1. Timelines

Chronicle of Keoish Times

Overview

The Kingdom of Keoland, located between the Javan and Sheldomar Rivers, is the oldest surviving nation in the Flanaess. Since the Twin Cataclysms forced the Great Migrations of prehistory, Keoland has had the most impact upon the history of the Flanaess of any nation outside the Great Kingdom. As the entire Sheldomar Valley has at various times been under the influence of the kingdom, much of this detail has relevance to neighboring states such as the Gran March, Geoff, Sterich, the Yeomanry, and the Ulek States (the County, Duchy, and Principality respectively).

Note: When calculating Common Years prior to the Declaration of Universal Peace in 1 CY, remember that Common Year reckoning has no "year zero." Thus, the time elapsed between 5 CY and -5 CY is only nine years, not ten.

The Chronicle of Secret Times (BCY) 465 — 342

The Chronicle of Secret Times is a book banned by the Keoish crown, a strange set of affairs for a work that is said never to have existed. Nonetheless, numerous apocryphal copies are said to be in certain clandestine collections, including the Great Library of Greyhawk. The book's sometimes lyrical prose tells of the Suel survivors of the Rain of Colorless Fire, beginning with how Slerotin, the Last Mage of Power, led twelve tribes out of ruin and into the valley of the Sheldomar. As the story continues, the Magus, nearly consumed and at death's door from his exertions, bids the most powerful noble houses to set aside their rivalries and unite to make a home in this valley and be at peace with its inhabitants. He prophesizes that they will one day combine with a noble people and together will lay the foundations of an exalted kingdom. Slerotin enjoins them to look for signs and portents, and to act upon them in the noblest tradition of their ancestors. The Last Mage of Power then quits the ken of mortals in a thunderclap that levels the surrounding trees and scatters them into the form of a glyph pointing toward the northeast, or so the tale goes.

History records that it was only a few years after their arrival in the Flanaess that the refugees fought each other and went their separate ways, disregarding the Last Mage's words. The powerful Zelrad family withdrew to the northeast, departing from the Sheldomar Valley entirely to settle in what became South Province of the Great Kingdom. The tales also recount how the vile House Malhel fled toward the Dreadwood and was consumed by its own evil after trying to summon up powers of the earth in a desire to resurrect the Suel Imperium. Similar groups suffered other malign fates, while others fled across the Azure Sea, never to return.

The remaining Suel Houses fought the local Flan and abundant nonhumans for control of the rest of the land, which was dominated by the near-mythical Empire of Vecna in the north. The nobles of House Rhola made for the Azure Coast, where in -368 CY they founded the city of Gradsul. While they began settling the southern coastal lands, the nobles of Neheli took their chances in the northern valleys, heeding the apparent words of the Last Mage and striking for the northeast. Their much-feared Seers, who were among the few powerful apprentices of Slerotin to survive the cataclysm, closely advised the leaders of Neheli in all things. Niole Dra was founded by them within ten years of Gradsul's creation. The next few seasons brought many changes to the land, as the Oeridian tribes entered the Sheldomar Valley from the north after a great upheaval appeared to bring down the Empire of Vecna from within. The Oeridians were the first people to encounter the Neheli, settling with the latter peacefully.

The Early Kings (BCY) 342 — 242

Keoland was officially founded in the year 303 OR (-342 CY), a union between the Neheli, Rhola, and minor Oeridian nobles who came to control large swaths of the central valleys between the holdings of the Suel. This series of disjointed states between the rivers Javan and Sheldomar became one nation after a series of brief struggles with the Flan. Niole Dra was taken as the capital and its first king, a nobleman of House Neheli, was chosen to rule by a consensus of the peers of the realm.

  • Great Council of Niole Dra

    342 BCY

    Gathering of the Suel Houses and Oeridian tribes of Keogh

  • Nyhan I of House Neheli

    342 — 314 BCY

    The First King

  • Malv I of House Rhola

    314 — 295 BCY

    The Defender

  • Lorgyr I of House Neheli

    295 — 279 BCY

    The Seer

  • Nyhan II of House Neheli

    279 — 272 BCY

    The Forlorn

  • Mandros I of Sedenna

    272 — 236 BCY

    The Oeridian

  • End of the Early Era

    242 BCY

    Borders of Keoland first expand to present boundaries

The Middle Kings (BCY — CY) -236 — 286

By -242 CY, Keoland had expanded beyond the Good Hills, allied with the inhabitants there, and entered a period of rapid expansion characterized largely by the peaceful annexation of new lands and territories.

  • Luschan I and II of House Rhola

    236 — 193 BCY

  • Founding of Sterich

    230 BCY

    Settled in as a client state of Keoland by relatives of the Grand Duke of Geoff, Sterich was founded as an earldom with the primary purpose of creating a stable political power with easy access to the mines of the surrounding hills and mountains.

