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Hi, everyone. I was inspired by a poster on the Gas Powered Garage (whom also made a less-elaborate timeline) to make a timeline of Aranna's recorded history for those that need references for fan fiction or are just curious about the backstory of Dungeon Siege. Please let me know if you find any mis-sequenced entries or inaccurate information, or if you have any approximate or exact dates for the entries without years. Events are sorted from those that occurred first to those that occurred more recently. Keep in mind that the timeline does contain spoilers, so read ahead at your own risk.
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Key
BFC= Before First Cataclysm
BSC= Before Second Cataclysm (And after First Cataclysm)
ASC= After Second Cataclysm
*= Sequence Unknown
**= Approximate Year
***= Relationship in time to the Cataclysms unknown; given a "--C" label based on an educated guess.
? BFC*- The Utraean Empire forms. At its height, the empire spanned an area greater than even that of the Empire of Stars. The Utraeans advance their knowledge of magic and science over the centuries
? BFC*- War between the Utgards and Agallans
? BFC*- A group of Agallans side with the Utgards for a yet-unknown reason, and are punished by being stripped of their size and exiled from the Peaks. As only Agallan men sided with the Utgards, they are forced to breed with other races, and their children continue to bear their curse. Known as the half-giants, these children, however, are born with marks on their bodies which serve as a map back to their Agallan ancestors.
? BFC* ***- The Utraeans begin genetic experimentation on small jungle lizards and cats. The lizard experiments are the most promising, and become hyperevolved to become the Zaurask race. The Zaurask are forced into slave labour by the Utraeans.1
? BFC* ***- The Zaurask begin their rebellion against the Utraeans. The Utraeans continue their research and hyperevolve small jungle cats to create the Hassat race to replace the Zaurask as cheap labour.1
? BFC* ***- The Hassat also rebel against the Utraeans. From a separate reserach facility on the fringes of Ehb (near what would later become the small town of Arhok), the Utraeans attempt to combine spider DNA into that of human prisoners to create a fighting force to hold off the Hassat and Zaurask attacks. The Mucosae race is created as a result, but their queen (formerly an Amazonian queen named Ashish imprisoned for an unrecorded crime) also rebels agsinst the Utraeans, and kills most of the facility workers. The Mucosae are contained, and the Ehb research facility is abandoned.1
? BFC- The Empire of Stars forms. Populated mostly by humans, this empire was the second-largest in Aranna's history. Its 10 Legions protected and expanded its borders, and the humans of the Second Age claim descendence to the people of the Empire.
? BFC- Zaramoth's Sword is forged, he kills most Agallans and the entirety of his fellow Utgards, and binds their souls to the Sword. Zaramoth assumes control of the Empire of Stars (a feat which some say was aided by goblins) and magic is outlawed, causing its Tenth Legion to flee to a western land known as Ehb. The War of the Legions ensues when some members of the Legions rebel against Zaramoth due to his banning of magic.
? BFC*- Zaramoth opens the gate to the Cinbri homeworld, and seeks them as allies, giving them Aranna's abundance of magic. The cinbri grant him immortatility. Zaramoth uses the Sword to create a new race: the Seck.
? BFC- The magical-spring infused Azunai rallies his tribe, the Azunites, and persuades the Agallans to forge a Shield to counter the Sword (just as Zaramoth asked them to forge a sword by which to rule the world with no avail)
? BFC- Azunai begins a war to overthrow Zaramoth's tyranny.
Armies involved in the war:
•Azunai's Forces
•Azunites
•Other rebel humans
•Dwarves
•Elves
•Zaramoth's Forces
•Qatall
•Cinbri (Dark Wizards)
•Seck
•Remaining Legions of the Empire of Stars
Although supporting Azunai, the Agallans remain neutral due to their pacifist nature.
? BFC- A young, arrogant cinbri unintentionally closes the gate to his homeworld. He would spend the next 1000-or-so years looking for a way to reopen the gate, and learns about the rules set by a mysterious force in Aranna (the Balance, etc) along the way.
