History of the Keller Lands

0 IY: The Alikai monarch King Varatos announces to his court that he is the incarnation of the sun god Aurintuli, and the Alikai have been chosen for a divine mission. In a ceremony held in Alikai City, the official Founding of the Keller Empire by is celebrated with the coronation of Emperor Varatos. This launches a long series of military and diplomatic campaigns aimed at bringing the Keller Lands together under the rule of a single monarch and a single faith.  

Circa 100 IY: The unification of the Western and Southern Keller Lands into the Empire is completed during the reign of Varatos II, marking the greatest extent of Keller imperial control of territory, stretching from the Hillayet Sea to the Mayhar Peninsula. This is now regarded as the "Golden Age" of the Keller Empire, which reached its largest extent during this period.

200 IY to 300 IY:  The Keller Empire experiences a period of wealth, power, and decadence. Nearly all of the greatest engineering works, such as the Imperial Palace, the Solar Basilica, and the Great Arsenal are built during this period. Construction of the Keller Imperial Roads, connecting all of the provincial capitals to Alikai City, is completed as well, making it possible to travel swiftly from any part of the empire to the other in comparative safety and comfort. 

475 IY to 485 IY: After years of tension, Keller Emperor Sennach III launches a crusade against the Pershamon Empire. Initially quite successful, the invasion leads to a decade of expensive and disastrous campaigns back and forth across the Farspar Mountains. Neither empire is powerful enough to conclusively defeat the other in open battle. These campaigns, initially fought on the open plains of the Pershamon heartland and then in the valleys and mountain passes of the FarSpar Mountains, later become known as the "War Among the Peaks".

485 IY to 505 IY: Several southern Keller principalities (Sarradastros, Gemric, and Terathmin) reject the legitimacy of Sennach III and his dynasty, due largely to the cost and failure of the "War Among the Peaks". These rebellious provinces negotiate a separate peace with the Pershamon Empire. This action starts the "Twenty Years War", a civil war aggravated by religious and regional divisions, and covertly encouraged by the Pershamon. The Western and Southern Keller provinces attempt to form independent kingdoms while still fighting off the Keller Empire.

505 IY: Internecine warfare escalates to a climax, culminating in the near-destruction of the Keller Lands during the "Great Scourging". Imperial mages send devastation upon the rebel heartland using summoned spirits and extraplanar entities, while rebel mages in Terathmin invoke an elemental response, damaging much of the Keller Empire with storms and earthquakes. Neither side is able to continue the fighting long after this, and the Keller Civil War grinds to a halt. The Pershamon Empire, already exhausted by decades of struggle, is content to simply seal the mountain passes and ignore the devastation. The population of the Keller Lands is greatly reduced by the destruction and the plagues that followed, and large swaths of land fell into ruin.510 IY to 600 IY: The chaos of the Keller Civil War left the remaining nations and their populations with a hatred of mages and magic in general. Local priests banded together with local militias and began hunting down and destroying magic users, alchemists, even harmless lunatics who were rumored to have mystical powers. These small bands communicated and cooperated, eventually forming one of several regional armies now referred to as “Crusades” or “Inquisitions”, depending on their mode of operation. This period is referred to as the “Wizards Purge”, and it lasted for many years.

600 IY: The surviving magic users of the Keller Lands, hoping to avoid final destruction at the hands of armies, gods, or rampaging mobs, agreed that something needed to be done or they and their art would be lost forever. Various powerful rulers and high priests realized that magic was too useful to ignore, but it needed to be governed and controlled. To that end, a handful of the most powerful magic users in the Known World gathered together in Moon Shoals, one of the only remaining intact centers of magical research and power. After years of debate, the gathered wizards agreed to something called the Atoros Accords in 600 IY. Named after the moon representing the Keller goddess of magic, the Atoros Accords laid down a series of general principles and rules to be followed by magic users within the Keller Lands. It was sanctioned by the priestly hierarchy of Komusta (goddess of magic) and Aurintuli (supreme deity of the Keller pantheon). The idea is that if the magic users of the world keep a voluntarily low profile, they will be free to conduct their own affairs as they wish.610 IY to 820 IY: For about two centuries, the various states of the Keller Lands stabilize into patterns of trade and warfare, as the postwar chaos slowly settles.The two greatest powers are the Republic of Gemric in the south, and the Keller Empire in the north. Numerous other states orbit these two powers in various combinations of alliances and enmities. Despite constant political turmoil, the Keller Lands grow in population and wealth, beginning to explore the Known World and the oceans around it. All the while the Pershamon Empire, lacking a credible external threat, grows content and passive in its power. The ruling dynasty grows softer and decadent as the decades go by. Around the edges of civilization, new barbarian threats grow in the wilderness, especially in the abandoned regions away from roads, rivers, and cities.

828 IY: After the intelligent and cunning Keller Regent-Empress Vanaira spends decades on political and military reforms, her son takes the throne as a teenager. Emperor Ramallan III assumes full control of the Keller Empire on his 18th birthday, and has his mother executed for treason shortly afterwards. He renames the empire the "Ascendant Keller Empire", and begins a formal crusade to reunify the Keller Lands under the Linealist Church and his reign. His ascension is marked by military campaigns in the west, annexing parts of Mismallon and Tempelhoff. 

830 IY: War erupts between the Duchy of Silverwater and Pine March. The conflict begins as a fight over an Elven portal network, but quickly expanded. The ruler of Pine March, "Queen Anmara" began using undead allies and dabbling with Vorokhoi cultists in a search for a military edge. As a result of this, the Grand Duchy of Durham entered the war on the side of Silverwater. The two duchies hope to end the war quickly, before the Ascendant Keller Empire uses Queen Anmara's allies as an excuse to declare a crusade and extend Imperial territory further into the region than ever before.