~ Timeline ~
A timeline of all notable events as the cats in the Decks can recall them, from the time of the founding to now.
A timeline of all notable events as the cats in the Decks can recall them, from the time of the founding to now.
Pre-RP:
Zero Trumpets Sound.
The First Decade (0-10):
The Age of Cards (0-11):
The Founders of the Decks all meet in the Plain of Revelation after being drawn by an unknown force. They decide to stay and explore the Plain, with the possibility of settling down in mind. After some nights, the Founders agree to create a home on the Plain, with each choosing spots they deemed fitting to their standards. After this, more cats began to show up, all drawn by the same mysterious force the Founders felt themselves touched by. This was the beginning of the Decks as the cats know them now. These cats formed elaborate groups, some going to the mounds and digging out a home for themselves, some went to the forest to live in the middle of nature, some went to the abandoned Humantype town nearby, and the others went to the fractured islands by the river to set up camp.
Life was fine for them for a good while, until the Deities showed their faces. In a blinding flash above what's now called the Forest of Deities, the lanky form of the Black came crawling through the sky to the Overgrowth Forest, the hulking form of the Red came storming through the clouds to The Wreck, the elegant form of the White came parading through the air to the Grave of the Forgotten, and the lumbering form of the Pale came slithering through the night to The Escape. The sight of these huge beings were a shock to everyone, and as the Deities made their places in the world, the first Rise of the Dark began. Haunted bodies of those fallen and gone rose from the ground, their darkened and shadowy forms dripping with muck and gore, their eyes piercing into those of the living. The Living Dead had risen, and they began to attack.
The battle was horrible, wounds and deaths suffered on all sides, with the Founders of each group being lost among the chaos. As everything began to look hopeless, a sliver of light came down from the Moon, shining into the abandoned Cathedral. The Call of the Gods. The Founders found themselves inside of it, and there, The Serenity looked down on them, and saved them. They were not seen again, but their mark was left on the world they'd been taken from: A bright, shining moon illuminating the Plain of Revelation as the Watchers From Above came to banish the Living Dead, sealing them back into the ground from whence they'd came.
These dead and beloved cats met with their families and friends once more, telling them they were always there beside them, no matter what. The Watchers led the cats to the Call of the Gods, showing them that this was where they would meet in the future, where they would gather for peaceful celebrations and meetings, where they'd be protected for eternity from the Deities and those who who wished to harm them, including the Living Dead. They led them to the Message to the Above, where they were shown the four glass windows in which they'd lay their Mirrors, to reflect the wishes of the Gods and those who needed to communicate with them about the world beyond Mortality.
Among the Watchers though, the Founders were nowhere to be seen. It's unsure where they were, but word is, they were locking the Deities in their place, keeping them from unleashing such chaos again... Despite what the Deities had done though, it was obvious they were important, and a majority of the cats wanted to try to explore them deeper, to understand why they were here, and what kind of Deities they were. So began the tentative worship of the Deities, where the groups came to respect, and fear those who lived among them, behind their waking eyes.
One young cat who was led to the Call of the Gods found something special among the disorderly church. On top of the podium where future Faces would stand to give speeches, was a deck of Humantype playing cards. This young cat would grow to be the first Face of the Black, proceeding after Black's Founder. They told the cats of the Plain that it was a sign, and together they worked with the new leaders of the groups to form what we know of to this day: The Decks. Voxpull took the Black Hearts, Cacklethroes took the Pale Spades, Crownedthrum took the White Clubs, and Heavystone took the Red Diamonds. They then worked to form the Decks as we currently know them, creating special roles for each Deck, making spots for Mirrors, Jokers, and Hands, and even creating unique ways to use their elements in the world. This generation of Faces became just as important as the Founders as time went on, and a lot of our current history and setup is thanks to them.
The exact details of this first decade are a little lost to time, and there are some who doubt the validity of it all. For the most part, the story has remained the same over time, but there's always the possibility of error...
