Timeline of Avaria
This general timeline is focused on events around the regions of the game that would be considered more familiar to people of the Sirdabi Caliphate, chiefly the Adelantean basin and the Sea of Sala'ah. All events recorded here could potentially be known by a citizen of the caliphate, though some events would only really be familiar to scholars or particular communities within that region. The timeline here is also organized according to a Sirdab-centric worldview that would be shared by most people of the caliphate.
The main dating convention of the calendar is its division into Years Before the Dark (B.D.), representing the time before the advent of the Great Dark, and the Age of the New Dawn (N.D.), consisting of all the years since. And interval of three years separates the two periods, the Years of Darkness.
Ancient Times
DATE B.D. | EVENTS |
---|---|
ca. 4440 | Founding of the first dynasty of the Divine Kingdom of Amunat. |
ca. 2100 | Establishment of the Yemelite Kingdom of Mar'i. |
ca. 1855-1810 | The Malevoli-Yemelite Wars. |
1810 | The Yemelite fleet is destroyed by the Malevoli in the Battle of Havoc Shoals. |
1808 | The Yemel convert to sole worship of Elu-Hani as the One True God, becoming known thereafter as the Yehani. |
1616 | Establishment of the Irzali Empire. |
Despotic Age
DATE B.D. | EVENTS |
---|---|
1262 | Birth of the hero twins Ro Falconstrike and Karibad Firestorm. |
1244 | Denied their birthright, Ro and Karibad leave Elukos and set out for the kingdom of the dwarves in the Tin Chalun Mountains. |
1235 | Ro and Karibad complete the conquest of the Marzumite kingdoms. |
1229 | Ro and Karibad's new fleet is completed in Qaysum, and they set sail for Jalanjhur. |
1188 | Ro's great-granddaughter Tesoria marries a prince of the Elukoi royal house, and the consolidated kingdoms of Marzum are established as the Marzum Despotate. |
ca. 1150-850 | Peak flourishing of the Rassi civilization of northeastern Idiri. |
1081 | Founding of the city of Elam Rassi, the future Omrazir. |
919 | Founding of the city of Summa Ruva. |
823 | Fall of the Marzum Despotate. Marzum is incorporated into the Irzali Empire, and free trade is reopened through the Gulf of Marzum. |
Ruvan Age
DATE B.D. | EVENTS |
---|---|
741 | Omrazir falls by treachery to the Ruveran Empire. |
601 | Omrazir's Temple of Storms completed. |
600 | Kalen and Elen born. |
ca. 570 | Birth of St. Demetrios the Messenger. |
565 | Kalen is sacrificed on the pyre in Fazhali as part of the Irzali Fire Festival. |
528 | The Ruvans begin an attempt to suppress all mystical cults throughout the Empire in an attempt to return to the "pure rationalism" that is thought to have been the great moral and military strength of the early Empire. The immensely popular cults of the goddess Kholabi are the main focus, but the the young Kalentoi Church suffers as well. |
ca. 525 | Conversion of St. Chantal of the Fens. |
439 | The Truevian peoples arrive in the lands of Ruva, asking for refuge and a place to settle. |
424 | The Ruveran Empire descends into chaos with the sudden onslaught of the Truevian magi. |
424-414 | The Ruveran Empire's efforts to crush belief in magic and mysticism reach their most violent peak in an attempt to stave off the attacks from the Truevi. Ultimately the project is abandoned in a panic as it proves ineffective and the Empire belatedly attempts to completely reverse its efforts and embrace magic as a defense instead, but this proves far too little far too late. |
424-404 | The Truevian Terror, which culminates in the collapse of the central authority of the Ruveran Empire. The Ruveran heartland returns to virtual wilderness for a time, and what remains of the Empire abruptly shifts its political center eastward to Elukoi lands, establishing a new capital eventually at Calentium. |
404 | The Ill Wind strikes the southeast side of Omrazir, destroying a significant portion of the original city. |
403-371 | Founding period of the Kalentoi Empire. The Kalentoi Church slowly gains strength and a stronger following as it proves capable of resisting the magical threat posed by the Truevi. Nevertheless most of Ruvera is given up, and the emperor Phokas the Bulwark officially establishes the border of the new Kalentoi Empire in present-day Iskandria. |
ca. 340 | Birth of St. Horis. |
ca. 290 | St. Horis brings Kalentism to the lands of the River Meander in far western Ruvera, and Windhaven Monastery is founded. |
Years of the Prophet
DATE B.D. | EVENTS |
---|---|
104 | Birth of Fadil bin Ahmad, the future Prophet al-Azad, in Rahoum. |
96 | Birth of Adwa, first wife of the Prophet. |
77 | Fadil is arrested in the Rahoumi city of Bargha for assaulting the scion of a noble family. Accused of being part of a conspiracy against the elites of the city, Fadil is imprisoned in the Black Cloud Fortress for many months and subjected to great privation, but in his darkest hour hears the Song of God sung to him. |
