Base Timeline

Base canon: https://eberron.fandom.com/wiki/Eberron_Timeline

Short, short version

Extended Timeline

980 YK (24 years ago)

Heavier-than-air flight achieved for the first time by Richart and Brienne Madrigal, with an airplane powered by dragonshards. Their technology would influence the development of airships (with propellers in particular making them significantly faster and easier to maneuver), but there was little interest in airplanes themselves as instruments of war at first, given their minimal carrying capacity and scant airspeed advantage, and their many limitations compared to airships. The family business manages to sell a small number of hand-crafted planes for mail delivery and crop dusting.

982 YK (22 years ago)

Tyburn Madrigal born in Aquila, Cyre

990 YK (14 years ago)

The perfected Madgrial biplane, capable of reaching 13,000 ft, surpassing 100 mph in airspeed, and carrying ordnance or small cargo loads, finally gets the attention of Cyran leadership, and the planes are pressed into military service.

994 YK (10 years ago)

The entire Madrigal family, save Tyburn and Waldo, dies in the cataclysm that formed the Mournland. All that remains of their legacy lives on with Tyburn at Waldo's Sharn estate.

999 YK

1000 YK

Everybody assumed some cool shit would happen, but nothing really did.

1001 YK

The Dragon Within campaign occurred in this year.

• Osborn d'Cannith makes a play to seize control of Cannith South from his nephew Merrix the Lesser and achieve some measure of hegemonic control of Sharn. He is thwarted by the Clifftop Adventurers' Guild, and ultimately tried and sentenced to imprisonment.
• A civil war erupts in Thrane, between the exiled Queen Diani's forces and the Church of the Silver Flame. Originally intended to be quick and decisive, it has dragged on for years and become a war of attrition. The Keeper of the Flame herself was nearly taken by her enemies, but was saved by the Clifftop guild and ultimately restored to her seat in Flamekeep.

1002 YK

Tyburn Madrigal completes the first successful flight monocoque, single-wing aircraft, the prototype for all modern airplanes.

1003 YK

Rhaan (month 9)

SoL campaign begins.

The Dame Gorshen, a commercial airship owned by the Praxis company, suffers an explosion while docked at the Civil Aerodrome in Sharn. The explosion compromises its airworthiness, and the ship sinks into the waters of the Lower City with most of its cargo. Initially thought to be an act of sabotage, or perhaps a terrible engineering failure, the truth was revealed by journalists writing for the Korranberg Chronicle: the ship's Chief Mate, Frederisk Parmal, had been smuggling dangerous and illegal cargo in the ship. This particular cargo was a living creature, a fire-breathing creature, and its escape doomed the ship. Despite efforts by local gangs and opportunists to capture it, the beast was safely recovered and rendered to the Handlers Guild to be rehomed in the wild. (Actually, it was a wyrmling dragon, which remained with the party).

Aryth (month 11)

Tyburn flies Ariadne and Selina to Aundair in his seaplane, the Catalina. Entering Aundairan airspace, he is intercepted by the Dragonhawks and forced to land. Ultimately, he and the others are taken before the Queen, who expresses great interest in his invention, along with her close ally Ezra d'Lyrandar. Negotiations are cut short when the Queen is abducted by agents of the Black Blood, a cult of Sacrament-worshippers and dangerous agents, such as Quintus Travelyan, a former agent in her employ.

Escaping the rightfully-suspicious Aundairan authorities, the party fled to Karrnath, but the night flight and lack of refueling doomed them to a crash landing in the forest near Korth. Encountering and defeating an ancient Death Tyrant beholder (and claiming some nifty treasure), they eventually made it to town to begin pursuing the knowledge of who might have abducted the Queen and where she may have been taken. Their investigations uncovered a terrible truth: the Black Blood has many agents in high places, including Queen Etrigan, bride of Kaius, who was complicit in Aurala's abduction. Apparently, the Black Blood cult is based around a dark ritual that can render an ordinary human (or humanoid) immortal and super-powered, by sacrificing a newborn dragon. Many powerful figures had thus been tempted by the cult, but in exchange for this "gift", they become agents of the Black Blood to wield as they will.

