fuindordm
Adventurer
Hi everyone,
I've pieced together a geopolitical history of Chult based on snippets of information throughout the book and my own interpolations. Here it is, in hopes that other DMs find it useful. Note that I'm running ToA in Eberron, which is why the timeline ignores any pre-ToA history of Chult that might be canon in the Forgotten Realms.
All dates are approximate and stated relative to the present day.
-500: Arrival of first human settlers to Chult. (In my campaign, they are refugees from the expanding Rierdran Empire in Sarlona.) The original settlers are legendary, but their matriarchs and patriarchs gave their names to a dozen or so tribal ethnic groups such as the Aldani (transformed) and the Eshowe (wiped out by Ras Nsi). Some of these tribes persist to this day, but the mass migration to the coast after the fall of Mezro blurred or erased many ethnic distinctions.
-480 to -380: Humans expand quickly into Chult, and build several major cities. Each city becomes the heart of a small kingdom. By the end of this period, Chult is divided into the kingdoms of Orolunga, Mezro, Mbala, Omu, and Hisari. During this period, the Chultans are isolationist, making no expeditions to other continents, although they do their best to preserve their knowledge of shipbuilding and navigation in certain families.
-350 to -300: The Omu conquest begins, led by Na N'buso "The Great King". By the end of this period, Orolunga is destroyed or abandoned (perhaps their mentor advised them well), and the kingdoms of Mbala, Mezro and Hisari all pay tribute to Omu. The legendary exploits of Ch'gakare and the Golden Chalice happened sometime during this expansion.
-225: Queen Zalkoré, the great-granddaughter of Na N'buso, builds Nangalore and is later banished.
-200: Ubtao abandons Omu, the Omuan Empire fragments. Central Mbala, beset on all sides, degenerates into a handful of villages and its royal line ends.
-180: Hisari succumbs to the cult of Dendar (substitute evil serpentine god of your choice), its royal line and noble families become yuan-ti.
-170: Omu begins worshipping its Nine Trickster Gods. Of all the original kingdoms, only Mezro still stands proud in its virtue and worhip of Ubtao. The "Golden Age" of Omu, from -300 to -200 is over, and the "Silver Age" of Mezro, the Unsullied Kingdom, will last only two generations.
-150: Ras Nsi breaks his sacred oath and falls from paladin to blackguard. No one knows what he did; the shame was so great that all records of the warlord's past were destroyed.
-130: In Omu, Queen Napaka takes the throne. She is the granddaughter of Queen Zalkoré. Napaka tries gently to turn her people away from the capricious Trickster Gods and back towards virtue and worship of Ubtao.
-120: Ras Nsi raises an army of undead in the jungle and besieges Mezro. It looks as if all is lost for the Unsullied Kingdom, but then a Mysterious Cataclysm happens. Volcanos erupt, magical weird stuff happens, and at the end Mezro is in ruins and its sister city Shilkra is buried in ash. The Yuan-ti also abandon Hisari at this time. Ras Nsi is stripped of his magical power in the event, and loses control of his army.
-110: Perhaps attracted by the Mysterious Cataclysm, Acererak arrives in Chult and enslaves Omu. Queen Napaka nobly offers herself as a sacrifice for her people's lives, but this is a ruse to distract the lich while her servants sneak her infant granddaugher Razaan out of Omu. Razaan makes her way to Orolunga, where she bides for a time, unaging.
-100: The Tomb is completed. By this time, the human tribes have abandoned the interior of Chult and gathered at Port Nyanzaru. Without the guiding light of Mezro, the Chultans become secular but superstitious. They see little difference between priests and magicians, and worship only minor gods with negligence bordering on disdain. They begin building ships again, first for mobility and then for trade.
-80: The Chultans reveal themselves to the rest of the world and begin trading with other continents.
-50: After a long migration and several intermediate settlements, the yuan-ti of Hisari find Omu and take up permanent residence. Ras Nsi is already there, aging slowly and nursing grudges; the coming of the yuan-ti reinvigorates him and his natural leadership reasserts itself. He becomes first their demagogue, then their prophet. Also around this time, an oracle signals that Princess Razaan, now 8 years old, should rejoin the world.
-40: Port Nyanzaru has reached its present form, with the Merchant Princes in power. Crusaders from other lands try their luck at eradicating the undead plague, in return for permanent settlements and a toehold on the continent. The bargain doesn't set well with the Chultans, but they don't have the numbers or magic to destroy the undead themselves. The merchant princes and foreign representatives maintain an uneasy alliance seasoned with minor betrayals. Despite this foreign aid, not much progress is made on the undead threat.
-20: Princess Razaan marries Omek, a Chultan adventurer. Three years later, her daughter Mwaxanaré is born.
0: The Death Curse begins. Cheerful and flamboyant on the surface, Port Nyanzaru suffers from a deep malaise stemming from a mixture of unsatisfying hedonism, decades of undead horror, fear of foreign influence, and of course the aura of the Death Curse itself. Many people long for the return of a spiritual king or queen, but the memory of Omu is tainted and the royal line of Mezro is no more.