76 | * Pavana -- Due to the exertions of a mysterious benefactor, Fadil is taken from prison and, rather than being executed, is brought to the al-Azad Plaza where prisoners are pardoned and allowed redemption. * Pavana - Oniris -- The period of the Seeking, during which Fadil, plagued by doubt and questioning his experience of the divine, travels restlessly back and forth across Rahoum. Fadil's mother, who had been ailing since his time in prison, dies during this time, and when he hears this news he is filled with grief and remorse but cannot find it in his heart to return to his family and take up his old life. * Kholabi -- Stricken with doubts, Fadil finds comfort in a renewed correspondence with the mysterious woman who wrote to him while he was imprisoned in the Black Cloud. At last she agrees to meet with him at the Banu Ghourib house in Bargha, where Fadil is stunned when the plump little slave girl who meets him in the receiving hall declines to conduct him to her mistress -- for this young slave woman is herself Adwa. * Oniris -- After meeting and parting once again with Adwa, with her encouragement Fadil travels to Murid Suruq to reflect on all that has come to pass. There he has a dream where he speaks to his mother before the gates to paradise, and the following day he finally receives another revelation, the Song of the Sunbeam. |
75 | Convinced of the truth of his ongoing revelations, Fadil takes the name of al-Azad and begins preaching the new verses of the Song of God to a growing community of believers. The Banu Ghourib of Bargha emancipate all their slaves, and Adwa and Fadil marry. Excitement and unrest begins to spread through Rahoum along with the Azadi message of a community of equals living under the sole mastery of The One True God. |
73 | The Azadi community begin to come under increasing backlash from the established pagan authorities of Rahoum. The conversion of great numbers of enslaved individuals to the Azadi faith and their subsequent attempts at self-liberation particularly shake the foundations of society. A series of raids and counterraids begins among the Azadi, pagan, and Yehani tribes of Rahoum. |
70 | * Bargha falls, not only to the Azadi tribes but quite literally to an unprecedented earthquake. Much chaos ensues, and the city is ultimately abandoned to the sands. The Azadi eventually regroup at the ancient shrine known as the Sirdab and negotiate a peace treaty with many of the Rahoumi tribes, who join the Azadi faithful. * The reign of Emperor Milentos of Calentium begins. |
69 | Fadil takes his second wife, Rima, affirming the adoption of the powerful Banu Tawwal tribe into the Azadi community. |
67 | All the major tribes of Rahoum converted to the Azadi faith. Fadil takes as his third wife the princess Haleb of Marzum, a descendant of the ancient King Shamsar of legend who is revered by all the peoples of the One True God. Good relations established are thereby established with the Yehani of Marzum. |
65 | Fadil travels with an entourage to Calentium to meet with the Kalentoi Patriarch Thudric and Emperor Milentos. Although the Patriarch is curious about the Prophet, Emperor Milentos has no interest in carrying out state audiences with a barbarian tribesman from the wilderness and treats al-Azad and his entourage with ever more blatant disrespect. This culminates in the abduction of Princess Haleb, who is brought by force into the imperial court and made the emperor's newest concubine. Thudric attempts to redress this outrage but is condemned for treason and beheaded, though not before managing to secure safe passage from Calentium for al-Azad. The Prophet and his followers have no choice but to abandon Haleb and return to Rahoum, and the Azadi mission to Calentium ends in chaos and disgrace. |
64 | With the aid of the Kalentoi empress, Princess Haleb is able to escape the imperial court and make her way back to Rahoum and al-Azad. However she returns pregnant and many of the al-Azad's companions demand that he reject her as impure and unfit to be the wife of the glorious Prophet any longer. Al-Azad refuses to do so, and within a few months his stepson Abdannur is born. |
