History of Endaraen

A brief and incomplete history of Endaraen, and certain nearby planes, focusing principally on the events in the Ninth Age.

• 657 EA
  • During their invasion of southern Kul Raes Vae, Andaen and Sildaen are unexpectedly swallowed by the Wild Sea – and their horrified armies are slaughtered to a man
• 1 NA
  • Yniolecyr breaches the Seal of Law to enter the Condemned Planes
• 6 NA
  • A Iasunti zealot hunting Yniolecyr finally catches up with him, and delivers a mortal wound
  • Yniolecyr is reborn as a Jhalan woman
• 241 NA
  • Yniolecyr arrives on the plane of Shalsayr
• 253 NA
  • Yniolecyr forges an alliance with the moving city of Kalora and together they overthrow the sorcerer-king Narhyva Calsayr
• 285 NA
  • Kalora carries Yniolecyr onward to the plane of Torcarwyn
• 299 NA
  • Yniolecyr becomes too infirm to continue, and is reborn as a Sulaim man
• 454 NA
  • Yniolecyr founds the Knights Masonic of the Relic Guiding, a Dunoln-worshipping cult in Kalora
• 462 NA
  • Lussul Sullus are discovered by an Ildarine expedition searching the Dreaming Forest for signs of the lost Dunoln city of Olnaleas, though the expedition itself seems doomed and none of its members leave the forest alive
• 487 NA
  • Partly thanks to the subtle urging of Yniolecyr and the Knights Masonic of the Relic Guiding, Kalora adjusts its itinerary to include a return visit to the plane of Endaraen
• 491 NA
  • An alliance of rivals declare cult-war on the Knights Masonic of the Relic Guiding
  • Yniolecyr is assassinated and is reborn
• 548 NA
  • During the ritual of the Harrowing Dream, an aspiring Azansakk Dreamer named Jyraz Sonne Jyrass finds the remains of a lost Ildarine expedition, and recovers Lussul Sullus from their belongings
• 559 NA
  • Jyraz Sonne Jyrass begins his Walking Dream, travelling beyond the Dreaming Forest in search of new knowledge
  • Though he arrives in Ildarine, Jyraz Sonne Jyrass is never heard from again – and Lussul Sullus are sold at an auction house there for a princely sum
• 560 NA
  • The Lesser Rift divides Jyrantaal from the Plains of Silver
• 579 NA
  • A Yaraen trade-magnate named Falidar Jeroon buys Lussul Sullus from the estate of a ruined Ildarine merchant-prince and installs them over the gates of his menagerie
• 585 NA
  • The Valdarine-Jyrankal War begins
  • Many Yaraen flee south, across the Yaraen Sea and to Kyran and beyond – including Falidar Jeroon, who relocates the surviving members of his menagerie to the safety of the Kyran Spire
• 588 NA
  • The Valdarine-Jyrankal war ends with the Kingdom of Jyrankal acceding the Felspire Mountains and East Yaraen to Valdarine
• 608 NA
  • Valdarine builds the Eternal Bastion in the Felspire Mountains
• 611 NA
  • The Republic of Oraea allies with Valdarine
  • The Republic of Oraea invades and conquers West Yaraen
• 612 NA
  • Valdarine forces take the Fortress of Red Salt in the Yaraen Sea
• 613 NA
  • A combined Oraean-Valdarine force takes the Kyran Spire after a short siege, shocking the Jyrankal military who had believed it untakable
  • The armies of Jyrankal counter-attack, and are decimated at the Second Battle of Kyran Spire
• 614 NA
  • The Kingdom of Jyrankal collapses and splits into several smaller states
• 615 NA
  • Oraea, Valdarine and the new Republic of South Jyrankal sign the Highroad Accords, officially partitioning Yaraen between the three and pledging to build and maintain a system of heavily-patrolled roads and forts through the occupied territory
• 619 NA
  • The First Great Drought strikes Jyrantaal
  • The enchanted highlands known to the Vandavayr as the Frozen Sky are consumed a piece at a time by the Wild Sea
  • Shock and horror at this event reverberates through all the surviving Vandavayr clans and becomes strongly linked with the old beliefs that the Vandavayr are bonded inextricably with the land of Kul Raes Vae and risk disaster if they ever stray beyond it
• 624 NA
  • Yaraen rises in rebellion against Oraea and Valdarine, allegedly with support from South Jyrankal and Kyran Vale
• 626 NA
