Heraldry of Estalia
The following Estalian Timeline provides a chronology for Estalian history given in the Imperial Calendar dating system of the Empire as is common among historians of the Old World.[9a]
It is important to note that regarding the Classic Age (1 to 474 IC) Tileans and Estalians differ in how they interpret and accept certain religious traditions and texts related to Myrmidia, their goddess of war and strategy. For the Remans, the life and deeds of Myrmidia as a mortal human are taken as literal, historical fact, affirming her existence and influence as undeniable truth. For the Magrittans, these stories are viewed more as spiritual allegories—important and revered, but not grounded in historical accuracy.[12b]
When it comes to a sacred text believed to detail divine revelations, such as the Bellona Myrmidia, Bellum Strategia, or The Book of War, one side sees it as a collection of symbolic and inspirational messages, valuable for faith but not grounded in reality. The other group, however, holds this same text in the highest regard, interpreting it as a direct manifestation of their goddess on earth, an event of both historical and religious magnitude.[12b]
While they agree that these texts are foundational to understanding the principles a follower of Myrmidia should embody, the Reman side insists that the military campaigns described were led by the goddess herself in human form. The Magrittan side believes that these battles were instead fought by generals inspired by Myrmidia’s teachings, rather than by her own hand.[12b]
Ancient History (ca. -4419 to ca. 1 IC)[]
- ca. -4119 IC - The first recorded event in the lands that will one day become Estalia is the Elven colonisation of the region at this time.[14a]
- ca. -2500 to -2000 IC - A Tilean account states that the great city-state of Tylos was founded sometime between -2500 and -2000 IC. This account contradicts the Dwarfen chronicles that give a more precise date.[1a]
- -2000 IC - Dwarf accounts state that the first tribes of Men migrate to the Old World from the Southlands at this time. They were few in number, used tools and weapons made from wood and stone, and settled initially in the southern lands of the Old World that would become Tilea and Estalia.[13a]
- -1950 IC - A wandering Dwarf clan from the Black Mountains establishes trade with the city of Tylos and eventually settles there. The city grows even faster with their help and many advances in architecture and engineering are achieved.[2a]
- -1880 IC - Men, with the help of the Dwarfs, begin work on their great temple in Tylos. Work continues for a century.[2a]
- ca. -1860 IC - Construction of the great temple of Tylos goes on continuously for at least a century.[1a]
- ca. -1780 IC - The temple of Tylos is completed and coincides with great flares from Morrslieb. Many meteors are sighted. Within a year the city is overrun by a tide of vermin of unusual size and viciousness.[1a]
- ca. -1600 IC - The first true Skaven emerge as masters of Skavenblight. In search of more Warpstone, they look beyond their city. Skaven begin experimenting with magic. They expand their tunnel system to accommodate their rapidly expanding population.[1a][2a]
- ca. -1200 IC - Hailing from Nehekhara, grand armies swept north over the Great Ocean, seizing territory in Tilea, Estalia, and even into the fertile lands that would one day become the Empire.[23a] The region that would become Tobaro territory is conquered by Amenemhetum the Great and becomes part of the Nehekharan empire just as the different civilizations that inhabited the area.[22a] That glorious empire would not last for, as is the Human way, ambition and greed undid their great works with time.[23a]
- ca. -1050 to -1017 IC - W’soran on his bloody journey in search of new knowledge is thwarted by the Order of the Myrmidons in Araby and Tilea. He defeats the silent stranglers of the Black Oasis in Araby, and slaughtered the Elven corsair-witches of the Sartosian reefs to claim the secrets they guarded.[18a]
- -1017 IC - W’soran attack the Temple of Myrmidia of Magritta to plunder the greatest library in the known world. But yet again he found the extreme defence of the Myrmidons. After slaying many of them, he was impaled by the spear of Abhorash, one of their members in disguise.[18a]
- ca. -500 IC - Spread of the Classical language, the first recorded Human language of the Old World that was in use over 3,000 years ago. It is allegedly gifted to Men by Verena.[6a]
After the Birth of the Empire (1 IC to Present)[]
