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Timeline of Sembaran History

The Drankorian Conquest

DR 300 - DR 431

Overview

In the aftermath of The Downfall the land that will become Sembara is lightly populated. The kestavo-worshipping Zimka live in the foothills of the Sentinel Range, and have spread amongst the highlands, and down the valleys of the great rivers: the Semb, the Volta, the Teft, and the Wistel. Along the coast, Skaer mariners raid, intermarry, and settle amongst the Zimka, and a Skaer-dominated mixed culture spreads from Tollen to the mouth of the Semb. The once mighty lizardfolk swamps have mostly disappeared, save for remnants: Ozabal, at the mouth of the Wistel and Latazaro, in the east, where a thriving lizardfolk communities remain. South of the Wistel is the mixed community of humans, clustered along the coast, united by the their shared allegiance to the Archfey Ethlenn, but otherwise the southern lands are largely empty of humans.

Over a series of start-and-start campaigns over 60 years, the Drankorian armies conquer large portions of this land.

The Drankorian Age

DR 431 - DR 1059

Overview

By DR 431, when the Drankorian army retreated from Zimkova, the borders of Drankor in the east were established, and would not change for many generations. Drankor ruled all the lands between the Sentinel Range and the Western Gulf south of the Semb, as well as the lowlands east of the Braebein and the lowland valleys of the Teft and Volta. The borders of the modern duchies of Telham and Arnsbury still trace to the farthest extent of the Drankorian conquest, as does the borders of Ardlas.

The Drankorians brought modern roads, improved agricultural techniques, and a new religion to the land. Farming and pastoralism was a way of life here, with little technology and little trade. Across the “Sembaran” provinces (which included the modern day Sembara, Ardlas, Maseau, Addermarch, and Tyrwingha), Mos Numena spread, and a common language and culture grew, and the old Kestavan traditions were largely forgotten.

In the highlands, the Zimka kept the old ways, although along the borders with Drankor Mos Numena and Drankorian culture spread.

The Plague Years

DR 1059 - DR 1250

Overview

In DR 1059, the First Plague came and the Drankorian Empire collapsed. Little information survives from these years, and it was a time of much hardship, especially amongst the more populous lowland regions, where famine struck repeatedly. This was a dark time.

The Six Duchies

DR 1250 - DR 1400

Overview

By DR 1250, a number of lords, mostly calling themselves dukes, had established themselves across the lands once ruled by Drankor. In the lowland coastal regions, the six duchies that later would form the heartlands of Sembara had been established: Sembara, Cheimen, Wisford, Seham, Telham, and Arnsbury. Further east and south, Tyrwingha had emerged from the chaos under the leadership of the Oracle of the Riven and Archfey Ethlenn. And to the west, two border duchies had emerged: Brovna, at the headwaters of the Wistel around Urlich Pass, and Ardlas, along the south banks of the Semb, centered around ~LakeDerwentCity~, the great trading city on Lake Derwent.

To the far south, the fertile lands of the Istabor Alliance beckoned, and much marginal land was abandoned in these years. But by 1250, the land is prospering and, from the scattered duchies that arose from Drankor, population begins to grow and spread.

Along the borders of Brovna, Cheimen, Wisford, Telham, and Arnsbury, a slow process of expansion began. As the peaceful years continued, and the population grew, the powerful dukes claimed new lands, largely empty, and granted baronies to their favored courtiers.

One of these noble families, the House of Entranca, the Dukes of Sembara from the early 1300s, slowly grew in influence and power. The Duke of Sembara had emerged from the dark years with the largest and richest demesne of any of the duchies, and had always controlled Embry, the ancient seat of the Drankorian regional government. Over the early 1300s, a series of minor crises and succession disagreements allowed the Entranca’s to gain the loyalty of the the Dukes of Wisford, Cheimin, and Seham, who started more and more looking towards Sembara to resolve disputes and provide money and arms when dangerous forces appeared on their doorsteps.

By the end of the 1300s, the Duke of Sembara was broadly acknowledged as feudal lord by the Dukes of Chemin, Seham, and Wistford as well as many of the barons along the south banks of the Enst, the Aine Hills, and the lands between the Wistel and the Enst as far west as the Cleenseau Wood.

The Unification

DR 1400 - DR 1462, 7 Dominick IV - 34 Derik I

Overview

By the 1400s, a number of regional powers had started to emerge on the borders of Sembara. In the northwest, from the broad lands of Zimkova, the realm of Lavnoch has emerged from the collapse of the short lived Unifed Crown of Zimkova.

