The history of Cahyali has been collected over time by the Cahyali Historical Association, and has carried on in collaboration with academic circles the world over, including the Ulos Magic Circle, Ruefang College of Mages and Scholars, Vahsi Panditudu School, and Vervand College. We seek to uncover and document the histories of each country of Cahyali for public viewing and education. Work is constantly being done to fill gaps in time and ensure that events given are as truthful as possible. If you believe you possess knowledge not given in this library, please contact the Head Archivist.

All years are given relative to the founding of the ancient Dahabu Empire, as SF (Since Founding) or BF (Before Founding). For further details on the timelines and histories of each nation, see the Cahyali Historical Initiative landing page.

~10000 SF - Present, Worldwide

The Modern Age is marked by adventuring becoming a commonplace profession across Cahyali. Adventurers with various backgrounds, alliances, and motives have become a major driver in the course of history.

Major events include:

• The Cahyalian Great War (10082)
• Ruefang-Raikougan Second War (10081)
• Reappearance of Mordrik Island (10081)
• Invasion of Nahrūl (10078)
• Druidic Assault on Ley'Ork Spire (10077)
• Ley'Ork Annexes Kainoa (10059)
• Rise of the Ember Army (10003)

(10068 SF, Ulos & Ley'Ork)

Although freak portals and weird magic was common connecting Jaern and Cahyali, it was in 10068 that a major Jaernian mages' guild opened a stable interplanar portal leading out to Ulos. Ever since, Ulos has been a hotspot for Jaern-Cahyali travel. The Ulosian portal can be easily accessed by anyone for a modest gold fee.

A single, tightly controlled portal also exists in Ley'Ork, under supervision of the HTUC. Only important political and military leaders tend to travel through this portal.

(9828-10020 SF, Arenti)

During this time, a variety of organized crime families ruled Arenti, bypassing all governmental attempts to curb their power. These groups have since spread out all over the world, now operating in all of Eastern Cahyali.

(9515-9530 SF, Splint & Ley'Ork)

In 9514, a strike team of Ley'Orkian airships seized the northern regions of the Zinaparo Kingdom and killed a member of the royal family. This would kick off a short but extremely bloody conflict, up until the advent of Ley'Ork's weapon of mass destruction: the arcanosphere.

Often referred to as an “arcane dirty bomb”, arcanospheres contained both mundane explosives and devastating deferred spells, most often fire magic which would cause entire villages to go up in flames. The Zinaparan palace was destroyed, and Zinaparo would become Splint and fall under Ley'Orkian control.

(9364-9826 SF, Vervand)

A highly contagious disease hit Vervand during this time in three distinct waves, greatly affecting the environment of the Alliance (economically and culturally) despite its relative localization to Vervand.

(8518 SF, Ruefang)

A guild of mysterious wizards in this time attempted to pry the Ruefang leyspring from the ground using an enigmatic ritual. This ritual went wrong in the last moments, resulting in the destruction of over half of the Ruefang continent and leading to intense magical corruption in the area. To Ruefangren and Raikoujin, the Fist of God is equal in its destruction to the Day of Solar Wrath.

This event also led to the splitting of the Raikougan Archipelago from mainland Ruefang. An event known as the Cloudfall isolated the islands: an eternal, impassable storm. This storm would not be dispelled for 300 years.

(8305 SF, Raikougan)

The island of Tokagegan was formerly mostly uninhabited, due to there being little arable land in the area. It was mostly bodies of water and swamps, unfit for most land-dwelling peoples. In 8305, however, a freak portal leading from Jaern opened and the better part of a Semi-Aquatic lizard village came through. Tokagegan turned out to be a perfect living place for them, and they eventually became the primary inhabitants of the region and assimilated well with the rest of the Raikougan.

This is the first recorded instance of Semi-Aquatic lizards on Cahyali. Similar portals are thought to have opened across Cahyali over time, leading to more Semi-Aquatics such as the Arentian population.

(8009 SF, Ley'Ork)

In 8009, a portal mysteriously opened in the central parts of Ley'Ork, greatly surprising a nomadic goblin tribe which was passing through. It was then that gnomes would return to Cahyali, reporting a “great cataclysm” in their home plane of the Dreaming involving “terrible shapes” and “rootless flowers”. Several more portals would open over the next two years in various parts of Cahyali and Jaern, with groups of gnomes running out and reporting the same general destruction each time.

(7892 SF, Ruefang)

It is unclear how the invasions started, but leading up to the turn of the seventh millennium, demonic invasions from the Beneath ravaged Ruefang and eventually led to the fall of the Shuibian Dynasty. This invasion was only driven away with the help of the dragons. This marked the beginning of dragon worship and veneration in the Abundant Expanse.

Infernal energies, combined with runaway leyline radiation, sank into and altered orcish populations of Ruefang. This resulted in their eventual adaptation into a new demonic race, known as the Kijin.¹⁾ In the thousands of years since, the Kijin have faded into nothing but fairytales and legend.

(7524 SF, Dahabu)

No one knows exactly how this calamity occurred, or why it only affected the Dahabi, the world over. Records are clear: at high noon on the summer solstice of 7524, the sky boiled red. The Dahabu continent was scorched in firestorms, becoming a desert wasteland - and no matter where they were on the planet, over 90% of Dahabu citizens were killed, with those who survived losing their souls.

Some scholars compare this incident to the Elvesbane plague in Jaernian history, and point to the similarities as proof of the two planes' mysterious fated link.