  • The Yaraen rebellion is crushed in the First Highroads War
• 630 NA
  • Kyran Vale is conquered by Valdarine
  • The newly-installed Viceroy of Kyran Vale executes a number of wealthy citizens of Kyran Spire on charges of treason and takes ownership of their estates on behalf of Valdarine, amongst these holdings are the Menagerie of Falidar Jeroon and the beautiful, ancient statues that decorate its gate
• 632 NA
  • Valdarine builds the Eastern Highroad along the Golden Coast from the Eternal Bastion to Ildarine
• 633 NA
  • The Second Great Drought strikes Jyrantaal
• 634 NA
  • Kyran Vale rebels against Valdarine
• 635 NA
  • Kyran rebels breach Kyran Spire and assassinate the Viceroy, but fail to take the stronghold itself
• 636 NA
  • Valdarine finally quells the Kyran Vale Revolt by razing Lower Kyran and putting one fifth of its population to the sword
• 641 NA
  • After decades of fractious in-fighting, the states of Jyran Vaar in the far south of the Jyrantaal are finally unified by the Sorceress-Queen Kal Yehen
• 642 NA
  • Kal Yehen declares herself the heir to the ancient Jyrantaal Empire, and begins an ambitious program of public works – reforging Jyran Vaar into a modern state
• 643 NA
  • The Republic of Oraea sends a force of Valoor Rangers to negotiate with the weak king of Tal Vaar over the building of a Highroad to Bright Spire
  • An argument during negotiations turns to bloodshed, and King Un Ryth of Tal Vaar is slain in the fighting, while the Valoor Rangers cut their way free and escape back to Oraea
  • Oraea declares the incident a gross insult and proof that Tal Vaar’s rulers can no longer be trusted to govern its people
• 644 NA
  • Oraea declares war on Tal Vaar and the young Queen Ola Ryth is forced to sign the Second Highroad Accords, granting Oraea the right to build and patrol a highroad through its territory, to Bright Spire and the Pearl Coast
• 648 NA
  • Completion of the Pearl Highroad cuts off Kithrain and Urthrain from the rest of the Jyrantaal
• 649 NA
  • Tal Vaar is conquered by Jyran Vaar, though Kal Yehen is careful to stop short of the Pearl Highroad
• 651 NA
  • Prince Jan Kys of South Jyrankal marries Kal Yehen
  • Tal Vaar, South Jyrankal and Jyran Vaar are officially reformed into the Jyrantaal Empire
• 652 NA
  • Valdarine declares the formation of the Empire to be in breach of the original Highroad Accords and invades South Jyrankal
  • Kyran Vale revolts against Valdarine and with the Spire Guard raiding to the south, rebels take the Kyran Spire and execute the Viceroy
  • In the chaos of the rebellion, many of the riches of Kyran Spire are looted either by rebels or by fleeing Valdarine soldiers – Lussul Sullus are carried north, where they are claimed by the Governor-General of the Fortress of Red Salt
  • The Valdarine army in South Jyrankal is crushed between the armies of the Jyrantaal Empire and the Kyran Spire and slaughtered almost to a man
• 654 NA
  • Kyran Vale accedes to the Jyrantaal Empire
• 655 NA
  • East Yaraen rises against Valdarine, and the local militia – weakened by sending reinforcements south to the Yaraen Sea are slaughtered
  • With the Empire occupying Kyran Spire, and rebellion tearing through the lands to their rear, the Army of Red Salt abandons the fortress and attempts to fight its way back through Yaraen
  • An injured officer of the Army of Red Salt carries Lussul Sullus with him back to Valdarine, where they are sold at the Grand Market in Valdarine City to pay his family debts
  • The fighting in East Yaraen spreads to the rest of the nation, the Empire takes the Fortress of Red Salt and with it the Yaraen Sea
  • Oraea sends the Valoor Rangers to put down the rebellion in East and West Yaraen and help its Valdarine allies stem the Imperial advance, in what becomes known as the Second Highroads War
• 659 NA
  • The Jyrantaal Empire officially declares war on Oraea and Valdarine and invades East and West Yaraen, starting the Third Highroads War
• 660 NA
