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[top]Tuarhievel timeline

(all dates from the Tuarish calendar)
Unknown: Elves spring from the union of earth, water, fire and air
-13,089: Sidhe Braelachheim unites tribes of what eventually will be known as the Aelwinnwode into one nation. The Golden Age of elven culture begins.
-12,500 to -8,000: Dwarves emerge from the depths of the earth, only to be dominated by the elves. Dwarves eventually retreat to mountains again.
-1,700: Elves enslave the primitive kobolds and goblins of the Stonecrown mountains, teaching them civilization.
-700 to -500: The kobolds rebel, retreating into the mountains south of the Aelwinnwode, building impenetrable underground warrens.
0: The birth of Tuar, future queen.
237 to 294: Massive goblin uprising during which Sidhe Braelachhiem is killed. Individual powerful elves proclaim themselves lords over portions of the forest. End of the Golden Age.
295 to 456: The Humanoid Wars. Tuar manages to secure a haven for the elves (the lands later known as Tuarhievel) against the humanoids. She is declared Queen Tuar.
956: Tuar, with the aid of several forest-dwelling creatures, constructs the living artifact known as the Thorn Throne.
2,004: The first humans reach Tuarhievel. Elves and humans agree to share the forests.
2,332 to 2,648: Having forgotten the arrangement their ancestors made with the elves, the humans begin to clear-cut forests and drive elves away. Tuar and other elven rulers establish the gheallie Sidhe knighthood.
2,700 to 3,178: The elves are swayed by Azrai to take their battle out of the forests and into the human lands. The decline of elven culture is accelerated.
3,203: The War of Shadow begins.
3,205: Battle of Deismaar. Tuar recognizes the error the elves have commited, and in a stirring speech, causes most elven warlords to sweep across the field and join the human forces opposing Azrai. Tuar vanishes during the battle and is presumed slain. Tuarhievel is named in her owner.
3,206 to 3,640: The powerful of Tuarhievel squabble over who of the new breed of divinely gifted nobility shall rule the domain. The Thorn Throne stands vacant during this time, as not even those who try to claim it can sit upon it without injury (including Tuar's relatives from House Tuarlachiem).
3,641: Goblin invasion of Tuarhievel is repelled by generals from House Llyrandor. Fhilerwyn Llyrandor is accepted by the throne, but refuses the title of king, not wanting to equate himself with Queen Tuar.
4,229: Fhilerwyn marries Ibelcoris Llyrandor. As the other remaining elf kingdom in Aelwinnwode falls, the couple decides it's time for a more conciliatory stance towards the humans. They outlaw the ghaellie Sidhe and open trade relations with the human kingdoms. Sielwode condemns the move and threatens war.
4,497: The Gorgon tries to invade Tuarhievel: Prince Fhilerwyn is killed, and the province of Sideath becomes uninhabitable due to a magical disaster.
4,499: Birth of Fhileraene.
4,649: The first human settlement is constructed in Tuarhievel, within a mile of the Thorn Throne.
4,690: Ibelcoris marries human Baron of Dhoesone.
4,705: House Tuarlachiem sponsors a revival of the gheallie Sidhe in Tuarhievel.
4,716: Ibelcoris is assassinated. Fhileraene ascends the throne as his half sister, Fhiele, takes power in Dhoesone. As a gesture of goodwill toward his half-sister, Fhileraene grants her dominion over parts of Tuarhievel.
4,717 to 4,728: The gheallie Sidhe continues to gain strength. Fhileraene reestablishes friendly relations with Sielwode.
4,728: Fhileraene outrages many of the nobles when he takes a human woman, Savane, niece of the Mhor, as his consort.
4,729: Present year. The Gorgon demands Fhileraene as a hostage to ensure the good behavior of Tuarhievel. The pregnant Savane is invested with Fhileraene's bloodline so that their child will inherit it. Tuarhievel becomes tense when the noble families discover that the bloodline was passed to a human.
Despite the seemingly detailed nature of the preceding timeline, very little is actually known about Tuarhievel's history until recent centuries. Events prior to the battle of Mount Deismaar are shrouded in elven folktales and bardic songs. Most elven written records were turned to ash during the centuries of warfare, and the dragon who once served as a lorekeeper for the elves was slain three centuries ago by human treasure seekers.

