Cartography by Rob Lazzaretti

Kingmaker: Iobarian Timeline

Thursday, May 27, 2010

An ancient land of half-forgotten empires and untold savagery, Iobaria sprawls beyond the frontiers of northern Avistan. History scars and shapes the people of this rugged land, the ruins of sprawling civilizations standing testament to ages of glories long lost, but which might rise again. Supplementing the "Iobaria Gazetteer" by Steven Schend in Pathfinder Adventure Path #33, the following timeline (also by Steven) presents an overview of the land's long history, laying bare the wonders and terrors that rule that rugged realm even today.

Iobaria Timeline
Year	Event
–5293	Earthfall. End of the cyclops Koloran Empire
–3923	Pit of Gormuz opens in central Casmaron
–1281	Taldor founded by Lost Azlanti and primitive native humans
–632	The Tarrasque, Spawn of Rovagug, destroys Ninshabur. Some hidden force turns the creature west across the Tovrus and into Avistan.
752	Ulfen explorers traverse the polar ice and settle into the taiga of northern Casmaron, founding Okormirr.
753	Okormirran explorers discover the Koloran Roads and begin building Orlov among an old ruined cyclops city. Orlov becomes larger than Okormirr by 764.
780	Founding of Orost.
788	Founding of Antoll.
795	Founding of Lenusya.
809	Founding of Mishkar.
818	Founding of Kirrosuli.
846	Founding of Kirya.
905	Iobar, son of Kjell of Orlov, conquers all challengers. He unites all territories under his own banner, claiming all lands from the Icewall to the Castrovin Sea as Iobaria.
937	Death of Iobar I at the Battle of Kridorn. Iobar's son Hrugil repels the pirate fleets from the east, spending the rest of his rule improving Iobaria's fleets, intent on eradicating the powerful mercenary pirate and corsair fleets of the northwestern Castrovin Sea.
975	Kridorn rises to become a port city, not a minor fishing town.
1080	Hroran and Kridorthrost founded in this year of plenty.
1106	The Tearplague scours all settlements between the Norinor and Finadar.
1240	Human settlers claim cyclops ruins in Caemorin, dubbing the settlement Mavradia.
1412	Founding of Zradnirras.
1466	Founding of Vurnirn after a 24-year-long struggle against Hoofwood natives.
1528	Founding of Mirnbay.
1634	The Chardeath sees many spontaneously combust in high fevers. The flames lead to the eradication of a third of all Iobarian settlements. This plague's source is revealed in 1869 as the necromancer Otyb the Undying.
1717	The red and blue great wyrms, Shrodniar and Voldmannasein, clash over Fangard. Some force from the forest depths strike Voldmannasein dead, while Shrodnair crashes near Antoll. Strange glyphs are discovered, burnt into the blue dragon, scarring even his bones.
1900	The centaur tribes of the Caemorin unite under the banner of Errindayn the Seer, sacking Mirnbay and destroying numerous humanoid settlements.
1986	Errindayn the Seer dies mysteriously after an unnaturally long life. The centaurs of the region abandon their warlike ways.
2108	Mirnbay refounded and defenses significantly reinforced. Centaurs barred from the city for more than 400 years.
2546	Ohjar's Plague kills a third of all male centaurs, orcs, and humans across the land in a mere 8 months.
2602	Humans and some native centaur tribes ally together to form the realm of Zastel in eastern Iobaria, its capital in Mavradia.
2654	Iobaria begins the Reclamation Wars against Zastel.
2686	Zastel reconquered and returned to Iobarian rule.
2742	The Choking Death. A respiratory plague suffocates more than 40% of Iobaria's adult population over the course of 8 months. The plague spreads west out of Iobaria (carried to Avistan by refugees) and devastates human populations in northeastern Avistan over the next 6 years.
2767	The Native Plaguestrife: Various druid sects, guilds, and politicians fan flames against those they deem "non-native Iobarians" by claiming no plagues ever happened until folk started coming east from Avistan. Skirmishes and vendettas weaken the power bases of many for decades.
2920	Earthquake rocks Taldor, Qadira, and central Casmaron. Coastal settlements along the northwestern Castrovin all damaged or destroyed by tidal waves.
3000s	Exodus. At least three separate waves of refugees abandon Iobaria over this century to settle other colonial lands to the west and south or new domains east of the Castrovin Sea.
3150	The Pestilentropy infected many nomads and settlers in central Iobaria, causing fevers and madness ultimately leading to death by overexertion or by the blades of those its victims imagine to be their foes. The disease or its manic side effects destroy more than half of Iobaria's farms, villages, crops, and cattle, leading to a decade of lean harvests and starvation for the region. This devastation and the lack of support for the people leads to the final dissolution of Old Iobarian rule.
3212	Three warlords (one of Issian descent) and their allies band together to restore the nation of Iobaria. Rallying to banners and flags of Old Iobaria, support for New Iobaria rose quickly with their reclamation of Orlov from foreign factions and their local pawns. The Restoration War lasts for nearly a century before New Iobaria officially exists and rules its lands.
3283	House Arjal and House Korya betray allied House Narkys, sacrificing its leaders and troops to dragons of the mountains and wilds, their newer allies.
3304	The Restoration War over, King Irral I turns control and demesne of all the old cyclops ruins to their white and red dragon allies.
3679	The Great Horde. A collection of ogre, giant, and cyclops tribes rampage across Iobaria under the command of Burlor, a cyclops wearing the Crown of Mirim and wielding the Perobov Maul. These monsters remain a threat long after the death of Burlor beneath the hooves of more than 25 tribes of centaurs.
4000	Amid the blizzards of a long and particularly harsh winter, frost giants from the Ice Steppes invade New Iobaria, pillaging and murdering. They reach Orlov before being repelled.
4499	Iobarian Choral the Conqueror unites Rostland and Issia into Brevoy.
4519	The Drakeplague kills more than 60% of the dragon population within 3 months. The silver dragon Cithaythren and Finadar druids perform a ritual to end the plague before it spreads beyond Iobaria at the cost of that dragon's life.
4600s	Sarkorian barbarians flee the expanding Worldwound, a number of tribes crossing the polar ice to Iobaria.
4607	Skirmishes and battles among Sarkorian refugees, native insurgents, and Iobarian troops begin the second fall of Iobaria with the loss of Mavradia to rebel forces. Battles and rebellions continue over the next 5 decades.
4659	New Iobaria reduced to the now-isolated cities of Kridorn, Mirnbay, and Orlov, each of whose rulers now claims to be the true ruler and heir of Iobaria due to blood ties to the dead kings.
4667	Red Revolution of Galt; many Galtan nobles flee north and eventually arrive in Kridorn.
4699	Royal House Rogarvia, descended from Iobarian warlords, disappears. House Surtova assumes power in Brevoy.
4710	The current year.

F. Wesley Schneider
Managing Editor