dragon

Cimmerian Timeline Part 56

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Loose ends for coming to the end of the timeline!

1115BCE: The Olympians recognized that the new toys they’d given their mortals were strong tools in the right hands and explosive mistakes in the wrong hands. To ensure the magical artifacts weren’t misused, Zeus created the Museum of Power in Nox. To guard the building, Poseidon set powerful enchantments around it and Hades brought Argus back from the dead to defend it.

742BCE: Enough vampires had arisen in Cimmeria to form a community centered in Crux. They pooled their resources to acquire blood to drink. They offered gold in exchange for blood. This collection of gold and blood grew into the Bank of Lamentation, one of the most securely guarded locations in Cimmeria.

647BCE: The blue dragons of Shacklack took advantage of the sand giant genocide to attack fire giant tribes in the desert. Without their sand giant allies, the fire giants had weaknesses in their defensive network. Many fire giants were wiped out, relocated, or swore fealty to the blue dragons.

646BCE: Chirrigar the fire giant’s tribe was wiped out. Without a home he wandered through the desert and came upon an abandoned scepter. He grasped the rod and felt tremendous power flow into him. He went to the cave of the dragon that had slain his tribe and killed it in return. Chirrigar claimed the dragon’s hoard for himself and then left Shacklack Desert to avoid retribution.

645BCE: Chirrigar spread the dragon’s wealth across Eastern Cimmeria. He told stories of a new city he was founding east of the Aral Sea.

644BCE: Chirrigar went east of the Aral Sea and planted a large piece of quartz he had found his dragon treasure hoard. The quartz grew into the stunning ice city of Dorrowsan.

520BCE: The old lich of Crux, Vectra, developed a new spell of unimaginable destruction. The magic was capable of wiping out all life within a three mile radius of the casting. Vectra demonstrated the spell and then opened negotiations with various governments to sell it. She sold copies of the devastation spell to Xoria, Persia, Ethiopia, and some of the Indian kingdoms.

Next: Cimmerian Timeline Part 57

Cimmerian Timeline Part 55

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Previous: Cimmerian Timeline Part 54

This one details the heroic rise of Balin that led to him retaking Fangaroot from the kobolds.

638BCE: Balin, the great-great-grandson of Shaelin got the idea to gain glory so he could replace the insane Bjorn. He made a team with his halfling friend, Terry, and his wizard cousin, Isdmir. Together they planned to rid the Dalleer area of monsters.

637BCE: Balin, Terry, and Isdmir destroyed various lizardfolk bands that had been driven west by the rangers of Eastern Cimmeria.

635BCE: Balin, Terry, and Isdmir slew kobold raiders that were pillaging the settlements west of Dalleer.

632BCE: Balin, Terry, and Isdmir thwarted a troglodyte attack against Dalleer. The smelly beasts had tunneled underneath the city to capture citizens for cannibalistic rituals. The heroic trio discovered the threat, rallied the city’s defenders, and journeyed into the Underdark to slay the troglodyte chief themselves. Within a week Balin, Terry, and Isdmir were the heroes of Dalleer.

631BCE: Isdmir suspected that the troglodytes had been working with someone inside the city. The monsters had gotten too close to completing their plan to have been working alone. Isdmir began investigating.
Balin used his heroic reputation to insert himself into the upper ranks of Dalleer’s politics. Terry retired to a life of luxury and ease. Balin, Terry, and Isdmir maintained their friendship.

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Cimmerian Timeline Part 54

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Previous: Cimmerian Timeline Part 53

King Aeëtes leads Colchis eternally, but he comes under attack by the armies of Hades every solar eclipse. I detailed some of the earlier eclipse attacks, but I’ve been leaving them behind for a while. Here’s the rest of them!

978BCE: A solar eclipse allowed Hades to attack Colchis, but he was rebuffed by King Aeëtes’s newly created stone golems. The magical protectors tore through the undead hordes.

923BCE: A solar eclipse opened the gates to Erebos and Hades sent an army for King Aeëtes’s soul. This time the army was composed of devils and demons. They tore through the golems of the city, but Aeëtes used his magic to enhance the weapons of of the common people of Colchis. Their buffed armaments were able to defeat the hellish army of Hades.