0 BFC, 1000 BSC**- Events of Dungeon Siege: The Battle for Aranna. The armies of Zaramoth and Azunai, as well as their respective allies, meet on a green field nameless to humans for a final confrontation. Azunai engages in one-on-one combat with Zaramoth, with Zaramoth's sword meeting his Shield. The First Cataclysm, known before the Second Cataclysm as the Great Cataclysm, occurs, and every warrior on the battlefield's soul is thrust into the newly-created Ley Lines (except those of Zaramoth and possibly Azunai). The Shield is shattered into four pieces, and a great part of the continent is blasted as to turn it into a desert. The stars shift, and the northern winds are redirected, causing (part of?) Mazal to become covered with snow. Most of the population of every race, save those (such as the Tenth Legion) that were far enough away, and that of the Elves, which was protected by Isteru, was dead. The nameless grassland, now a desert, is christend the Plain of Tears. A new race is created in a magical storm when the blood of Zaramoth mixes with an enchanted forest2: the Dryads.
? BSC- The Tenth Legion encounters the Seck in Ehb, and the Seck War ensues. The Seck also manage to find and free some of the lesser Mucosae and add them to their forces.1 The Legion wins, and the bodies of its dead warriors are placed in the Crypt of the Sacred Blood. The Kingdom of Ehb is set up.
300 BSC** Events of Dungeon Siege. The Seck return and stir up the Krug in an attempt to retake Ehb. Eventually, Castle Ehb is liberated by a farmer who had taken up arms along with his/her companions, and Gom, leader of the Seck, is killed. The kingdom of Ehb is saved.
300 BSC* **- Events of Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna.
? BSC*- The Elves of the Northern Reaches are attacked by a mysterious enemy: the Nothriim, or Familiars. The Familiars were terrible monsters which rose from death in flames when killed, and that stitched togeather the bodies of elves and beasts to serve their own purposes. Lorethal, the first person known to truly kill a Familliar, founds an organization known as the Crimson Hunters in order to combat them. After a long war, Lorethal arrives in the center of their territory and sacrifices himself to bind the beasts in a magical prision, saving the Elves in the process.
0 BSC, 0 ASC- Events of Dungeon Siege II. A prince of the Northern Reaches named Valdis is led by visions to the Plain of Tears. He finds a large rock containing the Sword of Zaramoth, and later the fortress of Zaramoth's Horns, which contained the 6 remaining cinbri in Aranna. The Archmage releases the sword from the rock, while another cinbri promises to have one pure of heart to assemble the pieces of the Shield, and allow Valdis to cause another Cataclysm and recreate the world as he wishes (as one may only seek the pieces of the Shield with a noble purpose). Valdis is transformed into a larger, much more powerful version of himself by the Sword and the Archmage, and creates a new race with the Sword (just as Zaramoth had): the Morden3. The cinbri later leads a former mercenary of Valdis (one whom was a descendant of the Azunites), along with his/her companions, in a journey which ultimately ends in his/her bringing the pieces of the Shield to the Agallans for reforging. At first, they refuse, but are persuaded when they learn that the mercenary also has a medallion which belonged to his/her deceased friend, the final piece the Shield that the Agallans has misplaced centuries ago; the object whose omission caused the Shield to shatter in the Great Cataclysm. The Agallans, thinking that the shattering of the Sword can do only good, open a portal for the hero to enter Zaramoth's Horns. After a long fight, he/she arrives at the summit of the Horns, at the Temple of Valdis, and the Shield is taken from the mercenary by the cinbri, who had appeared to the hero as an innocent scholar. The cinbri gives the Shield to Valdis, and he attacks it with his sword, only to be shocked by the Sword, and not the Shield, being broken. The cinbri reveals that he used both Valdis and the mercenary to recreate the world as he wants it, and the hero kills Valdis in a rage. The mercenary goes through a portal, and the cinbri retrieves the larger piece of the Sword and the Shield and leaves. The Second Cataclysm happens, and although the area around Zaramoth's Horns is not completely eradicated as to cause the death of the surrounding races, the entire world is affected and the isle of Greilyn sinks. The Ley Lines are shattered, returning their power to the River of Souls while releasing the spirits trapped inside them, and the stars shift and reverse their courses as to be in the position that they stood in the First Age.
