The History of Ios

"Lies! It's all LIES!"
- Bern Harrowarm, dwarven historian, just before his suicide.

The history of Ios is a rather complex thing with many problems inherent in it. The first is that it is simply too long and the entire age of the Catastrophe is missing entirely, which is a lot like taking the renaissance out of earth history. The other is that it is mostly written by elves, and thus inherently biased. Add that to the fact that there are no set, accepted calendars and you have problems. The following timeline is generally accepted by historians as a basic what happened when for the past, but even it contains divisive issues.

The Beginning
1. The World of Ios is made.
2. The Gods dwell upon it, making whatever they choose.
3. The Dragons arrive, and some of the gods try to banish them. The other gods stand against them.
The First War
1. The Gods make war on each other.
2. The faction trying to destroy the dragons creates creature of its own to harass the dragons and gods.
3. The war ends with the ones demanding banishment being banished themselves, their names largely forgotten to history.
4. The dragons thank the gods and:
  1. The dragons leave into the mountains to live their own lives
    or
  2. The dragons ask that the other created ones not be destroyed because there has been enough death.
The Awakening
1. The God and Goddess create the elves as a response to the other species. The elves are all beautiful and can live forever until slain.
2. The Million awaken to the first sunrise and greet it in song, singing the dawn song for the first time in the language given to them by
  1. The God and Goddess
    or
  2. Death
3. The monsters learn language and make their own. They hate the elves but make no war on them, fearing to risk the wrath of the gods.
The Catastrophe
1. The monster races begin to make a nation of their own.
2. The elves join the nation reluctantly.
3. The nation of Iosair extends from sea to sea, covering the entire continent (some older legends claim the entire world).
4. A great time of peace and prosperity ensues.
5. The Catastrophe occurs. The monsters flee into the south, the elves flee to the Deep Wood. The civilisation they made is lost entirely save for the occasional ruin that somehow survive
6. The dwarves come down from the mountains. No one knows who made them.
The Time of Birthing
1. The elves and dwarves get along grudgingly. The reasons for their alliance vary from the dwarves teaching elves magic to needing to elves needing dwarven technology to dwarves needing to learn a language from the elves (which seems probable). Suffice to say, there was no war between the two races for a long time.
2. The first gnomes are born of elf and dwarf pairings, to the disgust of the dwarves and the shame of the elves. They are banished.
3. The gnomes appeal to the Goddess and in Her aspect of Fertility she allows them to have many children until they become a species in their own right.
4. The humans arrive on armoured dragons, barely surviving landing on an island off the coast of the Deep Wood.
5. Elves and humans meet. The humans claim the elves brought them to this world with a Summons of some kind, the elves deny it.
6. The humans leave the island and move south of the Deep Wood to make their own lands.
7. The Gerisau meet the humans and teach them magic.
8. Halflings are born when Wyli sleeps with a human man and his wife. They also become a species because Wyli begs the Goddess for this boon.
9. Kender are created by Wyli from a gnome/halfling pairing. There are few of them and the Goddess gives them no boons.
The Age of Kings
1. The various races make their own nations.
2. Many racial wars are fought.
3. The Ocs come north, looking for more land.
4. The races unite and push them back, at great cost.
The Age of Confusion
1. As a result of the Orc War, much history is lost. The following legends compromise the age:
2. The dwarves create the first empire, which covers all the continent (except the Deep Wood.)
3. The Forbidden Swamp gains it's name as things come out of it.
4. The elves try and negotiate with the beings of the swamp.
5. They fail. The Deep Wood is closed to all and elves become more myth than reality.
6. The dwarves get information from the Ocs about the Swamp and send an army into it.
7. The army is destroyed, the vassal nations demand the dwarves to do something about the threat. After explaining they can't win a few times, and getting anry responses, the dwarves send another army. It fails. They get the same requests and disband the Stormhold Empire out of frustration with others.
8. Yet another joint war is mustered, and the forbidden swamp is set fire to, and contained by Wizards. The dwarves return home battered, the monsters the same.
The Age of Quan
1. The gnomes take advantage of the lull in wars to found the city of Quan and ally it to other cities of various species.
2. The nation is ruled next by humans, and even (for a week) kender.
3. Quan becomes a haven for those who are tired of hating others and being hated. Even an orc is said to rule it for a time.
4. Quan takes over the Peninsula and becomes a true Empire.
The Age of Quiet
1. This is simply an age where nothing much happened.
2. The kingdom of Elandai is founded.
The Age of Trade
1. The recovered monsters trade with Quan and the dwarves. The elves open up Xarien for limited trade.
2. Humans found the Talkani Empire to deal with the threat of the Forbidden Swamp.
3. The Talkani Empire manages to prevent the Swamp from engaging in another war, at great cost.
4. Wizards first construct the 3 Towers.
5. The Talkani Empire expands outwards with the Swamp temporarily quintessent. It and the Quan Empire clash.
6. The Quan Empire uses Elandai as a sea port and threatens Talkani itself, even as Talkani armies draw close to Quan. Both Empires declare a truce.
The Wizard War
1. Halflings and humans found the Namat Empire, largely a trade way between the Monsters and Quan.
2. 3 wizards each lay claim to one of the 3 Towers, the High Places of magic. They are:
  - Avern, human undead mage of terrible power (The Tower of Bones)
  - Elauris, human mage said to have mastered the deepest magics (The Tower of Sand) &
  - Something Else, from the Forbidden Swamp (The Tower of Night).
3. The Namat empire meets the Talkani Empire and is defeated.
4. The 3 wizards make war on each other, for reasons unknown.
5. The Elandai rise up against their king and kill him.
6. The Changing Lands are created.
7. The war ends in the destruction of all three towers, creating the Blasted Plain and killing many wizards in the process.
8. A Quan general leads an army against the North Reach and is punished for his actions.
9. The Namat Empire sinks beneath the sea, the ground itself shattering and becoming the Broken Coast where it was. The reasons for this remain unknown.
The Time of Changes
1. The Quan Empire's magic tolerance and high taxation lead to rebellions.
2. The Talkani Empire and the Monsters continue their war for the south lands.
3. A Talkani general leads a war against Xarien, by mistake. The war is ended by a treaty.
4. The Quan Empire collapses and becomes largely a city-state.
5. The Talkani Empire begins withdrawing from the remains of Namat, the Handarun plains and the south.
6. Sea Watch is taken over by pirates.
7. The Talkani Empire begins a war against the Forbidden Swamp according to stories.
8. The Empire withdraws all diplomats and closes it's borders entirely.