Previous: Gurutama Timeline Revising Part 27

Last Timeline Revising post! Here we go!

Like I said in the last post, the avians are coming back so that their race will have more places to interact with the world than as slaves or a mysterious culture physically constrained to one location. Strife continues in Hykma in various ways. Fortunately, that strife can be used for a bunch of adventure hooks! I keep mentioning adventure hooks because that was the whole point of creating Gurutama with the Dawn of Worlds game.

This post also sees the weakening of the merfolk trade empire a little bit. They’ve started having to negotiate with Hykma instead of dictating as they did during the Great Blockade.

One of my favorite points is the return of Engrenildo! We decided about halfway through our Dawn of Worlds game that the world was flat, not round. How did Engrenildo circle the globe if the globe isn’t round? A question for someone to answer when it really matters! Also, an opportunity for a particular GM to make up geography in a different place that the Engrenildo family discovered on their voyage.

And war consuming the world everywhere if GMs want to use that as a background for a plot. All great stuff!

My next step for working on Gurutama will be:
1. Going through the timeline as a whole in a printed off version. I find this works better for catching small errors that I might’ve missed. Any edits I make at that point will be included in the Revised Timeline page, but not as individual blog posts.
2. Race descriptions. I’ve got that little tree of races set up on the menu bar of the website, but there’s no info there! I want to get some pictures in there and short descriptions of what the races are like and basic history. I’d also like to put in some stuff about statistics for the races in different gaming systems. I currently plan to include stats for D&D 3.5, D&D 4E, Hackmaster, and possibly Dungeon World (I don’t know much about the last one but someone in my gaming group does).
3. Religion descriptions. A few of the religions were introduced in the timeline updates, but we don’t know much about them. We never want to fully flesh out every single religion to maintain creative freedom for GMs and players, but a little more stuff would be nice. I’ll probably work on this in tandem with the race descriptions, jumping back and forth as feels appropriate. For example, I’ll describe the races of Hearthland and describe their religions in the same spat of updates I write on Gurutama.

That’s all for now! Enjoy the update and look to see more Gurutama stuff in the future.

751 NA: Hykma and the Hearth, both wounded by the civil war and the battles afterwards, began to rebuild. This process incorporated much of the artistic movement the rana initiated, and so the cities reveled in the new beauty.

After negotiating the terms for passage through the Great Canal with new reps from the Revered Administration, the merfolk organized more and more armies in Proaxium, Drolfo’s Cove, and Cyflenwi. The new recruits were sent to retake Tortuga along with a massive fleet. The avians were cast out, but separate roosts had already been established on the northern side of the ocean, creeping ever north towards the high cliffs of the Mandibles.

The city of Balkus, already a fine port city, continued to grow in size and wealth. While the merfolk occupied themselves with the avians, a new settlement, named Mershe, appeared on Crautor Island. A new Bwarlor nation came onto the global scene.

752 NA: The True Arrows infiltrated Rotandean. They found allies there among all those who resisted the Brotherhood of Living Immolation. The common man may not have known of the Brotherhood, but the Arrows knew. Frugal Profiteers who went into hiding after the end of the civil war also joined up with the True Arrows. Sabotage and trickery were rampant in the city. Rumors of rebellion spread.

753 NA: Engrenildo’s grandson, Engrenildo the Third, finally docked on the western side of Hearthland with grand stories of land beyond the four known continents. He established a colony at the edge of the river named Victoria, after his mother.

754 NA: The Metal Dwarves formed up more armies and then went marching out against the grez. Machines were made to assist in crossing the ice and breaching the fortress of the wraiths. A few soldiers were lost in the trek to Reesrevoton to eliminate the grez threat, but discipline kept the men in line. Upon arriving, the monstrous creations of the grez shocked the dwarven armies. They fought and fought, before realizing that their only chance laid in retreat. The dwarves pulled out, but only a few survived to tell the tale of the ice golems of the grez.

755 NA: King Tenzomak sat in the throne room of Syluk. His father’s armor stood in a trophy case against the wall. The King stared at the armor and felt it calling to him. He walked over to it in silence and slowly donned the armor. He felt vast strength flowing in his veins. He had to use the strength quick! Before it consumed him! He lashed out at the grand columns supporting the ceiling of the throne room. His kicks and punches, powered by the ruby plate, brought the walls down around him. Servants fled the royal castle and a few were crushed in the ruins. The King dug himself out of the collapsed keep with his bare hands. He addressed the gathered crowd around his former palace, “For too long we have sat in luxury, enjoying the splendors the world has given us! It has weakened our resolve! Made us like the little people who think of nothing but their pipe-weed and mushrooms! NO LONGER! We shall forge our bodies into a new army and reclaim the glory of the dwarves! NO MORE MERCY FOR THE EMPIRE!” A cry went out among the dwarves and humans of the city.

Immediately the city prepared for war. Old metal was melted down for new. Fine heirloom luxury goods were sold off to incoming merchants to finance the growing army. Thousands of men reported for the draft. Those that do not were found and punished. Bards were sent out to spread tall tales of Tenzomak’s Ten Hundred Thousand.

756 NA: The first graduates of the agoge assembled outside of Crodolan. They marched forward without fear, thousands dying to the ancient magical defenses around the city. The hobgoblins had been told from a young age; a hobgoblin never gives up, never surrenders, and never retreats. That is for the lesser races. Hobgoblins are strong, brave, and as hard as steel. They marched forward, unfazed as their brothers were blown to pieces by fire and lightning. The defenses around Crodolan were used up except for an odd one here and there.

The humanoids and giants reached the city walls. Grand General Krak-Sho-Khan ordered the rams brought out. The elves tried to defend their city, but for every goblin they shot, two more took its place. Giants and trolls helped with the siege of the walls. The elves ran out of arrows, and then they fell. Crodolan was taken. Krak-Sho-Khan named himself King of the Halusho Forest, with his generals as the official council.

757 NA: The Humans of New Prestounasi grew wary of the war between the elves and the hobgoblins spreading to their city. The ships were made ready to cast off if the hobgoblins turned their way. The generals of the Bastion felt secure behind their walls, but awaited an order from Hykma to cross the Bridge and engage the filthy Bwarlor spawn.

The rana kept the influence of Navillus out of the Shanties with many spells, wards, baptisms, and exorcisms. This earned them many friends among the commoners, but few among the faithful in the Brotherhood. It was no longer a rare incident for a Gossamer Monk to be attacked on his way home from a house call. The Brotherhood’s spies are everywhere and their thugs are ready to pounce.

The grez learned of artificial intelligence for their golems. An unthinking automaton is a foe worthy of the greatest heroes, but a thinking one? Only the immortal gods could slay such a beast. The grez rejuvenated their golem armies in Reesrevoton and sent the golems at the Bronze Port. The dwarves and Profiteers evacuated the city, but many did not make it out in time.

758 NA: The grez attacked Bronze Port last winter. It is spring and a new year dawns upon the world. What quests lie in wait for those who seek adventure? Only the gods know.

-GoCorral

Back to the beginning: Gurutama Timeline Revising Part 1