  • Malv II of House Rhola

    193 BCY

  • Founding of the Gran March

    161 BCY

    Gran March is one of Keoland's oldest holdings, tracing its history back more than nine hundred years. Legend holds that, after the defeat of Vecna and the dissolution of his empire (placed in the northern part of the Sheldomar Valley in some accounts), the nascent Keolandish crown created an order of knights in the frontier region. The Knights of the March were ordered to bring law to the land and to quell the warring of the native Flan factions. Eventually, the leader of the knighthood was named commandant of Gran March, a title that carried with it control of the land between the Rushmoors and Lortmils.

  • Sanduchar I of House Rhola

    157 — 121 BCY

    The Navigator

  • Senestal I of House Neheli

    121 — 107 BCY

  • Lanchaster II of House Rhola

    98 — 72 BCY

    The Wise

  • Incorporation of the Yeomanry

    96 BCY

    in –96 CY, the leaders of the Yeomanry met with representatives of the expanding kingdom of Keoland to discuss their annexation into the latter. Its Grosspokesmen and Freeholder were welcomed as members of the Council of Niole Dra, treated as noble peers within the greater realm.

  • Senestal II of House Neheli

    72 BCY

  • Lanchaster III of House Rhola

    63 — 19 BCY

  • Luschan III of House Rhola

    19 BCY — 07 CY

  • Malv III of House Rhola

    7 — 49 CY

    The Explorer

  • The Slumbering; Neheli Dynasty of Cedrian I, II, Nyhan III, IV, & Trevlyan I, II

    48 — 278 CY

    The expansion of Keoland came to a slow halt by the middle of the first century CY, after the death of King Malv III of the Rhola. In 49 CY, the throne reverted to House Neheli, where it remained for nearly two centuries. A long stagnant period in Keoish history ensued, during which the country remained a benevolent, if slumbering and introverted land.

  • Gillum I of Neheli

    278 — 286 CY

    The Mad

Imperial Keoland (CY) 287 — 461

Keoland awoke from its long slumber during what is generally regarded as its imperial phase, beginning in the late third century of the common era. When the last Neheli king died without issue in 286 CY, the summer conclave of the following year recognized the ascension of the first Rholan king in more than two centuries, King Tavish I.

  • Tavish I of House Rhola (The Great)

    287 — 346 CY

    Tavish, the duke of Gradsul, was the scion of his house and its most formidable leader. He was determined to make the aspirations of Keoland rival that of the Great Kingdom and the nascent Furyondy , both of which already dominated the neighbors of Keoland and its rivals in the north and across the Azure Sea. Tavish immediately brought a cosmopolitan air and youthful dynamism to sleepy Niole Dra when his court assembled the following year in the capital. He quickly reversed the course of the nation and raised armies in great numbers. He accelerated castle-building across the frontiers of the nation and abolished certain magical prohibitions that had stood for centuries amid the strong opposition of the anchorites of the Lonely Tower, the Silent Ones of Keoland.

    Tavish's early maneuvers were subtle efforts to marshal the resources already at his fingertips by treaty. In 289 CY, Keoish forces verged on the Fals Gap, where the city of Thornward was founded by the Knights of the Watch as a northern outpost to ward and tax the trade roads between the Baklunish and Furyondy. While a brief skirmish was fought with the Baklunish of Ket, large-scale actions were as yet unknown.

  • Peers of Ulek join the Council of Niole Dra

    292 CY

    In 292 CY, Tavish negotiated a treaty to formalize the union of the Ulek states to Keoland, bringing them into closer cooperation with the Throne of the Lion. Keoish ambassadors were dispatched even to Enstad, and distant outposts were soon tolerated by Celene and its fey court. Tavish accomplished the near total confederation of the Sheldomar Valley, from the Crystalmists to the Azure.

  • Tavish II of House Rhola (The Blackguard)

    346 — 395 CY

    Following the death of Tavish the Great in 346 CY, the throne was taken by his eldest son, Tavish II (called The Blackguard), a move that was grudgingly approved by the Council of Niole Dra.

  • Wealsun Proclamation

    348 CY

    During the early summer of 348 CY, the new king made his so-called "Wealsun Proclamation," over the objections of the members of the Council. In it, he asserted the manifest destiny of the Keoish to hegemony over the Sheldomar Valley and all its borders. Within a handful of years, Keoland had marched armies into western Veluna and annexed the Pomarj from the prince of Ulek.

    Using the added support he gained from early victories in Veluna, Tavish II quickly drove the ill-prepared rulers of Ket to the Tusman Hills. In late 362 CY, he ordered the extension of a formal trade road from Thornward to Molvar and eventually to Lopolla. Earlier the previous year, the Yeomanry had closed its borders to the Keoish, withdrawing its forces in protest against the "wars of aggression," while Celene expelled royal garrisons from within its borders. The Ketite expedition began unraveling within a few years. The next three decades were rife with fits and starts that amounted to a slow retreat to Bissel.