The Second Decade (11-20):
The Age of Peace (11-17):
The knowledge from this Age is a bit forgotten, as compared to the tales of the Founders and the first Faces. However, it's known that the second Faces helped pave the way for the future Faces, once the Firsts were gone--working together to truly form and solidify the rules that the Decks stick to to this day. This time was more or less peaceful, though a few natural disasters struck the Decks: The Epidemic, The Flood, and The Lightning. These led to issues for each Deck in their own ways, whether it have been a plague that befell the entire Plain, or a Flood that forced The Red and The White from their homes for a while...
As more disasters began to strike, the Mirrors began to become more important, seeking out answers from the Gods and Watchers from Above, establishing a more solid connection with the dead. These connections finally started to bring up more solid types of protection, solidifying the types of divination that the Mirrors could use, rather than ONLY going to the Message To The Above.
However, this also brought about the first major prophecy--a riddle to predict the future, something that the Watchers, were, for some reason, forbidden from telling the cats of the Plain directly. The prophecy goes as follows:
"As the wound is torn, and the feathers spill,
Thunder and Lightning will shake the army,
The flowers will freeze under the moon.
A shield and spear will guide the way,
To walk the crumbling chasm."
This prophecy led to major speculation between the Mirrors, and the words began to leak from rumors that the cats of the Decks spread. No one could quite figure out what it meant, until much later...
This Age's end was marked by a sudden, lasting occurrence of the Epidemic, where three different Faces and multiple other cats died by the effects that it had on the Plain. These number of deaths lead into the Age of Plague, where the natural disasters and general chaotic nature of the Plain seemed to heighten with intensity, where safety seemed like a longshot from anything the Plain could reach.
The Age of Plague (17-21):
When three Faces fell in quick succession due to the lingering Epidemic, the Age of Plague began. The Living Dead seemed to come in greater intensity during the Rise of the Dark, and the Fall of the Light never seemed to light up the Plain as brightly. The Deities caused a number of spirals in cats' minds, leading them to do things they may not have before, and never-before-seen natural disasters began to arise as well. They couldn't be named, but they invoked flames and ice upon the land...
A number of droughts happened in this time, as well as floods. The Plain was the most unsafe it'd been in ages, and it didn't seem like anything would get better. Hawkclub, the White Face at this time, had to deal with a swarm of Living Dead that infested the camp. They weren't the same as usual--something was wrong with them. He bravely fought back most of them, but one of the Living Dead got the upper hand on him, and he was struck down--losing all four lives at once. This death was sudden, yet something strange happened at the same time. The Moonlight shone onto the camp, and the cats were filled with a strange feeling they hadn't experienced that passionately in a long time: Persistence.
The Third Decade (21-30):
The Age of Storm (21-25):
After the death of Hawkclub, there was a large amount of unrest about the true safety of the Decks, especially since the Living Dead were able to strike down his four lives in just one hit. Tensions began to rise from this Age, the question of why they're still here on the Plain coming up from the question of Bloodhaven. Bloodhaven was one of the more outspoken members of the Red Deck, questioning the Deities and the Gods they lived under, wondering why they're not allowed to leave the Plain, and why they can't seem to remember the exact details of the Ages that came before the current one. The things he spoke about could've been considered hearsay to some, but somehow, he ended up becoming the Face of the Red after Snowdiamond passed from sacrificing herself to save a group of kittens during a flood. Despite what Bloodhaven spoke of, the Deities and Gods accepted him. He became more quiet for a time after he became the Face as well...