After outing Etrigan as a superhuman monster, they work with Zorlan, with resources offered by Kaius, to track down the ailing Queen. For days, she wasted away in a dungeon, with only one hope for survival: accepting the Black Blood's "gift", which she refused. They finally located the dungeon: beneath a dilapidated temple near Xandrar, in Breland. With a newly-crafted seaplane, the Queen's Chariot, the party set forth to her rescue.

The temple was well-guarded, but ill-prepared for an aerial assault. The cultists and their undead servants were overcome. Storming the temple, the PCs encountered Etrigan again, who unleashed her full power, nearly drowning them in a torrent of blood. After clutching victory, they proceeded into the dungeon, finding the ailing queen nearly dead, watched over by a projected image of Travelyan. Ariadne did psychic battle with him, but ultimately lost, which would have meant her end--but the quori within sacrificed itself in her stead. With the queen freed, they rushed to give her medical attention, but it wasn't clear if she could be saved.

Restored to Fairhaven, thanks to a portal from the First Warlord, her brother Adal, she was judged to be mortally ill, beyond ordinary healing magic. She was offered the Black Blood's concoction, with a note that Selina's ritual could free her of its control, but she refused. With her resigned to die, the PCs left her with her family so they could attend her passing. However, her brother had been offerred another option by Travelyan: a spell that transfers vitality. He had already been using it for years, and many had noted it odd how rapidly the 46-year-old warlord seemed to be aging, and yet his sister was so youthful and vigorous. But with her death on the line, he used the spell to sacrifice all the vitality he had, restoring her life and youth, but perishing himself.

In the aftermath, Aurala cleared the PCs of any suspicion and praised their heroic actions. Her lords confirmed her son Riven as the new First Warlord.

1004 YK

Barrakas (month 8)

2 Barrakas 1004 YK: citing continued aggression by Droaamish forces, Breland invades Droaam. The Warden of the West, Duchess Whitehorn, leads the combined force of Breland's Ward of the West, and the assembled armies of the 88 Tribes. Greywall, nearest fortification of Droaam to the border, quickly comes under siege by the engines of the Ward of the West, while other forces begin to surpasss the city and prepare for a tripartite invasion meant to speed the way to Great Crag.

3 Barrakas 1004 YK: in the early hours over Greywall, a single seaplane breached the aerial defenses of the besieging Brelish forces, and stalled the siege of the city. This would begin a lightning campaign to destabilize the Brelish advance. The result was an apparent Droaamish victory.

4 Barrakas 1004 YK: the Battle of Turakbar's Fist. The minotaur stronghold northeast of Greywall was critically damaged, with inadequate air defense proving decisive. The arrival of Droaam's seeming one-plane air force turned the tide, as one of the besieging airships was taken by the Droaamish forces and turned against the besieging land forces, scattering them. Another victory for Droaam.

5 Barrakas 1005 YK: Great Crag falls under siege by Duchess Whitehorn's main force. Her "blitz" campaign nearly succeeded in decapitating the enemy forces, with the city's gates closing mere moments before advance forces could infiltrate. While defenses held, internal Droaamish politics churned, with a convocation of Elders called to determine leadership of the war. Distressingly, the Daughters of Sora Kell were nowhere to be found, until Selina, daughter of Katra, arrived to claim the title of Warchief, having bested all rival claimants of her house. On the same day, she was tested in this capacity, when saboteurs opened the city's gates to invaders. She and a few close allies and family members defended the gap and restored the city's defenses, resulting in a Droaamish victory.

