Lore

The Imarel Timeline - by T.A. Saunders ©2009 v1.5
Updates by S. Robles, B. Kellestine, D. Schneider.

Tolliver Grimshaw Usurps Moonfall - The Second Godswar

1345 AC – The Shar'Vaire Civil War of 1343 comes to an end after a bloody two years of fighting. Clashes across the Sovereignty have left most of it scarred and likely, will take decades to rebuild. With an already weakened population, this war has effectively ensured the extinction of the Shar'Vaire as a race within three generations. Understanding the plight of his people, Sovereign Stormavare Dur'lane barters a deal with the Kingdom of Farwind to absorb the Sovereignty on the condition that he be given a seat on the Farwind Council to help facilitate the merging of nations. The Kingdom of Farwind becomes the Republic of Farwind.

Meanwhile, in Brynmere Glade the discovered lich, Oliver Eliseberg is found guilty of several dozen counts of illegal arms sales, kidnapping and murder. Sheriff Cladfael and his deputies seek out the Eliseberg family patron and his family and bring them to justice. While successful, the events surrounding the death of Oliver Eliseberg put into question the Sheriff's competency. He retires to become a mercenary.

Later in the year, Archduke Armando DeBellicose III is overthrown in a coup orchestrated by long-time noble rival Baron Tolliver Grimshaw. The Grand Duchy of Brookshire is renamed the Kingdom of Moonfall, with Tolliver crowning himself as king. Many question how Tolliver suddenly had enough military power to conduct this usurping of the throne, leading to the secretive organization known as the Arcanium to send agents to infiltrate his court. It is discovered that he is in league with both the Xirath and under the guidance of his goddess, the Lady of Deception, Synri.

In what many believe to be directly related events, Gods begin taking Avatars across Imarel in what many fear to be the beginning of a second War of the Gods. Heroes are selected by the Arcanium and sent to the Ruins of Am-Xitha where they are given access to a very special hotel to use as a base of operations, while they address these growing threats.

1350 AC – It is a dark time for the Kingdom of Moonfall. King Tolliver begins orchestrating the utter submission of his populace, through the use of his Purifiers; a force of Heretics empowered by the king's goddess, Synri. Those populations that do not fully surrender to his rule, or fail to pay his hefty taxes are imprisoned, and later often killed; some say fed to a creature, known only as Tahl'Zaen. Led by Arch-Purifier Dadnal Grevixson, the Purifiers act as a vanguard for the Royal Army, sweeping from rebellious city to city, leaving only ruin in their wake.

In secret, the works of the Arcanium begin to bear fruit, as the Heroes of Am-Xitha start organizing the rag-tag resistance across Moonfall, into a full-fledged rebellion. The cities of Mistrise Harbor and Defiance become rebel strongholds, where farmers, fishermen and others are trained in the ways of war, and armed. The Battle of Mistrise Harbor marks what later be known as the start of the Peasant's Rebellion of 1351. Now faced with an organized rebellion, with proper weapons and firepower, Tolliver faces the first true challenge to his rule in five years.

Meanwhile, the Xosian Avatars begin emerging across Imarel, using the havoc in Shalzaar as a cover to begin a wider confrontation that will consume the world in war. The first of these conflicts, sees the Kal'aire Avenger, Darechon and Toron's chosen Avatar of Destruction, mutually slay one another in the conflict later known as Blackgate's Stand. Synri's chosen Avatar tactfully chooses to remain out of the fight between the two powerful beings, to capture Toron's energy, garnered from all the destruction the fight, and the surrounding battle caused, giving her a vast advantage in matters to come.

Near the end of the year, Arathys Blackthorne, son of the infamous Nilharys, is both given command of Arcanium operations, and in a separate action, by Queen Vessyra Ri-Talaryn Kasyatirma, named Duke of Am-Xitha. The former comes to pass after a string of incidents that cripple the original Arcanium Operations Commander, Aerisaen uth Braegon, then the death of his successor, Lord Mordecai Dredson, in another case of mutually-assured destruction, with the Avatar of Plagues. The latter title is granted, on the expectation that he will see the ruined city restored to its once former greatness.

1351 AC – War ravages the world, as the Second God's War begins, even as the Peasant's Rebellion of 1351 concludes, with the death of Tolliver Grimshaw, At the Battle of Brookshire. Jumping into the fray, the Heroes of Am-Xitha see action across the globe, from Windsong, to Blackgate, and Farwind, across the continent of Irys and in their own backyard, in the Ruins of Fort K'Lori, where the forces of Siru, Synri and Moloys' Avatars are engaged.

With the growing presence of Xosian Avatars, the Avatars of Meklah, Krondhir, Kithanis, Vanidyr and Hiron take the field in various capacities. This has an adverse effect on the world, in the form of ‘reality' shearing, that causes tangent realities to begin opening paradoxical gateways between dimensions, adding further to the chaos of the already brutal conflict.

The Second God's War concludes with the defeat of the final and most powerful of the Avatars, the Avatar of Fear, at the Ruins of D'Mir, where it attempts to manifest. Through the combined efforts of the world's armies, put under the command of Duke Arathys Blackthorne, and a bold, dangerous plan involving the triangulation of World-Gates, by Aeden Dredson, the Avatar of Fear is defeated, though at a heavy cost. Thanks to the Longest Night killing over a third of Imarel's population when the Avatar of Fear's power encapsulated the planet, Imarel's victory also leaves great ruin and a long road to recovery in its wake.