63 | * Feeling the hatred and contempt for her that lingers among some of the Azadi and fearing the divisions it might engender, Haleb slips away into the desert with her infant son. Al-Azad is distraught, and furious with those who counseled Haleb's rejection, but through his first wide Adwa's counsel an outright rift between the faithful is avoided. To reunite all the Azadi in purpose and to assuage al-Azad's wrath and grief, a new mission is formed to travel to Irzal to request their aid in securing vengeance against Calentium. * Al-Azad travels with a small band of warriors and supporters to Irzal, to petition the Shahanshah Divyaz for military aid with which to wreak vengeance upon Calentium, their shared enemy. The king-of-kings, however, is involved in treacherous intrigues of his own with the Kalentoi imperial court, and delays a long while in conveying a decision to al-Azad, meanwhile leaving the Prophet and his followers to cool their heels in Fazhali for several months. Hearing of his presence in the capital and learning of the egalitarian and charitable ideals of the Azadi faith, the leaders of a would-be rebellion of the common people of Irzal attempt to secure the support of al-Azad in their plan. Al-Azad is moved by their plight and equally disgusted by learning of the Shahanshah's intrigues, and agrees to aid the rebellion. |
61 | Shahanshah Divyaz is toppled by the forces of al-Azad in partnership with the local rebellion, and the conquest of the Irzali Empire begins. |
60 | Al-Azad takes the mountain woman Aterousa as his fourth wife, rather than accepting an offer from one of the Irzali noble families to marry one of their own daughters who had been part of the Shahanshah's court. This further angers the powerful families of Irzal but secures the admiration and lasting support of the commonfolk. * Omrazir unprecedentedly accepts the appointment of an archbiscop straight out of Calentium to serve as the religious leader of the city's Kalentic population, rather than relying on its usual local appointments. This is allowed mostly as an attempt to check and undermine the power of the High Priestess of the Temple of Storms. Unfortunately, the new biscop (chosen under pressure from Emperor Milentos) swiftly makes himself deeply unpopular with nearly everybody by instituting a repressive orthodoxy which he tries to extend to the entire populace. |
56. | Emperor Milentos cuts off subsidies to the Sarmatiyyan tribes who have long served as the Kalentoi Empire's buffer against threats from the east, evidently feeling that the fall of the Irzali Empire to a rabble of tribal folk and peasants has rendered further expensive payments unnecessary. |
55 | Al-Azad receives the Verses of Concord, which speak of peace and solidarity across all peoples, and call for the setting aside of grudges and anger. He rejects the idea of further conquest in the name of faith and instead returns more strongly to the idea of Seeking the Song, traveling the world to peacefully form connections whereby the Song can be shared among all and better understood. |
53. | Al-Azad is subjected to increasing pressure to take advantage of the Kalentoi Empire's folly and weakness, and to stage an invasion of the Kalentoi heartland driving at Calentium itself. He refuses, holding fast to his message of peace and chiding his followers for their lack of faith in the unfolding revelations of Annur. |
52 | The Prophet al-Azad is assassinated, killed by a poison dart while in retreat with his companions near the present-day town of al-Fiqh in Rahoum. It is widely assumed that the murder was arranged by one of the factions disillusioned with the Prophet's increasingly pacifistic leadership, but the presumed assassin is already dead when discovered and recognized by none, leaving the affair shrouded in mystery. |
Early Azadi Period
DATE B.D. | EVENTS |
---|---|
52 | The Sirdab Council is formed for the purpose of deciding upon a successor to al-Azadi's position as leader of the faithful. Meeting in the tranquil retreat of the sacred Sirdab shrine near the Ennescu River, the council quickly descends into dissension and infighting, largely stirred up by the dominant branch of al-Azad's former Banu Shirayd tribe. Rather than pressing her own claim as successor to her late husband -- despite the revelation that she had shared in the revelation of the Perfected Song -- Adwa flees Rahoum for the continent of Idiri. |
52-44 | The Women's War, a period during which leadership of the Azadi community is violently disputed in the wake of the Prophet al-Azad's death. So-called because many of the factions based their claim for leadership on their relation to the Prophet through his various wives. |
51 | Adwa arrives in Omrazir, and begins teaching the ways of the Azadi faith. |
48 | Adwa is called before the Kalentoi governer of Omrazir to answer for her incorrect religious teachings. A series of religious debates are held in the governor's palace, where Adwa's adroit performance only further enrages the authorities. Charged with heresy and subversion, Adwa nevertheless refuses to recant under torture and is finally released following local rioting, although not before having her eyes put out as a final punishment. |