6 Barrakas 1005 YK: after a string of high-profile defeats, the Brelish forces are in disarray. Great Crag has become impenetrable. The Daughters of Sora Kell seem to have returned. Graywall's siege is broken, and the Horde begins to assemble. The besieging forces of Great Crag are cut off and in danger of encirclement. With regrets, Duchess Whitehorn orders retreat to the battle lines of Breland. Days later, when her final few forces crossed the border, it would be the end of the presence of invaders in Droaamish territory.

Soon after, a tentative cease fire would be declared, pending more detailed peace talks. The implication was clear: Breland's strategy was an abject failure. Lavish bets on airships and heavy siege engines had proven foolish, with light, fast air attack craft proving decisive. If a single well-equipped heavier-than-air monoplane could wreak such havoc, what purpose would there be in slow, expensive airships-of-war? Long before the ink dried on this war's treaties, military planners radically adjusted their strategies. It seemed the future of war hinged on the speed and maneuverability of air power, with all other factors lagging hopelessly behind.

Later, it would become clear that sabotage, political infighting, and magical interference were nearly as much at fault for the Brelish invasion's failure, and that, if anything, the absence of the Daughters of Sora Kell was a calculated ploy to draw out an overconfident enemy into overextension, which worked stupendously well. Still, miltiary historians will credit this brief war as informing future conflicts far more decisively than years of the final acts of the Last War, where ponderously slow airships lingered near battlelines without having much impact on anything in particular.

Sypheros (month 10)

The Machine City, newly built in the ruins of Metrol in the Glass Plateau of the Mournland, advertises itself to the world, announcing their openness to immigration. Against all odds, the people of the city have built an oasis in the inhospitable wastes of the Mournland, and are thriving in the otherwise uninhabitable land. In New Cyre, in eastern Breland, caravans are staged to bring prospective immigrants and tourists to the city, across the dangerous intervening wastes.

It soon becomes apparent to the world that more is going on. On 7 Sypheros 1004 YK, the Korranberg Chronicle published a detailed exposé, with photo and film evidence for all the world to see, finally telling the whole story of the Day of Mourning. It seems Merrix the Elder built a machine for Queen Dannel that was meant to give her godlike powers to defend her realm, but the cost of its activation absorbed the souls of every living thing--great and small--in the borders of Cyre, slaying millions of Cyrans and every other living creature in the nation. The machine held her in stasis, denying her the release of death, until finally the journalists were able to end the machine's ongoing spell, finally giving Cyre a chance to regrow and rebuild.

Vult (month 12)

In the wake of the revelations about Cyre, millions were plotting to or already beginning their conquest of the undefended land. With so many resources at stake, another continental conflict loomed on the horizon, and action was needed to avert a catastrophe.

In Sharn, on 17 Vult 1004 YK, a grand conference was called. The sovereigns of the Five Nations would meet, mediated by Warchief Selina of Droaam, along with the barons of all the Great Houses. Her goal was to establish a compact between the nations, resolving to preserve Cyre for Cyrans, and prevent the conquest of their land by opportunists.

Minutes into the first meeting of the sovereigns, a terrorist attack destroyed the Council Chambers, with the assembled monarchs narrowly avoiding death. House Tarkanan claimed credit, having been captured on camera perpetrating the assault. Only Warchief Selina remained in Cyre, with the other monarchs and barons fleeing to their various safehouses and realms. In the ensuing chaos, House Cannith made a bold play, occupying the city with their private army, promising order and security beyond what the city's duly elected government provided. The Undercity united in opposition, with Daask, the Boromars, and even the Tarkanans working together to liberate the city.

As the battle for Sharn raged, another ignited in Cyre, as the Machine City armed itself to defend against the Lyrandar fleet. Merrix had secreted himself beneath the city, having dismantled the Astral Throne to serve a sinister new purpose. Warchief Selina and her retinue confronted and defeated him, and finally brought to justice Quintus Travelyan, war criminal and mastermind behind the civil war in Sharn, the Brelish invasion of Droaam, and even a key player in the Throne's construction and subsequent triggering of the Day of Mourning. With his death came the unraveling of the Black Blood, a conspiracy among hundreds of political and military figures, mostly in Karrnath, but streteching throughout the Five Kingdoms, ultimately in service of a shadowy cabal seeking to undermine the stability of Khorvaire and direct its geopolitics. Bereft of their power, these individuals quickly fell from grace, and campaigns of law enforcement and simple assassination began in earnest to bring them to justice.