885BCE: A solar eclipse darkened the sky over Colchis and Hades sent an army of devils and undead. King Aeëtes had trained his soldiers further on how to defeat devils using blessed weapons and holy water. Luckily the sanctified weapons were effective against both devils and undead.

857BCE: Hades attacked Colchis under the shadow of a solar eclipse. He brought an unholy combination of devils and machinery to bear on the city. King Aeëtes unleashed the dragon of Colchis to destroy the machines while the trained army dealt with the devils.

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Cimmerian Timeline Part 52

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Previous: Cimmerian Timeline Part 51

Mars’ Oasis needs a little bit of connecting history to establish the threats and the relationship between the city and the Shacklack Desert.

696BCE: The soldiers turned settlers of Mars’ Oasis needed a staple food crop in the desert. The nymphs found a cactus fruit called sithica that when soaked in the Dythalid Pool became edible. The soldiers began cultivating the cactus.

691BCE: Some of the blue dragons of the Shacklack attacked Mars’ Oasis in search of treasure. The experienced Roman soldiers easily defended their community and their families. The blue dragons pleaded with Bavastatner to help, but he refused to get involved. Bavastatner wished to preserve Mars’ Oasis as a good training opportunity for his children.

678BCE: Through accident and experimentation the people of Mars’ Oasis learned the power of the Dythlaid Pool. The town had grown as people learned it was a safe haven within the Shacklack Desert. To protect the secrets of the Dythalid Pool, the original Roman founders of Mars’ Oasis created the Dythalidee to protect the Pool.

665BCE: Sahamathrian completed the process of becoming a lich. He left Crux and returned to the Shacklack Desert to further his study of necromancy and other arcane secrets.

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Cimmerian Timeline Part 42

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Previous: Cimmerian Timeline Part 41

More on the Aractrashan Kingdom’s founding.

552BCE: As Gollard grew into an adult he took an interest in the gold mines of Yuettencal. He learned the mining process and worked alongside the miners to understand their needs and desires. Gollard also practiced his swordsmanship against the threats of the Underdark. When he came of age he was declared captain of the guard.

551BCE: The Underdark races attacking Yuettencal’s mines spoke Undercommon during their raids to coordinate. Gollard learned the language by studying books and speaking with enslaved captives. He used his fluency to comprehend the attackers shouted commands during their attacks. Gollard turned back many Drow, Svirfneblin, and Duergar attacks using this information.

549BCE: A fearful Drow woman, Medrika, surrendered to Gollard and asked for his help. She’d stolen a clutch of alchemically modified spiders from King Croshan of the Drow. If Gollard could protect her, she promised to give the spiders to him. The young man was smitten with Medrika’s beauty. He agreed to protect her. Gollard and his subordinates defeated the Drow that had stalked Medrika through the Underdark and then took her to the surface.

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Cimmerian Timeline Part 41

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Previous: Cimmerian Timeline Part 40

This post will detail the history of Yuettencal and the events leading to the founding of the Aractrashan Kingdom.

600BCE: The expanding civilization in Zeus’s Canvas drove the uncivilized races of Eastern Cimmeria south towards the Aractrash Jungle. Raiding problems rose for the communities located in and around Aractrash.

598BCE: Persephone entered premature labor while walking through the Aractrash Jungle. The son of Hades and Persephone was born on the surface world, out of Hades’s household. Without his father’s roof over his head, the boy was only partially divine. Persephone named the boy Darnard, but she was unable to stay with him or bring him with her. Instead, she gave Darnard to a half-elf sorcerer named Khygantha to raise.

581BCE: Darnard grew into a strong man with fists like metal. He learned a bit of magic from Khygantha, with a particular focus on necromancy due to his father’s heritage. Knowing that the Aractrash Jungle swarmed with evil kobolds, gnolls, ogres, and trolls, Darnard begged Khygantha to help him do something about it. The odd pair set out to protect the people of the jungle from the monsters lurking within the trees.

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Cimmerian Timeline Part 39

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Previous: Cimmerian Timeline Part 38

This entry covers the events of Blendegad, Galandir, and Tereman prior to their first engagement with the githyanki in Shalerton.

967BCE: Galandir was born to elven parents in Valor’s Forest.