The Duchy of Telham, between the Teft and the Volta, had grown substantially, and commanded the loyalty of many of the small lords along the coast and the river, but was closely tied by culture and intermarriage to Sembara.

In the west, the Duchy of Brovna had grown into a significant presence along the mountains, trading eagerly with the growing city of Chardon, and Ardlas was growing as well, trading with dwarves.

South of Sembara were two major powers: the Kingdom of Tyrwingha, which emerged from the fall of Drankor largely intact and still under the guardianship of the Archfey Ethlenn, and the Dominion of Avatus, a rising military autocracy exerting overlordship of a number of scattered baronies and small lordships in the Mostreve Hills, growing in power by taxing trade and recruiting mercenaries, largely Hobgoblins.

Into this moment, Derik I, of a cadet branch of the House of Entranca, establishes the modern Sembara after the defeat of the Dominion of Avatus.

By 1462, on Derik I’s death, the royal prerogatives of the monarch of Sembara are well established.

The Great War

DR 1462 - DR 1545; 1 Derik II - 26 Derik III

The reign of Derik II is relatively uneventful, and the traditions and formalities of the realm are established and propagated in this time. The borders to the south, with the Istabor Alliance, and the north, with the fractured fiefdoms of Vostok, are uneventful, and trading relationships with Cymea, Tollen, and the rest of the eastern Green Sea grow during this time. 

Tensions in the North

The only thing that mars the peace of this era is increasing tensions among the Zimka. Several small wars break out between Ardlas and Lavnoch, fighting over control of the headwaters of the Semb and Lake Derwent, and with it access to the lucrative Dwarven trade. Although the violence never spills over into Sembara, trade is disrupted and what to do about the highlands is a constant question during the reign of Derik II. Derik II, although a strong king and diplomat, is not the military leader his father was, and was reluctant to raise taxes for an invasion.  

Several times the dwarves send diplomatic missions to Sembara, asking the king to deal with the humans making trouble, and several times Derik II says there is nothing he can do. By the 1490s, it is clear the situation is untenable, as at this point both the halflings and dwarves are complaining to the king and telling him to get these unruly humans under control before they take it into their own hands, to ensure stability, but at this point Derik II is old, and uncertain, and so nothing is done.

Charlotte I, Derik II’s daughter, inherits the crisis. Unwilling to let relations with the dwarves deteriorate further, Charlotte rides with a large army up the River Semb, and in a relatively bloodless series of campaigns forces Ardlas and Lavnoch to the negotiating table, asserting suzerainty over the territory of these kingdoms. Soon after, in 1508 DR, rumors of something terrible in the north are growing. 

The Preamble to the Great War

After his defeat as the hidden puppet master of Dominion of Avatus, Cha’mutte has turned his attention north, where far across the Sentinel Range he is growing an empire. Still maintaining footholds in the southern Sentinel Range where several loyal hobgoblin tribes attempt to prevent the consolidation of the Istabor Alliance into a united front, he has turned his attention to a move from the north, through the empty northern steppes. Still working through proxies, and not ready to show himself yet, he summoned one of his dragonspawn, the ancient white dragon Vimfrost, and set him to gather allies across the northern plains – orcs, monstrosities, ogres, and trolls – and set upon Vostok and Zimkova from the north. 

Derik III, 19 years old in 1508 DR, is sent to the north. Vostok at this point is ruled in the east by descendants of Skaer raiders, in the lakes region along the Volta increasingly by Zimkova, around Tollen largely as an oligarchy of rich merchants, and to the north as a loose confederation of semi-nomadic tribes. Derik III, channeling the charisma of his great-grandfather, cloaked in the blessing of the Gods, leads a grand alliance north to repair the ancient wall and defeat the dragon. In response, he is acknowledged as Prince of the North, and when he comes to the throne he is acknowledged as high king by the people of Vostok. Tollen retains its charter as a free city, but acknowledges the suzerainty of Derik III. 

By DR 1525, Derik III is at least nominally acknowledged as the overlord and high king of all the land from the southern highlands to the northern wall, from Sentinel Range to the Western Gulf.  In DR 1533, now several years a widower, Derik III marries Jane, the young daughter of an important merchant family in Tollen. 

Over the next 20 years, Sembara remains a strong and united kingdom as various conflicts spread along its borders, culminating in the Great War.