As thousands of immigrants and settlers surged into Cyre, an army formed in New Cyre under Prince Oargev to retake his homeland. 3,000 strong, the army hustled eastward toward Metrol, barely arriving before the first assemble armies of the Karrnathi warlords, who sought to seize undefended territory. With the aid of Ivy and her Cyran Avengers, they boldly defended the ruined capital against overwhelming odds. When they were certain to be defeated, Ivy rallied the defenders in a last stand, resolved to die in the city's defense. Instead, the Karrnathi were weakened by the sudden loss of the Black Blood's power, and their leaders fell easily, with the armies dispersing in chaos as a result. Metrol held strong, and the flag of Cyre flew over it for the first time in years.

1005 YK

Therendor (month 3)

The Treaty of Sharn is signed, with Droaam and Breland agreeing to peace, with neither ceding any territory or paying any reparations. The only condition was that Breland agree to abide by the plebiscite of Sharn, as they voted for or against independence from Breland. Informally, vast investments were pledged in Droaam's infrastructure, with a lightning rail extension to Great Crag, and Brelish corporations setting up operations within Droaam, bringing modern manufacturing and technology to the confederacy.

The treaty doesn't go out of its way to over-dramatize, but nonetheless clearly refers to Six Nations, with Cyre and Droaam recognized as peers of Breland, Karrnath, Thrane, and Aundair. Despite being specific to the peace between Breland and Droaam, it takes care to enshrine the sovereignty of Cyre's borders, and commits both nations to the defense of their integrity.

Putting her money where her mouth is, Warchief Selina commits troops to Cyre as expeditionary forces, defending Cyre's borders against incursion. The Royal Air Force of Aundair, in concert with the Lyrandar Fleet, patrol the borders, punishing those who defy the treaty's terms. Cyre, for the time being, is secure.

The Warchief declares her guarantee of independence for the Machine City, proclaiming her support of their claim to the whole of the Glass Plateau. With little prospect of conquering them, and even less need to, Prince Oargev proclaimed his own support, calling them a "new nation, a new people, with the same right to exist as Cyre itself". Cyre retains its territorial claims outside the plateau, up to its borders at the outset of the Last War.

Eyre (month 4)

After a month-long process of caucuses and debates, the much-anticipated plebiscite of Sharn is held, determining the city's independence from Breland. The results are overwhelmingly in favor of independence, solidifying Sharn's status as a free city-state within the Five Nations. The Council would remain Sharn's governing body, with an elected Chancellor to serve as Head of State and chief administrator, serving a maximum of two terms, with the ability to check and balance the Council, and in turn be checked by them.

Among the first acts of the new city-state was to resolve the suspended status of House Cannith's holdings. Given the treasonous actions of Merrix, many of the House's assets in Sharn were seized and offered for sale. The employees of the house's factories formed cooperatives, funded by money from wealthy donors (including, allegedly, the crime syndicates of the Undercity), and purchased the majority of House Cannith's facilities to form their own independent corporations. With little more than their home tower, House Cannith in Sharn has become a shell of its former self.

Campaigns in the Extended Canon

This is the canon of previous campaigns, from the perspective of current ones.

2005 Eberron Game (996 YK)

• Artemisia Dragonstone and J8RME are real and did some of those things.
• Prince Oargev and Princess Cassandra exist, I guess?