  • The Golden Coast rebels against Valdarine and accedes to the Jyrantaal Empire with only minimal fighting, despite desperate urging from Valdarine, Ildarine declares itself neutral in the conflict
• 661 NA
  • Kithrain accedes to the Jyrantaal Empire and attacks forts all along the Pearl Highroad in a series of lightning raids, with its forces heavily engaged in Yaraen, Oraea is forced to concede the battle
  • Bright Shard declares an alliance with the Jyrantaal Empire
  • The Third Highroads War ends in humiliating defeat for Oraea and Valdarine, and all of Yaraen joins the Jyrantaal Empire
• 663 NA
  • The Jyrantaal Empire marches up the Pearl Highroad, destroying the last remnants of the Valoor Rangers and besieging Valoor
  • Valdarine reneges on its alliance with Oraea and sends no assistance, preferring to fortify its own borders instead
• 664 NA
  • The First Battle of Valoor ends in a narrow victory for Oraea, and lifts the siege
• 665 NA
  • Marquis Ardayne Valoor travels to Dusk, Caelescyn and the Laraen Alliance seeking support from Oraea’s old allies
• 666 NA
  • Marquis Ardayne Valoor returns to Valoor and declares the Convocation of Stars – a gathering of mages and wizards from all around the Sundered Sea, including even the Lan'kaloran sorcerers of shadowy Lan'sarith
• 667 NA
  • Malora, on the border between Oraea and Yaraen, falls to the Imperial advance and Oraea is forced to redeploy the bulk of its forces to the east – leaving Valoor vulnerable once more
  • At the Second Battle of Valoor, the Convocation of Stars unleashes the great ritual it has been working on and a tide of star-fire descends from the heavens to engulf the Imperial army – devastating it utterly
  • Star-fire continues to burn all around Valoor and cannot be extinguished
• 668 NA
  • The Valoorian Starfire spreads into both Jyrantaal and Oraea, destroying everything it touches and forcing both sides to agree to a hasty truce
• 669 NA
  • The Starfire spreads into Tal Vaar and Kithrain and devastates them both, but eventually burns itself out
  • The Starfire burns through Western Yaraen and reaches the Yaraen Sea – turning the shallow sea into a parched salt-flat, but is extinguished in the process
• 670 NA
  • The Starfire reaches Oraan itself, and the capital of Oraea burns
  • Panic and civil war engulf Oraea and all who can flee across the Sundered Sea to Dusk, Caelescyn and Laraen
• 671 NA
  • Rather than dying away, the Starfire in Oraea grows ever more vicious – devouring much of the land and spawning terrible monsters that stalk the surviving people
  • The last vestiges of Oraean government collapse completely, shattering the once-great nation into a scattering of desperate, fortified enclaves
• 674 NA
  • The Empress Kal Yehen leads a great army in the Felspire Mountains, routing the Valdarine army and destroying every settlement short of the Eternal Bastion itself
• 675 NA
  • Kal Yehen leads three assaults against the Eternal Bastion, each one rebuffed, and on the third attempt she herself is slain
• 676 NA
  • Valdarine and the Jyrantaal Empire settle into an uncomfortable peace
• 678 NA
  • The Third Great Drought strikes Jyrantaal
• 682 NA
  • The Emperor Jan Yehen dies, though accounts differ on whether the cause is grief, sickness or Valdarine poison
  • The new Empress, Tyr Yehen is said to suffer from bouts of madness and horrifying visions and is driven by one such episode to take pilgrimage to the Lesser Rift – where she builds herself a strange palace known as Rysten Taar
• 683 NA
  • With the Third Great Drought still stretching on, and the Empress sequestered at Rysten Taar, the Empire begins to unravel as its component states squabble amongst themselves and its people grow increasingly restless
• 689 NA
  • The Empire disintegrates in an abortive civil war, called short by the endless drought rather than by anything more noble
• 694 NA
  • The once-fertile soils of Jyrantaal blow away in great clouds of dust and its people flee, starve or descend in barbarism – many believe that the Empress will yet come to save them, but no-one has seen her for over a decade
