Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Sea Princes Campaign: Timeline

Well it seems my Hold of the Sea Princes campaign is going to be starting back up around December so in anticipation of this, I've been going back over my notebooks and remembering alot of the side stuff I wanted to work on during the hiatus but didn't due to laziness. One of those mini-projects was putting together a grand Hold of the Sea Princes historical timeline. Sure it'll have zero bearing on the game itself, but there are so many sources for the area out there this is mostly for my own sanity.
First a note and some thanks. Events on the timeline end at 577 CY which is my current campaign date (So you'll notice a lack of Scarlet Brotherhood action-good). Those events with an asterisk are tweaked for my personal campaign and shouldn't be considered hard facts. But if someone does find some glaring errors in canon chime in, I won't mind fixing the timeline. To that end, events I've collected for this timeline come from many sources both canon and semi-canon including Savage Tide. My thanks also go out to a handful of other gamers who have provided me with Sea Princes material, especially Sam Weiss' epic timeline found over at Canonfire! Now onto the timeline, enjoy!

Timeline for the Hold of the Sea Princes (circa 577 CY)

-422 CY- Suel refugees of the Rain of Colorless Fire seeking a safe and peaceful place to start over establish the Grand Duchy of Berghof next to Lake Spendlowe.
-368 to -348 CY- Bands of Suel mercenaries and slavers establish the town and realm of Port Toli.
-246 CY- Toli slavers sack and usurp control of Jakana the grand duchy’s only port on Jeklea Bay.
-245 to -146 CY- Toli sporadically wars with Berghof but cannot advance past Alderweg Pass into the grand duchy itself despite numerous attempts.
-154 to -148 CY- The Kingdom of Keoland’s exploration and expansion south of the Javan River is resisted by the warships of Toli.
-147 to -137 CY- King Sanduchar I of Keoland leads a fleet to explore the seas beyond the Densac Gulf. Much of the coasts of the Amedio and Hepmonaland are mapped.
-124 CY- Pilgrims led by Sasserine of Wee Jas found a remote town in his name on the Amedio coast.
-121 CY- Siege of Port Toli: King Sanduchar is slain but his Royal Navy breaks the Toli presence and brings a period of relative peace to the region.
30 CY- The Prosperous port of Sasserine repels its first raid, continues to grow and successfully holds off further assaults for the next four centuries.
43 CY- King Malv the Navigator of Keoland ends the threat of a reformed Toli nation and Berghof regains control of Jakana.
47 CY- King Malv III disappears on a voyage into the Densac Gulf.
118 CY- Kayar’s Rebellion: The brother of Grand Duke Sharzol II causes an uprising on the Jeklea coast including Jakana but fails to take Berghof before dying in battle at Alderweg Keep.
291-300 CY- King Tavish the Great spreads Keoish control southward to wrest control of the lands still primarily held by their naval rivals in Port Toli.
301 CY- The port of Monmurg is founded to act as the seat of Keoish power in the region and to counter the naval might of Port Toli.
304 CY- Establishment of Westkeep by Tavish to protect his colonies from the dangers of the Hool Marshes.
306 CY- The last Toli war ends as Port Toli and the Grand Duchy of Berghof are absorbed by Keoland into the new Duchy of Monmurg.
350-434 CY- Renewal of widespread piracy on the Azure Sea as Keoish attention is focused on northward imperialism.
434-444 CY- Pirates gradually take control of the major isles of Flotsom, Jetsom and Fairwind then form the confederation of the Sea Princes, named after the flagship of a noble-blooded pirate captain.
445 CY- Port Toli is conquered by the Sea Princes.
446 CY- Monmurg is finally seized by the Sea Princes formally ending Keoish rule.
447-452 CY- Sea Princes expand inland and hold much of the land south of the Hool Marshes.
452 CY- King Tavish III of Keoland orders the eradication of the Sea Princes. The Princes answer with a challenge to battle by sea which is ignored by the monarch.
453 CY- Siege of Westkeep: King Tavish III personally leads an army through the Hool Marshes to Westkeep where he is slain and his demoralized army routed by the readied Sea Princes.
464 CY- Battle of Jetsom Island: Newly crowned King Tavish IV takes an armada to fight the fleet of the Sea Princes in their waters. The battle is a draw with both sides losing many warships, including the sinking of the legendary Sea Prince.
465 CY- Aging Sea Prince captains retire from active piracy to settle down and form a stable government centered on an elected Prince and a House of Peers.
466-486 CY- Younger captains begin to look toward legitimate trade and explore the Amedio coast, building forts and trading with natives for their abundant resources.
467 CY- Many disaffected pirate captains renounce their allegiance to the Sea Princes and sail south of the Densac Gulf to form the Crimson Fleet. The island haven of Scuttlecove quickly grows due to the fleets’ presence.*
480 CY- The tyrannical rule of Lord Mayor Orren in Sasserine is broken by a fleet from the Sea Princes sent to aid the rebels. In the chaos that follows however the Hold instead supplants Orren’s rule.
487-517 CY- Shiploads of Amedio savages are captured and brought back to the Hold to work as slave labor on vast plantations, despite objections from the neighboring Yeomanry.
517-527 CY- The Hold further expands its territory to the edge of the Hellfurnaces absorbing the willing Duchy of Berghof.
547 CY- Outpost of Narisban established to control trade through the Olman Isles.*
563 CY- Sasserine colonists start the town of Farshore on the faraway Isle of Dread.*
573 CY- Liberal-minded Prince Jeon II assumes the throne of Monmurg setting off a new round of intrigue within the House of Peers.
575 CY- Sasserine becomes a free city and signs a controversial treaty with Prince Jeon II which effectively divides the House of Peers.*
577 CY- Prince Jeon II loses more support with the House of Peers, easily failing to abolish slavery throughout the Hold of the Sea Princes.


7 comments:

Mystic Scholar said...

Very nice. A timeline like that is always handy and good to "have around."

Thanks for sharing that with us, Mort. We all appreciate your earnest efforts on the community's behalf.

Does this mean you've "left" Ull? :O

OMG!!!!!

Say it ain't so!

Hehehehehehehe

Anonymous said...

Yes, that's a very interesting timeline, including the Savage Tide information.

I bet the PCs in the campaign will encounter a band of Ulli pirates astride their horses upon the deck of their drommond, or something similar. :)

SirXaris

Mike Bridges said...

You goofs! I hardly ever RUN campaigns in Ull, I just write about the place so passionately that you believe I do.

Mystic Scholar said...

:P

I repeat --

:P

Argon said...

Mort,

Nice time line there be pirates in Ull?

Later

Argon

Dantillion said...

Really nice work, only a small question; if they are originally Suel wouldn’t they still be using the Suel calendar? Having never been part of the Great Kingdom, not sure why CY would be in use.

Mike Bridges said...

Dantillion: You are not wrong. In fact, all of Keoland region should use Suel date too. They directly carried on from that era.