Wood Elf Timeline

Time flows strangely under the eaves of Athel Loren; a day can pass in an eye-blink or stretch away into eternity. Indeed, it can do both at once, for the passage of the seconds is never so subjective as it is within the forest's timeless glades. As a result of this, the time within Athel Loren rarely overlays precisely with that of the outside world. This is compounded by the fact that time is not even uniform within Athel Loren. Winter never leaves some of the ancient glades, and there are places where the sun burns bright all year round.

Despite the challenges posed by the nature of their realm, the Wood Elves manage to maintain surprisingly accurate records of their own histories. They instinctively balance their perceptions with the forest's ever-changing flow of time, and find it remarkable that other creatures cannot master something so ridiculously simple. In this, they are aided by the fact that the King's Glade and the Oak of Ages — the twin hearts of Athel Loren — are always in perfect harmony with the outside world. This therefore means that the yearly cycle of Orion's rebirth ties too with the summers and winters of neighboring lands. Yet, all the while, there are still regions of Athel Loren where the first incarnation of the King in the Woods has never died.

The Wood Elf histories are rarely written down. instead, they are preserved through the ages by the stories and songs of courtly skalds, and within the ornate ritual performances of the Wardancers — devotees of Loec, the teller of tales. Of the two methods, the latter can be considered the more reliable. Though the Wardancers are servants of the Trickster God, their dances speak the truth even when their words do not. Skalds, on the other hand, maintain favour with the lords and ladies by embellishing reputations and diminishing failures, and so their songs are prized more for their entertainment than their scrupulous accuracy. Indeed, the most popular songs are those that take a historical event and weave it into allegorical ballads whose messages are meaningful to all.

The Great Seasons
The chronicle of Athel Loren is most commonly broken down into a series of 'great seasons': the Season of Rebirth, the Season of Redemption, and so on. Each great season marks the passage of several centuries, and therefore many hundreds of the 'lesser seasons' that pass over the Oak of Ages: Ice, Rebirth, The Hunt and The Fade.

There is no set trigger that determines when one great season ceases and another begins. The end of an old and the onset of a new is heralded by unfolding events, and it may be that the shift between great seasons goes unmarked until many years after the fact. In a more rigid society, laxity of this kind would throw all manner of bureaucratic systems into disorder. In Athel Loren, this is simply the way things are done.

In those rare halls where written histories are preserved, they are recorded using a similar method to that used in the Ulthuan society from which the Wood Elves sprang. The great season is given first, following in sequence by year, lesser season and day (though the last two are often so subjective in Athel Loren as to render them confusing, at best). Thus III, 251, 2, 87 would be the eighty-seventh day in the lesser season of Rebirth, in the two hundred and fifty first year of the Season of Revelation.

The Forgotten Season (c.-10,000 to -1501)
Athel Loren existed long before the Elves first settled there, though it is doubtful as to whether any of the spirits of that era even marked the passage of time. Certainly, no records remain if they did, and the surviving Elders are little given to discussing times past. The years before the arrival of the Elves are referred to as part of the 'Forgotten Season'. Some Elves maintain that these must have been the time of Athel Loren's glory, before the Elves sullied it with their presence. Most believe, however, that only with their coming did the forest truly know magnificence. The truth, as ever, can be found somewhere in between.

I: Season of Rebirth, 1-405 (-1500 to -1095)

 * I, 1 -- The Realm Founded. After rejecting Phoenix King Caradryel's repatriation decree, the Elves of Athel Loren begin to dwell ever deeper in the forest.


 * I, 376 -- The Winter of Woe. Greenskin invaders push deep into the heart of Athel Loren. In the end, they are defeated in a great battle before the Oak of Ages. Orion and Ariel appear to the Wood Elves and are enthroned as the King and Queen in the Woods.

II: Season of Withering, 1-141 (-1094 to -625)

 * II, 283 -- The Battle of Anguish. Morghur the Corruptor is slain following a great battle in what will be known as the Glade of Woe forever after.

III: Season of Revelation, 1-1740 (-624 to 1116)

 * III, 1111 -- Battle of the Silverspire.


 * III, 1594 -- Morghur assails the Silverspire once again. The Wood Elves ally with Gilles le Breton to end the threat.