47 | After several months of increasingly violent riots, the people of Omrazir overthrow the Kalentoi governor with the aid of the city's guards. Rallying in support of Adwa and the Azadi faith, Omrazir joins the Azadi community of the Redeemed without conquest. |
46 | Adwa returns to Rahoum along with her most faithful friend and supporter from Omrazir, Djabeli, and a great number of followers who have chosen to accompany her to the homeland of the Azadi faith. Once there they are eventually able to reconcile the infighting factions and put an end to the Women's War. |
44 | The Sirdabi Caliphate is established under the rule of the first caliph, Alaman bin Darush. This marks the beginning of the House of Harmony, a dynasty of caliphs all chosen for their virtue and wisdom by the Sirdabi Convocation. |
42 | The ageing Emperor Milentos, after having survived numerous challenges to his roundly-despised rule, finally dies after choking on a minglefowl bone. With the ascension of the new Emperor Edakis, the Sirdabi Caliphate sends a the first delegation to Calentium since the Prophet's disastrous journey over two decades ago, and a formal embassy is established. |
35 | After a short period of friendly relations and cultural exchange between Calentium and the Sirdabi Caliphate, Emperor Edakis is assassinated by a member of a faction feeling that the Emperor's policy had been leading to the corruption of the Kalentic faith. The reign of the far more insular and orthodox Emperor Asperides begins. |
33. | Emperor Asperides and the Patriarch Synchordios issue a decree outlawing the practice of "deviant cults" throughout the Kalentoi Empire, which targets various branches of Kalentism along with the Azadi faith. |
28 | Wearied by political infighting and disillusioned by renewed calls for war against the Kalentoi, Adwa departs Rahoum to continue Seeking the Song, despite her well advanced years. She never returns. |
24. | After several years of petty conflict and growing tensions in the Sirdabi-Kalentoi borderlands, Caliph Mahar al-Rud declares war on Calentium following the loss of his favorite son and other members of his family in the sinking of the ship Sirocco, widely blamed on Kalentoi-backed pirates. |
23. | A rapidly-organized Azadi military initiative against Amunat results in the shockingly swift capitulation of the province, whose Nebhetic Kalentian inhabitants prefer to take their chances under the Caliphate rather than continue to suffer the persecution of their faith by the orthodox Kalentian Church. |
22-17. | The War of the Waves, a series of naval and amphibious battles between the Caliphate and Kalentoi Empire that results in the Sirdabi capture of many large islands in the eastern Adelantean. |
17 | Emperor Asperides is deposed and later murdered, and the incoming Emperor Kondakis signs a peace treaty with the Sirdabi Caliphate that neither side expects to hold. |
15 | Emperor Kondakis attempts to renegotiate the Empire's ancient agreement with the Sarmatiyyan tribes in Saramat, exchanging annual tribute for protection of the Empire's flank, but the efforts come to an abrupt end when the Emperor and much of his diplomatic entourage are killed in an avalanche in the al-Khazi Mountains. The regency of Kondakis' young son Eudominios begins. |
15-7 | The Spyrine Regency period of the Kalentoi Empire, characterized by the de facto rule of the Spyridion family, uncles and aunts of the boy emperor Eudominios. |
9. | The slumbering volcano Mount Elemnis begins to awaken. |
8. | Sarmatiyyan tribes allow an Azadi army through the passes of Saramat, which swiftly results in the fall of Cadenza to the Sirdabi Caliphate. |
7 | The Spyrine Regency collapses in the panic and havoc caused by the loss of Cadenza and the presence of Azadi armies on the very doorstep of the imperial heartland. The ten-year-old Emperor Eudominios is spirited out of Calentium in the chaos but is never heard from again. |
2 | The Azadi seige of Calentium begins. |
0 | Mount Elemnis violently erupts, annihilating the island homeland of the Yehani. A thick blanket of ash covers the sky, and tsunamis devastate the Adelantean coastline. |
797 N.D. Present Day
The Elukoi freighter, the Greenest Dolphin, is reported lost at sea en route from Omrazir to al-Sabiyyah, following a series of particularly ferocious storms and large waves. All crew and passengers are presumed dead.
796 N.D.
Yehani seafarers bring ominous reports from the Adelantean Sea, telling of treacherous currents and dangerous storms beyond even the ordinary. The island of Eleira off the southwestern coast of Cadenza rises up and declares itself free of the Kalentoi Empire, driving out or subjugating the loyal Elukoi and Cateni population. It simultaneously proclaims its allegiance to the Sirdabi Caliphate, but receives no encouragement from that quarter.