- 20 to 60 IC - According to certain schools of Myrmidian thought, the warrior goddess manifests as a mortal woman around this time. After suffering great hardships, she rises to the head of a great military force that sweeps across the southern lands of Tilea and Estalia and forges a great southern empire. Theologians and scholars of history vigorously debate the details and factuality of these claims.[12a] The vast and powerful Tilean empire centred on the ancient city of Remas spread across most of the present-day lands of Tilea, Estalia, the Border Princes and southern Bretonnia.[12b] When in the Border Princes Myrmidia discovered ancient texts penned by the Elf scholar Gaelen in the city of Tinea.[26a] Intrigued by the complexity of the anatomical drawings found within, she decided to pass them on to the cult of her mother, Verena, the goddess of law and knowledge. Myrmidia and her followers fought twelve great battles, not only against those who opposed her new empire among her kind but also against Orcs and Daemons.[12b] The day she was crowned queen of the southern realms, howevern, she was shot by a poisoned dart. As she lay dying she ordered a great ship be built, and, it is said, sailed west upon it, there to return to her home amongst the gods, known now, and forever after, as a goddess of war. The resulting destabilisation and civil war marked the foundation point of the Tilean city-states and the Estalian kingdoms.[6b]
- ca. 30 IC - Nahmud the Dark Maiden is rescued by Myrmidia and, in thanks, warned her of an ambush that lay ahead. Myrmidia sent her forces to flank the ambushers, resulting in the Massacre of the Three Gorges.[12b]
- 101 IC - The Tomb King Settra seeks to restore his dominance of the oceans as well as the lands, and he instructs that his war fleets be raised and made sea worthy once more.[27a]
- ca. 120 to 170 IC - King Setep of Bhagar invades the Border Princes and reclaims much of his lost territory, allegedly from the Reman Empire and the Orcs.[27a]
- ca. 200 IC - Halflings and Ogres migrate into the Old World, coming over the Worlds Edge Mountains from the east to what will become the Border Princes and then moving on to the lands of Tilea and Estalia.[15a]
- 1175 IC - Tomb King Settra led a large raiding force against Bretonnia. He was met at Savage Point, a few miles from Bilbali's coast, by a Bretonnian fleet led by Admiral Henri Lamorte. Settra's fleet was heavily defeated. but he managed to escape vowing revenge.[24a][Note 1]
- 1214 IC - Battle of the Burned Banner. The High Elves abandon the treaty port of Tol Ista situated on the west coast of Estalia after a Greenskin invasion guided by Warboss Bruza da Big.[28a]
- ca. 1435 IC - Sultan Jaffar, a powerful Arabyan sorcerer, welds together a coalition of desert tribes -- and summons daemonic spirits, it is said -- and carves out a sizeable realm. The Skaven spy for the sultan and murder many rivals in exchange for Warpstone.[1b]
- ca. 1448 IC - A huge army of Arabyans landed in Estalia and conquered much of the region, including the city of Magritta. Responding to the people of Estalia's call for aid in what becomes known as the Great Crusades, armies of Old World crusaders arrived from Bretonnia, the Empire, and the Tilean city-states. The Arabyans were defeated and the land reclaimed for its natives.[4a]
- 1500 IC - Religious war between Tilea/Estalia and Araby. Great Sultan Daryus-e Qabir launches a series of religious wars against the Old World. His intention was to maintain his positions beyond the sea, as well as avenge the Great Crusades and quell the wrath of the spirits, though he did not achieve any lasting success. After several defeats, these so-called "Arabyan Wars" ended, and although the legends of this era have strained Old World attitudes towards the inhabitants of Araby, constant trade has restored a certain stability in diplomatic relations.[10a][11a]
- 1556 IC - Following the taxation of his order, the Grand Master of the Knights of Magritta conferred with his advisors and make a fateful decision. The fleet of the Knights of Magritta sails out of the harbor. Onboard was the entire membership of the order. They left all their holdings behind, empty of valuables or any clue of where the Knights might be going. They were never seen or heard from again, sailing completely out of the pages of history.[21a]
- 1750 IC - Nourgul the Necrarch razed all the land between the Irrana Mountains and the Southern Sea in what the Estalians call the "War of Blood." Estalia still bears the scars of this Vampire war, and the people there have an unforgiving view of the Undead.[5a]