At the same time, a string of omens began spiking up among the Decks. The White was given a ray of sunlight shining down on a songbird's nest, The Red was given a rock blocking a single offshoot of the creek by their camp, The Black was given a single crow cawing above their fresh-kill pile, and The Pale was given a single living Nightshade in a meadow of Starsfall. The prophecies were answered as so:
The White were led by songbirds to a grave that, when dug up, contained a few Bright elemental gems, and solved the issue of Living Dead appearing when they shouldn't. The Red followed the cut-off stream to find a pool of water that contained pure, fresh water, and solved the issue of lack of fresh water due to few Dew users. The Black realized one of the answers to the Overgrowth Forest due to the call of the crows. The Pale was able to weed out a dangerous individual within their ranks, exiling the cat to the Deckless, restoring peace after a string of unexplained murders.
The final prophecy came after Gargoyleheart died, and had no Joker to replace them. The Lightning flashed before the cats of Black, during a wild and explosive storm, and the vague impression of an eye appeared in the clouds above them. The answer to their question of the new Face: Stormsight.
Stormsight went to become the new Face of the Black, and succeeded, becoming Stormheart. This success marked the end of the Age of Storm, and then began the Age of Sun.
The Age of Sun (25-31):
As the individual prophecies were solved, a lot of problems seemed to be laid to rest. Not a lot of natural disasters occurred, besides the occasional visit from the Lightning or the Epidemic, and the Rise of the Dark of each month didn't cause much trouble for any of the Decks. It almost seemed as though everything could be okay. Even the Deities didn't appear often, and many of the suits that graduated in this time only had minor visits from them when they went through their Trials. It was strange...
Though, the peace was appreciated, and celebrated. There was an entire moon in the Summer that was devoted to celebration, called the Sunlight's Moon. Every Deck came together to celebrate, every year, dancing and feasting, doing games and having fun in a way they weren't able to before. It was nice.
The good times couldn't last forever though, as during the middle of the Age, Stormheart was suddenly found dead, with all signs leading to a rather prominent member of the White Deck, who was then cast out and exiled. This death was mourned incredibly by the Black, but by every other Deck as well. The loss of someone who brought about peace and sunlight to the Plain was heavy, and what came after changed everything for the cats of the Plain once again.
The Fourth Decade (31-40):
The Age of Sin (31-34):
Gooseripple is made the face after Stormheart dies from, what was thought to be at the time just an accident, but was later proven to be murder at Gooseripple's claws. Gooseheart chooses Aegisshield as its Joker, and makes the Black borders strict, limiting cats from other Decks from coming into their territory, and no cats are allowed to leave unless their reasons are justified. The other Decks are unsettled by this. At the next Calling, Gooseheart says that the Decks have been sinful, and it will see to it that punishment is handed to those that divert from the true intentions of the Watchers and Gods. If the other Faces do not repent and change their ways, instead of continuing to fraternize with each other, it will declare war upon them all.
As the Decks refuse to listen to what Gooseheart says, it begins to lead different attacks on the other Decks--sending patrols to ambush their own small patrols, turning away Mirrors when they come for help, and even denying its' own cats from leaving the camp without a group of its followers to come along with them. There was a complete lack of trust, but Gooseheart never seemed to care about needing trust or not, it was just so utterly focused on removing Sin from the Decks.
One of the attacks that it brought on to the White Deck led to the death of the Deck's Joker, Jabirucry, as well as the death of the Face, Shrikeclub. Jabiru was killed in battle, and Shrike died from infected wounds after a few nights of trying to heal. In this time of trying to heal though, he assigned Turnspear as the next Joker, and when Shrikeclub passed, Turnspear became the Face of the Deck--accepted by the Gods and Deities to become Turnclub. He appointed Derechothroat as his Joker, and the two have been working closely together ever since. This period of time was their most vulnerable, which the local group of raccoons decided to take advantage of. They swarmed some of the further edges of the Abandoned Nest, trying to take some of the White's territory for their own. This led to a number of battles that Turnclub had to deal with early on, as well as Gooseheart's whole deal. Gooseheart was very suddenly struck with illness though, and died in camp. No one questioned the suddenness of it all, as everyone was more glad to be rid of Goose.
