• The Days of Thunder

  • -35000 DR to -30000 DR

    Merrouroboros circa -35,000 DR

    This earliest days of recorded history begins at the end of a great Ice Age, some 37,000 years ago, when the last glaciations largely ended and the great ocean receded to reveal dry land. In this ancient time before The Sundering, the lands which would one day be identified as Faerun, Kara-Tur, Maztica, and Zakhara were each but one part of a much larger super-continent named Merrouroboros.

    While life spread quickly, none of the dozen or so common races which populate the world today existed in this distant era. Merrouroboros knew none of the civilized folk - elves, dwarves, halflings, or gnomes. Nor did the savage peoples - goblins, orcs, ogres and their kin - inhabit the land. Though humans did exist during this time, they were primitive and apelike, using only simple tools and living in caves. Unintelligent reptiles known as Thunderers ruled the land, sea, and sky. By the end of the first millennium post Ice Age, primitive bands of hunter-gatherer lizardfolk lived along the fertile waters of the Goldenwater in modern-day Durpar, exploiting game, lake-fish, and wild plants of all kinds. Unlike the Thunderers, the sauroids possessed superior intellect and tactical sense. In time they would become known as the sarrukh, the first of the mighty creator races, also known as Iqua-Tel'Quessir. »

  • -30400 DR

  • The Wasting Plague
    In a conflict between the gnolls of Urgnarash and rookery of Kookrui-Shara, shamans of Yeenoghu summons marrashi - spirits of pestilence from the Barrens of Doom and Despair - to blight aearee crops and spread a wasting plague among the avians.

    The Aearee War
    An Aearee named Sieska Waewielonn of the Okwalok-Shara rookery over the shores of the Great Sea discovers the name of Pazreal, a demon lord. With the fiends aid, Sieska becomes lord of Okwalok-Shara. Soon all the rookeries of Aearee-Quor abandones the faith of Quorlin and turns to Pazreal (all except the rookery of Tiennkoo-Shara, which flees to the farthest peaks of Kara-Tur, where their descendants yet thrive today as the crow-headed race known as Tengu, they are the only branch of the Aearee-Quor who never lost their wings). Pazreal teaches the Aearee-Quor how to summon Vrocks, but at a great cost, he took from them their power of flight. The Aearee of Shara never again ride the winds, except by spell or steed.

    Sieska then wages war on the other Aeraree nations to the north and west. Aearee-Krocaa is the first to fall. Aearee-Syran, defends with the aid of fey allies, winged treants, and soarwhales against Aearee-Quor's near-endless demon vrocks and battle rocs. In the end, Mornungongbarae (possibly the first treant), who had guarded the High Forest for nearly a thousand years, rises up and brings down the Quor floating city, but at the cost of his own life. His tragic sacrifice is still sung by treant skalds today, in a saga called The Lament of Mornungongbarae. »

  • -30000 DR

  • Fall of the Aearee Empires
    The Time of Dragons is ushered in as dragons across Faerun swarm together in the first Flight of Dragons. They assail the avians in the air, on the land, and beneath the ground. They fall upon the home nest of Viakoo and burn the city from the sky.

    In the caverns beneath the Orsraun Mountains, the wyrm-general Nagamat rampages through the ancestral hatcheries of Shara and claims the kingdom as his own. Using the found magic, Nagamat founds the first dragon kingdom. Sharan aearee survivors escape deeper into the Underdark, where the feral and twisted descendants of the Aearee-Quor become the dire corbies.

    The survivors of Viakoo flee west across the ocean to the land called Anchorome. Five of their cities, all crafted from spelljamming helms, flee to the stars. Rulungwar, Donnakee, Phra'iskree, Oolatiel, and an unnamed fifth one, lost during the exodus, crosses the Sea of Night to the world of Coliar. These aeries float there still, among Coliar's manifold moons. Descendants of Aearee-Krocaa are known today as the aarakocra.