    By the year 400 CY, the forces of Keoland had completed their final withdrawal to Thornward, fortifying the Fals Gap and making Bissel the northern frontier of the kingdom.

  • The Spurning

    395 CY

    Nemonhas of Neheli refuses crown

  • The Duke's Regency; Luschan Sellark IV of House Rhola

    395 — 414 CY

    Keoland's aggressions took a lengthy hiatus under the rule of Duke Luschan, the new regent who had no stomach for war. In 414, the old regent became ill and died, and his young nephew assumed the title Tavish III.

  • The Boy King; Malv Sellark becomes Tavish III of House Rhola

    414 — 453 CY

    In 438, the Small (sometimes called the Short) War between Furyondy and Keoland ended Keoish influence in Veluna. Furyondians and their armies advanced on Thornward and south to nearly the city of Hookhill, as the Knights of the Hart captured Bissel before Tavish III reinforced the northern border in disgust. Keoland's influence north of the Gran March came to a complete end.

  • Duke of Gradsul disappears in the Amedio

    433 CY

    Troubles for the Throne of the Lion continued unabated in the south. In 433 CY, Tavish Ill's errant younger brother and the heir to the duchy of Gradsul disappeared, and reports placed the duke as lost in the Amedio, the victim of pirates or other foul play.

  • Rise of the Sea Princes

    434 — 453 CY

    In the mid–fourth century CY, as Keoland made war in the north, the buccaneers of the Azure Sea and Jeklea Bay grew courageous, correctly assuming that the king’s wartime ambition would leave much of his southern holdings for the taking. Operating from hidden island and mainland bases, these pirates harried the coastline as far as the Sea of Gearnat, from Monmurg to Gradsul, from Blue to Scant. By 444 CY, the pirates had formed a loose confederation, naming themselves for the Sea Prince, the ship of a successful pirate captain of noble Keoish blood.

  • Battle of Gorna

    450 CY

    Prince Luschan Sellark VI dies in the Battle of Gorna

  • The Debacle; King Tavish III dies in the Siege of Westkeep

    453 CY

    The old king attempted to salvage some dignity in a doomed expedition to reclaim the south, culminating in the Siege of Westkeep, 453 CY. In a prolonged battle against the insurgents, King Tavish III was himself slain.

  • Tavish IV of House Rhola (The Weary)

    453 — 488 CY

    The king's surviving son was crowned Tavish IV, assuming the throne immediately following the death of his father on the battlefield. Recognizing the disastrous policy that had propelled the dependencies of the kingdom to fly apart and resulted in the death of his brothers and father, young Tavish IV reversed the course of the nation. He recalled and disbanded expeditionary forces from the frontiers, sending home men who had not worked their ancestral lands for their entire lives. In 460 CY, the Yeomanry League was formally recognized as an independent realm and relations were reestablished.

  • Ulek States secede from the Throne of the Lion

    461 CY

    However, despite the best efforts of Tavish IV, many of these changes came too little and too late for others. In 461 CY, the realms of Ulek and Celene severed formal ties with Keoland, the former gaining complete autonomy. Two years later, seeing their opportunity, minor Suel nobles in the Pomarj forswore their fealty to the prince of Ulek and took Highport as their capital. This act went unchallenged in Niole Dra, which was tired of war.

The New Kings (CY) > 488

In 488 CY, a prematurely aged Tavish IV died without issue, a lonely and broken monarch. The Throne of the Lion fell to an heir of the House Neheli the next year, who promptly turned a blind eye to foreign affairs. Keoland soon reverted to the more peaceful, even complacent state from which it had departed for nearly two centuries. This sudden introspection drifted into isolation a few years later when the Keoish monarch refused to engage in the Hateful Wars that raged between the Ulek States and the nonhumans of the Lortmils and Suss Forest. When the Suel barons of the Pomarj suffered a crushing invasion at the end of the conflict, their pleas for assistance fell upon a suddenly oblivious bureaucracy. Illness and misfortune befell the Neheli line over the next few decades to such disquieting proportions that, by the late 550s, it became doubtful it could put forward an heir to old King Trevlyan III when he suddenly passed away in 564 CY.

  • Nyhan IV of House Neheli

    488 — 510 CY

    The Listless

  • Senestal II of House Neheli

    510 — 539 CY

    The Dilettante

  • Trevlyan III of House Neheli

    539 — 564 CY

    The Afflicted

  • The Commoner; Kimbertos Skotti of House Lizhal

    564CY — Present

    The Council of Niole Dra entered into prolonged debate the following winter and emerged with a surprising announcement. The new king was introduced as Baron Kimbertos Skotti of Grayhill, an obscure ranger lord from a small province near the Dreadwood with little-known blood ties to the throne. Lashton of Grayhill, an archmage of some notoriety and exceeding ambition, came to serve the new Royal Court as its magical councilor. He is seen by some as an extremely influential schemer, perhaps too much so.