Note:
The Algol Year (AY) is approximately 0.75 Imperial Years (IY)
|
-2000 AY
(date approximate) |
- The first colonists, fleeing the tyranny of the Old Empire and
pursued by the Aggendi, crash land on Algol at the site of the present day City of the
Black Tower. Dr. Kallicar, an Elomani geneticist of some note who was among the colonists,
appropriates an old Imperial relay station in the outer system, in order to study some of
the aggendi corpses safely away from the colony site.
|
-1999 AY
(date approximate) |
- The Aggendi find & destroy the original colony site,
scattering the few survivors across Algol. Kallicar’s lab was also blitzed in the
attack. Thinking it was the Empire, Dr. Kallicar and his young daughter Attican flee in an
escape pod, taking with them the only samples of a regeneration serum developed from
aggendi physiology. This serum would allow the two not only to survive, but to extend
their life span by several centuries.
|
-1994 AY
(date approximate) |
- Having given up hope of rescue planetside, a group of
survivors under the leadership of Dr. Kallicar, found the First City in the jungle some
600 kilometers south-southeast of the crash site, on the site of what is now the city of
Kallicar. The founders of the First City are dedicated to the preservation of knowledge
and the taming of the land.
|
-1971 AY
(date approximate) |
- Kallicar and a number of his followers venture back to the
burned-out hulk of the Sentai (the colony ship, now known as the Black Tower) to salvage
some of its technology and formulate a defense against the possible return of the aggendi.
Their efforts would result in the creation of the Great Barrier, which isolated the
continent of Muria from the rest of Algol.
|
-1240 AY
(date approximate) |
- The Great Quake destroys much of the First City, and before it
can recover, the barbarian tribes of Muria, superstitious and terrified by the Quake,
overrun and destroy the rest. Dr. Kallicar is killed in the riots, and the remaining
citizens scatter to the mountains. The First City falls, taking with it almost all of
Algol’s civilization, knowledge, and science. The Age of Darkness
begins.
|
-200 AY
(date approximate) |
- The Algolian Bronze Age. Civilization begins to re-emerge. (The
planet as a whole reaches tech level 3)
|
| 0 AY |
- Early Kargan and Elaran civilizations first encounter each
other during exploration missions. Peaceful trade is established. Algolian unified
calendar is created.
|
| 800 AY |
- A volcanic eruption along the borders of Muria causes the failure of a seven kilometer
section of the Ancient force field which had long isolated the legendary island. This
allows the Kargans and Elarans their first contact with the Murians in millennia. At this
point, neither group is substantially more advanced than the other, and trade agreements
are quickly established.
|
1000 AY
(date approximate) |
- Friendly relations between the Kargans and Elarans first begin
to deteriorate. The exact reasons for this remain uncertain.
- The First Kargan/Elaran War begins. The conflict would
continue for more than a century, with most of the fighting occurring on Murian soil.
|
| 1010 AY |
- The legendary Murian mage/scholar Attican, presumably in
response to the growing hostilities among the people, emerges from her long seclusion. She
and her followers found the city of Kallicar on the ruins of the First City, and begin the
task of rediscovering the lost technologies and knowledge of their ancestors.
|
| 1111 AY |
- Attican and her band of mage followers rediscover the
"Black Tower," the burned out hulk of the original colony ship, deep in the
Murian jungle. The site had been deserted for centuries due to legends of a deadly curse
on the area. The curse was actually little more than residual radiation from the Aggendi
attack, now long since dissipated.
|
| 1131 AY |
- Attican and her followers form the Brotherhood of
Kallicar, dedicated to studying the ancient technologies found in the Black
Tower. Their early efforts give them a boost into the Steam Age (tech level 4. from
this point onward, the Brotherhood can be assumed to be one tech level ahead of the rest
of Algol)
|
| 1232 AY |
- The Brotherhood of Kallicar use the advanced technologies they
have rediscovered, as well as their own formidable mental powers, to drive all non-Murians
off the Murian continent, and reestablish the Great Barrier. The Murian Age of
Isolation begins.
|
| 1325 AY |
- Kargan and Elaran scientists first realize that the Ice Age is
coming.
|
1400 AY
(date approximate) |
- The bulk of Algol enters the Steam Age (tech level 4).
Muria, of course, has already advanced well beyond this.
