should be provided when it is known.
* Ascension should not be confused with birth. A mortal may have a recorded birth, death and later divine ascension.
* A god may fall without destroying the domain or cosmic office they held.
* Fey, fiends and demons should not be described as shards of the Shattered One unless a particular individual has mixed ancestry.
* Kobolds descend from the Emberkin and should not be listed as Beastfolk in creation articles.
* New peoples may originate from sleeping shards, planar settlement, divine alteration, magic or descent from existing peoples. The article should say which explanation applies.
* Historical accounts may disagree. The wiki should record the disagreement instead of silently choosing one national version as fact.

== Historical uncertainties ==

Several parts of the oldest chronology remain uncertain because the surviving sources disagree or were written long after the events:

* The cause of Gorgorath's fall, and whether the Conclave caused it or only attempted to exploit it.
* Whether Elaria remains a separate conscious being.
* Whether any true Monoliths or self-aware shards of the Shattered One still exist.
* Whether the Celestial Disarray and the cosmic wastes are connected.
* The original name of the desert conflict and which battle should be considered the final defeat of the Keepers.

These are uncertainties inside the world rather than permission to give the events invented exact dates. Articles should explain the disagreement when it matters.

== See also ==

* [[Calendar of Erindal]]
* [[Death, Souls and Resurrection]]
* [[Elaria]]
* [[The Shattered One]]
* [[Keepers of Harmony]]
* [[Divine Pact of Souls]]
* [[History of Kurn Daruhm]]

[[Category:Chronologies and Eras]]
[[Category:History]]
[[Category:History and Timeline]]