• 698 NA
  • After decades of feuding, the Knights Masonic of the Relic Guiding are finally exterminated by their rivals
  • Yniolecyr is assassinated and is reborn as a Byentin man
• 705 NA
  • Tyr Yehen rides forth from Rysten Taar at last, changed almost beyond recognition by her decades of solitude and communion with the Rift – she gathers an army of the desperate and ruthless to her banner, winning their loyalty with sorcerous acts of unthinkable power
• 706 NA
  • Tyr Yehen’s horde fights its way through the Felspire Mountains to the Eternal Bastion, though most die along the way
  • Tyr Yehen carries out a dreadful ritual at the site of her mother’s death, infesting her followers with a horrible, arcane plague
  • Tyr Yehen rides back to Rysten Taar alone, leaving the remnants of her army to be slaughtered by the Bastion’s defenders
  • The plague unleashed by Tyr Yehen spreads to the defenders of the Eternal Bastion, and from there into Valdarine itself – becoming known as the Rock Blight
  • Kalora arrives on Endaraen, through the Enclave of Lan'karo
  • Yniolecyr slips out of the city, and sets out on a journey to the Silver Citadel
• 707 NA
  • Rock Blight sweeps with unthinkable speed through Valdarine, killing nine-in-ten of the population and reducing the survivors to a state of barbarism almost overnight, though for some reason it never spreads beyond the borders of the state
• 708 NA
  • After a long, slow journey through the Glass Coast and Daemonspyre, Yniolecyr is ambushed in the Emerald Vale and taken captive by the Chorus of Remembrance
  • Yniolecyr is interred in the Vault of Curiosities
• 791 NA
  • The Shymite crusaders known as the Soldiers of the Brazen Blade attack the ancient Shrine of the Burning Eye in the Lymori Wastes and raise it entirely
  • Saearra Aesta, a devotee of the shrine, escapes alone into the deep wastes, where she wanders for years – tormented by visions
• 795 NA
  • Saearra Aesta emerges, scarred and mad, from the depths of the Lymori Wastes and travels into Laraen
• 796 NA
  • Tairath-Vae, Clandaughter of Vae, leads a contingent of Unbound raiders in a series of small battles against the human settlements of Faelorn, Caelora and Vyrith – all built on what was traditionally Vae land in Kul Raes Vae
  • Saearra Aesta travels, mostly on foot, across the entire breadth of Laraen – doing whatever she must to survive and continue her journey, and allowing no-one to stop her
• 797 NA
  • Tairath-Vae is ambushed by a patrol from the human city of Tyrn during a raid, and whilst badly injured manages to fight her way free
  • One of her horns is broken during the fighting, and she refuses to have it healed – seeing it as a badge of honour
  • Saearra Aesta arrives at the ruined citadel of Frosthold in Kul Raes Vae, and after communing with the land there, travels onward – out of the human settlements and towards the heart of Vae territory
• 798 NA
  • Tairath-Vae leads a raid past the established human settlements in Kul Raes Vae, and all the way into the north-western edge of Laraen – where she slays several minor lords
  • Though she is severely reprimanded by the Clanmother and Storm Council, she gains great notoriety amongst the young Vae and particularly with the other Unbound
  • Saearra Aesta fights her way to Naes Irvaer – led there by a series of visions – but the caves are holy to the Vandavayr and heavily guarded, and she is overwhelmed by warriors of the Storm Council
  • The Storm Council, learning Saearra’s story through a mixture of interrogation and divination, come to believe that she is holy and imprison her rather than killing her – until a good use for her can be found
• 797 NA
  • Ranyth-Vae, Clanmother of Vae and mother to Tairath-Vae, dies suddenly from a sickness
  • Tairath-Vae is summoned by the Storm Council to perform the rite of Homecoming – and is pitted against a mad human priestess, Saearra Aesta in a sacred duel
  • Saearra and Tairath-Vae slay one another, and after a number of strange portents the Vae come to believe the two souls are intertwined – leading to both being buried with high honours in the sacred ice-caves of Naes Irvaer