795 N.D.
Reports of increasing incursions by barbarian horse warriors come from the northern frontier of Irzal, along with still more troubling reports of local unrest.
792 N.D.
A series of slave uprisings among the plantation islands of the Adelantean strike at both Kalentoi and Sirdabi territories. Some of the uprisings are at least temporarily successful, but most are quashed within a few months. Many former slaves nevertheless manage to flee, taking refuge in various distant lands and cities, including as far away as the Ensorian capital of Imbryck.
787 N.D.
Nour, the City of Light, welcomes the Augur of Endings and becomes the center of the movement.
785 N.D.
Fuad bin Imran is appointed bey of Raziya and takes up full-time residence in Omrazir.
783 N.D.
Conflict erupts in the Gilded Plain over the legitimacy of the Augur of Endings, which will spill over into Tessere, Niyone, and other adjacent lands in the years to come.
782-784 N.D.
The Quicksand Debacle plays out between the Azadi of Saramat and the Kalentoi in Cadenza, weakening relations between the two powers and leaving particularly bad feeling to fester between Cadenza and Saramat.
782. N.D.
The Volusian Republic of Ovelia falls to Merouen, along with the Grand Duchy (formerly the Free Commune) of Lunastra. Lunastra is captured with the connivance of many of the citizenry, who are still deeply resentful of the takeover of their free commune by the Estevarres.
781 N.D.
Meroueni-Volusian wars flare up again when the new king of Merouen marches on the mainland portion of the Volusian Republics.
780-782 N.D.
The Al-Sabiyyan Conspiracy pits those favouring closer ties with the Emirate of Koumbasi and less oversight from the Sirdabi Caliphate against Sirdabi loyalists. It ends when the malcontent bey of Tessere dies under suspicious circumstances, which is widely considered to be the work of the Assassins' Guild.
780 N.D.
A mysterious figure calling himself the augur of God's final verse to the Song appears in Idiri, accompanied by a younger man styling himself the Herald of the Augur of Endings.
779 N.D.
The Kalentoi Empire resumes efforts to stamp out the Silenyan heresy in its land of origin.
773 N.D.
Imran Shadaad al-Hanif becomes the present caliph of the Sirdabi Caliphate.
753 N.D.
Fuad bin Imran al-Mutahafiz, present bey of Raziya, is born.
722 N.D.
The Hajibid dynasty is established in the Sirdabi Caliphate, which continues in power up through the present day.
714 N.D.
The Free Commune of Lunastra is forcibly taken over by the ducal Estevarre family, who are able to establish themselves as Grand Dukes with recognition from the Kalentoi Empire.
676 N.D.
The Theatre District of Omrazir is burnt to the ground by Arwad Yunus Bey as vengeance against his unfaithful mistress, the great actress Yohanna. Although the Malidha Amphiteatre survives, the ancient art of dramatic acting never fully recovers in the city.
671 N.D.
The ancient and rather insular kingdom of Eladje joins the Sirdabi Caliphate as a semi-autonomous emirate.
670 N.D.
The twin defeats of the Blooded Spear Massacre in Saramat and the Battle of Blue Reef in the Gulf of Adwa result in the Kalentoi suing for peace from the Sirdabi Caliphate.
669 N.D.
The Saramite Arzabid dynasty is founded, a martial house that takes up defense of the caliphate with vigor.
668 N.D.
The War of the Pines begins as the Kalentoi relaunch a multipronged attack on the caliphate. Although the advantage appears at first to be on the side of the Kalentoi, the unexpected entry of the Eladjit on the side of the Sirdabi results in the catastrophic defeat of the Kalentoi's main force. After this the conflict devolves into a period of fierce but small-scale engagements in Saramat and in the Adelantean and Gulf of Adwa.
668 N.D.
The Majirid Caliphate allows its absorption into the Kalentoi Empire as a semi-autonomous grand duchy.
667 N.D.
The general Aristidis Kostakas assumes the imperial crown of the Calentium and immediately begins to make plans to resume the assault on the Sirdabi Caliphate.
665 N.D.
The Kalentoi Emperor Numenos dies without an heir, plunging the empire into a brief period of chaos as the succession is bitterly disputed. Momentum is lost in the Empire's ongoing campaign against the Sirdabi Caliphate.