[top]The Golden Age

At least a dozen different elven creation myths exist, but they all share a common theme - that elves were created from a union of the Four Elements. The fact that elves seem to have close relationships with races such as nymphs, sylphs, and sandlings seems to support these myths. At some point during this misty prehistory, a mighty warrior known as the Sidhe ("The Elf") Braelachhiem (who, incidentally, is one of Rhuobhe's idols), united the elven tribes into a vast kingdom. Under him, elven culture flourished, arts developed, and most of what is considered fundamentally elven can be tracked to this Golden Age in elven society. Universities, magecraft schools, and bardic colleges, some of which still operate today, were established. Some of the most beautiful works of music were composed during this time as well. The elven court of Braelachhiem was a splendid sight that all elves dreamed of visiting.
As the undisputed masters of the forests, the elves soon began to subjugate the races of the surrounding hills and mountains. The dwarves retreated back into their underground dwellings before the elves became too overbearing, but the kobolds spent a millenia under the elven yoke and the goblins were enslaved for over two thousand years.

[top]The Humanoid Wars

Ultimately, a massive uprising of the humanoid slave races shattered the united elven kingdoms and brought about the death of the Braelachhiem and the end of the Golden Age. The kobolds were the first to rebel against elven domination. They fled to the mountains where they created impenetrable underground warrens. But not until the goblins rebelled were the elves seriously threatened. Aided by orogs and other races such as trolls, the goblins waged all-out war against their former slave masters. Upon the death of Braelachhiem, elven nobles started squabbling among themselves. The united kingdom disintegrated into countless tiny fiefdoms, each of which claimed to be the new elven court.
Divided among themselves, the elves had difficulty dealing with the marauding humanoids until a young female elf named Tuar convinced the noble families of Braedonal (the descendants of Braelachhiem), Dhoelachnal, Sideath and Llyrandor to pool their resources and form united realm against the goblins. Under Tuar's leadership, they mustered armies that eventually secured the region now known as Tuarhievel against the raiders. At the urging of Siebharrinn, Master of house Sideath, and Fhilerwyn, Master of House Llyrandor, Tuar was named "Queen of Tuarhievel".
Tuar's rulership was further affirmed by the other forest races, who united to create a symbol of her authority: the Thorn Throne. Under Tuar's loving guidance, the living artifact grew to form a massive building which still serves as the center of Tuarhievel's government.

[top]The Years Of The Shadow

When the fleeing humans reached the elven lands, Tuar welcomed them into the safe haven of Tuarhievel. Within the space of two human generations, the humans were no longer content co-existing with the elves, and instead wished to claimed their lands. Tuar and other elven rulers founded an elven order of knights, the gheallie Sidhe, to safeguard the borders from human incursions.
Unfortunately, the pressure of humans and goblins was too much for many weaker elven nations; within a few centuries, much of the forests have been destroyed and replaced with fields of wheat and barley. As a result, Azrai had no trouble convincing Tuar that the war should be taken out of the forest and into human lands. Tuar, aided by General Rhuobhe Manslayer of House Llyrandor, launched all-out assaults on surrounding human lands. Eventually, all armies descended upon Mount Deismaar for a final confrontation. Here, Tuar had a change of heart, and through stirring oratory, managed to convince most of her brethren that they were on the "wrong side" of this conflict. Rhuobhe was unswayed, and elf battled elf as the old gods gave up their existences to stop Azrai. Tuar's body was never found, and Tuarhievel was given the name known today in her honor.