IV: Season of Retribution, 1-568 (1117 to 1702)

 * IV, 16 -- Sack of Ghrond. Ariel and Orion lead an assault on the tower of Ghrond in Naggaroth. Morathi offers Ariel a portion of her forbidden knowledge, and so is spared.


 * IV, 234 -- Battle of Pine Crags. Grungni Goldfinder and a throng of Dwarfen treasure seekers descend upon Pine Crags. The industrious mountain dwellers' presence is soon deemed unwelcome. Ultimately, the Glade Lord Findul lures the Dwarfs into a trap and destroys them utterly.


 * IV, 581 -- The imprisoned Treeman Coeddil, his heart black with hatred, attempts to escape the Wildwood. He is stopped by a coterie of Spellsingers.

V: Season of Redemption, 1-305 (1703 to 2007)

 * V, 111 -- Slaughter at Brionne. Wood Elves and Bretonnians drive a Skaven horde from the walls of Brionne. With this great victory scarcely won, the allies ride east to Quenelles and work another great slaughter upon the ratmen.

VI: Season of Doom, 1-Present (2008 to Present)

 * VI, 1 -- Naieth the Prophetess has a vision of the future death of Athel Loren. The Wood Elves mobilise to prevent it.


 * VI, 19 -- Drycha, Handmaiden of Coeddil, gathers to her a great warweald of forest spirits, and rampages through southern Bretonnia. After defeating the Duke of Carcassonne at the crossings of the Brienne, she assails the walls of La Chald Abbey. By the time Bretonnian reinforcements arrive, the abbey has been torn down and its relics stolen.


 * VI, 25 -- Deeming that the Wood Elves would prove valauble allies in their ongoing wars, both the Witch King of Naggaroth and the Phoenix King Bel-Hathor elect to send emissaries to Athel Loren. Finubar, the ambassador from Ulthuan was particularly nervous of this assignment, as the last of his kind to enter the forest had vanished under mysterious circumstances. As matters transpired, both delegations are welcomed with great civility. The Wood Elves go to great pains to keep the parties separated. Indeed, it is doubtful that either set of petitioners ever knew that the other was there. However, both ambassadors are affronted to discover that Ariel would not meet with them, and instead chose to conduct negotiations through the lords and ladies of the great council. Both ambassadors react with outrag, and this does little to encourage the Mage Queen to reconsider her position. Ultimately, the Wood Elves listen, and refuse, both nations. The High Elves had treated with Athel Loren as if it were still some wayward colony to be graciously drawn back into the fold, and not as the sovereign nation it was. By contrast, the Dark Elves had made many promises of shared glory, the Wood Elves deemed that their words and hearts were hollow. Both ambassadors are bidden to leave Athel Loren, and to never return. The Wood Elves would seek their own path in the years to come, just as they had for centuries.


 * VI, 77 -- Horror from the Vaults.


 * VI, 167 -- The Defense of Yvresse.


 * VI, 195 -- Durthu's Rage.


 * VI, 207 -- Battle at Shadow Fell.


 * VI, 213 -- Scarloc and his kinband began their three-decade journey through the human kingdoms. Acting as sellswords, they uncovered much about the strengths and weaknesses of the various realms.


 * VI, 224 -- The Corruptor Escapes.


 * VI, 229 -- When daemons attack the pitiful Empire village of Lachenbad, the Wood Elves see fit to intervene. Under the steady leadership of Naestra and Arahan, Rangers of the Wildwood fight the otherworldly horrors to a standstill. Only when the battle is won do the Wood Elves withdraw through the worldroots, leaving awestruck and mystified villages behind them.


 * VI, 239 -- The Battle of Arden.


 * VI, 245 -- Slaughter at Bleak Meadow.


 * VI, 253 -- Battle in the Black Forest.


 * VI, 278 -- The Madness of Orion.


 * VI, 294 -- At Ariel's request, Scarloc leads a band of scouts through the worldroots to Avelorn and harries the Daemon N'kari as he seeks the Everqueen.


 * VI, 488 -- Battle of the Cairns. Heinrich Kemmler, the Lichemaster, enters Athel Loren and attempts to raise the dead of the ancient cairns. Durthu rouses the forest and crushes the Necromancer's forces.

Source

 * : Warhammer Armies: Wood Elves (8th Edition)
 * : pg. 15
 * : pg. 28
 * : pg. 29
 * : pg. 30

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