880BCE: The human settlements around Valor’s Forest suffered a number of monster attacks. They petitioned the Elves of Valor’s Forest for assistance. Rather than directly protecting the settlements, the elves offered to train one hundred humans to be monster-hunting rangers. Restnor the First was one of the humans who volunteered for this training. Galandir joined the class as well, hoping to learn the skills needed to be a hero like the Heroes of the Dragon War.

879BCE: Galandir disliked the two-weapon fighting style taught to the rangers. He began experimenting with a single longsword in one hand while he used his other hand to cast spells.

855BCE: Blendegad was born in a village outside of Dalleer to a human descendant of a red dragon. The drop of draconic blood gave him access to curse magic, even as a child.

851BCE: Tereman was born as the third son to a minor merchant in Dalleer.

841BCE: Tereman’s parents sold him as an indentured servant to the Dalleer Police.

832BCE: Blendegad had grown into a strong young man with powerful control over curse magic. He used his physical and magical powers to protect his village from a goblin attack.

831BCE: Tereman completed his servitude to the Dalleer Police. His independent training gave him access to divine magic along with the normal weapon and armor skills provided by the Dalleer Police.
Galandir finally perfected his fighting style of using magic and sword skills at the same time.
The Lich-queen of the Githyanki sent scouts into the Material Plane to gather information. They kidnapped people across Cimmeria for torture and interrogation. The people of Shalerton hired mercenaries to mount a rescue attempt. The Gish Trio of Blendegad, Galandir, and Tereman answered the call and proved successful in driving the githyanki off. The Gish Trio began researching the magical items that the githyanki left behind.

Next: Cimmerian Timeline Part 40

Style Change

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I’ve been mulling over a writing style change to the D&D section of the blog that I’ve decided to implement.

The capitalization of different races in D&D is a little strange. Normally you wouldn’t capitalize a word like “elf,” but what do elves speak in D&D? They speak Elvish and the current convention in English is to capitalize the names of languages. In English, languages are associated with racial identities or nationalities and thus one would also capitalize the nationality. So, “a Spaniard speaks Spanish,” is correct and, “a spaniard speaks spanish,” is incorrect. That puts me in a weird position where “elf” is not normally capitalized, but seems like it should be. After all, if Elvish is capitalized as a language then “elf” should also be capitalized as a national/racial identity.

That’s how I wrote the blog for a couple years, but the style is now starting to irritate me. It has internal consistency, but no matter how I look at it, the style looks wrong. I’ve decided to change it. Going forward, I’ll be only capitalizing fantasy races when referring to languages they speak or some sort of official group identity. For example, “the dwarves live in the Dwarven Kingdom,” or something like that.

I’ve also changed all my previous posts and pages to align with this standard. Everything should be fairly consistent across the blog now.

Cimmerian Timeline Part 37

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Previous: Cimmerian Timeline Part 36

In working on Kruk-Ma-Kali’s story I realized I hadn’t filled in the gaps for Shortrastor. Kruk-Ma-Kali provided the end of her life. I felt I’d already touched on her life in other ways that a full narrative post wasn’t really needed to finish out her life’s story. Instead I decided to cover it using a timeline post. While doing so I realized that she’d interacted with Bavastatner a little bit, so I pumped that up some more. And now we have the recipe for a dead civilization and their murdered royal line!

1110BCE: Shortrastor was born to a pair of common created dwarves.

980BCE: Shortrastor married a close friend, Tionthony, making him the Queen’s Consort.

974BCE: Queen Shortrastor gave birth to Princess Alfeita.

891BCE: Invigorated by their success at Phoenix the Heroes of the Dragon War moved upon Bavastatner’s kingdom in the Shacklack Desert. Seeing the writing on the wall, Queen Shortrastor pulled her dwarves back to the safety of the Dominarie Mountains. Bavastatner vowed vengeance as he organized to fight the mortal forces. Bavastatner’s children were the fiercest of all the dragons, trained to fight from their previous conflicts with the Heroes and Gorwinua’s orkin army. Surviving in the desert proved a challenge as well. Despite these impediments the Heroes managed to pierce Bavastatner’s defenses. They imprisoned his wife Renveshalhiarisv inside the Blue Dragon Orb and set Bavastatner to guard it.

