Timeline
The timeline of Dragonlance
Ok Dragonlancers, my friend, Tas (Tassilhoff@aol.com), has been tediously typing up the timeline out of Leaves of the Inn of the Last Home (25-32) for me, and sending it in by bits. So now you’ll have a really good timeline going (or at least the beginning)…
Age of Starbirth
The HighGod Awakens. Out of the Chaos, there comes thought and being- the HighGod. With celestial hands, the HighGod draws the plans for a new realm and writes them in the Torbil
The Gods are Called. Into the Beyond, the HighGod calls. Two beings answer: one of light, and one of darkness. The king and queen of wyrms, Paladine and Takhisis, seek out greatness in the chaos. They abandon their twining struggles and work together to create a new place to rule.
Gilean is Drawn Forth. Out of chaos, out of time, the HighGod summons a third god: Gilean, greates sage. Gilean alone is found worthy to bear the High God’s plans for the universe. He receives the Torbil and pledges to serves the Balance between Good and Evil for all time. Then, the HighGod departs, for the planning is done, and creation is about to begin.
Reorx and the Companion Gods come. The three gods summon helpers. The greatest of these is Reorx. “give of yourself,” he says, “and I will tame the chaos,” From the gods, Reorx forges a mighty hammer and smites the Chaos. Sparks fly from it and light the heavens–Stars!
Krynn is Made. Reorx shapes a great globe and separates land from sea, light from dark, heaven from soil. Then, the other gods bless Krynn with plants, beasts, seasons, weather, and untold beauty.
Dragons are Made. Paladine and Takhisis guide Reorx and make five rulers of the world. Drawn from the elements and encased in frames of metal, these are the dragons. Bur the Dark Queen corrupts them, tarnishing their metals.
Good Dragons are Made. Paladine mourns the loss of his dragon children. He turns for comfort to Reorx, who forges five monuments to the lost dragons of precious metals. Paladine, longing for his children, breathes life into the statues.
All-Dragons War. Gods, Dragons, beasts of the world, and the light and dark themselves war over Takhisis’s treacheries. Chaos swirls threatening to ruin Krynn. Seeing the harm they have caused the world, the gods withdraw into the beyond. They live and love there for eons; thus are born the lesser gods, their children.
Stars Claimed. Into the silence that follows comes the sound of chimes. Pondering the heavenly singing, the gods see that the shining stars live, and they covet the countless spirits.
All-Saints War. Again war erupts in the heavens. The firmament shudders with the god’s struggles. The gods of light seek to nurture and lead the star spirits. The gods of darkness seek to bind and control them. The gods of gray seek only to set them free.
The Balance Restored. Hearing the battle, the HighGod returns from the Void, wrathful. The HighGod proclaims: Each family of gods may offer the spirits one gift, then must let them be. Gods of light give the spirits physical bodies to maser the world. Gods of darkness curse them with weakness, warn and morality that they might serve Evil. And the gods of shadow give them free will, to shape their own fates.
Time of Birth. And so the three peoples of the land are formed: graceful elves, stony ogres, and humans- with the capacity to destroy and love.
The Last Gods. To seal the agreement nevermore to make war upon Krynn, each family of gods creates a child to bless the world with magic. Solinari, son of light, presides over quiet constructive magic; Lunitari, daughter of neutrality, governs illusion and reshaping magic; and last as a child of darkness, Nuitari controls magic of destruction and command. Each new god is represented by one of the three moons of Krynn: silver, red, and black.
Age of Dreams
This age lasts until the dragon war with Huma.
Age of Might
This is the age when Istar reigned until the Cataclysm.
Age of Despair
This is the age from the cataclysm until the Chaos War.
This is also the age of the War of the Lance. When the war begins Raistlin and Caramon are 25, Sturm is 29, Goldmoon is 29, and Flint is 148.
Age of Mortals
This is the age after the Chaos War when the gods have departed. It is the fifth and last age and is disliked by many Dragonlance readers.
Now I’ve got to put up my own little review of the fifth age. I respect the work that the Dragonlance authors have done on the evolution and history of Krynn and everything else, but I have to say it- the fifth age sucks. Magic is failing, the gods are gone, there’s all of no hope, and far worse, it’s becoming too much like modern earth. The invention of gunpowder, though possibly a solution to the dragon problem, sickened me. It means the end of sword fighting and hand to hand combat. What’s the fun in that? I like the medievalish world of Dragonlance, and I’d really rather not see it evolve into something even closely resembling our modern world. Of course, this was written before the Dragons of a New Age trilogy came out, so yeah.
