The History of Elandar

The elves have inhabited Elandar since the dawn of time.  In fact, Elandar means "Elf Home" in their tongue.  Meticulous historians and the first race in Elandar to develop a writing system, the elves date Year One of their historical calendar from the moment when they "awakened" and learned how to write (although it is known that their race had already existed for many generations in more primitive societies).  The elves claim their awakening was a gift given by the holiest of nature spirits, but it is a skill they passed on to the other races as they came into contact with them.  By the time the elves "awakened" and began expanding from their ancestral lands in Greenwood, a race of humans already inhabited the Horse Plains and dwarven tribes already dwelled in the Goldspire Mountains.  The Plainsmen, with no alphabet of their own, kept no historical records (although their myths claim they were born a hundred generations earlier from three animal gods exiled from the heavens).  The dwarves also originally had no writing system, dating history only by the reigns of their kings, but dwarven myths claim they have inhabited Elandar since the beginning of time, when their race was spawned in the sparks made by Urdu the Great Craftsman as he forged the world.

Initially the elves, dwarves, and Plainsmen lived in relative peace, keeping their distance from each other and coming together only periodically to trade.  However, the elves, arrogant in their superiority yet still retaining their warlike instincts from before their awakening, soon marched out of Greenwood to conquer the other races.  Although later generations of elves would look back at this era with distaste, this First Empire of Elandar lasted for over one thousand years--ending only when elven society collapsed into civil war between the Irdari and Mordari.

Although the elves came to renounce their empire, the dwarves quickly sought to fill their place.  They pacified all of the Goldspires, then expanded across the Northern Sea to conquer the Drakespires and the Blackspires.  At the height of their power, even the Horse Plains and parts of Greenwood fell to the dwarves.  However, within five centuries the savage tribes that inhabited the deepest tunnels of the mountain ranges rose up against the dwarves, building the dark fortresses of Ur-Gul and Erech-Gul.  Dwarven power finally collapsed with the arrival of the Sea People, who quickly stripped away the entire northern coast.  After the fall of this Second Empire of Elandar, the dwarves were forced to retreat back to their last remaining citadel, Vorgald.

The Sea People were a primitive but numerous invading horde.  They would not develop a writing system until their traders made contact with the Gulf Elves.  Shortly thereafter, one of their chieftains proclaimed himself King of Cassamar (a corruption of the dwarven name for the island, Kuzamur), establishing what these humans would come to call the "First Kingdom".  In later decades rebel chieftains broke away and led thousands of their followers to colonize other parts of Elandar, establishing the "Second Kingdom" of Dalamar and the "Third Kingdom" of Lordamar.  As the Kingdom of Lordamar expanded it reached the frontiers of the Desert Coast and encountered the Southmen, a third ethnic stock of humanity dwelling in Elandar.

For the past thousand years, an era elven historians have called the Age of Strife, the Three Kingdoms expanded and battled each other for dominance, often plunging the other races into war as well.  It was during this time that the Final Prophecy began to spread among the realms of Elandar:

"At the close of the Age of Strife
One thousand years or near
Rises the Third Empire
Forever in Holy Three
Never shall it cease."

Although its origin is not known with any certainty, most races have come to take it very seriously.  In the past century the human citadel of Maladorn, dominated by the Z’Hann Dynasty of sorceress-queens, has proclaimed itself the "Fourth Kingdom" and launched a brutal holy war to conquer the continent and become the eternal Third Empire.
 

Timeline:

Year 1:        Elves first "awaken" and develop writing
Year 207:    Elves conquer the Horse Plains; beginning of the First Empire
Year 317:    Elves begin the Great Siege of Vorgald
Year 327:    Dwarves surrender to the elves in the First Treaty of Vorgald
Year 1221:  The Mordari War; fall of the First Empire
Year 1297:  Dwarves conquer the entire Blackspires; beginning of the Second Empire
Year 1731:  Giants and their slave tribes construct Ur-Gul
Year 1741:  Allied monster tribes construct Erech-Gul
Year 1788:  Arrival of the Sea People; fall of the Second Empire
Year 1804:  Foundation of the human realm of Cassamar, the "First Kingdom"
Year 1887:  Foundation of the human realm of Dalamar, the "Second Kingdom"
Year 1944:  Foundation of the human realm of Lordamar, the "Third Kingdom"
Year 2000:  Beginning of the Age of Strife and the expansion of the human kingdoms
Year 2061:  First encounter between the Southmen and the Kingdom of Lordamar
Year 2201:  Thorhelm Dynasty comes to power in Cassamar through election by an assembly of warrior-nobles
Year 2885:  Maladorn warrior Harald Aranor, aided by Z'Hann sorceresses, overthrows the old prince of Maladorn
Year 2900:  Z’Hann Dynasty seizes control of Maladorn; exile of the "sons of Harald" (Haraldeans)
Year 2901:  Maladorn proclaims itself the "Fourth Kingdom"
Year 2924:  Maladorn allies with Ur-Gul and Erech-Gul
Year 2941:  Maladorn, Ur-Gul, and Erech-Gul jointly construct Lakesh-Gul
Year 2981:  Maladorn conquers and enslaves Heradorn

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