883BCE: Queen Shortrastor and King Aeetes suffered a loss of prestige for allying with the dragons during the Dragon War. Many cities refused to trade directly with them for years afterwards. The nomadic halflings of Cimmeria stepped in and took over the exchange of goods for Colchis and the Dominarie Mountains.

854BCE: The wife of Toffoun’s eldest brother Jotuon, took ill and died within a few days. Jotuon controlled the influential Firebeard family. His matrimonial availability attracted many women, including Princess Alfeita of Dominarie. While Jotuon publically observed the appropriate mourning period, he began to see Alfeita in secret.

852BCE: Princess Alfeita married Toffoun’s eldest brother, Jotuon.

830BCE: Princess Alfeita gave birth to Princess Tandia.

811BCE: The githyanki ceased their attacks on Bavastatner and the blue dragons. The Draco-Gith War was over.

806BCE: Bavastatner turned his ire upon Queen Shortrastor who had betrayed him during the Dragon War. He sent his children into the Dominarie Mountains to slay dwarves.

805BCE: The Dominarie Dwarves retreated from the surface into the tunnels beneath the mountains. The blue dragons followed.

804BCE: Queen Shortrastor called for help, but none came. Cimmeria remembered which side she had chosen during the Dragon War.

803BCE: Queen Shortastor went personally to Bavastatner and unconditionally surrendered. The Blue Dragon Primach allowed her and the Dominarie Dwarves to live. In exchange they would vacate the surface of the mountains, provide Bavastatner with a large tribute every year, and all but one of Shortrastor’s children and grandchildren would be brought to Bavastatner. Any terms were better than the destruction of her kingdom, so Queen Shortrastor agreed. She sent her relatives to Bavastatner and never saw them again. The Dominarie Dwarves remained in the Underdark and began their yearly tribute to Bavastatner’s hoard.

770BCE: Princess Tandia married Stroso, the grandson of Lord Bjorn of Dalleer.

761BCE: Lord Bjorn of Dalleer died of old age. Bjorn’s son, Olofric, did not succeed him. Instead, Ballath, a wise, human friend of Bjorn’s, assumed the lordship. Bjorn’s family was outraged. Ballath took Bjorn’s name as a title in a failed attempt to keep the peace, but he refused to surrender control. Queen Shortrastor cut off trade to Dalleer and threatened war.

759BCE: Bjorn’s children moved to Jord. Most of Dalleer’s dwarven population followed to Jord or went to the Dominarie Mountains.

Next: Cimmerian Timeline Part 38

Cimmerian Timeline Part 36

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Previous: Cimmerian Timeline Part 35

821BCE: The Gish Trio let the githyanki and blue dragons wear themselves down against each other. Tracy and Tereman worked on a banishment spell to throw the Lich-queen back to the Astral Plane. Galandir and Blendegad forged new magical equipment using the metal of the githyanki’s silver swords.

820BCE: Blendegad noticed a peculiar resonant quality to the silver sword material. He began work on a panoply of armor, shield, and sword that would enhance each other when worn together.

819BCE: Tracy and the Gish Trio’s work was complete. They had the best gear they could manufacture and a spell guaranteed to throw the Lich-queen out of the Material Plane permanently. The heroes waited for the best time to strike. Fortunately, the Draco-Gith War gave them plenty of opportunities. The Lich-queen was weakened after a battle with the blue dragons and the Gish Trio chose that time to strike. Their plan proved successful, but not without cost. Tereman banished the Lich-queen to the Astral Plane, but Tracy’s soul was ripped from her body and consumed during the fight rendering her eternally dead.
The Draco-Gith War continued after the Lich-queen’s banishment, but without her direct presence. The Gish Trio fought on without Tracy, eliminating powerful githyanki wherever they could.

818BCE: Blendegad’s guilt over the death of Tracy drove him to alter the shield of the combined panoply he’d made with Galandir and Tereman. With Shratalanda’s notes and his gathered knowledge of the githyanki, Blendegad changed the nature of the resonant power of the panoply. Now when all three were worn together they would transform the bearer into an immortal being. Blendegad completed his work and donned the gear and he changed into a new breed of immortal, a vampire.
Blendegad noticed the drawbacks of his new nature quickly and hid the effects from Galandir and Tereman. He drank from the githyanki they killed when his allies’ backs were turned.

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