The Age of Shadow (34-current):
After the death of Gooseheart, Aegisshield takes over as the Face of the Black, beginning their work to right the wrongs done by Gooseheart. They began with making amends with the White, creating an alliance with Turnclub that they've stuck to ever since. As Aegisheart began fixing things between the different Decks and Black, things seemed to perk up. The Red was in good hands, and they were growing strong after the battles they faced, and The White was finally given the aid they needed in the battles against the raccoons.
Except, as good as the Decks were doing, a new sort of disaster struck. Valerianspade was found dead, killed by the Living Dead that guarded The Entrance. The Joker of the Pale, Calandivawilt, was able to successfully become the next Face, though his priorities seemed a bit different than anyone was expecting. He was starting to break the more traditional rules of the Deck, and while some appreciated this change, others were against it. Besides, the death of Valerianspade seemed odd and uncharacteristic for the Face. A lot of suspicions began to arise about the potential of murder, but there doesn't seem to be any solid evidence for the accusations.
At this point, any more pieces of the timeline are in-RP events.
A Grand Welcoming
Twistedsoul invited any and every cat from inside and outside the Decks to a gathering at the Colorful Kingdom. Everything started out fine, with a lot of mingling between Decks and cats who did/didn't know each other, but eventually a storm began churning out, led by a God: The Lightning. The Lightning struck down on the Plain of Hope, which started the growth of another God: The Forest Fire.
The cats of the Plain began scrambling to put out the fire, led by different major cats: Seether, Scarabwhisper, Pants, and so on. The Forest Fire, as it was being put out, found its way to Valentineserenade, who chose to become its disciple, while Robin and Spiderthistle got into an argument about what to do with the God. In a flash, the Null Robin became a being of Bolt, exploding out electricity and accidentally killing Spiderthistle.
Spiderthistle met a Reaper in The Calamity, Odelon, who told Spider that she needed to find the other hidden Reaper on the Plain. When she woke up, she had Scarabwhisper and Moonchip to thank for her Survival. Robin and Flashpip then began to help out on the Plain of Hope, collecting and taking count of those injured. Thankfully, no one died (at least permanently) in this event.
The First Mirror Messaging
As all the Mirrors settled down for the Messaging, they were transported to a black void, where chirping could be heard. The chirping came from yellow and black birds that swung overhead, leading them somewhere. In the twittering though, a sudden blaze crashed through the Mirrors, a streak hitting multiple cats but drawing no pain, only blood, painting the void of a floor below them. Brambles lap at the blood underneath them, and the birds fell through the air, tumbling into nothingness below. The void began to feel closer, but light approached the air. It felt good to the Mirrors, no matter how skeptical they were.
From the light, a black claw came out, and red eyes stared down at the Mirrors and Chips, speaking to them. As it spoke, it responded to Spinerattle, who wondered who it was. It seemed to know them, but didn't elaborate further. Instead, it said that it couldn't free the Mirrors or Chips, implying that they were somehow trapped... Then, the vision seemed to end, and they all woke up. The Mirrors began to discuss possibilities for the meaning of this vision, thinking it could be related to The Comet, an old God, maybe the birds were yellow shrikes, and so on...
Until a light-gray claw came out of nowhere, stretching the entire classroom to an impossible size, fitting the body of the Pale Spade. It spoke to Bellchip, calling him its son, and implying that Madronesong was made to protect Bellchip somehow. The deity and the Mirror argue for a moment, until The Pale Spade turns the world into a beautiful sunrise-colored void, music playing as it enacts its will. Madronesong challenges the Pale Spade, and it decides to show everyone present what happens when you deny the will of the Deities.
It tapped Madronesong's forehead with a single claw, splitting the cat in two with a horrific cracking noise, as she slowly dissolved into ash, the remains of herself floating away in the wind. "No one can escape death," The deity said. It then gave Bellchip its official blessing, and the whole world turned to white, returning the cats right back where they were originally, but with no Pale Mirror for Bellchip to go home with.