  • With the Vae line at an end, the shamans of the Storm Council assume leadership of the Vae clan
• 804 NA
  • Eldora Dandaryne, in his seminal work Tides of the Sundered Sea, describes what was once Oraea as the Burning Hills and what was Valdarine as the Shard Lands and both names quickly gain acceptance through Anlaraes and Kelrithine and later the rest of Endaraen
• 816 NA
  • Scavengers braving the Shard Lands find Lussul Sullus amongst the ruins of Valdarine City and carry them north into the Saltlands of southern Kelrithine
  • Adventurous merchants from Ildarine and the Crescent States bring home stories of encountering Marquis Ardayne Valooor while travelling the Jyrantaal Highroads – surely a revenant most unholy
• 818 NA
  • Lussul Sullus are bought by agents of the Chorus of Remembrance in a Keltan bazaar and delivered to Storm-Song Cathedral in the Lymori Gulf
• 819 NA
  • Duchess Shyran Laroos of Dusk sends messengers to the Jyrantaal Highroads, inviting the spectre of the Marquis Valooor to the masked ball in honour of her coronation, creating much amusement in polite circles – followed by utter horror when the Marquis duly attends
  • Gill Plague ravages the Saltlands and the Federation Army is forced to briefly quarantine the city of Keltan to prevent the disease spreading to the rest of Kelrithine
• 821 NA
  • The Marquis Valoor, seemingly much charmed the Duchess Laroos, lingers on in Dusk – bringing macabre visitors from far and wide, including members of the Chorus of Remembrance who are only too glad to take the awkwardly undead noble off her hands
• 822 NA
  • Marquis Ardayne Valooor is interred at the Vault of Curiosities
• 847 NA
  • The Cathedral of Storm-Song is raised in the Second Battle of Lymori Gulf, during the Laraen-Kelrithine War
  • Seeing that the cathedral is no longer safe, the Chorus of Remembrance relocate the remaining relics of Storm-Song to the Vault of Curiosities – including Lussul Sullus
• 972 NA
  • Seraza Sonne Serrain, an Azansakk Dreamer, arrives in Ildarine – keen to learn the fate of his predecessor Jyraz Sonne Jyrass, who visited here centuries ago
  • Instead he learns that, in his short absence, the Dreaming Forest has been swallowed by the Wild Sea
• 975 NA
  • Wandering aimlessly on the Jyrantaal Highroads, Seraza Sonne Serrain stumbles onto a part of the Shadow Roads and vanishes inside
  • Seraza Sonne Serrain arrives in Haze, but stays only long enough to trade for supplies before returning to the Shadow Roads
• 976 NA
  • Seraza Sonne Serrain makes three more journeys through the Shadow Roads, briefly visiting Rysten Taar, Bright Spire and Tal Vaar but never finding what he seeks
• 977 NA
  • Seraza Sonne Serrain encounters wizards of the Chorus of Remembrance inside the Shadow Roads, and is captured after a short battle
  • Seraza Sonne Serrain is interred at the Vault of Curiosities
• 1043 NA
  • The Knights Sorcerous of the Spirit Awakening conduct a great ritual at the sacred caves of Naes Irvaer in Kul Raes Vae, and resurrect Kul-Vae – the founder of the Vae clan – and her entire line
  • Bound together in the legends of the Vae for centuries, Saearra Aesta and Tairath-Vae are reborn as a single, combined soul capable of switching between two bodies. She takes the name Saearra Tairath-Vae
  • Rather than dealing with the Awakeners, Kul-Vae exiles them – and slays those amongst the Storm Council who enabled their plans
• 1044 NA
  • Kul-Vae declares herself Clanmother of Vae and sends her line – her hundred daughters, as they are known – out to secure the Vae lands and raise an army for the coming crusade
• 1045 NA
  • Kul-Vae declares the War of Second Blood – a crusade to drive all outsiders from the northern part of Kul Raes Vae
  • Kul-Vae marches on the Byentin colony of Faelorn in north-west Kul Raes Vae, and eradicates it almost overnight in a series of surprise attacks
  • Survivors from Faelorn are systematically driven into the Blood Marsh and are never heard from again
