Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2011 10:38 am Post subject: Timeline
While the timeline isn't up as a pdf yet, you can read the events since the Great War against Chaos here. Note that this might be subject to a few changes.
2301 - Great war against chaos. Among the casualties is a Bretonnian yeoman, who is killed saving the dwarf Norri Stromson from mutating fires. Stromson promises to take care of the man's descendands.
2309 - A dark elf raiding party abducts several young men and women from Nez. Before the duke of Lyonesse is informed, the dark elves are long gone. The people lament the loss of their sons and daughters, but the nobles do nothing.
2310 - The nobles of Nez, after the events of the great war against Chaos, decide to form an alliance under the name of the Allied Families of Nez. In doing so they secure their position as rulers of Nez for the next two centuries.
2311 - A prominent member of the AFN marries the niece of the duke of Lyonesse. A strong alliance is formed between the town and the duke, one which grants Nez certain privileges that other bretonnian villages lack. For example, the duke has a stone wall built around the town to better protect the new residence of his niece.
2313 - Several peasants in the city oppose the building of the wall, which needs to be built by the peasants who lost their children to dark elf raiders two years earlier. A strong sense of injustice takes hold of them, and together they form a brotherhood to defy the nobles. They take their heraldry from the amaranth as a symbol of the struggle of lowly peasants against the majestic nobles. The Brotherhood of Defiant Amaranth is born.
2415 - After their ships are sacked once too often by norse fleets, several merchants from Kislev, the Empire and Marienburg decide to combine their efforts and sail under each other's protection. Together they form the Northern Merchant Pact.
2417 - A member of the Allied Families of Nez is accidentaly killed by a peasant girl who is the descendant of the family under Norri Stromson's protection. In the following trial, the nobles of Nez decree that the family of the deceased noble must be compensated for their loss. They sell the girl to traders from Marienburg. Her dwarf caretaker is overwhelmed by grief and blames himself for trusing the nobles of Nez, instead of helping her escape. He takes up the Slayer Oath.
2419 - Members of the Brotherhood of Defiant Amaranth attempt to find and rescue the peasant girl, hoping to win Norri over to their cause. But the girl is killed during the escape. Norri is furious at the Brotherhood for their failure, which he believes was due to them not being careful enough.
2422 - Five years after taking the Slayer Oath, Norri stumbles across a group of people. These people are all exiles from the city of Nez. Norri teaches them how to fight, and uses his knowledge to teach them which influential families would be happy to see Nez fall. The Sons of Exile are formed, with one goal- to bring down Nez.
2433 - The Northern Merchant Pact opens negotiations with Bretonnia, hoping that their merchants will join them. But the Bretonnians decline.
2434 - Norri Stromson is killed while fighting a small band of trolls. The Sons of Exile continue on without him, and, no longer held back by the dwarf's strong moral values, they seek contact with darker forces to aid them.
2435 - The Northern Merchant Pact allies with traders from Tilea, Estalia, and Araby to form the Western Trade Alliance. Together, they begin trading with the distant east.
2442 - The Sons of Exile is now a widespread secret organisation, with members that belong to some of the most influential families of the Old world. Accords are written with skaven agents, who start working in the shadows of Nez.
2445 - In Lyonesse, reports come in of a caravan that was brutally attacked. All members of the caravan are found horribly maimed and disfigured, and many of them have slight mutations. They are all put to the torch. Later reports indicate that one of the caravan's members are missing.
2450 - Whispers abound that the underworld of Nez is led by the young goblin Grish Toebita. Investigations are started to find the greenskin, but soon the investigators are found dead. Apparently they were killed by stealthy assassins. Traces of warpstone are discovered in their wounds. Further investigation is deemed unnecessary.
2468 - Agents of the Western Trade Alliance sign accords with merchant companies from Nippon, Ind, Khuresh and Cathay. They rename their organisation one last time; the Unified Trade Council is born.
2469 - The south of Lyonesse sighs with relief as a portion of the swamps from Mousillon seem to retreat. Later, it is discovered that the swamps are still there, but somehow healthy plants have growns over the swamplands. Peasants offer sacrifices to Rhya, thanking her for actively fighting the curse of Mousillon.
2470 - The Chevaliers de Saint Leon fight off a large fleet from Norsca. They are hailed as heroes by the people.
2471 - Negotiations between the Unified Trade Council and Bretonnia fail for the last time. The UTC realizes that Bretonnia will never be part of the UTC.
2510 - A horde of peasants flee into Lyonesse from Mousillon, followed closely by a massive number of zombies. The Chevalies de Saint Leon are called to eliminate the undead, but their tactics sacrifice many peasants to avoid losing their own knights.
2518 - The Chevaliers de Saint Leon eliminate the orc warlord Grash Bonebreaka and his Waaagh!, but their numbers are decimated during the battle. The few remaining knights are assigned to the protection of Nez.
2519 - The Chevaliers, enraged by the lack of respect paid to them by the townspeople, make an official petition to the duke of Lyonesse to have its rulers replaced.
2520 - The duke of Lyonesse informs the Chevaliers that he will not replace the rulers of Nez, but that they are given permission to police the nobles instead.
2521 - During a friendly jousting tournament, a chevalier accidentaly kills a member of the Allied Families of Nez. Later that year the offending knight is found dead, his throat slit in his sleep. Later again, the family members of the deceased noble are found dead in the countryside, trampled by hooved creatures. The Chevaliers close the case saying that beastmen are to blame.
2522 - Archaon, the Everchosen, marches his hordes south into the Empire.
2523 - A relic of Thierulf is reported stolen from the grand cathedral in Lyonesse.
2524 - In response to the Summit of Maharek, The Unified Trade Council initiates a naval blockade of Nez, claiming that they will lift the blockade when Bretonnia releases their hold on Araby, and reinstate Araby, one of the UTC's trading partners, as an independent nation.
It is rumoured that a daemonic herald of Khorne by the name of Warmonger appeared just outside of Nez. The reports are given no credence, and are lost in the confusion.
UTC agents, disguised as bandits, attack any caravans from Lyonesse. The Chevaliers de Saint Leon take this opportunity to put the nobles of Nez under arrest for neglecting to defend the caravans, and begin their purge of the city in the Peasant disrict. The Brotherhood of Defiant Amaranth then moves to attack the Chevaliers while they are en route to the harbor.
2525 - Accords are signed between the Unified Trade Council and the Imperial Merchant Council, the latter agreeing to support the former financially as long as the UTC keeps pressure on Lyonesse via their blockade of Nez.
While the nobles, Brotherhood, merchants and chevaliers begin fighting in the harbor, Aurore de Valle dies at the mansion of Theodore Chatin. Doctors find a tiny wound on her body that turned black from poison. Her brother swears vengeance, but there is no proof of his involvement. After two days of fighting, armed forces bearing the banner of the Sons of Exile appear outside the city.
The battle of Nez has begun!