The Blood Years

DR 1545 - DR 1574; 26 Derik III - 7 Wissym I

Overview

  • 1546 DR: Significant refugee populations from Istabor are settled in Maseau, the Borderlands, Addermarch, and the Mostreve Hills
  • 1547 DR: The Bloodlust Wars begin
  • 1549 DR, summer: Derik III dies on the battlefield at Valarin
  • 1549 DR, fall: The Bloodlust Wars ends
  • 1549 DR, summer: Bertram I is crowned with his mother, Jane of Tollen as regent
  • 1549 DR, summer: The Tyrwingha Oracles elevate Rhys Taffolet to the crown instead of Bertram I. Jane of Tollen accepts this decision and does not attempt to force Tyrwingha to rejoin the Unified Crown.
  • 1550 DR, fall: Rumors reach Embry of orc hordes in Vostok
  • 1550 DR, fall: The Vostok Embassy of 1550 arrives in Embry and departs with a single company of knights, who never return. High King of Vostok is quietly dropped from Bertram’s title
  • 1551 DR, spring: The year starts with unseasonable and unending rains, and there is much flooding.
  • 1551 DR, fall: The Blood Plague spreads north, killing everything
  • 1552 DR, winter: A terrible winter of famine
  • 1552 DR, winter: Bertram I dies and Bertram II is crowned with Jane of Tollen as his regent
  • 1552 DR, spring: The Blood Plague ends, although the toll south of the Enst was immense. Bertram I stops collecting rents from Maseau
  • 1553 DR, winter: The Regency of Jane of Tollen ends and Bertram II takes power himself
  • 1558 DR, spring: News reaches Embry of the Battle of White Pass (the opening thrust of the Sentinel Range War) and at Jane’s urging, no aid is sent to Ardlas or Lavnoch
  • 1559 DR: Jane of Tollen dies and Bertram II rides north to aid Ardlas
  • 1561 DR, late winter: Bertram II dies in the Battle of SomeOtherPass
  • 1561 DR, spring: Blanche I is crowned Queen

  • 1561 DR, summer: The Sentinel Range War ends

  • 1564 DR: A year of fine harvests and the first year in living memory when the borders of Sembara are at peace

  • 1565 DR: Blanche I departs on her Grand Ambassadorship of Blanche I to the Green Sea
  • 1566 DR: Blanche I returns from her grand tour, and starts to show significant favoritism to her sister Elaine I
  • 1568 DR: The Interregum of 1568. Wisym I appointed King.