• 1046 NA
  • The city of Tyrn, the oldest and strongest of the Laraen settlements in Kul Raes Vae sends its army out to fight the Vae, and wins several decisive battles – killing three of the daughters of Vae
  • The Vae counter-attack Tyrn, but are repelled with significant losses
  • Kul-Vae leads an expedition into the southern edge of the Shadow Spires, there several more of her daughters die – but she uses their cairns to forge an enchanted path through the spires, allowing the Vae to silently flank Tyrn forces
• 1047 NA
  • Saearra Tairath-Vae leads a series of diversionary raids against the settlements of Caelora and Vyrith, drawing the Tyrn army away from home in a fruitless attempt to engage her
  • Kul-Vae leads the main Vae force along the Daughters’ Path through the Shadow Spires, and attacks Tyrn by surprise – overwhelming the remaining defenders before they realise the threat
  • Cut off from home, Tyrn’s army fights desperately to win through the to remaining settlements in north-eastern Kul Raes Vae, and despite heavy losses is successful in reinforcing the defenders there
  • Tyrn is eradicated, and its people driven into the Shadow Spires
  • Having taken heavy losses in the Tyrn campaign, the Vae pause to consolidate their holdings in northern-western Kul Raes Vae
• 1048 NA
  • In response to the war in Kul Raes Vae, the Laraen Alliance raises the Army of the Western Reach – a strong and well-equipped force of veterans from previous campaigns there
  • The Army of the Western Reach makes the ruined Anlaraes citadel of Frosthold its base, and sets about rebuilding it and transforming it into a modern fortress
• 1049 NA
  • With Frosthold secure, the Army of the Western Reach joins up with the Tyrn Exiles and begins building up a network for strongholds all throughout the north-eastern part of Kul Raes Vae in order to defend the Laraen and Kylorn settlements there
• 1051 NA
  • Though the Army of the Western Reach is better armed and has greater numbers and organisation, the Vae’s knowledge of the land allows them to fight a highly successful guerrilla war against them – inflicting significant losses on the outsiders for every Vandavayr that falls
• 1053 NA
  • The Vae surround Frosthold and start to besiege it
  • Seven of the daughters of Kul-Vae are slain while leading attacks against Frosthold, and Kul-Vae uses their cairns to build a spirit-wall around the fortress, preventing anyone from leaving and any relief from reaching it
• 1054 NA
  • Frosthold finally falls to the daughters of Kul-Vae, though by the end of the great battle only Kul-Vae and Saearra Tairath-Vae remain of the hundred-and-one members of the Vae line
  • The remaining Laraen Alliance forces withdraw permanently from Kul Raes Vae, concluding the War of Second Blood
• 1055 NA
  • Kul-Vae sends Saearra Tairath-Vae on a quest to seek out and stop whatever is responsible for the deterioration of Kul Raes Vae and other lands throughout Endaraen
• 1056 NA
  • Saearra Tairath-Vae travels into north-western Laraen with a small group of followers, and attacks the holdings of a number of local lords and merchants – freeing Vandavayr slaves and retrieving stolen artefacts
  • After a fierce battle with a skilled Laraen knight, Saearra Tairath-Vae learns that some in north-western Laraen worship a spirit known as the Voice of the Golden Spire, who they believe to be a divine agent of Schiraman
• 1057 NA
  • Saearra Tairath-Vae attempts to infiltrate the Golden Spire in Laraen, hoping to learn more about the Voice that it said to inhabit it, but after a great battle she is captured by the Lords of the Golden Spire, long-time allies of the Chorus of Remembrance
• 1058 NA
  • Saearra Tairath-Vae is interred at the Vault of Curiosities
• 1091 NA
  • War erupts between the Regulators and the Chorus of Remembrance, dividing the Silver Citadel in two
  • Yniolecyr, Tarelcyr, Lussul Sullus, Seraza Sonne Serrain, Saearra Tairath-Vae and Marquis Ardayne Valooor escape from the Vault of Curiosities during the fighting