History

A note about Ages

The history of Krystallos is measured in Ages. Each Age spans two-hundred and fifty years and is named after the last major event that occurred during the previous Age. In this way, the people of Krystallos acknowledge that the future is shaped by the past. The numbering of years starts anew at the beginning of the new Age. There have been eight full Ages in Krystallos history. It is currently the Age of the Great Invasion, the ninth Age.

The Age of the Exquisite Creation

Just before this age began, the Totems implanted themselves in the Empty Void. From the Totems radiated the ley lines, carrying the power of existence out through the Empty Void. Land and sea, sky and depths all formed between the ley lines. Thus was Krystallos created. During the Age of Exquisite Creation, the ancestors of modern people carved out territory and lives for themselves in this new world.

• Year 220: The elves of the Sapphire Forest form the first nation under the guidance of their Loremasters.

The Age of the Verdant Forest

• Year 15: Nine Kobold tribes come together in the Citrine Wastes and found Ferric, the first city. Under the guidance of Rahoru the Bright-Shining, the first Pharaoh, the Citrine Kingdom is formed. Those tribes that do not bow to Rahrou's rule are swiftly conquered.
• Year 215: The first of the great pyramids of Citrine are built.

The Age of the Winding Road

• Year 209: After having fought wars against the Sapphire Forest and Jade Kingdom, the Citrine Kingdom is exhausted. It is unable to fight off a more insidious invasion as the Scapolite Empire assassinates the Pharaoh and props a foreign-born puppet up on the throne.

The Age of Constant War

• Year 101: Vesicule is founded by Onyxish nationalists fleeing the persecution of the Scapolite Empire.
• Year 162: A nearly cataclysmic disaster happens when miners tunnel directly into the Irespan when thousands of skittering monsters known as shriezyx emerged from the tunnel. The city is nearly lost and a ban on mining the Irespan is erected that lasts until this day.
• Year 237: Gijima, Cleric of Obsidian, founds the Cult of the Sacred Courier. The Cult has a divine mission to carry messages and packages between communities all throughout Krystallos for a very low fee. This courier network allows an exchange of ideas and cultures that unify Krystallos as a world like never before.

The Age of Divine Communication

• Year 250: The Sky Turtle drops into the Crystal Sea and fails to rise for a full month. The first group known as the Champions of Krystallos are formed. This group of adventurers descends beneath the sea and discovers that the Sky Turtle has been injured and captured by a group of kraken. The kraken are dispatched and the Sky Turtle is healed so it can continue journeying across the sky as both sun and moon.

The Age of the Injured Turtle

• Year 130: Internal strife and outside pressure leads to the collapse of the Scapolite Empire.
• Year 201: The city of Shibbati is devastated by the Plague of Madness and much of the city is walled and sealed. Clerics of Onyx build a temple outside of Shibbati in honor of those who died there. The cost of walling up Shibbati bankrupts the weak Citrine kingdom, which had never fully recovered from the collapse of the Scapolite Empire. The Kingdom breaks up into individual city-states that will, eventually, evolve into Sultanates.
• Year 242: In order to secure a trade route that bypasses the Sapphire Forest, the Kingdom of Amethyst goes to war against the tribesmen of the Thulite Steppes. The tribesmen are conquered and pledge their loyalty to the Kingdom of Amethyst.
• Year 243: Alarmed at the sudden expansion of the Kingdom of Amethyst, the Kingdom of Alexandrite declares war upon Amethyst.
• Year 247: A combination of superior air power, brilliant tactics and the sheer physical might of the Thulite tribesmen lead to the sacking of Lumière, the capital of the Kingdom of Alexandrite. Queen Sophia the Third surrenders and Alexandrite falls subject to Amethyst. The Amethystian Empire is founded.
• Year 248: Hundreds of ice springs erupt in the Tourmaline Alliance. The Tourmaline Alliance begs the Kingdom of Amethyst for help with the growing glacier and join the Empire as a new province.

The Age of the Expanding Empire

• Year 159: Amazonite tribeswomen sack and burn much of the Kingdom of Peridot as retribution for Peridotish slavers kidnapping their children. The grasslands of Peridot are a dustbowl for over a decade.
• Year 162: The Free Town of Peridot is founded on the ruins of Peridot City after the burning of the grasslands reveals hundreds of lost cairns scattered throughout the Peridot dustbowl. Within three years the Free Town of Peridot is renamed the Free City of Peridot.
• Year 163: The Cartel, now the largest criminal organization in Krystallos, is formed.
• Year 203: Portals open in the depths beneath the southern tip of Obsidian. The slave-armies of Tiamat, led by her six god-generals, pour forth. An unprepared Obsidian Kingdom is quickly conquered. The Great Invasion begins.
• Year 204: Diamond City is founded to house refugees driven from their homes by the Invaders. The city cannot handle the sheer numbers, however, and the refugees overflow into the nearby Zirconian Territories.
• Year 213: The Great Invasion ends when a united Krystallos military, guided by the Totems, pushes the slave-armies of Tiamat back into the depths below the Obsidian Kingdom. A second band of Champions of Krystallos descend into the depths to close to portals so that the Invaders cannot return. They do not return. As a final act of defiance, Tiamat and her god-generals destroy the Obsidian Totem. The Obsidian Kingdom transforms into the Obsidian Badlands overnight.
• Year 214: The first college of magic is formed to study the art of arcane spellcasting learned by Krystallos sages from Tiamat's slave-armies.
• Year 219: The Zirconian Commonwealth is formed as a new nation as the refugees living in the former Zirconian Territories begin to build permanent homes.
• Year 223: Contact is made as modron traders wander out of the Obsidian Badlands to establish trade routes. Reports from adventurers indicate that the modron are building a City of Gears on the southern tip of the Obsidian Badlands.
• Year 225: A council of Sultans meet in Ferric and agree that the people of the Citrine Wastes must be united. They are unable to decide who might be possessed by the soul of Rahoru and elevate one of their own to become Grand Sultan instead of the new Pharaoh. The Grand Sultanate of Citrine is born.

The Age of the Great Invasion

• Year 47: During a conference at the Al-Fatimah University in Ferric, capital of the Citrine Sultanate, a group of kobold engineers, dwarven metalsmiths and gnomish alchemists worked together feverishly and created Krystallos' first firearm.
• Year 55: The present day.