----------------------------------------
--Ben
Follow my campaign on twitter: AcererakUnholy
I've pieced together a geopolitical history of Chult based on snippets of information throughout the book and my own interpolations. Here it is, in hopes that other DMs find it useful. Note that I'm running ToA in Eberron, which is why the timeline ignores any pre-ToA history of Chult that might be canon in the Forgotten Realms.
All dates are approximate and stated relative to the present day.
-500: Arrival of first human settlers to Chult. (In my campaign, they are refugees from the expanding Rierdran Empire in Sarlona.) The original settlers are legendary, but their matriarchs and patriarchs gave their names to a dozen or so tribal ethnic groups such as the Aldani (transformed) and the Eshowe (wiped out by Ras Nsi). Some of these tribes persist to this day, but the mass migration to the coast after the fall of Mezro blurred or erased many ethnic distinctions.
-480 to -380: Humans expand quickly into Chult, and build several major cities. Each city becomes the heart of a small kingdom. By the end of this period, Chult is divided into the kingdoms of Orolunga, Mezro, Mbala, Omu, and Hisari. During this period, the Chultans are isolationist, making no expeditions to other continents, although they do their best to preserve their knowledge of shipbuilding and navigation in certain families.
-350 to -300: The Omu conquest begins, led by Na N'buso "The Great King". By the end of this period, Orolunga is destroyed or abandoned (perhaps their mentor advised them well), and the kingdoms of Mbala, Mezro and Hisari all pay tribute to Omu. The legendary exploits of Ch'gakare and the Golden Chalice happened sometime during this expansion.
-225: Queen Zalkoré, the great-granddaughter of Na N'buso, builds Nangalore and is later banished.
-200: Ubtao abandons Omu, the Omuan Empire fragments. Central Mbala, beset on all sides, degenerates into a handful of villages and its royal line ends.
-180: Hisari succumbs to the cult of Dendar (substitute evil serpentine god of your choice), its royal line and noble families become yuan-ti.
-170: Omu begins worshipping its Nine Trickster Gods. Of all the original kingdoms, only Mezro still stands proud in its virtue and worhip of Ubtao. The "Golden Age" of Omu, from -300 to -200 is over, and the "Silver Age" of Mezro, the Unsullied Kingdom, will last only two generations.
-150: Ras Nsi breaks his sacred oath and falls from paladin to blackguard. No one knows what he did; the shame was so great that all records of the warlord's past were destroyed.
-130: In Omu, Queen Napaka takes the throne. She is the granddaughter of Queen Zalkoré. Napaka tries gently to turn her people away from the capricious Trickster Gods and back towards virtue and worship of Ubtao.
-120: Ras Nsi raises an army of undead in the jungle and besieges Mezro. It looks as if all is lost for the Unsullied Kingdom, but then a Mysterious Cataclysm happens. Volcanos erupt, magical weird stuff happens, and at the end Mezro is in ruins and its sister city Shilkra is buried in ash. The Yuan-ti also abandon Hisari at this time. Ras Nsi is stripped of his magical power in the event, and loses control of his army.
-110: Perhaps attracted by the Mysterious Cataclysm, Acererak arrives in Chult and enslaves Omu. Queen Napaka nobly offers herself as a sacrifice for her people's lives, but this is a ruse to distract the lich while her servants sneak her infant granddaugher Razaan out of Omu. Razaan makes her way to Orolunga, where she bides for a time, unaging.
-100: The Tomb is completed. By this time, the human tribes have abandoned the interior of Chult and gathered at Port Nyanzaru. Without the guiding light of Mezro, the Chultans become secular but superstitious. They see little difference between priests and magicians, and worship only minor gods with negligence bordering on disdain. They begin building ships again, first for mobility and then for trade.
-80: The Chultans reveal themselves to the rest of the world and begin trading with other continents.
-50: After a long migration and several intermediate settlements, the yuan-ti of Hisari find Omu and take up permanent residence. Ras Nsi is already there, aging slowly and nursing grudges; the coming of the yuan-ti reinvigorates him and his natural leadership reasserts itself. He becomes first their demagogue, then their prophet. Also around this time, an oracle signals that Princess Razaan, now 8 years old, should rejoin the world.
-40: Port Nyanzaru has reached its present form, with the Merchant Princes in power. Crusaders from other lands try their luck at eradicating the undead plague, in return for permanent settlements and a toehold on the continent. The bargain doesn't set well with the Chultans, but they don't have the numbers or magic to destroy the undead themselves. The merchant princes and foreign representatives maintain an uneasy alliance seasoned with minor betrayals. Despite this foreign aid, not much progress is made on the undead threat.
-20: Princess Razaan marries Omek, a Chultan adventurer. Three years later, her daughter Mwaxanaré is born.
0: The Death Curse begins. Cheerful and flamboyant on the surface, Port Nyanzaru suffers from a deep malaise stemming from a mixture of unsatisfying hedonism, decades of undead horror, fear of foreign influence, and of course the aura of the Death Curse itself. Many people long for the return of a spiritual king or queen, but the memory of Omu is tainted and the royal line of Mezro is no more.
----------------------------------------
--Ben
Follow my campaign on twitter: AcererakUnholy
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