August 22, 2023 - Launch day for the early access to the brand-new game Planesrunners. Technical problems with the content distribution network impair the launch, and the community managers in Austin apologize on social media.
Also August 22, 2023 - Apocalypse occurs. The apologies of the community managers for Planesrunners get mostly overlooked as technology stops working. An estimated 6 billion people die during the next three months, including Douglas Moore.
August 25-28, 2023 - A large group leaves Vancouver, fearing famine and gangs as nothing works anymore, not even guns. 3 days out, they encounter a Changestorm and become hairy humanoids. The exodus becomes problematic, as they fall sick both from overheating and from food. One of the survivors realizes she can hold food normally if she only eats meat and poultry and the "wendigos" as they name themselves realize they need to learn to hunt quickly to replace their now-useless food supplies.
August 31, 2023 - A massive Changestorm sweeps Haiti. About 5% of the population caught outdoors becomes Trolls. Figuring out they have now the advantages over dwindling food stocks, most Trolls set out to eliminate "normies". A few Trolls try to protect their unchanged relatives, but fall to the onslaught.
September 2023 - The first Changed beasts are spotted in various parts of the world. At first, it looks to be mostly gigantic versions of various felines, but other variants start coming out of the wilds.
September 19, 2023 - A Changestorm covers western Sichuan. Half of the people affected fall comatose, never to awaken. The rest manage to adapt to having a third eye, and the improved 3D vision it brings. They call themselves Erlang, after the legendary three-eyed protector of the province.
October 2023 - Most of the cities are now death traps, with almost all people in those dying from hunger or fighting over dwindling stock. Most survivors are holed in small communities, trying to use improvised weaponry, bows, and makeshift crossbows against the increasing bandit raids.
October 14, 2023 - A localized Changestorm hits in Colorado, and turns 500 people into hairless diminutive humanoids. Local unchanged communities fearing monsters band to kill them, and the "dwarves" run away, taking refuge in the upper Sawatch range. Also, the author turns 60.
Early November 2023 - The first surge of Changed Beasts occurs, including Elite "elemental" critters. About 2/3rd of the surviving communities lose 50% or more of their population or are outright wiped before repelling the monsters. The surviving settlements start building emergency walls.
November 22, 2023 - An expedition out of Abondance, south of the Leman in Switzerland comes back, and confirms that Changestorms have erased most of the features north of the lake and that it's "Jurassic Park out there".
December 6, 2023 - While fighting a pack of Changed Canids on the Great Plains, Samal Tahrikeen lights his spear into flame. The pack is driven away easily, but his home settlement holds a trial to determine if the man has been Changed like the beasts. The trial fails to achieve consensus, and he's allowed to stay, for now.
December 8, 2023 - Samal's girlfriend surprises him in bed with another woman and knifes him to death. The other woman confesses she wanted "a kid from the sorcerer". To the surprise of a lot of people, the girlfriend gets sentenced to a year of community service - which changes nearly nothing, as everyone has to pitch in on whatever needs to be done to survive until spring.
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Early 2024 - Bandit raids intensify as winter empties storages, and many of the smallest communities are wiped out, their stores pillaged.
First half of 2024 - Four successive Changed beast waves occur more or less simultaneously across the entire world. The most unprepared communities lose a lot of people during the assaults.
February 15, 2024 - One of the Wendigos established noticed that some of the Changed beasts regularly spotted in the snowed wilds of Canada's former British Columbia have weird non-light swirling funnels attached to them when looking through his old wraparound glasses. That makes it easier to spot the most dangerous of the Changed fauna.
April 2024 - One Erlang appears to be able to cause crops to grow almost overnight, albeit on a small scale. The locals establish him as chief of their village, "Lord of the Crops". The new Lord wastes no time in promoting his Changed friends and wife to various posts in the village.
Mid-2024 - World population still plummets, as people struggle to grow food and resist both bandit gangs and Changed predators. The population of the former United States of America is estimated to have been under 3 million people at that point, despite an uptick in babies conceived during the Apocalypse.
July 6, 2024 - A Changestorm hits Abondance. Half the settlements in the valley vanish, leaving clumps of forest. The remaining people find themselves with scales, feather crests, and a scaly ridge covering where their noses used to be.
September 2024 - A Changestorm hits the Mojave. Three tiny settlements there are affected, and the locals quickly rename themselves as Minotaurs, given the extent of the changes. Mock horn-locking tournaments are soon organized for fun.
October 28, 2024 - A patrol of "Kobolds" from Abondance stumbles upon a small group of 8-foot-tall skinny humanoids with foot-long ears. Before any contact can be established, arrows are loosened, and both groups retreat after the first death on both sides.
November 2, 2024 - The Council of Abondance decides that the unknown humanoids present a clear and immediate danger. Plans are made to create fortifications.
November 11, 2024 - While scouting locations for such, Ernest Blumenthal finds out by accident he can reshape stone. Although he fails to create more than a small wall before being exhausted, it is decided that stone will be essential for the fortifications.
