Timeline

Disclaimer. This timeline shouldn't be used as an exact reference for the ages of NPCs. Due to the sheer number of NPCs and the improvisational element of DnD, I can not create a timeline in which one character's age doesn't nullify game events and the age of another character. Please only use this timeline to judge the order and year of certain events, and the age of established PCs. -Kent

For the alternative Parlusian timeline, see Parlusian Timeline.

The Age of First Light

0000 - The Great Spark. An infinitely stretching light awakens in a black void sparked by the collected willpower of the Architects. Also known as the Architects, the Old Greater Gods were supposedly a precursor godly race that both somehow existed before and were born during the Great Spark. This is one of many debated theories of the first creation of the Realms.

0700 - The First Ones. Life begins to form on the Material Plane. The first sentient, non-deitic life is formed. Ancient Humanoids. They are joined by countless other races and creatures, most notably, the first dragons.

0701 - First Contact. The First Humans and Elves colonies make contact. A gap in language results in miscommunication and the first conflict is recorded between humanoids. Not all conflicts between ancient races are hostile. Many pool together resources and begin larger development.

The Age of Fire

0800-1000 - Tyranny of Dragons. or The Great Fire. Willed into existence by the emotions of the Old Greater Gods, the first dragons evolve. The strongest gain a profound level of sentience and power from exposure to the power of the Greater Gods. They involve themselves with Ancient Races, pitting them against one another. Promises of power, of divine worship. The two most prominent dragons being Tiamat and Bahamut. Tiamat seeks to create, and absorb lesser deities so that she may ignite her own first spark. Birth her own reality. Bahamut, set on stopping his sister, aligns with other dragons to confront his sister. The conflict between Tiamat and Bahamut’s dragons bathes the greater realms in fire. The Greater Gods, unable to ‘unwill’ that which has already been made, cast themselves as pure astral energy at Tiamat to weaken her. The collision wipes out more than a quarter of all life, destroying some of the Greater Gods. The surviving deities imprison Tiamat and create barriers between the material plane, and planes of godly, ancient power. The Planes of Existence are created and in place of the now destroyed Old Greater Gods, the New Greater Gods are formed and willed into existence.

1100 - The Veins. Ancient Dwarves break bedrock that reveals the astral fallout of the Greater Gods power. These wells of otherworldly power introduce magic into the world. For the next few years, this breach awakens long derelict planes and their inhabitants.

The Age of Arcana

1000-1200 - Zero Year. Survivors of the Great Fire, gather themselves and what remains of their people. An age of darkness, lawlessness, and survival. Entire civilizations perish warring over what remains of their great empires. Survivors turned scholars begin to question and study magic more closely. The first studiers of organized religion and magic form amongst the ashes of ancient libraries.

1205 - The Wizards of Oerth. A secular group of magic-users attempt to decipher ancient text. They believe magic was brought to the realms by another universe called the Greyspace, from the planet Oerth. This group of scholars become the first to record magic on enchanted scrolls and create the first spells. They called themselves the Wizards of Oerth. Two of their most promising members, were Orcus and his student Vecna.

1300 - The Last War. Civil war erupts between human houses in the Old Kingdom of Galifar, on the continent of Eberron, after King Jarot passed away. Its purpose was to reunite the Kingdom of Galifar after infighting about King Jarot's successor began after his death.

1305 - The War of Western Kings. Spurred on by the war overseas and growing unrest with Great King Oswald, the human empire of Parlusia descends into its own civil war.

1312 - The Duel of Western Kings. General Arturus Rex slays King Oswald in a formal duel after surrounding him and twelve-hundred of his men at Fort Sovsun. The Parlusian Empire formally comes to an end as King Oswald's opponents divide the remnants of the empire amongst themselves and form the Western Human Council.

1325 - The Liches of Oerth. The studies of the Wizards of Oerth delve into forbidden territory. They begin to practice necromancy and black magic, obsessing over immortality and Godhood. It's believed that to prevent this magic from growing any further, the Gods of the Death Domain cast a vile spell over the Wizards of Oerth that cursed them with the immortality they sought. At the cost of their minds and bodies. The first Liches are created: Orcus, Vecna, and Kas, lead them.

1351 - The Warforged. In a bid to avoid further loss of human lives, House Cannith mages and engineers develop the first Creation Forges. These forges create fast-learning constructs with rudimentary language and instinctual knowledge of movement. These constructs are created, or born, with no morale compasses and are at the mercy of House Cannith's tutoring. The Warforged are created.