649 N.D.
The Collegium of Mages is established in Omrazir.
644 N.D.
The Anshabarids are overthrown and the dynasty known as the House of Calamity takes over the leadership of the Sirdabi Caliphate during its time of crisis.
642 N.D.
The Kalentoi Empire launches a naval assault on the Sirdabi Caliphate in the eastern Adelantean, pushing even into the Gulf of Adwa. Shipping is devastating and several strategic islands are lost to the Kalentoi, leading to dire shortages in grain as well as the collapse of several prominent merchant houses.
636 N.D.
Hazari Desert warlords -- ancient kings of the desert, by their own styling -- begin a series of concerted and coordinated attacks upon the western provinces of the Sirdabi Caliphate. Sirdabi forces prove nearly helpless to stop them, trans-Hazari trade is heavily disrupted, and numerous villages and even cities of Tessere and Ifru are threatened.
571 N.D.
The Marzumite Anshabarid dynasty is founded in the Sirdabi Caliphate after having usurped the seat from the Zalawids, which sets off a prolonged period of building around the caliphate and a neglect of other affairs.
525 N.D.
The Salawi Rajabu Masab is chosen as caliph, thereby establishing the new Zalawid dynasty of the Sirdabi Caliphate. The capital of the caliphate is returned to Sirdab City.
489 N.D.
The dynasty of the House of Scales is founded in the Sirdabi Caliphate, and leadership of the caliphate alternates between families of western and eastern origins for a time.
410 N.D.
Omrazir's Astral Chamber is founded to oversee all magical experimentation in the city.
404 N.D.
The Cursed Quarter of Omrazir is created by the catastrophic culmination of local sorcerous experiments, their exact nature unknown.
385 N.D.
The capital of the Sirdabi Caliphate is moved from Sirdab City in Rahoum to Omrazir in Raziya.
380 N.D.
The Tessouare Tifrid dynasty is established in the Sirdabi Caliphate, marking the beginning of a shift in power and influence towards the western, Idiri part of the caliphate.
344 N.D.
The Bushirids are deposed and the Khayyamid dynasty of the Sirdabi Caliphate is founded to take their place.
317 N.D.
Formal relations are established between the Sirdabi Caliphate and the Xiangdese Empire of east Riendu.
310 N.D.
The Majirid Caliphate is founded in present-day Cadenza by a sister of the last caliph from the House of Traitors. The Irzali Bushirid dynasty is established in the Sirdabi Caliphate.
295 N.D.
Calipha Fawzia is assassinated and the disorderly House of Traitors begins a chaotic period of governance in the Sirdabi Caliphate.
194 N.D.
The storied Imrahid dynasty is established in the Sirdabi Caliphate, beginning a long and relatively stable period of cultural renaissance and commercial expansion.
133 N.D.
The Tawwalid dynasty is established in the Sirdabi Caliphate.
108 N.D.
The dynasty of the House of Mending is established in the Sirdabi Caliphate.
99 N.D.
The Kingdom of Koumbasi officially becomes part of the Sirdabi Caliphate as an emirate.
98 N.D.
Ascension of the Bissenke caliph al-Manoun.
72 N.D.
The period known as the Dissonance begins in the Sirdabi Caliphate, a time of chaotic governance characterized by numerous usurpations and violent coups.
ca 30-130 N.D.
Azadi influence spreads through the Kingdom of Koumbasi, gradually resulting in the near-total conversion of the population.
1 N.D.
The world becomes warm enough again to allow a successful harvest, and ordinary life starts to resume.
Years of Darkness
The 3-year period following the eruption of Mt. Elemnis, a time of bitter cold, poor harvests, and great suffering.
1st Year of Darkness.
The Azadi siege of Calentium is lifted when the Dark is taken as a sign of the Dreamer's rejection of them for their failure to embrace the Prophet's late message of peace and forgiveness.
Year of The Great Dark.
Also called the Dimming, the Despair, and the Great Winter. A period of three years after the eruption of Mount Elemnis, in which ash and dust fill the atmosphere so heavily that the sun dims, harvests fail, and a terrible chill settles upon the world. More northerly than other lands and lying beneath the pall of the thickest plume of ash, Ruvera is hardest hit by tidal waves as well, but the suffering is widespread across Avaria. Countless people die of famine and cold, and civilization comes to a standstill. Documents from this period are usually dated as the first, second, or third year "of Darkness".