(~6000 SF, Worldwide)

During the height of Dahabu's global reign, a faultline appeared ringing known Cahyali. It persists to this day and is magical in nature, creating seas rough enough to sink any ship and winds strong enough to crash any aircraft. Mishra and Neptune have claimed responsibility for its creation, but have given no word on their motive.

(~5000 SF, Itlan-Youali)

Hounded by the forces of the Pharaoh, the Tonameyoti Atlaca people made the decision to fully retreat underground and seal themselves into the underground realm of Itlan-Youali. Evacuations began, and the aboveground capital of Quetzalcamina sunk into the depths, hidden forever just as Dahabi armies appeared on the horizon…

(~4700 SF, Pthora)

As the stories go, a great psionic experiment conducted on Kleemudor in this time resulted in the vanishing of an entire town. The people of this town were not lost, but instead ended up stranded in the southern tundras of Pthora. Isolated from Kleemudor society, these people would eventually grow into the cultural group now known as the Johtalit.

(~4600-7524 SF, Worldwide)

Under the rule of Pharaoh Anpu-Khasti, Dahabu swept across the world and leveraged their immense arcane power to conquer ten out of the eleven modern-day countries of Cahyali. Pthora was the only one to resist. Every Cahyalian nation still bears the scars of Dahabi colonization to this day, though millennia of time has let them fade.

(~3500 SF, Ulos)

Halflings arose in the Ulos area following human migration southward from the modern-day Oxis Alliance. Humans and halflings gradually diverged, with halflings undergoing a phenomenon known as island dwarfism, which is believed to contribute to their small stature. The oldest report of halflings being referred to as a distinct race is in about 3500 SF.

In about 4500-5000 SF, a small population of halflings migrated into the Dreaming seeking knowledge or greater magical power - reports disagree on which. They would eventually become gnomes. These gnomes, however, would not return to Cahyali until many years later.

(3010-4679 SF, Shinneok)

The Shinnean Kingdom invaded the rest of the Oxian subcontinent in antiquity, exerting control over the regions that have now become Vervand and Arenti. This occupation lasted until Dahabu's arrival. Remnants of Shinnean culture are pervasive across the Oxis Alliance.

(1 SF, Dahabu)

Due to the sweeping colonization of Cahyali by ancient Dahabu, the Dahabi calendar is still used to this day. It uses a reckoning date of the Empire's founding. The Dahabi Empire is often said to be the first of its kind on Cahyali, a civilization at the forefront of technology and culture. It's no wonder to many why Dahabu was the one to conquer the world and hold the most powerful mortal empire ever to exist.

Rumors persist of a second civilization in the underground Null Labyrinth with almost the same power and reach as Dahabu, but there is no consensus to its existence. If this civilization did exist, they were certainly isolationist and utterly unconcerned with outward expansion, as there is no trace of them on the surface.

(~1000 BF - 1500 SF, Beyond Known Cahyali)

The Stormwing Calamity was an ancient war fought between Cahyali's true dragons and the Strygarii, a primordial species of ancient and powerful bird-like creatures. Although it never touched the parts of Cahyali currently mapped, the conflict was so widespread it has made its way firmly into Cahyalian legend. Human and dwarven myths both include mention of a “great escape” from “the devastation of the god-beasts” or similar. The Stormwing Calamity is commonly accepted to be the reason why dragons are rarely seen nowadays.

Dwarves were the first to flee the Stormwing Calamity, sailing in and alighting in the mountains of Pthora from the east in about 1000 SF. Little is known about the homeland of the dwarves from beyond Esrior's Fold, but some Pthoran historians have termed it “Nidaheim”. Old dwarven myth-songs lament the loss of their homeland.

Humans are believed to have originated in a continent, now inaccessible due to Esrior's Fold, somewhere north of Shinneok. This place was connected to Shinneok by a land bridge in ancient times, and humanity has occupied known Cahyali since about 1500 SF when they fled the Stormwing Calamity over the bridge.

The foundations of Esrior's Fold were laid here. Some myths report grand battlegrounds between dragons and Strygarii in some of the exact places where major Fold abnormalities lie in the modern day.

(>1000 BF, Worldwide)

Little is known about how the dragons first came to be. We do know that true dragons of Cahyali are native to the landmasses which are now mapped, and spread out over time to the other parts of the world. It is said that in the days before the rise of Dahabu, dragons supported and nurtured burgeoning mortal civilization. Some go far enough to say that it was the dragons who first taught magic to mortals.

During this time, lesser dragonkin also evolved on Cahyali, such as drakos and wyverns. These creatures are little more than clever animals, and are still fairly common to the modern day.

(~300,000 BF, Worldwide)

It is thought that the first humanoids on known Cahyali were elves, originating on the Dahabu landmass. Scholarly consensus and elven myth seems to follow that they arose from a form of primate touched by extraplanar energies, likely from the Kurago or Dreaming.

Desert Sandtails evolved alongside elves in the more arid regions of Dahabu and quickly spread out to live in just about all of Cahyali's deserts. As for Draconics of Cahyali, it is unclear what their origins are. Even the oldest myths and legends seem to incorporate the presence of Draconics.

Orcs are believed to have first evolved from an extinct carnivorous mammal in the Heartlands area, with normal orcs being the first, followed by giantkin and goblins after centuries of isolation in the mountains and on the coasts, respectively. Beasthides insist they were divinely created by Julius, an envoy of Osiris, and scholars have failed to come to a consensus on their origin.

Avians migrated into the continent sometime between 5000 and 2000 BF, arriving from the north. The name of their original homeland has been entirely lost, though upon arrival the mobile groups of Avians quickly spread out and assimilated with other extant communities.