GRAVEFIRE: Timeline of Events

This is the working canonical timeline for GRAVEFIRE.

• Year -1000: The region under the foothills of Mt. Bleed is flourishing and densely populated.
• The people of that region build an ossuary under the earth, alongside a large library of dark magic.
• Year 0: Sailors of Motonia establish their first base on the island city of Cliften. Cliften becomes the new capital.
• Year 200: The first rulers of Zebathen establish their base on mainland Ekothis. The capital town is named Everbrook, after the river that flows through it.
• Year 400: Zebathen begins expanding in all directions and capturing wilderness villages.
• Year 430: Zebathen captures the fertile land of the Maker villages. The Makers are enslaved.
• Year 550: The Colosseum is established as an entertainment ground for the brave and valiant. It is built by the Maker Tribe. Its chief event is the Seven Rings of Death, where warriors try to survive fire, lightning, falling earth, wind, ice, water, and darkness. Those who survive are honored with statues.
• Year 551: Vorgak the Valiant becomes the first warrior to beat the Seven Rings of Death. His statue is established in the Colosseum.
• Year 720: Isenbardus the Brave becomes the second warrior in almost two centuries to beat the Seven Rings. He is crowned right hand of the king of Zebathen, and his statue is placed in the Colosseum.
• Year 730: A great drought hits the villages of the Makers. The people they serve ignore their suffering and force them to keep working without enough food or water.
• Late Year 730: Enraged by three centuries of slavery, the Makers rebel under chief builder Azroth.
• Azroth and the Makers-turned-warriors hide in the forests of the wilderness, using stealth as their only chance against Zebathen's larger army.
• Zebathen infantry led by General Isenbardus invades the forest searching for Azroth.
• Azroth hides behind a tree and stabs Isenbardus from behind. Isenbardus is gravely wounded and dies in the forest.
• Zebathen soldiers leave Isenbardus's body near the tree. It is getting dark, and the king's order is to capture Azroth at any cost.
• Azroth is captured and imprisoned in a structure he built himself. He is left to die without food, water, or light as punishment for rebellion and for killing the chief of the army.
• Year 731: The Makers strike and refuse to work, demanding freedom from slavery. Zebathen kills many of them.
• The Makers begin to fear death less than slavery. By the end of the year, only a few remain.
• Year 732: The remaining Maker Tribe, fewer than ten people, gains independence from Zebathen. Their land is no longer fertile.
• Later that year, the last Makers die from lack of water and food.
• The Fiery Desert becomes an uninhabited region.
• Year 850: Motonia spreads its rule into mainland Ekothis. Its first mainland city is established near an uninhabited chasm and named Alnore.
• Gold reserves are discovered in the chasm. Motonians create mines to carve gold from the region.
• Year 950: Motonia builds a large land lighthouse at the foothills of Mt. Bleed in No Man's Land. Officially, it is a strategic watchtower for spotting invasions before armies come too close.
• Lord Dragos helps fund the lighthouse. His real goal is to uncover the dark secrets underground.
• Lord Dragos is a businessman who owns several mines in the Chasm of Gold.
• Beneath the lighthouse is a large underground library of dark magic beside the Ancient Ossuary, which contains skulls from a lost civilization that lived under the volcano.
• Year 1168: Skull, a young warrior from a distant village, enters and wins the Seven Rings of Death. He is crowned chief of Motonia's army, and his statue joins the great warriors of the Colosseum.
• Year 1178: Princess Zenevia is born.
• Year 1182: Princess Ziena is born.
• Year 1188: Ziena tells her father she wants to fly like a bird. He brings birds from many places and builds a large aviary for her.
• Ila, an expert bird keeper, is appointed to care for the aviary.
• Year 1194: Ziena runs away from the castle at age twelve.
• Ziena is jealous of her elder sister because Zenevia will become queen while Ziena will remain a princess.
• A search is launched for Ziena, but she is not found.
• Year 1195: Ziena sails to Alnore. She meets Lord Dragos, who recognizes her and promises to give her what she desires.
• Under Lord Dragos, Ziena studies dark arts and magic.
• Ziena wants to become bigger and more powerful than her sister.
• Lord Dragos tells Ziena about the lighthouse at the foothills of Mt. Bleed.
• Year 1198: Skull retires as chief of Motonia's army. He moves to a cottage near the Garden of Flowers by the Great Lake, far from war.
• Skull becomes interested in farming and grows his own produce.
• Skull builds a connection with Margaret, owner of the Garden of Flowers.
• Skull helps Margaret save her garden from bandits.
• Year 1200: The Grand Carnival is established as a permanent celebration of one thousand years of the Zebathen Empire. The Clown's Circus is its chief attraction.
• Queen Vaella is crowned Empress of Zebathen.
• Year 1202: Crow starts working at the Carnival. Despite his gloomy nature, wealthy visitors come to him because he speaks the truth of the future. Marlin of the Clown's Circus becomes jealous of Crow's success.
• Year 1203: Mt. Bleed erupts again. The residents of the lighthouse flee and abandon everything. The lighthouse remains empty.
• Year 1205: Ziena decides that true power cannot come from working under someone else. She plots to kill Lord Dragos.
• Ziena creates a fire in the chasm. Lord Dragos is caught in it. His face and half his body burn, but he survives.
• Lord Dragos begins wearing a mask to hide his burned face.
• Late Year 1205: Ziena flees to the abandoned lighthouse. She finds the library of dark magic beneath it and spends two years reading. She sketches out a master plan so Zenevia and Motonia will recognize her power and importance.
• Year 1207: It is announced that Princess Zenevia will be crowned the next monarch in 1208 by Father Francis, the current monarch of Motonia.
• Year 1207: Cycilosis hits Everbrook, Zebathen's capital, seven years after Queen Vaella's coronation.
• The disease does not kill at first. It renders people immobile.
• The plague is cured by a distant alchemist named Morana.
• Morana becomes rich and famous for curing the plague.
• Morana's potion uses ingredients she obtained from the chasm.
• Year 1208: One year after the plague is cured, the cured begin developing new symptoms. People fall sick and die. Queen Vaella becomes the final major victim.
• Morana is captured by Zebathen guards and locked in prison.
• Morana's medicine contained a slow-acting poison.
• Morana did not know the poison had been added to one of the ingredients she obtained from the chasm. The woman responsible was Ziena, whose ambitions extended over both Motonia and Zebathen.
• Year 1208: An earthquake destroys Cliften. Several people are killed, and its architecture collapses. Father Francis and Princess Zenevia die.
• Ziena had been attempting an experiment to gain the ability to fly like a raven. She developed plumage and a beak, but kept human hands and could not fly.
• Ziena's experiment caused the earthquake in Cliften, though she did not realize it.
• Year 1209: Motonia moves its capital to Alnore, beside the Chasm of Gold. A new king is crowned from outside the royal family.
• Year 1210: The grave fire happens. It is believed to be caused by the eruption of Mt. Bleed.
• The lighthouse at the foothills of the volcano is surrounded by lava. Ziena is trapped inside.
• The Eye of the Raven becomes functional.
• Flames erupt from the bowels of the earth, and all of Ekothis is devoured.

Or so it is thought.

The aftermath is the playable present of GRAVEFIRE. The world is burned, but not empty. Four survivors remain. The dead reanimate. Souls wander. The Messenger speaks through the Eye of the Raven. Every region holds a memory of what Ekothis was and what the fire changed.