Key events preceding the campaign start ***SPOILERS***

Tricky110974 · 26th August 2009, 06:10 PM

I'm running the 4e version of the campaign - just about to start Act 4 of Adventure One and I've been wondering about what's actually going on.

I've been reading the 3.5 version of the campaign and trying to sort out the key events that actually lead up to the war. The 4e Campaign Guide does a nice job of setting the scene for the DM and introduces the major factions but you are still unsure of what has actually happened - how did the immortal emperor die?

This leaves me trying to second guess where the adventures are heading and what are important events and what are just fillers for XP (not to suggest that the fillers aren't fun).

From what I have learnt, the story does seem to sort itself out at the end and I like how all the factions are linked.

That said, I would really like to have simple timeline just to help me get my background straight - my players are always asking questions (in game) and I don't want to trip up or have to rework future events to make things fit.

Here's my first attempt to try and construct the backstory that leads up to war...

(-60 years) Coaltongue forms alliance with Shahalesti and conquers Morrus
(-60 years) Coaltongue kills gold dragon, Syana, and creates the Torch of the Burning Sky
(-60 years) Trilla (Syana's daughter) hidden below Gate Pass by Taranesti
(-40 years) Taranesti conquered by Shahalesti
(-40 years) Trilla creates trillith from her dreams
(-40 years) Gate Pass conquered by Coaltongue
(-40 years) Shahalesti torch Innenotdar
(-40 years) Etifini heads out for Aquiline Heart from Innenotdar
(-40 years) Leska is sentenced to death by Coaltongue unless she can find Aquiline Heart and learn secret of immortality
(-40 years) Leska and Etinifi meet up and fall in love
(-40 years) Etifini betrays Leska but Leska still manages to find Aquiline Heart
(-30 years?) Leska captures Etifini and imprisons him in the magical prison
(-1 year?) Leska hires Taranesti assassins to kill the emperor
(-2 months) Coaltongue is murdered

I've kept the dates to decades but these could be tightened up a little - 40 years ago the world was very busy.

Happy to hear other views on back story and how some may have changed it to fit their campaigns - I'm introducing the kalashtar race as trillith that bound souls with monks (see Kalashtar and the triliths post, thanks Walker N. Waistz for the 'young' race) and I've mentioned that drow reside under the mountains north of Gate Pass (which, fortunately, seems to fit nicely with Trilla history).

RangerWickett · 26th August 2009, 11:43 PM

I tried a few months ago to work out a timeline, in post 3 of this thread: http://www.enworld.org/forum/e-n-pub...questions.html

I repeat my disclaimer, though. My memories are fuzzy, and the details may have changed with the edition.