A Recent History Of The Realms

Grey League, Worthy Blades, Sword and Rose all prior to 1372

Corrected timeline:

The Silver Marches, Sword Coast, and North, and All Things Elven

The Old Empires of the East

1371

• Hyacinth arrives on Toril, promptly exits this region.
• Mulhorand invades Unther.

1372

• Count von Durzig and a number of prominent Thayan nobles and Red Wizards are nullified from existence. The incident is covered up.
• Tiamat slain on her home plane over a matter involving a Nightmare Shard. Divine power falls to semi-mortal scions, including Tchazzar. Said dragonlord begins coalescing power in Chessenta.

1375

• The Tharchioness dies, but doesn't tell anyone, and survives via a clone spell that was not likely to work, having not fully matured to her proper age. She now looks unaccountably young, pale, and not bald. She celebrates this by parading herself around town, adopting the "Moonsea" look of her "husband". During the ceremony and proceedings, she completes a coup against all remaining rivals and is declared First Among Equals, supreme Tharchioness of Thay in all but name.
• A new Magister is named: Valin Arkanian, Master of Ashanath.

1376

• The Tharchioness intervenes in Unther, coinciding with an unaccountable upsurge in the strength of the Church of Enlil.
• Unther reemerges as a free state, but is immediately hounded by the "Armies of Tiamat", a horde of dragonkin and psychopaths in service to the dead goddess.
• Rylaun and Winter expelled from Zahl's service after arguably saving her life--and also lightly killing her. Zahl abandons her plans for vengeance against Rasendyll Uomdolphin.
• The Tharchioness forces Aznar Thrul's hand by passing a vote forbidding anyone from holding the post of Tharchion and Zulkir simultaneously. He marches on Eltabbar. She challenges him to single combat. After decades of secrecy, she reveals her true power, the surprise giving her the edge. Thrul is rendered feeble, and Zahl casts off her false name, arising as Zahl, First of Her Name, Empress of Thay.
• Thay attacked by Aglarond (under the Simbul) and Rashemen to cut off Zahl's power before she can conquer the world. Eltabbar holds under siege, with its Great Seal empowered, and the tide turns. Both nations are invaded by Thay's unified forces.
• Mulhorand declares war on Thay, but immediately checked by Unther.

1377

• With Immilmar fallen and Velprintalar under siege, Zahl calls a cease fire and begins peace talks in Two Stars. Meanwhile, she masses the Red Wizards and Zulkirs in the Dragonjaw Pass for a secret attack. The Simbul and the Wychlaran fall for her trap and sucker-punch the amassed wizards. Zahl's trap is sprung, and massive wards sap the magic of Red Wizard and Masked Witch alike, arointing flight and teleportation above all, all the while each side blaming the other. Forewarned by Yaphyll, Szass Tam escapes, but most other Red Wizards are slain. The Durthan betray the Wychlaran, having acted in concert with Zahl from the beginning, and most are slain, including Yhelbruna. The Simbul escapes, overpowering the wards easily. The bloodbath shatters both orders, yet Zahl is able to spin the affair as a sneak attack by Aglarond and Rashemen, and resumes her offensive.
• Rashemen falls, and the occupation begins. Occupying forces later "overflow" into Thesk, and don't stop "overflowing" until they reach the Inner Sea.
• Before Zahl's reinforcements can assault Velprintalar, the Simbul erects a titanic spell to banish all Thayans (anyone born on Thayan soil) from Aglarond indefinitely. The famous "Simbulwall" brings the invasion to a halt (although, ironically, Zahl herself can cross it at will, being Rashemi by birth). The Simbul subsequently vanishes; her son Aleric Argentsworn succeeds her, and is named Regent-King.
• Zahl seeks to encircle Aglarond by sea. With the Priador blockaded by Mulhorand, she seizes Telflamm and builds a new navy in unprecedented time. Her ships conquer Altumbel and even the Pirate Isles.
• Unther's strangehold on Mulhorand's land forces ends, as they are attacked from their flank by Chess forces under Tchazzar. The Pharaoh invades, and Bezantur is sacked. (Some say Zahl deliberately let this happen to diminish the rival city's importance, but that's treasonous talk)
• Threskel conquered in the west by Chess under Tchazzar, and in the east by Unther under Hamurza Lawbringer. Stalemate ensues. Capital of Doria becomes epicenter for peace negotiations between all parties.
• Zahl shows her diplomatic prowess by successfully offering a deal. Thay cedes the Alaor to Mulhorand, guarantees the independece of Aglarond immediately, and Rashemen after an interim period, but keeps its conquests of other lands. Unther remains free, as does Threskel. Tchazzar isn't pleased, but is suitably cowed by the possibility of fighting Thay, Mulhorand, and Unther simultaneously.
• Zahl manages to pin the whole affair on the Red Wizards, and subsequently proscribes their order against wielding any sort of political or military power, on pain of death. She reorganizes the Collegia, opening them to all, and abolishes the title of Zulkir, banishing from Thay all those who fail to voluntarily step down. She seizes all but a few of her enclaves from the Red Wizards, and declares them to be embassies in the proper sense, opening diplomatic relations with the better part of the known world. In the end, Thay is united under a single ruler, and the Red Wizards are permanently removed from power.

1380

• Mysterious pillars of energy seem to be annihilating small towns throughout Aglarond. A party, dispatched by King Aleric, makes for the wilds at the heart of the Yuirwood for answers. They find a flattened void where the town of Leunesca once stood, and encounter the Knights of the Last Sunrise working in concert with agents of the Empress to violate the sanctity of the bear god, Magnar. The KLS are routed with the help of the Hunter, an old fang dragon of the wood.
• The Ten Tribes are called to a great moot, with the Hierophant Ilthar Oakheart presiding. It is agreed they should unite to confront this existential threat. Emissaries are sent to examine the ruin of Leunesca, and are promptly flattened by a radioactive meteor.
• Princess Ninaren Olossyne is recruited to lead the Ten Tribes in war. The Firefly Tree, home to the Raven tribe, is assaulted by an airborne fortress of the KLS. Great war machines are deployed, but countered by the King's agents. The Hierophant and his circle critically damage the fortress, and the king's agents, empowered by Magnar's spirit, finish off the KLS. The Hierophant is slain, but the Firefly Tree survives, and the threat is banished...for now.
• Kara Zial, servant of Adamas, is captured by the king's agents, and spills information. The weapon that was destroying villages is meant for far greater purposes, and is erected atop the Thaymount, on a source of ancient and terrible power. She reveals that the Shadow Lords are planning to meet in Thay imminently. The agents infiltrate the Empress' court, aided by members of the Guardians of the Weave. Zahl outmaneuvers them, and has them dead to rights...only to reveal that she is on their side. They plan a joint trap for the Shadow Lords.
• The Lords do not fall for the trap, and commune only by portal--but Raynar throws a nightmare shard into the portal, shattering it with a well-placed pistol round, and all hell presumably breaks loose wherever it was the Lords had gathered. Zahl and the agents set upon the doomsday device atop Thaymount, joined by Daedalus, Raynar's airship-of-war. Unable to destroy the device before it activates, they instead reprogram it, with help from Kara. As it gathers a colossal charge of shadow energy, it misfires, causing a rupture in the Shadow Weave that slowly grows to encircle the world. Just like that, the Shadow Weave is torn asunder, and the magic that kept the Shadovar fortress aloft--not to mention empowered their legions in the first place--is suddenly denied them.

To be continued with COT season 2...