1 ASC- Events of Dungeon Siege II: Broken World. One year later, the cinbri, who reveals himself to be the Overmage of his race, uses the Dryads (who were free from Zaramoth's influence only for the Second Age) to gather magic. The Overmage frees the Familiars from their prison, and they become his allies. The mercenary learns partially of the Overmage's plots, and gathers his/her group together again to go after him. Along the way, the hero learns that the souls of the sacred forests surrounding the home of the Elves have been removed, and the Elves have lost their prophetic visions. The mercenary destroys two of the Familiar Surgeons, monsters who bound and stitched together the bodies of mortal races to supplement the Overmage's army, and later frees a group of Dwarves who had been enslaved by the Overmage three generations earlier. The hero learns that the Overmage planned to bind his soul with that of Zaramoth, whose soul had been fused to the base of the sword (possibly in the Cataclysm), in order to re-open the gate to his uninhabitable homeworld and treat his people to the newly-restored, pure magic of the First Age. The mercenary storms quickly through a recently-unearthed cinbri city in order to stop the Overmage from completing the ritual, but, after being delayed further by the cinbri, learns that he/she is too late. The fused being, known as Zaramoth Reborn, decides to attack the mercenary before opening the Gate, but is killed by the hero.
? ASC*- Events of Dungeon Siege: Throne of Agony.
? ASC- The half-giant Lothar (a former companion of the mercenary), after spending years helping those who lost their homes in the Cataclysm, finds a way to re-enter the Agallan peaks, and spends the rest of his life studying with them. This event may mark the end of the millennia-long seperation between Agallans and half-giants.
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Footnotes
1 Credits go to QuickDraw.
2 I'm not quite sure how Zaramoth's blood got all the way from the barren Plain of Tears to an enchanted forest (or why it didn't just evaporate in the Cataclysm). Also, a rumour in Eirulan maintains that the dryads have elven blood, which seems to correspond with their pointed ears and other evidence enough to speculate that Elven males allow the all-female species to reproduce. Another possible explanation is that they instead use their enemies of the Hak'u, which would explain the strict secrecy of their method of procreation. The dryad Hesla speculates that Tanzi was in love with Hrawn in her journal in Broken World, and a ghost of a presumably elven male in DS2 speaks of a dryad lover. There is also a ghost in the Aman'lu inn whom may be a dryad that proclaims her love for another elf.
Given that there seems to also be a strange liaison between a human merchant and the dryad Anya in BW, it is conceivable that dryads take husbands of every race, just as Half Giants. A big thanks tofionafistofstone for pointing that out.
3 In Dungeon Siege II, the player is given the opportunity in a secondary quest to assist a duo of civilized Morden riders who oppose the savagery of their brethren and the rule of Valdis in gathering supplies for a trip to Ehb. Despite the fact which was speculated against by the historian in Kalrathia and later revealed as truth in Broken World that Valdis designed the Morden with Zaramoth's Sword, the riders even contend that they are not alone in their nonviolent opposition of Valdis. Perhaps this is a retcon, or a mistake by the aggrogant prince which may be explored in the future.
On a final note, a statement by a storyline designer of the original DS whose basic message is maintained but details are contradicted throughout the rest of the series:............................................................................................
Hi, everyone. I was inspired by a poster on the Gas Powered Garage (whom also made a less-elaborate timeline) to make a timeline of Aranna's recorded history for those that need references for fan fiction or are just curious about the backstory of Dungeon Siege. Please let me know if you find any mis-sequenced entries or inaccurate information, or if you have any approximate or exact dates for the entries without years. Events are sorted from those that occurred first to those that occurred more recently. Keep in mind that the timeline does contain spoilers, so read ahead at your own risk.
...........................................................................
BFC= Before First Cataclysm
BSC= Before Second Cataclysm (And after First Cataclysm)
ASC= After Second Cataclysm
*= Sequence Unknown
**= Approximate Year
***= Relationship in time to the Cataclysms unknown; given a "--C" label based on an educated guess.
Armies involved in the war:
•Azunai's Forces
•Zaramoth's Forces
Although supporting Azunai, the Agallans remain neutral due to their pacifist nature.
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Given that there seems to also be a strange liaison between a human merchant and the dryad Anya in BW, it is conceivable that dryads take husbands of every race, just as Half Giants. A big thanks to
On a final note, a statement by a storyline designer of the original DS whose basic message is maintained but details are contradicted throughout the rest of the series:
Azunai, by far the most worshipped god in the Kingdom of Ehb and throughout most of the continent of Aranna, is worshipped as a defender god, he himself having fallen during an ancient battle predating the ancient Empire of Stars. Zaramoth, a darker god and Azunai's slayer, is said to live across the dark seas somewhere waiting release from a curse, but only one temple is believed to still stand to him in Aranna, and that is sheltered in a secret, unknown location............................................................................
[This message has been edited by Found Missing (edited 05-27-2007 @ 02:34 AM).]