November 21, 2024 - An ambush by a group of "Fae" scouts takes the lives of three Kobolds. The resolve of the inhabitants of Abondance is reinforced. Anyone not working the fields, even small children, gets mobilized to quarry and build defenses.
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2025 - The population of the world keeps plummeting albeit more slowly. The number of people in the former USA territories is estimated at under 2 million.
February 2025 - Augusta Sallieri attracts the attention of people as it turns out she can erase wounds and even traces of old wounds. The local congregation's priest wastes no time in declaring her to be a Holy Saint, sent by the Lord to alleviate the suffering of the faithful during this Tribulation. Her denegations of any sainthood get mostly ignored, and she quickly disposes of her stock of fetish lingerie from before the Fall.
March 2025 - The first "Blumenthal Wall" gets finished, locking down access from the southern valley from Abondance. Although it's named after him the 15-foot tall stone wall is mostly the product of tireless workers, with Ernest Blumenthal shaping the intricate and tall watchtowers. Ernest notes that the work slowly becomes easier from month to month.
April 2025 - After 9 months without any child being born, the first birth occurs among the Kobolds of the Swiss Alps. After initial fears that they'd turn into egg-layers or something, live birth is a respite, although it is hard and long, with three kids - two boys and a girl - being born.
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Late April 2025 - Two more births occur. Both are triplets, leading to anxious speculations among the other expectant mothers in the community, despite only a single heartbeat being detected by doctors among the pregnant Kobolds. This will be confirmed in the future months, as all births among the Kobold appear to be triplets, either two boys and a girl or the opposite combination.
Late 2025 - A tentative network of trade begins to form in the Great Plains, where the Changed beasts appear to be somewhat rarer than average. The center of Northern America is mostly spared the ravages of the second wave of monsters of the year.
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2026 - The entire west part of the Abondance territory gets fortified, just in time to repel an attack by a small army of a hundred Fae. The assault is defeated when a pair of heroic Kobolds that seem to be able to unnaturally avoid arrows rush the enemy encampment and kill the enemy commanders before succumbing to the Fae, who then retreat.
2027 - The first war flares between two loose associations of towns near the Rocky Mountains. Both claim to be the legitimate State of Colorado, although neither includes the former capital - which is overrun by Changed Ursids anyway.
2028 - The Walls of Abondance are finished just in time for a new assault from Fae. The First Siege of the Fae begins.
2029 - The world population stabilizes somewhat. Estimates are that less than 1 million people from before the Fall survived, although births are on the uptick. The central states suffer an outbreak of Pasteurella Pestis - based on speculations by surviving MD - with the dwindling stock of antibiotics being too short to fully stem the epidemic, which takes two years of sporadic resurgences to burn itself out.
2030 - Anna Blumenthal, Ernest's wife, gives birth to... twins. The anomalous birth cements the near-supernatural status of the Great Engineer of Abondance.
June 2030 - The First Siege is broken when the Kobolds use long-range catapults with stone balls filled with a napalm-like concoction before being sealed by the powers of the Great Engineer.
2035 - For most of the territories of the United States, this is the first year without a real wave of Changed monsters. There are still localized outbreaks of Changed beasts, but maps of the "dangerous territories" are starting to get drawn.
2036 - Josh Valetta establishes the first outlying farmland from the town he's built around his former diner. A handful of trusted people, including his wife's cousin, former army sergeant Armand Milton, build a fortified set of farms for them and their kids, with Jacob Anasta in charge.
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2040 - A Fae stealth scout almost takes out Ernest Blumenthal in his own house. The Kobold Great Engineer owes his life to the fact that he managed to light his hand with a flame and shove it into the face of the would-be assassin.
2049 - The Second Siege of the Fae begins. It lasts less than two months, as the Kobolds use deep tunnels carved by Blumenthal well in advance to come out behind enemy lines and do a pair of devastating surprise attacks.
2050 - The first ship from China lands on the west coast of the Americas, at a small port named Old Angeles. Trans-pacific trade resumes at a very low level.
2058-62 - A new set of wars arise between central states and some of their northern neighbors.
2065 - Ernest Blumenthal gets struck by a small stroke, and finds himself unable to move, confined to a chair. Most of the Kobold community renders homage to the Great Engineer, foremost among them the Engineer In-Waiting, who manifested stone shaping - albeit on a much smaller scale than the current Engineer - three years before. The fact that his wife also had twins rather than triplets has cemented the heir's status.
2066 - Ernest Blumenthal dies. Abondance erects a gigantic monument to their savior.
2069 - The Third Siege of the Fae begins. It lasts for two years before the enemy vanishes overnight, leaving empty camps and no explanation.
2071 - The first of the Wars of Unification begin, as eight States decide to forcefully reunite the former United States. The First Wars lasted only a year before the States involved sued for peace.
2073-2077 - The Second and Third Wars of Unification begin until most of the States involved concede the "United States of America" can no longer be brought back, as too much of the former territory of said is unmanageable.