    Some few repentant Aearee-Quor begs Quorlinn for his mercy, and he leads them to Kara-Tur to find refuge with their long lost cousins of Tiennkoo-Shara, the tengu. Descendants of these people call themselves kenku. »

  • -24000 DR

  • The celestial dragon T'ien Lung leds a tribe of humans north and east to settle among the modern day lands of Semphar, Skalhoond Forest, and the Firepeaks. These humans become known as Lung, the ancestors fo the Tuigan, Shou, Wang, and other humans of Kara-Tur and the Far East. »

  • c. -16000 DR

  • The first dwarf settlements appear in the great mountain range known as the Yehimal, which lies at the juncture of the three great continents of Faerun, Kara-Tur, and Zakhara. From there, the earliest dwarves migrated into all three lands. »

  • The Early Dynastic period of Imaskar

  • -7975 DR to -6422 DR
    This period was marked primarily by the Imaskari elite's mastery of transdimensional magic. The artificers used this knowledge to create a sprawling network of portals, which allowed them to cross vast distances in the blink of an eye. These permanent, two-way portals were constructed as circles of massive bronze spires, each etched with an intricate runic design said to be batrachi in origin. These Bukhara Spires allowed whole legions to pass swiftly from one domain to the next, precipitating the rapid expansion of the Imaskari Empire across eastern Faerun. By the end of the Early Dynastic period, the empire's borders reached from the Great Ice Sea to the Golden Water, and from the Alamber Sea to the Katakoro Plateau in Kara-Tur. »

  • Age of Humanity

  • -3000 DR to 1358 DR
    With the elf and dwarf empires in decline, this era marks a dramatic increase in human expansion on Toril. The Mighty human empires of Calimshan, Mulhorand, and Unther arise during this era, as well as the now lost empires of Nethril, Jhaamdath, Narfell, and Raumathar.

    Towards the end of this era is a time of exploration and discovery, when new continents are discovered in the west (such as Maztica) and trade is reestablished with the east (Kara-Tur). The Great Glacier retreats, uncovering the realms of Vaasa and Damara. »

  • -1648 DR

  • Hunters skilled in winter survival migrate west across the polar ice cap from Sossal (Kara-Tur) to search for new species of game in the Great Glacier. Shortly thereafter, a tirichik ambushes the party and kills the leader.
    The survivors panic and become lost, inadvertently moving deeper into the Great Glacier. Eventually, they reach the shores of the Lugalpgotek Sea. They renounce their faith in the gods, whom they hold responsible for their misfortune. Permanent settlements are established, and the hunters become the precursors of the Ulutiuns. »

  • -1370 DR

  • Earliest record of the Black Leopard Cult. Cult history says that the Black Leopard and his followers are eternal and immortal, having advised the Nine Travelers when they ruled the lands of Kara-Tur. This is the earliest written mention of the cult, noting that it had temples all along the Fenghsintzu River. Its major temple was at Durkon. »

  • -223 DR [Year of Burning Briars]

  • Hui-Po, a wu jen advisor to the emperor of Wa, attempts to create a magical portal capable of whisking the emperor to safety in the event of an insurrection. In the process, Hui-Po inadvertently gates himself to a mysterious place known as Qui. Unnoticed by the officers, Hui-Po gathers a quantity of silk from the multicolored bushes and returns to Wa. Hui-Po creates four scarves of transport to Qui from the silk, but before hie informs the emperor of his creations, Hui-Po and his assistants are killed in a violent coup attempt. The scarves of transport are never used; their origin and function remain a mystery. They are eventually lost and forgoetten, scattered throughout Wa and possibly elsewhere in Kara-Tur. »

  • 917 DR [Year of the Winding Road]

  • Windyn Balindre, an Impilturan merchant, pioneers the route of the Golden Way to Kara-Tur. »

  • 920 DR [Year of Great Riches]

  • Balindre returns from Kara-Tur laden with silks and spices. He organizes the Royal Company of Shou Lung, obtaining a charter from Lyrabar's ruler. »

  • 1060 DR [Year of Fantastic Spectacle]

  • The Last Emporer Chin of the La Dynasty in Shou Lung takes ill, but refuses to name an heir to the throne, fearing that he might meet an untimely end if he did. The southern lords in Tu Lung begin mobilizing their armies, and those southern garrisons that have remained loyal to the Shou are overthrown. »

  • 1099 DR [Year of the Restless]

  • New trade routes forged by merchants of the Shining South. First modern contacts with Kara-Tur and Zakhara. »