City of Towers (998 YK)

Prince Riven of Aundair, attending Morgrave University, joins an adventuring party with Loganna Rheys, Glimden Fiddleberry, and Kason Blackfoot. Together, they:

• Restored the fallen Blackstone Cathedral in Lower City
• Flew to Phoenix Island (near Xen'drik) and made contact with the Tuila lizardfolk
• Solved the murder of Jonah Wellesley, a political figure in Sharn
• Confronted the Hellfire Queen, leader of a heretical cult of warlocks of the Silver Flame (or a fel bastardization of it)
• Thwarted an assassination of King Boranel by the Swords of Liberty

The Dragon Within (1001 YK)

A chartered guild in Sharn, consisting of Ruby, Tristian, Ember, Ash, and some NPCs, went on several adventures, such as:

• Stopping a rampaging Warforged Colossus in the Lower City (he was actually nice, but Osborn blew him up)
• Fought some slaads, cleared the name of some innocent kobolds blamed for missing babies
• Freed hundreds of souls from the clutches of the ringmaster of an evil carnival, a daelkyr who used two enslaved muses to enrapture the crowd to steal their souls.
• Defended an innocent primal god-beast who was blamed for various deaths in Sharn, but was actually the subject of an ancient Aereni Wild Hunt, where through the pursuit and slaying of this ever-resurrecting beast, they gained some sort of power (and, you know, a sick thrill). Turns out it was a plot by Osborn to capture the beast and turn it into some sort of battery for his machinery in the Mournland. Ruby is captured, and taken along with the beast on a train to Osborn's secret lab. The party takes control of the Wild Hunt and chases down the train, narrowly rescuing Ruby and freeing the beast before the train could disappear into the mountain fortress. Also Ruby sang Holding Out For a Hero and it was super rad.
• Unmasked a rakshasa pretending to be King Boranel, as part of some sort of wicked plan by the Closed Circle
• Explored an ancient temple, sunken in the sands of the Mournland, and found a super-huge dragonshard that was actually a vessel for the entire memory of an ancient dragon

Then there's the big one.

Osborn's Endgame

Falsely accused of crimes, the party is placed under house arrest pending a (no doubt rigged) trial, with Osborn pulling the strings. But they escape via astral projection, and start looking into why Ash keeps getting attacked by revenants, but get sidetracked by yet more Cannith shenanigans. Osborn's ally, the ousted Queen of Thrane, begins a civil war against the Church of the Silver Flame that was meant to be quick and decisive, thanks to his airships, but the party blows them out of the sky and saves the Speaker of the Flame from the Queen's clutches. Surely, with such an ally vouching for them, they will prevail in their trial. But it doesn't come to that, as Osborn just straight-up nukes the guildhall, killing most of the guild members. Thanks to the sacrifice of Ironheart, the PCs survive, and no doubt countless thousands of citizens, as the destruction was mostly reflected.

Convalescing at Blackstone Cathedral in the Lower City, the PCs learn what has transpird over the past few days. The city is at a standstill: the trains, the elevators, the lights, and every warforged and artifice gizmo in the city has stopped functioning. The city is being held hostage by Osborn, in a desperate plea to save himself from the consequences of his many crimes. They determine that this is caused by the Dominus Engine, a device in the Lower City that allows him to command every artificial device within a vast radius. They confront him there (although he's merely a projection), and the defeat Lady Valice and the other protectors of the engine, disabling it.

At this point, with an evil laugh, Osborn's image explains that the engine doesn't actively control constructs, it reprograms them--destroying it will seal the city's fate, rendering every construct in the city permanently useless. The only way to undo what he's done is to command the machine to do so, and that requires the Mark of Making. Mwahaha!

But every member of the guild possesses an aberrant dragonmark. And with their powers combined, they repair the machine and command it to liberate all the constructs of the city.

Later, on a luxurious train bound for Korth, far beyond the reach of Breland's law, Osborn drinks champagne and makes plans for the continuation of his glorious purpose with the help of his ally Zorlan. However, the attendant who brings him his champagne is Ash in disguise, who shackles him and teleports him back to Sharn to face justice.