2076 - New Benton and the ruling head of state fall to an army led by Albert Maistry during the Third War. Maistry proclaims the new state of the Marches of the Montana, covering, nominally the western part of said state. He immediately starts drafting plans to bring the rest of "the Northwest" under his banner.
2077 - The Treaty of the Union is drafted and ratified. As it takes unanimous consent of the States to alter, it remains essentially unchanged for almost a hundred years.
2078 - The Wars of Unification end.
2080 - Three Southern States petition to join the Union and their entry gets granted by the Senate. They’re the first of a small wave of a dozen “joiners” in the following decade.
2081 - Great Britain is Great Again as the first safe road finally leads from Dungeness all the way to John O'Groats.
2083 - The Fourth Siege of the Fae begins. Like the previous one, it lasts a couple of years, then the Fae vanish. The Kobolds begin to make plans to extend their range and build a new wall to the east for their growing population.
November 30, 2092 - Day of the Last Dead. The last person born before the Fall dies. The average life expectancy in the Changed world is still under 60.
December 31, 2100 - The New Century is ushered in, to great celebrations, and no fireworks, as none has been working since the Fall.
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2102 - The Fifth Siege of the Fae begins. Four high-ranking Fae use potent Artifacts in combination to break through the Wall of Blumenthal. The fight over the breach lasts an entire week before the Kobold defenders succumb to the relentless Fae assault. The Fae enter Abondance lands, and slaughter every Kobold they can find. It is unknown if any survived by escaping into the mountainous mana zones surrounding the Leman. The Kobold race is considered extinct.
February 2154 - (removed title) Tom Virgil Welter is born in Avon, near Valetta.
April 2154 - (removed title) Johanna Marcia Milton is born in Anasta, near Valetta.
October 2154 - (removed title) Peter Malik Donnall is born in Anasta, near Valetta.
November 2154 - (removed title) Laura Anna Vogel is born in Virtu, near Valetta.
2165 - Victor Maistry, Warden of the Montana, dies of a heart attack. His son Edgard succeeds him.
Also, 2165 - The Northern Tribes declare war after the Tribal Council decides not to wait until the Maistry wage war yet again on them.
2166 - Elena Worchester manifests a mist ability. She travels south to New Colorado State, to meet with a member of the old Society of the Sorcerers and Sorceresses of the Americas and learn more about her abilities.
2168 - Elena Worchester, Sorceress of the Mists (old-style tier 6) offers her services to Edgard Maistry, Warden of the Montana.
2169 - Edgard Maistry gets blasted by lightning during a battle north of the Kootenai Gap. He survives, but loses the use of his left hand, and recognizes what his adjutant keeps saying, that his place isn't on the battlefield.
2170 - Assassins try to kill Maistry while on an inspection tour of the main cities of central Montana. The ambush fails because it is almost instantly covered in opaque fog by the Sorceress of the Mists of the Montana.
June 21, 2171 - Johanna Milton meets Tom Welter during a Summer Solstice feast in Anasta. The two hit off early on.
September 22, 2171 - Peter Donnall meets Laura Vogel at a marriage in Virtu. She shows him her ... never mind.
January 2172 - The Garrison at Kootenai Gap gets a surprise attack by a mixed force of Tribesmen and Wendigo. The frontier is hurriedly reinforced despite the onset of winter, and the forces are held at bay, barely.
June 2172 - Johanna Milton hatches the plan to delve into ruins as a way to get money to establish her and Tom's household, as she's too far on the ladder of inheritance to get anything, and she's not interested in staying as a menial farmhand in Anasta or Avon. She ropes in her childhood friend Peter in the scheme after discussing it with his girlfriend.
Winter 2173 - The winter push by the combined forces of the tribals and Wendigo causes massive losses on the front. The Warden starts realizing that his standing army might be able to hold, but the next winter is going to be touch-and-go.
Summer 2173 - The Warden of the Montana decides to activate the draft. Notices and "recruiters" get dispatched in late spring and during summer to all major cities and towns of the State with quotas to fill.
July 30, 2173 - Day of Awakening. Johanna's team finds a skeleton preserved by mana in the ruins. The Ancient Power awakens, and nothing will be the same ever again.
August 13, 2173 - Johanna finds Swordcutter.
August 30, 2173 - Tom Welter marries Johanna Milton; Laura Vogel marries Peter Donnall.
September 19, 2173 - The Four get drafted for the Fourth Northern War.
October 30, 2173 - Battle at Kootenai Gap. The same day, the Wendigo Snowbound Glatteis discovers the scheme of the Warden of the Montana and informs the Four. They desert two days later.
November 8, 2173 - Johanna finds (removed)Thirst.
November 20, 2173 - The Four reach White Meadows, near the frontier between the Marches of Montana and Dakota.
November 21, 2173 - (removed). The Four break down two Ancient Books into Parchments of Powers for the direct benefit of Catherine Rocastle and Valentin Rosenberg.
December 8, 2173 - (removed). Johanna enters the Dream of the Ancient Power and gets a quest for (removed).
... to be continued ...