- Karga and Elara enter open warfare for the first time in
almost 200 years. The Second great Kargan/Elaran war, which would become a long
series of skirmishes over the next 57 years, begins.
|
| 1420 AY |
- Officially recognized starting date of the Algolian Ice Age.
|
| 1434 AY |
- The Murian high mage/priestess Meilan leaves Muria with a
group of acolytes, in an ill fated attempt to bring the benefits of Murian civilization to
the less enlightened inhabitants of Algol. The expedition is lost without a trace, and
Lady Attican decrees that no further attempts are to be made.
|
| 1457 AY |
- The continent of Elara is finally conquered by the Kargan
Alliance. The Kargan occupation of Elara begins.
|
| 1491 AY |
- Osmeron Ettin III, king of Koriel in Elara, leads his people
in a revolt against the Kargan occupational forces, which soon spreads to the other Elaran
Kingdoms.
|
| 1493 AY |
- The Kargans are driven out of Elara. King Osmeron is crowned
king over all the seven Elaran kingdoms, uniting them for the first time under a single
government. The Elaran Federated Kingdoms are founded.
|
| 1495 AY |
- The Kargans achieve the first successful manned space flight.
(Some Kargan historians place the date three years earlier, on the assumption that
returning the pilot alive is not necessarily required to call the flight a
"success.")
|
| 1498 AY |
- A Murian magus named Arkon Verian Leaves Muria in defiance of
Attican’s decree, determined to bring order to the chaos among the barbarian tribes,
through whatever means necessary. His means include peace through superior firepower. Lady
Attican soon dispatches Dr. Tallisar Alexandar, her friend of many years and Arkon
Verian’s teacher, to deal with the problem.
|
| 1499 AY |
- Arkon Verian shows up in the Kargan Imperial Court, offering
his services to the highest bidder. That honor goes to an ambitious young nobleman named
Torrian Korax.
|
| 1500 AY |
- The Ettarran techno-gypsies construct the first fancarrier in
the archipelago. Essentially a mobile arcology, this innovation allows the Ettarrans far
greater security without sacrificing the mobility they so prize.
|
| 1501 AY |
- Lord Torrian Korax of Kardak becomes emperor of the Kargan
Empire after killing the former emperor, Gerian II, with his own war knife. Within a year,
assisted by the renegade Murian Arkon Verian, Korax forcibly unifies all the remaining
independent Karg states under Kamas Korax and declares himself emperor over all of Karga,
thus forming the greater Kargan Empire. He plans to retake Elara just as swiftly.
- Arkon's intervention in Karga, and later that of Dr. Tallisar
Alexandar in Elara, drag Algol kicking and screaming into the Nuclear Age (tech level 5)
through the application of Murian technologies.
|
| 1502 AY |
- The first Kargan Mektons appear. After Dr. Tal restores the
balance of power by giving Elara the same nucleonic missile technology that Arkon had
given Karga, Arkon is forced to take more drastic measures. Using scaled-down applications
of the well known (to him) technologies of Muria’s Excalibur Mektons, Arkon designs
Alogl’s first mass-production Mekton: the Goram Mark I.
- Using their new technology, the Kargans blitz the city of
Koriel, destroying the seat of Elaran government with minimal resistance. King Osmeron
escapes, but his wife is killed in the destruction of the palace, and his daughter is
injured. This attack marks the beginning of the First Mekton War. The Brotherhood
of Kallicar views this as a perversion of their most sacred technologies, but remains
undecided about what to do about it..
|
| 1503 AY |
- Karga achieves the first successful manned landing on the
largest moon, Dion (Once again, "successful" here is a relative term, since none
of the crew made it back alive).
- Several members of Karga's Steel Brotherhood,
dissatisfied with The Imperium's war policies, which they view as being too soft, splinter
off to form the Axis. They are in favor of a "total war" policy and
devote their considerable resources to bringing it about through whatever means necessary.
- An Elite group of Elaran commandos led by Dr. Tallisar
Alexandar of Muria, and including King Osmeron's teenage daughter, Princess Ymri, as well
as Prince Kerion Aziray of Kalia, stage a desperate raid on Arkon Verian's factory in
Tarkas. They succeed in stealing the prototype for the Headhunter, giving Mekton
technology to Elara and restoring the balance of power once more.
|
| 1504 AY |
- Karga invades the Archipelago, attacking the formerly neutral
Ettarrans for possession of the equatorial islands, seen by many as the only safe refuge
from the coming ice age.
- To better defend themselves, the ten largest Ettarran trading
families band together and elect a representative assembly. This grouping would soon grow
to become the Archipelagan Alliance.