1400 - The Last War Ends. After 100 years of infighting and skirmishes, the Last War ends with the Treaty of Thronehold. What's left of the human cities of Eberron isolate themselves and continue to fight amongst each other over land and rule, ending in the collapse of a recognized human empire in Eberron. Remnants of the old empire of Galifar remain scattered amidst independent city-states, each with their own form of government.

1402-1403 - The Silencing. Spurred on by hundreds of years of war and calamity, mass hysteria surrounding magic and rogue magic-users reaches its breaking point. The Humans of Meadowcraft, Kartenheim, and Sheng-Lao joined by the High-Elves of Val-Adin begin a long series of hearings and prosecutions of supposed rogue magic users. Esteemed schools of magic and the smallest towns are ordered to release public records of their staff, students, and confirmed magic-users. Hundreds are unlawfully detained while awaiting a public hearing. Some are killed before they can make it to their hearing, while many more flee to the cities of Freemark and Verytus who offer refuge during the arcane crusade. An overwhelming majority of the realm's churches and temples protect their clerics and paladins, and publicly protest the unlawful detainments and unsanctioned hearings. In response to increasingly violent resistance, the crusaders begin training Wardens, soldiers who specialize in combatting and sealing a magic user's connection to magic completely. On the verge of a holy war, schools of magic and prayer agree to meet with the crusade-leaders to find a system that holds the appropriate parties accountable. They pass the Noble-Arcana Laws which define in clear detail examples of forbidden magic, the punishments for their use, and which magic schools and holy orders are responsible for upholding these laws.

1600 - The Alliance. The three largest, most advanced civilizations at the end of the Age of Arcana, the Humans, High-Elves, and Dwarves, form the Lords' Alliance.

The Age of Heroes

1650 - The War Party. In response to growing domestic and otherworldly threats, a traveling war party of Dwarves sells their experience for gold. With only an allegiance to gold, battle, and exploration, the earliest recorded Adventuring Party is formed calling themselves the War Party. This lifestyle catches on as a dangerous, but lucrative path for those that can stifle it. These roaming bands of adventuring parties, at the time known as War Bands, were good for solving problems of all shapes and sizes, so long as the hiring settlement or family could pay.

1700 - The Rangers of Oakvale. At a rundown bar in Oakvale, Edgar Castille (16) and Craig Firebrand (18) take the first steps to starting the Rangers of Oakvale. They become one of the most famous adventuring parties during the Age of Heroes, and become the standard by which all other adventuring parties are judged by, and compete with.

1705 - A New Day. The Rangers of Oakvale with an army of their friends and closest allies, do battle with Tiamat. Their victory is what immortalizes them as one of the greatest adventuring parties during the Age of Heroes. They formally decide to disband shortly after. Each member going on their own path of a life after adventuring.

1717 - The Sankofa Incident. The tragedy at Sankofa occurs. The Sankofa Accords are passed and adventuring parties are banned across the Alliance.

1719 - Uprising. The Goliath Uprisings begin.

1720-1727 - The Bloody Seven. The Goliaths declare war on the Alliance. The Seven Year War ravages the realm.

1727 - The New Empire. The Conclave is formed.

The Age of Passage

1734 - Heroes for Hire. Croak and Dagger is formed.

Cataclysm. The Black Sun Cult and their leader, Caelrogh Soledad, breach the barrier between the Shadowfell and the Material Plane in an attempt to fuse the two. Croak and Dagger defeat Caelrogh and usher in a new age of heroes. As a result, the Adventuring Party Registration Act is passed and the Sankofa Accords are amended. Croak and Dagger become the first registered adventuring party under the APR Act.

1735 - First Contact. The Lords' Alliance and the Assembly of the Sword Coast make first contact with one another after the Triton Legion of Baldur's Gate successfully cross the Outlands. They are the first known nation to ever do so.

The Age of Power

1771-1773 - The Merchant Conflict. Amidst growing territory disputes, the RMS Bravewater, an Assembly passenger ship, is sunk by Alliance ships killing 1,193 of the 1,960 aboard. The Assembly respond by sinking multiple merchant ships belonging to the Alliance. The Merchant Conflict begins, though neither side formally declares war until 1772. Gruesome, mechanical trench-warfare bathe a swathe of blood across a territorial divide called the 101st Parallel where much of the fighting takes place.