[top]The Present Era

The Thorn Throne stood vacant for over four centuries. The elves govern by consensus, and the Throne Throne reflects this. How this is so remains unknown. It is presumed that upon the coronation of a new regent the various houses perform a ritual affirming their approval of the new regent. The nobles squabbled amongst themselves about Tuar's successor, the issue of how to deal with the humans was so divisive. Without the consensus of the elves, the Thorn Throne would not accept anyone as ruler of Tuarhievel - not even the descendants of Tuar herself, House Tuarlachiem. When the goblins renewed their hostilities, most nobles refused to defend anything but their own lands unless they would first be recognized as Tuarhievel's ruler. Only Fhilerwyn Llyrandor of House Llyrandor committed forces to defend the borders... and it was Fhilerwyn that the Thorn Throne eventually accepted as ruler of the nation. The formidable elf lord nonetheless felt humbled by the accomplishments of Tuar. In order to avoid the appearance of attempting to overshadow her, he assumed the title of Prince of Tuarhievel. This has become an established title for rulers of Tuarhievel: while female rulers are queens, male rulers are recognized as princes.
Once on the throne, Fhilerwyn became the architect of a great plan to normalize relations with the humans. His first step was to formally disconnect Rhuobhe Manslayer from any claims to titles and holdings of Llyrandor. But as Fhilerwyn was trying to unify Tuarhievel, the Gorgon's armies smashed into Tuarhievel as part of the awnsheg's desire to rule the known world. The army was repelled, but at great cost: Fhilerwyn was killed defending Cymryr, and the entire province of Sideath was made uninhabitable when Lord Siebharrinn, one of the mightiest wizards in all of Cerilia, unleashed the horrors of the Shadow World on the massive advancing army.
When Siebharrinn's spell ended, the goblin army was gone, and none of those who marched with it would ever menace the elves gain. However, every other sentient creature in Sideath was gone as well; only Siebharrinn remained. To this day, he is the only creature that can exist in Sideath - no living creature can bear to stay in the realm for any time. Those who enter the land unbidden are summarily turned away by the archmage, who wishes only to be left alone. Sporadic communiqués with the Thorn Throne indicate that he is searching for a way to restore the lost people of Sideath to the world of the living, and that Siebharrinn now refers to himself as the "Master of Lychgate."
Upon Fhilerwyn's death, his wife Ibelcoris Llyrandor of House Llyrandor assumed rulership of Tuarhievel. During her years on the throne, she continued to develop relations with the humans. She eventually married a human - the ruler of Dhoesone, a land where elves and humans lived in uneasy truce. House Tuarlachiem saw this arrangement as a betrayal of all that is elven and began sponsoring violent antihuman efforts. The culmination of these protests might, in fact, have been the assassination of Ibelcoris roughly a decade ago.
If antihuman elves were behind Ibelcoris' death, then their efforts backfired: Her children Fhileraene (her son by Fhilerwyn) and Fhiele (her daughter by the Baron of Dhoesone), assumed the leadership of Tuarhievel and Dhoesone and continued to expand elven and human relations. As a gesture of good will and a symbol that House Llyrandor still controlled all of Tuarhievel through Thorn Throne, Fhileraene even granted Fhiele Dhoesone shared authority over some provinces where House Tuarlachiem was strongest. Tuarlachiem, still stinging from losing power, became increasingly critical of the Thorn Throne and House Llyrandor.
Prince Fhileraene's fascination with humankind continued to grow, until ultimately he took the human woman named Savane as his consort. At the same time, however, Fhileraene took steps to limit the ability of human merchants to drain resources from Tuarhievel by encouraging halflings and elves to establish guilds of their own.
Recently, the Gorgon threatened to invade Tuarhievel again, claiming that the master of Lychgate was sending armies of undead into his lands. He further demanded that Fhileraene travel to the Gorgon's Crown to negotiate peace. Fhileraene had no choice but to do as the Gorgon demanded. At the urging of his good friend and adviser Llytha Damaan, however, Fhileraene first divested himself of his bloodline. Through the divestiture ceremony, he transferred his bloodline to his human consort, Savane. His last act before traveling to the Gorgon's Crown was to appear before the Llywodraeth Cynulliad with a taelinir and inform the council that his consort was carrying his baby daughter. Fhileraene declared that Savane would be the regent of the land until either he returned, or the child came of age to rule.

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