- A battered Elara responds to Karga's "criminal act of
aggression," stepping in to defend the Ettarrans. With the involvement of the
Ettarrans, the First Mekton War becomes known as The Archipelago War.
|
| 1506 AY |
- The Battle of Kandar: Kargan forces lay seige to the
Elaran City of Kandar. Cut off and outnumbered 100-1, the defending 24th Light Mechanized
Guard, under the command of Kamir Kadann, manage to hold the Kargan forces off for ten
bloody days until reinforcements can arrive.
|
| 1509 AY |
- The Six Week Hell; due to simultaneous attacks on their
carriers, Kargan and Elaran mekton units are both stranded without support on a small
island in the Archipelago. This led to a long, grueling battle for survival against the
enemy and the local wildlife as they waited for support to arrive, some six weeks later.
|
| 1510 AY |
- Emil Dremmond, eldest son of the Duke of Tarna, finds a way
through Muria’s great barrier, and becomes the first outsider to set foot on Murian
soil in almost 300 years. The young Elaran nobleman made the pilgrimmage in the hope that
Muria could help him develop his considerable psionic potential. As heir to the duchy, he
feels that such abilities would better enable him to lead his people and defend his
homeland from Kargan agression.
- The Lady Attican, for reasons of her own, decides to grant his
request, despite her own laws against providing such knowledge to outsiders
|
| 1511 AY |
Battle of Arcadia;
Kargan mektons travel deep within Elaran territory in an attempt to destroy the
arcology/dam of Arcadia, which provides power for most of Loriel province. The Elaran
defenders manage to hold them off until reinforcements can arrive from nearby Keor,
successfully repelling the invaders. The retreating Kargan forces are finally trapped and
destroyed in the Mirion pass. |
| 1512 AY |
- First Elaran moon landing on Dion. The Elaran science team
takes over the Kargans’ old base camp. Karga responds to this "invasion" by
sending a strike team to eliminate the Elaran team. Unfortunately, the strike team's
shuttle crashes into the base camp while attempting to land, thereby dooming both groups.
- The Crystal Palace is completed in Orlo Bay, between the
cities of Arcol and Loriel. The ornate structure becomes the new center of government for
Elara.
|
| 1513 AY |
- Elara develops the first computer networks, ushering in the
Information Age (tech level 6).
- Lord Roland Duel of Muria, a Templar Knight of the First
Temple, and pilot of one of Muria’s immense Excalibur mecha, petitions Lady Attican
to allow the Templar Knights to leave Muria. In an impassioned speech before the Elders of
Muria in the great hall of the Black Tower, he denounces the violence brought about in the
outside world by the introduction of Murian technology. He demands that the elders
recognize Muria’s accountability for the wars going on outside the Barrier, and
insists that this is precisely the type of evil which the Templars have trained so long to
fight. In the end, the Murian Elders refuse his request, but Lady Attican is impressed by
the young knight’s strength of conviction. She grants that he alone may be allowed to
take his Excalibur outside the Barrier if he should wish to do so. Roland accepts her
proposal and departs Muria to embark on a lonely quest. He would appear many times in the
later years of the Archipelago War, his towering white Excalibur appearing just in time to
turn the tide on a hopeless battle or lend support to a just cause, usually departing as
mysteriously as he had arrived.
|
| 1514 AY |
- Jeff, Rachelle, and Bernard’s time.
|
| 1515 AY |
- The Battle of the Crystal Palace; A Kargan force led by Xoniver Ebonflack attacks
the new seat of Elaran government. The bold and unauthorized attack is largely a test of
an experimental new Kargan mekton, the Deathbird, which incorporates a number of new
technologies. The attack is successfully repelled by Lathrin Darkmoor's elite Night Hunter
squadron, but the Deathbird escapes capture. Ironically, it is piloted by one of
Darkmoor's own squadron, Lt. Karen Falis, who had been captured and brainwashed by
Ebonflack.
- The Battle of Lurin; The Night Hunters track Ebonflack's forces to the tiny
Archipelagan island of Lurin. There, Captain Darkmoor infiltrates a hidden Kargan factory
in an attempt to rescue Lt. Falis. In the process, he successfully sabotages the Kargan's
newest prototype mekton, the Shadowstorm 2. The battle ends in an explosive confrontation
high above the island between Ebonflack in his Artimis, and Darkmoor in the Shairt Delta.
