Recent history of the Gorhad Empire and its former dominions
Time is accounted from the beginning of the Empire; southern historians still refer to this simpler dates system; Imperial accounts of events instead cut away the 25 years of 1749-1773 during which there is no rightful emperor and would refer, e.g. to 1752 as "year 4th of the Dark Age". The current time is therefore 1921 to the Four Realms, and 1896 to the Empire; for simplicity all dates here will be referred to the former system.
1749: Death of Athorion the Wretched, with no known offspring. The nobles meet in council to find the new emperor, and regency is given to Aulus Dargavicus, duke of Galimeria.
1750: Dargavicus murdered; his vassals in Galimeria break in rebellion, change the name of the dominion to Realm of Galmers and drive away the imperial army. The other three realms follow shortly after, disgusted by the intrigues of the Gorhad government.
1751: The Imperial Diet sends a huge army to take back the Four Realms. Ausonius Noricus, prince of Selen, denies them passage through his domains as they "do not come in the Emperor's name"; they decide to pass through the Haram plateau. Fatigued and left without any pay and food, deprived of their best parts, engaged in intestine strife, they are surprised and annihilated before they reach the Amplaiga, a little west of Castrovalva, which will be from then on rumored to be haunted by the ghosts of the greatest slaughter ever occurred in the history of this area.
1755: The Imperial Diet splits, unable to find a rightful successor to the throne, and murders start to be daily. Assassins and Underlings become common in the cities of the Empire.
1756: The Four Realms strike a truce to defend each other against the Empire, and build a mighty army.
1760: The imperial army is called back from the Haram Plateau to take part into intestine wars. The Empire never will take back these territories.
1770: The Loyalists claim they have a rightful heir.
1774: Rayvin I the Good emperor of Gorhad
1775: Novigdunum founded.
1776: The Gumrachs invade parts of the nothern empire
1777: Gumrachs repelled
1779: The Serpent's Crown taken from Stygia to Gorhad
1780-1788: Continual wars with the Gumrachs; the Northern realms allies to the Empire
1789: Fall of the Gumrach, which rebel against their hyerophant race, the Gormul. Zeugma is founded.
1801: Rayvin I abdicates and leaves to seek adventure in the Lands of the Western Dragon; he'll never return. Rayvin II emperor of Gorhad; the Serpent's Crown becomes the symbol of the imperial power.
1825: Death of Rayvin II; Retius Meridionalis emperor.
1826: A small group of "Child-faced barbarians" (Driops) is captured in Vars
1827: Zenderian and Imperial forces invade Stygia, meeting almost no resistance. The Order of the Stygian Knights is created to rule over the land.
1828-1838: Travelers to Yatemla come with reports of decadence of that Elven town, traditionally allied to the Empire.
1835: Gueresquelot parts from the realm of Aulenor, and founds the small port of Capdelh des Frais.
1845: Death of Retius; Septimius emperor.
1846-1860: Scholars report the decadence of the Gumrach; the last Gormul dies in 1851, and by 1860 the Gumrach language is not spoken anywhere, and the Gumrach cities are all administered by humans.
1862: The Great Famine strikes the Northern Realms, caused by a new Ice Age; the Kraken is sighted again in the northern shores, and thousands of Northerners leave their countries for the Empire, Zeugma, the Four Realms and, most of all, the Haram Plateau. A seer in Fleudons has a vision of a "Great white dragon, beshadowing the Hall of the King, and shattering the Crystal Throne". While these words are pronounced, Guthmundr VII, king of Clenia mysteriously dies, more than 3000 kilometres north.
1863: Death of Septimius; Valerius Emperor. As a consequence of the events in the Northern Realms, starts the Great Witch Hunting; more than a thousand scholars, hermits and seers killed, mainly in the Four Realms. Valerius declares magic illegal in the Empire, and similar decisions are officially taken in the Four Realms, Zender and the Northern Realms.
1864-1874: Technology involves. The "fire rods" of the ancients are declared sorcery, and fall completely out of use.
1880: a huge Driop nation razes Vars by surprise. Only 11 people survive. Begins a long war, but Vars is not taken back until 1883.
1881-1891: Yatemla is completely abandoned in these years, and no Elf sighting will ever be reported after 1885. Driops parties appear in the area of Gueresquelot, attacking groups of woodsmen and little villages.
1892-1920: Death of Valerius, Draco emperor of Gorhad, and beginning of the "Second Dark Age": sorcerers and hordes of underlings haunt the Charb marshes, seers are tormented by visions of four dragons, the Driops grow in number and assault the east and the west of the civil countries, Gumrach become almost extinct, Dargavs lose their nomadic habits. Permanent mercenary wars in the Haram Plateau, and 5 emperors in only 28 years.
1921: Domitius Naumachus emperor; beginning of current campaign.