The Hobgoblin Wars

DR 1574 - DR 1650; 7 Wissym I - 2 Cece I

  • 1574 DR: The First Hobgoblin War begins.
  • 1578 DR: The First Hobgoblin War ends. A substantial portion of the Shattered Ice Clan remains established in the Marches of Enford and western Maseau
  • 1582 DR: Wisym I dies. Anne attempts to geas Elaine I to prevent her from wishing to take the throne, but the spell fails. Elaine I is crowned queen and Anne executed, and her children exiled
  • 1583 DR: The Cursed Cold spreads from the Plaguelands for five months, until The Rangers and others heal the land. Rumors spread that this was divine retribution for Anne’s sins
  • 1590 DR: The Shattered Ice Clan launches significant raids across Maseau, which sends an embassy to Sembara for aid
  • 1590 DR, fall: Elaine I sends the Army of Mostreve and the Army of the South to aid Maseau. The Second Hobgoblin War begins
  • 1602 DR: Blanche II dies in childbirth, and her great uncle, Percival Wynthrope, becomes regent for her young son
  • 1602 DR: The Second Hobgoblin War ends with the Treaty of Châteauclair between the regent, Percival Wynthrope and the Shattered Ice Clan. The lands south of the Enst and west of the Aure are ceded to the hobgoblins.
  • 1644 DR, spring: A new leader amongst the Shattered Ice Clan starts a war of ethnic cleansing against Maseau, starting the Third Hobgoblin War
  • 1644 DR, late spring: Arryn II, at the urging of his daughter Charlotte II and her husband Lionel Falconhurst, the grandson of the Duke of Maseau, and a prominent Isinguen, launches a rapid assault on the Shattered Ice Clan
  • 1644 DR, fall: After several early successes, the Sembaran Army of the West is fought to a stalemate at the Battle of Lysandale in the western reaches of Maseau
  • 1644 DR, fall: The Shattered Ice Clan abandons the campaign in Maseau and redirects their armies to Sembara
  • 1644 DR, late fall/winter: The Shattered Ice Clan probes the fortifications along the Enst, launching attacks on Cleenseau and Rinburg, both of which are repelled at some cost. The Rinburg bridge is destroyed, but hobgoblins establish a fortified camp near Dallet
  • 1645 DR: Afraid of collaboration with Sembara, the hobgoblins begin a series of brutal campaigns against the remaining humans living south of the Enst. Raiding continues north of the Enst and the armies swell around Rinburg and Cleenseau
  • 1646 DR, summer: The Sembaran Grand Army is defeated at the Battle of Rinburg. Rinburg is occupied, and Cleenseau and Dunfry are isolated
  • 1646 DR, late fall: A surprise attack by the Shattered Ice Clan conquerors Cleenseau. The defenses of Fellburn are probed but the city holds firm
  • 1647 DR: The Shattered Ice Clan controls all of the lands west of the Mostreve Hills and the Aure, between Valarin and the Enst, and holds several towns on the north side of the Enst including Cleenseau and Rinburg.
  • 1647 DR, summer: The Army of Mostreve in alliance with the Earl of Addermarch holds the line of the Aure at the Battle of the Aure
  • 1647 DR, summer: Dunfry is besieged.
  • 1647 DR, late fall: Fellburn is sacked
  • 1648 DR, late fall: Arryn II is killed by hobgoblins while travelling to inspect the Army of the South camped outside Wisford. His daughter, Charlotte II is caught in the same attack, but survives for two months before dying of an injury that resisted all magical healing
  • 1648 DR, late winter: Cece I crowned Queen
  • 1648 DR, early spring: The Army of the North attempts to break the siege of Dunfry, and is bogged down
  • 1648 DR, late spring: Cece I combines the Armies of the South, and Mostreve, and raises a special levy across the realm, and forms the Radiant Alliance, which she takes personal command of
  • 1648 DR, early summer: After a few stalemates, the Radiant Alliance sweeps across Sembara. Rinburg and Cleenseau are liberated and the siege of Dunfry is broken
  • 1648 DR, summer: The Enst Campaign pushes the Shattered Ice Clan west of Vaubonne and south of the Enst
  • 1649 DR, summer: The Maseau Campaign pushes the Shattered Ice Clan west of Maseau, into the foothills of the Sentinel Range and the Marches of Enford
  • 1650 DR, summer: The Enford Campaign pushes the Shattered Ice Clan out of the headwaters of the Enst and establishes a strong garrison at Enford
  • 1653 DR: The Third Hobgoblin War ends

The Peace of Cece

DR 1650 - DR 1713; 2 Cece I - 65 Cece 1

Overview

In the autumn of 1650, after three summers of campaigning, the Shattered Ice Clan has been cleansed from the land. Three years prior, a hobgoblin dominion stretched in the Enst valley, from the Sentinel Range to the headwaters of the Aure in Addermarch, and even northwards into the Barony of Varbonne. It is now gone, although people have only slowly started returning to the war-torn lands.

The reign of Cece I is a time of peace and prosperity. The borders are secure, trade is growing, and Sembara’s relations with its neighbors are friendly, and the hobgoblin threat, although not entirely gone, is isolated to the Western Marches.

Recent Events

Since DR 1713 (1 Robert I)

  • 1713 DR: Cece I dies. In Sembara, Robert I is crowned king, but the Oracle of the Riven elects his cousin, Elaine II the Queen of Tyrwingha
  • 1715 DR, spring: Rowena Chemare, Robert’s wife, is murdered by bandits in the Aine Hills while visiting her family holdings
  • 1715 DR, summer: Robert leads the Army of the North on a summer campaign against bandits in the Aine Hills and Sembaran Highlands
  • 1716 DR, spring: Robert’s eldest son, Robert is infected by a lycanthrope and disappears shortly afterward west of Enford
  • 1717 DR, fall: Robert’s daughter, Arabella of Sewick dies in childbirth, her son apparently possessed by a demon. Rumors spread that Cece’s ill luck with children as being passed down to her son.
  • 1717 DR, late winter: Robert’s younger son, Thaddeus is shipwrecked off the coast of Cymea, with his wife and young child, and is never heard from again
  • 1718 DR, early spring: The Royal Council meets over Robert’s objections and declares Elaine II the heir to the Sembaran throne. Robert I acquiesces, although he vows to remarry and produce a new heir from his body.