Ebonflack barely survived the fight, but the destruction of the factory and his defeat led
to the vendetta which would eventually cost him his career and leave him with an Imperial
death mark on his head. Karen Falis also survived the attack, but in a comatose state from
which she never awakened.
|
| 1516 AY |
- The Elaran island city of Fiora, center of government for
Tarna province, is completely leveled by Kargan nucleonic missiles in an unprovoked
attack. Almost the entire royal family of Tarna is lost in the attack. The one known
survivor, 24 year old Emil Dremmond, quietly abandons his training in Muria and disappears
upon hearing the news.
- A neutral Dion base is established by the Unified Space
Alliance, a privately funded group of neutral scientists.
- King Osmeron of Elara dies of natural causes. Princess Ymri,
reluctantly leaves her military service in Elara's elite Grey Hunter Squadron to assume
the throne. The extremely popular "warrior queen" proves to be a much needed
inspiration to the Elaran fighting spirit.
|
| 1517 AY |
- Snowfall on Kalia signals the end of the Archipelago War by making it clear that even
the Archipelago is not safe from the coming ice age, and that fighting over it is
pointless.
- Queen Ymri of Elara weds Prince Kerion Aziray of Kalia. Since Elaran law prevents
foreign nationals from holding the throne, Kerion is given the title of Prince Consort.
Thus, he can be married to Ymri, yet have no claim to the throne in the event of her
death.
|
| 1518 AY |
- The end of the Murian Age of Isolation. Muria drops its force
field and proposes the plans for the solar array satellites. This marks the beginning of
the period known as The Murian Peace.
- Doctor Tal returns to Muria. Along with him go Lathrin
Darkmoor and Karen Falis. It is Lathrin’s hope that Murian science may hold a cure
for Karen’s comatose condition.
- Lord Emil Dremmond, formerly of Fiora, resurfaces and assumes
leadership of the Axis, shifting their focus to an international scope. Having grown
enormously in power by this time, the Axis now instigates conflicts for it's own benefit
as much as for Karga's. Dremmond plans to conquer both Elara and Karga by playing them
against each other. Dremmond is, at this point, dangerously unstable if not completely
insane. He seizes control largely through the use of some of Muria’s
"forbidden" psionic disciplines, and his working knowledge of Murian science.
|
| 1519 AY |
- Sunlight 1 becomes operational. The United Algol Alliance
(UAA) is formed to administrate and protect the Sunlight stations. A few months later,
Karga brings online the first fully self-sustaining space colony. The colony is named
Jaral, after a legendary Kargan hero who ascended to the heavens to challenge the gods.
- The Elaran Peace Faction is formed, in the interest of working
out a nonmilitary solution to the cold war with karga.
|
| 1520 AY |
- An Aggendi scout ship discovered by construction crews on
Dion. It is buried in an ancient lava flow, but still alive. Before it is destroyed, it
sends out a powerful psionic signal to deep space, which is detected by many of Algol's
most powerful psionics. Dr. Tal and many others view it as a warning of things to come.
- Arkon Verian is murdered on Dion in a plot secretly
masterminded by Lord Falmak Kynis of Karga, with assistance from Lord Dremmond. When the
plot eventually comes to light, the Axis gets all the blame.
- The Murian Peace ends when Muria withdraws from the UAA and
reestablishes its force field.
- Former Kargan ace mechapilot Xoniver Ebonflack, now exiled and
working for the Axis, stages a coup in Lord Dremmond's absence, giving him sole control of
the Axis and all its resources.
- The Aggendi threat becomes public knowledge due to an attack
on the Elaran colony N-12. Evidence points to an Axis hoax, but by that time the damage is
done. Planetwide panic ensues.
- Prince Osmeron IV is born to Queen Ymri and Prince Kerion.
- An anonymous tip reveals the location of two cloaked Axis
factory satellites near Dion. A group of Kargan commandos infiltrates and destroys both.
|
| 1521 AY |
- Elara withdraws from the UAA, signaling the organization's
final collapse.
- A group of Kargan and Elaran orbital colonies band together to
form the Nearside Federation, citing lack of groundside support.
- Starship Rimfire discovers the ancient stargate while chasing
Lord Dremmond to the edge of the system. Nearby, they also find the "sleeping"
Aggendi mothership. After a pitched battle involving two Axis cruisers and an immensely
powerful Axis mecha prototype, Dremmond is believed to have been killed.
- Responding to pressure from the Elaran Council, Queen Ymri
names Duke Tremaine of Arcol her regent until her son comes of age.
|
| 1522 AY |
- Emperor Korax launches a full-scale assault against Elara. His objective is twofold: to
control mounting invasion panic by giving his people a goal, and to unify Algol by force,
thereby assuring a unified front against any future Aggendi invasions. With Elara weakened
from within by pressures from the Elaran Peace Faction, Korax predicts victory within a
year. The Second Mekton War begins.
