Round 7

In preparing this round of the game I was starting to feel the limitations of the calendar reference I was using.  Starting from Year Zero and proceeding upward is a logical way to keep track of the centuries, but now that we were seeing Events take place at a much swifter pace, the first two digits of the year were becoming less and less significant.  I needed a way to roll the calendar over from the hundred thousand back to zero.  In Earth's history, this happened when civilizations of the West began to keep track of time relative to the birth of Christ.  Not all civilizations did so, of course; for centuries around the time of Charlemagne, two years were referenced:  what we think of today as the actual year, their best estimate of the passage of time since Jesus's day; and the year of the local king's own reign on Earth.  What I would need, I decided, was to see if there was some significant Event on which we could hang a Year Zero.

Of course, I didn't have a Jesus in my world.  But I did have a Chamandra.

Year 106,000:  The Iron Age

Pharaoh Alvatheu Takes A Bride.  The female Matriarch of the Alvian was the first Pharaoh of the Dynasty of Sathad-Zin.  Since the people of Sathad weren't accustomed to being ruled by a woman, she had taken on the illusory appearance of a winged male instead, because that was the custom of the Sathad.  When it came time to produce an heir, she found herself in a pickle:  she would not marry her brother, in the Sathadi style, and she could not marry the brides that the Sathadi families were offering in their custom of bridal exchange.  Alvatheu elected instead to have the child herself.

A Conqueror Is Born.  The trial of Dytoclanes elevates his philosophical teachings on Truth and Goodness to the status of art.  His student, Attades, takes this a step further and declares that in order to do good, one must do harm.  The most prolific student of Attades is Celestrones the Conqueror.

The Celestrian Code Of Laws.  Celestrones destroys the Great Temple and all but five of the statues of the gods.  In its place he builds a courthouse.

The Conqueror Invades Zefar.  The bronze-clad armies of Zefar are unprepared to meet the iron of the Conqueror.  A change of tactics is desperately called for, lest the Zefari be buried by the Celestrians. 

The Conqueror Turns East.  Before the Conqueror left for his invasion of Zefar, he had to decide how to handle the Sathad-Zin giants at his back. 

The Haesonian Dialogue.  As the Conqueror invades Zefar, society is beginning to splinter.  General Drurich is sent to recruit the Haesonian soldiers to the imperial cause — or destroy them if they refuse. 

The Sack Of Usta.  The sea-trading Mazani, desperate for food and supplies, they turn toward piracy, and sack the wealthy city of Usta. 

The Abbadar Found Boladine.  In order to quell the fears of their Oracles, the Boladine leader's son Rolojer marries both of the twins, rather than just one. 

Founding of the Aquiline Republic.  The four races of the Great Valley build a government based on the model of the Bronze Empire. 

Rise of the Salt Men.  The Kallko, the race long ago banished into the deep caverns by the stone-shapers who were themselves banished, re-emerge right in between two empires. 

Ascent of Chamandra.  The immortal Chamandra finally comes to his earthly end.

Players

Joe the Leader, also the God of Conquest

Dave the Artisan, also the God of Fire and Truth

Connor the Mystic, also the Goddess of Fertility

Jack the Storyteller, also the God of Thunder and Wisdom