- 2273 IC - Fulma Ortegeta, known as the Don of the Red River, flee from Estalia for his crimes. His rule persists more than three score years, a good result for a Border Prince.[25a]
- 2321 IC - Skaven warships are spotted in the Tilean Sea. Many coastal raids by the ratmen begin at this time. The Dwarfs of Barak Varr report sinking a Skaven fleet.[1b] During the winter, Clan Eshin Gutter Runners make a number of raids on Imperial, Bretonnian, Tilean and Estalian warfleets at anchor in their respective ports. The Gutter Runners use firepots and naptha to burn the fleets with varying levels of success.[2b]
- 2348 IC - The merchant and explorer, Diego Estragon, set off with a great fleet of ships, each loaded to the gunwales with trade goods from all over the Old World. Estragon planned to circumnavigate the world and trade with merchants, craftsmen, and artisans of all kinds. Neither Estragon nor any of his ships or crews, however, returned from the voyage. In recent times some sailors claim to have spotted the island where his ship landed.[19a]
- 2415-2419 IC - Estalia becomes a battleground between Heinrich Kemmler and Brachnar the Damned during the War of Blood. The Estalian militias do what they can to protect the citizens of the realm, but is not until Kemmler pursues his enemies northward into Bretonnia that the land is truly safe.[8a]
- ca. 2458 IC - The Estalian Navy mount a rare campaign against the pirate ships in its waters, a great host of pirates decide to band together and sail north to escape the Estalians and find some safe harbour in Bretonnia or perhaps Marienburg.[25a]
- 2502 IC - Orfeo the Minstrel becomes embroiled in the internal politics of Zaragoz, and barely escapes with his life.[10a]
End Times[]
- 2518 IC - Archaon's fleet burn an Estalian armada of carracks and caravels at anchor at Magritta before lighting up the coastal kingdoms of the west. An attempt to make back out to sea was frustrated by storms that swallowed the dark warlord’s own and succeeded in smashing the armada up along the shores of Bretonnia.[16a]
- 2522 IC - The Great Uprising of the Skaven begins. Skaven hordes surge from underground around the Known World. Tilea, Estalia, Sartosa and Araby are all consumed by the unstoppable tide of ratmen.[7a]
Notes[]
Sources[]
- 1: Warhammer Armies: Skaven (7th Edition)
- 2: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Children of the Horned Rat (RPG)
- 3: Wolf of Sigmar (Novel) by C.L. Werner
- 3a: Ch. 21
- 4: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Core Rulebook (RPG)
- 4a: pp. 224-225
- 5: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Night's Dark Masters (RPG)
- 5a: pg. 12
- 6: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Tome of Salvation - Priests of the Old World (RPG)
- 7: The End Times Vol. II: Glottkin (8th Edition)
- 7a: pg. 4
- 8: White Dwarf 309 (UK)
- 8a: "Return of the Lichemaster", pg. 11
- 9: Warhammer Armies: Dogs of War (5th Edition)
- 9a: pp. 85-88
- 10: Zaragoz (Novel) by Brian Craig
- 10a: Timeline of the Old World
- 11: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1st Edition: Core Rulebook (RPG)
- 11a: pp. 261
- 12: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Up in Arms (RPG)
- 12b: pp. 61-65
- 13 Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1st Edition: Stone & Steel (RPG)
- 13a pg. 8
- 14: Warhammer Armies: Dwarfs (8th Edition)
- 14a: pp. 20-21
- 15: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Archives of the Empire Vol. I (RPG)
- 15a: pp. 33-35
- 16: Archaon: Lord of Chaos (Novel) by Rob Sanders
- 16a: ch. 14
- 17: Archaon: Lord of Chaos (Novel) by Rob Sanders
- 17a: ch. 14
- 18: Blood of Nagash (Part 2) - Master of Death (Novel) by Josh Reynolds
- 18a: ch. 13
- 19: Games Workshop - Estragon's Island: A Warhammer Games mastered campaign - Background (Archived)
- 20: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Barony of the Damned (RPG)
- 20a: pg. 22
- 21: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Shades of The Empire (RPG)
- 21a: pg. 89
- 22: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Lure of the Liche Lord (RPG)
- 22a: pg. 7
- 23: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd Edition: Tomes of Corruption (RPG)
- 23a: pg. 94
- 24: Warhammer Armies: Undead (4th Edition)
- 24a: pg. 5
- 25: www.theoldworld.com
- 25a: Explore the Old World (Interactive Map)
- 26: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay - 4th Edition: A Guide to Ubersreik (RPG)
- 26a: pp. 60-61
- 27: Warhammer Armies: Tomb Kings (8th Edition)
- 27a: pg. 55
- 28: Warhammer Fantasy Battle: Rulebook (6th Edition)
- 28a: pg. 205