- Duke Tremaine is killed in an Axis attack. Certain factions
believe that the Axis might not have been responsible (even though they did claim credit
for the assassination ), or might not have acted alone. However, such "second
gunman" theories are widely dismissed, due to conflicting evidence which continues to
surface among conspiracy theorists.
- Following Tremaine's assassination, Queen Ymri reluctantly
gives the office of regent to her cousin, Lord Delaney.
|
| 1523 AY |
- The starship Rimfire returns to Algol. The battered ship makes it as far as the Halo,
before permanently grounding itself on one of the larger asteroids.
- Duke Tremaine’s son, Tharis, resigns his commission aboard Rimfire to assume
control of his father’s duchy.
- The Battle of Orlo Bay ; a the Kargan forces are on the verge of taking
Arcol/Loriel, five Ettarran fancarriers arrive to bolster the crumbling Elaran defenses.
Tired of being caught in the middle, the Ettarrans forsake their neutrality and join the
war on the side of Elara, restoring the balance of power and destroying Korax's hopes of a
swift victory.
- Keriel Korax is born to Emperor Korax and his wife, Lady Jessa Korax.
|
| 1524 AY |
- Lord Falmak Kynis assumes governorship of the Kargan colony
Jaral, on Emperor Korax’ recommendation. Some months later, he is elected chairman of
the Nearside Federation.
- The Axis secretly launches a small cloaked orbital factory
during a staged launch accident. Known as station Rogue 1, the factory is the base for
Project: Rogue, the Axis' attempt to create the ultimate terrorist mekton.
(The prototype for the Rogue was built and tested in 1520.)
- The Halo League is formed to oppose the
"tyranny" of Lord Kynis’ Nearside Federation. The League is based in the
asteroid belt.
|
| 1525 AY |
- The Nearside Federation declares its independence from Algol.
Neither Karga nor Elara recognizes the declaration.
|
| 1526 AY |
- Seizing control of Sunlight 1, the Nearside Federation shuts
down the solar arrays, and threatens to destroy them if their independence is not
recognized. Karga and Elara sign an indefinite cease-fire treaty to deal with the orbital
problem. The Orbital War begins.
|
| 1527 AY |
- Sunlight 1, newly liberated from Nearsider control, is nearly
destroyed by the Axis in a daring raid. The attempt is single-handedly thwarted by the
timely arrival of Ensign Talvain Colville of Elara.
|
| 1528 AY |
- The Devil's Belt ambush; joint Kargan-Elaran forces
destroy the cloaked Axis factory known as Acheron 4 near Dion.
- Outlying Kargan colony Arkon is attacked and destroyed by the
Aggendi. This time it isn't a hoax. Invasion panic returns to Algol in force. The
Aggendi War begins. This also signals the end of the Orbital War.
|
| 1529 AY |
- The Aggendi begin attacking surface targets on Algol in waves. Most small settlements
outside of the major fortress arcologies are destroyed completely.
- Doctor Tal and Lathrin Darkmoor reemerge from Muria and propose plans for a
multinational space fleet. The plans are unanimously accepted and the Fleet is
commissioned.
|
| 1530 AY |
- Solar array Sunlight 4 is destroyed by the Aggendi.
|
| 1531 AY |
- The Fleet is completed at the staging ground around Sunlight
1.
|
| 1533 AY |
- The Battle of Kralath; The Aggendi Mothership is
finally cornered in Algolian space near the moon of Kralath. After a pitched and costly
battle, the Aggendi Mothership disappears in a flash of light, taking with it one quarter
of The Fleet. This marks the end of the first Aggendi War.
|
| Editorial
Note: Obviously, there is more to the story than this. However, the decade
following the first Aggendi war becomes increasingly dependent on events unique to my own
campaign, and not much use to the rest of your Algol campaigns. one day, I hope to write
it up as a campaign module, but I have no idea when I will get to it. For now, suffice to
say that the first Aggendi war was instigated by Lord Dremmond, who was not killed in
1521, as was believed. He managed to use his possession power to transfer his mind into
the living aggendi ship just before his own body died. He used the ship’s power to
set himself up as a kind of mini-massmind and rally the aggendi forces. His first attack
failed, and he retreated using the ship’s gate drive (the "flash of light"
which ended the war). Three years later he would return with reinforcements, but that is a
story for another time. |